Page 18

Xion fell asleep almost as soon as he got into the Jeep. I didn’t have that luxury, seeing as I was the driver. Best I could do was strong coffee and a little cold air to keep me going.

It was times like this when I was driving tired that I had to try my hardest not to think about Mason and the night I lost half my soul. I’d been so drunk that night, I didn’t remember much of the car ride, but I remembered Mason telling me I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. He was worried about me. His last words to me were that I should take better care of myself.

Was I doing that? Would he be proud of me? God, I hoped so.

I looked over at where Xion slept with his head propped against the window, his lips parted, snoring gently. Had I done the right thing by giving him Harold? I thought I’d been helping, but maybe I’d scarred him even more.

And where did that leave us? I had promised to protect him, and I meant it. Xion was mine, and I’d kill anyone who tried to take him from me. That didn’t mean the feeling was mutual.

I want to know what it feels like to be wanted.

He drove me crazy, but I couldn’t fathom not wanting him. I’d wanted him ever since the first time I’d laid eyes on him, and not just in a physical way. There’d always been something about him that drove me to want to protect and care for him. Now that I’d had a taste, I only craved him more. What if he decided he didn’t want me back? He had plenty of reasons not to, the least of all being that I was almost twice his age. He was young and had barely seen the world. He should get to go experience life. Fuck around a little. Live.

I didn’t even want him to do that. I wanted him to stay with me where he was safe. It was selfish, and it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it.

Since when did I become some wild, possessive sort of man?I turned my attention back to the road. Xion’s not mine. He’s not even in his right mind, and I shouldn’t be doing this. Fucking him is not taking care of him. I should be protecting him from everything, and that includes me. What if I hurt him?

Or worse, what if he got hurt because of me? I had no shortage of enemies that could use him to hurt me. If that happened, I’d never forgive myself.

But I couldn’t let him go, not even if it was the best thing for him. That’s how fucking far gone I was. I didn’t know when it’d even happened.

It wasn’t love, and it sure as fuck wasn’t healthy. I didn’t know if there were words to describe our toxic-as-fuck relationship, but I knew I’d die before I let anyone hurt him again, even if he didn’t return the feeling.

We made it back to the junkyard just after seven in the morning, right as Church and Happy arrived to turn on the open sign.

Church was out front holding one of his flowery little teacups. He frowned when we pulled in. “Where’ve you been?” he asked when I got out of the Jeep.

I walked around to open Xion’s door before answering, “Out.”

I didn’t like keeping things from my men, especially Church, but he wouldn’t understand. He already thought I was distracted, and he was right. At least now that the whole Harold thing was over, life could get back to normal.

I helped Xion out of the Jeep. He was so tired, he acted like he could barely walk. If he hadn’t been so damn big, I would’ve carried him. Instead, I let him lean on me.

Church eyed us. “You know we’re going to have to talk about this. Whatever this is.”

“Later.” I waved him off. “Tell Ragnar to come by later with the dogs. After we’ve had some sleep.”

I took Xion into the trailer and put him straight to bed, carefully tucking him in. When I moved to unbuckle his collar, he grabbed my hand and gave me a pleading look.

“I’m just going to loosen it while you sleep to be safe,” I said. “You can tighten it back up in the morning.”

“It is morning.”

“You know what I meant.”

He let go of me, his hands falling limply to the bed. “Could I sleep with you?”

“Not tonight,” I said gently, but firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because if you come crawling into my bed with that collar on, we won’t be doing any sleeping, and I need my beauty rest, Pup. Unless you want all this red hair you like so much to go gray?”

He shook his head and reached up to gently scratch his nails against my scalp. “Redheads don’t go gray. It turns white. Besides, I don’t care if you’re a decrepit old crypt keeper with saggy skin and white hair as long as you’re you.”

“Thank you for that lovely visual of my old age.” I caught his hand and kissed the inside of his wrist. “You need to rest and so do I. It ain’t good for either of us to go so long without sleep.” I kissed his forehead and stood.

“Boone?”

I sighed and stopped by the door. “What?”

He rolled over on his side, looking at me tiredly. “Thank you. For tonight. For Harold. For everything.”

“Rest well, Pup,” I said and closed his door.

