Ryen didn’t know how to free himself from the magnecuffs. Fuck. He glared as Drekk advanced, pissed as hell that he’d given the man the advantage. What bothered him even more was the fact that Drekk’s arousal pushed his out of control. He hungered for Drekk’s touch, even as he knew he should feel repulsed by it.
Drekk made no apology for his desire. Hell, he’d told Ryen flat out he wanted to fuck him. Why did those words make Ryen so uncomfortably aroused?
“You’re not natural, Drekk,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Sex with men is—”
“Not allowed?” Drekk chuckled and walked around him, as if eyeing up a prize stallion. “We’re free men, Ryen. What we want and desire is natural. In case you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t released my scent. You, however, have.” To his horror, Ryen realised he’d loosed his pheromones to bring Drekk closer. And not to engage him in battle.
“It’s okay,” Drekk said softly. He palmed Ryen’s cheek.
The sensation of comfort scared the hell out of Ryen, who yanked his head back and cursed.
“So difficult. You’re going to be a hard one to break, aren’t you?” Drekk murmured and cupped his own arousal. Ryen wanted nothing more than to put his own hand there, an unnerving discovery that made him fight harder.
“’Hard one to break’? Set me free of these cuffs and I’ll show you the breaks.” Ryen sneered. “I’ll rip off your dick and shove it up your own ass. How do you think that will feel?”
Drekk raised a brow, his grey eyes glinting with...humour? “So imaginative. Ryen, the minute you put your hand on my cock, you’re not going to want to rip it off. Anything but that.” Drekk moved behind him. He ran his hand over Ryen’s back and rubbed his ass with a firmness that made Ryen want to spread his legs wider.
Drekk reached between his legs to cup his aching balls. Shit.
“What you need is to face some unpleasant truths,” Drekk said softly as he caressed Ryen’s sack. “You’re living the life your Handler made for you, Ryen. Let go of what he told you to feel and recognise what your body wants. If you didn’t like my touch, you wouldn’t be rock hard and hurting right now, would you?”
‘Rock hard’ described him exactly. “My Handler is long gone. Synster has no hold over me. He never did.”
“Then why is your desire for another male unnatural?” Drekk asked as he let go of Ryen and circled to his front. “You came in Glaia’s mouth, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Ryen answered. “I fucked her good and hard, though I didn’t want to.” Anger surged. “I could have hurt her.”
Drekk gripped Ryen’s erection and squeezed. “That’s how I know you’re a man worth saving. A ravaging Creation would have fucked her no matter her wants and safety. You’re a good man, Ryen. You just need to release your anger to see it.”
“Let go of me,” Ryen said hoarsely.
“Why? Afraid you might come?”
Hell yes. “Let go.” To his dismay, Drekk did so.
“I don’t think you understand, Ryen. I’m your new master.”
“The fuck you are.”
“Have you never wondered why the rage leaves you after you orgasm? Like I said, it’s that sexual surrender you need. Watch me.”
Drekk stood back and unbuttoned his trousers. Ryen wanted to look away but couldn’t tear his eyes from Drekk’s thick cock.
“I’m going to stroke myself, to let go of everything but my need for calm. At one with myself, I’m centred.” Drekk watched Ryen while he put his big hand over his cock. Up and down he jerked, his shaft tight as fluid beaded the tip. “I want to fuck you, Ryen. To feel you around me. To feel that mouth swallow me whole,” he rasped and quickened his hand.
Ryen groaned as he unconsciously arched his hips towards Drekk.
“You want me. You want to feel me as I do you. It’s natural. It’s right.” Drekk let go of his cock and fondled his balls. “See this? You make me so hard. I can’t think of anything better than fucking you. So who’s the master now, do you think?” Ryen wanted to take that cream into his mouth. To swallow Drekk’s load and feast as he gave Drekk the same.
“I’m going to come, Ryen. Do you want to watch me come?” Ryen fought the urge to say yes.
“Do you want to come? Do you want my mouth over you? My hand taking you to bliss?”
“No,” he denied, contrary to what his body wept for.
“Such a liar,” Drekk said around a taunting grin. The bastard let loose a hint of his scent and Ryen swore. “What do you want?”
Ryen wanted it all, damn Drekk. He let loose his own scent and Drekk’s grin faded.
“Tell me what you want,” Drekk said again, his eyes going totally black, his voice deep and commanding. His power curled around Ryen with such force Ryen wanted to bow down in supplication, to give over to Drekk’s control.
