Rafe tried to lose the oceandog on the walk to his and Berto’s shared apartment—or, well, to be honest, he thought about trying to lose the oceandog. He didn’t actually make much of an effort to follow through.
Didn’t make any effort at all, truth be told, and he couldn’t even say why. Just… every time he looked at the damned thing, those sad eyes were looking over at him, begging him to—
Rafe didn’t even know.
The oceandog followed Rafe up two flights of stairs and into Rafe’s crowded apartment, not leaving Rafe’s side once.
Rafe fed the oceandog—again—and it ate everything he gave it except the overripe fruit Rafe tried to convince it to finish off for him. Rafe really didn’t want to eat that fruit, but he probably wasn’t going to be lucky enough to get out of it. Berto liked to cook it into an overly sweet mash that stuck to Rafe’s tongue like snot.
Rafe put the fruit back onto the bowl beside the cooker while the oceandog gobbled up the last of yesterday’s meat pie, and then, very casually, walked off toward his bedroom.
The oceandog watched him with those big eyes, his front legs propped on the heavy table and his head bent over the meat pie.
Rafe shut the door quietly, listening, but all he heard was the rattle of the cool-air fans. It was outdated technology that Rafe was lucky to have working in a building as old as this one. Stale air wafted around him, and he dropped down on the edge of his bed, letting himself fall back to stare up at the ceiling.
He was going to have to come up with a plan to get rid of his companion before Berto came back. He rolled his head to the side and stared at the already lowering sun. Sunset would come quickly, and already it was only a few hours away.
The sudden rattle of the door startled Rafe so hard he jumped. Before he’d even jerked upright on the edge of the bed, something slammed into the door so hard the wall shook. Adrenaline poured through his veins, making his stomach churn.
He dug his fingers into his hair and stared around the small room that contained nothing but his narrow bed and a chest of drawers. By all that was holy, what was he even doing? He never should’ve brought that oceandog into his apartment.
The wall shook a second time and a disturbing crack sounded from the door.
“Shit!” Rafe jumped up and threw himself at the door, then jerked it open before the oceandog could knock it off its hinges.
The oceandog plowed into him, knocking him back. The door slipped right out of his hand and he landed on the bed with a loud oomph. His ass appreciated the softer landing this time, but even the impact with the mattress sent a pained jolt into his tailbone.
He grabbed the oceandog’s short fur and yanked.
The oceandog flattened him to the bed anyway.
Rafe stared up at the ceiling and debated his next move, while his legs dangled over the side of the bed.
The oceandog stretched out over Rafe, settling two of its legs across Rafe’s thighs and its head on Rafe’s lap. That heavy jowl plopped down right over Rafe’s groin.
Rafe grunted, curling in a bit at the unexpected impact with his cock. He swallowed and tried to roll free.
The oceandog’s low grumble stopped him.
Rafe sighed and gave up on freedom for the time being.
A long silence followed, broken only by a quiet snuffling sound that Rafe realized abruptly was a damned snore.
His bladder started to pang. He ignored the sensation for as long as he could, because he had a feeling the oceandog wasn’t going to like it when he tried to move again. Shit. He’d be lucky if it let him take a piss alone. Having that thing staring at his dick while he emptied his bladder wasn’t something he was looking forward to.
Not the least of all because he still had an unexplained erection that he was trying desperately not to think about.
The harder he tried not to think about it, though, the harder he got, and the stronger his magic tickled at the underside of his skin, seeping out in a slow waft of sweet, dark scent he could almost taste on the back of his tongue.
And what the all holy hell was that about?
His bladder panged again, the pain brighter, stronger than before.
He exhaled in a rough burst. Carefully, he shoved at the oceandog’s shoulder. “You’re going to have to move your ugly head so I can go take care of some business.”
The oceandog raised droopy eyes to stare at Rafe.
As the oceandog’s weight shifted, Rafe pushed up on his elbow. He studied those eyes and that face, monstrous and terrifying, and yet… strangely not so terrifying anymore. “You know what? You need a name.”
Sad brown eyes bored into Rafe as the oceandog rose to its feet. The bed creaked ominously and Rafe winced. His mattress was never going to be the same after this.
He thought about everything he knew of oceandogs, which wasn’t much.
They were monster spawn, some people said, come down in the Yeeru mothership that had crashed into the ocean ten thousand years ago and brought the monsters to their small world. Oceandogs had worked their way into the ecosystem, finding a niche that meant they spent most of their time on the coast, hunting the predators that came out with the surge. Some people believed the oceandogs’ taste for ocean predators was one of the only reasons the seas had become safe enough for small boats to travel along the coastline. Ocean travel still wasn’t safe, especially not in the deeper waters, but it was safer than it had been before the monsters came.
Or so Rafe had heard. The stories had been floating around for much longer than Rafe had been alive, and he wasn’t sure how accurate a ten thousand year old story could be.
“How about Monster Killer—”
The oceandog whined so fiercely that Rafe had to slam his hands down over his ears to stop the painful ringing. He surged upright. “Okay, okay, not Monster Killer. You’d think you could understand exactly what I’m—”
Rafe broke off and stared hard at the oceandog.
“By all that’s holy,” he muttered. “You’re more intelligent than you look, aren’t you?”
