back at the cottage.
After a tour of the grounds and a midday meal, Elias and I found ourselves in the garden among so many beautiful flowers. Most I didn’t know the name of, so he took it upon himself to teach me. Over the next couple of days, we played, ran, wrestled, and talked about any and everything Elias wanted to talk about such as traveling and going to the theater in Paris one day, or the Sistine Chapel in Italy. All places I would have liked to have traveled, but being a wolf meant that some places were off limits. Territory belonging to vampires, dragons, and other packs made for dangerous exploration.
Our relationship took another turn when we found ourselves in the park at night, which was a precarious time to be there as thieves and murders were abound. I may be well trained, but that didn’t mean I wanted to take the risk. However, Elias seemed fearless, or was it foolish?
“We should leave. It’s not safe to be here this late in the evening,” I stated as I looked around at our surroundings.
“I… I don’t want to go home,” Elias said.
I looked over at him and said nothing for a few seconds. “Then let’s not go. At least, not now.”
“Where will we go, then?” he asked.
I looked at the carriage as it waited for us. “Let us go to an inn. Stay in a room for one night.” I laughed. “It will surely anger your father.”
He smiled at that suggestion. “Yes, it would. Let’s do that.”
We found ourselves in one of the sleeziest inns in London. Even one I had avoided, and no matter how many times I suggested other inns, Elias seemed hellbent on this one. Frankly, it was one step up from the park in terms of the cutthroat nature of the patrons. The room had a smell to it that reeked of sex, piss, shit, and alcohol. The bedding, I was sure, was barely clean and the chamber pot looked as disgusting as it smelled.
“Are you sure you want to sleep here?” I asked, hoping he’d change his mind.
“Quite certain,” he said, then boldly laid on the bed. He patted the space next to him. “Join me.”
“You are aware that bed has seen more whores than you and I have fingers and toes,” I said.
He laughed. “Join me,” he coaxed again and this time, I gave in.
We lay in silence for a while, just staring at the ceiling with stains on it that were a mystery to me. How did those stains get there? What had caused them?
“Deacon?” Elias broke the silence with my name.
I turned to him. “Yes?”
“You like being my friend, don’t you?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
He didn’t speak right away at first. “Would you be cross if I kissed you?”
The moment I had been working hard for had finally come. I knew of his attraction to me, though I had none for him. My feelings, however, didn’t matter where this mission was concerned. Securing his trust, his loyalty, was paramount. For all the detest I’d felt for Winston fucking me, it did prepare me to use pleasure as a device. As a resource, if you will, and one I was planning on drawing from.
“You… you want to kiss me?” I asked, feigning a shyness I had long since lost.
He nodded. “Will you let me?”
I nodded and he boldly rolled closer to me and pressed his lips to mine. It was soft at first, barely touching, as if he were testing the waters to see how I’d react. When I didn’t pull away, his kisses became more passionate. Pecks at first, then open-mouthed, and when his tongue caressed mine, I felt the hardness between his legs grow against my thigh.
“I’ve never… done this,” I lied when he broke the kiss.
“I have… once or twice,” he said with a smile.
“Your father… does he know?” I asked.
His smile faded into a frown and he looked away for a few seconds, then returned his gaze to me. “He loathes my ‘perverted’ nature. Says that men should never lie with men. I disgust him,” he said, then he turned, sitting up.
I had to reel him back before he got lost in his thoughts. In his own self-loathing. At least, now I knew why there was a riff between father and son. I sat up and grabbed Elias’ face, turning his gaze toward me. “Bollocks to your father. I don’t think you a pervert.”
He leaned over again, kissing