Caled's Wager

The town of Fanawey was good for two things: ale and horses. The former, Caled could appreciate for the obvious reasons. Fanawey was at the base of the Fanawel Mountains and when the snows came, the town was as effectively hemmed in as a mountain prison. Hence, the small town's streets were filled with taverns. Many, many taverns, each serving its own form of liquid pleasure. If they couldn't leave until the snow thawed, the townspeople had apparently decided to spend the time drinking themselves into oblivion.

Fanawey's second claim to fame was its horses. Herds of wild horses roamed the highlands, the finest stock in northern Jeynesa. It drew many would-be breeders to the area. Thus, in addition to its many taverns, Fanawey possessed an inordinately large number of corrals and stables. Stables with lofts. Caled had a particular fondness for lofts. He was aware of what you could do in them.

When their small group settled in at Fanawey, the snows had long since melted. This didn't prevent Caled and his two thief friends from participating in the town's favorite winter pastime. Night found them facing off over a small table that was barely visible beneath the numerous mugs that covered it.

"I've a wager for you," Caled announced. It was late, but he'd been pacing himself throughout the evening and was therefore drunk enough to be enjoying himself, but not enough to have lost his wits completely.

His companions were another matter entirely.

"I'll take it," Gam blurted, slamming his hand upon the table and upsetting a mug, which promptly rolled off the table.

"You don't even know what it is yet," Caled pointed out with amusement.

"Doesn't matter," Gam told him, shaking his head and nearly losing his balance because of it. He clutched at the table edge to right himself. "I'll win it, no matter what it is."

Caled smirked at the scarred thief. "All right, I bet that you can't coax our raven-haired sorcerer to join you in the stables for a friendly game of tickle."

The third man at their table, green-eyed Lio, raised his head with sudden, if hazy, interest. "Hadrian? You're betting we can't seduce Hadrian?"

Caled bit back a laugh. He knew the green-eyed thief was obsessed with Hadrian. "If it'll take the two of you, why not?" He leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. "What do you say? If you win, not only do you get to roll around with him, but I'll buy tomorrow night's rounds."

Lio squinted his single eye. "And if we can't do it?"

"You two have to groom my horse for the next fortnight."

It was an irresistible bet and Caled knew it. Lio would want to do it simply because of his infatuation with the sorcerer. Gam would do it because he was drunk and wanted a chance to become so again on Caled's coin.

"Done!" Gam exclaimed. He shoved back his chair, a look of determination screwing up his face. "Now where is he?"

Caled kept his grin from becoming too large. "He's supposed to be asleep with Manix and Syellen in the rooms, but I wouldn't be surprised if you found him with the horses. You know how obsessive he is about them."

Hadrian's real reason for spending so much time with their horses had less to do with grooming purposes than with wanting to avoid human contact, but Caled didn't press the point. Hadrian's quirks served his purposes.

"Coax him up into the loft," he suggested.

Lio arched an eyebrow. "You enjoy lofts," he stated.

Caled bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "I do." He waved a hand. "Oh, and there's one other condition I forgot to mention: you have to tie him up."

Some of Lio's drunkenness lifted. He regarded the mercenary with suspicion. "Why do you want us to do that?"

"Because it will make it more difficult. If I'm going to risk my last coin on you two, I want to make it a challenge for you."

The table rocked as Gam banged into it while standing up. "Fine, fine! We'll string him up. Enough of this. Lio, let's go. I wanna win this wager just so I can rub Caled's face in it when I drink him into poverty."

"I wish you much luck," Caled told them, giving a mock salute. He watched the two inebriated thieves stumble from the room. Little did his friends know just how much he hoped they succeeded.

Getting Hadrian into bed was...next to impossible. Hadrian simply distrusted the mercenary too much. Granted, Caled had given the sorcerer much reason to be wary of him. But some things could not be forgotten. And Caled had not forgotten what it was like to feel Hadrian's skin. To be close to him.

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair as his body reacted to the memories. A brief worry crested his brow that the two thieves would fail in their mission. He cared more for this wager than he had let on.

But then he smiled, raising his mug to his lips. Why worry? Gam and Lio together were a force to be reckoned with. And if there was ale involved and a chance to give Caled his comeuppance, the mercenary knew the thieves would not fail.

He took his leisure in finishing the drink, wanting to give his friends sufficient time to overcome Hadrian's inevitable suspicions and lure him into the loft. Caled could just picture how innocent and harmless his drunken friends would appear to the sorcerer. Hadrian didn't stand a chance.