The oceandog whuffed and sat back on its haunches.
A violent pounding echoed through the walls. Someone was at the apartment door.
Rafe glanced toward the window. Too early for Berto. Too violent, too.
Which meant—
Shit.
The pounding intensified. Rafe quickly rolled off the bed, his feet hitting the floor with a thud, then stood and eyed the oceandog. A name came to him on a surge of inspiration.
“Agg.”
The oceandog’s head tilted, his stare disconcerting.
“Come on, Agg. I just named you after one of the old gods of the ocean. Don’t complain. He was known as the most powerful of them all.” He’d also been known for his unusually large penis now that Rafe thought about it, but… well, too late to worry about that.
The oceandog—Agg—huffed out a breath and jumped off Rafe’s bed with more agility than his size should have made possible.
Rafe jumped back, his heart thundering, as Agg landed with a furniture jarring thud right in front of him. Rafe scrubbed at his face and shook his head. “All holy hell.”
Agg’s whuff reverberated as loudly as the continued pounding on Rafe’s front door.
Rafe detoured to the bathroom. He meant to take a piss before he answered the door, and too bad for his unwanted visitors.
Probably a mistake, but he wasn’t getting into a confrontation with a full bladder.
He shook himself off and stuffed his cock back into his trousers, only to look up and see Agg watching him with a disturbing intensity. Rafe’s cock twitched and Rafe looked down, horrified at his body’s unnatural reaction. He finished fastening his trousers as quickly as possible with trembling hands and then hurried out of the bathroom and toward the apartment’s entrance.
What was wrong with him? He’d never—ever—had any interest in the kind of thing his body seemed to be telling him he was suddenly interested in.
Something was wrong. Maybe it was the magic. Maybe it was stress. Maybe it was—was—was—
His thoughts went blank as the violent knocking reached a feverish pitch.
“Open the door, you prick! I know you’re in there.”
He paused for a deep breath before he reached for the door. As soon as he released the latch, the door shoved open. He barely missed having the thick slab of wood slammed into his face.
He should have been expecting it, all things told.
Teris grabbed the front of Rafe’s shirt, while Dontan’s magic swirled in the air around them all.
Agg’s menacing growl rose over the sound of their scuffle.
“Oh now, what’s this?” Teris said hotly, glaring at Agg. “You think you’ve got yourself a protector?”
Rafe hadn’t actually thought that far ahead, but now that Teris had mentioned it… “Maybe I do.”
Teris laughed. “I’ll crush the life right out of him with my magic if he makes one move toward me.”
Agg’s growl turned into a low and menacing grumble, raising every hair on Rafe’s body and sending what little magic he had flowing like fire through his veins. Blood rushed into his dick so fast a surge of nausea made him lightheaded.
He’d never felt anything like it and his stomach churned and his head throbbed right behind his temples.
Dontan stepped far enough into the room to slam the door closed. “You going to make this harder on yourself than need be?”
“I think you two need to get out of my apartment.”
“I want those zembores,” Dontan said.
“I don’t have them and you know it.”
“I told you to get them.”
“I told you no.”
“I told you I’d kill you and your brother both if you didn’t. Is that what you want?”
He hated that he couldn’t really do anything to stop what was probably going to happen, because Dontan and Teris both had strong, dangerous magic, and he had just enough to put a tingle in their dicks if he worked it hard enough.
Not exactly a fair fight.
Dontan loomed on Rafe’s left, looking over Teris’s shoulder. “If we beat the shit outta you and leave you for your brother to cry over, maybe he’ll convince you to do what’s right in this situation.”
Rafe gripped Teris’s fist in his hand. “Maybe you should just leave us alone. We’re not going to change our minds, asshole.”
Teris leaned in, twisting the front of Rafe’s shirt. Rafe staggered under the pressure. “Well look at that,” Teris said softly. He was staring down at the very obvious erection in Rafe’s trousers.
Rafe held himself as still as possible, not the easiest thing in the world with Teris’s fist wadded up in his shirt and his weight balanced on the balls of his feet.
“I smell his magic,” Dontan said. “Never figured him for a cock teaser.”
Pheromonal magic had a particular effect on others—if the magic was strong enough. A strong magic-wielder could send anyone he wanted into a frenzy, where the single pervading thought became the need to satisfy the base urge for sexual satisfaction. But strong pheromonal magic was rare—probably a good thing, because the only thing Rafe imagined pheromonal magic was good for was getting himself into awkward situations like this one.
Only he’d never been in this kind of situation before, because he had almost no magic to speak of.
Except that didn’t seem to be as true as it usually was. His dick ached with the need for him to take it in hand, and he could feel the seep of magic through his pores.
Teris tilted his head, his mouth parting on a sigh.
Dontan scowled, then reached down and adjusted the position of his dick inside the snug fitting crotch of his pants. “Make him see reason, Teris, so we can get out of here and I can go find someone prettier than this prick to fuck.”
Agg’s menacing grumble became a fierce whine and Rafe cringed at the power of that high-pitched noise against his eardrums.
Dontan turned to stare at Agg.
Teris’s grimace didn’t stop him from punching his fist into Rafe’s belly. Pain drove the breath right out of Rafe.
Agg lunged, jowls open wide, those sharp teeth a terrifying sight coming right for Rafe.