Page 23

Chapter 23

Storm

Storm didn’t sleep. After he dropped the others off at the Rink, he took Nathan straight to his apartment. His precious human didn’t wake as he carried him inside. He undressed him on top of the blankets of his bed and used a warm washcloth to wash away the worst of the bloodstains. Nathan stirred just long enough to crawl into bed. Storm undressed slower, studying Nathan’s too-pale face. He’d come far too close to losing him tonight. What if they hadn’t gotten there in time? Would the guild’s doctor have been able to save him?

He shook off the maudlin thoughts and crawled into bed, curling around Nathan and settling in to wait for him to wake. He would keep watch, delighting in the sensation of warm skin and the reassuring thump of Nathan’s pulse.

The moon traveled slowly across the sky outside, and when Nathan finally stirred, warm morning light shone through the closed curtains downstairs, giving the apartment a hazy glow. He touched the back of Storm’s hand, draped around him, and rolled onto his back, blinking blearily at him.

He’d come so close to losing him. What would he have done without this man? If he’d had to face immortality without Nathan by his side? A month ago, he wouldn’t have guessed he would be so attached to one human. Now he couldn’t live without him. He wouldn’t . If Nathan had died last night, Storm would’ve taken one of those holy blades and followed him right into the abyss.

He leaned in and kissed him. Nathan hummed, rolling toward him and throwing an arm and leg around him.

“Thank you for coming last night,” Nathan murmured when they parted. “When the attack started, I just wanted to see you again in case…”

Storm growled, crushing Nathan against him. “In case nothing. I’m not letting you leave me, sunshine. You’re stuck with me forever.”

To his horror, Nathan’s eyes filled with tears. They spilled from his eyes to soak into the pillow. “I love you,” he sobbed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you now.”

Storm reeled him in, letting Nathan muffle his sobs against his chest. He didn’t realize it until now, but some small part of him had been worried Nathan would regret leaving his ring behind and walking away from the guild. That he’d wake up, decide he’d made a mistake, and go back to them. But Nathan loved him. He didn’t think their relationship was a mistake. This was the beginning of their forever.

“I love you, too, sunshine,” he whispered, carding his fingers into the back of Nathan’s hair. “Do you know why I call you sunshine?”

“Mm? No. I just thought it was a nickname.”

“No. It has meaning to me.”

Nathan tilted his head back to look at him. “It’s not because the sun hurts you, is it? Because that’s not a nice nickname.”

Storm snorted. “Of course not.”

Nathan smiled, settling. “Okay, then why?”

Storm kissed him, needing to taste that smile. “It’s because you’ve brought light to my life. Light and warmth and color. My world was just empty and gray before I met you. You changed me completely. I’ll never be the same.”

“Oh, Storm,” Nathan breathed, and it was the best thing Storm had ever heard. He drew Storm into a deep, slow kiss, as though indulging in the taste of him.

Storm wanted to push for more, but he wasn’t sure Nathan could handle more yet. He was probably still recovering from the gunshot, at least internally. Luke and Malachi had said it took Luke a while to recover from the blood loss after being stabbed. He would wait as long as Nathan needed.

When they parted, Nathan sighed heavily. There was a weight behind it, and Storm cocked his head.

“What’s wrong?”

Nathan flapped a hand in the air above their heads. “I’ll have to leave my house now. And I don’t have a job. I’m really starting completely over.”

Storm stroked his back. Nathan had given up so much to be with him. Storm wasn’t sure he was worthy. “We’ll go back to the house one day, I promise. And I’m sure you can go to work at the Rink with the others. I don’t think they make much, but they get by. They get new clients all the time, because word’s getting around that they do good work.”

Nathan’s eyes were filling with tears again. “Yeah, I think I’d like working with them.” He sighed. “It’s hard to imagine a time in the future where the paladins are no longer a threat to us. I tried so hard to make them see that you guys weren’t the enemy. I’m sorry I failed.”

Storm brushed a kiss to his forehead. “Sunshine, they were never going to accept the truce.”

“I know. I just hoped . I wanted to make them see reason.”

“That’s because you’re a good man, Nate,” Storm said softly. “Better than anyone I know. Certainly better than me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you, but I want to make you happy, if I can.”

“I am happy,” Nathan whispered.

Was he? The tears suggested otherwise. Storm shot him a doubtful look and wiped away the wetness collecting in the corner of his eye. “You sure about that?”

Nathan huffed out a wet laugh. “Yeah. You make me happy. This is… I don’t know. Everything that’s happened has me a little off-kilter, I guess.”

“I hear humans need time to adjust to big changes.”

Nathan chuckled. “Yeah, we do.” He sighed, nuzzling closer and closing his eyes. “If you’d told me I’d feel this way a few weeks ago, I’d have thought you were crazy. But I can’t imagine my life without you. I need you. More than I need the guild. I can still fight monsters and protect people with the… traitors? Outcasts? They need a name.” His nose scrunched.

Storm snorted. “You can bring that up with them the next time you see them. You know a thing or two about running a team. They could use some cohesion, probably.”

“Sounds like they’ve been doing all right.”

“Mm, yes, but they’ll need more organization.”

Nathan’s eyes blinked open. “You think so?”

“Ira says you won’t be the last one to join us. I don’t know how big our little group will wind up being—hell, I’m not sure he knows, either—but odds are we’ll need some kind of official leaders eventually.”