When he decided that enough time had passed, Caled left the tavern. It was late summer, the pleasant night stirred by a faint breeze. A full moon cast bright light upon the streets. He took his time walking to the stables where their horses were kept. On his way, he passed the Kettle Mouth Inn where their group had found rooms. Every window was dark. No need to worry that either Manix or Syellen would come down and disturb them.

He spied the stables ahead and felt his heart quicken. A delicious sense of anticipation filled his veins. He picked up his pace until he had come to the wide stable doors. He pushed them quietly aside and slipped into the darkness.

A soft nicker greeted him, the sleepy snort of a horse. The pungent aroma of horseflesh and everything associated with it filled his nostrils. He stepped further into the building, closing the doors behind him.

The room was open on either end with large triangular windows. They allowed the bright, milky light to illuminate his step as he moved to the ladder leading up to the loft. When he found the apparatus, worn smooth from use, he paused at its base, listening intently.

"Gam?"

That was Hadrian's voice, touched with concern.

"Lio said you weren't feeling well. Let me take a look at you. Turn over."

Caled smirked in the shadows. So that's how they had convinced Hadrian to go up into the loft. Feigning that Gam was ill.

He heard the rustle of straw as bodies shifted. Then a sound, like a startled breath being taken.

"What are you --"

The words trailed off into a sound that was half moan, half gasp.

"Wait," he heard Hadrian protest. The sorcerer's voice was breathless. Confusion tinged its edges. "Lio, wait. What are you -- Don't...oh, gods."

"Shhh." Gam's voice this time, lowered to a soothing timber. "Take it easy, Hadrian. It's time you let your guard down for once. Let us take care of you."

Caled found himself becoming hard at the words and at the breathy moan that followed it. More straw shifted above him as bodies began to move against each other. Hadrian continued to make half-formed sounds of objection.

"This isn't...right. You've never...never been interested --"

"You simply never pay attention," Lio told him, his voice lowered. "So pay attention this time, Hadrian. We're trying to show you something."

No words then, just the sounds of more movement, punctuated by the occasional gasp. Caled tried to imagine what they were doing. His head invariably filled with highly graphic suggestions. He dropped a hand to the front of his breeches.

"Give me your wrist," Gam murmured. "That's it. No -- don't tense. This is just a little fun. We can untie this anytime you want us to. Mmmm, you're so beautiful like this, Hadrian. Trust us."

Caled could wait no longer. Muffling his movements, he carefully climbed the ladder, thankful to find it stable. At the top, he peered cautiously over the edge of the opening. His eyes immediately picked out the three figures against the slanted angle of the eaves. Gam and Lio had both removed their shirts and were clad only in breeches. The man between them was fully dressed, though his tunic had been pushed up beneath the arms that were extended above him. His wrists were bound with rope to the beam above him.

Hadrian. Caled's breath caught as he gazed upon the sorcerer's flushed face. The silky strands of his raven-black hair hung wantonly about his cheeks. The mesmerizing grey eyes were half-lidded with desire, the pink lips parted to allow a tongue to flick out nervously. He lay half-reclined on the straw, his bound hands holding him upright. His long legs twisted in the hay as Lio pushed his tunic farther up to lave a tender nipple with his tongue.

It was clear that Hadrian was resisting every nerve in his body that begged him to surrender and enjoy this. Caled could see it in the fisted gloves above the beam and in the taut, trembling line of his body. He could never give in. Caled would have to help him with that.

"Bite him," he said quietly.

The grey eyes shot open, shock and embarrassment quickly flooding their depths. Hadrian twisted in his bonds, trying to free himself.

"Untie me," he hissed, his face bright with color. "Gam --"

Caled climbed the last rung of the ladder and knelt upon the straw. The beams barely cleared his head. "You were enjoying yourself before," he commented, holding the other man's gaze. "Don't let my presence ruin it for you. Or for them, either."

Hadrian gave a strained laugh. "It's too late for that. Let me go."

Caled shook his head at Gam's questioning look. "Why? I can make this better for you. I won't even lay a finger upon you, Hadrian." He smiled slightly. "Not until you beg me to, anyway."

He saw the other's eyes narrow uneasily at the use of his full name. "What do you want?" Hadrian asked warily. He had stopped trying to free his hands and hung from the beam with tense expectation.

Caled made a show of sliding his hand inside his breeches. The thin material left no question as to where his hand was, or what it was holding. "I want only to watch," Caled murmured, his voice roughening. "And offer a suggestion or two."

