Page 38 of Golden Eagle

“Well, he killed one master, he could kill another,” Lanny said, his unhappy voice edged with pride.

“Probably,” Will agreed. “Eventually. But what tortures might he endure first?”

They both stared at him, silent, food forgotten.

“It’s not pleasant to think about. But if Nikita cares for Sasha as you say, then he’ll bind him. And then they have a job offer with us, if they get tired of tending bar and bouncing drunks.”

He gave Much’s shoulder a light shove, and Much, a huge bite of steak poised in front of his mouth, grumbled, but slid out of the booth. He ate the steak, with a look of surly defiance, and dropped his fork on his plate with a clatter.

Will stood, and gave them a quick bow. “Think on what I’ve said. My number’s on the card.”

And then they both were gone.

They sat still a moment, and when Trina turned her head, she met Lanny’s wide-eyed gaze.

“Dude, what the fuck?” he asked, quietly. Then scowled and turned back to his steak. “Fuck them. They don’t know shit.”

“Yeah,” she murmured, but her heart was pounding.

10

Sasha knew what he wanted. He also knew that, inexperienced as he was, he would be clumsy about stating it, even if Nikita’s little breakdown had beaten back his shyness and left him feeling bold and protective.

Slowly, Nikita’s breathing evened out, and his heartrate slowed to nearly normal. Sasha sat in his lap, stroking his hair, his face, his neck, his shoulder, until he’d quieted, and some of the shaking and tension bled out of his body.

Sasha tucked his face into Nik’s throat, and stayed there a moment, breathing open-mouthed against his skin. And then it struck him, a quick electric jolt, that he could kiss him there if he wanted to, over his pulse, and so he did.

Nik’s breath hitched, just once, and then he exhaled long and slow.

“Okay?”

“Just…I’ve been thinking about that. For a very long time.”

A chill moved through Sasha; a good one. He leaned in, and kissed his neck again; open-mouthed this time, slow, and wet, tracing Nik’s pulse with his tongue.

Nikita shivered, and his arms tightened.

“Let’s go to bed,” Sasha said, lips against his skin.

Nikita turned his head, and his breath rushed warm past Sasha’s ear. He held still a moment, only breathing.

Then a low, deep rumble echoed through his chest – Sasha could feel it – and he stood, suddenly, and lifted Sasha up in his arms like he weighed nothing.

Sasha barked a startled laugh, and held on tight, arms around Nikita’s neck. “You don’t have to carry me!”

Nikita answered with a low, throaty growl that held nothing of a threat; only a heated promise that left Sasha’s toes curling in his boots. He carried him to the bedroom – to Nik’s own bedroom – where the covers were still messy from that morning’s hurried departure. The room smelled of the two of them, of sex, and sweat, and blood.

Sasha’s belly clenched, and his hands closed tight on the collar of Nik’s shirt. His heart pounded. He wanted this. Oh, how he wanted it. But there were nerves, too; the fear that he wouldn’t please, that his inexperience would–

Nik set him down, and then followed him, hands braced on the mattress, looming over him, pale eyes glowing in the lamplight. When he spoke, his growl curled around the words. “I wanted to carry you.” Sharp angles of his face taut – but a new kind of tension. Not the usual stress and nausea, but checked desire; a want that had the tendons standing out down the sides of his neck.

Then his brows drew together, expression softened by a touch of doubt. “But if you don’t want–”

Sasha surged up, grabbed his collar again, and kissed him, hard. Bit his lip and felt a shudder move through him. He drew back just far enough to say, “I want everything.Everything.” Words laced with his own growl, rough and lupine.

Nikita’s mouth ticked up in a smirk; but his eyes shone with delighted fondness. Breathtakingly tender. “Me, too. Just maybe not everything all at once.”

Sasha whined.

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