Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 100 (M)

Making our way across the parking lot, it's an odd feeling to not be taken by the chill of the night. A steady frost had begun to form on the standing structures, my body was quite warm and I felt oddly at peace with the chill surrounding us. My time with Rowan had helped me feel somewhat in tune with what I'd lost, though the drive to take enhancers remained a constant in the back of my mind. 

Allowing myself to slip from the internal assessment, I lean into his side, tightening my grip around him. "Don't even for a moment consider that I'm done with you. You've made quite a few promises that I intend to make good on." I tell him, swooning over the devious man. I was fully aware of how he was feeling, throwing himself into this character in an attempt to earn some sort of infatuation. 

But, I didn't need to 'play' with young Randy. I was more than smitten with my own version and fully intended to convince of that.

With a slow inhale, Verando hesitates, shifting awkwardly from his leaned state against my body. "S'methin's not right..." he manages, running a hand through his hair as if somehow it would remove the drunken haze. 

 Rolling my eyes, I pull his hand. "You're drunk off your ass, that's a start?"

"The scent's changed." he pinches the bridge of his nose, flinching through the fuzz of intoxication. I grab his tie, pulling him down to catch his lips in an attempt to soothe what very much could be paranoia. Sighing against my lips, I earn a small grin, "Cheeky."

But, the concern was enough to throw me off. Often, his nose wasn't wrong. "What smell's off?"

Shrugging, I'd sufficiently distracted him as he grasps my face between his hands, deepening the kiss as my eyes slide shut. "Remember when we romped in the snow?"

I can't help but giggle, "I realized then that you'd been holding back on me. How did you ever have sex with a human?"

Considering this, he kisses my nose, "It was an experiment in thoughtfulness that I'd not had to endure before. I didn't want to hurt you, it was enlightening, to say the least." 

Narrowing my eyes, I scoff at the politically correct version of his explanation. "Mmm. How boring."

"You liked rough sex, I just had to not break your pelvis." Spinning me around in a quick move, Verando yanks me back into his hips and I nearly yelp in surprise. "Though there are times you begged me to." Flushing, I tilt my head back to stare up at him with ever-increasing desire before the scent catches me, too. 

Different, burning, yet not actively on fire. "Alright, now I smell it."

"City's here smell dreadful." He summarizes but I wasn't so certain it was an industrial scent. 

"You just want to get me home." I accuse, attempting to riggle out of his grasp, only to be overtaken by the possessive growl and the way he grazes his teeth over the base of my neck. "Alright... perhaps, I want to take you home as well." Was it worth spoiling the few moments I got to enjoy with him to explore a scent we couldn't explain? 

There wasn't any blood, no screaming, nothing that would indicate anyone was in trouble. 

"I'm off the clock for solving other people's problems." Verando voices what I was already feeling. "Besides, all I can think about is how good you feel, how you sounded when I took you on that river bank."

"You brought it up." I remind him, shivering as he kisses my neck, nodding with a shaky sigh. "Alright, let's go home."

Drifting closer to the car, the scent increases, a dull hum drones in my ears and I frown as he keeps me firmly in his grasp from behind. I wanted to go first, and investigate the oddity of something so small. "Change your mind about the public sex?" he muses as my stride slows.