Summary: After the Orca pride's attack on Kodiak, Tyr tries to balance the need for revenge with his growing feelings for his human mate while Harper tries to make a place for himself.
Note: This will make a lot more sense if you read the first story in the series, The Hour of Great Contempt.
Harper grimaced in pain as his back protested being slammed into the floor for what seemed like the hundredth time. Above him Dylan stared down, more than a little frustrated. "Dammit, Harper, you countered that move the last time!"
"I'm tired and sore, okay, Hunt, and unlike you and the Nietzscheans, I'm not uber anything!" Seamus groused as he groaned and slowly forced himself upright. "Damn, even on training level force lances hurt."
"They're supposed to. It's a reminder of what it could have been like if it had been operating under full power. Not that the Nietzscheans have anything like them. When the High Guard fell, our ancestors kept the knowledge of how to build them to themselves. That's why only very few humans have them these days, if you can prove lineage to the High Guard or prove you're openly against the Nietzscheans, and you have the skill to use one... Wonder what my old teacher would say to me helping some Nietzscheans," Dylan mused as he pulled Harper to his feet.
"You gotta admit, Dylan, this Nietzschean isn't as bad as some, like Orca or Drago-Kazov or Jaguar. Kodiak, for the most part, has been pretty fair in this whole war," Harper countered as he rubbed his butt.
"Speaking of, why hasn't your Nietzschean shown up to disembowel me for using you as my punching bag?" Dylan chuckled.
"Ummm, 'cause I bribed Rommie not to tell him?" Harper said, chagrined. "Told her that if he knew, he'd be pissed, and if he was pissed, he'd do something rash and stupid that would result in blood all over her. She'd rather avoid being bathed in blood, thank you very much."
"Smart man," Dylan said with a grin as he ruffled Harper's hair. "You're getting better, you know; you've managed to get me on my ass more than I expected you to. And those Orcas won't expect you to be able to fight back, let alone be fighting with a force lance. You'll do all right if it comes down to it. We'll meet back here tomorrow at the same time and keep training, and then Beka will go over your hand eye with you for weapons control. That can be done on the Maru, at least, and out of the Nietzschean's prying."
"Thanks, Dylan, I appreciate this," Harper responded, tucking his force lance under his shirt to walk back to the captain's quarters. No sense letting anyone see, after all, surprise was one hell of a good advantage in a fight.
In the corner, Agravaine watched silently, seemingly fascinated by the interplay of the two humans, though his eyes tended to stray more to Hunt's descendent than the captain's pet. He was there, ostensibly, to act as protection to Harper and keep an eye on Hunt.
As Harper had said, if Tyr knew that his little pet was being thrown around in such a manner, he might become... irrational. As such Agravaine chose to remain quiet so long as it was only a training exercise. Besides the little man needed to know at least how to defend himself because the battle with Orca would come. Every Nietzschean on the ship hungered for their blood.
Hunt was definitely proving himself... worthy, Agravaine thought to himself, appreciating the gleaming sweat and the undulating muscles. A shame they'd lost him as a breeding male, though if he'd seen Hunt earlier, he might have requested that the human become his body slave. Still, things had a way of changing. "If you are done here, I will escort Mr. Hunt back to the Maru. I assume you can find your own way back to your quarters?" he asked the young man quietly.
"Yeah, not a problem. And thanks for keeping quiet about all this. Tyr'd go ballistic, and that would be bad."
"As you said, sometimes that which you do not know cannot hurt you. Mr. Hunt?"
Harper watched the two men carefully, noting the tension and strange connection they seemed to have. Beka might want to start watching her man a little more carefully, he thought with a wry grin. Nietzscheans tended to take first and ask later, if at all.
Making his way back to the quarters he shared with Tyr, Harper quickly stashed his force lance in a safe spot and stripped out of his sweaty and torn clothes. The abrasions and small cuts would have to be repaired, he noted as he quickly jumped into the shower and under the hot water. "Hey, Rommie? Think you can help with these cuts and stuff, not to mention the bruises that I know are waiting to happen? Tyr'd freak!"
"And what exactly would I have to freak about?" Tyr strolled through the open doorway into the bathroom, eyeing his lover closely. He rapidly catalogued the various injuries, seeing that none were serious. He'd gotten worse himself in a good workout against one of his men.
"Well, Harper?" He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, waiting for an answer before he gave in to his urge to strip his clothes off and join the other man in the shower.
"Ummm, well, I was working on the Maru's engines, and I kinda wasn't watching where I was stepping and hit a slick spot and fell over the railing to the catwalk below, so I kinda got all scraped up and stuff. Was gonna have Rommie fix me before you saw me but... you saw me," the young man replied, thinking on his feet for the first plausible answer he could come up with.
