Kelthian orbit, C-1, Luc's private vessel
Luc slipped under the covers and slid up behind Wulf. Taking his sleeping lover into his arms, he pulled Wulf against him.
"Nnn." Wulf mashed his face into the pillows and rolled away.
Luc gathered him close once more. Wulf's cologne seemed familiar, but not like his usual. No real scent of whiskey. He buried his nose against Wulf's neck and breathed. Delicious. Sweet. What is that? Wulf's skin felt smooth to the touch. Luc rubbed his fingers together, testing. Oil? Very faint, if so.
Taking a handful of Wulf's dark hair, he drew it back from his ear and nuzzled closer. Like a snap, the scent registered. Baby oil. Luc grinned into the darkness. Lots of good uses for that. "Wulf. Love. Wake up."
"Nnn. Wan' sleep."
"Wake up." He rolled Wulf onto his back and slid his hand down the smooth chest, brushing fingers across his nipples. They pebbled immediately.
The pale brown eyes fluttered open, dazed and sleepy. His lashes stuck together in endearing points. Wulf yawned, hooching around in the bed as he knuckled his eyes. "I'm still mad at you, Sempervian. After you make love to me I'm going to kick your ass."
"You think so, do you?"
"Yeah." Wulf lifted a hand and stroked it across Luc's hair, his fingers lingering near Luc's brow. "You'd better be good or I'll make you regret it."
"I'm always good." Propping his head on one hand, Luc stroked Wulf's warm skin. "You're so sensual. I love touching you. Staring at you. You were made to be enjoyed, Wulf."
His lover arched his neck, sighing. His languid submission made Luc's body pulse with the sensation of power. His balls tingled with a wonderful so-hot-I'm-going-to-shoot pleasure. The raw sex appeal of having this beautiful man in his bed sent Luc's mind reeling.
A longtime dream come true being here with him. "Luc, I want to fuck you."
"I want to fuck you too. In fact, I'll let you do anything you want to me. I was an ass." Luc leaned down and kissed the nipple nearest to him, stroked the brown button with his tongue, teased it into rigidity. He drew Wulf closer and licked the other nipple, breathed on the wet skin to pebble it. "I want to make it up to you."
Wulf gripped him by the hair and pulled his face up close to his own. "You'd damn well better, Sempervian. I expect major kissing up."
"Would gifts be appropriate?"
He lowered his gaze to Luc's mouth and then returned to his eyes. "You think you can afford what it would take to buy me off?"
He traced a finger along Wulf's jaw line. "What would you like?"
"How about the Fists?"
Luc choked on a laugh. "The ruckball team?"
"If you had something bigger you wanted to offer, go ahead."
The little tease is serious! Luc caught what this request was--and the truth that lay behind it. Nothing he gave Wulf would make up for the way he had treated him. Luc sat up. "Wulf. Wulf, love. Sit up."
His lover pushed himself back against the head of the bed and drew up his knees, wrapping arms around them. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"I infuriated you by the way I reacted and you don't want to forgive me. In fact, you want to kick my ass."
Wulf dipped his head lower, a corner of his mouth twitching.
Luc folded his legs and leaned forward, one hand braced against the pillows. "Maybe you'd feel better if you hit me."
The brown-eyed gaze turned on him sharply. A flash of anger tightened into a squint.
"I spanked you." Luc wet his lips. "Maybe you should hit me. I was senseless and heartless."
The resounding slap across the face hit him so hard and fast it almost toppled him. Resisting the urge to touch his face, Luc turned back to Wulf and was struck again. The third blow brought the taste of blood to his mouth.
Wulf shoved him backwards, pushing him off the bed. Luc clambered to his feet and staggered backward. He submitted to Wulf's fists as his lover pummeled him. No one could ever accuse Wulf Gabriel of hitting like a girl. He'd paid attention in class during all those years of martial arts. Luc felt the proof of it in every blow.
He resisted nothing, allowing himself to be beaten. Wulf knocked him to the ground, made him get up, and then knocked him down again.
"Get up, damn it!" Wulf stood over him. "Stand up and fight me, Sempervian. Defend yourself."
"No." Luc stuck his tongue against a loose tooth. His jaw ached. He rose unsteadily on one knee, pushed himself to his feet, and faced Wulf. "Hit me again."
"No!" Wulf shoved him away. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Think I'm going to give you the easy way out?" He set a hand in the middle of Luc's chest and shoved.
He staggered, almost fell. His jaw hummed as his loose tooth reseated itself. Luc wished he could stop the healing, so Wulf could have proof of his suffering. No amount of blood could suffice to show the depth of his pain.
"Why did you do that to me, Luc? Why did you have to make me hate you again? I wanted to love you, damn it. I wanted to open my heart to you and you tore it out of me." He pushed Luc so hard he hit the wall.
Throwing out his hands, Luc braced them against it and stood there, accepting whatever punishment Wulf threw his way.
"Damn you!" Wulf balled up his fists. "I forgave you for my father's death. I forgave you for living when my father died. But I can't forgive you for taking away my trust. I opened myself to you. I gave you everything and you just ... walked ... away." He pressed the heel of his fists against his eyes and rocked unsteadily.
Luc reached out a hand to support him.
Wulf yanked away from his touch and almost fell. He regained his balance and moved away, turning his back. "Damn you to hell, Sempervian. Damn you!"
Luc sank to the floor and tilted his head back against the wall. "I wish I was human enough to go there for you, Wulf. If I have a soul, it's in torment right now over what I did to you. You have every right to hate me."
