Winterblade - 4. Chapter 4

They ate the entire fish between the two of them. Drake wished something stronger than water to go with it, but he made do. Alec didn’t ask him about the fight, but he did offer to cook the fish in Drake’s place. Drake was glad he accepted the offer—Alec knew how to season the fish with some wild herbs he found and it tasted much better than anything Drake could have ever cooked on his own.

Afterwards, Drake watched as Alec set up the metal framework for his arm support structure. He used some of the strange alloy Guardians had discovered and set up the silver metal in complicated ways, with gears and springs and lattices, until his wounded arm was basically supported by a hollow robotic shell. It took him the better part of the day, but Drake watched with interest as the hours went by. He had never seen Guardian technology up close before.

“It’s ready,” Alec said finally. He stood up tentatively and tested the support by moving his arm from side to side. “Good thing I took that first-aid course during basic training.”

“That looks complicated,” Drake said.

“Not really. It’s like putting a puzzle together. The machine does most of the work, compensating and stabilizing the arm. I just had to assemble it. If I were at base camp the doctors would probably give me a shot of healing nanodrones to speed up the process, but since I’m here I’ll just have to make the best of what I found.”

Drake looked outside. It was late in the day already, an hour to twilight at most. “We need some more water. I should go get it and maybe go back to the waterfall for more food. Even if it’s fish again.”

“I’ll go with you,” Alec offered. “I’ll just take a pill for the pain and I’ll be good to go.”

Drake stood up. “Are you sure? You should probably rest that arm.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “I am not staying. I’ve been in this damn cave all day. I want to go out for a bit, and I’m curious about that waterfall you mentioned. I want to take a look.”

Drake shrugged. “Okay. Let’s get going.”

They left and headed straight for the waterfall. Now that he knew the way, Drake had a much easier time finding his way through the quiet, dark shadows of the forest. As they passed underneath tall pines and made their way through soft carpets of fallen pine needles, it seemed they were the only people alive in the world. No animals were around, no birds were chirping. It was just the trees swaying in the wind, and the two of them walking.

As they walked uphill, Alec stumbled on a slippery rock ahead of Drake.

“Ow!”

“Careful.”

“Thanks for the tip. Getting careless around these damn slippery rocks. Guess I underestimated how far it is to this waterfall of yours… and that pill for the pain I took is making me woozy.”

“Lean on me if you want. We’re almost there.”

Alec hesitated, then draped his good arm around Drake’s shoulders and leaned on him slightly as they walked. Drake slowed down so Alec wouldn’t have trouble keeping pace. Half-subconsciously, Drake slid his left arm around Alec’s waist and held him closer so he would be better supported. They walked like that for a while. Drake was glad for the extra warmth in the chill of the evening, and refused to think about how right it felt to have Alec so close.

“Um… Drake?” Alec said suddenly. In the silence of the dark forest, his voice seemed louder somehow.

Drake stopped. “What?”

“I have to tell you something.”

He said it with a tone that made Drake wary. He let go of Alec and took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

Alec was looking everywhere but at him. Finally, he took a deep breath and met Drake’s eyes.

“I didn’t trust you,” Alec confessed.

Drake relaxed slightly. This was not what he’d expected to hear. “That’s okay. Yesterday I didn’t trust you, either. Now I do.”

That seemed to surprise Alec. “Really?”

“You’re a Guardian, Alec. I had a good feeling about you, but I had to keep reminding myself to keep my guard up all day, just in case.”

Alec nodded slowly. “But then… what changed? Why do you trust me now?”

Drake shrugged. “Lots of things. The fact that you dragged me to that cave and kept me alive. The way I saw you fight those wolves. Your voice, I guess. I get the feeling you don’t lie very often.”

That seemed the wrong thing to say. Drake saw Alec wince, and look away. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Drake tensed up. Was this a setup? Was Alec going to spring some trap on him? He strained his ears to catch the sound of enemies approaching, but there was nothing. He couldn’t see very far, but the there were no shapes hiding in the nearby trees.

“What do you mean?” Drake asked guardedly.

“I… I spied on you.” Alec admitted.

Drake blinked.

“What?”

“I spied on you. I didn’t trust you, and I put a small transmitter on your shirt. It’s in the collar, near the back so you wouldn’t find it. It only transmits audio, but it seemed a good idea when you were recovering. I thought I had to keep an eye on you.”

“There’s a bug on me?”

Alec nodded gravely. “Yes. And I’m sorry. But when you left this morning I had no way of knowing where you were going, whether you would betray me to some Hunters or what. I had to be prepared.”

