Amateur Night 2 - Downstairs - 1. Chapter 1

That Zai hadn’t been aware of Jahke’s plan before he’d stepped into the den was proof of how greatly improved his skills at creating mental blockades had become. Tobias had taught him how, and Zai was certain Nassau had helped. After only two decades the pale little faun was far better at keeping the house’s empaths out of his head than Kiorl had ever been.

And he has had eternity to practice already. Zai arched an eyebrow at the broad couch where Jahke lay on his front, book propped open against Sitka’s thigh with his mate’s broad, black hand in his hair.

“Hello you two. Didn’t think you’d still be in. No plans for Samhain?”

“Hey Zai. You know Jahke’s always scheming.” Sitka’s voice was warm with adoration, and Zai might have thought him sappy, but he was well aware of his own smitten nature when it came to the man he loved. “But no, we’re not going out. Will you join us?”

Sitka was far less good at guarding his thoughts, and clearly he and Jahke had been speaking of Jahke’s plan before he’d entered. The idea was right at the top of his mind, and though Zai could only glimpse the specifics – like the shape of the moon through the clouds – what he felt made him smile. The idea was not without merit. Without moving, he reached out for the connection with his mate, a bright and shining thing he visualized as a rope, and poured his want down it.

Zai? Tobias’s answer was as clear in his mind as Nassau’s voice whenever the Prince spoke to him directly. You need me?

I always need you, Sweetling. Zai grinned. Tobias was a much more powerful empath than he was, and he knew he only needed to direct his thoughts to allow his mate to hear him. But yes, come join us. The house is very quiet.

It didn’t take long for Tobias to join them from wherever he had been. As soon as he appeared, Zai wanted nothing more than to encircle the young man in his arms, strip him bare, and lay waste to him with teeth, lips, and claws. But he’d learnt to control those urges, if not quell them, and Zai was well aware he was watched intimately – as only his mate could – as he took his lust-laden desires and banked them with so many others, ready to be unleashed in private.

“Everyone is out.” Tobias did not phrase it as a question, and he did not need to be an empath to know that Zinkara Rumah was empty save the four of them. Kiorl had gone with a large party Upstairs, including the Prince, and Jin-Ha had been gone the past tenday with friends from another house. Each of that group had been intent on putting in a good showing at their temples to secure their reputations among mortals for many more years.

“Will you join us for a game, Tobias?” Jahke pitched his voice sweetly, soft; not seductive like he might have done for Kiorl or Shindae. Zai flicked his tuft tipped tail back and forth.

“You don’t look much in the position to be playing cards, Jahke.” Tobias replied crisply. What are you three up to? The chef cast and sidelong deep blue gaze at his mate.

Nothing at all Sweetling. Play with the boy.

“You’re planning something.” Tobias commented, though it was not completely clear to whom he was speaking. “What game, Jahke?”

They ended up sat facing each other, cross legged on the broad couch, the deck spread on the cushion between them as Tobias dealt their hands of durak. Sitka kissed the soft skin on the back of Jahke’s neck in a display of public affection Zai could not even dream of being allowed, then crossed the den to settle next to him.

“You disapprove?” The black skinned young demon asked, onyx eyes bright, but concerned.

Zai smiled. It was easy to forget, sometimes, that so many of his emotions didn’t show on his face. Before Tobias had come, it wasn’t important to share them with the world, and afterwards he hadn’t needed to, because Tobias could fish around in his head almost as easily as the Prince.

“No. I don’t think he’ll take your boy’s bait though. Good strategy, leaves him a way out if he wants it.”

“Tobias is very proud.” Sitka agreed. His smile was very white. “I’ve always liked that about him.”

“You know he likes you best.” Zai relaxed back into the cushions of the chaise, tail flopping idly as he began to toe off his boots. Sitka grunted in genuine surprise, and Zai reached out to ruffle his curly mane. “He thinks you’re nought but a walking appetite and he hates it when you leave hoof trimmings in the bathroom, but yes, you’re his favourite. You turn up first at meal times, and you’ve never been shy in showing him deference.”

Zai raked the other demon with his gaze, grinned, and allowed himself to feel smug as Sitka blushed hotly under his black skin. Sitka cleared his throat, and Zai knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth.

“You were always my favourite,” the demon said in a small voice. “Before.”

“Flattery will get you many places.” Zai felt the soft needling at his mind which meant his husband wanted his attention. Sweetling?

They tell you this plan of theirs? Tobias was playing his hand, laying out good attacks, his attention apparently focused. But Zai had always known the boy he’d found in the woods was sharp and bright, and it was no trouble at all for Tobias to carry on their conversation silently.

No.

Hmmm… probably best. You’re terrible at keeping secrets.

I keep yours. Zai reminded him gently.

That you do my love. Tobias glanced across the den at him. You two look comfortable. You know I wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to indulge.

Sweetling… The idea of spending the evening of Samhain with Sitka and Jahke was deeply appealing, but Zai already knew he liked Jahke’s plan more. Leave it to the surprisingly kinky little faun to figure out a way to keep Tobias in the room – Zai hadn’t tried in all their years together. I want whatever you want.

You know better than to lie to an empath Zai. But… There were no words, Tobias wasn’t thinking at him directly, but Zai felt his mate’s hesitant curiosity, his uncertainty, his fierce pride. He bathed the foreign emotions in warmth, and across the den Tobias sat up a little straighter.

Whatever you want Sweetling. I love you.

Tobias finished his hand, drew from the deck, and took his turn defending against Jahke.

“So Jahke, what are the stakes?”

“Hmmm?”

“Don’t be shy with me, you aren’t with anyone else. What do you want if you win?”