“I don’t want to lead anyone,” Nathan murmured, pressing closer. His length pressed deliciously against Storm’s own, separated by the thin fabric of their underwear. “I just want to kill monsters and spend time with you.”

“Sounds like heaven to me.” He drew Nathan into a deep, drugging kiss, the kind that dragged a moan of surrender from his human. Their legs tangled, and Nathan rolled onto his back, insistently reeling Storm on top of him.

“Can we?” Nathan breathed. “I want you. Want to stop thinking and worrying and just be with you. Make me stop thinking. You always know what to do.”

“You sure you’re up for it?” Storm asked, kissing him again. “You were shot last night. You might need more time.”

“I’m sure, I’m sure. Please?”

Storm lifted his head, gazing down at him. Nathan’s cool gray eyes were bright with want. His teeth sank into his bottom lip, and Storm couldn’t resist. He nodded, shifting Nathan’s legs further apart with his own. With deliberate slowness, he dragged his palm up Nathan’s chest to curl around his throat, giving him just enough firmness for him to know Storm meant it.

“Then let go of your thoughts,” Storm said. “Empty your mind. Focus only on me.”

Nathan let out a shaky sigh, curling his fingers around Storm’s wrist. “Yes.”

“Tell me you’re mine.” Because he loved to hear it.

“I’m yours.” There was no hesitation, and they shared a smile.

Storm’s free hand stroked Nathan’s body, his thumb grazing the scar on his hip. It would forever be a reminder of how close he’d come to losing him. Nathan wriggled, drawing attention to the hard length waiting in his boxer briefs. Storm ignored it for now, lavishing attention on both of Nathan’s nipples instead, pinching and rolling each one with his fingers and then using lips and tongue, until Nathan was arching up against him, his legs tightening around Storm’s sides as though to drag him closer.

Storm sat up, lifting Nathan’s hands and guiding them toward the headboard. “Grip the posts. Don’t let go. If you let go, I stop.”

Nathan obeyed with a groan while Storm leaned over to fetch the lube. When he returned, he smoothed both hands up Nathan’s hairy thighs, stopping with the bulge cradled between his hands. Casting him a wicked smile, Storm grabbed the waistband of his boxer briefs and ripped . Nathan gasped, raising his head to look down as Storm ripped them right down the middle, exposing him to the air.

“I liked those,” he protested halfheartedly.

“I didn’t say you could talk,” Storm replied. He trailed a thumb down the crease where his inner thigh met his groin, grazing his balls and finding his hole. He plucked at the dark fabric hugging Nathan’s thighs. “So pretty.”

Nathan flushed, lifting his gaze to the ceiling. Even his neck turned red. Storm chuckled, low and pleased. He opened the lube with a quiet snick and drizzled a liberal amount on Nathan’s length and sac. With his free hand, he massaged Nathan’s puckered hole and eased one finger inside. Nathan sighed, canting his hips for more.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” Storm growled, sinking his finger all the way to the knuckle just to hear Nathan’s pretty moan. He thrust it in and out, tossing the lube away and taking his length in hand, slick and messy. A second finger joined the first, twisting and scissoring. His own cock throbbed with need, watching Nathan’s hips work in time with his hands.

“Please, Storm, enough. I want you now .”

Good, because Storm had to have him. He sloppily slicked his length, hissing at the grip of his own hand, and pressed the head of his cock against Nathan’s entrance. Nathan stopped breathing as he breached him, the tendons on his forearms standing out as he tightened his grip on the headboard posts.

Storm took his jaw in hand, forcing him to meet his eyes. “Focus on me. Only me. Breathe.”

Nathan’s body unlocked. He inhaled, and Storm sank deeper into the tight clench of his channel.

“God, you’re big,” Nathan whined.

Storm chuckled. “And you’re very tight. You should’ve let me take my time with you.”

“No, I’ll adjust. Wanted to feel you.”

Storm worked his hips back and forth, fucking a little deeper with each thrust. “Yeah? You feel me now? You feel me filling you up?”

“ Yes ,” he sobbed. “Touch me, please touch me.”

Storm chuckled darkly. “No. I want you to come on my cock. Only my cock.”

Nathan didn’t reply, grunting as Storm widened his thrusts, grinding deep with each pass. He was fucking perfect, gripping the headboard and arching up into him. He obeyed so well. This was what he meant when he said he didn’t want to lead. He liked handing over the reins to someone else, liked letting Storm call the shots and take all the weight of responsibility from his shoulders for a while. And Storm took it gladly.

He cradled Nathan’s throat with one hand as he pounded into him in earnest. Their ragged breaths and wanton moans filled the air. Nathan opened like a flower for him, his petal-soft skin and hot hole the perfect combination, driving Storm higher and higher toward that molten peak.

Nathan came first, his legs clamping hard around Storm as his cock shot between them. His channel fluttered around Storm’s length, milking his orgasm from him, and he stilled with a deep groan, filling Nathan with his cum.

With another quiet whimper, Nathan turned his head and captured Storm’s mouth, kissing him lazily as they both recovered. Storm slid his hands up, tugging Nathan’s hands off the headboard. He wrapped them immediately around Storm, curling his fingers into his hair to deepen the kiss.

“I love you,” Nathan breathed when they parted, and a shiver of delight went down Storm’s spine.

“I love you, too,” Storm murmured. “You’re my sun. My whole world revolves around you and only you. From now on.”