WAKING WITH an erection is no unusual occurrence in my life. However, waking with an erection and a clear plan of action was something of a novelty.
I opened my eyes a bit blearily, aware of a large, warm… no, make that a hot body next to mine. We hadn’t moved much as we slept. Griffin was splayed out on his back; I was on my side, my leg pinning his. My cock was rigid and hard, and as I stroked his leg with mine, I grinned at the sheer luxury of the sensation.
Through the thin sheet, I could see the outline of his heavy shaft. Carefully I shifted position, moving the fabric aside. He was flaccid, but when I breathed lightly over his skin, his cock stirred. I grinned. I licked and nuzzled the soft, loose skin and then pulled him into my mouth. I reveled in the sensation of him growing, filling my mouth as his cock grew long and hard.
He cursed softly as he woke, one big hand settling on my head, guiding my strokes. His hips bucked, and he moaned. Letting his shaft slip free, I nuzzled around the base of his cock, licking and nipping with my lips. I moved lower, down to his scrotum, kissing and loving every scar, every injury that he’d suffered on my behalf. I trailed the tip of my tongue over a long, jagged scar that ran up the inside of his thigh. I lightly kneaded the iron-hard muscle of his legs.
Returning to his cock, I braced it in one hand and went down on him, tasting the salty tang of precum on his glans. I relaxed my throat, letting his length glide down as far as possible, sucking hard as he pulled out. He buried his hand in my hair again, alternately stroking the skin of my face and urging me along faster and faster.
He wasn’t far from climax when he forced my head away.
“Fuck, Lio!” He gasped. “I know what you’re doing… and you won’t get away with it this time.” His voice had lowered to a growl, and he pulled me up the length of his body.
“Just what is it that I’m doing?” I trailed my tongue along his chin, steadily pumping my hips into his. I nipped his throat and then licked away the sting.
“You’re going to get me off, and then you’ll want to fuck me.”
“And what’s wrong with that? It sounds like an excellent plan….”
“Except you know I hate being bottom.”
“I do?” I had already guessed that, but when Griffin’s face went sober, I knew he’d forgotten. Muddled by sleep, he’d gone back all those years in his memory. I smiled and kissed him, hoping to soften the moment for him. “I guessed that our first time together, but you weren’t too unhappy once I was in. In fact, you seemed rather unhappy when I pulled out.” I pressed my cock to his, reminding him there was more than one way for men to fuck. “And if you don’t like being bottom”—I sat up and straddled his hips. I’d slicked him up pretty good with my saliva, so I arrowed his cock into my anus—“you can always bottom like this.”
I relaxed and let gravity carry me down onto his cock. He was big—bigger than most men I’d taken—so I gasped a bit as I rose, wishing for lube. Griffin reached blindly for the table by the bed, coming up with a tube. I love a man who comes prepared.
He slicked his cock, and I came down again. Each time I repeated the penetration it became easier, until I was relaxed and slick and riding him easily. He reached up and fondled my cock, massaging it with the lube he’d used on himself.
“You think I’ll do it like that?”
“I’m hoping you will.” I rather liked being up here on top; it gave me a perfect view of Griffin’s face. I controlled the penetration and shifted to the perfect position, moaning slightly as his cockhead slid over my prostate. “Mmmm. You have no idea what you’re missing, Griffin.” He laughed a bit, throwing my rhythm off. That little jolt was enough to steal my focus, to push me headlong into a climax that had me bucking and gasping. He grasped my hips, steadying me as I shuddered. Then one hand clasped my cock and pumped me hard and fast, just as I liked it best. My body gripped his shaft, and he moaned and cursed but held out till my orgasm had shaken every bit of seed from my balls, leaving me limp and weak atop his body.
When my heart slowed and I caught my breath, Griffin pulled me down to cover his body, and he arrowed up into my ass. He moved steady and slow at the start, and then faster, harder, until he was shouting out his climax. His arms wrapped around me like iron bands, holding me in place. I felt the heat of his semen spilling deep into me. I heard the slamming of his heart in my ear. He strained into my body, groaning with every last spasm, until we both lay weak and content in one another’s arms.
I lay on top of him, smiling at the novelty of his strength, the rise and fall of his chest under mine. I lifted my head and caught his mouth in a deep, soulful kiss.