Jahke folded his hand of cards in his lap and looked pointedly over at where Zai and Sitka lounged together on he chaise.

“Jahke, if you want my mate, you only have to ask. He is always very happy to indulge-” Zai felt the shape of all the words Tobias would not say aloud, saw a flicker fast myriad of indecent images, things Zai’s mind had burdened him with from others but never seen himself, “-your habits.” Tobias finished.

“But that’s not what I want for myself.” Jahke grinned devilishly. He maintained the smile as Tobias’s dark eyes widened ever so slightly, and Zai knew the pale faun had shown Tobias the whole of his plan. Knowing Jahke’s fine imagination, Zai was sure the fantasy had been produced in feverish detail. “Well?” The faun purred cockily. “Best of three?”

He wants you for Sitka. Tobias told him silently. And he wants me to stay. To… watch.

Sweetling, no one would force you. Least of all Jahke. Zai reached out with the dark whorls of his empathic pattern and wrapped soft tendrils around the boy he loved. I cannot say that the idea does not appeal though. Play your game, see if he can best you to get what he wants.

They all knew it was a sham, though no one said anything. Tobias was not known to cheat at cards, or at any other game, and he’d been well taught at how to shut his mind away in order to preserve his sanity. But it was common knowledge within the house that if Tobias wanted to win, no amount of luck or skill would stop him, because there was no poker face good enough to beat a clairaudient empath.

Jahke laid down his final card with a triumphant grin, leaving Tobias holding the remainder of his hand, and therefore losing the game.

“Well met, Jahke.”

“Thank you, Tobias.”

Zai almost felt sorry for Sitka, who was the only one who didn’t hear Jahke’s soft, bashful, adoring thought which followed.

I know you let me win that first hand. Thank you Tobias.

Jahke left Tobias to pack away the cards into their slender wooden box, and crossed the den on his dainty cloven hooves to where his lover waited beside Zai. The pair kissed deeply, Sitka groaning, and his shining eyes were dim with lust when they broke apart. Jahke turned to Zai, radiating confidence and pride.

“And how is my prize feeling?”

Zai tasted the desires in the boy’s blond head and smirked.

“Amenable to being given instruction.” Zai dragged his tongue over his fangs, watching as Jahke’s blue gaze tracked the motion. “Where do you want me, pretty boy?”

“Stand up, come closer. You too Sitka.”

“Yes, Beautiful.” Sitka looked like he would have followed Jahke through the fire mountains if the boy had commanded it.

But Jahke merely settled himself back on the couch, gently reposed in his pleated breech-clout, every inch a creature of pleasure. Zai was happy to indulge him.

Any requests Sweetling?

Tobias was very still, and Zai knew it was the effort of not shivering, not breaking away and running, which made his mate sit so rigid in his seat. When Tobias looked at him, Zai felt like he’d been stabbed through the chest, and it was glorious.

Just don’t bite him.

Dearest, you know my fangs are yours alone. It was an easy promise to make, because no matter the desire to clamp down on a warm muscle in the moment of orgasm, Zai would rather trade a million of those little highs for the ecstasy he could only find with his mate. I love you.

I know.

“Sitka. Help Zai with his clothes.”

If it hadn’t been for the fact he could feel each of Sitka’s emotions, Zai would have said the little faun had found a way to use the cloven hoofed demon’s power of compulsion on him. Sitka’s fingers were fast on his belt buckle, and the demon ran warm palms up his chest as he helped to discard Zai’s tunic over his head. Zai caught Sitka with a hand around his horn, and tilted the handsome face up to his own.

“You wanna put on a show for our boys then?”

“Oh yeah.”

“You remember how to ask for mercy?”

The shape of Sitka’s mind shuddered, revulsion running through his core like a cold knife, before it was replaced with warm desire once more. Zai nodded, satisfied. No pain, anguish, or begging were enough to distract him if he got himself lost in the revelation of lust and desire with a partner, and it had taken a few false starts for Nassau to find something which would work for the other residents of Zinkara Rumah. They didn’t know why the picture of the moon that exact shape was experienced by Zai as such a cold horror, but they never asked. It worked, though Zai hadn’t needed anyone to use it since he’d become mated. It was always good to check.

“Good boy. Come here.”

Sitka kissed passionately, always had, and Zai allowed himself to slip away from the knowledge that Jahke had a plan, and just enjoyed himself with his friend. Sitka opened for him readily, fingers dragging through Zai’s short steel grey hair as he pulled him closer, licking into his mouth with a groan. Zai skidded his hands down Sitka’s torso, wrapped his fist in the fabric of his loin cloth, and tore it away. Belts and buckles clattered to the floor. Sitka vibrated excitedly under his touch, and when Zai scratched down his ribs – not breaking the skin – the pin-pricklings of reflected pain gave Zai an observable reaction.

“Aren’t they pretty?” Jahke’s tone was light, warm, gently conversational. If Zai hadn’t been an empath the boy might well have been discussing paintings in the Long Gallery. “C’mon Tobias, you’re supposed to look. That was part of the deal.”

Zai cracked open one sun-yellow eye and glanced over at his mate. He didn’t need to see Tobias to know he would look uncomfortable, but the sight was almost enough to make him stop the whole scenario and just whisk the boy he loved away.

If I want to use my safe words I will. Tobias snapped silently. Don’t you dare making my fucking decisions for me.

Sitka kissed down his neck, and Zai turned the bulk of his attention back to the black skinned demon, one hand wrapping around a big horn. He’d seen a variety of pictures in Jahke’s mind, but all of them featured Sitka in a position of worship. Zai used Sitka’s horn like a handle, pushing the demon where he wanted him.