Drake nodded too; it made perfect sense to him.

“Anyway,” Alec continued, “I heard everything you said this morning when you were at the waterfall. I acted surprised when you came back, but I know what happened there.”

Drake’s mind flashed back on his encounter with the deserter. “You listened to all that?”

“I did. And I want to apologize, Drake. I shouldn’t have doubted you. That other Hunter offered you a way out using me as a hostage, and it would have worked. You were two against one, like he said. When I heard that, I got ready to escape from the cave, to run away even with my arm in the old sling. But then you refused.”

“Yeah,” Drake said, imagining how his conversation with the deserter must have sounded like to Alec, listening in on it back in the cave. “I refused.”

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Alec asked him. “After a while I heard only the sounds of battle. Then nothing but you walking through the forest, and then you came back.”

“He was a coward,” Drake answered. “He deserved to die.”

“If he had been a Guardian, he would have been tried for desertion, probably imprisoned. But not killed.”

“Your ways are different from ours. For us, it’s honor or death.” Even if I am also a deserter, Drake thought. But he refused to consider that.

“I understand that now. And I wanted to say… I’m sorry I doubted you, Drake. You proved me wrong.”

Alec reached for Drake’s neck, and Drake didn’t draw away. He felt Alec grab the collar of his shirt and sweep his fingers around it until he found the transmitter. The two of them were very close. Then Alec yanked the bug away and stepped back. He threw the transmitter into the bushes.

“I trust you now, Drake,” he said. “I just wanted you to know that.”

Drake nodded. He turned back to the path and walked on, with Alec close by.

They walked in silence some more in the growing twilight. Soon the terrain began to slope down, and the sound of the waterfall could be heard. When they came out of the gloom under the trees and into the waterfall’s clearing, the sun was setting in the West, to their backs. The last golden rays were touching the tops of the pine trees in the forest. A slightly chilly wind was blowing, and the only sound was the constant din of the water falling on rocks, and the occasional splash of salmon as they jumped.

“Wow,” Alec said as they got nearer the river, “this place is beautiful.”

“Do you think so?” Drake asked.

“Yes; it’s so secluded. Peaceful, too. Don’t you feel it?”

Drake shrugged and approached the river’s edge. He jumped over a pile of fallen rocks by the riverside to the place where he had put his things that morning. He was looking for salmon, and saw plenty swimming nearby. Alec tried to jump after him, too, but he tripped on something and lost his balance instead.

“Ow!” Alec yelled as he fell.

Drake turned at the sound and managed to grab Alec by the waist with both hands to keep him steady. He lifted Alec and put him down on the ground next to him as if he weighed nothing, surprised at how quickly he’d reacted. He felt the warmth of Alec’s body on his hands and suddenly realized how right it felt to hold him. He didn’t take his hands off Alec’s waist, and Alec didn’t say anything to make him let go. They were so close that Drake could smell Alec’s scent clearly: pine needles, smoke, and sweat. Drake felt himself getting hard, holding Alec like that. He had been staring at the ground, but now slowly, ever so slowly, he looked up all the way to Alec’s face. When he locked his gaze with Alec’s, he saw his wordless desire mirrored in the other man’s eyes. He saw the shadow of doubt there, the disarming innocence, the invitation full of lust. Drake couldn’t stand it anymore. He pulled Alec to him, embracing him completely. Then Drake kissed him.

It was a hungry kiss, intense, almost violent in its suddenness. Drake kissed Alec fiercely, holding him tight to his body, his left hand holding Alec’s head and grabbing a handful of his hair. He could feel the sandpaper-like roughness of Alec’s stubble as his lips strayed from Alec’s mouth and down to his neck, breathing hard, kissing him with all his pent-up desire. When his lips and then his tongue found Alec’s Adam’s apple, Alec threw his head back and moaned.

Drake drew back, then kissed Alec on the mouth again and soon their tongues found each other. Drake led Alec to a patch of soft grass by the riverside as they kissed, moving slowly, and when they got there he pushed the other man down gently. He supported him as he leaned back to lie down on the grass, never breaking the kiss.

When Alec was lying on his back with Drake on top of him, Drake felt the other man’s rock-hard erection through his pants. Drake slid his hand down Alec’s body under his shirt, feeling the velvet softness of his skin. His hand went down Alec’s chest, over his hard abs, and still further down until he found Alec’s cock. He ran his hand over it, and even through the fabric of Alec’s pants he could feel the big, hard member. He gave it a squeeze. Alec arched his back and moaned again.

