STORY EXCERPT

“Nilan’s tail!” I swore as I looked ahead.

I frequently had to look away from scuffles in alleyways as I made my way around Rativa. If I tried to help everyone in trouble in this city, or any other, then I would never get anything done. That might sound rather cold, but currently I was on a mission to track down my brother and I couldn’t let myself get distracted. Having said, or thought, that, there’s no way I’d leave the young blond boy at the nonexistent mercy of the five thugs I just saw dragging him out of sight. For one thing five large muscled men against one young boy? No. For another, something about the situation or the boy called to me, and the need to stop what was about to happen clawed at me with a gut-wrenching urgency.

I quickened my pace, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself by running, but still getting there as quickly as I could.

“Get off me! Let me go!”

Ugly laughter almost drowned out the boy’s panicked words.

“Oh, go’ a live un ‘ere, boys. Gonna ‘ave us some fun.” The sound of ripping cloth gave a nasty backdrop to the heavily accented voice.

“No!” The boy screamed as I turned the corner, and my heart nearly pounded out of my chest in fear for him. He scrabbled uselessly at the bruising hands gripping him.

“Put him down.” My voice might be deep, but it could also be loud when required and my emotions lent a resonance that might have been powered with a little something extra. Everything stopped, and they all turned to look in my direction.

“Help me. Plea—” A hand clapped across the boy’s mouth, silencing his cry for help. The wide, blue eyes still visible above the silencing hand pleaded silently with me, begging for aid.

“Notin’ t’see ‘ere. Why don’ yous move alon’?” One of the surly looking bunch stepped in front of the others, attempting to hide what they were doing.

I was used to the thick accent of those living in the darker areas of Rativa by now. “Put the boy down and let him go.” I sighed. Were they going to be difficult? It wasn’t as though five of them would present much of a challenge, but I had things to do and wanted this over and the boy safe.

“’Old ‘im, Tenny,” one of the others said, and the boy was thrust at one of their number. He and two more joined the one in front. Two of them even laced fingers together and cracked their knuckles, flexing and squaring shoulders for a fight. Fools. Did they not know how stupid that made them look? Or did they think they appeared intimidating? Maybe they would to the average street rat, but not me.

Damn, I really didn’t need this right now. I muttered something under my breath, gathering a small amount of power, and let the energy flow across the cloak I wore. The colour of the fabric rippled, changing from a dusty grey to a patchwork of dark browns, greys, blacks, and greens. The single, smooth piece of cloth shifted to a collection of apparently ragged pieces sewn together.

Frozen horror rooted the group of men to the spot. Ah, good. I thought men like these would recognise the cloak’s true form. There was always the chance they’d spent their entire lives buried in a hole in the desert, but it wasn’t likely, so they should know it.

“I’d put him down if I were you, Tenny,” I said.

The boy hit the ground with a pained grunt.

“If I find you causing trouble for anyone else, I won’t be so nice. Get out of here.” I stood to one side.

The men edged as far to the other side of the alley as they could get without climbing the dusty walls and slid cautiously by me. Not one of them took their eyes off me for a second. As soon as they were past me, the men scattered and ran. I stared after them for a moment before turning my attention to the boy still on the ground. He didn’t look like he belonged in this area of the city and wouldn’t have the slightest idea why the sight of me, or my cloak, would have sent the others running except to know if they had been bad and I had scared them off then I was probably worse. I approached slowly.

He scrambled backward, hitting the wall and trying to squeeze himself into a corner. “No, please,” he whimpered.

He’d wanted my help a moment ago. Did he think I was going to try something now he’d seen how scared his attackers had become of me? “I’m not going to hurt you. Are you all right?”

The boy nodded. Dusty, pale blond hair slid around eyes still wide with fright. A nasty, jagged cut marred the luminous skin of his cheek. It would scar if I didn’t do something about it. Bruising surrounded the gash. It spread across most of the side of his face, up along his cheekbone and curving slightly around to his temple. Even with the damage to his face, it was easy to see how pretty the boy was. No wonder Tenny and his friends had set upon him. Not that it had been the boy’s fault. Tenny and his ilk were everywhere and took what they wanted regardless of whom it hurt.

