Creation's Control

Chapter Ten

Ryen sat with Rafe and Erin, wondering what to do. He wanted to go after Drekk but had no idea where to look. The drun had taken off like a shot, fear and desire radiating from him in waves of extremes. Still caught in wainu, Ryen had felt his lover’s lingering emotions, the greatest of which had been terror for Ryen.

“Drekk’s going through a rough patch,” Rafe said. An understatement. “He’s had moments before, but nothing like this. I’m not sure what set him off.” But the look he gave Ryen suggested he knew more than he was saying.

“I don’t know where to look.” Pissed that Drekk had left, Ryen smashed his hand through Rafe’s table. “Oh shit. I’m sorry.” Ryen stood. “I should go.”

“No,” Rafe and Erin said at the same time.

Ryen rolled his eyes. “It’s okay. I’m not going to decimate the population of Tekar. I’m going back to Drekk’s.” To my home. He needed to work a few things out.

“I’ll take you,” Erin offered before Rafe could say anything. She kissed Rafe’s cheek.

“I’ll be back soon.”

In the rover, she mimicked Drekk’s voice and altered her forefinger’s print to access the drive feature of the vehicle.

“I could have done that,” Ryen said.

“So you lifted Drekk’s prints already?”

Damn. “No. Just his voice. How do you have it?”

“I stole his rover once. Funny story. So what’s going on with you and Drekk?” she asked as she manoeuvred the vehicle towards Drekk’s dwelling.

“I don’t know.”

“You had sex with him.”

“Yeah, I know. I was there.”

“A male,” Erin reiterated. “I thought you liked women.”

“I do.” And he did. Thoughts of Glaia, however, didn’t turn him on. Even a good-looking guy like Rafe did nothing for Ryen. He didn’t want anyone else but his lover, his master. “There’s just something about Drekk.”

“Yeah, I felt it too before I met Rafe. Drekk made me uncomfortable.” He gets me uncomfortably hard, Ryen wanted to say. Instead, he asked, “Are you happy, Erin?”

“More happy than I’ve ever been in my life.”

“Because of Rafe?”

“Because I’m free to love Rafe or whoever I want to love. I chose Rafe. Or rather, he chose me when we mated.”

“So you didn’t want him at first?”

“I desired him, yes. But I wasn’t sure about the rest. Love is such a foreign emotion for us. Trusting another...it doesn’t come easy. And Rafe’s Xema. I didn’t know about our own Xema heritage, not with so much other crap inside us. But when a Xema takes another Xema, it’s for keeps. I’ll never want another with Rafe around.” Ryen had a thought. “I’m Xema too, aren’t I?”

“Yeah. So’s Anin. That and a half dozen other aggressive species accounts for your bossiness.”

He couldn’t help grinning. “I’m no more bossy than Drekk.” My part-Ebrellion lover.

And isn’t that a kick? Bad enough to be a Creation the System feared. The Ebrellions were even worse, technologically advanced warriors the System had little defence against. No wonder Ryen hadn’t been able to stop himself from falling in love.

Yeah. That’s why you want Drekk. Because he’s a shapeshifting, teleporting alien who fucks you into a stupor. That’s it.

“What aren’t you saying?” Erin asked doggedly. “You love Drekk, don’t you? I can see it on your face when you look at him.”

“So you’re an expert on love?”

“Why can’t you admit you love him?”

“Why can’t he?” Ryen retorted. “I know I’m a hothead, but I’m learning to settle down and think before ripping a guy’s head off.” Erin snorted. “Drekk makes me feel something other than pain and duty. I’m not sure he feels the same. That wainu is one thing. I’d hoped he felt something more, especially the way he looks at me sometimes... What?”

“Did you say wainu?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. That’s a Xema love thing for sure.” Erin laughed as they pulled up to Drekk’s house.

Ryen didn’t want to talk about this with his sister, but he wanted so badly to understand Drekk he’d do anything he could to learn more. “What do you mean?” Erin turned to face him. “Wainu is that blissful plane you share with that special person after sharing sex. But it only occurs between a Xema and his or her potential mate.” Drekk had mentioned the same. Hell, he and Drekk had shared wainu a number of times. “So does it let you feel what the other person feels? Do you share a deep connection as if you’re one person?”

