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  “Come, kharesh, let us move to the bed.” Darke stood easily, holding Max in his arms. “I wish to feel your naked body against my own.”

  Darke dropped Max on the bed and began removing his clothes. Max lay, unable to move, while he watched Darke slowly reveal himself. He was the most beautiful thing Max had ever seen. Heavy sculpted muscles, dusted with a light layer of dark tawny fur, moved and shifted as he unbuttoned his pants and let them drop to the floor. His cock was large and engorged with thick veins running its length. Max’s mouth watered at the sight, wanting to drop down and lick the weeping head.

  “Do not look at me like that, or this will be over before we start.” Darke kicked his pants off to the side and dropped to the bed to crawl to where Max laid waiting. “Why are you still dressed?”

  “I was watching the show you put on.” Max smiled. “I wouldn’t be an appreciative audience if I didn’t give you my full attention.”

  “Now you have appreciated, take your clothes off.” Darke sat back on his haunches—thighs spread wide, and began to masturbate slowly as Max started to undress. The sight of Darke running his hand up and down his cock left Max with his shirt hanging off one arm and his pants undone. He watched as pre-cum slid from the opening in the large plum shaped head and his mouth watered. Darke’s soft laugh shook him from his trance, and he quickly threw off the rest of his clothes. The sooner he was naked, the faster he could experience Darke again.

  After Max tossed his pants to the floor, he leant forward and licked the weeping head of his lover’s cock. The flavour was spicy and a bit bitter on his tongue, but tasted damn good to his starving senses. Max looked up to catch Darke’s gaze as he again swirled his tongue over the head of his engorged cock. Max didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but Darke looked as if he were enjoying it. That was all Max cared about.

  Darke pulled Max’s mouth away and pushed him back on the bed. Max squirmed as Darke began to lick and nip up his body starting at his toes. The large male easily held him down while he worked. Max closed his eyes, loving the sensation of Darke’s mouth and hair dragging on his naked flesh. No lover had ever taken such care or been so thorough before. He’d always been in the position of doing the majority of the seducing. Now, he could lay back and allow someone else control.

  Darke inched his way up until he and Max were face to face. He didn’t know what had made the other man change his mind, but he wasn’t going to ask. Darke wanted to spend one more night with him before he was gone. Darke shoved the thought from his mind as he leaned down to feed his tongue into his lover’s mouth. He loved how Max tasted, rich and decadent, like his favourite dessert.

  Max moaned and Darke could feel a spat of pre-cum ooze between them. Reluctantly, he sat up, not wanting Max to come before they had barely gotten started. He sat between Max’s legs and carefully memorised how the other male looked laid out on his bed. He wanted to be able to call this memory up whenever he needed it.

  Max watched as he leaned over to pull a stoppered bottle from the bedside table. Darke carefully loosened the cork and tossed it on the bed. Grasping the bottle with his tail, he spread Max’s legs and settled his hips onto Darke’s thighs. Never breaking eye contact with Max, he poured oil into his hand, making sure his fingers were saturated. His hair unfurled to sweep gently around Max’s bobbing erection and the male reached a hand out to gently touch the strands. Darke sighed feeling the contact down to his toes.

  Darke opened his eyes and met Max’s gaze as he trailed his oiled fingers down Max’s cock, causing the other man to catch his breath and thrust his hips in the air. Darke placed his hand on the other male’s stomach to hold him in place. Carefully, he eased oil-soaked fingers around Max’s puckered opening. The other man jumped, but soon began pushing himself down on Darke’s questing finger. Darke breached the opening and began to thrust gently. He didn’t want to hurt Max, not the last time they would be together. As he allowed his finger to go deeper, his hair kept up the soft pressure on his lover’s cock. Max gripped the sheets below him and worked himself on the finger and hair.

  Darke easily pressed in two fingers, and Max pulled his legs up, giving Darke a clear view of his fingers moving in and out of Max’s body. As he anticipated his cock being swallowed up by the tight ring of muscle, his canines dropped and he growled low.

  “Darke, now. Fuck me now,” Max grunted, as he began to thrust hard against Darke’s hand.