“On your knees Sitka. Open wide.”

The pink interior of Sitka’s mouth was such a stark and sexy contrast to the dusky black of his skin that Zai stopped just to look at him. He could feel the nervous thrum of Tobias’ emotions, and was surprised to find the very faintest thread of what he might have called jealousy if it had come from anyone else. He’d done this for Tobias plenty of times, but the recruit had never returned the favour – not that Zai had ever asked him to. Now Zai felt his mate looking around the inside of his head as he shifted his hips and deliberately slapped Sitka in the face with the hard length of his cock.

“Mmfh!” Sitka groaned, aroused and frustrated. He attempted to turn his head to catch him, but Zai tightened his grip on the spiralled horn and held him tight. “Zai….”

“Take it up with your boy.” Zai smirked at Jahke – visibly aroused with his milk pale skin beautifully flushed across cheeks and nipples – and the faun let out the softest of whimpers as he remembered Zai could actually see inside his head. “He’s the one who wants me to torture you a little bit. Stick out your tongue.”

Sitka did as he was told, and Zai felt the sharp spike of anticipation which waited within the younger demon. Zai’s empathic senses took the feeling and it coiled low in his belly as a hot snake of lust, swelling as Zai tapped the tapered head of his dick against Sitka’s pink tongue. To his credit, the horned demon didn’t move, and Zai purred with pride when he hit him hard. Sitka’s cheek was shiny with Zai’s precum, his chest rising and falling with little breaths, the hands which rested on his thighs quivering in self control. His own unusual cock, as ridged as his horns but slightly less twisted, jutted from between his thighs, but Sitka knew better than to touch himself. Just as Zai yanked Sitka forward by one horn, his cock finally finding it’s target between his lips and sinking into his mouth, he felt the presence of his lover watching over his shoulder.

Zai reached out and raked his lover’s mind with the claws of his pattern. On the sofa, Tobias shivered bodily.

What’s it like?

He’d happily let you find out. Zai answered. He made a little picture in his mind of how Tobias might look, naked and beautiful, blushing hotly as Sitka sucked him off, and projected it to his mate. That’s something I’d like to see.

Tobias’s eyes widened, just enough for Zai to know he’d had an effect on the boy, but his mouth thinned as he brushed the picture aside.

No. I meant what is it like for him?

Zai swallowed audibly and tore his gaze from Sitka happily and enthusiastically taking his cock so well to look over at Tobias. The idea of Tobias, on his knees, lips parted for his cock… the fact that Tobias didn’t mentally smack him for the image was almost as much of a shock as the groan which escaped his lips. Sitka hummed around his length, tongue wrapping around the hard muscle, eyes closed in obvious pleasure. Zai glanced at Jahke as he realised he and his lover had been silent for a long time.

“Jahke?”

“Mmm?” Jahke’s mind was replaying several memories, all on a similar theme, and for a moment Zai found it hard to read the boy’s actual intentions. “Sorry?”

“Do you mind if Tobias comes over here?” Zai felt Sitka’s mouth shaping a query and he slapped the demon’s cheek with strong fingers quickly. “Not something for you to worry about. Back to work Sitka.”

Jahke frowned at his friend.

“Tobias? I mean, of course, but-”

“It’s OK Jahke. Don’t worry about it.” Zai reassured the pale faun softly. “Ain’t no one able to tell Tobias what to do.”

Come Sweetling.

Tobias said nothing, but stood, brushed imaginary dust from his jeans, and crossed the room to him. He didn’t look concerned, or aroused, and it was only Zai’s empathic abilities which allowed him to know that his mate was feeling anything at all. The world Tobias had grown up on had forced him to learn how to school his features and his desires, and it was not a skill the boy was able to rid himself of.

You want to feel him? He asked silently.

Yes. It’ll be easier with touching.

“Hey Sitka. Oh yes, good boy, just like that.” Zai jerked his hips forward, thrusting into Sitka’s throat, momentarily distracted by is skilled tongue. “Don’t freak out OK? Tobias is just gonna join us for a little ride along.”

Sitka projected his agreement, along with the faintest cloud of confusion, because he couldn’t answer with his mouth full, and Zai kept his vision trained on his friend as Tobias laid a strong, slim hand on his bare shoulder. Sitka’s patterns were all black, just like his skin and his shining eyes, and they were happy curling shapes, curious but not grasping, softly twirling and repeating until they formed the slick, oily shimmer which represented his compulsive power. Zai watched as, in the centre of Sitka’s dark eyes, familiar whorls appeared – invisible unless one knew how to access second sight – as Tobias slid his mind in alongside Sitka’s own.

Gods, that’s smooth.

Nassau’s lessons are worth it. Oooohhh….

Zai practically felt Tobias’s exhale on his skin as the boy sunk into the sensation of Zai’s cock in Sitka’s mouth. Sitka vibrated happily, clearly enjoying himself, and leant forward eagerly as Zai thrust his hips again, swallowing him deeper until Zai ground the head of his cock against the back of his throat. Tobias looked stunned, and Zai could feel his lover experiencing not only Sitka’s arousal but his own through the stranded ropes of their connection. Tobias in pain was something Zai enjoyed above all else, but this reflected and refracted pleasure was new, and the power of it warmed something in his core.

“Getting busy in your head is it, Sitka?” Zai stroked the side of his jaw softly, then curved his fingers under the other demon’s throat to feel the way he was stretched around Zai’s girth. “I’ve always wondered if you taught Jahke how to be the best cocksucker in Hell or if being with him has just made you better?” He let his attention wander back over to where Jahke was now obviously touching himself through his clothes, and felt the flush of pride the praise stoked in him. “Is it still a compliment if it’s true? Who knows. Now is not the time for reference books.”