“Was it always this good for us?” I rolled off his body and rested my head on his outstretched arm.
“Always. Even after….” He broke off, looking up at the ceiling. He was still protecting me.
“Griffin, once this chip is deactivated, I’ll probably remember. If I don’t, I’ll rely on you to remember for me.”
He looked over at me, the expression on his face indescribably sad.
“The good, and the bad, Griffin. Life is both, and we’ve lived.”
He sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Even after we split, we never got past this passion. Even once you married, it was still there.”
“I was unfaithful?”
He smiled, a surprisingly gentle expression. “No, Helios. Not in deed. You were faithful to your lady-wife. I believe that you came to love her. Once I realized it was truly over, I sought out Suzan, and we married. She’d been our friend early on and knew of our feelings for each other. I grew to love her greatly.”
“And my wife?”
“She was never fond of me.” He rolled to his side and reached out, fingering my hair. “She… walked in on us once. Nothing too shocking, but enough to alert her to our feelings.”
“How did she die?”
“An accident. She was traveling and her skimmer overturned. She was killed immediately.”
There was more to the story than he was telling, I was sure of that. But at the moment, I didn’t want to know.
“Griffin?”
“Mmm?”
“I’m starving.” As if to support my claim, my stomach growled noisily. He laughed that rare, precious laugh.
“Are you recovered enough to get out of this bed?”
I sat and considered that. Maybe. I looked at him through my lashes. “Are you recovered?”
That prompted more laughter. He was out of the bed and strutting across the room, heading for the shower. It had real water. I hurried after him; the bathtub was easily large enough for two grown men.
And judging by what I’d just seen, he was quite recovered. Thankfully the hotel provided room service.
HELIOS AND I made love.
I wanted to kick myself in the ass. I wanted to call the council and get someone out here to take him off my hands, because I was causing more harm than good. I’d forced an imprint, brought him to a hotel, and now we were fucking like teenagers. And while I hadn’t lied, I’d been less than truthful.
But the room, the world we created while we were alone and untroubled was a thing of magic. I watched him constantly. I watched him wander the room, exploring and touching, closing his eyes and feeling the space. Those weren’t simply the instincts of a sensualist; that was the warrior peeking out. He still had a hand with a blade, I had to give him that. Even as he bled from his eyes and ears, his forms with the kilij were flawless and fierce. I was good with a sword, but few men ever mastered the complexity of the curved blade and its hundreds of linked forms as Helios had.
He hadn’t held a weapon in years. His body was soft and unconditioned. Sometimes he seemed to have the emotional depth of a rivulet of water back home on our dry, nameless planet. He flirted. He laughed at nonsense and frequently caught sight of himself in a reflection. But then his wits were sharp as the blade that was his badge of office. He watched. He read. He learned and eventually, he’d remember.
The bed in which we lay was the center of our world for now. The elevator was secure and there was no access via the windows. Even the ducts were too small for the smallest Zamoran to negotiate. He hadn’t noticed that I scanned the food and drink as it was delivered.
We were safe.
The room’s temperature adapted to our body heat. Now that we were resting, it was cool. I pulled a silken blanket up to his shoulder and watched as Helios stirred slightly. His ability to sleep was different. In the past, he’d been restless. Always moving, always thinking. I wasn’t sure if he’d adapted to sustained inactivity or if the chip affected his sleeping patterns, because he slept hard.
I rose, gathered my clothing, and left the room, gently closing the door behind me. I dressed, and then dug into the satchel that contained my communications equipment, fishing out a small transmitter and a computer the size of the palm of my hand. I tucked both into deep pockets hidden in my vest and started toward the elevator. What I had to do couldn’t be done in the safety of the hotel room. I started to enter the code, then paused, feeling a horrible sensation of loss.
For a long moment, I stood there, staring at the unlit panel. Was I dreaming? Was I imagining all this? Had I finally lost my mind, now to dwell in some fantasy that never ended? I caught my breath and returned to the bedroom. Quietly, I entered, standing at the side of the bed to look down at Helios Dayspring as he lay sleeping. Even if I couldn’t see his face, I’d know the musky-spice scent of his sweat and the husky, melodic timbre of his voice. I’d know the feeling of his lips on mine and his touch on my body.