  “I do not want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t. I need you to fuck me in my ass now.”

  Darke pulled his fingers from Max’s body and poured more oil on his hand and quickly rubbed it on his own cock. Shaking with need, he grabbed Max’s hips to hold him steady and pushed. The snug fit made Darke stop to catch his breath. Under him, Max thrashed as he tried to force Darke deeper. Darke held his hips tighter to control how fast he entered. The tight pressure on his erection made the urge to come nearly impossible to ignore. Darke thought of boring activities such as cleaning or laundry, anything to allow his body time to adjust.

  “Now, Darke. Now.”

  “Patience, kharesh. I want to savour the feel of your ass hugging my cock so tightly.”

  “Savour later. Fuck me now.” Max wrapped his legs around Darke’s hips.

  “As you wish,” Darke snarled, pushing until his balls slapped loudly against Max’s ass. He pulled almost all the way out and shoved in again, loving the way Max tightened around him. Darke pulled Max’s hips up to change the angle and was able to penetrate deeper. Max gasped and shuddered beneath him as Darke swept his tail up to join his hair in tormenting Max’s erection.

  “Hurry, kharesh, come. I do not know how much longer I can last.” Darke spoke through gritted teeth as he continued to piston in and out of Max’s body. “It feels too good. Your body grips me as if it does not want to let me go.”

  At Darke’s words, Max shuddered as semen shot up to cover his stomach and Darke’s hair and tail. Darke, his eyes never leaving Max’s, pumped twice more and came deep into his body. Max reached up and pulled Darke down to press their lips together. Darke sank into the kiss, loving the feel of the other man beneath him. His cock, still hard, stayed buried deep in Max’s body where he would prefer to remain forever. However, he knew it wasn’t an option. On the morrow, the two of them would leave his home, but only he would return.

  “You’re still hard,” Max said, interrupting his morbid thoughts.

  “Carthus females require much ejaculate if they hope to conceive. Because of this, the male does not lose an erection.”

  Max pushed his hips up moving Darke in and out of his ass. “You can fuck me again?”

  “Oh, kharesh, I can take you all night if you wish.”

  Max wrapped his legs around Darke’s hips and quickly rolled to put Darke beneath him. Max moved up and down, forcing Darke’s erection in and out of his body. Darke had never seen anything more sexy than the sight of this man riding his cock.

  Max smiled down at him. “I wish. But I think I’ll be on top this time.” He placed his hands on Darke’s chest and began to pump up and down. Darke grabbed his hips so he could steady the other man, deciding to ignore what tomorrow would bring and concentrate on the now.

  Max opened his eyes and yawned. Damn, he was tired, but a good kind. The kind that came from having amazing sex all night long. Darke was an amazingly skilled lover who could keep it up for hours. Unbelievably, Max felt his cock stir. There should be no way since Darke had fucked him ten ways to Sunday. He couldn’t remember how many orgasms he’d had. The man was utterly insatiable. Max loved it.

  His shoulder once again ached, but this time Max realised it was due to Darke biting him. Max shivered remembering the feel of Darke’s teeth sliding into his shoulder as Darke’s cock moved in and out of his ass. For a moment, Max had gone deaf and blind as he’d come so hard he thought his brains would be lying on the sheets beneath him. Shaking his head, he rolled out of bed as Darke entered the room already dressed.r />
  The two of them stared at one another. Max could feel the distance Darke put between them and didn’t like it one bit. They had spent the night together, and he’d be damned if he let Darke pretend otherwise. Without thinking twice, he stepped up and pulled Darke’s head down to kiss him. The other male hesitated only a moment before wrapping his arms around Max and returning the kiss. Max sank into the kiss, wanting nothing more than to pull his lover back to bed for the rest of the day.

  Darke finally broke the kiss and ran his hand gently over Max’s hair. “If we had more time...but we do not. We must go.”

  “I know.” Max nodded and gave him another brief kiss. He turned and hurried to the bathing area, feeling sick to his stomach. Today was his last day with Darke. But no matter what, they had a job to do. The portal had to be destroyed so no more humans could be brought through to be sold.

