Chapter 186: Hot and cold (suggestive)
"C-C-Cold." Cass’ teeth were chattering. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been cold, but he felt it to his bones. His body ached, a deep sense of unease mixed with the kind of chill that haunted you long after you consumed a warm cup of tea. It was worse then when he’d tried to fall asleep above ground, and he didn’t know what to do.
He was holding onto himself, and he realised that his hands were bound. At first, he panicked, before he realised they weren’t bound in a prisoner sense, just because he was injured.
It was a normal sensation, he was just so cold that he’d forgotten where he was. Who he was.
Cass fumbled around, trying to find more blankets, anything to warm up and instead his bandaged hand hit something soft. Cass froze. Whatever he’d hit made a soft sound before it shifted, rolling over and Cass met the reptilian gaze of a sleepy dragon. His orange eyes glowed in the dark as he grumbled.
"Cassian? Why are you up? It’s too early for this." Lucian grumbled before he took an actual good look at Cass. Cass couldn’t see his expression clearly. His eye sight wasn’t that good but he could feel the heat radiating off of Lucian.
Without any shame, Cass shuffled forward, his hand touching Lucian’s body carefully. That was when he found out that Lucian was bare chested, his bandaged hand sliding against what felt like skin as he slinked closer. The heat radiating into his hand felt like a lifeline and Cass swallowed.
"C-Cold." He whispered and Lucian made a small noise of discontent.
"Oh no. Come here, sweetness. I’ll warm you up." Cass didn’t need to be told twice. He practically pounced on the other man, his arms sliding around his broad chest, his face slamming into his chest. Lucian let out a soft noise, sounding as if Cass had knocked the wind out of him before he chuckled, his arms wrapping around him tightly. Cass wasn’t ashamed of the fact that he had wrapped his legs around him either. Lucian was a furnace.
Cass almost felt instant relief, sighing against his chest while Lucian chuckled. Lucian maneuvered them until they were lying on their sides, wrapped in each other’s arms. Lucian’s arms moved away from Cass’ back, shifting to pull the blankets up around them before his hand landed on top of Cass’ head. His fingers were large, rough, and caught on the delicate strands of Cass’ hair.
"Hmm. Better?" Lucian asked quietly and Cass nodded. Things got even better when Cass felt Lucian pour that sweet sweet magic from before into his body. Cass practically went limp in his arms, letting out a satisfied sound that had Lucian chuckling. "You remind me of a lazy cat. In a good way, of course." Lucian said quickly when he felt Cass stiffen. "I don’t mind. I like when you rely on me. Does my magic feel good?" He asked and Cass was too relaxed, too exhausted to even care what kind of questions he was asking.
"Mmhmm. It’s nice. Warm. Comforting." Cass told him and Lucian paused.
"Comforting?" He repeated and Cass snuggled deeper against his chest. His pecs were like damn pillows. It was incredibly comfortable. He didn’t even mind when Lucian shoved his leg in between Cass’. He just let him.
"Yeah. Comforting. I could fall asleep like this again. You’re so squishy in all of the good places. Like a body pillow. I just want to squeeze you forever." Cass told him and Lucian’s body shook.
"Uh oh. I don’t think I was supposed to hear that." Lucian said carefully, humour filling his voice. "Someone might regret that in the morning, and it’s not going to be me." Lucian said out loud and Cass sighed.
"Whatever. Just let me hug you." Cass ordered and Lucian’s fingers continued to play with Cass’ hair.
"As you wish, Cassian."
Cass remained snuggled against Lucian, his breathing falling back into a normal rhythm as his body warmed. His core, which had felt like it could never get warm again, was overflowing with heat. Lucian’s magic was potent, but in a good way. It made him feel like he was lying in a warm meadow, the sun up above as he lay on his back, basking in the sun.
How could another person, another being make another feel that way? Cass was just going to chalk it up to some otherworld shit. He didn’t need to understand that part too deeply.
Cass finally felt like he could go back to sleep, back to unconsciousness when a deep, sharp tug had him snapping his eyes open.
He felt his whole body stiffen as the sharp pain, something he’d only personally experienced once so far tugged again.
"No. No no no." Cass whispered, horror filling him as Lucian tightened around him.
"Cassian? Is something-" Lucian cut off as if he just caught up with what Cass was going through. "Where does it hurt? How can I help?" Lucian asked immediately and Cass felt his face heat.
No. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet! He was supposed to have a while before it did!
"I-I-" Cass cut himself off, another wave running through him. Fuck. Shit. No no no!
He didn’t even know what to do. He had no idea how to halt this. He could tell that even Lord Blackburn was freaking out. It wasn’t obvious, the man wasn’t trying to take him over, but there was a jarring sense of unease, and horror that felt oddly double-layered.
"What’s wrong? Where is this pain coming from? How can I help?" Cass’ grip on the other man tightened and a desperate thought filled him. He didn’t know what he could do, but he certainly couldn’t let this come to fruition. Not in the dungeon. Not in this dungeon.
That was unacceptable.
Cass tilted his head back, away from the soft pillows his head had rested on.
"C-Can you kiss me?" Cass asked, licking his lips, closing his eyes in pain when another sharp jab came. When he opened his gaze again, Lucian was staring at him in shock.
"You want me to kiss you?" Lucian repeated and Cass gave his head a quick jerk in a nod.
"Yeah. Can you do that?" Cass asked. Worried. Lucian remained silent for a moment, causing Cass incredible worry as he waited.
"You want me to kiss...you?" He repeated and Cass didn’t have time for his antics.
"Look, if you don’t want to kiss me, that’s fine. I’ll just-" Cass couldn’t get another word in as Lucian’s hand slid into Cass’ hair and pulled him up, meeting Lucian’s lips in a crash of lips and teeth.
"Whoops. Sorry sweetness. I’ll be more gentle." Lucian whispered against his lips before Lucian took complete control over the situation. Cass found himself maneuvered perfectly, his head cradled by Lucian’s hand as the man kissed him deeply.
It was...strange. Different. His lips were soft, but insistent against his own. Cass had only kissed him a few times, but this was...
The sharp, jabbing pain in Cass gut melted into something warm, dangerous and Cass let out a whimper. His hands clawed at Lucian’s back, his breathing ragged even though it was just their lips touching.
Cass knew that he’d taken a plunge into something he was so wholly unfamiliar with that it should have been scary. Terrifying. Instead, he found himself rubbing against Lucian as their lips locked over and over. Lucian was growling softly. It should have terrified him.
Instead, Cass found that he wasn’t able to resist it. He was making soft noises of his own. Sounds he’d only heard when he’d touched himself. It was insane. He had reacted on a hunch, not fully knowing if it was the right call.
He honestly wasn’t even sure if he had made the right call. His body had gone from so cold he thought he might freeze to death to so hot that he thought he was going to boil to death.
"More." Cass begged. "Please. More." Lucian’s control shifted just slightly.
"Cassian, I wasn’t joking about not being able to go further because of the tents. These are my sounds." Lucian growled and Cass didn’t hate it. He, in fact, was over the moon with them.
"Please." Cass begged again and Lucian growled louder.
"Fuck. Open your mouth." Lucian ordered and Cass did as he was told. He knew what was going to happen next but he didn’t realise how good it was going to feel. Lucian’s grip tightened on Cass as Cass moaned into the kiss. His hands felt like they could puncture Lucian’s skin from how hard he was holding onto him as Lucian kissed him deeply.
It was what Cass asked for, and it was what he needed. Cass didn’t know what he was doing, his touch clumsy, but Lucian didn’t seem to mind as Cass tried to kiss Lucian back. He was just mimicking what Lucian was doing to him, stroking the roof of his mouth, swirling their tongues together, everything. With each precise touch from Lucian Cass would twitch, moan, shiver.
It was like a button had been revealed and someone was just pressing it as much as they could. Cass was worried he was going to ask for more, ask for something that would be too far, but he didn’t have to worry.
Almost as quickly as it had come, the feeling faded away. One moment, Cass felt like his body was going to burn up unless he was kissing Lucian, and the next moment, he was normal. Fine.
Cass pulled away from Lucian’s lips with a jerk, his eyes wide as he met the lust-filled gaze of the dragon holding him.
"Better, sweetness?" Cass just gave him a nod and Lucian grinned. He leaned in, pressing a kiss against Cass’ forehead. "Good. Now, go to sleep before you stir me past the point of no return."
Cass did as he was told. He didn’t want to look at what he’d just done. Maybe he could pretend that it had never happened in the morning.