Duck! (Avian Shifters Book 1) (10 page)

Ori bit his bottom lip as he scrabbled for control. It had been so long since he’d been allowed to come, since he’d started spending what felt like every hour of the day hard and aching under his master’s gaze.

Doing whatever Raynard wanted and not coming without permission became impossible. He felt the pressure building inside him, doubling over and over until…

“Come for me, fledgling.”

Ever since his master had placed a collar around his neck, Ori had done whatever he was told to the very best of his ability. He didn’t fail Raynard then. Arching his spine, he pushed his arse back against Raynard’s hand as he came. His cum spilled on Raynard’s legs as Ori writhed across his lap, his grip biting into the edge of the sofa.

Raynard continued to manipulate Ori’s balls and his hole, drawing his orgasm out further and further, until Ori’s frozen lungs felt like they would explode, and he was sure his heart would burst from the sheer force of pleasure pounding through his veins.

A sound escaped him as he shuddered against Raynard. Even Ori wasn’t sure if it was a cry or a scream. He just knew the room sounded impossibly quiet when the noise had faded from the air. Ori slumped forward and collapsed in a broken heap over his master’s lap.

Raynard removed his hand from between Ori’s legs and rested it gently on his buttocks. He stroked the skin there, almost tenderly.

Ori fought for breath, control, thoughts, for anything at all. He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure if he had permission to move or if he was to remain exactly where he was until given leave to do otherwise. So, he simply lay there in silence, more raw, more vulnerable, and more content than he’d ever believed possible.

When Raynard moved his hand off his arse some minutes later, Ori tentatively took that as an order to rise. He pulled himself awkwardly off Raynard’s lap. He’d been turned half upside down for far too long. The head rush almost toppled him. Unable to lift his eyes and risk meeting Raynard’s gaze, Ori dropped his eyes to Raynard’s lap instead.

He’d come all over his master. Ori didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was right there on Raynard’s legs. Worse still, Raynard was still as hard as he had ever been. Unsatisfied and cum-splattered, he had to regret ever bringing Ori to his home, let alone allowing him to wear his collar.

Barely holding back a mew of horror, Ori leaned forward and dipped his head, hoping to make amends in some small way.

Raynard slid his hand into Ori’s hair and took a tight grip on the ruffled strands. For a moment, it felt as if he intended to drag him away but, as Ori lapped rapidly at the mess he’d made, Raynard’s hold in his hair eased. His touch changed to one of acceptance or even encouragement. He allowed Ori to linger and lick up each and every drop of stickiness.

Working his way meticulously over his master’s skin, Ori gave his task his full concentration, only glancing up when he’d completed it. A faint smile graced Raynard’s lips, as if he was pleased with Ori for some reason.

Once the last smudge had been licked away, Ori tried to turn his attention toward his master’s cock.

Before Ori’s mouth could touch the hard shaft, Raynard’s attitude changed. His hand dropped down to Ori’s collar and he tugged him away.

Ori kept his eyes down as he waited fearfully for Raynard’s verdict.

“I have other plans for you tonight.”

Ori’s gaze snapped up. Raynard’s grip on Ori’s collar kept his head tilted partially down, but it didn’t stop him staring up through his lashes. The desire hadn’t faded from Raynard’s eyes, if anything it burned even brighter.

Ori swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

Raynard let go of Ori’s collar. He stood up, stepping past him and toward the door. “Come along, fledgling.”

Scrambling off the sofa, Ori followed Raynard out of the library and up the main staircase. Ori had walked along the same route several times a day for weeks now. There were still rooms on the upper floor to be cleared of dustsheets and put in order, landings to be cleaned.

Even Raynard’s bedroom, where dustcovers hadn’t lingered for weeks, wasn’t uncharted territory. The bed needed to be made every morning, the en-suite tended to. Clothes had to be collected, then returned after they had been washed and ironed. Ori had visited the master bedroom almost every day since he’d first been brought into Raynard’s house. Until that moment, he’d never been in the room at the same time as Raynard.

