Branded Page 12

  “Fuck you, José.”

  Blind Guy—José—grinned. He looked devilishly hot like that. Asher captured his lips in a kiss, ravaged his mouth, tried to convey his need, his desperation for the fire elf to fuck him. José's arousal pressed against his thigh, and he stroked his fingers over it.

  “Do me,” he demanded, words spoken into José's ear. He had a craving for cock and his insides were itching to be filled, to be fucked.

  José’s hand stroked his thighs, his fingers channeling heat into Asher’s skin and making him moan into the kiss with raw need for something more. The motions of that teasing hand took over Asher’s mind, so much so that he barely noticed the fingers—first one, then two—that buried themselves in him. Until they hit that spot that made him lose the rest of his sanity. He couldn’t help but moan as José rubbed his fingers over his sweet spot. It was too much, and not enough. Asher forced his breath back out, toes curling in torturous anticipation as the digits brushed along his inner walls. "Do that faster." He almost whined, but damn, every move fanned the flames inside of him, yet kept them too weak to spread out, to devour him like he needed them to.

  José withdrew, and hesitated, and Asher wanted to kill him.

  “We don’t have any lube,” José said.

  Asher groaned. “I don’t care. C’mon.” He rolled his eyes when the other man still seemed unconvinced. “I’m a dragon. I have a high pain tolerance. Really.”

  “Alright…” José said.

  A third finger added to Asher’s delicious torment and his head fell to the side as José drew a long low moan from him. José hit his sweet spot again. And again. Until Asher’s throat threatened to become raw, until his mind blew over and his whole body became one pulsing need and his cock strained angrily against his stomach. He gasped for breath when José withdrew, every muscle in his body tense. Wanting, craving, needing replacement for the loss.

  His breathing turned to moans when José grabbed his hips from behind and finally pushed his hard cock into him. He went slowly, and Asher felt every second of the stretch as his body opened up for him. Face-to-face wasn’t Asher’s favorite position, but with Blind Guy, it wasn’t so bad. Maybe because he was blind. And José had probably only chosen this because of Asher’s injuries, anyway.

  These thoughts fled Asher’s mind as José pulled back to thrust into him. “Damn,” he gasped out. He'd been wrong when he'd thought the need for release couldn't get any worse.

  José set a fast pace and Asher's back rubbed sore on the stone ground, but that didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for the pleasure pooling and spiking and surging through his body, telling him that he needed more and he needed it fast. José hit his prostate again and ripped a moan from his throat. He pushed back against José, urging him to go on. In response, José upped the pace and Asher's world tipped over. Every breath scratched against his throat. All his thoughts focused on meeting José just so that he'd get just that little bit closer. His eyes clenched shut. The heat rose. Inside and outside, he was burning, going up in flames, any minute now, any minute—

  A strong hand wrapped firmly around his aching cock, made the pressure unbearable, ripped a cry from his throat. Started to stroke. Asher's body shook. Flames erupted behind his eyelids, took over his being, erased all thought, all feeling and replaced it with explosions of pleasure that left him trembling. At the edge of consciousness, he felt José's release, heard his moans in his ears.

  “Fuck…!” Asher repeated himself breathlessly, body going limp. His eyes stared blankly at the campfire in front of him while he listened to the crackling of the flames and José’s breathing.

  After a moment, José withdrew and rolled off him. Asher turned to see his face. On impulse, he reached for the blindfold that covered Blind Guy’s eyes. That got him a reaction. “What are you…”

  “Just curious.” Asher took the blindfold off and studied José's face without it. Weird. Not bad, just unusual. He laid the cloth aside. José opened his eyes, before Asher could ask him to. They were the same red as his hair. Neat. Beautiful but completely unfocused. It was a shame. “You're like an albino,” Asher said. “Just without the white hair and pale skin.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “It’s indigo, by the way,” Asher said as he kept studying José’s eyes.

  “What’s indigo?”

  “My favorite color, you asked, remember?”

  “Uh… yeah.” It seemed like he’d managed to confuse José again.

  “Just saying, ‘cause red’s not my favorite color, but looking at your eyes like that, I’m thinking it should be. But it’s not.”

  “Are you saying that my eyes are red?” José blinked, as if that would make him see better.

  “You don’t know your own eye color?”

  “Apparently not.” José rubbed a hand over his eyes, and closed them. “I know yours though.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Blue.”

  “Lucky guess,” Asher said. For some reason, his words made the other man smile. José had a nice smile. If he hadn’t felt so sleepy, Asher might have been tempted to jump him again. As it was, he let his eyes fall shut and listened to the pattering of the rain outside, mixing with the crackling of the fire inside that warmed his skin. José was still lying so close to him that Asher heard his breathing over the sound of everything else, but moving away seemed too much of an effort.

  Until a hand reaching for his waist disturbed his peace. “You’re getting cuddly,” Asher mumbled. Hadn’t he made his opinion on this clear? He opened his eyes to glare at José when the hand lingered, but José seemed unfazed. Well, of course, he couldn’t see the look Asher was giving him.

  “Is it killing you?” José asked.

  “Would it kill you to keep your hands to yourself?”

