Everyone's Mate (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 30

The wilder part of him loved it – seeing Aaron pant, seeing him whimper and groan into his mouth with each pleading kiss, feeling him open up and accept him. Every little sound Aaron made sent fire right to his groin.

He wasn't one to control himself. Never had been.

He kissed from the boy's mouth to his jaw, peppering it with small nips before he reached the junction of his shoulder and neck, where his mark lay. A gentle kiss there and an indentation of fangs had Aaron gasping and trembling, the beginnings of a barely withheld moan leaving his cupids-bow lips.

Rio felt his eyes go gold as he grinded down against the boys waiting body, feeling Aaron's answering hardness and how ready he was for him.

Clothes, off, were his only thoughts before coherency flooded him. What was he doing? Had he not rejected the boy when this happened before? He knew this was wrong. He knew he never should have taken more than what the boy had offered. And Aaron had already offered too much.

Aaron, on the other hand, was passed his threshold now. Of course, he didn't know restraint or control. Aaron only knew what he wanted, and that was the hard plains of Rio's scarred body pressing against his. Preferably without clothes.

But he knew. He knew if he laid claim to that boy's mind and soul in this very instant, he'd regret it forever. He had no right. More than that, every feeling the boy gave him may have been close to the best thing he'd ever had in his life...but it was all false hope.

Even that morning. He'd been beautiful, sitting there curled up next to him. For how long they'd been sleeping together, Rio didn't know. But what he did know was how nice it had been. Instead of waking up to another endless nightmare, for a second, before his sleep addled mind could concentrate – it was as if Anna was back.

But she wasn't. She never would be. And this teenager? This boy that he was currently taking advantage of?

He could never hold a candle to her. They were two different people, and Rio was having problems differentiating. It was why he put Aaron aside in the first place. If only he'd been strong enough to resist.

He rolled off of Aaron with a single move, standing up from the bed and breathing hard, looking down at the boy he'd almost ravaged. His boxers were hanging low on his hips, his hair mussed with bruises on his shoulder and his neck, lips red and thoroughly kissed.

But his expression was the worst. Where moments ago he had been in a heated frenzy, now he was cut-off, his legs pulled up close to him as he leaned on the bed and looked at Rio like he'd put the whole sun in the sky and with a single tug it would come shattering down.

Like he must've done last time.

He realized then that giving in to his temptations had the risk of truly leaving this boy in ruins.

It was best if he stayed away. If he even could after this. One taste and the boy was his kryptonite.

"Don't you dare," Aaron spoke up, a glower on his impeccably fine features. "Don't you dare fucking tell me off and leave like you did last time. It won't work again."

Rio sighed deeply and wiped at his face, reining in his fiery temper. He wanted to stop fighting with himself, he did, but he never took the easy route. With half-lidded eyes he asked, "Why are you here, Aaron?"

The boy seemed to stammer then, not expecting a civil response.

"I-...I came to talk to you, but you were passed out. You were having a nightmare. Calling out for..."

Rio caught his eyes then and gave him a look that said he was pushing his luck. Aaron pushed on.

"What was that? One second you're telling me you're not interested, that you hate me and everything about me is a lie, and then you're staring at me when I wake up and I barely have time to talk to you before you're almost finishing what you started?" Against his own will Aaron reached up and grasped at his mark, a hurt expression on his face. "And the sad thing is I would've let you. For that tiny moment I really...would've let you."

"You weren't in your right mind," Rio supplied, his voice raspy. "Neither was I." He walked around the bed and to his liquor cabinet. To talk to this kid, he'd need a lot of it. He poured himself a glass of whiskey on the rocks and leaned on his desk, taking in the boy's visage.

He was worrying his already abused pink lips, knotting his fists in the sheets and glaring up at him like a petulant child. And that was exactly what he was. A petulant child.

"I was in my right mind enough to know that, for some damned reason that I can't explain, I keep trusting you. Do you even get it? Do you know how hard it is for me to do that?"

The boy stood up quickly, the sheets pooling at his feet, his hands in fists at his sides. He began suddenly, "I know you're scared. I know you've lost a lot. And I cant.. I can't imagine how hard that must've been. To lose someone you love so much."

"Aaron – " He warned, his expression sharp, almost a snarl.

The boy plowed on. "I can't imagine because I've never loved anyone that much." He looked down at the floor, his voice shaking. "No one has even come close. Which is why I can't help myself but to trust you because – you know. You know what it feels like. And you know what?"

This time Rio was silent. The boy was hugging himself, his eyes wide and watery and he couldn't help himself. He understood with the clarity of a bright sky how much pain Aaron must have been put through by everyone around him – himself included. The Alpha put his glass down and walked forward.

"I'd give anything," The first tear fell. "To have that. To have what you had. Even for a little while." He finished right when Rio got to him. He pulled the boy in close and held him to his chest, nuzzling into his hair, his arms protectively around him.

Aaron fought it at first, pushing at his chest, before he gave up completely and sagged in his arms. Rio smelled like smoke, like the sweet tang of whiskey, like clean sheets and Aaron was scared at how fast these scents were becoming home.

He quieted slowly and Rio sat on the bed, taking Aaron with him, settling him comfortably in his arms as he combed a hand through that silky black hair. But nothing more than that. He knew at the very least and despite what Aaron wanted, that they were a bad idea. Aaron was too fragile, too hurt, to be held by a monster like him. This false love would be the death of him.

Aaron looked up at him, and those blue eyes were heavy. He was so tired. Rio could feel it in his bones. He knew what the boy had wanted to ask.

"I can't let you go." Rio said, but it had more meaning than just that. He tightened his arms around him.

Aaron shook his head, hiding his face in the crook of Rio's neck. "I need to go. I can't let her die alone. If you understand me at all, of what I have lived through, she accepted me through all of that. I need to see her. She was the first person to accept me as I was."

Rio felt his resolution crumble like so many walls before it. He heaved a heavy sigh and gave a longing glance at his glass of whiskey on the bar. "Okay," he said the word, but it burned. He lifted Aaron's face up by his chin, staring into those bottomless pools of cerulean, his tone leaving no room for discussion. "But I'm going with you."