Page 36 of Clan and Command

“The ancestors love me,” he said. He yanked off his shorts and let Lokmi have a good look at what he was in for.

The chief’s eyes widened satisfactorily. Kila grinned at the unspoken compliment.

* * * *

Lokmi scowled, knowing he’d given his captain too much of a reaction to seeing him naked. Damn Kila. Why did he have to look so good?

The near-nudity of the Nobek had been hard to ignore as they’d grappled. Seeing Kila so masculine, his virile body a feast for the senses, had screwed with the chief’s head from the word go. Only the discipline of odikan had kept him either a step ahead of Kila or on equal footing for much of their fight. The near-constant physical contact with the man had held more allure than Lokmi wanted to acknowledge.

Now Kila had him at a huge disadvantage. He was going to have control over Lokmi, the very thing he wanted to hate most. Lokmi genuinely did like being in charge. That no one ever seemed to take that need seriously pissed him off. It made him so frustrated that he fiercely rejected the few times that giving in to another seemed tempting.

Moments like now. The vision of being beneath his captain possessed a strange appeal. Lokmi didn’t want to feel that way. If Kila dominated him once, he’d expect to keep doing it. Lokmi’s usual instincts to take the lead would be forever ignored.

Yet the feeling persisted that being on the receiving end of Kila’s arousal might be exciting, at least in this instance. To give himself over to what amounted to reasonable discipline for his actions was increased by yet another factor, one that had Lokmi looking at Kila with dawning understanding.

As the captain stood before him, handling his impressive cocks with lazy strokes, Lokmi detected an aura of need from the scarred Nobek. The perplexing things he’d been muttering while cuffing Lokmi were so much noise. However, the tone he’d spoken in…that had been another matter. Though Kila presented a solid, assured front, his voice betrayed confusion and frustration. There were flashes of want in his expression, much like a starving man might view food he couldn’t reach.

Kila fought an internal battle, one that reflected outside discord somewhere in his life. Lokmi would have bet his engines on it. It reminded him of the way his Nobek father dealt with things that upset him: the façade would be stoic, but little cracks would allow glimpses into the violent emotional storms battering the man.

Those hints of distress reached past Lokmi’s Dramok need for control to snag at his Imdiko instinct to provide for others. While his domineering nature seethed to be at Kila’s mercy, his nurturing aspect softened, feeling it was what the captain needed. That warm, caring part, rarely given full leave to act, anticipated what was coming.

As the opposite ends of his personality warred with each other, Kila moved forward to draw Lokmi in his arms. Chest to chest, groin to groin, the Imdiko felt the heat of the man’s skin, the granite of his powerful body. A feverish sensation had remained in Lokmi’s cocks even after he’d realized he’d lost the fight and would be taken by Kila. That inner warmth grew in intensity as the Nobek gazed searchingly into Lokmi’s eyes. Again, fissures in Kila’s usual mocking expression showed. Behind the aloof mask were hints of disquiet.

Kila had asked him a question earlier, appealing to his compassionate Imdiko sensibilities.What would you do if you cared about someone who couldn’t give you the kind of relationship you were used to?Was that the key to the unease he felt in the Nobek’s demeanor? A rocky relationship with someone who couldn’t offer what Kila needed?

At the time he’d posed the question, Lokmi had been too irate to bother with an answer. It occurred to him that perhaps it was the key to unlocking whatever bothered Kila at that moment.

Led by the Imdiko-facet that hungered to care for someone, Lokmi opened his mouth to ask. Before he could utter a sound, Kila took advantage of the opportunity and kissed him.

The feeling of his tongue gliding in to taste him derailed Lokmi’s thoughts. With his caregiving instincts awakened, his first impulse was to fling arms and legs around the other man and draw him closer still. The cuffs held him prisoner, however. He jerked helplessly against them as he kissed Kila back with unguarded passion. Raw need erupted, sending bolts of fervor through his body. Held back by the restraints, he rubbed his torso against his captor’s as best he could.

Kila responded to the bold ardor by stroking eager hands over Lokmi. Back, ass, chest, stomach, cocks…his rough touch enflamed the Imdiko’s senses. The Nobek grabbed flesh during the desperate investigation, as if he might rip skin from Lokmi in his eagerness to possess. The grappling was as exciting as it was bruising. Lokmi’s heart thundered as arousal awoke like a long-slumbering beast in its den.

The disparate twins of his identity strove to realize their unique desires. His Dramok side pulled at the cuffs, fighting to free him so that he might fondle Kila in return and enjoy the brutish beauty it perceived. Failing that, he kissed the Nobek with all the zeal he possessed, hungering for more of the wild, primal strength he tasted.

He exalted in the strength of the man claiming him with violent caresses and sharp nips to his lips. He dove into the Imdiko joy of being what the Nobek needed as Kila grappled with whatever uncertainty that had invaded his life. With choice taken from him, Lokmi was free to give rather than take, to soothe the pain that drove Kila.

His captain released the brain-numbing kiss to stare again into Lokmi’s eyes. He gripped the Imdiko’s shafts and stroked. Lokmi’s body tensed as rapture surged, and he yelled.

“That’s it,” Kila grunted with approval. “Get harder for me, Chief. Get wet. That’s right.”

Lokmi had no choice but to be hard. Kila’s fists were tight, they were hot, they were rough, and they felt good surrounding his lubricating cocks. Everything beneath his navel grew heavy with demand. Meanwhile, he couldn’t look away from Kila’s dark gaze. He drowned in the slitted black pupils, in the blue-purple depths of his irises. He had to be drowning; he couldn’t find any breath as the strong grips slid up and down his pricks.

“It’s not such a bad thing to give yourself over,” Kila whispered. “Not such a bad thing, is it? Does it feel good, Lokmi?”

Involuntarily, Lokmi’s head bobbed in agreement with the mesmerizing murmur. What Kila was doing did feel good. There was no denying that.

“Yes, it feels so good. And you have an exquisite body, Lokmi. A body made to be enjoyed. I will thrill to touch you and experience everything about you.”

The sensual haze that filled Lokmi’s head was as distracting as the pulsing ardor in his groin and cocks. Yet he understood enough to know Kila wanted to keep touching him. Lokmi shared that desire with all his being.

When Kila released his smaller shaft from that enthralling grip, Lokmi couldn’t hold back a distressed cry. For a moment, he feared the Nobek would stop all the wonderful things he was doing. Yet he continued tugging on the larger primary, keeping desire at a high pitch.

“Hush, Lokmi,” Kila whispered. “The play has not ended. We have far to go before I’m finished with you.”

The undercurrent of threat was of little import to the Imdiko. It didn’t just matter that Kila not stop until the growing pressure in his groin was released. Lokmi also needed to know the worry driving the Nobek dissipated, that he received the care he needed.

Even the feeling of a questing touch prodding between his buttocks was of little concern to Lokmi as Kila continued the pleasurable pulling on his manhood. It wasn’t until a slick finger shoved into his ass that his Dramok side remembered to snarl. Even as that part of him protested the invasion, his body yielded easily, offering nothing more than the token resistance of tight muscles.

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