Drake ripped open Alec’s shirt, and soon his tongue was caressing one of Alec’s nipples. With his left hand he touched the other one, pinched it lightly, twisted it as he did the same with his teeth on the other side. Alec shuddered in his arms, arched his body against Drake and mumbled soft words of pleasure. His eyes were closed, his breathing hard in his arousal. He caressed the rock-hard muscles on Drake’s back with his hands, and pulled the other man tight to him.

Panting with desire, Drake went down on Alec, his mouth kissing the Guardian’s stomach, teasing the slight peach fuzz near Alec’s bellybutton and going further down still, roughly pulling Alec’s pants below his knees as he did so. He was careful not to hurt Alec’s wounded arm as he moved, but when he saw Alec’s cock right before him, hard and throbbing, he forgot caution and everything else. He took Alec’s cock in his hungry mouth and Alec cried out with ecstasy and surprise when Drake took him in.

Drake used his tongue, his lips and even his teeth as Alec pumped in and out, slowly, his hands holding Drake’s head and pushing it down onto his cock. Drake relaxed his throat a little more with each thrust, letting Alec go deeper down every time, and soon he was taking Alec’s entire cock in his throat, in and back out, then all the way down again. He fought the urge to gag and was rewarded with Alec’s harder, deeper thrusts. The taste of Alec, his masculine smell; they all flooded Drake’s consciousness and made him even more aroused. They got into a dreamy, lust-filled rhythm that blocked out all but the motion and the sound of their breathing. They were together, and the entire world disappeared around them.

Alec got more and more worked up as he face-fucked Drake but eventually stopped suddenly, pulling out of Drake’s mouth. Drake knew Alec was close, and he stopped his efforts too. They both wanted to prolong the pleasure for as long as possible. Drake shrugged off his shirt, and took off his pants quickly. When Alec saw the thick, hard cock standing out between Drake’s legs, his eyes widened. Then he grinned and motioned for Drake to stand up.

Drake did, and Alec knelt in front of him. He took Drake’s cock in his good hand, and then immediately into his mouth. Drake felt the warmth that accompanied the touch of Alec’s tongue on the tip of his penis and around its head, and he sighed with pleasure. It was an incredible sensation.

Alec sucked him even longer than Drake had, and Drake enjoyed every second of it. When he felt himself getting close, though, he held Alec’s head back and stopped as Alec had. There was something else he wanted to do, and when he looked into Alec’s eyes he knew the other man wanted it, too. With an inviting smile, Alec lay down on his back, and spread his legs slowly. He grabbed Drake’s right hand and guided it to his mouth, and as Drake knelt over him he sucked on Drake’s index and middle fingers. Then he guided them down between his legs, amid the soft hair around his asshole. Drake smiled, too. Then he pushed one finger in.

Alec moaned again and spread his legs wider. Drake pushed his finger inside him, fighting the brief resistance and moving in all the way up to the knuckle. He moved the finger slowly around in a brief circle, then pulled out almost all the way, and pushed back in. He kept doing that, and as he did he felt Alec loosening up to his touch, and soon pulled away to push inside with a second finger. Alec was tight, but he managed to get them both in by taking his time and lubing up with his spit. He pushed inside, slowly but firmly, and soon Alec was writhing with pleasure at his touch and whispering encouragement. Alec took both fingers in and back out with ease and was soon moving his hips up and down to meet Drake’s fingers, asking him softly to go deeper, to keep on fingering his ass. Drake grinned as he complied, fingering Alec’s hole for several minutes. Then he took his fingers out one last time. Alec was ready.

Drake leaned over him, and guided his cock until he felt Alec’s hole with the tip of his eager, rock-hard member. Alec looked right at him, slightly fearful yet eager, and nodded. Drake lubed up with spit and guided the base of his cock with his free hand. Then he pushed inside him.

He could see how Alec was gritting his teeth to keep from crying out, and the sight of it only made him harder. He felt resistance, but he was patient. He pushed a little inside, backed off, then pushed again, letting Alec get used to him, going deeper inside him with every thrust. Very soon, Alec’s grimace of pain relaxed. He began to moan instead, his mouth slightly open. He lifted his hips inviting Drake to go in deeper, and Drake responded immediately. He pulled out of Alec one last time, paused for a second, and then penetrated him deep, his cock sliding inside all the way.

