Page 25 of Indecent

“If he touches you again, we’ll find out.” Quiet rage simmered through him, and he knew he’d hear Chaol’s broken scream in his nightmares later that night. He’d never forget that sound, nor the panic it had filled him with. He would do many terrible things to keep Chaol from feeling that kind of pain again. Even now, Chaol stumbled with uncharacteristic clumsiness, leaning heavily on Daniel with an arm around his shoulders. He was weakened, and Daniel would do whatever it took to protect him.

Chaol’s free hand snagged the front of his cloak, pulling him to a stop in the middle of the deserted street and turning them bodily to face each other. With one arm around Daniel’s neck and the other gripping his cloak, it was almost an embrace, and Daniel gave in first, wrapping both arms around Chaol and bringing them flush. This close, he could see stars in Chaol’s ink black eyes. His ivory horns were thick and rose proudly from his forehead.

“You fought an angel for me,” Chaol whispered again, like he still couldn’t believe it. His breath was warm against Daniel’s lips.

“I’m starting to think I’d do a lot of ill-advised things for you,” Daniel confessed. One hand drifted up the demon’s back, finding the place where his wings met his shoulder blades. Chaol’s eyes fluttered shut as Daniel explored the inhuman joints. “Does that feel good?” he whispered.

Chaol nodded jerkily. “No one’s ever…” He sucked in a breath. “We should keep moving, right?”

“Yeah.” But he made no move to go. Instead he guided Chaol’s head down and kissed him gently on the forehead, right between the horns.

Chaol’s eyes sprang open to stare at Daniel’s mouth. “Danny…”

It sounded almost like a plea, so Daniel said, “Yes.”

He didn’t know who started it, but the moment their mouths met was like a spark meeting gasoline. It was everything Daniel didn’t know he wanted. All his unspoken questions found their answers as Chaol’s wings wrapped around him, the leathery skin pulled taut across his shoulders. A quiet groan escaped between their lips, and he didn’t know which of them it came from. Chaol kissed like he was starving for him, open-mouthed and desperate. Chaol’s sharp teeth scraped against his lips, but Daniel didn’t care. Their tongues tangled as their fingers scrabbled at each other’s bodies. One of Chaol’s lean thighs slipped between his own, and only then did Daniel find it in him to pull away, because something was very, very wrong.

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” he said breathlessly, and Chaol did not wait, kissing a line across his jaw and down his neck. “I know I’ve been under some stress lately, what with this being Hell and all, but I should definitely be hard right now. Why am I not hard? I want this so fucking bad, but I’m not—” He stopped, whimpering at the sensation of sharp teeth on his neck, and the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “I don’t have a physical body here.”

Chaol shook his head. “No. You can’t have sex here. You can’t get hard.”

“No,” he groaned. That wasn’t fair, especially because Chaol’s interest was like a steel bar against his hip. He wanted nothing more than to see exactly where this moment might take them. He’d dreamed about this.

Chaol sniggered, the sound muffled by Daniel’s skin. His mouth was still working in the curve of Daniel’s neck, sharp teeth and hot suction making Daniel’s eyes roll back in his head.

“What are you doing?” he whined.

“Making sure everyone here knows you’re mine.”

A shudder rolled down Daniel’s spine, and he found himself echoing his dream. “Yes, yes, yours.”

Chaol growled, crushing their mouths together until Daniel was gasping for breath.

It was a shame they couldn’t go any further than this. Daniel longed to explore this connection between them, but even if he had the ability to get physical, they didn’t have the time. They had to keep moving. Sex could wait until they were back on the surface⁠—

But that meant Daniel couldn’t have sex again as a human. The next time he made it to the surface, he would be a demon. How would that change things? Would it feel different? Would the connection between them still exist if both of them were demons?

Chaol’s claws gently brushed his cheek. “You look sad now. Why?”

“I just… realized that I won’t get to be with you as a human. I don’t have a physical body here, so the next time I do have one, I’ll be a demon.”

Chaol hummed. “Being a demon’s not so bad.”

“No, I know. It just… bothers me a little. That I’ll never get to be with you as a human.”

Chaol tugged him into a walk. He wasn’t trembling as bad, but Daniel stayed close anyway. “Do you really think it’ll make that much of a difference?”

“Well, I don’t know. I assume so. I’ll be a different species.”

“But you’ll still be you.”

“Will I? How much of my preferences will change? What if you don’t even want me anymore after I become a demon?”

Chaol laughed. “I can say with absolute certainty that I will.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I don’t want you because you’re human, darkling.”