I trudged down the hall to my room and fell face-first into the bed. There was still a lot of work to do. I needed to go over the budget for the yard, see Church about any pending jobs, and get with Leo to see if he had anything new. Then I needed to track down the fucker who thought he could spy on us and shove that device so far up his ass, he coughed sparks.

That was to say nothing of all the work I’d have to do to smooth things over with the Laskins, especially Shepherd. I groaned and rolled over onto my back, banishing all thoughts of them out of my mind until after I’d had at least four hours of sleep.

My dreams were full of ominous shadows and buildings made of pale bricks, stretching toward the sky. Walls closed in behind me as I ran through busy markets, crowded streets, and empty lots. I leapt tall fences with feral dogs at my heels and a heavy pack on my back while helicopter blades thundered overhead. Color bled from the world until all that was left were red lasers trained on my chest.

To escape, I fled down a foggy country road that felt ominously familiar. I tried to tell myself to turn back, but I couldn’t. I just kept running through the fog.

Until I saw the wreck.

Red brake lights reflected on the fog. The shadow of a huge tree leaned over the smashed car. The rear driver’s side door was open, and I was on the ground next to it, Mason’s bloody body draped over my lap as I screamed into the night. I’d pulled him from the wreckage, but it was too late. He’d died on impact while I walked away with only a few scrapes and bruises.

My fault.

Mason shouldn’t have been out that night. He wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t come to get me because I’d gotten into another drunken brawl.

His last words? “I can’t save you from yourself, Boone.”

And he was right.

Would he have said something different if he knew we were going to hit that icy patch and careen over the side of the ridge? Would he have said something different to me now?

My eyes slid up to the broken guardrail as it was made whole again. I was being given another chance. I could save him. I just had to—

My eyes snapped open with a gasp. A weight had settled overtop me, and I had to get it off. I had to fight, had to get to Mason, had to…

Soft lips closed over mine.

I blinked and the world came back into focus. It was late afternoon, judging by the way the gray winter sun came through the blinds. The room was cool, but I was drenched in sweat. At some point, I had rolled over onto my back. My pillows and blankets were gone, probably wrestled onto the floor in my fit of nightmares.

Xion was there, leaning over me, kissing me, holding my face in his hands.

“Xion?” My voice came out hoarse against his lips. “What are you doing in here?”

“You were having a nightmare. I heard you shouting.” He kissed me again. “You woke me up.”

“I’m sorry, Pup.” I found myself lifting my head, chasing his lips as he retreated from me.

“Don’t be. I have nightmares too. What’s that saying about birds and feathers?”

“Birds of a feather flock together?”

He smiled. “That’s the one. But I don’t think we’d be very good birds.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m afraid to fly.”

It was such a mundane confession. A common enough fear, he probably shared it with millions of people all around the world. Still, it felt significant because he’d said it to me. Xion didn’t talk about his fears, his hopes and dreams, or even his wants and needs beyond superficial things. He never complained about being cold or hungry, almost never asked for anything. Even the collar around his neck was something he seemed to feel like he had to take instead of ask for. Didn’t he know I’d give him everything?

He sat up. I realized for the first time that he was straddling my hips, his long legs folded under him, knees pressed in against my ribs. In exactly the position he’d be in if he were riding my cock. Did he know that’s how he was sitting on me? He had to be aware of it. He was also undoubtedly aware that I was hard as hell beneath him. Hard enough, the next words that came out of his mouth didn’t even affect me at first.

“I lied to you,” he said.

I started running my palms over his arms, wishing they were bare. I suddenly needed to touch every inch of him that I could see. “When?”

“Back at the trailer. When I said there wasn’t anything else I wanted.”

I moved my hands to his lower back. “What is it you want?”

“Lots of things.”

“Such as?”

He reached behind him, moving my hands down to his ass. I bit my lip as he rolled his hips against me, almost like he knew what he was doing. “Such as… I want to know what face you make when I wrap my lips around your cock.” He brought my thumb to his lips and kissed it.

The blood left my head so fast, I was dizzy lying down.

“I want to know what your cum tastes like, and what it feels like to have you so deep inside of me that I forget we’re two separate people.” He lifted my hand to his neck.

I hooked two fingers through the metal loop on the front of his collar. He was too perfect. How could anyone else ever compare? “Is that all?”

Xion shook his head. “I want so much more but… I don’t want to be greedy.”