“Is it nice, Tobias?” Jahke asked, though they could all tell it was a struggle for the faun to keep his tone so light and airy.

“It’s...” Tobias’s dark eyes were half lidded, his cheeks hot, and the fingers which lay upon Sitka’s shoulder gripped tightly now. “He really likes it. Likes being told what to do.”

Jahke preened, because clearly this was not a new discovery for him, and Sitka’s eyes flashed up at Zai with the faintest trace of warm guilt. Zai could feel the shape of his thoughts, and though it was not ordinarily in his nature, he rushed to reassure the younger demon, caressing the soft pillow of his lower lip even as Sitka sucked.

“Don’t think that. You are doing extremely well. And no, I don’t get to command people around like this whenever I want to.” He felt Tobias’ hum in his head, giving him permission to divulge, if only for tonight. “I married a beautiful and delicious man, but he is not one to be told what to do – not in the kitchen and not in bed. I am not as all powerful as you might think Sitka.” He pulled himself abruptly from the warm, constricting heat of Sitka’s mouth and grabbed his jaw, squeezing hard. “It goes without saying that if you ever repeat any of this I will tear out your spine and feed it to you. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” Sitka’s compliance was breathless and instantaneous, and Zai felt the thrill of it ricochet around his skull.

“Well Jahke? You won the game, it’s your scene. What do you want me to do to your mate, pretty boy?”

Jahke’s mind flickered, projecting visions blink fast before he picked one that produced noises of wonder and shock from both Zai and Tobias. Their reactions only cemented the idea further, and Zai almost felt sorry for Sitka being left in the dark.

“You tell him Tobias. I think he likes your voice the best.”

Are you sure? I’ve never, we’ve never… Tobias’s confusion was understandable. Zai had never kept secrets from his mate – he couldn’t – but it wasn’t something he’d thought about since well before the War. Zai nodded.

It’s been a very long time. If you don’t want him to, just say. Zai rolled his shoulders, smoothing his thumb across Sitka’s spit-shined lips. Not being able to join their conversation didn’t justify ignoring him, not when he was such a good sport. Emotions rolled under the slippery surface of Tobias’s mind, flashes of passion and desire and lust mixing with cooler shades of worry and self-reproach. It boiled as Tobias wondered if he’d done something wrong in his ignorance of this part of Zai’s sexual history, and Zai didn’t like that.

He dropped into a crouch, leant over Sitka’s broad shoulder, wrapped his fingers around Tobias’s arm without dislodging his grip and bit hard into his flesh. Blood welled up around his fangs, coating his tongue, and both Tobias and Sitka gasped in pain at the same time as the horned demon felt an echo of the action through the bond the empath had created.

If I’m not allowed to pity you, then you’re not allowed to either! He snapped even as he tightened his jaw. Tobias whimpered when fangs scraped against bone. Now are you in or not?

“Did I use my fucking safe word?” The former human gritted out, fiery and defiant despite the pain, or perhaps because of the pain. Zai beamed and gave the wound a cursory lick before drawing back. It was enough to staunch the worst bleeding, but left the torn skin open. He caught the ragged edge with a claw and felt Tobias’s stomach lurch sickly, experienced the feeling as a dart of golden ecstasy, and perceived with his inner vision the way Tobias took that golden strand back into himself, coiling up in Zai’s arousal, full of bliss.

If you tell him what to do, it’ll almost be like you’re doing it. Zai told him, even though they both knew it already. Now tell him what Jahke wants him to do.

“Sitka?” Tobias’s voice was low and measured, and Sitka’s skin prickled at the warmth of it along the back of his shoulders. “You’re gonna fuck Zai. That good with you?”

“Flames….” Whatever disappointment the horned demon felt at dropping his submissive role was entirely subsumed by the raw delight of the image Tobias’s words had presented him with, and both empaths felt the way his pulse jumped at the idea. “Yes sir.”

“It’s been… rather a long while.” Zai had to swallow around his tongue, his voice felt rusty.

“Why don’t you come get comfortable then?” Jahke suggested from the broad couch. “We all want to take good care of you Zai. Right Tobias?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll lose your perfect view, pretty boy,” Zai warned him, but he was already rising, leading Sitka by one horn, Tobias following, none of them breaking contact.

“I don’t mind.” Jahke half rose, tossed away his clothes, and settled himself amidst a nest of cushions. “I’d rather have you panting in my lap if it’s alright with Tobias. Lie down, Zai.”

If he hadn’t been an empath, Zai would have wondered what had happened in the past half hour which had led to the two former humans taking complete control of the situation. Between Jahke’s happy suggestions and Tobias’s manoeuvring of Sitka, Zai found himself lain on his back, a cushion propping up his hips, his head and shoulders in Jahke’s warmly aroused lap and the little faun’s fingers carding gently through his hair and stroking over his short, sharp horns. Sitka settled between his parted thighs and Tobias knelt behind him. Zai wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, hated that he couldn’t reach his husband with his tail, and settled for wrapping the thick ash-furred muscles around his wrists.

Self restraint? Tobias asked him silently, his inner voice smirking.

You want me shred the fucking sofa cushions? Zai snapped back before falling silent.

“You alright there Zai?” Jahke curled over – he was always impressively flexible – and kissed him gently, soft, chaste, completely unlike how Zai expected him to be given the state of the hard cock pressing against his back.

“Golden.”

“Babe?” It took Jahke a second attempt to secure Sitka’s attention. “You still with us?”

“Oooh yeah...” Sitka was watching Zai with an expression Zai had never actually seen on his dark face before.

