Freebie Friday: Heart of Stars, Part 3 (m/m)

Blurb:

It takes a bloody battle, the death of several of his men, and a near death experience of his own for Afron to see what lies in his heart for Makara. Now the barbarian won't let anything stand in the way of their destiny -- not even the prostitute's petulant (if half-hearted) refusal to see him.

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Makara jumped at the words, though he quickly took a deep breath to settle himself. No. No more Afron. He fluffed out his hair, gathered his courage around him, and went to tell Afron to leave. He stopped on the balcony and perched himself on the rail, trying to look nonchalant as he pretended to ignore the throng of noise rising up from the ground floor.

He ran a hand through his hair and licked his lips as the barbarian sauntered through the lobby below. Even from this distance, the foreigner's musky male scent filled Makara's nostrils. Or perhaps he just imagined it did. Either way, he drew in a long, lingering breath through his nose and held it in until his chest hurt. He let the breath out slowly, cocked his eyebrow as the barbarian's head lifted and that violet gaze locked on him. Makara shivered. He toyed with the ruffles of his shirt as the barbarian mounted the stairs, eyes intent on him.

Afron gestured to the hallway behind Makara.

Makara folded his arms across his chest and raised his chin. "Didn't I make myself clear last time?"

Afron nodded. "I heard your words."

"I meant them."

"Just like you meant them the time before that? Or the time before that?" Afron chuckled and shook his head, took a step closer.

"Unless you have some other business here"­ -- and Makara had no idea what that could be -- "or some issue to discuss, I suggest you leave."

"There is much to discuss." Afron grunted and nodded down the hall again. "But talk can wait. I cannot."

Makara suppressed another shiver -- though just barely -- and slid down from the railing. He shook his head. "I told you--"

Afron closed the distance between them in two strides of those powerful legs. He fisted his hands in Makara's shirt and ripped it open, pushed Makara back against the railing, and claimed Makara's lips in a crushing, bruising kiss that gave more pain than pleasure and said in no uncertain terms he would not be denied. Afron slid his hands down to grope Makara's ass, raising Makara off the floor and grinding his hips against Makara's none too gently.

Makara surrendered to the kiss, wrapping his arms around Afron's neck, his legs around Afron's waist, and clinging. He allowed Afron to devour his mouth -- gave Afron's lips and tongue dominion over his -- allowed Afron to lean him precariously back over the railing. Blood rushed to his head, making his temples pound, though Makara would have sworn Afron alone caused the effect.

Afron broke the kiss at last and straightened. He let Makara slide down to stand as he stepped back and again nodded to the hallway. "Attend to me, my whore."

"I'm not your whore," Makara mumbled, though his actions just then would have surely proven otherwise to anyone who saw them, even if they hadn't been standing in the region's most famous house of pleasure.

Afron chuckled deep and low, filling the space around them with a rumble like distant thunder. "You will be my whore today, will you not? Will you refuse my desires?" He sniffed at Makara's neck as he trailed his index finger down Makara's chest. "Are they not your desires as well?" he whispered, breath hot on Makara's skin. "Do you not weep for me when I am gone? Does your cock not weep for me? Do you not count the hours until we are together again?"

His words fanned a fire that burned deep in Makara's soul, and Makara wanted to melt at his feet. "Yes," Makara whimpered, both embarrassed and elated at his show of submission.

Afron turned and walked down the hallway a few paces, then faced Makara again. "As do I."

To be continued...

Freebie Friday: NSFW As You Wish, Part 5 (m/m, BDSM)

Blurb:

It's been a long time since Rex indulged his needs. He wants to, he just...can't. Can he trust Declan to help him? 

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Rex trembled. This was everything he'd ever wanted. Bound, at Declan's mercy. He nodded and held his breath as Declan unzipped his pants and reached inside to pull his hard cock forth.

Declan held Rex's balls in one hand, lifted Rex's cock with the other, and ran his tongue along the underside of Rex's shaft.

"Fuck!" Rex forgot about the memories, about the fears, about everything but the feel of Declan's hot, slick, magical tongue. That tongue snaked up his length and wrapped around him, flicked over the head of his cock and across that little membrane on the underside that made Rex want to come almost immediately.