Wulf turned and lost his footing, falling to his knees before him. "Luc, I wanted you so bad. I wanted to love you. I wanted you."
"Marriage scared me. A man who knows he can't die, who can take a bullet in the heart and live--scared off by one request. I had to face my demons." He wiped at his eyes. "I called Pietas."
Wulf recoiled as if he'd been struck. "You--you called..." Wulf clutched his throat. "Why?"
"To ask permission to join with you. To bring you back as my Chosen. To marry you."
Wulf sat on the floor, naked, facing him in stony-faced silence in the dim light. "No."
"No? No to what?"
"I can't marry you, Luc."
Those words froze his heart--he tightened a hand over his chest. "Wulf..."
"It's not because I don't love you." Wulf stroked fingertips down Luc's face. "I do. I love you with all my heart. But I'll die and you'll be alone again."
"Wulf, don't!" He grabbed his hands. "I won't listen to that kind of talk."
Wulf set his brow against Luc's. "Let me tell you what's in my heart."
"Wulf, please. Please, don't."
"Shh." He lifted a hand and cupped Luc's cheek. "I love you. I'll be yours as long as you'll have me. But it was a moment of foolishness to ask you for marriage. I will be your Chosen. I'll love you as long as I live. I'll be yours as long as you let me walk beside you. But I'll never marry you."
Hot tears splashed Luc's cheeks. With Wulf so close to him, he couldn't tell whose they were. Luc pulled him closer. "Wulf..."
"While you were gone, I realized something about myself. I've been waiting for you to act on my behalf. For you to save me. To rescue me from my situation. I've been waiting for you to be the hero."
"Oh, Wulf." He took Wulf's hands in his and brought them to his mouth. He placed kisses against his fingers and laid his cheek in Wulf's palms. "I'd like nothing better than to always be your hero."
Wulf kissed Luc's other cheek, then drew away from him, and dragged both hands through his hair, pulling it back from his face. "I've been waiting for others to save me all my life. I'm not going to wait anymore. It's my life. I need to be my own hero."
Scrubbing away tears, Luc rested against the wall, pressing his back flat against it. "You've never needed me, Wulf. You might be a born-to-it submissive, but that doesn't mean you can't stand on your own. You have to decide what you want." He rubbed his eyes, and groaned when his eyes stung and burned. "Damn it."
Wulf made a soft gasp. "You tore your lenses."
"I've had them on non-stop." He closed his eyes. "I'm amazed they didn't fail while we were in the vault. I don't know how I'd have explained these eyes to Senthys."
Wulf stood and held down a hand. "Come on. Let's get you out of those so you'll be more comfortable."
Luc reached up and let Wulf assist him. In the bathroom, he turned on the light and leaned against the sink. Swelling marred the left side of his lower lip. He touched it with his tongue. The tooth had already resettled itself.
"Do you have more lenses with you?" Wulf opened drawers and rummaged through them.
"Over there. In my shaving kit."
"Here." Wulf put the kit within reach and met his gaze in the mirror, his face a mask.
"I'd like to leave these contacts off if you think you could stand it."
A smile softened Wulf's features. "Stand it? You're such a clown, Luc. I could stare at you all day. Your eyes are beautiful."
He snorted. Even set against his dark skin, most people noticed his black eyes, but with the lenses cracked and splitting... He removed the protective lenses and the room went dark.
* * * *
Wulf covered his mouth in awe of Luc's true eyes. Nothing in the Chosen Chronicles mentioned anything about them. Each Chosen kept his or her Sempervian's secrets, yes, but not from each other. Except in the case of Cyken Tomarus, it seemed. Few wrote anything about him on a personal level.
"Wulf?"
"I'm here, Luc." He came up beside him. "For a moment, I forgot you couldn't see me. I wish you didn't have to hide your eyes. They're amazing."
Without their covering, they glowed with brilliant, radiant white light, enough to illuminate the room.
"Does it hurt?"
"The light?" Luc made a noncommittal shrug. "When I'm around people who have intense personal drive, they burn."
"You mean, like the empress?"
"Oh hell, yes. She almost sets me on fire. I have no idea why, but people with her personality, the strong, dominating types make my eyes feel like they're ablaze. I use drops sometimes but it doesn't help much. The heat is inside me." He reached for Wulf.
"Here." He moved to within Luc's grasp. "Want to lie down?"
Luc linked his arm with Wulf's as they returned to the bedroom.
Wulf guided him into bed and crawled in beside him. He put himself in Luc's arms and rested his head against the man's shoulder. "Are there other Sempervians with eyes like yours?"
"None recorded. No one knows why mine are different."
"What makes them glow?"
"No idea."
Wulf tilted back his head, resting a hand on Luc's furry chest. The soft hair sprung up between his fingers as he caressed it. "Maybe it's kind of like a firefly."
He played with Wulf's hair. "Fireflies glow in spurts. If you could see my eyes all the time, they'd always be glowing."
"When you're physically satisfied, then you can see, right? I can make you see again."
I chuckled, shaking his head. "It's not as easy as it sounds. You're talking about hours of lovemaking. Intense lovemaking."
I chewed his lower lip, considering. "More than we've done before?"
The man stroked I's arm as he held him. "I'm afraid so."
"I almost kept up with you before. If we were careful, I could do more."
"No. I don't want to risk hurting you."
"Come on, Sempervian." I leaned up on one elbow. "Live a little. Let's see how far I can take you."