It was the kind of focus and hard desire he associated much more with Kiorl, but Zai knew he would have never trusted his major demon with something like this, no matter how much he liked the guy. If anyone apart from Jahke had suggested what they were about to do, heck, had suggested Tobias do anything at all outside of the privacy of their bedroom, Zai would have sent them scurrying away with a snarl long ago. But Tobias was there, watching him over Sitka’s shoulder, touching him through the big black skinned demon’s hands, and Zai knew he’d give the boy anything he wanted.

Unconventional works for us. Zai took a deep, deliberate breath.

“Hey Sitka.”

“Hey.” Sitka smiled, half bold, half shy. “Fuck, you’re really pretty Zai.”

“Be specific Sitka.” Every word Tobias said Zai heard twice, every sensation heightened by having the other empath in his head as well as Sitka’s. “Where’s he pretty?”

“Right here.” Sitka’s hand smoothed from his hip down the sensitive flesh of his inner thigh, sweeping up to his arse to press the pad of one thumb over his hole. “So pretty… I never realised you were pink under your fur.” He stroked little circles over Zai’s entrance, his touch almost reverent. “Mmm… I could just look at all you day.” Sitka dragged firm fingers back down his legs, and Zai let his knees fall open at the encouragement. “Beautiful.”

Zai was very happy he couldn’t blush, not that it mattered, because Tobias could see inside his head anyway, and he wrapped the hot, squirmy, not entirely uncomfortable feeling in a whorl of his own pattern and swallowed it down.

Now you know how it feels.

I don’t tease you this much. Zai shivered as Sitka’s fingers pulled him apart again, just to look. The scrutiny was almost unbearable. His cock twitched where it lay along the crease of his hip, and Jahke chuckled softly.

“Sitka’s very visual. And you are very beautiful Zai.” The faun stroked delicate fingers over his brow and down his nose. Zai tilted his head to catch a finger between his teeth without pressure. “Some view they must have down there though. How long has it been?”

“Couple of hundred years,” Zai replied quickly, making light, “You’d never be able to hack it Jahke.”

“Don’t we all know it.” Jahke smiled at Tobias. “He’ll need plenty of prep.”

“I have a very high pain threshold-” Zai began, but Tobias cut him off.

You’re not making the decisions, remember? Tobias wrapped his arm around Sitka’s waist, pale fingers splayed over his abdomen, and he vanished from Zai’s direct line of sight as he settled himself firmly against the other demon’s back. I’m still here.

I know.

I just want to feel. Tobias sounded a touch shaky, and Zai didn’t press him. Looking with two sets of eyes is too much.

Alright Sweetling. It’s OK. Zai felt the familiar vibration in his mind which echoed Tobias’s pulse, and knew his mate loved him.

“Sitka?”

“Mmm?”

“Touch him for me. Slowly.”

Sitka parted his cheeks again, firm thumbs dragging over his velvet short fur and sighed happily at what he saw. Then he smiled – Zai felt the little glow of bliss in his chest – and began to circle his hole with the tip of one finger, pressing but not pushing intermittently, every gesture soft.

“Tell me.” Tobias’s command was only half formed, because Zai could feel the way he was speaking to Sitka even if he couldn’t hear the exact words, and he also knew how hard it was sometimes to keep the threads of multiple voices in one’s mind. That Jahke would be able to hear Sitka’s voice was an additional bonus.

“He’s so warm. You’re warm.” Sitka’s attention slid back to him, and Zai felt the echo in his mind as Tobias felt everything Sitka was talking about. “And your fur is, like, incredibly soft. And just here.” Zai shivered as Sitka swept a his finger back and forth right by his hole. “Where your fur fades into skin, it’s so silky. I’ve never felt anything like it.” Sitka’s fingertips returned to press more deliberately against him. “Please? Can I?” His voice was almost a whine.

“OK.”

“Here Sitka.” Jahke reached into his nest of cushions and pillows to come up with a slender bottle of lube, but Sitka shook his head when Tobias spoke.

“No. Not lube. Here.” The hand on Sitka’s belly flexed, distracting them all. “Use me.”

Sitka knew what Tobias meant because he was in his head, and Zai understood, because the memory of his first time with the man he’d married was vividly seared into his brain, but it took a moment longer for Jahke to catch up.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“He’s sure.” Zai and Sitka intoned in perfect unison.

Zai knew that nothing, not the Prince of Hell wandering in on them himself, could have distracted him from the sight of Sitka pushing two fingers into the half healed bite mark on Tobias’s forearm, breaking the thin scab and allowing the blood to well up once more. Zai loved blood, so did Sitka, but now the ash-furred demon shivered as he watched his friend coating his fingers slowly and deliberately in the fluid. Tobias’s silent whimpers of pain made his cock twitch, staining his fur dark with precum.

“Touch him.” It was Tobias’s voice, but Sitka’s lips moved with the words, his onyx gaze intent as he rubbed a final circle around Zai’s entrance before pushing in. “Gods… you’re so tight.” The finger withdrew a little, sunk in again. “That’s amazing.”

“I never dreamed I’d get to do this.” Sitka was speaking now, his tone one of devotion and awe. “Never in a thousand years though of how you’d look stretched out and open around my hand. Oh Zai… you’re so beautiful.”

Zai gritted his teeth and turned his face away only to be met by Jahke’s soft blue gaze. The faun stroked his cheek, a soothing counterpoint to the intense fire of Sitka’s touch.

“Hey. C’mon Zai, it’s OK. We’re all here together for this and it’s OK.” The boy was thinking about how beautiful he was, how good Sitka looked with him, and somehow that was easier to take. Tobias was still watching him in his head too.