Declan took his time, working Rex into a frenzy of tightly wound need. Rex thrashed his head from side to side. The metal of the shackles bit into his wrists, the pain spiked out along his arms and into his chest where it settled into a deep warmth. It felt like coming home. He smiled and let his head fall to his chest again. This... This was what he'd wanted. What he'd desperately yearned for.

Declan looked up. "Tell me what you want."

Rex blinked at him through hazy, teary eyes. "Your love." The enormity of the admission dawned on him and his eyes widened.

Declan didn't speak, just went back to his work of pleasuring Rex. Licking, sucking, nibbling. Rex surrendered to all of it, didn't try to hold back, just rode the pleasure until the throbbing built to a crescendo inside him and he called Declan's name as he filled Declan's mouth.

Declan milked every last drop, then sat back on his heels. He looked up at Rex for several minutes, and Rex began to worry he'd said too much.

Declan stood and unzipped his pants, reached inside to stroke his cock. He pressed himself tightly against Rex, held onto the back of Rex's neck while he jerked himself off, forehead smashed against Rex's. He cried out and arched against Rex, the warm splash of his release connecting them. Declan squeezed Rex's neck. "You've always had my love."

Rex swallowed a thick lump of emotion that had nothing to do with fear or anxiety. Declan had given him so much more than an orgasm. Declan had given Rex back his passion. He looked over Declan's shoulder at the items hanging on the wall. "Declan?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Get the flogger."

Declan studied him. "Are you certain?"

He nodded.

Declan retrieved the flogger and came back. "How do you want this?"

Rex sucked a deep breath in through his nose, held it, and let it out through his lips. "Naked, and with my back to you."

Declan closed his eyes for a brief moment; tears stood in them when he opened them again. He smiled. "As you wish."

Freebie Friday: As You Wish, Part 4 (m/m, BDSM)

Blurb:

It's been a long time since Rex indulged his needs. He wants to, he just...can't. Can he trust Declan to help him? 

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Declan swore and turned away, pacing in a tight circle. He stopped and stared at Rex, then started pacing again and stopped again. He walked closer, peered at Rex through slitted eyes. "Why Taylor? Why not me?"

"What?" Rex blinked, not entirely understanding the question.

"Why didn't you come to me when you decided you were interested in the lifestyle? I could've shown you. I could've..." He turned away again and took up the pacing.

A heavy weight settled in the pit of Rex's stomach. Declan didn't trust Taylor? "You could've what?"

Declan rounded on Rex, pain and fury in his dark brown eyes. "I could've spared you. Taylor is good at business, but he's an ass in every other way. He doesn't deserve your submission or anyone else's."

"I'm sorry." Rex couldn't think of anything else to say. In hindsight, he should've gone to Declan. He only hadn't because he'd been afraid of not being good enough for Declan.

"I don't want an apology. It's not your fault. Never think that." Declan sighed heavily. "I can't take back what he did, but I can try to help you move on from it." He gestured around the room. "That's what I want to do. I want you to rejoice in this again. To yearn for it."

Rex closed his eyes and let his head fall forward against his chest. "I already do yearn for it." And I yearn for you even more.

Declan closed the space between them. He ran his hands up and down Rex's chest. "May I unbutton your shirt?"

"If you want."

He took Rex's chin in his hand and raised Rex's head. "You still don't get it, do you? This is about what you want."

"What I want?"

Declan nodded. "Yes. Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you."

You. "You can unbutton my shirt." Rex watched, mesmerized, as Declan's fingers deftly undid the buttons. He gasped at the first touch of Declan's flesh on his, arching forward to get more.

Declan rubbed his hands over Rex's chest, up Rex's neck and back down repeatedly. "So beautiful," he murmured. He leaned in and captured Rex's bottom lip in his teeth, gnawed gently, pulling a groan from deep in Rex's throat.

That groan turned into a mewl when one of Declan's hands slid down to palm Rex's cock. "Please..."

"Please what?" Declan asked.

As if you don't know.