“Nothing.” The urge to cry struck him hard as he denied his base instincts.
“Fine. Then watch what could have been yours.” Drekk stroked himself again, faster and harder until he came. He didn’t make a sound as he jetted over his hand and belly.
Ryen licked his lips, ravenous for that something he constantly craved. So close, so within reach...
Drekk wiped his hand on his shirt before removing it. He tossed it to the ground and tucked himself back into his trousers. “That took the edge off. How ‘bout you? Cuffs, follow me.”
The bastard had the nerve to chuckle as he led Ryen back into the bedroom. Each step felt like torture as Ryen’s swollen shaft rubbed against his constricting trousers. Ryen wondered what the hell was so wrong with him that the sight of Drekk jerking off nearly had him creaming his own pants.
“You’re going to be in pain for a bit, I’m afraid.” Drekk shook his head. “Pity. I look forward to watching you spill. Unlike my generation, yours was made with pleasuring in mind. You can’t be oblivious to your attraction.” Drekk ordered Ryen to stand straight, hands at his hips, feet shoulder width apart.
“I had plenty of willing women in the labs, Drekk. I have Nebite blood in me.”
“As do I. Yet not a hint of it’s in my face.” Drekk grinned, his lips full and kissable.
Kissable? Alarmed, Ryen changed the subject. “So what’s with this? Jerking off? Making me watch? The sex talk? You think you can seduce me into succumbing? Hell, Drekk. You want to prove you’re better than me? Just take off the cuffs and fight me like a man.”
“No can do. This, my friend, is the way to go. A fight is an easy, physical solution. One that involves pain. We won’t associate pain with your surrender. It needs to be voluntary.”
“Coward.” Ryen enjoyed the brief anger that passed through Drekk’s clear gaze.
“Believe what you want, but you know, deep down, you want to give in. You want to bow to a master, to fulfil the ultimate purpose behind your existence. To Serve. I know because I’m the same. I fought, as you do. It’s not the sex so much as the desire, Ryen. I love women and I love men. We shared Glaia, didn’t we?”
“Yes.” Ryen would give anything to have her hot mouth again. He felt like he would explode.
“But she wasn’t really there, not in here.” Drekk tapped his head. “I was fucking you, Ryen.”
A wet spot on Ryen’s trousers attracted Drekk’s attention.
Drekk smiled. “Lesson number one, your dick is going to lead you into trouble.”
“Asshole.”
“Lesson number two, we’re going to will that arousal away. With meditation.”
“Shit.”
“Don’t you have a better vocabulary than that?” Drekk winced at the words Ryen threw at him. “Fine. But if you won’t let me touch you and you can’t touch yourself, how do you intend to get rid of that?” Drekk pointed at his arousal.
Ryen gritted his teeth, not amused by any of this. Much as he wanted Drekk to touch him, he held back. “I’ll deal with it.”
“Yes, until you break out in a violent rage, the way you normally do. You have to learn to control your needs, Ryen. So either I touch you or we meditate. Your call.” Knowing if he let Drekk touch him he’d go off like a shot, Ryen relented. The sooner he gave Drekk what he wanted the sooner Ryen could get out of the cuffs and kill him.
“Show me how to meditate.”
“Pity.” Drekk flexed his hands. “Cuffs, down on the floor, cross-legged, Petal One hand position. Ryen, close your eyes and breathe...”
Several tedious days later, Ryen had nearly grasped the technique. Creations were quick to learn, but even Drekk seemed surprised at Ryen’s progress.
“Very good. It took me a lot longer to focus. Takes most people months if not years to get to where you are now. Another difference between us and the rest of society.” Drekk smiled, as if pleased to be in a class all their own.
“Drekk, tell me. How is it you’re so accepting? So glad to be different?”
“I wasn’t at first. Remember, I’ve been around a lot longer than you.”
“How long?”
“A thousand years, give or take.”
“So how long did it take you to relax and ‘submit’?” Drekk frowned. “That’s not important.”
“I think it is. You’re asking a lot of me and you never share information about yourself. A few days ago you told me about this Master guy. Why is that?” Drekk remained quiet but murmured a command to allow Ryen the complete use of his body again. Fucking magnecuffs.
Though the urge to take Drekk down and give him some payback was strong, Ryen appreciated this new clarity of thought. He wouldn’t admit it, but Drekk’s meditation crap might have some merit after all.
“What do you want to know?” Drekk asked.