Trying to distract the bigger man from further questions, Harper began to stroke his soapy hand back and forth along his rapidly filling cock, his other hand sweeping broadly across chest and abdomen. "But you didn't come here to question me, did you?"
Tyr wondered if he should tell Harper that the best lie was kept simple. Harper had a habit of making them too complicated and talking too fast, never pausing to breathe. Watching his hands move over his body, Tyr decided it could wait for another time, as could the discussion.
He removed his clothes and stepped under the water, replacing Harper's hands with his own. They'd been together for well over a month now, and he still couldn't get enough of the human, wanted him all the time. He had a feeling that might never change.
"So why do you think I came here?"
"Gee, lemme think," Harper smirked, "To fuck me blind then go back to the bridge?"
"An excellent idea." Soapy fingers slid down Harper's back to work between his cheeks, teasing the sensitive muscle. "Turn around," he growled.
Harper whimpered and turned to face the wall, bracing himself against it with folded arms, using them as a pillow for his head. Spreading his legs as wide as he could, he thrust his ass back, ready for the plundering. "C'mon, Tyr, stop teasing! I'm desperate here; I need my uberfix, have been without it for like 24 hours solid!" the young man whined piteously.
Almost before Harper finished speaking, Tyr was buried in him to the root. "Is that what you wanted?" he growled in the other man's ear. He took him hard and fast, neither willing nor able to take it slow this time. The preparations for the retaliatory attack on Orca Pride were taking up most of their time, and they found it harder and harder to find time for themselves.
He slammed in and out of Harper, pushing the human against the wall of the shower as he took him. One hand slid over his hip to wrap around his cock, pumping it time with his thrusts into Harper's ass.
"Yes, oh fuck, Tyr, so good, so fucking, oh shit!" the engineer wailed as his prostate was slammed over and over, his cock manipulated and his whole body driven higher and faster than it had been in a while. Gasping and grunting with the need that slammed through him, Harper thrust his ass back to meet each and every stroke, one hand leaving the wall to wriggle its way between their slamming bodies in order to 'feel' Tyr take him.
"Missed you, love you, need you, want you," Harper groaned mindlessly as his body was claimed ferociously, Tyr's hands and cock his only two focal points as he was pushed and pulled, driven and claimed. "Tyr, Jesus god, fuck me now, oh hell, TYR!!!" Harper's body seized and froze, his hands clenched, and his head was thrown back in ecstasy as the first thick ropes of hot cum splashed over Tyr's hand and onto the cool tile of the shower wall.
Tyr's body clenched as well, feeling Harper contract around him and his body ripple, his fingers still touching the spot where they were joined, making Tyr nearly insane with lust. He bit down on Harper's shoulder as he came, muffling his cry of completion as well as marking his mate.
They remained motionless under the pounding spray for a few minutes while racing pulses returned to normal, then Tyr reluctantly pulled away. "Come, I have a few hours before I have to get back to the bridge. I wanted to spend some time with you." After they cleaned up again, he drew Harper out of the shower and to the outer room.
Harper followed willingly, amazed at how used to the Nietzschean he now was so that any absence was unpleasant and made him ache for his lover. Damn, he had it bad! "So, you gonna tell me how things are going?" Harper asked as Tyr settled into his favorite chair and then Harper settled onto Tyr, his favorite chair.
"I mean, I know the rest of the crew, well, with the exception of Agravaine and a few others, think we humans are pretty much useless, but I want to help, Tyr! I owe that bitch, maybe not as much as you do, but she... let's just say I have the need to return the favor of taking a pound of flesh, maybe not in the way she did it, but I do," Harper continued hotly, letting his anger reveal things he'd normally have kept to himself had he been thinking rationally.
Tyr froze. "What exactly do you mean? What did she do to you?" He was afraid he knew, but he had to hear it from Harper. If he was right, there was no place in the universe that Orca bitch would be safe from him.
"She didn't do anything to me, Tyr," Harper replied hastily, "Besides it's between me and her. It's my score to settle, not yours." Harper's chin lifted stubbornly; the last thing he needed was for Tyr to get crazy and emotional. He'd make mistakes and get killed, and Harper couldn't bear to think about his life without the big Kodiak any more.
Tyr's eyes narrowed and he growled, but he let it go. For now. When he had Freya's throat between his hands, then he would find out what she had done to his lover. Or had had done to him. His arms tightened around Harper protectively.
