Clan and Conviction (Clan Beginnings) (39 page)

He certainly couldn’t risk meeting up with them when he still hadn’t figured out how to force them to leave him for good.  It didn’t help that his heart cried out so violently against it.

The dull, heavy thud of a lemanthev music club throbbed the flooring beneath Krijero’s feet as he passed it by.  He glanced towards the closed door that muted much of the earsplitting sounds that would be inside.  The distant scream of the performing group’s howler made him think of the sounds of pained joy inside a pleasure club.  The thought comforted him, along with the idea of leather hitting bare flesh. 

As if in answer to an unspoken prayer, the blackened door of a pleasure club, a small sign the only indication of what lay within, waited right next to the lemanthev bar.  Krijero stopped and looked at it.

If he went inside and played, he’d only end up feeling empty in the end.  Yet a pain session would clear his head of all the confusion and anxiety, if but for a few minutes.  That would mean playing with a Nobek and not one of the service Imdikos he’d taken angst out on the last few times.  Krijero wondered how Gelan and particularly Wynhod would feel about him allowing a Nobek to bind and beat him.  Not too happy, he was sure.  Maybe it would be the final straw, the one thing that would drive them from him.

Was he really ready to call it quits with the pair?  It was well past time to do so, but the idea only made the Imdiko distraught. Horrific grief had driven him back to Gelan and Wynhod again and again despite all his best intentions.

Indecision tore at Krijero.  He’d finally found the one thing that Wynhod might not forgive.  Kalquorian society dictated that an unclanned man could have sex with anyone he wished, even if he dated someone with the intent to eventually clan.  However, Krijero knew an encounter with another member of Wynhod or Gelan’s breeds would be a tremendous insult to them.  They would be livid … and hurt, if they cared as much about him as they had indicated.

Krijero didn’t want to hurt anyone the way he had been.  Here he was, with the means at hand to save his own battered emotions from future destruction, but he couldn’t use it without doing damage to those he acknowledged he loved above all.

I don’t have to play, even if I do go inside.  I can go in, think about it a little bit more, and make my decision if the opportunity presents itself.

Krijero took a hesitant step towards the black door.  He licked his lips and hesitated.  Then, in a rush of movement, he hurried forward.  The door opened obediently for him.  He stepped into the dark environs and let the sounds of pleasure and pain swallow him.

Krijero slowed once he got inside.  He moved down the long, dark hallway towards the rectangle of light further in, closer to the delicious sounds of punishment and agonized bliss.  A shiver of anticipation went down his spine.  His cocks twitched.  It was the response of a body that knew exactly what happened in such a place.

Krijero reached the entrance to the club’s main observation room.  As always, the spill of light coming from the surrounding glass-paneled playrooms illuminated the circular space.  The place was crowded with onlookers, most of who gathered before the large windows.  Eager gazes watched men enjoy sex, domination, and submission with each other.  The air was thick with the scent of arousal and masculine musk.  Krijero inhaled and felt his cocks begin to fill. 

He slowly descended the ramp that went down to the observation room’s floor.  The men near it looked at him speculatively as he went down, most of them displaying the feral expressions of Nobeks.  Being the most numerous breed, many were without any clanmates.

More out of habit than actively scouting for a play partner, Krijero shook his hair back off his face.  His open, gentle expression immediately marked him as an Imdiko for those watching him, and he saw several pairs of eyes heat with the knowledge that the rarest and gentlest male breed was in attendance.  One not employed by the club and therefore cheaper to play with since all that would be charged would be the room.

Krijero dipped his head forward as he reached the floor, letting his hair tumble forward once more.  Well aware of the looks he got, the many assessing gazes wandering up and down his lean body, he kept his eyes forward as he moved towards the closest playroom.  There it looked like a Dramok had succeeded in overcoming a Nobek.  The Nobek’s body was tied all over in a complicated but beautiful pattern of ropes, rendering him helpless as he kneeled.  A jaw brace locked his mouth open, and the Dramok fucked the vulnerable opening, making the Nobek take his entire length.