Erin narrowed her eyes. “You do after you’ve been mated.” Ryen stilled. “Mated how?”

“In the regular way I suppose.” Erin flushed. “Anin is much better than I am at talking about sex. Okay.” She took a deep breath. “When a Xema male mates, he has to achieve climax in his lover’s body. Three times he’ll mark his mate. Then you feel this intense connection, even when the wainu’s not there.”

“Son of a bitch.” Ryen was stunned. Drekk had marked him, mated with him, and he hadn’t known. For a moment he saw red. Lies, deceit, hidden agendas... Then he recalled Drekk’s passion, the well of love Ryen felt from the male every time they fucked before holding each other afterwards.

“Ryen?”

“The mating. It can’t be faked, can it? Does the bond lead to emotional ties, or just physical ones?”

“I don’t know. Rafe might. But what I do know is that Drekk had a special interest in you from the very first. He wouldn’t let me see you until he thought it was best for you. And according to Rafe, his best buddy is falling for some drun who probably won’t appreciate what he’s got.”

Ryen tried to absorb it all. He tamped his exhilaration at thoughts of being tied to Drekk. The male had lied to him, after all. Then again, Drekk wasn’t himself, not since he’d encountered the Ebrellions.

“Thanks, Erin,” Ryen said. “I’ll think about what you’ve said.” She kissed him on the forehead and patted his cheek. “Go easy on Drekk. He’s having a hard time. Don’t tell Rafe, but I overheard most of their conversation while the cook was boring you. Drekk’s got something bottled up inside him that he’s afraid to let go. I think his feelings for you are getting in the way of his control and he’s frightened of hurting you. Then again, I could be mistaken. Maybe it’s all just about sex,” she teased.

Ryen muttered under his breath about nosey females, though he couldn’t fault her for telling him what she had. He understood so much more now. Thanks to Drekk, he’d filled that lonely void inside him with love, a connection to another. His mate. He left the rover and waved good-bye to his sister.

He grinned stupidly, then lost the smile worrying about what Drekk was doing at this moment. Entering the dwelling, he stopped abruptly at the sight that met his eyes.

Four men stood in the centre of the room while another two suddenly caged him on either side. They blinked, inner lids closing sideways before the outer ones did, and he noted the reptilian pupils. Ebrellions. Reacting on instinct, Ryen sent the two next to him into the wall. He drew his pistol on three of the remaining aliens charging him, but it was the fourth Ryen kept his eyes on. That was the same fucking alien who’d come back with Drekk and the female days ago.

“Wait,” the fourth Ebrellion, likely their leader, commanded, and the others froze. “We mean no harm,” he rasped, his hands held high. “I would like to converse with the other one,” he said to Ryen. Drekk.

“Well so would I,” Ryen snarled and clenched a fist. He braced for the next attack, realising that Drekk hadn’t fallen into enemy hands if said enemy was looking for him.

“You’re not like the others in this star system.” The leader cocked his head, as if in thought. “Yet you’re not like us, either.”

“But my friend is, right?”

“Correct.” The Ebrellion nodded. “I hadn’t meant to leave him so soon after finding him, but I had to return to my ship. Rebel scum needed tending.” The alien smiled, showcasing sharp white teeth. “Your friend,” he paused. “I scent him on you. Mated, yet not?”

“That seems to be the running question.” Ryen was having the oddest conversation with a creature he’d never thought to meet. For all the Ebrellion’s differences, he appeared very human. A large, muscular male. Short dark hair, normal Mardu clothing. Only his eyes and teeth looked alien.

“There is something. I can sense a psychic bond. Yet he has not performed the Rite.” The male frowned. “This is dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s nearing his Time. I sensed it when I saw him the other day. He’s nearing his Time and has only partially mated. Without taking from you what he needs, he’ll turn...not right.” The male said something Ryen didn’t understand.

“What the hell does he need? How can I give him what he wants? Does he even know what to do? Because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know he’s Ebrellion.”

“As I suspected.” The leader spoke to his companions and one by one they departed. “I am Tarn. We will find the male and you will fix him.” Ryen was no one’s fool. “You want me to believe you want to help a guy who took down a dozen or more of your own kind.”

“He helped me take care of the rebels I was sent to dispatch. He’s a powerful male. And he’s of my brother’s line.”