Eventually, he relaxed a little and sighed. "We should dress. Any of my children might wander in here, and you're not really ready for company." He stroked Harper's hip regretfully. He liked him without clothes, but at twelve, his oldest son already took far too much of an interest in Harper for the captain's liking.
Harper snickered. "I don't have anything they haven't seen before, Tyr, well, except the arm spikes. But if you insist." The human pulled his lover down for a deep and satisfying kiss full of tongues and exploration of cavities before he finally stood and got dressed in a tight shimmering gray Henley and a pair of black jeans.
Turning, Harper grinned at the bigger man. "So does this meet with your approval?" he teased, turning slowly so that Tyr could get the full effect, his hands on his hips.
Tyr pulled him back down onto his lap and kissed him thoroughly. Finally, when Harper was panting for breath, the Nietzschean grinned down at him. "Very definitely. You look edible." Suiting actions to words, he started nibbling on Harper's throat, not pausing even when one of his children came into the room and stood watching them.
"Tyr, hey uh, Tyr," Harper motioned frantically as he looked at Loki looking at him. "Tyr!" Pulling hard on the older man's braids and making him growl in displeasure, Harper turned the Nietzschean's head towards the door. "We have company!" he said in an exaggerated voice.
"Weren't you the one just saying that you didn't have anything they hadn't seen before? And you're dressed now," Tyr teased. His arms tightened around the human possessively, however, and he gave his son a warning look.
"Is something wrong, Loki?"
The young Nietzschean shook his head. Although he was only twelve, he looked about fifteen, large for his age, or at least he would have been had he been human. He dragged his eyes from Harper and flushed dully when he met his father's eyes. "I knew you were away from the bridge, and I hoped to spend some time with you, Father," he said hopefully.
Tyr held out an arm to his son, inviting him into his embrace. "You are always welcome, Loki, you know that."
"They've never seen me having you," Harper muttered under his breath even as he grinned at the young man. "Hi again, Loki, you still up for giving me a hand with that project I mentioned?" he asked the youth.
Seeing Tyr's questioning gaze, Harper laughed. "No, I'm not telling you; no, you're not going to find out until it's done; and yes, Loki is helping me; and no, he's not going to tell you either, so save your breath," he admonished his lover.
"Tell you what, why don't I go grab the rest of the kids; that way you can spend time with them, okay?" the human suggested quietly. He knew that the children, more than even him, would need Tyr right now. They'd lost all their mothers. They had to be devastated. Harper could have his time with Tyr when they slept or made love; for right now, Tyr's children needed him more. Not waiting for an answer, the younger man slipped outside to go to the quarters next door and gather the remaining children, herding them inside Tyr's bedroom before trying to make himself scarce.
Before Harper could slip out of the room, Tyr caught his hand. "Stay, please." He ignored his children's shock at the word please, concentrating instead on his lover. "You are part of my family too."
"Tyr, I... thank you," Harper managed to choke out as he took a seat on the bed. He couldn't begin to express how much it meant to him to hear Tyr call him family. It meant that he was no longer just a temporary thing, at least in his own mind. Oh, Harper knew he'd eventually have to take new wives and have more children, but for now... he was happy.
Tyr smiled at his lover, his eyes warming, then returned his attention to the wide-eyed children. He sighed. Nietzschean children normally were kept safe at home until they were old enough to become warriors, so none of them had even seen a human before.
"Things are different away from the homeworld," he began, "you know that. Beyond being a husband, a Nietzschean warrior may form relationships with other warriors or even humans. Like Harper." He smiled at his lover again. "Harper is here because he wants to be; he is not a slave. Someday, you may find someone... special... like that yourselves."
"But, Father, he's got a mark on his hand, a slave mark," one of the younger girls pointed out without thinking.
"That's because I used to be a slave, a long time ago," Harper broke in quickly. He didn't really want Tyr's children to know that he and their father had started out as master and slave; it would undermine what Tyr was trying to do now.
"I belonged to Orca Pride when I was born until my late teens, then I was liberated by my human friends, Dylan and Beka, and I worked for them as their ship's engineer on the Eureka Maru. Then I... met your father, and he convinced me to stay. Eventually," Harper grinned at his lover.
"Humans can be very stubborn," Tyr said, as if sharing some big secret. He grinned at Harper, and the children watched curiously. They'd never seen their father act like this, not even with their mothers. It was... nice.
"Does that mean that you will stay here forever?" Loki wanted to know.
"I'll stay as long as I'm wanted, Loki," Harper answered honestly, not sure what else to say. Looking helplessly at his lover, his eyes silently pleaded for rescuing.