Krijero’s mouth went dry.  How many times had he enjoyed similar pleasures with Gelan and Wynhod?  Too damned many to count.  The memory made something painful slam into his gut and his eyes sting.  He moved towards another window.

A big-knuckled hand on his bicep stopped him.  Krijero stared up at a larger Nobek, one that looked a few years older than himself.  He was a brute of a man, scars standing out in livid relief against his arms and chest, left bare by his open shirt.  A very rough, daunting, and delicious creature.

The man gave him a predatory smile.  “Imdiko?  Are you alone tonight?”

Krijero bit his lower lip, considering before he answered.  “Yes.  I thought I might employ one of the service personnel.”

He peered at the Nobek through his spill of hair.  The man had a rugged strength that appealed to Krijero.  He had the same aura of power Gelan and Wynhod possessed, an assuredness honed by years of encountering tough situations and winning through them.  The man was like them … but he wasn’t them.

Fuck.  Krijero didn’t want anyone but Gelan and Wynhod.  Why the hell had he come in here?

The Nobek moved close, letting Krijero feel the heat of his body and inhale the scent of his arousal.  “Service personnel, huh?  You like to top occasionally, I take it.”

Krijero shrugged.  “Most of us Imdikos do.  We just don’t get much opportunity for it.”

Gelan and Wynhod understood that.  Neither gave up control easily, and Krijero was no match for either man physically.  However, they each made a point to periodically invite him to help overcome the other, which allowed Krijero to dominate often enough to satisfy his alpha nature.  Topping Gelan with Wynhod at his side, or mastering the ferocious Nobek with Gelan’s help had given Krijero a lot of pleasurable hours.

He just couldn’t stop thinking about them.  No matter how hard he tried, Krijero’s head, heart, and body yearned for the pair.

Oblivious to Krijero’s miserable thoughts, the Nobek trying to seduce him slid his hand over his chest and belly.  “What if we fight for dominance?  I’ll be more than happy to give you a sporting chance.  You can tie me down.  If I don’t break free in two minutes, you can have me in any way you like.”  The man grinned, his expression as hungry as any rizpah Krijero had ever swum with.  “But if I do get free, that beautiful ass of yours will redden under my strap and open for my cock.”

There was no reason Krijero shouldn’t want this man.  He was brutally masculine and big, just the kind of man the Imdiko enjoyed giving himself over to.  The idea of being bent to this Nobek’s will had blatant heat spilling into Krijero’s cocks.  And yet, he couldn’t see himself doing it.  This Nobek was not Gelan or Wynhod. 

He really had made a mistake by coming into the club.  Flashing an embarrassed and apologetic smile, Krijero stepped back.  “Thanks, but I really don’t think—”

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, cutting him off.  Before the Imdiko could turn to see who had grabbed him, the grip jerked him around.  He faced the glowering expressions of Gelan and Wynhod.

Krijero’s legs wobbled beneath him even as his brain tried to overcome the surprise.  His heart seemed to stop dead in his chest.

Gelan’s fangs were down as he snarled, “Explain yourself, Krijero.”

Behind him, the Nobek Krijero had been talking to growled, “Who the fuck are you?  He was speaking to me.”

The Imdiko didn’t dare look away from his lovers.  Not when they both bared fangs and looked with clear murderous intent over his shoulders at the other man.  No one would ever think of Gelan as a Dramok in that instant.  He looked like a rabid Nobek ready to rend anyone in his path.

Gelan said, “This is our intended Imdiko.”

Every bit as animal as his clanmate, Wynhod warned, “And don’t say a word about an unclanned man is a free man.  This Imdiko is not free to entertain others, and he knows it.”

The other man said nothing.  Gelan and Wynhod continued to stare, their pupils slitted and growls rumbling from their chests.  Krijero flushed as he saw everyone nearby watching their drama and was glad his hair concealed most of his overly warm face.

Apparently the other Nobek backed off, because two pairs of burning purple eyes turned to stare at him.  Krijero blanched under the angry attention and hunched his shoulders.  This was bad.  Very bad.