Alec cried out when Drake’s big cock impaled him completely, but now Drake was past caring. Feeling the tight warmth enveloping his cock drove him half-mad with pleasure and he began pounding Alec hard, his balls slapping against the other man’s ass with every thrust. Alec’s eyes were shut tight, and he kept crying out, begging, whether for Drake to stop or keep going he couldn’t tell. But he knew they were both one body right then, one flesh, sweating and moving and feeling together. Drake reached for Alec, bent to kiss him fiercely again while he was still inside him and Alec returned the kiss, holding him tight, wrapping his legs around Drake as he pumped again and again and again. Drake soon felt the tightness around his cock loosen up slightly, and Alec was now really begging for more. Drake gave it to him.

He pounded Alec like a madman. He thrust inside him hard, and fast, and the sound of Alec’s moans of pleasure filled his ears and drove him to a faster tempo, to go deeper, to fuck Alec like with the force of a sledgehammer. He felt himself getting close to an orgasm and he shifted his stance slightly so he could grab Alec’s cock in one hand. He began jacking Alec off in time with his thrusts, and the obvious wave of pleasure that it gave Alec drove Drake to the height of his own arousal. He pounded him, sweat dripping from his brow and running down his hairy chest as he fucked Alec with a force that bordered on violence. They were both lost in an ecstasy of lust and pleasure so intense that when Drake felt Alec reach his explosive orgasm he went over the edge immediately. Alec cried out as he spurted all over his own chest, the ropes of hot liquid falling everywhere as Drake fucked him. Drake saw it, cried out deep in his throat and pulled out at the last second, giving over to his own electric climax and exploding all over Alec’s body, his chest, nd his face.

He fell on top of him, holding him close. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel Alec’s heart racing too. They held each other, panting, sweating, and didn’t let go. They stayed together right there on the grass while they cooled down, and Drake couldn’t think of a more perfect sensation that the body beneath him. When Alec kissed him lightly on the lips, he returned the kiss with tenderness, smiling. He could get lost in Alec’s eyes, die at that moment, and it wouldn’t matter.

“Wow,” was all Alec whispered.

Drake smiled. “Yeah. Wow.”

Some time later, after an eternity of closeness, they began to feel the cold bite of the wind.

“I should wash up,” Alec said grudgingly. “Though I don’t think the river’s any warmer than yesterday.”

Drake looked up at the sky: night had fallen already. It was cold, and the dark waters of the river had to be ten times colder. “I’ll go in if you go,” he offered.

“You first,” Alec teased.

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh, come on, Drake. It’s just cold water. It won’t bite.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go in already.”

Alec waded into the water first, followed by Drake. Naked as they were, the water hit them with all the suddenness of winter cold.

“Oh man,” Alec complained when they were knee-deep. “Okay. Drake, I’ll go down first. Can’t get my arm wet. One… two… dammit. One… two… three!”

He washed as quickly as he could and came up, hair wet, and shivering. Drake helped him back to the grass.

“I’ll b…b…build a f…f…fire,” Alec stammered.

“You better,” Drake said. “My turn.”

Drake waded back into the river, grimaced and plunged all the way in. The water was so cold it knocked his breath out, but he scrubbed quickly and jumped out a few seconds later. He was soaked, shivering, and he suddenly wanted a fire very, very much.

He came back to where Alec was starting a fire with his flint, striking sparks over some dried-up wood shavings. Drake went into the woods, naked and shivering, and gathered a pile of wood as fast as he could. When he got back to Alec, he already had a small flame going. Drake fed it small twigs, then larger branches. It seemed to take forever but they eventually got a roaring fire going.

Dry now, they lay down by the fire side by side. Alec draped his cloak over them both, and the heat of their own bodies added to the heat of the fire. Soon they stopped shivering, but they still held each other tightly. Drake was lying on his back, his head resting on an improvised pillow of his own clothes. Alec lay next to him, his head resting on Drake’s chest. They lay like that for a long time, staring peacefully out into the night. A lot of stars had come out and they shone above them with what Drake felt was happiness.

“Look,” Alec said, pointing up at the sky. The moon had come out over the treetops, shining silver and ethereal over them.

“It’s beautiful,” Drake said.

Alec held him closer. “It is.”

They didn’t say anything else, but their closeness spoke for them. They watched the moonlight dance above them until their eyelids grew heavy. The heat of the fire made them relaxed and content, and Alec was soon fast asleep. Drake heard Alec’s breathing slow, and he allowed his eyes to close too. He opened them again one last time and smiled faintly, trying to capture the moment in his mind forever. But he was falling asleep, and his last thought was of Alec lying in his arms.