"And as for being stubborn, no one is as stubborn as your father. He could probably outstubborn Beka, and that's saying a lot."
Tyr stood up, setting his daughter on her feet. "Go on out to the other room. Dinner is waiting. Harper and I will join you in a minute." He waited till the children left the room before turning back to his lover.
"You still don't believe I want you forever, do you?"
"Tyr, I... no one's ever wanted me forever, and I only know how to live my life one day at a time, never expecting anything beyond the here and now. It was the only way for me to survive," Harper admitted quietly. "Please be patient with me, and try to understand. It's not that I doubt you; I just can't fathom anyone really wanting me."
Tyr sighed and pulled Harper into his arms. "I do want you. And if it takes decades, I will convince you of it." He kissed Harper quickly and led him toward the door. "Now you can have the adventure of eating with twenty-two children. Be grateful several are still too young to join us."
"Why am I suddenly very afraid?" the human whimpered as he allowed himself to be pulled into the living area and over to the table that had been laden with food.
At Tyr's command all the children began to fill their plates and then find spots on the floor around the room to eat. Harper found himself sharing the couch with Tyr, Loki and four others, including a two-year-old girl, Skadi, who'd taken residence up on his lap. "Umm - they're not gonna start calling me mamma or anything, are they?"
The adult Nietzschean hastily hid his face behind a glass of wine, trying not to laugh. When he'd regained control, though he dared not look at Loki, he finally answered. "No, my children know the difference between male and female." He pulled Harper a little closer, enjoying having his lover and his children with him. It was even better than the sleep he should be getting.
"I think they'll just call you Harper... or Seamus," he added teasingly.
"No! I mean, Harper is just fine, okay?" the man in question squeaked out quickly, looking around at the children scattered around the room. "I just really hate Seamus. Which your father knows and still calls me by it just to annoy me," Harper growled as he elbowed Tyr in the side.
"Behave, you," he whispered harshly, "Or I'll go sleep on the Maru tonight!"
The children giggled and turned their attention to the much more interesting topic of the food on their plates.
Tyr gazed at Harper, one eyebrow rising. "You and I both know that you'd hurt yourself most by that," he replied softly, so quietly that the children couldn't hear unless they were actively trying to. "I'll be happy to demonstrate why after dinner." He leaned closer, almost close enough to kiss, then pulled back, only his breath ghosting over Harper's lips.
Harper groaned slightly as the need began to rise once again. Damn the Nietzschean, he was making it almost impossible to sit still. Harper just hoped that Skadi had no idea what was happening to him.
"Tyr, will you please behave?" he whispered, squirming slightly on the couch. "All you gotta do is look at me a certain way, and you know what happens, no friggin' fair!"
Tyr smirked. "I certainly do know, Pe-Harper. And I enjoy every moment of the results." He rubbed his chin against Harper's neck, knowing what the short bristles of his beard against the human's sensitive skin would do to him.
Harper shivered as his skin was abraded, but his eyes narrowed. "I hear that, you know, that Pe... I know what you were gonna say, you..." Harper saw that all twenty-two pairs of eyes were trained expectantly on him, and he forced himself to swallow the insult he'd originally begun to say. "You son of a High Guard," he finished lamely.
Shifting Skadi to a place on the couch between him and Tyr, the engineer bolted to his feet. "Umm, hate to eat and run, but I promised Trance I'd show her the Hydroponics level. Silly purple girl has a thing for plants. Bye!" With that he bolted from the captain's quarters and didn't stop running until he'd reached the Maru. His old room was unoccupied; Dylan and Beka wouldn't mind if he used it to... relieve himself quickly, that was if they even knew he was on board!
Tyr briefly considered following Harper, but he'd promised himself to allow his lover more freedom, more room to breathe as the human called it. He just hoped that Harper came back before he had to return to the bridge. He really wanted to spend some time with him. And he needed to explain about that nickname that so irritated Harper.
<>
Half an hour later a much-relieved Harper strode back into Tyr's quarters, bringing with him his last few possessions from the Maru, including his music vids. He couldn't wait to see Tyr's face when he started to listen to the Violent Femmes or Screaming Golgatha from Antares Prime. That would set the Nietzschean's teeth on edge for sure. Harper loved it!
Depositing the box in a storage closet to be dealt with at a later date, Harper noted that Tyr was nowhere to be found. "Rommie? Do you know where Tyr is?"
"He's in his children's quarters, Harper. Would you like me to tell him you're back?"
"Nahhh, I wanna grab a shower. He'll come back when he can. It's all right," the engineer replied, stripping out of his now damp and faintly sex-smelling clothes.