Zai?

I’m good. It wasn’t wholly a lie. The praise hurts.

You like hurt. Tobias reminded him silently.

Zai knew he didn’t actually need to vocalise the thought about how inflicting pain on Tobias was different from the heated coil which twisted through him every time some damning compliment fell from Sitka’s lips, and he couldn’t anyway because when Sitka pushed in with two fingers slicked with Tobias’s blood, Zai yowled.

“Gently….” Jahke reminded them, his voice gently chiding. “I know you can be enthusiastic and careful babe.”

“Sorry.” Sorry Zai. Sitka adjusted the angle of his wrist, and Zai let his head fall back into Jahke’s lap with a groan as Sitka fucked him open. “Better?”

“Ungh.”

“So smooth.” Tobias spoke, Sitka’s lips helpless but to follow along with the words the empath was pressing into his spine. “All supple and close.” Zai moaned. “And so sensitive. You really like Sitka’s fingers in you like this, filling you up… he has nice hands, I’m not surprised.”

Zai panted, watching Sitka touch him, his eyes fixed on the intimate way Zai’s body parted and gripped him as he moved his hand.

“Can you stretch him, Sitka?”

“Yes.” Sitka’s mind flooded with innumerable memories of Jahke – on his back, on his his knees, over his lap – whimpering and panting and being opened up with the same thick fingers which were currently massaging Zai.

Zai breathed a laugh, and told Jahke what he’d seen.

“Awww, babe...” The fact that such a compliment could still make Jahke blush reminded Zai just how completely in love the boy was with his horned friend. It was adorable. “I bet you can make him moan like I do.”

Heat lanced through Zai at the thought, and it was quickly followed by a delicious ache as Sitka thrust his fingers deeper, curling and spreading as he went. Zai gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, choosing like Tobias just to feel instead of seeing as Sitka began to take him apart. He clenched his tail tighter about his wrists, his fingers woven into the thick tuft at the end, keeping him from flailing at nothing. Tobias was murmuring in wonder as he lived through the haptic feedback Sitka was giving him, and adorations fell from Sitka’s lips like autumn leaves until Zai was a shaking wreck in Jahke’s lap. He whimpered.

“You’re doing so well Zai. Just a little more.” The copper-salt tang in the air let him know Sitka was lubing him with more of Tobias’s blood. The action made his thighs shake, and Sitka was forced to use a hand to stop his knees from closing reflexively at the next invasion. “Gods, you’re so gorgeous like this.” He curled his fingers up, and Zai bit his own lip hard enough to draw blood. “And you want it so much, your body does.”

“It’s OK Zai.” Jahke voice and fingers against his scalp like a balm. “They just wanna hear you moan. Go on.”

Zai turned his head, pushed his face into Jahke’s thigh and let out a keening whine as Sitka’s fingers pressed and pressed and bruised at his prostate. He could feel Tobias there, shivering and curious under the other demon’s skin, riding the sensations as Sitka experienced them, splitting him open and watching him as he cried.

“Hey...” Touch receded, tension eking out of his limbs as the pressure of Sitka’s hands slackened. A warm dry palm rested against the fur of his abdomen, above the wet and sticky mess his cock had made. “Zai...”

“It’s...” Zai’s voice cracked, his throat raw. “It’s a lot.”

We can stop. Tobias’s words were soft, just for him, and Zai realised he’d pulled enough of his mind out of Sitka’s to allow them to have a private conversation once more without the black demon feeling it’s echoes. I’ve never seen you cry before.

I didn’t know I could. There was no option other than to be brutally honest with an empath. I don’t think I ever have, before.

Zai… do you want to stop?

Zai took a moment just to breathe, his chest heaving. It didn’t hurt, not physically anyway. He was a bit sore, felt empty in a strange way he didn’t understand but which he knew was normal from experiencing it the other way round through Tobias, but he wasn’t in pain. He drank the scent of Jahke in through his nose, revelling in the simple, slightly familiar warmth of the boy, then forced himself to focus on the place where he could feel Sitka’s pulse against him, hand spanning his inner thigh as his flesh quivered. He looked up, and Sitka was smiling at him, quiet pride marking his features.

“I’m OK.”

“Yeah?” Sitka tilted his head to one side, and Zai was glad Tobias wasn’t still watching over his shoulder, because he would have ended up with a horn to the face. “You’re fucking stunning you know.” The epithet made the compliment easier to accept. “I’d kiss you, but he won’t let me move. He always this clingy?”

“Yes.” Zai watched Tobias’s arm – the only part of him which was visible – tighten around Sitka’s ribs. “He’s stronger than he looks: you’re gonna ache for days.”

“Not as much as you will.” Tobias said whilst Sitka’s lips moved soundlessly.

Zai shivered.

“Oh shit.”

Jahke cleared his throat to get their attention, then handed the bottle of lube over to Sitka deliberately.

“No arguments this time. Be good to him. Hey Zai, eyes on me.” Jahke beamed as he titled Zai’s chin upward. The noise of the bottle coming uncorked was distinct and loud. Jahke stroked his hair gently. “Can I kiss you?”

“You ain’t never got to ask pretty boy.”

Zai didn’t actually trust himself to have his hands free, so he waited for Jahke to come to him. The faun did, sweetly, gracefully, his lips plush and warm and delicious. They kissed to the background sounds of Sitka slicking his impressive cock, and then his slippery fingers were back at Zai’s hole, feeling him out gently, stroking and teasing softly until Zai bucked against his hand.

“He’s ready.”

Jahke sat back and rubbed his fingers across Zai’s lips briefly.