Ryen blinked, not having expected that. “What?”

“It’s in his eyes. I saw it for a brief moment when our gazes collided. You’re not Ebrellion, so you can’t understand, but it’s something I know. Come here, Ryen.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Your male called for you several times in the warehouse. I followed his trace back here to you through the void. I carried him here. He wasn’t able to move once the threll toxin worked into his system.”

Ryen wanted badly to help Drekk, but he didn’t trust this Tarn as far as he could throw him.

“Every moment you tarry you put your mate in jeopardy.”

“Fine. But you try fucking me over and I’ll break your neck. You don’t want to know what I’ll do to you if you harm Drekk.”

“Drekk, hmm? An Ebrellion name.” Tarn smiled, and his teeth looked normal, like that of a human once more.

“Whatever.” Ryen stepped closer to Tarn and tucked his pistol back into its holster. If the Ebrellion made a wrong move he’d use brute force to take him down. Not as effective, but more satisfying. “Now what?”

“Think of your mate. I will take us there.” Tarn grabbed his arm just as Ryen reached for the pistol at his back, holding onto it.

Ryen concentrated on Drekk. On his ready smile when he teased Ryen, of his clear grey eyes that saw so much. His firm lips and the rough scar that only accentuated his danger.

Dark black hair over swarthy skin. A rugged frame and large hands with long fingers that could cause pleasure or pain. What struck Ryen most about his memories was the love they engendered. Every time he though of Drekk, he warmed with the need to just spend time around his lover. To hear him laugh or growl with passion.

“Enough,” Tarn muttered and dropped him into a dark wooded area. Ryen sensed another presence just as something wild leaped at Tarn. This threll was three times the size of a normal threll with an anger that stunned Ryen. He made a move to shoot the thing with his pistol when Tarn threw himself in Ryen’s sights.

“No. This is Drekk,” Tarn said as the giant threll threw him to the ground. The thing swiped two of his six claws over Tarn’s belly and snarled. The thin hide Tarn wore over his shirt like a vest deflected the venomous attack.

Stunned, Ryen called out Drekk’s name. The creature snarled once more, then ceased its attack on Tarn and jumped in Ryen’s direction.

“Do not move. Let him scent you,” Tarn said quietly.

Ryen released a torrent of pheromone.

“That’s very good,” Tarn said in a choked voice. “No wonder Drekk claimed you.” The threll snapped at Tarn but didn’t attack. Instead it focused on Ryen. Slowly, the threll began to shrink and change shape, until only Drekk remained on his hands and knees, his hair askew, his features still alien until they too evened out. Only his eyes remained like Tarn’s. Green and yellow with a slitted pupil.

“My brother’s line,” Tarn said proudly, sadly. “Drekk, you must finish claiming your mate in order to become whole.”

“Become whole?” Drekk rasped, his eyes glowing with anger and shame.

The shame tugged at Ryen’s heart.

“I would have killed him and any who stood between us. What good is becoming whole?” Drekk clutched his head. “I’ve kept it contained for years.”

“Too many years. It is your Time. In your cycles, you peaked many times, and all safely because you had no bond, no mate.”

“My Time? Peaked?” Drekk asked, his gaze glued to Ryen.

Stars, even naked and covered in sweat, Drekk mesmerised him.

“Your Time, like a female’s cycle when she goes into heat,” Tarn explained. “Ebrellion males feel it as well, but the unmated deal with it using certain herbs and rituals. When mated, the Rite is necessary to stimulate the trigger that allows control over the shifts.” Tarn softened his voice. “You controlled your peaks for so long, Drekk. An amazing feat. That you command the void—that you teleport,” he clarified, “is a testament to your power. Your strength, your healing, they are wonders that awe me. But now that you have a mate you will no longer be able to control yourself during your Time. You must finish what you started.” Tarn turned to Ryen. “Will you accept this?”

“Whatever he needs.” Ryen nodded.

Drekk shook his head. “I won’t endanger him.”

“You already do. You clamour for this male. You have taken him as your own with your mind and body. But your Ebrellion shei, the essence that makes you what you are, demands you claim all of Ryen.”

“Will it harm him?”

Tarn grinned. “On the contrary, I think you and he have already begun this path.”

“What?”

“You must bathe the male’s honet with your seed, releasing a touch of shei. He in turn must give it back to you the same way.”