A quick shower later and there was still no Tyr. Harper was tempted to have Rommie round him up, but then he considered all that those poor kids lost - their mothers, their home, their friends and their way of life. He could wait. Throwing on a thin pair of sleep pants, the human slipped between the cool sheets of the bed he shared with the captain and promptly fell asleep.
By the time he made it back to his quarters, Tyr was fuming at Harper's continued absence. He intended to have Rommie tell him where he could find his errant lover as soon as he'd showered - 22 children left a man mussed! - but his anger was derailed by the sight of Harper curled up in their bed.
Though Harper looked exhausted and probably needed his rest, their time together was too precious just now for Tyr to be able to leave him sleeping. He lightly stroked Harper's chest, glaring slightly at the sleep pants before admitting that his children made them necessary.
Stirring slightly, Harper batted at the sensation that was tickling his stomach, only to have his palm connect with Tyr's arm spikes. "SHIT!" Jumping straight up in the air, suddenly wide-awake, the younger man glared at the Nietzschean. "Will you watch where you put those things?!"
Eyebrows rose as Tyr eyed the other man. "Perhaps you should look at what you're hitting before starting to swing." Seeing Harper's mouth open to begin another pointless argument, he shifted his arm so that the spikes lightly rubbed over Harper's neck. Satisfied that the young man would remain silent now, he smiled slightly.
"Earlier... when I call you Pet, it's not because I think of you as a slave. Quite the opposite. When you wouldn't tell me your name, it was the only way I could think of you except for slave. I got used to thinking of you that way." A quick grin made an appearance. "And it fits... you are affectionate and cuddly after all."
The man in question grimaced slightly at the explanation but accepted it for what it was. "Just not in front of your kids, okay? They'd start calling me that all the time and actually believe it! I mean there's the whole ‘me human the rest of the friggin' ship, except for the Maru's crew and the AI, Nietzschean thing going on here," Harper continued then moaned as those damned spikes brushed against the sensitive skin around his cyberjack.
"Damn, Tyr, you're making me hungry all over again," he admitted before pouncing on the Nietzschean and knocking him flat on his back. "Don't start something you can't finish, okay, 'cause this conditioning leaves me really, really pissy if I'm aroused and can't get satisfied."
"And I don't like making time to be with you and having you disappear," Tyr growled. "I expected us to have time together after the children ate... instead of you going off to satisfy yourself," he added with a deeper growl, still able to smell it on Harper despite his shower.
"I was gone for half an hour, Tyr," Harper replied, exasperated, as he pushed himself up and off the bigger man. "And I wouldn't call what I did satisfying, but considering how nuts you had me, I needed to do something, or I was gonna jump you right in front of all twenty-two of your kids! I don't think you'd really want them to see their father fucking his human lover, now would you?"
Throwing himself off the bed, the human began to pace. "Why the hell are you picking a fight? I was here, I came back. I always come back!" Harper demanded.
Then Tyr betrayed just how tired he was as well by sounding like a sulky child when he replied, "I wanted to spend time with you." For a moment it looked like he might actually pout before Nietzschean dignity reasserted itself. "And do you really think I would arouse you and not intend to take care of you? Do you still think so little of me, Harper?"
"NO! God dammit, Tyr, I didn't mean that, I meant... ah hell, what does it matter, you're gonna believe what you believe, and you're stubborn enough that I won't be able to change your mind."
Falling back on the bed again, Harper looked up at his lover. "You done fighting with me yet? 'Cause I'd really like to not fight anymore and spend what little time I actually get with you doing something much more constructive, not to mention enjoyable."
Catching the change of mood and more than willing to play along, Tyr trailed a long finger down the center of Harper's chest. "What exactly did you have in mind?" He stretched out beside his lover, a tiny, smug smile curving his lips, looking very like some ancient Earth pasha waited to be pleasured by his concubine.
"Oh I don't know, some cuddling, maybe a kiss or two, holding each other and whispering sweet nothings and that stuff," Harper replied, tongue in cheek.
"How very pet-like."
"Fine," Harper pouted, "Just forget the whole thing. I'm going back to sleep. You're no fun at all!" Rolling over so that he was facing away from the Nietzschean, Harper let the frown turn into a full-fledged shit-eating grin.
The next thing Harper knew, he was flat on his back under a very large, very aroused Nietzschean who seemed to be trying to remove his tonsils with his tongue. Eventually, yielding to the human's need for air, Tyr raised his head and growled softly. "I don't think you'll be going to sleep any time soon."