Hadrian licked his lips as his eyes flicked to Caled's breeches. The mercenary inwardly smirked, thinking that the younger man probably had no idea how hungrily he was looking at Caled.

"You're not going to touch me?" Hadrian asked quietly.

Caled squeezed himself, letting the younger man read the enjoyment on his face. "Not until you ask me to."

He could see the intrigue and confusion on the sorcerer's face. Not wanting to give Hadrian the time to change his mind, Caled nodded at the two thieves who had paused in their ministrations. "Continue."

After a brief shared glance, the thieves turned their attention to their now willing captive. Lio's head ducked once again to the firm, porcelain skin of Hadrian's chest.

"Bite him," Caled repeated softly to the green-eyed thief. "Hadrian likes it a little rough. Don't you, love?"

The grey eyes were fiery upon his, shared memories crackling in the air between them. Hadrian opened his mouth to say something, then abruptly gasped, throwing his head back as Lio's teeth closed upon a sensitive nipple. Desire ripped through Caled's body.

"Harder," he growled.

A soft whimper escaped Hadrian's lips. He tried to turn away, but Lio held him firmly about the ribs, keeping him still as the thief deepened his bite on the rosy peaked flesh. Hadrian pushed his face against his upraised arm, panting as Lio tugged the pebbled nub away from his chest. Caled began to stroke himself beneath his breeches.

"Gam," Caled called out, startling the other thief from his rapt observation of what was happening. The scarred man shifted in the straw, his bulging breeches evidence of his own enjoyment of the scene. "Gam, why don't you touch him, too."

The thin thief nodded and crept forward on his knees to take hold of Hadrian's twisting hips. Watching the other man's ducked face, Gam slid one hand to the sorcerer's groin and cupped him there. Hadrian shut his eyes, visibly trying to control himself. When Gam's hand began to move on him, stroking back and forth across the tightly stretched cloth, Hadrian shuddered, his hips thrusting up into the touch.

"That's it," Caled murmured, his voice thick. His own flesh was hot and hard within his palm. "Let yourself go, Hadrian. I'll tell them how to pleasure you. I'll make you feel good."

The younger man groaned at the words, the thick fringe of his lashes lifting over those stormy grey eyes. Caled read the need there and it made his hand tighten around his own shaft.

"What?" Caled gasped huskily. "What do you want, Hadrian? Tell me."

Hadrian shook his head, the sensual fall of his hair drifting across his shoulders. "I...can't."

"I'll make you tell me," Caled murmured, his body afire. "I'll make you want to tell me."

Hadrian bit his lip, moaning softly as Gam continued to caress him. Hadrian dragged his eyes to Caled's. Their gazes locked as Lio kissed his way across Hadrian's chest and began nibbling on his other nipple. Hadrian shivered as Lio's teeth closed around him, his eyes never leaving the mercenary's.

"Does it feel as good as when I used to do that to you?" Caled asked him. His own desire was spinning out of control as he spoke to Hadrian, but he couldn't stop himself. Hadrian had always been responsive to the sound of his voice. "Do you wish it were my teeth on your skin?"

Hadrian moaned, his lashes fluttering wildly.

Lio left his nipple and began to lick and kiss his way down the muscled plane of pale stomach. The slender body tensed as Lio reached the band of Hadrian's breeches. Gam had stopped stroking him and was reaching for the ties.

"No," Caled said, his passion making his voice harsher than he'd intended. He stilled his hand, trying to regain some control. "Not yet." He smiled at the impatience blazing in Hadrian's eyes. Gods, he was beautiful like this. "I want one of you to kiss him." Caled unconsciously ran his tongue across his lips, remembering the taste of the other man. "Hadrian is good at kissing, aren't you, love?"

Hadrian didn't answer him, simply watched from beneath his lashes as Lio straightened up and eagerly cupped a hand behind the sorcerer's head.

"Lio," Caled said, as the thief's head began to lower, "be sure to push your tongue into his mouth. Hadrian likes someone to take control of him that way."

Hadrian moaned, his eyes falling shut. Caled began to stroke himself again as Lio buried both hands in the dark hair and seized the sorcerer's lips in a deep kiss. The sorcerer's slim hips began to make small thrusts into the air, mimicking the movement of the thief's tongue in his mouth. Caled felt his mouth go dry. He wanted so badly to cross the distance and relieve Hadrian of the ache he was feeling.

His voice was hoarse when he called to Gam. "Remove his boots and breeches."

