13. RAVENING

thirteen

RAVENING

O liver sucked his lower lip into his mouth.

"Hullo," he said, his smile working to split his face in half.

Tau inclined his head. "Oliver."

The melody of his name spoken aloud roused Oliver so fiercely, it prompted a heated gasp. There were things he would have liked to ask, things he wanted to talk about, but straddling Tau's hips with no more than darkness surrounding them, and no one to interrupt, his burning desire overwhelmed. He ran his palm over wide shoulders, scoured collarbones, pronounced under soft fabric. Moved down to a powerful chest. Pressed a kiss to that gorgeous face and packed all the love he could fit into it.

"You sure you're up to this?" Oliver asked, despite nails already digging into his backside, powerful hands clenching impatiently.

If Tau's, "Yes," wasn't already enough of an answer, the way he ground against him was .

Although, as he nestled his crotch more firmly against Tau's, his boyfriend froze under him. He leaned away, enough to look at Oliver.

"Oliver?"

Breathlessly, "Yeah?"

"Well?"

"What is it, Sunshine?"

"Oliver well?"

He curled his arm around Tau's neck, glancing down at a glint of metal. Tau had been considerate enough to cast a light. Unfortunately, that let him see the grab for a limb no longer there, empty shirt sleeve now dangling in a large gauntlet. He understood Tau's meaning, of course, the sudden wave of sorrow enough of a clue.

"I don't regret it." He looked into Tau's eyes. "You're safe and getting better. That's all I care about." The sound that left Tau seemed sad. "I'm okay, I promise."

He resisted the need to grope around for the arm. Didn't look at the empty sleeve, either. Doing so would barrel further shock through him, something he didn't want to share with Tau. He could scarcely hide the crushing pains in his right arm— missing right arm—whenever he tried to use it. That he could still feel the damn thing hadn't yet gone away. He wondered if it ever would.

"But uh," Oliver continued as sharp fingertips fumbled to undo buttons. At least, tried to. Bless him. "Maybe I keep the shirt on."

Besides, Sigma's magic was inside the breast pocket.

Tau got the message well enough, moving his eager touch to the strings keeping the borrowed undergarments from slipping off Oliver's hips. All it would have taken was a slight tug and yet, Tau tore through the laces in a split second. It didn't matter. Not when those deadly fingers snaked around his prick.

Oliver sucked in a breath as the points grazed his sensitive flesh. Something about seeing himself disappear into that big, murderous gauntlet made him want to come right then and there.

Keeping hold of Tau's neck, he bucked his hips forward as freely as the moans spilling from his lips. There was no one to hear him, after all. No one to stop him from greedily pressing against the straining erection hidden within luxurious robes. Oliver would have reminded Tau he wouldn't look, eager to feel his skin, but both of those metal hands shifted to his hips.

Then hoisted Oliver off.

"Everything—"

No chance to feel bashful about the way his stiff cock smacked Tau in the face, bodily turned to stare into darkness. His undergarment was roughly tugged past his thighs to his ankles. With a hand on his left shoulder, Tau pushed Oliver down to his knees and gently nudged him to lean forward.

Holy shit.

What was there to do but oblige? His forehead pressed against a ground of nothingness, warmed by the heat rushing to his face when he felt his arse cheeks spreading, exposing him far beyond his comprehension.

Oliver could do nothing but stammer—Tau was looking directly at his trill.

Looking, and exploring, fingers sliding between the crevice to touch him in his most intimate place. A shift of fabric and light while Tau moved. Then, something other than curious fingers pressed against— into him.

Oliver squawked. At the shock, the jolt of intrusive pain. He struggled to push upright, legs caught in cotton fabric. Flopped across the ground until he was on his back. Knowing Tau was exposed, he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Where did you learn that?" His yell fell flat against the darkness.

A musing noise of sorts. "Watched."

"Wh—" Oliver faltered, flushing so fiercely he would outglow the sphere floating nearby. "What do you mean ? Who did you watch?"

"Humans."

Ack. When the hell had Tau watched people have sex? Had they noticed? How did someone like him stay hidden long enough to peep that closely?

Oliver had so many questions, but Tau didn't seem interested in talking. Hands wrapped around both of his ankles and pulled him closer, causing his shirt to ride up his back, the ground of nothingness oddly textured like stone. He grunted in surprise, his knees knocking into his chest and rump facing upward. Tau had folded him double, putting him on full display.

Oliver stammered again, nostrils flaring and cock twitching with interest as a cool-warm touch stroked him directly across his hole.

"Pink," murmured Tau, his tone dulcet but lecherous .