Ori found himself hesitating on the threshold, one foot still lingering on the hallway carpet.

Already alongside the bed, Raynard glanced over his shoulder. A moment later, he turned to face Ori properly, but he didn’t issue a single command. Ori had the distinct feeling he could wait forever, and no order would ever be issued.

If Ori wanted to step forward, he’d have to do it unaided. If he wanted to run away, he’d have to make that decision on his own too. The whole world hung in the balance, and he didn’t even have his own physical need to help him along.

Ori lifted his eyes and met Raynard’s gaze. If he went to his master’s bed, it would be because he wanted to please his master and not because he wanted, or expected, to get any pleasure for himself. In that moment, Ori realised that the timing of the invitation was no accident, neither was his having been given permission to come while they were in the library.

Something settled inside Ori with the realisations. He stepped into the bedroom and closed the door softly behind him. Turning to face Raynard, he took up the post he’d been taught in the nest, standing neatly to one side of the door, out of the way, but ready to obey when called upon.

“Come here.”

Ori moved forward, his bare feet silent on the thick carpet. Raynard stood perfectly still as he waited for Ori to reach both him and the bed.

Swallowing rapidly, Ori stopped, less than a foot away from his master.

Raynard slid his hand into Ori’s hair, making him tilt his head back and expose his throat. Raynard’s eyes had travelled over his naked skin hundreds of times before. Ori had never felt as naked as he did then.

Taking half a step forward, Raynard brought their bodies together. His erection rubbed against Ori’s skin, pulling a gasp from him. With his head still held tilted back, he found his gaze caught by Raynard’s eyes. He couldn’t look away.

“Please.” The word left Ori’s lips without his permission. He wasn’t even sure what he was asking for. Anything. Everything.

Raynard’s lips covered his.

They’d only shared one kiss before, a brief touch of their lips that took place a lifetime ago. This was nothing like that chaste little salute.

Raynard took instant possession of Ori’s mouth. There was no pretty request for Ori to invite him in. Raynard’s tongue thrust past his lips as if he already had all the permission he needed to do whatever he wanted with him, and he was no longer interested in pretending otherwise.

He tightened his grip on Ori’s hair even further, tugging his head back, demanding that he somehow make his body adapt to Raynard’s demands, and adopt the position he wanted.

In that moment, the only thing that was important, the only thing that really existed, was what his master wanted. Ori whimpered into the kiss as he felt Raynard’s dominance wrap around him more securely than ever.

Raynard moved his body against Ori’s smaller frame, teasing his senses and overpowering his mind. Ori’s cock tried to rise to the occasion, but it was too soon. The attempt produced more pain than pleasure, but even that rushed through his blood, feeding instincts deeper than Ori had ever been aware of possessing.

His hands scrabbled at Raynard’s skin, trying to hold on to him and steady himself as he lost sight of all familiar landmarks. His brain refused to care that his master’s touch felt different from other men’s careless caresses. All it wanted to do was follow wherever he led.

As Raynard’s hands travelled over Ori’s body, rough and demanding, it was impossible for Ori to fight the confusion that filled his mind. Raynard was all strength and certainty. Ori simply gave himself up to Raynard’s control and moaned his pleasure into the kiss.

When Raynard broke the kiss, his grip on Ori’s hair stayed strong. He pulled Ori forward, placing Ori’s ear just an inch from his lips. “In the future, when I return to the window, you’ll be there waiting for me. You don’t leave that room until I return. No excuses will be tolerated.”

“Yes, sir,” Ori managed to whisper. His grip on Raynard’s arms tightened as he tried to balance himself on his tiptoes.

Raynard ran his hands down Ori’s back and settled them on his arse. The taps he’d laid against Ori’s skin downstairs had turned his buttocks into a mass of sensitised nerve endings. Ori squirmed under the caress, helplessly pushing his arse back against Raynard’s hands.

Raynard chuckled. “Do you like being played with that way, fledgling?”

Ori nodded.

“Speak up properly when I ask you a question.”