"You're damn good at this," Gam murmured, forcing shaky hands to undo the ties on Hadrian's breeches. At the touch, Hadrian gave a muffled sound of encouragement. "The two of you together..." the thief trailed off, shaking his head in bemusement. "Must be a sight."

Caled gave a tight smile. He and Hadrian together had been more combustible than the flames that had destroyed Rhiad. They were a dangerous combination. And danger, as befitted Caled's line of work, had always been his favorite aphrodisiac.

"Strip him," he said simply, and did not care that his voice was rough and betrayed his growing desire. "Do it."

Gam muttered something beneath his breath, but his movements were eager as he took hold of the sorcerer's breeches and drew them down the slim hips. Gam sat back with the garment in hand, staring at the body he had bared.

"Gods," Caled murmured beneath his breath. He gripped himself tighter and ceased his movements, unwilling to trust his control at the sight of Hadrian's naked body. He hadn't forgotten what Hadrian looked like -- that was impossible when the vision haunted his dreams -- but seeing the smooth creamy skin of the younger man's thighs again, and the junction where they met at that luscious curve of straining flesh...

He watched Gam rub a finger across the tip of Hadrian's cock, spreading glistening fluid around the head. It was a teasing touch that made Hadrian whimper into Lio's mouth. His hands flexed within their bonds, his hips moving restlessly for contact. Oh, sweet gods, Caled thought to himself, how I have missed this.

Gam shifted forward on the straw. The glance he threw at Caled from over his shoulder was glazed with alcohol and lust. "I'm sorry, Caled. I cannot stop myself."

Gam lowered his head and delicately licked the wet tip of Hadrian's cock. The sorcerer bucked, a muffled cry escaping from where Lio was kissing him. Gam swirled his tongue around the head, dipping into the tip. His tongue flattened and ran up the underside, mapping its contours. Caled scrubbed at his sweating face with the back of his sleeve. He could sympathize with the sounds coming from Hadrian. Gam was torturing them both. Holding Hadrian's hips down, the thief opened his mouth wider and began to take the straining flesh into his mouth inch by excruciating inch. He moved so slowly that even Caled was in an agony of anticipation. He released the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when the thief finally took the entire length into his mouth and began to move up and down.

Caled began to stroke himself in time with Gam's bobbing head. Pleasuring Hadrian this way was something the mercenary had not done before. He regretted the lack as he watched the stiff flesh slide wetly between Gam's lips. What did Hadrian taste of? What did he enjoy? His eyes followed the scene before him, imaging that he was in the thief's place, driving those erotic sounds from the normally quiet sorcerer.

Caled heard himself beginning to pant. He wanted to see Hadrian's face. To read the helpless desire and want that Caled and his friends had coaxed from him. Caled stroked himself faster, his erection as hard as stone within his palm. He needed more...

"Stop," he bit out. Neither thief seemed to have heard him. Caled pulled his hand from his breeches, his entire body clenching with unsated desire. He made himself take a steadying breath. "Stop," he called out more firmly, letting steel sharpen his words.

After a moment, Lio pulled away, ending the kiss with a flick of his tongue across Hadrian's mouth. The green-eyed thief forced his hands into fists by his side as he looked down at the sorcerer he had been kissing. Hadrian's eyes were closed, his rosy lips swollen and wet. Caled knew that it took all of Lio's will not to lower his head and resume kissing him again.

"Gam," Caled called out, "stop what you're doing. Now."

With pained reluctance, the other thief lifted his mouth from Hadrian's flesh. A gossamer thread stretched between his lips and the tip of straining flesh, snapping with an audible click.

"Don't stop..." Hadrian whispered, dragging his eyes open. "Please...You can't."

Gam's hand hovered regretfully above the flesh he had just tasted. "Forget about the drinking," he said abruptly. He threw a pleading look at Caled. "Let us finish this and I'll be happy."

Caled's smile was grim. "Sorry, my friends. The two of you will have to continue this on your own. This night was only ever about me and Hadrian."

Resentment stiffened Gam's spine. Lio reached across Hadrian's body and laid a restraining hand upon his fellow thief's shoulder. Gam relaxed somewhat at the message on his friend's face.

"Come," Lio said quietly. "We'll find our own enjoyment. Leave them to theirs."

Gam took a calming breath. He cast a glare at Caled before nodding to Lio. Wordless, the two thieves crawled through the straw past the mercenary and descended the ladder. Caled waited until he heard the sound of the stable doors sliding shut before he gave his attention back to the man tied before him.