Since Harper was still panting, he turned his oral explorations to the human's throat and neck. He sucked a large passion mark into being at the base of his throat before moving on to the implant, his tongue licking around it, teasing the small ridge of flesh that surrounded it.
The noise that emitted from Harper' throat when Tyr touched his implant with his tongue could only vaguely be called human. It was, in fact, rather animalistic in nature and completely impossible to reproduce. "Tyr, oh fucking hell! You know how nuts that makes me!" the younger man wailed as he tried to thrust up into the huge body covering him, desperate for any kind of friction.
Weaving his fingers into the long, chocolate brown braids, Harper tried to yank his lover's head to where he wanted it, a dusky nipple. "Please, Tyr, please, if you keep that up, I'm gonna come in my pants!
"Then we'd just have to start over," Tyr rumbled. "I intend to feel you come apart around me while I take you... and then start over again." He yielded to Harper's tugging and lapped at a rigid nipple, then took it into his mouth and suckled hungrily.
"Gonna kill me. Gonna have to see Rommie and have her give me something so I don't end up suffering from permanent dehydration with the amount you keep making me come, not to mention some cream or something for the chafing!" Harper teased before whimpering as his flesh was distended and lapped and nibbled on, driving him insane with need.
Tyr suddenly released him and sat up. "Oh, is it too much for you?" he asked with a straight face. "I wouldn't want to hurt you. We should just get some sleep then." He stretched out on his side, facing away from Harper and appeared to be settling down for a nap.
"The hell we will!" Harper snarled as he yanked the Nietzschean onto his back again and then straddled his waist. "You said you were gonna fuck me, and by your progenitors and my god, you're gonna do it, you hear me?" the younger man bellowed in his lover's face.
"I'm a Nietzschean; I have perfect hearing." Hearing Harper almost growl with frustration, Tyr finally laughed and pulled his head down to kiss him, claiming him once again.
"I want to watch you," he breathed, eyes fixed on Harper's. "I want you to get yourself ready for me and then take me inside you. Show me what you want, take it from me."
"Jesus," Harper breathed, his whole body quivering with need. "Oh Jesus, Tyr. You're trying to give me heart failure, aren't you?" Clambering off his lover, Harper quickly stripped off his sleep pants then raced to the door, engaging the lock just in case one of Tyr's kids came looking for him.
Returning to the bed, he once more straddled his lover, this time at his calves, and bent to inhale the large, dark chocolate cock waiting for him. Sucking avidly, the young man quickly got it wet then crawled up Tyr's body and snagged the lube off the table next to the bed. "So, where ya want me?"
"I already told you, I want to watch you pleasure yourself on me." Tyr watched Harper avidly. "Ride me, Harper. Make yourself come with me deep inside you." His hands rose to curve lightly around his lover's hips.
"Oh hell!" came the weak response. Suddenly a truly wicked idea sprang into the young man's mind. Taking one of Tyr's hands, he lovingly lubed the older man's fingers then moved the hand so it was behind him. Holding it steady, Harper sank down on the slim digits, 'preparing himself' to ride his big man. "Kinda like this?" he gasped quietly as the fingers nudged his prostate.
"Then you'd better be prepared for a second act, Pet, because you will come with my cock in you." Despite the threat - or promise? - Tyr's fingers were moving, stroking the clinging channel, spreading the slickness of the gel inside him. "So beautiful," he purred, watching Harper's face as the pleasure raced through him.
"Yeah, right, what have you been sniffing?" Harper replied caustically before choking on a gasp. "Frig, Tyr, you keep that up, and I am gonna cum at this rate!" he whimpered as the fingers once more grazed his prostate.
With a strangulated moan Harper lifted himself up off those too wicked fingers and, smearing the precum over the tip of Tyr's erection as he held it steady, impaled himself. Sinking down rapidly, he bottomed out as he felt the wiry curls of the Nietzschean's groin abrade his spread asscheeks. "Oh yeah, come to Harper, big boy!"
Even overwhelmed by sensation as he was, Tyr paused to shoot a look of disbelief at Harper. "We really need to talk about your vocabulary," he muttered. "Later." His fingers clenched on his lover's hips, holding him down as his back arched, driving him the last tiny fraction into Harper. "Ride me," he groaned, "take me."
Hot brown eyes remained focused on the smaller man, watching every flicker of expression, every tiny shudder. His grip loosened, still holding Harper but more a support now than keeping him still.
Setting a slow, almost maddening pace, Harper did as he was bade. Bending backwards to brace his hands on the iron thighs behind him, the younger man raised and lowered himself at a pace that even drove him insane with its passivity. "You like me just the way I am, and you know it," he gasped as the considerable length found his prostate again and again, enough to caress it but not to give him what he really wanted.