Bemused, Ryen wondered how to phrase his questions. He asked the one that bothered him more than the others. “How is it you like men? Women talk about you. Hell, they practically throw themselves at you. And I watched you fuck Glaia.” Ryen took a deep breath, forcing himself not to linger on the memory. He’d just regained control of his body.
Drekk shrugged. “They used to force me into the same situations you faced in the labs.
Except I fought other Creations as well as artificial intelligence. They hadn’t quite progressed to the machines you battled.” Drekk frowned. “Fighting hand to hand has a different effect on you than you’d think. It makes you hungrier.”
Drekk clenched his fists and flexed, his muscles prominent. Though he stood a head shorter and was less brawny, Drekk had a frame filled with strength. Clear lines denoted the hard abdomen and steely pectorals of his chest. His biceps and forearms had been as solid as iron when wrapped around Ryen’s neck a few days ago.
“When done fighting, I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I released. The rage would leave me, but the hunger for more grew. It would take several women before I’d ease. Like you, I had a hard time giving in to my raging lusts.
“I served my Handler well for years while I battled my inner fury. It took a long time for me to free myself. When the lot of us rebelled, we—” He suddenly stopped, uncomfortable.
“We what?”
“It’s not important. You wanted to know why I like men. It started with Master. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t kill him. We fought long and hard, and I nearly defeated him,” Drekk said quietly. “Thank the stars he prevailed. I was a wreck, close to madness after our battle. My blood mingled with his during our fight, allowing him to heal.” Drekk smiled.
“And then he fucked me.”
Ryen shifted. “Rape?”
“No. A savvy seduction that showed me a whole new world. With Master, I learned to sexually submit. In doing so I released the anger, the pain, everything that held me back from the normalcy I craved. He hurt me and he helped me. With him, I could be as rough as I needed. He handled what those other women couldn’t.”
“There must have been some time between fleeing Eyra and finding that guy. If you never took anyone by force, you must have found some women who—”
“Who could take that pain? Yes, there are women out there who can handle anything.
Some like to be beaten, caned, flogged to the point of death. It’s a sickness, Ryen. There are those out there who worship true pain for pain’s sake, not for pleasure.” He shuddered. “Our kind should never have that. Ever.”
Ryen wanted to press him but sensed now was not the time. “So how did your master seduce you?”
Drekk left the bedroom and Ryen followed. Fetching them both something to eat, Drekk nodded Ryen towards the dining area. He answered Ryen between bites of succulent fruit.
“He seduced me with word and deed. You’re very interested in my sexual submission.” Ryen flushed and kept his attention on his food. “It’s just odd. You’re a strong guy. Why would you want a man when you can have a soft woman?” Drekk chuckled. “What you really want is an explanation as to how you can want me when you’ve been warned against it your whole life.”
“Not true, I—”
“It’s not a weakness to admit what you want, to accept it. I love women too. I love their softness, their curves, so different from my own. To be deep inside a female as you suck from her breasts, to kiss her lips as you drive deep... What’s not to love? Unlike most males, I have no need to procreate. I use sex as a release, not as a drive to produce young. The same as you, Ryen. Why then are males not acceptable as receptacles for our lust?” He had a point. Ryen chewed his food, lost in thought.
“Your Handler told you it was wrong, as did mine. My master showed me another way. In certain males I can loosen that hold on my control. I don’t need to worry about how hard I grab, how deeply I thrust. Within reason, of course. Master was very strong.” The jealousy Ryen experienced shocked him. What did he care how much Drekk felt for another? A male at that?
“If your Handler had not warned you against sex with other men, would you have tried it?” Drekk asked.
Ryen found himself admitting the truth. “Yes.”
“Good. Curiosity is human, Ryen.” Drekk winked. “We were Created to be human, weren’t we? Why then wouldn’t we want to experience everything? Perhaps after you bed a male, you’ll find you don’t like it.”
Ryen hadn’t thought of that.
“What do you have to lose? If you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”
“How do I know you’ll stop?” Ryen held up his wrists. “If you want to earn my trust, try it without these.”
“I would if I could trust you. I don’t. I know what it’s like in the early years. You need help with restraint.”
“You said you’re strong. You don’t need these.” Ryen glared at the magnecuffs.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Every time Drekk mentioned hurting Ryen, Ryen’s blood spiked. The thought that Drekk had enough might to overpower him intrigued him to no end.
“You’ve done well today with the meditation. Now it’s time to relax. Pull your chair over here.”