"If you're looking for the ultimate means to torture me, you have found it," Hadrian said in a strained voice. He gave a humorless laugh. "I have never been more at your mercy than I am now."

"This isn't about torture," Caled replied softly, crossing the straw to the other man. Keeping eye contact, he laid his hands upon the sorcerer's thighs.

Hadrian's breath hitched at the contact, his eyes darkening to pewter. "Then what is this about?"

Caled pulled Hadrian's legs apart and knelt between them. The vulnerable curve of the sorcerer's erection rose between them. "As much as we are at odds," Caled told him, lightly stroking the firm skin of Hadrian's thighs, "I cannot deny that I find you beautiful. I have never seen anyone like you."

One of Caled's many daggers appeared in his hand. He dragged its tip up the front of Hadrian's gathered tunic. The sorcerer didn't breath, his silver eyes riveted to the sharp blade that now hovered at his chest.

"What are you going to do?" he asked faintly.

Caled smirked. "This." With a single motion, he jerked the blade through the cloth, slicing the tunic in half across Hadrian's chest. A few well-placed cuts at the arms and throat of the garment sent the tunic fluttering to the straw.

"Mmm. Much better," Caled murmured. He leaned forward and slowly licked a pebbled nipple. Hadrian moaned softly, making the mercenary smile. His hand drifted up the inside of Hadrian's thigh, riding up to the tender curve of his buttocks. "You steal the breath from my lungs."

Despite the words, it was Hadrian's breath that fled as Caled's fingers danced lightly around his opening.

"Caled..."

It was the first time Hadrian acknowledged his presence with words and Caled felt his body react instantly.

"Yes," he urged, pressing a finger gently against the puckered flesh. "Let me hear what you want. I want to pleasure you."

Hadrian tried to push down upon the finger that teased him. "I don't...I don't know. Just...touch me."

Caled swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. He had seen Hadrian so many ways--angered, stone-faced, distraught--but never had he been so affected than by the sorcerer's passionate desperation. It made Caled's shaft swell painfully within his breeches. Lowering his hand, he undid the ties on his breeches and pulled his own erection free. He yanked his tunic off over his head.

The immediate hunger upon Hadrian's face would have felled Caled had he been standing. All of the plans the mercenary had made for this night flew out of his head. He no longer had the patience. Watching the shifting desire on Hadrian's face, Caled ran a fingertip around the head of his own erection, gathering the silver liquid that had risen there. He lifted his finger and let it hover above Hadrian's lips.

"Open," he ordered softly.

Banked fire glowed in the grey eyes as Hadrian parted his lips. Caled traced the open mouth with his finger, painting the pink flesh opalescent. When Hadrian's tongue darted out to taste him, Caled groaned, his body tightening with lust. Unable to wait, he slid his finger completely inside the other man's mouth.
Hadrian shut his eyes and wrapped his tongue around the slick digit. Caled shuddered as Hadrian gently licked and swirled his tongue around him. The fair cheeks hollowed as Hadrian began to suck.

Caled found it difficult to speak, difficult to think, even. Somehow, he managed to summon his voice. "You know what I'm doing, don't you?" he panted. "I'm going to open your body for me. So you'll be ready for me when I push my cock into you."

Hadrian twisted against his bonds, a low moan vibrating around the finger between his lips.

"You like the thought of that, don't you?" Caled continued thickly, watching the rosy hue of arousal fan across the fair cheeks. "You like it when my cock is buried deep inside you, filling you up. You can't get enough."

"Caled--" Hadrian gasped, turning his head so that the finger slipped free from his mouth, "just do it. Don't drag this out any further. I am aching."

Caled said nothing in reply, merely dropped his lubricated finger between Hadrian's thighs and slid it inside the younger man. Hadrian arched, his whole body trembling as Caled slid in all the way to the knuckle.

"Is this what you want?" Caled rasped. Rapt by the sight before him, Caled pulled his finger back only to add another one before repeating the invasion. In and out he thrust his fingers, holding Hadrian's hip steady with his other hand.

"Oh, gods," Hadrian panted, his grey eyes blind and crystalline. "Caled, please."

Caled plunged his fingers faster and harder into the younger man's body, his own breath coming out harshly. "What, Hadrian? Tell me what you want. Say it." He curled his fingers, mercilessly striking that spot of pleasure he knew lay just within. "Say it or I'll stop."

Hadrian rode the thrusts into his body, his back arching with each stroke across that spot of pleasure. His thighs fell open submissively, inviting Caled against his body. It nearly pushed the mercenary past the limits of his control. Almost.