  “Fine, I get it,” José muttered. Asher kept glaring at him while he dragged his hand up, tracing Asher’s side and finally stroking through his hair before removing his fingers from Asher’s body. “Happy now?”

  Asher rolled onto his other side to stop his skin from tingling. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “No, but I wanted to.” Asher heard the grin in José’s voice without looking at him.

  “Fuck you.” Asher closed his eyes again and tried to go back to the comfortable drowsiness he’d felt before, but it was gone.

  “Sex. That’s all it is to you, isn’t it?” José asked softly.

  Asher didn’t bother responding.

  Chapter 18 - Getting Closer

  “How much farther is it?” Asher asked after lunch the following day. José signaled him to hush. Something was coming from the woods. The pattern of their steps sounded like five or six two-legged creatures. Maybe something humanoid, and hopefully not something out to get them.

  “We're getting visitors,” he whispered.

  “Be careful,” the lavalight said inside his head, reminding him of the burned villages around.

  “Who's there?” Asher called out. José cringed, picturing him standing there with the rest of their food, ready to throw.

  The strangers quickened their pace in response to Asher’s call. José strained his senses and counted again. Sounded more like five now. They didn’t smell like monsters. Smelled more like grass and wild berries and sweat, but you could never be too sure.

  “They’re carrying spears,” the lavalight said.

  “Wow,” Asher said after a moment. “That's some really ugly face paint.“

  Someone huffed.

  Way to go, Asher. José wanted to facepalm himself, but turned to the strangers instead. “Please don't mind him.”

  “It doesn't matter,” someone said in a gruff tone. “We're on the lookout for enemy troops.“ In his mind, José saw an old war veteran with shifty eyes standing in front of him.

  “Enemy troops?” he asked. Which side were these people on?

  “The half-breed bastards and that cursed fox-guy!” a shrill female voice said. “We're gonna protec
t our village from those fiends!”

  José just so resisted the urge to shield his ears. “Um…right.” Seemed like it was the rebels who were laying the fires, then. “We only just passed through a burned out village.“

  “We're gonna catch the culprits and roast them too!” the female cried out again.

  “Fucking magicians!” someone else said. A murmur of agreement followed. Until Asher's voice cut through it.

  “So there’s more burning villages around?” Asher sounded way too enthusiastic.

  José took a deep breath and stopped himself from shaking his companion. No one said anything. José imagined everyone staring at the pyro.

  “What?” Asher spoke up again. “They're pretty!”

  “He's such an idiot!” the lavalight said, hovering beside José’s head.

  “Aren't you a dragon?” the female from before said, sounding suspicious. José cursed silently, considering the constellation of their little group. They might as well have been wearing signs over their heads saying 'Arsonists - You love it, we burn it.'

  He had to say something placating here, but before he could, Asher opened his mouth again.

  “Aren't you a bitch?”

  José pressed his lips together. One of these days he would have to drill some manners into Asher's thick skull. “He's a dragon,” he hurried to say before anyone could react to Asher's comment, “An incredibly rude one. But we're not the ones who—”

  “That’s a fire elf,” someone cut José off. Well, shit.

  “They even have a lavalight with them! Everyone knows they're trouble!”

  “We're not trouble and we didn't do anything!” José waved his hands in front of himself. The signs were flashing now, weren't they? “Listen-” Nobody did. They were talking among themselves.

  “They're gonna set our village on fire, too!” That shrill female voice again.

  “We're not—”

  “Liars!”

  The lavalight flew in circles around José's head. “They’re raising their spears!”

  José tensed. Was there any use trying to say anymore? Probably not. He grabbed Asher's arm and ran.

  “What—”

  “Shut up and run, idiot!”

  For once, Asher did as he was told. But then, he didn’t have a choice, did he? José hadn’t thought about it when he'd grabbed Asher with his right hand, but it was probably for the best.

  Asher ran faster than him, pulled him along. Saved José a meet and greet with any trees on the way. The battle cries and fast footfalls closing up were enough to worry about.

  Something whooshed past José’s head.

  “Again!” someone shouted.

  “Duck!“ José threw himself on the ground, pulling Asher down with him. Asher groaned as something exploded in the air above them with a crackling noise. The earth below them vibrated with the steps of their pursuers. José threw his left hand up in their direction. A wall of flames rose up around them, cutting them off.

  In the meantime, Asher had freed himself from his grip and jumped back to his feet. José couldn’t react before the temperature rose and a deafening roar sounded through the woods. José scrambled to his feet. Heat radiated off Asher as a ball of flame charged toward their attackers.

  “Stop it!” José deflected the fire from hitting its target at the last second. “This is all just a misunderstanding!”

  “They started it!”

  José shook his head at Asher, but his wall of flames was fading and they had no time to discuss how childish that viewpoint was. “We're ending it.”

  “Quick,” the lavalight said, “they're coming through!”

  “C'mon, we gotta leave!”

  But Asher wasn’t budging. Obviously he was going to behave like a spoiled little diva about being ordered around earlier. José felt his flames vanish from existence. At the same time, Asher spewed more fire at the strangers, who were making their way toward them again. José used Asher’s fire to put up a new wall. Asher growled and outraged cries came from the strangers. But the spell would only work for so long.