Feeling reassured, I returned to the elevator and set the security system. He’d sleep. If not, he’d know to wait or to call me.
I hoped. He’d always been frighteningly impetuous.
Down in the lobby, I found a discreet layout of the station and headed out into the main corridor. While it was a night cycle, the darkness of our room was artificial, and life resumed as normal in the corridors and alleys of the small city. Visualizing the diagram, I took a circuitous route to the station. I dropped several levels, found a small neighborhood of grocers, and then took a lift up to a skywalk.
The station was a dome and oriented on one vertical direction. The lifts occupied the center of the sphere, some for cargo, others for express travel from the docks to the penthouses. Neighborhoods radiated out from the center. I found the level I wanted and entered the communications center. Robust business had grown around interstellar communications. From the Aida, I could send messages that traveled from transfer to transfer. It sometimes took hours to relay a message.
With my own transmitter boosted by the systems here, I could communicate in real-time, with the benefit of anonymity, if needed. And I did need it.
I chose a business advertising secure communications and paid for an hour. The attendant escorted me to a chair in a small cubicle. It didn’t appear secure. I’d visualized a cone of silence, sitting isolated on a tube of soundproof glass. Instead, I could hear the murmuring of staff, felt the presence of someone nearby in another cubicle. I looked at the desk, and to my amusement, there were simple, multilingual instructions on how to follow the security protocol. I found the version written in common and followed the instructions.
I pushed a green button. Nothing happened.
When I pushed back my chair, I realized something had happened. The sound of the movement was muffled. I couldn’t hear my neighbor. I looked up and saw a distortion field surrounding my space, disguising my activity from others. I settled back into my chair.
I activated my transmitter and set it to scramble, then opened the comm unit and waited for it to project both the screen and a keyboard. I bypassed the keyboard function and set it to vocal.
“Units Red, Twelve-C, Seven-H, Eight-A and Eight-D. This is Captain Hawke, ID number Zed three-four-zero-one-one. Standby for transmission.”
As I watched, the icons for each unit appeared on the screen, a small circle rotating around the icon until one by one, they came online.
“Standing by.” The voices came to me as though they were in the same room, familiar and dear. Still alive. Still waiting.
“This is maximum priority. No chit-chat.” That would come later. We’d catch up and let each other know how we fared. We’d share stories, both good and bad. But now was for business.
“Status please. Location, mechanical and manpower. Go, Red Twelve-C.”
I listened to them check in, taking quick notes on manpower, firepower, and timing. When the totals were complete, my eye stung and I blinked. Once, I’d commanded hundreds of units, though we’d never been in space. Now, we were few. Just rag-tag mercenaries scrabbling to support the population of our planet. I calculated time and distance, as well as the task still before us. And I steeled myself for what was in essence an invasion. Our force was small, but our target was weak.
“This is an order to deploy immediately. We’ll rendezvous in orbit, outside communication range of HP1500.” I sent the date, time, and coordinates. “You’ll stand by for instructions.”
Silence. And then assent. Again, my eyes stung. They had faith in me. Still.
“We’re going home.”
I heard the release of breath, a shaky laugh. And I knew I had to give them more. I swallowed hard and blinked again, trying to see past the tears in my eyes. I rested my head on my fists and fought down the emotion.
It had been so long. I swallowed, but as I spoke, my voice was unsteady.
“Mission accomplished. He is safe.”
I heard a sob. A soft gasp. A murmur of disbelief. They had questions. I knew they had questions, but I couldn’t find my voice. I pictured Helios upstairs in bed, his skin soft, his hair long, and sensuality radiating from his very soul. How could I prepare them?
I didn’t need to prepare them. He was different, but he was still Helios, and I’d trust the Sun to give us the leader we needed.
“He is well,” I said. “He is whole.” But he had a secret that many would kill for. And he needed me—us—to protect him. I decided to trust my soldiers. They’d followed me into space, forsaking their families and friends. They’d sacrificed so very much in order to find their king. So I shared the story—most of it, anyway. I swore them to silence and I knew they’d obey.
When I finished, I disconnected, then laid my head down on my arms, and I cried.