“Why not?” I grabbed his collar and yanked his face down so that it was right above mine again. “Life is short and you only get one go. Be greedy.”

He closed the distance between us, but instead of kissing me, he took my bottom lip between his teeth and sucked, making me groan. When we parted, he whispered, “I want a family.”

I frowned. “I hate to tell you this, but you’re barking up the wrong tree if you want kids. I believe we’re both lacking some of the necessary equipment for that adventure.”

“I’m not talking about kids,” he said, giving my shoulder a light punch. “Hell, we’d be terrible fathers.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

Xion rolled his eyes. “I meant like you have. Like I used to have. I want people who care that I’m alive. People who would miss me if I died. If I went away right now and just never came back…”

“Don’t talk like that, Pup,” I said, hooking a finger in his collar again. “You know how I feel about that negative talk.”

Xion closed his eyes and said, “I don’t want to die alone.”

He might as well have thrown ice water on me with those words. Dying was not something a twenty-year-old should be worrying about, but I had to remember that he wasn’t a typical twenty-year-old. Life had been tougher for Xion than most, and he’d seen things men twice his age couldn’t imagine, let alone survive. Tonight, he’d come face to face with death, and it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it—I knew that from the files Shepherd had given me. But killing a puppy and killing a man were two different beasts.

The night before, Xion learned without a shadow of a doubt that he was mortal. He had seen death, touched it, made it happen. Let it stain his soul in the most intimate way. I knew the depths of those stains, and they would never wash out.

I started to sit up. “Xion…”

He pushed me back down, leaving his hands on my shoulders. “Let me finish. I don’t want to die alone, but I think even worse would be living alone like I have been. I know there are people all around me, but I feel like I’m on an island and the only way to be safe is to stay there, where they can’t get to me. I don’t know how to cross the ocean between me and you, Boone, but I want to. I want to be a better man, but I don’t know any other way to live than this.”

I traced a thumb down the side of his face. “I don’t know if I’m the best person to teach you a better way. I’m not a saint either.”

“I don’t need you to be a saint,” he said, taking my hand. “I need a sinner. Someone who understands how to navigate this darkness with me. Where I am, it’s so dark, even a little light helps. Be that for me, Boone. I’m scared that I might slip away without it.”

“We’ll look out for each other, Pup. That’s what family does.” I pulled his forehead down and kissed it before moving to his lips.

Xion’s eyelashes fluttered against my cheek, and I felt the moment all the tension left his body. This kiss wasn’t like the one in the trailer bathroom. It was slow and soft, like a kiss ought to be, like the kind of kiss lovers shared in place of words. Completely unfamiliar to me, and yet no less powerful than the ones that’d come before.

When we parted, he sat back and reached to take off his shirt, tossing it aside.

I slid my hands down from his shoulders over a firm chest and stomach. His skin was smooth and warm, practically begging to be tasted. All of him was, but we were still moving so fast.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked him.

“Stop asking me that, Boone. My answer hasn’t changed.”

“You don’t have to sleep with me for me to protect you. You understand that, don’t you?”

He huffed and shifted his weight. “I’m not here because I think I’m buying your protection with sex. I’m here because I like you. Also, I’m horny as hell and I’m getting fucking tired of jacking off. I need something more and you’re the first person I’ve ever wanted more with. I trust you.”

God, those three little words meant more to me than he’d ever know. I didn’t deserve them—or anything at all from him. It was a good thing life wasn’t about getting what you deserved, or else we’d all be fucked. And not in the fun way.

I sat up and Xion rolled onto his back. I hovered over him, watching him carefully. If he needed to stop, he might not even know it. Some of the responsibility for his mental wellbeing had to fall to me, and I was well aware of that.

“Is this okay?” I asked.

He swallowed hard and nodded once.

“We can stop at any time,” I reminded him and started peppering kisses along his jaw before dropping to his neck. “You want to stop, you say red and we stop, okay?”

Xion’s arms closed around my back, holding me in place like he was afraid I’d leave. When I closed my lips tight over the skin just above his collar, he whimpered like a puppy and his hips rose off the bed, crashing into mine. Impatient, he grabbed my hand and shoved it between his legs so I could feel how hard he was. There was already a wet patch on the front of his sweats from where his cock was leaking.

