Page 63 of Outside the Veil
“You’re forgiven. Stop stalling.”
“Stalling?”
“It’s like ducking the question.”
“Ah.” Finn gave him a soft kiss. “My hero, you and I both tried to destroy the thing separately. I failed, miserably, because for all my power and experience, I lack the weaponry to harm it. While you harmed it, but still failed to destroy it because you lack control. We need to sally forth together, as one force.”
“That’s a nice, romantic notion,” Diego said with a shake of his head. “But the only time I’ve hurt it is when I’m flat on my back passed out in a fit. I can’t see me being much use in a fight.”
“But you see, you’ve already shown your ability to leave your ailing body behind, to carry on without it when the need is great. Without any apprenticeship, without any knowledge of magic beyond what I have told you, you came to find me when you needed me in a place where you should not have been able to.”
Diego sat up, heart thudding.I’m not sure I like where this is going.“But that was an accident. I mean, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Even so, my love. You acted on instinct alone, a sure sign of the incredible, raw power you carry. The beast called you Shaman.” Finn stroked a fingertip along his ear, sending a shiver down Diego’s back. “It had good reason. Diego, you shine, gods, you could blind a person sometimes. You have more magic in your little finger than some of the fae have in the whole of their long lives.”
“But…I thought you said magic flowed through everything. That it’s in every pore and strand.”
“Yes. True. But in some places and in some beings, the magic concentrates. Think of it as a stream. There is water covering the whole of the streambed but in some places, it merely meanders or trickles, while in others there are dips and rocks and drops. Here the water gains power, the stream rushes and dances, singing with joy.”
“I see. I think.” Diego’s forehead crinkled. “Like you said, though, I don’t have any experience, no training, no control. How does knowing I have something I can’t use help us?”
Finn spread a palm over his chest. “I could supply the control. If you are willing. Guide you and show you what you must do.”
“While I’m in the middle of a seizure.”
“Yes, my love. I have heard you, have felt the tendrils of your thoughts reach out to me. It can be done. Of course, you open your channels most during lovemaking.”
“Oh. Look, if you wanted sex, you could just ask for it instead of all th—”
Finn gripped his arms hard, a red tinge in his eyes. “No. This is not some convoluted ploy to gain a few moments mating with you. I will not lose you, Diego. Listen to me.”
“Sorry. I’m listening.”
“We must have you in the midst of a fit because we must have your lightning. I must be able to reach you easily to keep you with me. You are so closely walled most of the time, it would take far too much effort to break through. If you open to me of your own accord, it will be swifter and more pleasant for you as well.”
“Please don’t dig your claws into my arms,” Diego murmured, as his thoughts skittered around in circles. It was a chance Finn offered, one he thought they did not have, one that offered life and love at the end rather than darkness. He tried for something close to a smile. “So you’re saying you want to practice, is that it?”
“Yes. We must be certain you are ready before the thing wakes again.”
Diego ran a finger down Finn’s long nose. “I’m scared to death, okay? But I trust you and I’m willing, even though I’ll feel like crud afterward. It’s kind of hard to get in the mood when you’re so serious, though.”
“Oh, my love, you might as well slay me now.” Finn flung his arms wide in a dramatic gesture. “I have been called many unflattering things but never serious.”
“That’s better,” Diego whispered as he leaned in to slide his lips over Finn’s. The soft touch sparked desire. Finn lifted his head to meet him and the kiss caught and blossomed to roaring flame. Finn’s long fingers stroked over his back and arms, petal soft, sending shivers across his skin.
“Would you like to take me, my hero?” Finn murmured against his jaw. “I may be a bit lacking in stamina at the moment.”
Diego moaned as a sweet ache rushed up from his groin. He slipped between Finn’s legs with his lips fastened tight on that long, pale throat. Finn’s hands slid onto his butt over the cotton, then under the waistband to knead his cheeks. The sensual slide of elastic down his backside made him squirm, rubbing their hardening cocks together in delicious ways.
He lifted his head to look in Finn’s eyes. “Do you like it? Having someone hammering into you?” Some of his lovers over the years would have rather died than take bottom.
“Yes.” Finn bent his knees up. “Oh, most assuredly yes.”
Diego took Finn’s face between his hands and kissed him softly. “I love you so,” he whispered before he captured Finn’s lips in a searing kiss. His hips ground against him in time to their heartbeats while Finn’s hands wandered his body in soft caresses.
“Jar. By your head.” He motioned for the petroleum jelly on the nightstand. When Finn handed it to him, he pushed back on his knees to uncap the jar and dip his fingers in. He curled forward to kiss the tip of Finn’s erection, lying hard and ready on his stomach. The spice of his musk filled his head, wild and erotic and somehow so clean, wild mint and honey, river and basil.
He closed his fingers around Finn’s shaft, stroking softly while his lubed fingers slid between Finn’s cheeks.