Oliver yelped. That pillar of a cock slammed down against him, its tip rubbing, gliding. Pushing. There was no way that was going to fit. Didn't stop Tau from trying though, apparently very determined.

"Ow!"

Tau withdrew his touch. Oliver gave him a moment to right himself before he floundered upright. Far from graceful, which didn't help his embarrassment any.

"Forgive," uttered Tau, kneeling before him. "Well?"

"Yeah, baby." Oliver laughed despite himself, hiding behind his hand. "I'm–I think making love is a bit more involved than that."

If only he knew what that was, exactly.

Only one person who might tell him. Ugh. The very idea of asking Benjamin mortified him more than Tau directly looking into him.

"Making love?"

He smiled, unabated, and nodded. Oliver kicked the long underpants off the rest of the way. "We'll get there. But for now," he shuffled on his knees to close the gap between them, ascending his tree-sized boyfriend to straddle powerful hips, "we can do this?"

Fortunately, his cock was still pleased to be out, not once having waned. With a forward nudge of his hips, Oliver prodded a hard stomach, enthralled by the way his excitement soaked into fabric, like Tau had turned off his water repelling magic just for this.

"Hold me?"

A request immediately met. Long arms encircling his midriff allowed Oliver to reach behind him and rummage through those robes for Tau's cock. That hadn't wilted in the slightest either, hard and heavy in his hand as he hoisted it up against the cleft of his backside. The sound Tau made was unlike anything Oliver had heard before. One of satisfaction, without a doubt. He might have called it a hum, although there was no breath to accompany it.

The same couldn't be said for Oliver, exhales hiked with need as he curled his arm around wide shoulders to fist the charcoal hood in an attempt to ground himself. Sliding Tau's cock along his fundament felt shockingly good . Every time it slipped past his hole, shivers danced down his spine. His own erection twitched, jabbing Tau's hard stomach with every roll of hips.

Better still, he could hear Tau, the sounds he made. And he was vocal . Each little grunt and keen and breathless moan picking Oliver's sanity apart.

"You're swiving beautiful," he gasped against that flawless face.

Tau's nails dragged down his sides, catching the shirt's narrow weave, then slid across his backside and dug in. "Love, Oliver."

Words teasing the orgasm right out of him. His moan was startled, the jerk of his hips harsh. He glanced down, witnessed his come ribbon across dark, satiny fabric. Tau buried his face into the crook of Oliver's neck, his groan lyrical. He dug his nails hard into skin as he hastened the pace of his thrusts, driving his cock between the globes with fire-starting speed.

Woozy and bliss-drained, Oliver let himself be puppeteered. Back to the ground, as Tau held onto him with a desperation echoed in his moans. Oliver's face pressed against darkness, his knuckles digging into his cheek. Seemed like Tau really wanted him on his knees, the interest in his back entrance overwhelming and intense and blessed Sentinels Oliver wanted to give in. To tell Tau to make him his—as if Oliver wasn't already.

The drag and slide of hard, ridged velvet suddenly stopped. Intemperate fluid gushed against his hole to drip past his ballsack, that large cock pulsating over the heat of his skin. Then arms ensnared his midriff and hauled him backward. His shocked bellow didn't echo. He blinked up at darkness, now laying atop a hard body. Oliver struggled to turn around in an unrelenting embrace and pressed a wet kiss to Tau's cheek before flopping down. He buried his nose against the fabric covering a strong neck. The scent of rain had become particularly potent, its source lying motionless beneath him while pleasure dripped down his crack.

There were so many things he had wanted to talk about, but Oliver couldn't bring himself to break the satiated silence. Not yet. Too caught up in the fact that he wasn't wearing his mantle— again —and no harm had come to Tau.

Did his Sentinel neutralise the curse, like the mantle? His heart flipped backward with sudden realisation—the control of his curse had lingered while inside Tau's homeworld.

Oliver worried his lower lip, torn between speaking up and maintaining comfortable silence.

Tau shifted beneath him, restlessly.

"You okay?" Oliver asked.

"Tired."

He pressed his lips to the lower part of Tau's face. "Is being in here making you tired?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Oliver planted his palm against the solid chest and pushed to sit upright. "We should go back."

This wouldn't be the last time they could talk, after all. There'd be more chances.

A singular nod, a few moments to right themselves, and within a wink, they were back inside Oliver's hovel. Damp and devoid of Theta's fire, but not without light. The minor sun bobbing by the hollow near the hearth glimmered bright and beautiful, illuminating dried flowers dangling from the ceiling beam.

His lips thinned into a line. He'd been tremendously selfish.