Drekk frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Release your seed in Ryen’s rectum,” Tarn explained stumbling over the word.

“My lucky day,” Ryen murmured.

“That’s it? Just ass-fuck him?” Drekk narrowed his gaze.

“That and a few bites. Nothing shattering. But blood and seed must mix. You need to do this before your next wave hits.”

“Next wave.” Drekk pressed his hand to his belly.

“That hunger. That’s your craving for your mate. You must take his essence into you.

And then Ryen will give it back. Once you do, all the pain and lusting violence you’ve experienced will vanish. Ryen’s release inside of you—a combination of your shei and his energy—will trigger your control centre. It’s a chemical stimulant only your mate can give you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. I felt your struggle in the temporal stream, but I didn’t realise its source until I met your mate.” Tarn eyed Ryen up and down. “Though he cannot procreate, he would be considered quite attractive on my world, where strength is prized above all else. His eyes are, of course, extraordinary.” Sensing Drekk’s mounting rage, Ryen glared at Tarn. “Don’t push him—”

“Too late. Good luck.” Tarn grinned and vanished.

Ryen half turned only to find Drekk all over him, ripping his clothes to shreds. Then he used his mouth. They weren’t kisses so much as bites and nips. Drekk gentled as he lapped Ryen’s skin, savouring his nipples with such skill that Ryen fell headlong into lust. His cock ached at the harsh treatment, the stings of Drekk’s teeth adding to the pleasure of sharp nails against his belly.

“I need you.” Drekk sounded inhuman but Ryen didn’t care.

“Take what you need, Sir.”

Drekk groaned and flipped him over a large, fallen tree, spreading his cheeks with brutal force. Expecting more pain, Ryen was unprepared for Drekk’s long tongue. It snaked around his rim and into his ass, touching and flicking along sensitive nerves Ryen hadn’t thought he possessed.

“Oh fuck, yes,” he moaned.

Drekk grunted his pleasure and continued to eat him, reaching around to clutch Ryen’s cock with a hard grip. Ryen tensed at the almost painful jerking while Drekk continued to lick his ass, shocked at the painful pleasure.

When he was on the verge of orgasm, Ryen smelled the sweetest damned perfume that went straight to his head. He barely felt Drekk turn him around. Barely noticed the scrape of teeth down his cock that drew beads of blood as he thrust hard and fast into Drekk’s mouth.

And then Drekk was swallowing his cum, licking and sucking it down.

Euphoric, Ryen ignored the wainu waiting for him. Though he registered his orgasm and wanted another, he wanted to be ultra aware of Drekk, who pushed him back onto his belly and spat onto his hand. He’s lubing up with my cum, Ryen thought, astonished Drekk could think to do so in his animalistic state. Then he could think no more as Drekk shoved inside him. Even slick with Ryen’s seed, Drekk’s cock was thick and bruising as he pushed deeper.

Drekk seemed bigger, and his thrusting hurt as he took more. Drekk groaned Ryen’s name over and over as he rammed home. “Yes, Ryen. Yes.” Gripping Ryen’s waist with clawed fingers that drew blood, Drekk suddenly stiffened as he shot into Ryen’s ass. He howled his pleasure. Ryen felt a sense of something passing between them, something more than seed. But the vicious bite at his shoulder shocked his inner beast. The rage he’d lived with for so long, and thought he’d conquered, rushed from him. He knocked Drekk back and turned with a roar.

“Give it back to me,” Drekk rasped as he licked his blooded lips. “Fuck me.” Yes, yes. That’s what I need. In the blink of an eye he pushed Drekk over the tree and spread his thighs apart. The sight of Drekk’s plump sack hanging low, of the musky perfume lingering over the two of them, and the hunger to finally fuck Drekk pushed him to take what he’d been wanting for so long.

He grunted as he put the head of his cock at Drekk’s hole. Need overwhelmed him as he pushed forward. To his surprise, Drekk was cool and moist, accepting Ryen with ease.

The unexpected chill on his shaft sent him deeper inside, seeking heat. Such perfection, fitting each other as if born to. Sensation overwhelmed Ryen as wainu settled over them both.

He was unable to ignore it this time, nor did he want to.