As though he were reading Rex's mind, Declan chuckled, the sound like velvet sliding over Rex's bones. "Tell me what you want. Give voice to the feelings."

Give voice. Like it was that easy. It used to be. Rex frowned and knit his brows together. So many things used to be easier.

"No frowning." Declan pressed his lips to Rex's in a demanding kiss. He breeched Rex's mouth with his tongue, twining it with Rex's and moaning into Rex's mouth. He pulled away with a nibble at Rex's lips. Keeping his gaze locked on Rex's, Declan slowly slid down to kneel. He laid a hand on Rex's waistband. "May I?"

To be continued...

Freebie Friday: As You Wish, Part 3 (m/m, BDSM)

Blurb:

It's been a long time since Rex indulged his needs. He wants to, he just...can't. Can he trust Declan to help him? 

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Rex wanted to press his face against that furry, muscled chest. Wanted to curl up into a ball as close as he could get, and bask in the warmth that radiated off Declan's body.

Declan gestured to the cross. "Are you ready to try?"

That old feeling welled inside Rex -- that feeling of wanting to do anything at all to please his Dom, of needing to see that approval in Declan's eyes. He nodded and stepped up, facing away from the cross. He wasn't ready to turn his back on anyone again just yet.

"What is your safe word?" Declan asked as he knelt and fastened the restraints around Rex's ankles.

"Peanut butter." The word brought bile to the back of Rex's throat. No, he couldn't use that again. "Wait. No. May I change it?"

A bemused grin turned the right corner of Declan's mouth up. "Of course you can."

"Tombstone." He latched onto the image in his head -- that of him dancing on a very dead Taylor's grave -- and said the first thing that came to his mind.

Declan chuckled. "Well, that's a mood changer if ever I've heard one." He stood and reached for Rex's right wrist.

Fear marched in icy footsteps up his spine, but he allowed Declan to raise his arm and fit the shackle over his wrist. He clenched and unclenched his fist as Declan bound his other arm. Body shaking, he tried to think of anything else but his memories. Rainbows. Kittens. Anything.

Declan leaned in and nuzzled the side of Rex's neck. "Tell me about that night. Tell me about your fears."

"I..." Rex squeezed his eyes shut. He'd never spoken about it. He and Declan had been the best of friends for years; Declan had come to see him in the hospital the next day. But he'd never given up the details. Talking about it made it more real, somehow, even though he knew that was silly.

Another nuzzle, followed by Declan's teeth gently nipping at Rex's ear. "You are beautiful like this," Declan whispered. "I could look at you for hours." He stepped back and rested his hands lightly on Rex's shoulders. "Talk to me. You were at a club, like this one?"

Rex shook his head. "A club yes, but not like this. We went to a private room."

"We?"

He turned his face away from Declan's penetrating gaze. How did you tell a man that someone he counted as a friend was a first rate asshole? "Taylor."

Declan sucked in a breath. "Taylor Lake?"

"Yes."

The hard ridge of Declan's jaw stood out in stark profile and his nostrils flared. "Go on."

"We went to a room like this. He bound me to a cross, like I asked. At first, things went well. I was enjoying my time. I'd never done anything like that before." But I wanted to be able to prove to you I was worthy of your attention. "He used a flogger at first, and that was great. I felt wonderful. Then he stopped, and he came back with a cane. I told him I didn't think I was ready for that, but he hit me with it anyway. I gave my safe word. Peanut butter. I said it over and over, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept..." Rex swallowed a sob and bit down on his bottom lip. "He just kept hitting me. And then he took things further."

Taylor hadn't been the first man Rex had bottomed for, but that hadn't been in the plan that night. He remembered Taylor's words, panted hot and heavy in his ear, You knew this would happen if you came here. Admit it, you like this. You want me. You asked for this. But he hadn't known, and he hadn't asked for it, and he hadn't wanted it. And he'd had no way to defend himself, no chance to get away. "I screamed for help," Rex whispered.

Declan kneaded Rex's bunched muscles, ran his hands up to capture Rex's face. "Did no one come?"

"No."

To be continued..