Page 20 of Outside the Veil (Endangered Fae #1)

“Gods, but it was strong. And I was…fading. It was like being besieged by a hurricane. Every obstacle I created, it ripped to shreds. And then it…” Finn’s voice cracked.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else I could have done.

It found you. And once it had, it wanted you with a consuming avarice I’ve never felt before. ”

“But it failed. It didn’t eat me.”

“It doesn’t wish to eat you, my hero. It does eat human flesh, yes. But you, it wishes to possess.”

Diego felt those awful hands on his arms again and a wave of uncontrolled shivers hit him. “What exactly does that mean?”

“It saw the light you carry, saw the city full of people that is your home, and all those who trust you there. It wishes to inhabit you. To use your face, your form, your voice to lure its victims. I think it has avoided large human settlements and their machines out of fear. But with you, it sees a way to a hunting ground so vast and rich…”

Diego turned this over, fighting nausea. “And what would happen to me?”

Finn grabbed the front of his T-shirt in both fists and buried his head against Diego’s chest.

“All right, we’ll talk about it later.” Alarmed by Finn’s shaking, he wrapped his arms tight around him, cuts and all. “We can’t solve anything in the state we’re in now.”

“I’m so tired,” Finn whispered.

“I know. Close your eyes. Go to sleep. I’m glad you’re home.”

“How long have you been up?” Diego’s heart stuttered and lurched from waking up alone again.

“Not long.”

“Cold?”

“A mite, yes.”

Finn sat in the kitchen hunched under a blanket. Papers littered the table, covered in crayon-rendered, anguished shapes of black, gray and red with the occasional streaks of sickly yellow-green.

“This isn’t your fault.” Diego eased into the chair next to him.

“It most certainly is.”

“How were you to know what would happen?”

A steady tearing punctuated the long pause as Finn peeled off his black crayon’s paper until it lay naked and shining in his palm.

“I should have guessed its nature. Should have been more cautious in my approach.”

“Cautious? I’m not sure who I’m talking to right now.”

Finn slammed both fists against the table. “I should have been able to protect you! All the power at my fingertips, all the centuries of experience, and what good does it do? Not one cursed grain.”

Your pride isn’t wounded, it’s shattered.

“There’s always something stronger out there. That shouldn’t be such a shock.” Diego kept his voice flat and even, afraid Finn might fly apart with any show of sympathy.

“I woke it. My presence. The songs in my blood. It has slept long and deeply from what I could glean, and might have slept forever had I not come here. My reckless foolishness has imperiled you.”

“And maybe not. Maybe it was ready to wake up anyway.” He rubbed at his temples. “What do you want me to do with this little display? Hit you? Scream at you? Toss you out and tell you I never want to see you again? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We have thinking to do.”

Finn’s hair obscured most of his face. Diego waited to see if he’d made matters worse.

“How can you be so calm?” The choked whisper barely reached him.

He took Finn’s face between his hands, lifted his head and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m scared to death. But I have you with me. Nothing’s quite so bad now.”

Under different circumstances, Finn’s shocked expression would have been hilarious.

“You kissed me.”

“I did. Need another?”

“Please.”

Stiff surprise yielded to eager warmth the second time their lips met. Finn’s soft moan sent a frisson of need through Diego’s core. He disengaged Finn’s fingers from the blanket and pushed the flannel back, baring him to the waist.

“Diego, are you certain? You said you didn’t want—”

“Never mind what I said,” he murmured against Finn’s jaw, lips tracing a soft line down to the base of his throat.

“But if—”

“Shh. I was an idiot. Waiting for the perfect time. The perfect circumstances.” Diego licked along Finn’s collarbone, pleased when his head fell back on a soft sigh. “Now is what we have. I’m not wasting any more of it.”

“I simply don’t want—”

“Kindly shut up, carino , and make love to me.”

“As you will.”

Finn snagged the bottom hem of Diego’s T-shirt and pulled it off over his head.

The simple slide of cloth over skin sent hard shivers through him.

His breath caught when Finn’s hands settled at his waist, the touch of his palms like sunlight on his skin.

With a gentle tug, Finn urged him to stand, then sank to his knees at Diego’s feet.

He rested his cheek against Diego’s stomach, long arms wrapped around his thighs.

“I wanted you from the first moment I saw you. You were so beautiful, arriving in the midst of my bleakest despair.” He caught Diego’s hand and sucked on his fingertips.