Gelan told him, “I will have your explanation, Imdiko, but we will go somewhere a little more private for you to give it to me.”

With that, he yanked Krijero towards one of the doors between the large windows that looked into the playrooms.  It opened, granting them access into the well-lit corridor that led to the playrooms and recovery rooms.  Both men shoved Krijero inside the hallway.  The door shutting behind the Imdiko, leaving him alone with Gelan and Wynhod, sounded like doom.

Chapter 10

Gelan pushed Krijero up against the wall.  He and Wynhod stood in front of the Imdiko, their stares livid.

A movement at the corner of Krijero’s eye alerted him to the service Imdiko attendant heading towards the group.  Gelan and Wynhod turned to fix the interloper with twin glares.  The young man paused uncertainly.  He barely looked to be clanning age.

Gelan’s fangs folded away.  He even managed an utterly reasonable tone as he addressed the pleasure club’s employee.  “A moment, please.  We need to have a private conversation.”

Even as civilized as Gelan sounded, the threat he posed was unmistakable.  The service Imdiko swallowed visibly.  “Um, Nobek—” 

“I’m a Dramok, boy.”

The Imdiko blinked, but he didn’t challenge Gelan’s assertion.  “Yes sir.  I have to report any abuses to management—” 

Wynhod pulled out his territory police identification off his belt and showed it to the youth.  “We’re law enforcement, Imdiko.  This man will not be harmed, merely disciplined.  Please step back and we’ll let you know if your assistance is required.”

Such identifications were nearly impossible to counterfeit, and the boy seemed suitably impressed.  “Yes sir.”  He turned and hurried away, leaving Krijero alone with his irate lovers.

As their attention returned to him, the Imdiko had to ask, “How did you know I was here?”

Gelan smirked, but there was no real humor in his expression.  “We got to your complex in time to see you leaving.”

“You’ve been following me the entire time?”

“Of course.  What did I tell you about the avoidance tactic, Krijero?”  His eyes narrowed.

Knowing anything he said would not save him, Krijero muttered, “I need time to think.”

Wynhod scowled.  “No you don’t.  You think too damned much.  That’s why you’re so fucking miserable.”

Krijero decided since he was already in trouble, there was no point in holding anything back.  Letting his own anger and pain show, he spit out, “You had no right telling that Nobek I am your intended Imdiko.”

Gelan’s face twisted into a dangerous grin.  “Why not?  You are my intended Imdiko, stubborn bastard that you are.”

“I’m not going to clan!”

“Maybe not.  But you’re also not seeing other Dramoks or Nobeks.”

“You don’t have the right to stop me from doing so.”

Gelan’s expression didn’t change, but something shifted just the same.  His voice came out very soft.  “Really?  Are you absolutely sure about that?”

The bruising grip on Krijero’s shoulder eased.  Gelan and Wynhod’s hands stroked all over Krijero’s body, as gentle as they’d been the night before.  One of them opened his shirt at the resealable seam that ran down the front.  Fingers, lips, and tongues wafted over the exposed skin of face, throat, chest, and stomach.  The Imdiko would have been lulled by the tenderness if it hadn’t been for the hard light in their eyes.  The mix of kindness and threat aroused him, though he tried not to let that happen.  However, the Dramok and Nobek would not be denied, and Krijero’s cocks swelled in response to their touches.

Wynhod’s breath warmed the Imdiko’s ear, making him shiver as the enforcer spoke.  “Did you want that other Nobek we caught you with?”

Krijero didn’t dare lie to him.  “No.  I was stepping away when you got there.”

It was Gelan’s turn to question.  “Do you want to be with any other Dramok?”

  “No.”

Wynhod again.  “Who do you want to be with, Krijero?  Who do you want to share this beautiful body with?”

Krijero began trembling all over.  He didn’t want to tell them the truth.  Yet he couldn’t stop himself from admitting, “You two.”

Gelan:  “And no one else?”

“No.”

“Do you want us to leave you?”

Misery so great that it choked his voice filled Krijero.  “You will, eventually.  Or you’ll want to if I agree to clan.”