  Chapter Five

  Max eased in behind Darke and peered over a small rock wall. The portal they were after flared and shimmered in bright red flashes as Gorsh swarmed around it. From his position, he counted fifteen, but couldn’t see the whole area. For all they knew, Gorsh could be packed in somewhere like sardines. He wished like hell he had his M16, but beggars couldn’t be choosers as his granny always said. He still had the knife Darke had given him, but the male had also added small throwing daggers to his arsenal. The plan was to arm Max so he could clear a path to the portal while Darke set the charges. Sounded easy, but Max knew from bitter experience it never went that way.

  “When I give the signal, head to the portal.” Darke spoke softly beside him. “Do not stop for any reason. You must make it through.”

  “On my way, I’ll take out as many as I can.” Max glanced over at him. “It’ll make it easier for you.”

  “If you must, but do not engage unless you have to.” Darke ran a hand down his cheek. “I want nothing to happen to you, kharesh.”

  Max felt his throat close up and he swallowed hard. “Same here. Do what you have to do, and get out.”

  Darke leaned in to kiss him hard on the lips. “Let us go.”

  Max took a deep breath to clear his mind and fell in behind his lover. He needed to stay sharp so they could get this done. Once it was over, he could let the reins off his emotions, but now was not the time to indulge. He couldn’t allow it.

  Darke adjusted the small bag he carried containing the charge he had gotten from a Sorvalla Daemon. Since the portals themselves were created from magical energy, he needed something equally potent to destroy one. Sorvalla, thankfully, were the only species that could manipulate magic in this manner and his friend, Abbon, had created charges in the past for the enforcers. This bomb, though incredibly small, was more powerful since it was created to destroy an inter-dimensional portal.

  He felt Max brush against him. Every part of his being yelled at him to gather Max close and run. Darke knew it would be this way. He had known it since he had sunk his teeth into Max’s shoulder. His kind only bit during sex to claim a mate. He hadn’t planned it, but his senses had shown him how important this man was to him. His kharesh, his heart, his soul, the reason he lived and breathed. He would protect Max with his life this day, which is what one did for his mate. He already knew he would die—if not by the Gorsh guarding the gate, it would be by the magical charge. It was made to be launched at a distance, but with Max heading to the gate, he couldn’t chance it. He would have to wait until his mate made it into the gate and set it off. It was the only way.

  He motioned Max forward as he peered around a small outcropping of rock. “I am going up this wall. When I drop into the largest group, you run towards the gate.”

  Max looked up in confusion. “How? You don’t have anything to climb with.”

  Darke smiled. “Ah, kharesh, there is much we did not have time to learn about one other. I have micro fine hairs covering my fingers and toes, I am able to scale any surface quite easily.” Saying this, he leapt up and easily clung to the wall above Max. He shook his head and his hair unfurled to flow and swirl about. He looked down at his mate’s amazed face and smiled. “Remember, wait until I drop in, then run.” He stared another moment at Max’s face and climbed up the wall into the darkness.

  Max watched Darke climb until he was swallowed by shadows. Once again, his gut was telling him this was a major cluster fuck waiting to happen. No matter how great of a fighter Darke was, he couldn’t take down every Gorsh out there. Max locked down his feelings as he pulled a dagger and knife. He knew what he had to do, and he was fully capable of killing as many Gorsh as he could to make sure Darke walked away.

  Not waiting for Darke, Max moved forward on silent feet. He eased around a corner and found a Gorsh standing facing the main chamber. Max studied the being closely, realising, though the head was bigger, the neck was the same size as a human man’s. He smiled grimly as he moved up quietly and with a twist of his hands, broke the thing’s neck. He caught the body as it dropped and dragged it out of sight.

  He moved forward and took out three more Gorsh guards in the same manner. In his mind, he thanked Gart for getting the information he and Darke needed to pull this off. Obviously, wherever the information had come from, the Gorsh didn’t know they had been compromised. He thought maybe he and Darke would pull this off after all, since no one had ever seen them coming.