At a touch to his shoulder, he turned. Tau's hand tightened its hold on him.

"I know," murmured Oliver. "I don't want to leave you, but Luce and Maji they're… They don't have you to distract them from…" From all the awful things they'd seen. "Do you want to come with—"

Tau vigorously shook his head, and did so more than once. Okay, then.

"Don't worry. I won't be gone long." He really didn't want to leave Tau on his own, who had seen terrible things too, been through worse still, and had fought harder than anyone. "I'll bring them here?"

He received a nod that seemed reluctant, and a rueful smile hooked the corners of Oliver's mouth. He'd always hated his hovel, no bigger than a crevice and suffocating for the five years he'd occupied it. Had it not been for Benjamin, his cupboards would have given up by now, the shelves would have dropped, rotten from damp. The rugs were hopeless, more jute backing than blue wool, the bed decrepit. There was very little of value, only that of the sentimental sort. Maji's flowers, and the book Lucetta had given him on sewing.

Now, though, this was their space. It wasn't great, but it was his and Tau's. Inviting anyone inside their space felt like an invasion of something precious.

All the same, Oliver left with a kiss, the mantle, and a reassuring smile. He spared little thought on the guards lining the passageways, or the way Fae magic smeared every corner, or the whip of his untied laces against stone.

…Or the way disconcerted shivers rattled down his spine the further he went. Every noise startling, the thumping of the cage lift jolting his heart so much it hurt. Every echoing laugh raked fear through him, the occasional miner he passed became a shadowy blur. Lights became blinding. Whenever he closed his tired eyes, he saw a sea of red.

Just a landfill. A place to dump creatures.

What were they, before being dumped?

Upon reaching Lucetta's level, Oliver needed to shove his hand into the pocket of his overalls to hide its tremble. Tentatively, he booted the door. It opened moments later, revealing an exhausted Lucetta. Her chestnut eyes immediately fell to his missing arm.

"You alright?"

"Uhh, yeah." Oliver gnawed his lower lip hard, hoping to quell the unease carved into his very soul. His gaze flicked past Lucetta's square shoulder to where Maji sat huddled on her bed in the far corner of the hovel, crocheted blanket around her shoulders. She, too, looked worse for wear. "You two should come to Sunshine. He's tired, but he might be able to make some of those fireflies."

Lucetta looked to consider his offer. Her smile was as worn as her eyes, barely there as she shook her head. "We're alright." Her gaze lowered again, and Oliver shifted under the weight of it. "You should rest up and take time with…him. You deserve it after–after everything."

Something told Oliver he ought to push a little harder. That same something also told him Lucetta wouldn't be convinced so easily. He leaned sideways to better see Maji.

"Maybe later then? I don't know how long it's been but I miss you both."

Despite the bright washes of yellows and pinks across Maji's face from Fae lights, her smile looked strained. A far cry from the sunniness she always exuded. "We'll come by soon."

"Okay," Oliver trailed off, kicking at dust. "If you're sure?"

"We'll bring some dinner by," said Lucetta. "I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet?"

Eating hadn't even occurred to him. Oliver rubbed his stomach, suddenly reminded of how empty it was. "Dinner sounds great."

On his way back, he passed the door to Benjamin's hovel further down the passageway. He lingered outside it, longing to see him. And Samuel, he supposed. Oliver raised his hand to the dark red surface, hesitating. Surely, the two would be making up for lost time. He shouldn't interrupt them.

Once back within Tau's embrace, the tremble in his hand calmed, as did the noise in his head. Intrusive memories went where they belonged, into the very back of his skull where he couldn't reach them.

Thoughts about food hadn't vanished though, and Oliver was grateful for the tinned peaches Lucetta must have left in his cupboard. Grateful too, for the picture of a giant peach on the tin's label, leaving the guesswork out of it.

Less grateful for the fact that a tin opener required the use of two hands.

Glaring at both tin and its opener lying on the singular stone countertop, Oliver slumped back into the hold Tau had on him since he returned. "Reckon you could open this for me?"

Tau took the tin with one hand, refusing to let go of him with the other. He tilted it this way, that way, upside down and even shook it. Oliver exhaled, amused, and vaguely gestured at the tin opener.

"You open the top with this thing, but I—"

Sharp nails dug into the tin's side, releasing tiny rivulets of syrupy water. Oliver latched on with his mouth to drink, easing the tin out of Tau's hand with an embarrassed laugh. Barely had he tilted it to stop its leaking before his back collided with the countertop. Large hands grasped his ribcage, and that long body pressed into him.

Peaches were quickly forgotten about, Tau's hardness nestled against his stomach offering more alluring satiation.