I bent down and held my hand out. “Come on.”

Even in the shadows of the corner the boy had pushed himself into, I could see the trembles in the hand he stretched tentatively toward mine. The moment his delicate hand slid against my palm, I realised I had made a huge mistake.

ADULT EXCERPT

It was strangely exhilarating slipping from shadow to shadow with my husband by my side. Awareness of my surroundings clawed at me, keeping me on edge. Halfway to our destination I realised my horny state wasn’t going to be pushed away.

The night air was crisp, but not actually cold. About three-quarters of the way there I scaled the side of a merchant store and waited for Cesteru. Being smaller and lighter than him, it was easier for me to climb quickly. This building belonged to the Kephili Raskin of the Merchant guild. The man might have helped to arrange the tour my brothers and I took years ago, but he was a fat, old blowhard and I grinned imagining his apoplectic reaction if he found out I had been clambering all over one of his buildings at night. His already florid face would go scarlet in his outrage at my scandalous behaviour, and his triple chin and fat neck would wobble like a turkey’s as he paced back and forth.

A faint scraping sound heralded Cesteru’s arrival. Once onto the roof he stopped and bent over, hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath.

“Gods, but you go up a wall quick. Are you part Shazi?”

“Can’t keep up, old man?”

“More used to going along than up.”

Up close he smelled musky and hot. I wanted to wrap myself up in that, or bathe in it or something. He straightened as I put my hands on his shoulders, and he caught me under my ass as I hopped up to wrap my legs around his waist. “Speaking of things going up, or rather things going down…I want to suck you so damn bad.”

He barely got out half a swear word before I crashed my lips down on his and plundered his mouth. I think he must have been faking being so out of breath after the climb because he had no problem whatsoever holding up my weight. I wanted to be able to train once we got to the Brotherhood, so I didn’t want to get too wound up and be unable to walk after having his cock in my ass, but I needed his cock in me one way or another. I broke the kiss and slithered down out of his hold.

The rooftop we were on was only the first section of the building. A narrower section continued upward, topped by a third, yet smaller part. There was no need for us to go any higher, but there was a deep three-foot-wide cleft in the centre of the second part, so I pulled Cesteru toward it and into the cleft. He was too tall for me to reach his cock comfortably when I was on my knees, so I got him to sit and crawled between his legs.

“Mmmm, that’s better.” Up close, the musk was stronger. I buried my face in his groin to take a deep breath, and my mouth watered. His trousers laced up the hip with a quick release-button flap at the front for calls of nature. I undid both to spread the material wide enough for what I wanted. They were closer fitting than kashees, so I needed more room.

His cock was already plumping up nicely when I eased him from the confines of his trousers. I gave it a quick lick before moving further down and lapping at his balls. They weren’t particularly hairy, and the only real hair in the whole area was a tightly curled scruff at the base of his shaft. I have more of a light fuzz.

My mouth watered more as I tongued his sac, providing plenty of lubrication for me to take one of his balls into my mouth and suck on it gently. I hummed.

“Fuck—” Cesteru choked off his exclamation.

The last two weeks I’d learned a lot about my husband’s body. I can’t imagine there are many men out there who don’t like having their dick sucked and Cesteru is no exception. But he loves having his balls sucked on and played with just as much, if not more. Also, his nipples are more sensitive than mine, unless it’s after we just got done fucking. It’s bad enough after I’ve been the one penetrating him, but when I’m the one getting fucked, I can’t stand having anything touching me afterward, even the bed coverings.

We were in a heavily shadowed spot, but my eyes adjusted enough to make out his dazed expression when I looked up. He shuddered when my gaze locked with his and I didn’t look away. My stomach warmed and my cock hardened at my powerful husband giving himself over to whatever I wanted to do to him. I released his ball long enough to spit into my hand, and when I closed my lips around his other ball, I took the hard length of his cock into my hand.