“You might want to move your hand Jahke.” Tobias’s voice was incredibly level, but the connection in Zai’s mind was quivering with tension. “He’ll bite you. He won’t mean to, but he will.”

I am an aeons old immortal demon. I do have some self-control.

We’ll see about that. Tobias sighed in his head, the connected fronds of his pattern glowing hot.

Zai shut his eyes, because he couldn’t quite bear to see Tobias’ gaze echoed in Sitka’s vision, and Jahke murmured sweetly without words and petted his hair as Sitka’s hard cock touched him. Sitka wrapped a big hand under one of his legs, hooking Zai’s knee up over his shoulder, dragging him into his lap. Zai forced himself still, tail constricting around his wrists, and felt each half breath punched out of him as Sitka sunk slowly and inexorably into him. Each ridge of his cock caught at his rim as he pressed in, but the sensation of feeling Tobias alongside Sitka’s dark shadow was the sensation which made him snap his teeth and groan aloud.

“Fuck...” His chest shook, his heart hammered away somewhere under his ribs feeling untethered, and Zai made an awful broken sort of noise as Sitka drew out of him.

“Slow, Sitka.” Tobias’s voice was glassy, an undisturbed and silent sea. “Hold his hip, tighter there. Good. Push back in, deeper. Good. All the way.” Sitka’s lips were moving with the words, but he groaned. “Tell him how he feels.”

No. Don’t. It was the only coherent thought Zai could summon, but he knew Sitka wouldn’t have heard him. Tobias’ presence against his mind glimmered, sparkling with authority. Zai’s other leg draped around Sitka’s hip, and suddenly Tobias’s hand was there, real and solid and slightly calloused, fingers wrapped around his ankle. Zai shook for want of crying at the connection.

“Zai...” Sitka sounded like he was a mortal at temple, voice earnest in benediction. “Gods Zai, you’re so beautiful. So strong and strung out just lying there for us. Perfect.” The slide of his cock was like punctuation, drawing moans from both of them. “So fucking tight. Tighter even than Jahke- unh. You’re gonna kill me.”

Sitka thrust his hips, black skin pressed flush against Zai’s fur, and then he shifted his weight and ground himself deep inside Zai’s tender passage. The empath yowled, choking on nothing, because he was sure he could feel the hard weight of Sitka’s cock in his throat, burning right the way through his body. Jahke’s hands on his face and neck were cool, and Zai was panting, his voice lost. And Tobias was right there under Sitka’s skin, feeling everything the horned demon felt, touching Zai’s body as well as his mind. Zai watched as the boy he loved took his own discomforts, the hang ups about privacy and fears about sex which the others had always put down to him being a little frigid, fed them into the burning core of Zai’s desire and span them into gold.

Hold on.

With the next hard thrust of Sitka’s hips, Zai reached out with his mind and grabbed the bright coil Tobias had made, pulling it into himself as fast as he could. His vision blurred, his mouth was too dry, his body too open and too full and not full enough, and his spine arched up off the couch as his tail constricted hard enough to fracture his own wrist. He roared.

I love you.

Zai gasped breathlessly, fought to maintain the connection with his mate, his mind spiralling through the sensations of Sitka’s body moving within him, and came violently, white streaks painting the fur of his chest, the last spurts pooling on his abs.

“Zai Zai Zai...” His name was a litany on Sitka’s tongue, a prayer of reverential moans in time with the fast thrusts of his cock, and then he too was shuddering, hands gripping Zai too tight to be comfortable, head hanging low as he flooded Zai with his orgasm.

Stay. Tobias commanded.

Zai took a deep shaky breath and it came out as a sob. He’d never felt so awfully helpless or so cared for, and the strength of the emotions scared him.

I didn’t know I could still be scared.

You were always a weird one, his inner voice told him.

Yeah, but at least I’m his weird one.

Zai panted, but found himself smiling as Tobias’ dark eyes and pale face appeared over Sitka’s bowed shoulders. The big horned demon was still unable to manage anything other than the repeated motion of filling his lungs. Tobias was pink across the cheeks, but met Zai’s gaze with his usual level of adoration and defiance.

“Oh Zai,” Jahke purred, fingers running low over his shoulders, though not quite into the mess he’d made of himself. “That was beautiful. Thank you.”

“Unnngh… Jahke… has all the… best ideas.” Sitka said eventually, sounding parched. “Fuck.” He glanced up through his sweat damp ringlets at Zai, that the demon saw the whorls of his husband in his friend’s eyes still.

“Tobias… I think it might be wise to give Sitka his mind back. Must be getting awful crowded in there.” Zai was shocked that his voice came out so normal, considering he was lying supine between his friends, spread open on Sitka’s cock. “Hey Sitka, eyes up bud.”

Second sight allowed him to watch as Tobias retracted the fronds of his pattern, working methodically until his presence slipped out of Sitka’s consciousness completely. Onyx eyes glistened with pleasure, then Sitka slumped as though boneless and collapsed over him. The motion pulled them apart from each other, and both demons groaned in unison.

“Fucking hell, Zai… That was...” Sitka’s lips pressed against his sternum, “Amazing. A gods damn epiphany.”

“Ha… ah. Thank you.” Zai flexed his bent leg experimentally and winced at the cramped tightness in the muscle.

“You alright Sitka?” Tobias asked gently, but Zai felt the boy stroke him with his mind. He leant into the contact, warm and reassuring.

“No offence guys, but I’ve no idea how you share your heads with each other all the time.” Sitka grinned over at his mate as he explained. “I could hear them, or half hear them, and feel so much… it was really cool, but I think my brain wants to sleep for a tenday just to recover.”