“I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted you, Boone,” he said, breathless. “I can’t stop thinking about last night, how much better it was with you. I’m going crazy thinking about it. Touching you is the only thing keeping me sane right now.”

I released his skin from between my teeth and looked down at him, my lips still buzzing with the taste of him. “Xion, I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“It probably isn’t,” he agreed, sliding his hands under my shirt and helping me pull it over my head. “But since when did we ever make good decisions?”

He was right about that. Bad decisions were the one thing we’d always have in common.

We removed the last of our clothes in a hurry, breathlessly coming back together for one kiss after another as if we couldn’t get enough. I kissed him like he was my salvation, worshiping his lips and tongue with long, slow strokes of my own. Xion kissed me like he was trying to devour me. Maybe he was, but I was going to get there first.

I started slowly kissing my way down his body, nipping at his skin just enough to leave little red marks behind. When I reached his nipple, I took it in my mouth and sucked hard until Xion let out a helpless little sound.

“Boone, please…”

“That’s it, Pup. Say my name.”

He surged up suddenly and bit down over my nipple, sending a shock of pain and pleasure through me.

I hissed and pushed him back. “Easy. That’s attached.”

He panted and licked his lips, squirming under me and letting out small whimpers. It was as if he’d lost his ability to speak in anything other than those sexy, needy little noises.

Fuck, I was such a goner. I couldn’t deny him anything.

I moved further down his body, kissing and softly biting. There was a part of me that wanted to draw this out, to tease him for hours until he was on the verge of tears and begging for what only I could give him.

But that wasn’t what he needed.

“Turn over,” I demanded, sitting back on my knees. “Get on your hands and knees.”

He stared at me for a minute. “Are you serious?”

I grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged just hard enough to let him know how serious I was. “You want my dick, you do as you’re told. Now get on your hands and knees, Pup.”

I waited for him to object, to call for a stop. If he was going to do it, it’d be now.

Xion bit his lip. He hesitated briefly, but he did as I asked.

“Fuck, you have a sexy back,” I mumbled, running my hands over it. He broke out into gooseflesh everywhere I touched. When I reached his shoulders, I dug my thumbs in, massaging gently.

Xion dipped his head and groaned. The move sent his ass up into the air, giving me better access.

His ass was perfect too. He was all pale, lean muscle, and so responsive to touch. I pushed his legs wider, and he whimpered again. I reached between his legs to palm his leaking cock, gathering up all the precum he was leaking between two fingers.

“Look at that,” I mused, spreading him open.

He twisted in the sheets to look back at me, his cheeks crimson. “What are you doing?”

“Admiring what’s mine,” I replied and pressed a thumb against his entrance.

He buried his face in the pillows. “Oh God, please…”

“Do you know what you’re asking for?” I yanked open the bedside table to retrieve the lube.

He hesitated with his answer. “For you to fuck me?”

“To be mine, Pup. Only mine. You understand what that means?”

He shuddered and nodded. “Yes.”

“I don’t think you do.” I pressed a single lube-slicked digit into his body. Fuck, he was so tight and hot inside. I couldn’t wait to bury my cock in him and claim that last part of him. “It means I’d bleed for you. Lie for you. Die for you if I have to. I’ll fly around the world to get to you if you try to leave. There’s nowhere you’ll be able to go that I can’t follow you, so you best be damn sure I’m what you want. You don’t have to choose me, Xion. I’ll protect you either way. But if we do this—if you choose to be with me—then you’re with me, and I’m not letting you go until one of us is dead. That’s the kind of loyal I am to the people I care about. That’s what it means to be mine. Now, is that what you want?”

He lifted his hips higher. “Yes.”

“Can’t hear you,” I teased, brushing a second finger against his entrance.

“Yes! That’s what I want!”

I growled and eased in the second finger. Though I wanted to take him rough and hard, I wouldn’t do it that way the first time. There’d be more time down the road for us to explore those limits. Right now, he was mine and I needed to make him feel loved, safe. Protected.

I pumped my fingers in and out of his body, slowly stretching him out to take me. Sweat rolled down his temple. He moaned and turned his head, resting against the sheets while I worked him over. Half-lidded eyes looked back at me, glazed over with lust. It was the most beautiful he’d ever been.

“C’mon, Boone,” he groaned out.