“You don’t have to say things like that.” Diego combed his fingers back through the mass of shining blue-black hair.

“I only say what is simple truth. If I could but show you how you appear to me, your true form, as a radiant beacon in a darkened world… Even your own kind, blind as they are, are drawn to you. Why do you think the discarded ones trust you so?”

“Because I treat them like people instead of garbage.” But as he gazed down into Finn’s eyes, he wondered if there was more to it.

Where the charity and social workers often failed to connect, with all their training and experience, he often succeeded.

“I wish I could see as you do. Might make life easier to see someone’s character as clearly as their face. But didn’t you promise to shut up?”

“I made no promises.” Finn shot him a crooked grin and leaned forward to press his tongue into the hollow of Diego’s navel. “Though perhaps I could find a better occupation for my mouth.”

He took up a corner of the blanket to undo Diego’s jeans, careful to keep the flannel between his skin and the steel zipper pull. Diego tangled his fingers into Finn’s hair to steady himself. Too long denied, he felt as if the first touch might send him over.

Finn took his time. He tugged the jeans down to Diego’s ankles and left the boxers in place.

A gasp leaped up from Diego’s chest when Finn pressed his cheek against his iron hard erection.

Every muscle held taut, he fought to stay still, oversensitive nerves sending spider feet down his back.

Finn stayed where he was until Diego relaxed, then pushed at him in gentle nuzzles.

When Diego allowed a soft moan to escape, Finn snagged the elastic with his teeth and pulled the boxers down just far enough to settle the waistband under his balls.

“ Dios …Finn… I won’t last long. Oh. Damn.” Diego tangled both hands in Finn’s hair as that clever tongue caressed Diego’s tip. Finn’s lips closed around him and slid down his cock by slow degrees. Diego’s legs shook with the intense pleasure. “So sweet. Your mouth… I can’t…”

Finn lifted his head. “Let go, my hero. You need this. Give me what I so crave, to hear you sing for me.”

He returned his mouth to Diego and plunged downward, taking all of his length.

Soft sounds of pleasure followed faster now as Finn let the tip slide past the tight constriction of his throat.

His tongue traced the veins, curling all the way around in an impossible, prehensile way, holding Diego securely even as the suction increased.

The wonders of having a nonhuman lover… The sudden rush of tightening pressure in his balls cut off his speculation.

He thrust his hips forward into that incredible mouth and clutched Finn’s head hard.

The soaring climb toward ecstasy tore a series of desperate cries from him.

Finn wrapped his arms tight around his buttocks and Diego exploded, the intense pulses ricocheting up from his balls.

His hips bucked hard until the spasms slowed, the room tilting in a strange, rocking motion.

Finn had him in his arms now, held him on his lap. “There, my love. Much better. Next time we shall proceed more slowly. But we had to take the jagged edge off for you first.”

He nuzzled at Finn’s throat, unable to find the words for what he felt. Instead, he let his actions speak for him as nuzzles turned into soft kisses. Finn raised his chin so Diego could place sucking kisses along the length of his long, pale throat.

“Diego,” Finn whispered, his trembling telegraphing how keyed up he was. “You needn’t feel you must.”

“But I want to. I need to.” He slid down onto the floor to let his head rest in Finn’s lap while he stroked his fingertips along the length of hard, pale shaft presented to him. “I want to taste you.”

He rolled his thumb over the tip, spreading the pearl drops already waiting for him. His first taste made him moan. Finn’s clean scent mingled with a taste so different from human males, sweet and cool, with undertones of mint and basil. He plunged down on Finn’s cock in a desperate quest for more.

Finn shivered and gripped Diego’s shoulders, his hips rolling gently rather than thrusting. “Such heat,” he murmured. “Like plunging into the sun. Gods.”

His hands slid into Diego’s hair, encouraging him in his efforts. The taste grew sweeter as Finn’s excitement mounted, his breaths coming in sharp gasps and little breathy moans.

He won’t last long either, but then, seven hundred years is a hellishly long dry spell.

“Oh, my love, I’m—” Finn’s warning came too slow, too late.

Not that Diego minded. He clamped his lips around him to milk every last pulse, the taste of his seed a heady, spicy nectar he would be able to pick out of a thousand other flavors.

With a pleased hum, he eased off slowly as Finn’s shaft began to soften in his mouth.

Finn collapsed onto his back with a gusty sigh.

“Was it worth the wait?” Diego asked, his head resting on Finn’s stomach.

“Beyond even the smallest grain of doubt.”