“Before you do that babe, I think you might need to help Zai upstairs.” Jahke laid a firm hand on his chest, stilling his protest. “There’s no one here you need to show off for Zai. Take the help, OK? You too Tobias. He’s all Enforcer muscle, you’re strong but not that strong.”

“C’mon then big guy, up you get.”

Belatedly, Zai realised he still had his hands tied up, and they all heard the vertebrae of his tail crunch as he unwound the tense muscle. One of his wrists hurt and Zai prodded the fracture with his other hand until Tobias whimpered.

Sorry.

Just… don’t make it worse, not right now.

Zai healed himself, licking at his own fur until the pain was no more than a soft, faded thing like an old bruise, then reached out and allowed Sitka to haul him up into a sitting position, gripping his forearms.

“Thank you Zai.” The words rippled with adoration in the same special way people’s voices usually went around Nassau. “It was a pleasure. Truly.”

Zai only realised his chest was rumbling with a purr when he felt Tobias’ smile in his head, and he covered his embarrassment at being caught out by cupping Sitka’s jaw and kissing the other demon soundly. Jahke made a happy noise behind him.

“I could watch you two do that all day.” He sighed happily. “But I also want cuddles.”

“Yeah, yeah.” It was an impressive show of strength which allowed Sitka to scoop him up and stand in a smooth motion. Zai snaked his tail around his friend’s waist. “I’ll be back. Just you sit there looking… well, like that.”

Tobias went to collect his fallen clothes and left Jahke with a parting “good game” before following them upstairs. He arrived just as Sitka laid Zai on their bed and Zai was very careful not to laugh as Tobias gave Sitka a very formal handshake before the horned demon departed.

“Considering where his hands have just been...”

“Don’t be crass.” Tobias frowned at him. “Hey no, don’t get up.” The chef’s hands pushed him back into the bed and Zai went, his spine turning leaden.

“I’m not broken. I’m sure you’d rather I bathed.”

“And you’re an expert in what I want are you?” You weren’t surprised.

“Oh Sweetling… I was very fucking surprised.” Zai half turned on the bed, found Tobias’s hand hovering over him and tugged the boy down, tucking him against his chest. Tobias settled, lips brushing his clavicle, the pair of them in a position to which they had long become accustomed. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Yes.” Tobias had walls up around his mind, slippery and hard to see through. Zai didn’t try, he knew Tobias would share with him the things he’d felt in time. “It was so strange seeing you like that. You did like it, right?”

“Yes, Sweetling.” Zai kissed his hair. “But I think tonight will tide me over for another thousand years or so. Don’t worry.” He curled and flexed his tail, feeling the muscles twitch. “You know I’m fine right? You don’t have to worry over me.”

Tobias’ fingers dug hard into his ribs, and Zai grunted in defeat.

“You know how often you let anyone anyone take care of you?”

Never.

Exactly. No one needs your healing tongue right now but me, and I just want to stay here with you and make sure you’re OK. And you don’t get to have an opinion about it. The picture Tobias sent with his words was a bit mixed up, layers of what he’d seen and felt when Zai had been on his back in Sitka’s lap blended with the soft warmth of them together in their bed. Zai breathed a laugh, grabbed a blanket with his tail and flicked it up over their heads. That’s better.

Yes Sweetling.

“That was really intense.” Tobias said finally, and it sent pleasant shudders down Zai’s spine to hear his voice out loud in the little blanket cave he’d made for them. “Sitka’s head is weird. He just… feels everything right there on the surface. I don’t understand how he’s even sane.”

“They’re all like that.” Zai replied. “That’s what Nassau says. All the non-empaths feel everything and aren’t even aware of most of it. You think if any of them stopped to examine their feelings once in while they’d be the way they are now?”

“Kiorl’s good at a bit of introspection.”

“He’d kill you if he heard you say that.” Don’t ever let him catch you listening Sweetling.

“I try not to. He’s so sad.” Tobias snuggled closer to him, arms going around his waist and staying there, fingers woven together. Zai wrapped his tail around the join and felt the way Tobias relaxed, his pattern unfurling and spooling out, but only to the edges of their little nest. It was something only he could do for his mate, a way Tobias was incapable of being around anyone else, and Zai knew he glowed with pride at taking care of his mate. “Do you think they’ll tell?”

“Nah. Jahke loves us too much not to keep our secrets, and it would never occur to Sitka to lie. He likes the food.”

“Zai...”

“Sleep, my love.”

“Join me?”

Always. Zai yawned, set the tips of his claws against the back of Tobias’s neck, anchoring himself to the warm pulse there, and closed his eyes. He felt, rather than heard, voices from below.

“Hey Shindae. You’re back early.” Jahke was beaming, it was evident in his tone.

“It’s pretty late. You guys get up to much while we were Upstairs?”

“Nah, just read.”

“I played.” Sitka strummed his mandolin, the latest in his collection of stolen instruments. “Did you?”

“No.” Shindae already sounded interested. Zai smirked privately.

“You wanna join us then Shindae?”

There were giggles as the lava demon was pulled into their embrace.

“It was a nice Earth though, you’d have loved it, Jahke. Boys kissing in public. Someone even hit on Nassau.”

“No!” Jahke sounded delighted in his shock. “Brave of them, though.”

“Indeed.” Shindae rumbled. “You not seen the lovebirds all evening?”

The little faun laughed.

“They vanished after dinner. I’ll bet Zai’s been making him scream all evening...”

Satisfied that Jahke and Sitka could be trusted with his vulnerability and Tobias's voyeuristic innocence, Zai buried his face in Tobias’s soft hair, filled his lungs with the scent of the man he loved, and allowed himself to fall asleep.

He did not dream, and it was good.