"Say it," he growled, leaning forward to run his tongue up the pale skin of Hadrian's throat. "Tell me what you want, love."

Hadrian's hands jerked against the rope binding him. His eyes glowed like molten metal. "Take me!" he choked out. The passion in his voice was hot enough to burn down the stable. "I need you to take me, Caled...please!"

Caled groaned with relief. "That's all I've been waiting for."

He pulled his fingers free of Hadrian's body and lifted the slender hips so that the long legs wrapped around his waist. The tip of his erection pressed against the opening to Hadrian's body, teasing. He rubbed himself across the puckered opening, wanting to wring as much desperation from the younger man as possible.

"Damn you!" Hadrian bit out, yanking at his bindings. "Stop teasing me!"

Caled chuckled hoarsely. "I think that's the first time I've heard you curse at me. Maybe I'd better get on with this, eh?"

Hadrian's mumble of agreement turned into a gasp as Caled flexed his hips, pushing himself past the tight ring of muscle. Caled held the sorcerer still, watching Hadrian's face as he slowly drove himself into the tight passage.

"Oh, gods," Hadrian panted, his head falling back, "it's too much. I can't --"

"Shhh," Caled soothed, stopping his forward movement to give the slender body time to adjust. He stroked the damp skin of Hadrian's back with hands that trembled. "You can take it, just relax, love." He leaned forward and kissed the corner of that luscious mouth. "Just relax."

He began to place kisses along Hadrian's jaw, moving his way to a delicate earlobe. He sucked it between his lips, humming into the younger man's ear. The tight constriction around Caled's flesh relaxed somewhat and he slid in further. Sliding one hand between their sweating bodies, he grasped Hadrian's erection and stroked it. The grey eyes widened as Hadrian's pleasure burst through him. Caled pushed himself completely into the slender body, groaning as their hips came up flush.

"You feel so good," he panted against the racing pulse in Hadrian's throat. "You're so damned tight. Haven't you been with --"

"No one," Hadrian told him, holding the gaze as Caled lifted his head in surprise. The sorcerer blushed. "I've been with no one since you."

Caled smiled possessively. "Good."

He drew his hips back and began to pump in earnest. Hadrian's body seemed too tight to accept his engorged flesh, but the sorcerer took each heavy thrust without complaint, his dark brows crossed in concentration. Caled smiled at his seriousness. So typical of Hadrian. He'd have to change that...The mercenary blinked the sweat from his eyes and tilted Hadrian's body. His next thrust stroked over that pleasure spot deep inside. Hadrian cried out, his legs tightening convulsively around Caled's waist.

"Caled!"

"I know, love, I know. I told you I'd make it good." Caled began to pump Hadrian's erection in time with his thrusts. Hadrian was one long continuous moan. The mercenary bit his tongue, aroused to the point of pain by how vocal the sorcerer had become. He started thrusting harder, striking that pleasure spot with every stroke, trying to make Hadrian become so loud the entire town of Fanawey could hear him. Caled pumped the cock in his hand faster, feeling it tighten and jump within his fist. He saw the point when the pleasure was so intense for Hadrian that it began to cross over into pain.

"I can't take this any longer!" Hadrian choked, burying his face against his arm. His beautiful face was tortured with mounting desire. "Help me...Caled..."

Caled nearly exploded at the plea. He drove into Hadrian harder, lifting the sorcerer's body with each thrust. Hadrian cried out, his body beginning to convulse. Violent tremors shook the slender body. Warmth spilled over Caled's hand as Hadrian found his release. "Caled!" he gasped, his eyes as bright as melted silver.

That's all it took for Caled to follow him over. He thrust once more into the clenching heat, feeling it tighten around him like a silken glove and then everything became white as his release tore through him. He gasped as his body was rocked by vision-blurring pleasure. He clutched Hadrian so tightly it must have been painful. But he needed something to hold onto as his life essence poured forth from him.

An eternity seemed to pass before the last wave of pleasure faded. He raised his damp face from Hadrian's throat. The sorcerer regarded him from beneath heavily-lidded eyes. Caled smiled to realize the younger man was already half-asleep.

"Don't you think you should wait until I untie you?" he asked with amusement.

Hadrian shook his head, the movement slow as if his head was too heavy to move. "Don't care as long as you're holding me."

Caled's arms tightened reflexively. He was glad when the sorcerer's eyes finally slid shut. He didn't want Hadrian to see his expression as he bent to place a tender kiss against the sorcerer's temple. "I'll hold you," he murmured. "As long as you need me to."

The End