“I could use the rest. Where should I bunk down?” Ryen deliberately ignored Drekk’s command. Nervous and not liking it, he forced himself to pretend Drekk didn’t have the upper hand. Because as much as Ryen despised the cuffs, the knowledge that he was under Drekk’s authority didn’t repulse him as it first had.
“Do I have to use the cuffs to move you? Relax, Ryen. I’m not going to hurt you.” The smirk on Drekk’s face irritated him anew. Ryen stalked to within an inch of the male and glared down at him. “I’m not scared of you, Drekk.”
“Then pull your chair next to mine and sit. I have another exercise for you to complete.” Ryen sat, as stiff as a board, prepared for an attack of some kind.
“Open your mouth.”
“What?”
“Say nothing. Open your mouth. ” When Drekk’s gaze blackened before returning to light grey, Ryen felt his will to resist fade.
More curious now than alarmed, Ryen opened his mouth. Drekk took a piece of fruit and placed it on his tongue.
“Close your eyes and your mouth and chew. Then swallow it and tell me what it tastes like.”
Ryen closed his eyes and mouth, catching the tip of Drekk’s finger in the process. The taste of salty flesh mixed with the ripe sweetness of the fruit before Drekk slipped his finger free. Ryen chewed and swallowed, hypersensitive to the weight of Drekk’s gaze, to the subtle scent of the male mixing with the fruity sensation on his tongue.
“The fruit is sweet.” He couldn’t help the rasp in his voice.
“And? What of its texture?”Drekk murmured.
Ryen started to answer when a hand landed on his thigh. He opened his eyes and stared at Drekk’s large hand.
“Close your eyes and answer the question. What of its texture?” Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Ryen closed his eyes and said, “It’s fleshy, soft and chewy. The fruit fills my mouth with juice when I bite into it.” That hand inched higher on his thigh before lowering towards his knee. The tension in the room thickened.
“Relax, Ryen. Now keep your eyes closed, open your mouth and take another bite.” Ryen didn’t understand what Drekk expected him to learn from this ‘exercise’ but didn’t see the harm in complying. The fruit tasted delicious. If Drekk got out of hand, Ryen could take him down and mute him before Drekk had an opportunity to voice-command the cuffs. He hoped.
Another piece of fruit landed on his tongue. A bit of juice dribbled down his lip. Before he could wipe it away, Drekk took it with his thumb.
The soft caress over his mouth nearly caused Ryen to choke. Such carnality in a simple touch. The hand on his leg moved from knee to upper thigh, close but not touching his hard cock, much as Ryen tried to will his desire away.
“It’s okay, Ryen. I’m familiarising you with touch. Not every male you meet wants to harm you. For so long you’ve seen men as your enemy and women as no more than sexual objects or beings to protect. I’m a male. I don’t want to hurt you. Take comfort in this contact,” Drekk said softly.
“It feels strange,” Ryen admitted, his voice huskier than he might have liked.
“But not bad.” Drekk eased his hand over Ryen’s other leg. His knuckles brushed Ryen’s groin, sending fire through Ryen’s entire body. “Not harmful.” Ryen kept his eyes shut, not wanting to see Drekk’s smug face. Drekk surprised him by saying nothing about his excitement. He continued to feed Ryen, petting him into a sensual lassitude Ryen found amazingly comforting.
Not sure how long the two of them sat there, Ryen finally noticed Drekk’s stillness.
He blinked his eyes open. Drekk stared at him with a curious look on his face, one that confused Ryen as much as it captivated him. What the hell was Drekk thinking about?
Drekk gripped his leg and patted him. To Ryen’s chagrin, Drekk seemed unfazed by their interaction, whereas Ryen had an aching erection needing ease.
“It’s been a long day. I think it’s time we turned in.” Excitement touched the dreamy reality of the moment as Ryen followed Drekk into the bedroom. Would Drekk try to take him tonight? Would the male finally mount him and fuck him? Force Ryen to suck him off, to swallow his seed?
“Remove your clothes.”
Ryen wavered on his feet. What the fuck? Baffled by his sudden weariness, Ryen put up no protest. He disrobed and remained standing, watching Drekk through half-slitted eyes.
“Now get into bed.”
Ryen lay down in the middle of the monstrous bed, consciously forcing Drekk to order him over. Though tonight had been a pleasant surprise, Ryen didn’t know what more Drekk might want from him, or if he should allow it, as much as his body wanted some ease. The past few days had been sheer hell.
“Good night, Ryen. Rest well.” Drekk left, his mysterious gaze both tender and calculating.
Bastard. Ryen thought on a yawn, and then thought no more as sleep overtook him.