However, Harper was enjoying the look of tortured frustration on the older man's face and was willing to delay his own desperately needed release just to tease and play with Tyr. After all, the captain only said to ride him, he didn't say how fast or slow! Tyr glared at the other man, knowing that he was doing it on purpose. Still, even though he felt like the frustration and building pleasure might kill him, it was all worth it. He enjoyed every moment they spent together... well, except when he had to look at what Harper considered attractive clothes. A naked Harper though... His eyes ran over the blond, and he growled softly.
Deciding to beat his bratty lover at his own game, he lay back comfortably, his hands rising to toy gently with the rigid pink nipples. He smiled at the gasp that provoked, pulling and twisting a little harder for a moment before returning to lightly flicking his thumbs over the nubbins of flesh.
Harper gasped at the sensation, the slight pleasure pain making him even more desperate for relief than he had been a few seconds ago. The bastard! Eyes narrowing as he realized the challenge had been accepted, Harper decided it was time for Tyr to experience the full scope of some of his training.
Shifting his body weight around, Harper balanced himself on one hand, the other snaking back and behind to roll and caress Tyr's balls, every once in a while straying further to the dark crevice he'd yet to explore. Hmmm - next time he'd wake Tyr up with his tongue in the older man's ass. After he'd gotten his newest 'improvement' done in medical. Rommie had already agreed to help him tomorrow as soon as Tyr left in the morning. He'd need a full day for the nanobots to heal him.
Shaking off his reverie, the former slave began to undulate his ass muscles, squeezing and releasing the impaling pole of flesh, milking the older man for all he was worth. No way was he gonna let a Nietzschean beat him at his own game!
Groaning, Tyr arched up under Harper, driving into him, the rippling of the muscles encasing him driving him higher and higher. Since he'd told Harper to take what he wanted, and he seemed to want to make Tyr come, it would be the captain's pleasure to oblige him. A guttural moan escaped him as his whole body tensed then shuddered, his seed fountaining forth inside the other man.
Sated, he smiled up at Harper with heavy-lidded eyes. "Mmm, I needed that. Now I can sleep. Thank you."
Harper's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me? Oh really, Mr. High and Mighty Nietzschean?" Harper was pissed, beyond pissed, he was furious. Games were one thing, but when it came to this damned insatiable need, a need that Tyr had caused to be reborn in him, the bastard knew that he needed relief and often.
Well fine, if he wanted to play it that way... "So glad your little whore could oblige you. Anyone you'd like me to service while I'm at it? Agravaine perhaps? Maybe the entire Officer staff?"
Harper suddenly found himself on his back beneath a furious Nietzschean. "No one touches you," he snarled. "You know damned well I would never leave you wanting, but if you ever threaten me with going to someone else again..." He stopped, realizing that this was about to go much too far for something that had started as a game.
"You are mine," he growled, slamming his renewed erection into Harper. "Don't you ever forget it!"
Harper looked up at the older man, eyes wide and shocked. How had this gotten so far out of hand? How had it evolved into something ugly and hurtful? Moaning as he felt himself taken hard and fast, he found his relief quickly, his need too intense not to allow him that. But it was a hollow relief, one he'd never thought he'd feel again. Not since falling in love with the overbearing lout above him.
As soon as Tyr had come a second time and had released him, Harper was off the bed and glaring down at the older man. "You would never leave me wanting; you rolled over and tried to go to sleep, damn you! And for the record, I love you; the only way anyone else would ever have me is through rape, and believe me, I know the difference very well indeed. You are such a prick, Tyr. Christ, why do I love you? Tell me, please? Why are you as essential to my life as breathing oxygen, eating, sleeping, the blood in my veins?
"On second thought, don't answer because right now I don't give a fuck. I'm sleeping on the Maru tonight!" Hastily pulling on a pair of sleep pants, the younger man fumbled with the locked door, the sheen of tears in his eyes making it hard to see anything at all.
Before Harper could get the door open, Tyr was there, his arms around the smaller man, holding him. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I never meant... I only wanted to tease you a little." He sighed, eyes closing briefly. "We keep hurting each other without meaning to.
"Loving is difficult."
Harper sagged, collapsing back against his lover. "D-don't say it unless you mean it, 'kay?" he whispered quietly. "I can handle you not loving me. Have been used to being not loved. But for you to say that then change your mind... it would kill me, Tyr. Please mean it, okay?"
