Second Contact (Okal Rel Saga #1)

Chapter 13.4 - Bond Master

"You speak their language?" H'Reth remarked, astonished.

Von mumbled, "I picked up a few words." The truth was he squirmed every time he reached for Reetion and found it planted in his brain like it had always been there.

H'Reth touched the small of Von's back.

"It's all right," H'Reth soothed.

Von had to let H'Reth touch him. He knew it. And why not? It wasn't as if this was new. But now he could fight back, and even if he died in the end, just the same, at least he could enjoy the satisfaction of expressing himself thoroughly, first. Would that be just as good as getting H'Reth lost in that new jump? The compulsion said, no.

H'Reth moved up beside him as they neared the room. Von found himself thinking of the day, in the Bear Pit, when he gave up and stopped trying to fight Jarl. He let the girl die because he was frightened, and what good did it do? First he accepted H'Reth's offer of rescue. Then came the conscience bond.

No, he was not afraid to die. Not anymore. It would be a relief to die honestly. To uphold every poem he had ever soared with and cried for, every noble motive that he wanted to believe in. If he could not disprove Jarl's truths, he could refuse to live with them. But dying was not what was required. Not yet. First there would be some span of time alone with H'Reth in a private room. And he did not know if he could reconcile his new found strength with letting H'Reth touch him again now that he had the power to refuse. Not even to obey the new compulsion.

For H'Reth, having Von back was like clutching at a thorny rose. He was happier than he thought possible, but he suspected Von was taken with the woman and he wanted to have it out with him, alone.

He hurried his sweet boy down the passage to the guest rooms with Jarl pushing and dragging the bound Reetion along behind. At least Von seemed pensive, and did not react to the female's every grunt.

"Take the girl in there," H'Reth told Jarl when they reached the room in which Ann had first been lodged. "Don't kill her until I've heard Von out."

"I'll entertain myself, then," said Jarl.

"No!" Von snapped out of his reverie with a surprising flare of aggression. He nearly went after Jarl and Ann. H'Reth caught him and turned him back, saddened by the wild concern on his boy's expressive features. "You wanted to talk to me," he reminded him.

Von swallowed. H'Reth drew him into a little sitting parlor heavily webbed for travel except for one large couch.

"Now then," H'Reth said, taking Von by either arm. "We're alone."

The way Von wet his lips to speak sent shivers through H'Reth. He had to struggle not to silence him with kisses.

"We will need Ann on the far side of the jump," Von explained in a rush, backing up a step. "The new jump. Without her, we won't know where to go to find civilization on the other side."

Such eyes he has! H'Reth thought, staring into their multi-faceted clarity as he closed the space between them. But it irked him to feel Von growing brittle beneath his touch, like usual. It irked him that Von didn't mention the cut on H'Reth's face, which stung terribly.

Von was getting agitated. "Please!" he urged. "She won't help us if you let Jarl hurt her!"

And why is she willing to help us, I wonder, H'Reth thought unhappily. Because she's in love with you.

Von's pulse was jumping in his throat. He trembled with that delicious, isometric tension that welled up from his core to sensitize all his reactions, until he gasped when you stroked him, fainted when you kissed him, moaned if you touched his groin.