Page 98 of Reforging Onyx

Onyx hadn’t been hungry before the workout, but now he was starving. “Stir fry?” he ventured, letting Dominic lead him out of the gym. “Something with beef, no chicken.” He paused, then added, “but no broccoli.” He was allowed to be picky these days, and he didn’t have any qualms about expressing what he did or didn’t want.

He was lucky.

Dominic chuckled as he guided Onyx out of the gym and back toward his rooms. He caught a servant on the way there and relayed the instructions for stir fry for dinner — beef, sans broccoli.

The sheets had been changed while they were gone, and the bed was neatly made when they got back to Dominic’s room, something Onyx immediately noticed. It wasn’t a comfortable thought, because it meant someone had been in there. They knew.

Never mind that it wasn’t like this was the first time something sexual had happened between them; this had just been momentous in a way that terrified Onyx.

Dominic paused at his desk long enough to get the game controller and tablet out of the drawer and steered Onyx toward the sitting side of his rooms and to the love seat there. Onyx was surprised — and a little suspicious — when Dominic pushed him toward the loveseat with his gaming supplies.

First the workout, then this? Getting to choose the meal wasn’t strange at all, but these things were. Dominic was buttering him up, and he didn’t know if it was because he had gotten what he wanted or because he was hoping for more of the same.

Well, fuck that. Tomorrow included this evening, as far as Onyx was concerned, and a glance at the tablet screen told him it was getting late anyway.

He settled down with his game, casting a few more wary glances in Dominic’s direction before he started to play and ignored him.

Other than resting his hand lightly on Onyx’s back, Dominic didn’t make any movements and he only read until a servant arrived with their food.

Onyx wasn’t ready to come back down to earth yet, but he was hungry, so he let Dominic take the controller and tablet. He was also half-asleep, and even food only perked him up a little. It seemed like things were going to be fine, and that Dominic wasn’t going to try anything else dodgy, but he still didn’t trust it.

Onyx ate without comment, tucking away the food with the same appetite he almost always had, then when he was finished, he glanced at Dominic. “I’m ready for bed." He eyed him warily. “For sleep, I mean.”

“Just sleep,” Dominic agreed. He finished up the meal, wiping his mouth with his napkin and leaving the dishes behind to stand and make his way to the bed, where he undressed.

Onyx relaxed slightly, getting ready for bed before climbing into it, burying his face against the pillows and taking a deep breath. He was going to escape anything further tonight, at least, it seemed.

In the morning… Well, there were no promises for then, but all he could do was hope that Dominic would keep his word.

Dominic got into bed, and Onyx let himself be pulled close, but he couldn’t immediately sleep. Not until he was sure Dominic wouldn’t start something. As soon as he heard Dominic drift into sleep himself, though, he could no longer hold off his own exhaustion.

He slept, and he slept deep.

Chapter 40

Dominic

The lingering sense of contentment followed Dominic into his sleep and back out again, where he roused slowly with Onyx still cradled within his arms. Even with the concerns of the day before and the knowledge that there was undoubtedly a leak of some kind within his household, those concerns felt very far away and not nearly as important as the witch in his arms.

The witch whose body he’d feasted on the day before, and would again at some point. Perhaps not soon. Dominic could be a greedy and demanding lover, and he usually was. But he’d given his word that things would return to how they had been, and so they would — for a time.

But now Onyx knew the pleasure that he could have at Dominic’s hands, without the pain that had once been bestowed on the Rayne witch in his possession.

The pain had served a purpose, and Dominic was not one to feel regrets. Even now, it served its purpose in the fact that Onyx would continue to plan his eventual demise. Now that Onyx knew what Dominic’s instructions to his sister were… Well, he might be considering Dominic’s death more fully. Onyx could turn on him at any moment, and there would likely be a moment when he did.

That moment had almost been the day before. Dominic didn’t think he’d had an occasion where Atropos’ breath had been so cold on his neck prior to that point. Even in the past when Onyx had attacked him, fully intending to kill him, the odds had not been so stacked against Dominic.

And the Rayne witch had hesitated, had returned to him to be collared again.

Onyx had already expressed his regret for doing as much, which was unfortunate, if unsurprising.

His thumb traced a light circle on Onyx’s chest, then he pressed his face into Onyx’s hair, breathing in the scent of him. He felt the Rayne witch twitch and tense in his arms as he jerked awake. “Shh,” he soothed softly. “I’m not going to fuck you.”

And just as on every other occasion where he’d said that, he would keep his word. The pressure that had been riding him for so long to take and claim was still well satiated, and very likely would be for some time. Eventually the pressure would rise again, if Onyx took too long in coming to his hand, but that was a concern for later days.

He pressed a soft kiss to the back of Onyx’s neck.

Dominic couldn’t say that he was surprised when Onyx didn’t relax in the slightest despite his reassurance. “I’m keeping my word,” he said softly, soothingly. “Things are back to where they were before. I didn’t expect to fuck you when I woke up yesterday, and I don’t expect it today.” His thumb continued to trace its slow circle on Onyx’s chest. “Do you want anything specific for breakfast?”