“You’re impatient,” I muttered, pulling my fingers free of his body. “I’m trying to do this right and be romantic.”

“I don’t need all that.”

“But I’m giving it anyway. Now no more whinin’ or I’ll turn you around and use your mouth instead. Then you’ll have to wait even longer.”

He stuck out his bottom lip but held his tongue for once. A pity because that sounded like fun to me.

I positioned myself against his hole and paused, giving him one more chance to change his mind. When he didn’t call for me to stop, I slowly started to push into his body.

Xion gasped and grabbed the sheets so tight his knuckles turned white. His arms trembled. It was clear he was uncomfortable, but I couldn’t tell if it was a normal level of discomfort because we were just getting started or if he was having flashbacks, so I stopped.

“Talk to me,” I said.

He made a sorrowful noise. “Please just do it. I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t want to stop?”

“You stop now, I will fucking kill you.”

I smirked and put my hands back on his shoulders. “Then relax, Pup. This is always the hardest part. It’ll feel good on the other side. I promise.”

I waited for him to relax, rubbing his shoulders to try and reassure him. When he finally did, I slid home and we both let out a relieved groan.

“Are you good?” I asked, bending over to kiss his sweaty back.

“I will be once you start fucking moving,” he growled and bucked his hips only to mutter a curse. “Please, Boone. I just need… Please.”

Poor thing. How was I ever supposed to say no to that?

Xion cursed again as I started to move, but this time his loud utterance of, “Fuck,” had an entirely different meaning. I tried to take it slow, even as he tried to spur me on, because I wanted to do this right. I wanted him to enjoy it, to forget about all his pain and his loneliness if only for a few minutes. He deserved that much, but I just wasn’t capable, especially when my eyes fell on the collar encircling his neck. I just had to close my fist around it and pull. Xion’s back arched and he let out a desperate pleasured sound as I yanked him up to fuck him with his back against my front.

Every impact of my hips against his sent a visible ripple through his body, and he was grunting or cursing in time with my thrusts, which I took to be praise. He turned his head and I watched a drop of sweat race down the side of his face. I leaned forward to kiss it away at the same time as I slipped two fingers between his lips.

Xion bit down and I almost came then and there. “That’s it, Pup. Bite down on me and don’t let me go.”

He bit down harder. I grimaced and shoved my hand deeper, tipping his head back so I could see. Xion groaned, his dark lashes fluttering as I drilled my cock into his prostate. He’d broken skin with his bite, and now my blood and his saliva were dripping freely down his chin, pooling against his collar. With every snap of my hips, his hard cock jumped. He reached back, clawing at my side. I was giving him everything I had and still the needy pup wanted more.

“Greedy.” I nipped at his earlobe and slammed into him harder.

His lips parted and his teeth relaxed their hold on me as his jaw went slack, eyes watering.

“That what you want, Pup?” I asked, repeating the action. “Look at you, about to come undone on my cock.”

I moved my fingers away when I realized he was trying to speak, just in case he wanted to stop. I’d be disappointed as hell, but I meant what I said. I’d stop if he needed me to. His wellbeing was more important to me than getting off, even if this was some of the best sex I’d ever had.

But he didn’t ask to stop. He grabbed my hand and whispered, “Touch me,” before directing my hand to his cock.

I scraped my teeth over the pounding pulse in his neck. “You need to come?” I asked as I stroked his cock, knowing full well that was what he wanted. I moved my hand lower, cupping and massaging his heavy balls. “Bark for me.”

His eyes snapped open and even more pink spread across his pale cheeks. “Bark?”

My teeth tugged on his earlobe. I slammed my cock into him so hard, it made him hiss. “You want to come? Bark like the dog you are.”

“Mmm! Fuck!”

“C’mon, Pup.” I squeezed his balls. “One little bark for me and I’ll make you see stars.”

“Fuck, I can’t… I…” He whined and squirmed while I fucked him, but no matter how he struggled, I didn’t give him an inch. Xion knew how to get what he wanted and how to tap out if he couldn’t handle it. The decision was his to make.

I felt it the moment he surrendered completely. The last of the tightness in his shoulders released. He grimaced and let out several deep barks.

“Good Pup.” I closed my hand around his cock and started jerking him in time with my rough thrusts.

