Page 26 of Clan and Command

No, he shouldn’t be thinking of that. Last night had been phenomenal with this other Nobek. Unfortunately, he was still half-lost in the pull of the dream. His body shifted involuntarily, moving away from Kila. His lover slung a beefy leg over his, using it to pull Piras in close again. “Where are you going, pretty man?”

The last of Piras’s confusion ebbed, allowing him to regain his equilibrium. Yes, Lidon was gone. A ghost of his past and forever unattainable. Kila might be something of a jerk, but there was no denying last night had been amazing. Piras had no reason to feel so empty or abandoned.

He smiled over his shoulder at Kila. “Sorry. I was half-asleep and got confused for a moment.”

“Let me guess. You had a fantasy that you were waking up next to Nobek Lidon.” Kila scowled.In an instant, Piras’s hope to find some semblance of happiness died. The old red-tinged rage roared to life, melting all good intentions to start the day off on the right foot. Piras slammed an elbow into Kila’s ribs.

The sound of the other man woofing a pained breath delighted Piras, but it didn’t curb the anger pulsing through his brain. Before the Nobek could recover, he pulled free of him. Piras rolled out of the rumpled sheets and jumped to his feet. His shriek sounded almost incoherent to his own ears. “Why do you keep bringing him up? Why can’t you keep your mouth shut about him?”

Kila rubbed his side where Piras had struck. “Because you had a sixteen-year relationship with him. That’s a lot of time invested in a man who wouldn’t accept your offers to clan. Damn, you’ve got the boniest elbow I’ve ever known. Almost as sharp as a blade.”

Piras ignored the bantering tone, choosing to remain outraged. “You have no right to ask about Lidon. It’s in the past. It’s done.”

“Maybe. Or maybe not. My ribs are voting for the not.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re acting like an asshole.”

Kila rolled his eyes. “I want to make sure you’re over that relationship before I start getting too involved with you. I’m being perfectly reasonable.”

“No, you’re not. In case you haven’t heard, Lidon is clanned. He’s been clanned for several years now. I have no choice but to be over him.”

“The fact you react so strongly each time I mention his name begs to differ.” Kila sat up, all signs of his usual mocking smile gone. He looked as deadly serious as a man facing an enemy. “I don’t want to have to compete against a memory that grows rosier as time passes.”

“Compete for what? To be my Nobek? What makes you think I’d want you for a clanmate? You’ve got some conceit assuming that.”

Kila’s lip curled. “No, you’d prefer to hit the pleasure clubs and pay the service Imdikos to dominate you while you fantasize about Lidon. How’s that working out for you, Piras?”

Piras felt it was he who’d been punched in the gut. Humiliation poured like gasoline onto his already fiery temper, and he blew. “Get out! Get the fuck out before I throw you off the balcony! Get the fuck out and stay out, you son of a bitch!”

Kila’s expression darkened. For a hair-raising moment that penetrated the enraged haze enveloping his mind, Piras wondered if he would come after him. Punish him.

He also noted how damned good Kila looked, even with his body tensing, the muscles bunching. Especially with him doing that.

Instead, the Nobek’s smirk returned. “Threatening me with the fatal toss again. I think our next encounter will have to be somewhere else rather than the top of a giant tree.” Then the thunderous expression was back, and Kila’s tone filled with threat. “I’m not letting this go, Piras. Not until you put Nobek Lidon firmly into the past where he belongs.”

Piras shoved away the thoughts that made him want Kila. Shoved away the submissive part of him that begged to crawl to the Nobek. With anger as his guide, his Dramok nature rose, made him strong, made him more powerful than Kila. He was every bit the commanding leader as he said, “I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth, Nobek. Get your clothes on and go, or the next statement you make will end in a scream.”

Because he was furious enough to make good on the threat, Piras stormed out of the room. He waited in the kitchen, located next to the greeting room, until he heard the home’s door open and close. Then he checked the house to make sure the bastard had actually left. He only began to relax and stop grinding his teeth when the search came up empty.

“Thanks for the great sex, asshole,” he muttered to the absent Kila. “I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, because that’s the last of me you’ll get.”

He vowed to himself that he’d stick to that assertion. Outside of fleet business, he was swearing Kila off.

* * * *

Kila sat at his curved desk in his ready room, staring unseeing at the latest reports from his senior staff. It was the usual boring information, commentary that showed everyone was doing his job with typical effectiveness, stuff that needed only a cursory glance before clicking his notice he’d received the statements. Useless and time-wasting, as most administrative duties tended to be.

Kila scowled, but not because of the worthlessness of red tape. No, endless reports were not the bane of his day this time.

Piras. Frustrating, gorgeous, addictive Piras. Having gotten several servings of delicious sex throughout the night, that morning Kila had judged the time had come to clear the air about the Dramok’s failed love affair. It had to happen sooner or later, and since he’d fucked until his cocks were sore, sooner had felt right.

Maybe he was a desperate piece of Tragoom shit to make sure he’d had Piras’s ass before dealing with emotional housecleaning, but Kila could live with that. He didn’t mind being pathetically eager to fuck first and cope with emotional baggage later. It had been beyond exhilarating to pound his cock into the man over and over as whim dictated. Who needed pride when such an opportunity came along?

Yet Kila wanted more than a one-night stand. He wanted more than a few nights. He wanted Piras for the long term, maybe forever. Which meant at some point he had to put his dicks away and deal with irritating things like emotions. Specifically, emotional hang-ups his intended had on another Nobek.

“Fuuuck,” he groaned in a drawn-out exhale. “I don’t have the first idea what to do to get that dumb bastard’s thoughts off the past and make him move on.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to get work done, he ordered the chief medic’s standard report off. It wasn’t going to give him the answers he needed anyway. He stared at the empty space where the vid projection had been. The empty space didn’t present any solutions either. There was little in the way of decoration in his office area, save for half a dozen of his many commendations hanging on the wall. The curved desk and Kila’s hover chair left plenty of floor space.

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