Chapter Five

I’m frantic as I unlock the nightstand drawer and take out my kit.

Drake wanders over slowly and has a seat next to me on the bed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small vial. My mouth actually waters at the sight of it. God, it’s been too long. How many days? Six?

My fingers shake as I remove the rubber strap, then hand Drake the plastic pouch containing a fresh syringe. He takes his time opening it, sticking the needle into the vial and filling the syringe with clear liquid.

Attempting to steady my breathing, I wrap the thick elastic around my right bicep, just above the elbow. It quickly cuts off some circulation, the normally visible veins in my forearm popping.

I swallow, peeking up at Drake, who’s staring at me.

“Relax. Jesus.” He shakes his head. Clenching my jaw, I seethe at him silently, and he chuckles. “See for that, I have half a mind to make you sweat it out.”

“Why do you like fucking with me so much?” I know the answer, but I still feel it necessary to ask.

“Because you’re fun to fuck with,” he rumbles, tapping my forearm with his fingers. “Always have been.”

My body is so keyed up in anticipation of what he’s going to do, the slightest touch of his skin on mine licks like flames. My mouth is as dry as a bone while I watch his eyes, gliding up and down my arm. He drags his fingers along the curve of my bicep and I shiver, my dick twitching in my pants.

“Plus…” He leans in closer until his lips are hovering over my mouth. “You’re mine like this.”

I’ve heard the words in his head a hundred times, but when he says it out loud, it still sends a rush through my heart. My pulse is thudding aggressively in my neck, echoing all throughout my body as he holds me still and pricks the needle into my skin.

A small breath bursts from my lips, my eyes locked on his face while he watches the needle in my vein. I glance down to see blood mix with the clear liquid in the syringe, and the moment it does, Drake presses down on the plunger to shoot.

As soon as the syringe is empty, I let go of the rubber. And I’m instantly hit with fuzzy warmth. Like my entire body is wrapped in a big, furry blanket while I lie in front of the fireplace.

Although I can’t feel myself doing it, I lie back on the bed, grabbing Drake by the arm and tugging him with me. I vaguely see him tossing the syringe onto the floor as he crawls over me, caging me in with his arms on either side of my shoulders.

Colors twinkle and flash in my vision like a kaleidoscope, geometric shapes twisting around the room. I gaze up at Drake, and he down at me. Those snake eyes… they’re comforting. I don’t know what it is, but something so potentially scary looking doesn’t scare me. Even if he is wicked, it’s right.

He’s supposed to be this way.

We’re light and dark, him and me. Good and bad. Positive and negative.

The circle is complete.

Can you hear me, brother?

I answer him with my mind, Yes.

What am I thinking now?

A lazy smile takes over my face as my eyelids droop. I see the colors even brighter when my eyes are shut, my mind’s eye wide open. A window made to show me it all.

I see many things… Shapes and creatures and feelings. I see emotions, each with their own color and symbol. Stars connect in my mind like constellations.

Focus, Darian.

You get so jealous when it’s not all about you, I answer him through a slight chuckle.

Empyrean is me, brother. Never forget that.

I know it is.

So then tell me what I’m thinking…

Reopening my eyes to look up at him once more, I find him hungry. Starved.

I know he’s the snake, but right now, he looks like a wolf ready to devour its prey. And I don’t believe I’ve ever wanted anything more.

Do it, I tell him.

Do what, gorgeous? Even with his mouth closed, his voice is pure sex. It causes me to squirm beneath him. I’m so warm…

Use me. You know I want it. My hands travel up his waist, inside his shirt to feel smooth skin covering stones of muscle. I lick my lips. I’m so fucking needy right now, my cock is aching.

All the color just makes it that much more tempting. And hearing him like this… I can finally hear him again.

He abruptly grabs my hands to stop them, pinning them above my head. I gasp, but it sounds more like a moan, and he likes it. I know he likes it, because I can hear him thinking.

Mmm… You’re right. I know you want it.

I blink. You want it, too.

He leans over me, extending his long tongue to trace my lips, thinking as he does, You know I do… King.

Writhing under him, the heat surrounding us is visible. A large, orange ball of fire swallowing us up on this bed. Drake’s lips and tongue descend my jaw, and my neck, and the flames spread to the comforter, then the pillows.

He lets go of my hands enough to tug his shirt over his head. It catches fire too as he tosses it aside. Then he slides mine up my torso, much slower, fingers tracing the lines of me as he goes.

I love that you want me so badly…

His eyes come up to mine as I witness him swallow. We only do this now.

