“You didn’t choose this life, which makes it much harder to hate you for coming in between us. You didn’t choose to have his mortling or to mate with him. I know that, but it’s been hard coming to terms with it. I hope you’ll forgive me for taking it out on you. For a long time, it’s just been the two of us. He’s everything to me.”
I move my hand from underneath his and reach up to touch his anguished face. Wetting my lips with the tip of my tongue, I search for the right words. When I speak, my voice is rusty from disuse. “Now it’ll be the three of you,” I say, though the words are hard to get over my chapped lips, and not only because of the after effects of the toxica on my system.
Before he can react, I take his hand and press it against the swollen slope of my belly. As it has been for the past few nights, the baby—mortling—is awake and kicking up a storm. Jareth’s eyes widen in delight and a smile breaks out over his handsome face. How had I not realized how beautiful he was? His features are blunter than Sayer’s, but he’s no less attractive.
The baby kicks the space covered by Jareth’s wide palm and Jareth exclaims in delight. “He’s so strong!”
“He?” I tease. “What if it’s a she?”
“He, she, I wouldn’t care. They’re a treasure.” He places his other palm on my stomach, studying my bare skin and making me realize I’m still completely naked.
Having his hands on me as we feel the life moving underneath them is almost more intimate than any sex act. His eyes lock on mine as though he realizes it, too, and we share a long, deep look. Feeling has come back to most of my body, so it can’t be the toxica that’s keeping me from moving away, breaking his gaze.
The baby begins to quiet down, no doubt as lulled by Jareth’s touch as their father is and soon the kicks stop, leaving Jareth and me still staring at each other, the weight of his hands inspiring a soothing warmth that radiates over my body.
He’s the first one to break away, although he seems reluctant. “You should get some rest,” he says. I start to get up, but he pushes me back down to the bed and draws and blanket over my body. “No, don’t get up. You may be sore tonight and you should be here when Sayer wakes up. You two will have a lot to talk about.”
“You don’t want to stay?” I can’t explain it, but I feel closer to him now. I don’t want him to go.
He shakes his head and gets to his feet. “I should be in my quarters.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, but I’m already yawning.
Jareth’s expression is clouded, unsure, then he’s crossing back to me. My heart does a quick thump-thump in my chest as he leans down to press a kiss to my hair.
“I’m sure. Sleep well, little sabrevipe.”
“Sabrevipe? What’s that?” I ask.
“An animal that hunts The Graveyard outside the Facility. They’re fierce beasts with three heads and long claws. Their growls can shake your bones.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to be called,” I say.
“They’re fierce, but they are also quite loyal to their kind. And very protective of their mates and their young. Your eyes flash like theirs do when you’re angry. Or when you come. Your screams sound like them, too. I imagine it won’t be long before I hear you screaming like that again.”
He’s gone before I can respond, leaving my skin feeling electrified, like the pheromones from Sayer, except there are no pheromones this time.
Nope.
There’s no excuse.
The only thing turning me on now is Jareth.
8
Jareth
I pace outside of Breccan’s chambers, panicked and weary. Everyone is asleep. Everyone but me. My emotions are bouncing around inside my nog, reminding me of a time when Sayer and I were sorting out the way we felt about each other. Both of us knowing it was wrong for two males to be together, yet we couldn’t stop it from happening.
“Again,” I taunt, faking to the right before charging left.
I catch Sayer off guard and knock him to the floor. I’m gloating about how easy it is to overpower him when he surprises me, rolling us over until he has me pinned. We’re both breathing heavily. He makes no moves to climb off me, but instead, wedges his thigh between mine.
“Sayer,” I growl in warning.
Someone will see. We’ll earn a trip to the reform cells.
But it’s late…
All the morts are sleeping…
He leans forward, wildness gleaming in his eyes. I hold my breath when he drags his nose along the column of my throat. Heat floods through my body straight to my cock.