Page 68 of On A Rift's Edge
“Ari wouldn’t happen to have any lube or condoms around, would he?” Kat scrunched his face up. “Using them would be pretty messed up, but he did say he owed me a favor.”
Lyall pushed himself upright, pulling Kat onto his lap. “I’d rather not even think about that. I have a Riftworld option that could replace both of those.”
He touched the fang around his neck, and one strand unraveled from the cord. It glided over his chest, then reformed into the shape of an Earth snake, but with a head studded with jewel-like eyes. The organism slithered over his skin to Kat’s wrist, then opened its jaws wide to reveal a deep blue sphere.
Kat cautiously reached out and took the gelatinous ball with his thumb and forefinger. “It’s pretty fancy for lube.”
“It’s a kind of salve that heals and prevents infection.” Lyall had to tug on the “snake” portion of his armor to remind it to revert to its inert form, since it seemed to prefer sliding along Kat’s soft skin instead. Not that Lyall could blame the living leathers for that, but he wanted Kat all to himself. “Useful for treating battle wounds, for example. Or other bossy things you might be interested in doing to me.”
Kat drew in a breath. “Oh, I forgot about your back. Does it still hurt? I can look at it for you if you lay on your stomach.”
“Is that your way of telling me I’m supposed to be a pillow princess?” Lyall couldn’t help teasing Kat, but after he received a stern look he turned and sprawled out face down on the bed.
He could feel Kat’s fingers skating over the damaged flesh on his back. The tears had stopped bleeding, but the wounds from ripping himself out of Gremory’s jaws stung. The cool touch of the salve took the sting away, if not the memory of the confrontation with his mothers.
“It must have hurt a lot.” Kat’s voice was low and serious as he worked.
“Don’t worry.” Lyall didn’t want him to be concerned. “I heal fast.”
“I wasn’t talking about your back.” Kat switched from coating the injured skin with salve to massaging Lyall’s shoulders, which felt amazing. “I meant you had to deal with both of your mothers not supporting or trusting you. Then you had to try to hurt Cesmak, maybe even kill her, while Gremory watched. That’s emotionally painful.”
Lyall wasn’t sure how to respond. No one had ever talked to him like Kat did.
“It did suck.” Lyall was sure Kat wanted a more elaborate description of his feelings than that, but Kat already knew Lyall wasn’t great at that kind of conversation. Or conversations in general. “I had people to protect, and I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can, but let me take care of you right now.” Kat’s voice grew sultry, and he leaned down to whisper in Lyall’s ear. He still smelled like crushed mint and mesquite smoke, and his breath was hot against Lyall’s cheek. “After all, you did say I could be bossy.”
All that complicated talking about emotions and feelings had cooled the frantic arousal between them, but Kat’s suggestive tone made Lyall’s cock twitch in interest.
“You also promised to fuck me in Arimanius’s bed,” Lyall reminded him.
“I remember.” Kat gave Lyall’s neck a push, and Lyall obediently lowered his head down into one of the ultra-high-thread-count pillowcases Ari insisted on bringing whenever he traveled.
Kat began by pressing his lips along Lyall’s lower spine. He slid a finger lower, leaving a trail of the Riftworld salve behind. Then he used his knees to spread Lyall’s legs apart. The jolt of pleasure from Kat’s finger circling Lyall’s hole shot through him, but it was nothing compared to the soft, wet touch that followed.
“Damn, is that your tongue?” Lyall bucked up off the bed, overwhelmed by the sensation. Kat was so fucking amazing at sex.
Kat paused long enough to laugh. “If you’re speaking coherent sentences, I need to work harder.”
He wasn’t kidding. Kat alternated rimming and a steady slide in and out of a single finger, then two, and finally three.
Finally, when Lyall was so hard he didn’t think he could take it any longer, Kat slid inside, the slight burn at entry a delicious sort of pain. He succeeded in hitting the perfect spot over and over, until Lyall was thrusting up and trying to rub his aching cock against the sheets.
The pleasure rolled along in waves until Kat cried out and came inside him, then slid his hand underneath to stroke Lyall into completion.
They lay intertwined on the bed for several long minutes. Lyall rolled over and threw an arm and a leg over Kat, pulling him close.
“I don’t know if that’s what I’d call proper pillow princess behavior.” Kat mumbled the words as he rested his head on Lyall’s chest. “More like rodeo bull shenanigans.”
Lyall laughed. “You made it very hard not to be enthusiastic. You can take care of me like that anytime you want.”
“I wish we could stay here longer.” Kat let out a long sigh. “I know my mother’s worried, but once I tell her I’m fine the whole story will come out, and my sisters will be livid. My dad will insist on cooking me something to eat and make too much food. Then I’ll have to pet all the cats to soothe them because they might be unsettled by all the fuss.”
“That doesn’t sound all bad.” Lyall ran his fingers through Kat’s hair and rubbed small circles on his neck. “Except for the cat part. I’m sorry I was so awful with your family. The last thing I wanted was to frighten them.”
“Well, they need to accept the fact that we’re dating and get used to the whole hellhound thing.” Kat tilted his head up to smile at Lyall. “Are you willing to give them another chance?”
“Absolutely.” Lyall hated to ruin the lovely afterglow of great sex, but since the topic of families had come up, he needed to be honest with Kat. “I don’t know how to say this, but my mothers aren’t going to let this alpha thing go. Maybe I could reach out to Gremory after giving things time to settle down. At least they can’t stop us from being a couple. Matchmaker marriages are the only marital contracts that don’t need an alpha’s approval.”