I know, I tell him, even though I hate it. But it’s the truth.

Empyrean is us together as much as it is us apart. It’s the only time we can be like this.

Drake removes my shirt completely, a scorching blaze igniting the bedposts as he goes for my pants, and I go for his.

What am I thinking now, your majesty? His lips curl wickedly. He looks goddamn beautiful when he smiles, but I try not to think it because I know it will only piss him off.

You’re wondering if you should tie me…

Should I?

I don’t care, just hold me down and fuck me. I’m panting, out of breath and arching up to him as he grinds into me. We shimmy out of our pants, and once in our boxers, he presses himself against my body. The contrast of his pale white skin on my much more bronzed complexion is a turn-on, although I’m not sure why.

We’re brothers, though we look nothing alike, and I suppose this fact reminds me that no blood binds us. Still, our bond is one much deeper, and that’s why we shouldn’t be doing this. Among other reasons, of course.

You want my cock inside you, King Darian?

I groan at the feel of his erection, stiff and rubbing into my own. God, I missed this. It’s only been a week, but it feels like an eternity when I’m stuck pretending.

I can be myself with you.

I know you can, beautiful brother. So let me take you for a ride.

Yes, yes. Please… Take me.

A growl leaves Drake’s lips as they come down onto mine, fast and hard. His mouth assaults me, sucking all the oxygen from my lungs as he eats me alive, and I let him because I love it. I love the feeling of him. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

Something dark works its way up, from the back corners of my mind. It makes me itch and attempt to wriggle free, but Drake holds me down.

Stay with me, he insists, lips sucking and tugging my own, teeth nipping in a way that isn’t painful, but treasuring. Don’t let him take what’s mine.

A tear slips from the corner of my eye, pain escaping with it. Drake’s hands come up to hold my jaw while he kisses me softer, sweeter, his tongue tasting the same as it has for years. Like safety. Like protection. Like love…

“Stop it, Darian,” he growls out loud and runs a hand down to my throat, holding it hard, cutting off just the tiniest bit of air as a warning.

“I’m sorry…” I croak. I don’t know why I said it out loud, because I am.

Mouths can lie, but thoughts are true.

I hate putting all this burden on Drake. I hate breaking the rules. I just want to feel good, like only he can make me.

His movements have slowed, and I feel him pulling away. It swarms me with panic as I slip my hand inside his boxers and fill my palm with him.

Come back to me, I plead, stroking slow, listening to him waging an internal war. I lean forward and kiss his neck, sucking his pulse while he groans.

I want to fill you up… His voice is dangerous inside, possessive. I know he has the potential to break me down, but I’ve never cared.

I always want it, no matter what.

“So do it,” I breathe on his milky flesh, desperate to leave a mark on him.

Don’t even think about it, he hisses, and I chuckle.

Stop me, then.

He sits up, and before I know what’s happening, he’s tearing my boxers off, then slithering out of his own. I can’t help my gaze from sticking below his waist, at the incredibly impressive length of him. It’s times like these, when I look in awe at him naked, that my sexuality is confirmed. There isn’t a doubt in my mind.

This is my chemistry. I was made this way, of Mother. She made me perfect, exactly the way she wants me, and it would be a sin to go against that.

I’m faced with trials because of it. I always have been. I couldn’t think that would change just because I left the outside world. And I’m fine with it. I must stay true to myself.

That said, I know what I’m doing here is wrong. But that doesn’t stop it from feeling like the ultimate blessing from God.

It would seem as if Drake is barely paying attention to my rampant thoughts, because he’s having a similar reaction to my body, which brings on a grin. We’ve seen each other naked a million times, and I still get him wiping away drool. I have to say, it makes me feel wonderful, especially because Drake sees a lot of people.

I don’t ask. I can’t know… It might kill me.

He crawls over me once more, pushing my thighs apart forcefully enough that I hum. Then he settles between them, thrusting his hips so that his balls are rubbing mine.

“It’s not that I don’t want…” He stops as his jaw clenches.

I gulp. “I know.”

His eyes stay locked on mine as he reaches toward the nightstand, pulling a bottle from the drawer. He uncaps it and squeezes liquid onto his erection, stroking himself with it, then stroking me. My heart is jumping aggressively, lips shaking with need as I stare up at him. My brother.

My heart. My torment.

The bed is burning around us yet we’re as still as stone, holding one another’s gaze, eager enough to feel it before it’s even happened.

Drake takes his erection in his right hand, while the left glides up my chest, brushing a nipple until I purr. He leans over me, kisses me once more, sucking my lower lip into his mouth while he nudges the bare head of his cock at the entrance of my ass.

