6. Rauri

CHAPTER SIX

RAURI

He was leaving, and suddenly, that felt like the worst thing that had happened to anyone, ever. Life without Yarilo, a man I'd known a sum total of a handful of hours, sounded like a bleak, empty thing, hours and days and years stretching out before me with nothing in them but more of the quiet life I'd built myself.

A life I'd always enjoyed before I'd sprouted horns and started needing sex to live.

But something fundamental had changed, and it wasn't just that I was a demon. It was him. The way he'd called himself chaotic neutral and then immediately leapt in to help a stranger anyway. Felt a lot more like chaotic good to me, no matter what he called it.

The way he'd talked about monogamy, like it was something I wouldn't be capable of, rather than something he wasn't capable of, made me feel like I was missing a vital clue in the puzzle that was Yarilo.

" I get possessive ," he'd said, and rather than making me nervous, it had given me an anticipatory shiver.

I wanted him to get possessive.

But there he was, practically running out the door after saying we should talk via email. Like he didn't want to be around me, not only now, but ever again.

Had I done something wrong? Was he angry?

I didn't think so. I wasn't great with people, but the look in his eye as he'd stood had been cornered animal trying to escape. Nothing angry in it.

So I abandoned my own coffee and ran after him.

I... I didn't know what good it would do, but it was right. I couldn't let him run away from me. Something told me if he slipped away now, I might never see him again.

I got outside in time to see him hurrying into a nearby alley and followed. When I got into the alley, though, what I found wasn't what I expected.

He'd turned toward the wall, forehead against the brick of the building, and there was the anger I'd missed before. Not aimed at me, but inward. What the hell?

"Yarilo?"

He spun to face me, going impassive in an instant. It was a well-constructed mask, and I wondered how long he'd been building it. "Something else you needed?"

I took a second to process everything that had happened.

I was... well, I was the king of awkward. I definitely did not have game, and it had been a surprise that the man in the coffee shop had given me his number. Yarilo had been a little hesitant from the beginning, but that had been when he'd gotten almost as awkward as I was.

Not that a lithe, sleek creature like him ever could be as awkward as me, but he'd given it a shot.

When somehow, against all common sense, I'd succeeded in getting someone's attention.

" I get possessive ."

Possessive.

Now, maybe I was being an optimist. Maybe it was sheer wishful thinking. But maybe... maybe he was already feeling it, just a little. Or maybe he wanted to.

He hadn't said that incubi were specifically non-monogamous, just that thing about eating filet mignon every day forever, which frankly, sounded pretty good to me. Maybe some people, and even more demons, were against it, but if I had to eat steak every day forever, I'd do it pretty happily. I ate the same things most days just because I didn't care enough to change my habits.

And I couldn't imagine a person who was a better personification of filet mignon than Yarilo.

Instead of saying a word, I decided to show him what I wanted to say. He turned to face me as I approached him in the alley, leaning his shoulders against the brick behind him and looking effortless and casual and perfect. I cupped his face with my hand, the awkward bleeding out of me as I looked into his eyes. He'd saved my life. Helped me with no promise of anything in return. Been kind when he hadn't needed to.

Leaning in, slow and steady to give him a chance to back away, I pressed our lips together.

He didn't shove me away, so I took my opportunity. I pressed into the kiss, touching my tongue against the seam of his lips. He let me in, so once again, I pushed. I explored his mouth, hot and wet and so sweet from his earlier chocolate pastry, until I had to pull back in order to breathe.

He let his head fall back against the wall, and I could feel it. I could feel my power linking to his, touching him, leading him closer and closer—his cock was hard. I didn't even have to touch it to know.

So I dropped to my knees right there on the pavement in the filthy alley. He didn't say a word, just watched as I tugged his zipper down and opened his pants. No underwear—how on- brand for him. Without a word, I leaned forward and licked a stripe up his cock, then took it in my mouth.

He gave a little hiss, but again, not a word. His red eyes bore into me as I swallowed him down to the root, running my tongue along the sides of him, occasionally glancing up to meet his gaze. He held it, intense, his teeth bared, as he watched me suck his cock.

I wanted him to grab my hair, push me down on him and take what he wanted, but it was hard to say so when my mouth was full. So I grabbed his hand and twined it into my hair, meeting his eye as I did so. His eyes narrowed at me, but after a moment, tentatively, he followed my lead.

Heh. My turn to take charge. I'd never had sex with such a balanced power dynamic before, but... it was nice. Still, he took the direction with gusto when it became apparent that I wanted it. He pulled me down on him, shoving into the back of my throat till I almost gagged, fucking my mouth till both of us were struggling to draw enough air.

He pressed one of his legs forward, hissing out another breath, then held my head in place, slightly away from him, just the tip of his cock still in my mouth. "Get yourself off," he whispered, pushing his shin into my hard cock. "On my leg."

His red eyes glittered, waiting for me to deny him, but he was going to have a long wait till he found something that offended me if that was the sort of thing he was asking. Instead, I surged forward, humping his leg for all I was worth as I continued to suck on his perfect dick.

He moaned into it, and the power grew between us, bouncing back and forth in that same overwhelming way it had the other night. His energy adding to mine which then added to his. Like a tsunami building offshore, ready to crash over us both.

When I was so close to the edge that I wasn't sure I could hold back, he grabbed my hair in both hands and shoved my head down on his cock, almost choking me as he came, salty and bitter, down my throat. I humped against him, the friction of my jeans against my cock just what I needed to set me off, jerking and coming in my pants while I continued to swallow the last of him.

He let go of me and I slowly pulled off, leaning my head against his hip, breathing hard.

Above me, he whispered, "Well fuck."

I couldn't bring myself to ask whether that was a good well fuck, or a bad one.