  A figure dropped from above into the middle of a group of Gorsh and exploded into action. Max stood in awe as Darke unleashed talons, fangs and hair in a deadly dance. Grey blood from the Gorsh sprayed the ground as Darke hit with lethal accuracy. A Gorsh moved up behind Darke and Max raced forward to help him, but he shouldn’t have bothered since Darke’s hair lashed out like a whip catching the Gorsh unaware. It hit the ground and did not move as Darke cut a swath through the gathered fighters.

  Changing directions, Max ran towards the portal, which flashed and cracked with eerie red lightning. Gorsh rushed him, but he dispatched them easily using the knife and dagger he held. Too easy, his gut kept saying, but he moved steadily towards the portal. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied something falling from overhead, but couldn’t pull his attention away from his opponent. Dying due to lack of concentration was something he didn’t plan to do.

  Lunging forward, he buried his knife into his adversary’s stomach and pulled upwards. Grey blood and insides spilled out as the Gorsh gurgled and fell lifeless to the ground. Darke’s loud, roaring cry drew his attention, and Max turned to find a small winged something digging talons into his lover’s shoulders to lift him from the ground. Darke tried to lash at it with his claws, but he could not raise his arms high enough to reach it.

  Darke looked over to meet Max’s eyes. The two of them stared until Darke screamed at him, “Run, kharesh, get to the portal.”

  The Gorsh gathered around a flailing Darke and began slashing at him with short blades. He kicked and caught a few of them in the face, but not enough before his legs were a mass of bleeding cuts. Max glanced at the portal and without another thought raced to Darke’s aid. The Gorsh screamed as he waded into them with knife and dagger. This gave Darke the opportunity to bring his feet up and hook his claws into the thing holding him captive. It screamed, releasing Darke’s shoulders, but the male still had his feet dug in deep.

  The bag Darke wore slid off his shoulder and Max swept it up. As the winged daemon began to flail in the air, Darke released it and dropped to the ground. He staggered, and Max caught him. He looped Darke’s arm around his neck and began to half drag half carry him out of the cavern.

  “I’ll get you away and come back to set the charges.” Max told him.

  “No, kharesh, no,” Darke panted. “You cannot be near to the charges, or it will kill you.”

  “What the fuck?” Max screamed. “That was your plan. You planned to kill yourself?”

  “It was the only way to get you home and destroy the portal. Now we have to go back, the mission must be completed. We cannot leave the portal open.”

  Max sto
pped and did an about face, not sure who he was more furious with. Darke, who was willing to die, or himself for thinking he could ever leave. “Okay, you say the portal can take us anywhere we have actually been.”

  “Yes,” Darke nodded. He sagged more and Max tightened his grip. “This portal is special, though, since it can take you home. This portal is the only one.”

  “Okay, but it’s a portal so it can also take us anywhere we can think of in Thorash.”

  “Yes, any portal within Thorash can allow you to travel all around the realm. “

  Max gritted his teeth and began to drag Darke back towards the portal. He didn’t know if what he had planned would work, but he’d be damned if he would leave the person he…fuck…he loved him. He didn’t know how or when, but he loved this man, and he refused to allow him to die. If what he had planned didn’t work, they would go together. Better to die with Darke than to be left on Earth without him.

  The few Gorsh left tried to intercept them as Max half dragged, half carried Darke towards the rolling mass of red energy. Max reached into the bag he now wore and pulled out a small glowing rock, or at least that’s what it looked like. The Gorsh immediately stopped in their tracks and began running towards the exits. Obviously, the thing was more powerful than it looked. He prayed it would do what he wished and not kill them in the bargain.

  “Darke, babe, pay attention. Do I throw this thing or what?”

  Darke muttered something Max couldn’t catch and became dead weight. Max cursed, praying Darke had just passed out and not anything worse. Tears gathered and he swore he would destroy every Gorsh in this entire world if anything happened to his lover. He paused long enough to check and discovered Darke still breathed, he had only passed out. Crouching, he let Darke flop over his shoulder and rose unsteadily to his feet. Fuck, he was heavy, but they were both getting out of here.