Is this what you need, my King? He pushes ever-so-slightly, and I welcome him, gasping as the tip breaks through.

“God, yes…” I breathe into his mouth. More.

You want more, Head Priest? He shoves in another inch and I’m falling away from reality.

It burns, the sensation intense, but I love it. I could never get enough of this forbidden desire; this hunger from which I’ll never have my fill.

“Drake… yes yes yes…” I pant while he pushes in more. Good God, more.

You love my cock in your tight ass, don’t you, brother?

He flicks his hips once more and fills me, almost all the way. I groan out loud, unable to stop the sound because holy fuck, this is intense. It’s marvelously dirty, and I need it.

He kisses me harder, taking my bottom lip between his teeth and biting me while he thrusts, balls deep. His bite breaks the skin and I taste the copper of my own blood flooding my mouth, his tongue lurching in to taste.

He’s unhinged, desperate, sucking blood from the cut in my lip while he pulls his dick back and forces it in once more, driving so deep in me I’m seeing stars. His body weight forces me down, one hand curling around my throat, while the other grabs my thigh, holding my legs wrapped around his waist as he pumps every inch of himself into my body.

“Fuck me, you feel so good,” he hisses, and my heart soars.

I need to hear him say those things. I want to be everything to him, just as he’s everything to me.

I can’t help wanting him this way. I always have.

But I can’t have him, and it tears me apart inside.

So I just focus on his big dick tearing my ass apart, fucking me harder and harder, his pelvis slapping against me almost as loud as the bed frame knocking against the wall. My hands travel all over his body, feeling up his slim, defined surfaces, reaching around to squeeze his ass and pull him deeper.

“I love when you’re this deep in me, Drake,” I groan as quietly as I can manage. “I love when you make me come with no hands.”

“Mmm… me too.” He leans back a bit to watch my cock, bobbing on my abs, skin stretched almost shiny.

His dick is dragging along that spot deep inside me that feels like bliss realized, zapping my loins until my balls draw up tight. I’m about to explode already. I want to hold out, but I know there’s no way. Drake won’t have it.

He likes to watch me come first.

With his hand pressing on my throat and his hips bucking into me, stroking his long cock between my legs, I erupt.

My orgasm sweeps me up fast and I explode into a meteor shower, stardust shimmering all around us as my voice breaks.

“Fuck… Drake! Fuck fuck fuuuuck…” Yes yes yes I’m coming… so… hard.

Cum shoots out all over my abs, up to my chest while my brother keeps stroking, keeps pumping, watching my orgasm drench us. He reaches down and swirls his fingers through it, bringing them up to my lips.

My eyes stay with his while I lick up my own cum from his fingers, moaning at the taste.

It reminds me of the first time I tasted it… Tasted him.

He shudders and swipes more off my stomach, then licks it off himself.

You taste so fucking good. He hovers over me and kisses my lips, diving into me deep, bottoming out while he reaches his own climax. All I taste is him and me together, his need for me the best flavor on earth as he shoots off inside me, deep.

The feel of him pulsing in my ass is the hottest experience I can barely fathom. I hold his face to mine, keeping him as close as possible. And for minutes on end, we’re just breathing each other in; his exhale to my inhale, and vice versa. We’re one, just like we’re made to be.

Though it can never last.

You’re such a wondrous creature, I tell him.

His chest flutters, and I see the raw vulnerability in his snake eyes. They’re so much more golden now than they usually are. This is the only time he’s like this. Right after we’re together. This is when I get him, and I always want it to last so much longer than it does. Because it can’t. And I get that.

But it doesn’t make it any less devastating.

You’re…

“Mine,” he finishes the thought out loud and kisses me once more, before pulling out and getting up.

I stay in bed, lying there while I watch him clean us up, as he always does. The colors are fading; still there, though not as vibrant. The shapes have gone, but I can still feel emotions in the room, thumping like the air has its own pulse.

The high from Empyrean lasts only about twenty-minutes. But that part’s just for fun.

The power it gives will last days, and so right now, the voices are loud. Though the only one I hear is Drake’s. This is how he likes it; why it’s come to this…

I may be King, but Drake rules over the Field of Influence. He’s The Alchemist, meaning Empyrean and everything about it belongs to him. And he certainly takes mass amounts of pleasure in being the one to supply it to me.

And for that reason, it’s his power as much as it is mine.

Drake, my lovely snake-eyed brother, holds the key to my only lock.