  “Why would you run?” Asher asked. “They're small fry.”

  “That doesn't mean we should hurt them!”

  A spear soared through the flames and bored itself into a tree next to José. He swallowed. “We're not the bad guys here!” He took a deep breath and focused his power to strengthen his walls a little. If only to buy them a few more seconds.

  “C'mon,” he repeated. “Let's fly off now and you can decide where we go.” If it was so important to Asher to get to make a decision, José could give him that.

  “Oh, yay. Can we go to Disneyland?”

  “Whatever. I can take you places far better than Disneyland if we can just leave now.”

  “Fine. Hop on.” Of course offering sex would work. José should have thought of it sooner. Asher was an idiot sometimes, but at least he was a predictable idiot.

  José climbed onto the dragon's back before the paranoid crowd could attack again.

  “I'm gonna hold you to that promise,” Asher said as soon as José had settled.

  “I know.” A cool wind blew over José’s face as the dragon spread its wings and took to the air.

  ***

  The lavalight had sat down on José's shoulder once they started flying. “Finally got control of your dragon, huh?” she said when they were airborne with no one following them.

  José ignored the remark. Over the sound of the wind, Asher wouldn't hear his part of the conversation, but how he handled 'his dragon' wasn't any of the lavalight's business. “How long has this civil war been going on for?” he asked instead.

  “Too long,” the lavalight said, bristling. “It’s time we won.”

  “We? What side are you on?”

  “I’m with the good guys. But you don’t have to worry about that. We're almost there, now.”

  “Really?” Excitement welled up in José as though he were a little kid again. Maybe, just maybe this friend of the lavalight’s would know how to get them home. He'd get to see his family again, sleep in his own bed at night. He would never have to fight again, or run into trees. Well, maybe he'd still run into the occasional tree, just not as much.

  “We’re pretty close,” the lavalight said. “My friend’s in a village where there's no racism against half-breeds and mixed couples. It's a beautiful place, you'll see.”

  “So how lon—”

  “There's more smoke!” Asher cut him off. José felt him lean to the right and he had to tighten his grip so he wouldn't fall off as the dragon changed direction.

  “Another burning village?” José raised his voice to be heard.

  “I don't know. I wanna check.”

  “It's okay,” the lavalight said, “that direction's good enough.“

  “If we really get to go home…” José said, “how am I ever gonna thank you?”

  “Oh, that's alright. Don't worry about it.”

  ***

  José jumped off the dragon after they'd landed and Asher transformed back. The relatively long flight had taken a good chunk of Asher's energy, so hopefully there would be no more fights or tantrums for the rest of the day.

  “Where are we?” José asked. Smoke entered his nostrils, made him scrunch up his nose and wave a hand in front of his face.

  “'Nother burned down ghost city,” Asher said as the lavalight flew off to scout the area.

  “You realize what it would look like to anyone coming by if they saw us here?”

  Asher took a few steps into the village and José followed him in spite of the bad feeling he was getting about all this. “We'd look like insane pyromaniacs,” he continued speaking when Asher remained quiet.

  “So what? I am a pyro.”

  “But you’re not responsible for this.” José gestured at their surroundings. “You're not burning houses.”

  Asher scoffed and muttered something José didn’t quite catch.

  José wasn’t sure he wanted
to know what Asher had said. There had been a burning house in Asher’s dream. The one Asher hadn’t wanted him to see. José could ask about it, but it seemed like such a personal thing. Asher’s violent reaction to it in the dream certainly made it look like a matter close to his heart. It was none of José’s business, really. After all, this wasn’t a relationship he wanted to sustain in the real world, was it?

  But what did that make him? One in a long line of men who used Asher for his body.

  Then again, Asher had made it very clear last night that he wasn’t offering anything more than that.

  “There’s no one around,” the lavalight said, coming back to José “We should set up camp somewhere, and tomorrow we'll reach my friend's house.”

  José relayed the information to Asher and they agreed to look for food and settle for the night somewhere in the forest nearby.

  ***

  “Asher?” he asked later, after they'd had dinner and were sitting around a small fire.

  “Yeah?”

  “What's the first thing you'll do when we get back?” He'd asked himself this question, too, thinking that maybe he'd go to his parents' house and hug everyone available… and then call up all his older siblings, all his friends and relatives, even the ones he hadn't spoken to in years. Maybe he'd invite the half-deaf old lady who lived next door over for coffee. Mhm… coffee.

  “I dunno.” Asher let himself fall onto his back. “Take a shower. Get a haircut. Smoke a cigarette.”

  José couldn't help but laugh.

  “What's so funny?”

  “You're so simple.”

  Asher huffed. “Whatever.” It was almost cute, the way he tried not to sound insulted.

  “Don't be mad.” A smile tugged on José’s lips. “Sometimes, simple is good.” He climbed over Asher, his hands on the ground above his shoulders. He hadn’t forgotten his earlier promise, and if this was their last night here, he had to make good on it. “So you're gonna take a shower, get your hair cut and smoke a cigarette.” José lifted one hand to trail a finger down Asher's chest. “What then?”