His body squeezed around me so tight that it threatened to cut off circulation, and hot cum splashed over my fist. I was vaguely aware of more moans and pants from him as my orgasm barreled into me. I grunted and nearly lost my goddamn mind with the way his body seemed to milk the cum right out of me.

We slumped back to the bed together with me still inside of him.

I kissed the back of his sweaty head. “Okay?”

He turned his head, panting loudly, and grunted.

“I’m not too heavy?”

He licked his lips. “If you move, I’ll kill you,” he repeated.

I would’ve laughed if I’d had the breath. “Hate to break it to you, but I can’t stay inside you forever,” I said as my softening cock slid free of his body.

“Mmm, why not?” He nuzzled his cheek against my pillow and wiggled his ass. “Put it back in.”

“It don’t work like that.”

“Only ‘cause you’re old.” Xion snorted and rolled over, forcing me into the space next to him. “We should get you some of those magic blue pills,” he said, driving a finger into my chest. “I could go again.”

“Not yet. You need to pace yourself, Pup. Give yourself time to process.” I pulled the blankets up over us and put my arms around him, spooning against him.

His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t pull away.

“You okay?” I asked, running my fingers gently over his arm.

“You don’t have to do that.” His voice was tight, his breathing getting faster.

“What? Cuddle you? Take care of you? Isn’t that what I promised to do?”

“I guess.”

I sat up. “Turn over and look at me, Pup. This is important.”

Xion sighed, but did as I asked. His cheeks were still flushed, but his eyes were big and his jaw firm like he was terrified.

I cupped his cheeks and massaged his jaw with both thumbs until I felt the muscles there relax slightly. “We have to be honest with each other here. If you’re not okay, you need to tell me. I can’t take care of you right if you don’t, ok?”

He swallowed and nodded.

“Talk to me, then.” I moved my thumbs up to his cheeks, right under his eyes, massaging there.

He closed his eyes and groaned. “That feels nice.”

“Yeah?”

Xion nodded again and fell quiet, letting me massage his face and neck without protest. When I picked up his hand to start there, he asked, “Why did you make me bark like a dog?”

“I didn’t make you. I think what you really want to ask is why you liked doing it.”

He opened his eyes halfway, looking more exhausted than before, but at least the fear was gone. “It’s kind of fucked up, isn’t it? I shouldn’t like sex at all after what happened to me, should I? Especially bottoming.”

I moved on to massaging his wrist and forearm, trying to think of the right thing to say. “Nobody can tell you what you should and shouldn’t like,” I settled on eventually. “And what happened to you before wasn’t sex. You have to consent for it to be sex, Xion. Anything else is assault.”

He pursed his lips in thought, then closed his eyes and sighed, settling in against the pillows. “It’s easier if I don’t feel human. Dogs are…They’re better than us. They’re good and loyal, and they instinctually know how to love. They don’t care who you are or what you’ve done. Dogs know how to love unconditionally.”

“We can learn a lot from dogs,” I agreed, moving to take his other hand.

“Is that why you started calling me pup?” he asked. “Because I can’t do all those things, but you wish I could?”

I squeezed his hand and bent down to kiss his lips until he looked up at me. “The first time I called you that it was because I thought you had the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes I’d ever seen. But you were mean, too. Like a dog that’d been caged all its life. I saw all that lashing out for what it really was: fear. Of course, who wouldn’t be afraid of kindness when all they knew was pain?” I shook my head. “No puppy is born bad. They learn it, which means with enough time and care, they can unlearn it. Most hurt young people are the same. They just need someone to help them break the cycle and learn to love again.”

He frowned and shook his head. “What if you’re wrong? What if there is no way out of the cycle and I just keep hurting people because I was hurt and it never stops?”

“It’s enough that you wake up every day and try, ain’t it? And if you fail, there’s always tomorrow.”

Those were my brother’s words, some of the best advice Mason had ever given me. I’d shrugged it off, dismissed it as a platitude. I hoped Xion was smarter than me.

“All we can do is try,” I said and put my arms back around him. I snuggled in next to him, and this time, he turned over and laid his head against my chest.

Xion yawned. “I like it when you call me Pup, and the collar, but I’m not sure about the barking.”

“All right then. We won’t do that.” I smiled, kissed the top of his head, and closed my eyes to go to sleep.