“Drekk. Damn, I love you,” he moaned as he fucked his lover. Pistoning his hips, he ground against Drekk’s ass, wanting nothing more than to cause his lover to climax again.

“Come with me.”

“Yes. Inside me. Hit that spot again. Yes, again,” Drekk cried out as he shuddered and shot against the tree.

Ryen continued to thrust, not relenting until he’d come hard. The deep love he felt from his master, his partner, took him to another plane of rapture altogether. He held Drekk tight, not letting go even when Drekk fidgeted beneath his heavy weight. Finally, when he’d spent his all, he withdrew and took Drekk to the ground with him. He settled Drekk on his lap, ignoring his lover’s scowl.

“You should sit on my lap.”

“Hell no. You’re sitting on mine. You’re wearing my cum,” Ryen said with satisfaction.

“And your Ebrellion side seems to have been tamed.”

“My Ebrellion side.” Drekk stared at him. “That’s why I started turning into a monster, because I have alien blood in me, too.” Drekk laughed tiredly. “Good night. What else is in me I need to know about?”

“Well, I’d say me but I just pulled out.” Ryen grinned before he shifted and caught sight of his own cock. “Holy shit. What the hell did you do to me?” Drekk’s smile froze as he sat back and saw the welts and bite marks all over Ryen’s body. “Oh, no. Ryen, I’m so damned sorry. I never meant to hurt you—”

“Shut up. I couldn’t care less about my body. But my cock has your teeth marks. How am I going to explain those to Glaia the next time we share her?” Drekk opened his mouth to speak and stopped. “There is a ‘we’ then?”

“Didn’t you hear me say I love you?”

“Say it again.”The stupid grin on Drekk’s face made him want to shout with joy.

Then Ryen scowled, realising Drekk had yet to say the words. “How about you say it once, mate?”

Drekk had the decency to flinch. “I was going to tell you we’d mated. Hell, you pushed me into it. I’m Xema. It was all I could do not to take you before I had.”

“Yeah, well I’m Xema too. And I don’t remember getting a chance to fuck you in the ass before now.”

Drekk flushed. “I can’t help it. I like fucking you.”

“I have to admit, I like it too. Still, coming in your ass turned me on. Considering I’m bigger than you, I should be on top.”

Drekk scoffed. “You may be bigger, but I’m an alien. That definitely gives me rights when it comes to taking charge.” Drekk’s carefree attitude vanished. “I’m an alien. Fuck, Ryen. Talk about being an abomination.”

“What did you say?”

“Abomination. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Who called you that?” Ryen wanted to kill.

“I call myself that.”

“Well, don’t. I heard enough of it in Blue Rim. You’re a man who can heal, who can teleport and who gives the best head I’ve ever had.” Drekk snorted.

“You’re so much more than what they made of you, Drekk. You healed me.”

Drekk scooted off of Ryen’s lap and reversed their positions, seating Ryen over him. He positioned Ryen to straddle his hips, their faces a breath apart. “Did I help you? I’ve tied you to an abom—” he corrected himself. “To an alien for the rest of your life.”

“Yeah, well, I have anger issues. We can work on that.”Ryen smiled. “I think I might be cured from the uncontrollable urges. I didn’t kill the Ebrellions hanging in your apartment.

And my ride home with Erin wasn’t annoying or frustrating in the slightest. At least, it wasn’t until she told me I had a mate I knew nothing about.” Drekk groaned. “How long are you going to hold that over my head?” Ryen reached down and smoothed the cum from Drekk’s ass over Drekk’s cock. A spark lit Drekk’s gaze and he helped, grabbing Ryen to lower him slowly over his erection.

Fully seated, Ryen answered him on a groan. “You’ll be hearing it until I’m done reminding you of it. For the rest of your life, I’d say. We need to work on your control issues as well. Let’s fuck a few more times to see if our mating took.” He rode his lover for a few heart-shattering strokes, then paused. “I still haven’t heard the words.”

“Can’t you feel what I feel? I love you so much,” Drekk moaned and threw his head back as Ryen sank down and rose over him time and time again. He wrapped a hand around Ryen’s cock while Ryen controlled their pace, and it wasn’t long before Ryen climaxed into bliss. The moon rose high while they made love. Two men Created for each other under the stars. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, until Ryen woke remembering he’d had someplace to be tonight.