Ori glanced up and met Raynard’s eyes. “I guess the men in the nest were right about that too, sir.”

Raynard tensed.

Ori pushed on. “Ducks are pain sluts as well as the regular type of…” He managed a smile, but it quickly faded when Raynard failed to return it.

“You’re not at the nest any more. You belong to me—no one else.” His expression damn near dared Ori to try to disagree with him on the point.

Ori managed to speak on his second attempt. “Yes, sir.”

Raynard hooked his fingers into Ori’s collar and tugged at the leather as if he thought Ori needed to be reminded of its presence. “What other men think is irrelevant.”

“Yes, sir,” Ori repeated quickly.

Raynard slid his other hand down Ori’s arm and wrapped his fingers tightly around Ori’s wrist. “Mine.”

The word was little more than a growled whisper. It still sent shockwaves through Ori’s spine, rushing to his cock, which remained rather less than ready to receive all the adrenaline that flooded through him.

Raynard stepped forward. Ori stepped away in clumsy retreat. The back of his knees hit the edge of the bed. At the same moment, Raynard’s support disappeared. Ori toppled onto the neatly made sheets, his hands slipping against them as he tried to steady himself.

Raynard stared down at him.

Ori pulled his feet up onto the bed and pushed himself back a little farther onto the mattress, but he made no effort to entice his master to join him. Any attempt at seduction would have been ludicrous. He belonged to Raynard. Raynard either wanted him or he didn’t. All Ori could do was hope.

Raynard set his knee on the bed between Ori’s feet. Ori quickly shuffled his legs farther apart.

Raynard leaned forward, his hands found Ori’s wrists and pinned them to the blanket on either side of Ori’s head as his body covered Ori’s smaller frame.

His cock rubbed against Ori’s limp shaft, teasing him with his inability to respond as the weight of Raynard’s torso pinned him down. Ori whimpered his pleasure, but as suddenly as Raynard had pushed him back onto the bed, Raynard pulled away.

They remained apart just long enough for Raynard to unceremoniously roll Ori over onto his stomach. Before the room had stopped spinning, Raynard’s knee was back between Ori’s legs. Ori spread his thighs wide apart as he sensed his master lean away from him.

Again, their parting was brief. Raynard soon slid his hand between Ori’s buttocks, his fingers slicked with lube. For all the strength Ori felt in his master’s fingers, the first contact was gentle—a test, to see what Ori could take.

Ori pushed back against Raynard’s fingers, consciously relaxing his body so he’d be ready to accept Raynard as soon as possible. Raynard obviously sensed his willingness. He soon had three fingers inside him, stretching him open and preparing him to take his master.

Scrabbling at the sheet beneath him, Ori did his best to trust Raynard’s judgment. His master would decide what happened between them—including when Ori was permitted to consider himself ready. It wasn’t Ori’s place to scream that he’d been ready forever, any more than it would have been his place to complain if Raynard wanted to rush him.

Ori’s cheek slid against the blankets as he squirmed. A whimper escaped. He closed his eyes and fought for control. Raynard’s hands left him.

Opening his eyes, Ori looked over his shoulder. He was more than willing to apologise, to beg, to do whatever it took to regain Raynard’s touch. There was no need. Raynard’s body moved over his. For just one second, their eyes met. Ori quickly dropped his gaze, suddenly afraid how much his expression might reveal.

Raynard’s torso slid against Ori’s, layer upon layer of muscle pinning him to the bed. He caught Ori’s wrists again, holding them down against the sheet.

Ori murmured his pleasure. He turned his face into the mattress and tried to silence himself as his forehead rubbed against the bed. Raynard’s cock nudged against his hole, and Ori froze, held in place as much by his own instincts as by his master’s grip upon him.

Raynard pushed steadily forward, slowly stretching Ori open as he slid into him. Ori gasped. His eyes fell closed. He’d taken Raynard into his mouth often enough to know how large he was, but he still found himself biting his bottom lip as his master stilled inside him, seeming to fill him more completely than any man at the nest ever could have.