Whirling, Harper wrapped himself, limpet like, around Tyr, clinging to the older man and letting silent tears seep through tightly closed lashes. "You've become everything to me. I love you so much!"
Tyr held Harper close, arms wrapped tightly around him and cheek resting on the blond hair. "I... I am happiest when I'm with you, even just sitting and talking. I don't ever want to be without you, and your happiness matters more to me than anything. I think I would die to protect you, Harper."
"Okay, can we change the subject on the whole dying thing, please?" Harper replied as he drew back a bit. "Kinda want you around for a good long time, okay? Guess this means you're stuck with a crazy human, don't it, big guy?"
Returning his head to its position on Tyr's breastbone, he squeezed tightly. "I'm really sorry I acted a jerk. I guess I just get a little nuts when, well, when I feel like I'm being treated like a slave again. Especially now that you've made me feel more important than one. I'll try not to overreact again, okay? And I sure as hell won't suggest... well, you know," he finished off in a mumble, ashamed of his actions. He did know better, he really did.
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I never meant to." Tyr stared down at Harper, eyes serious. "I forget sometimes that things might seem different to you because of your past. Understand this, I do not think of you as a slave. You are my mate."
"You say the sweetest things," the human teased coyly, trying to lighten the mood and get them back on an even keel. "Talk dirty to me some more, Tyr; you know what that does to me."
The Nietzschean had to laugh. That was his Harper, one minute angry, the next affectionate and demanding. "Should I tell you how much I enjoy being inside you then, how hot and tight and clinging you are? How I feel you trying to take me deeper and deeper, wanting more, demanding more..." He ran his hand up and down Harper's back, pulling him closer, pressing his renewed erection into his lover.
Harper purred and writhed against the Nietzschean, the hot, dark words making him shiver with need. "This mean we're gonna have make up sex now? You know, the hot, sweaty, writhing in animal heat kind that makes me scream until my throat is sore and you growl and purr and make those really sexy noises?"
Reaching up to grab a handful of braids in each fist, the younger man tugged Tyr not over to the bed but into a chair. "Variety is the spice of life, you know that, right?" Harper teased as he straddled the Nietzschean's lap. "But I don't feel like riding this time, switch positions."
Yanking Tyr up again, Harper sat on the chair, scooted his hips forward, hooked his legs over either arm and placed his hands behind his head. Smiling up at him, the human purred. "See anything you like?"
Tyr sank down to kneel in front of the chair, his head moving forward so he could lick Harper. "Mmmmmm, yes." The very tip of his tongue trailed along the length of Harper's rapidly filling erection, then moved lower. He toyed with his lover's sac, sucking on the balls, then rolling them on his tongue. He licked the sensitive skin of the human's perineum, teasing the squirming man, then moved on to the still loose muscle between the wide-spread cheeks.
He probed inside, tasting the lubricant they'd used, himself, and beneath it all, Harper. His tongue stabbed into the other man several times, making Harper whimper, then he stood up and pushed into his lover.
Hands braced on the back of the chair above Harper's head, he smiled down at the blond. "I definitely like what I see." His hips began to move back and forth, possessing Harper, making both of them gasp in pleasure.
"Gl-glad to he-ar it," the human moaned his hands moving to twine with Tyr's. "Lo, love you." Panting and arching up into the thrusts, Harper moaned, his eyes locking onto Tyr's and watching the passion turn the older man's eyes black and scorching.
"Ha-arder, oh god, Tyr, please, fuck me, need it, need you always!" the human begged, wrapping his legs around perfect, muscular hips and using his own legs to lever himself up to thrust.
Tyr couldn't quite bring himself to say the words, but his feelings shone in his eyes as he watched Harper. He could count the length of time he'd known the human in weeks, yet it seemed as if Harper had always been part of his life. He couldn't imagine being without him any more.
"Always," he repeated. He caught Harper's rhythm and drove into him over and over, pleasure racing through his veins. It was as if this man had been made for him, more perfect than any genetically engineered fellow Nietzschean could ever be. He lowered his head between his outstretched arms and licked at Harper's lips, his tongue flicking over the moist, parted flesh.
He watched him avidly, wanting to see Harper come, to watch the ecstasy overwhelm him and to know that Harper was his.
"So good," the human moaned, his eyes becoming heavy lidded as his breath came in heavy pants and caught in his throat. The need consumed him, fire-like in its intensity, burning as brightly as a star going nova. "Yours, all yours!" the confession came out in a strangled scream as his back arched, his toes curled and his whole body went ramrod stiff before the softening that came with orgasm.
Melting, his bones dissolving into the chair, leaving him liquefied and pliant, Harper's hands tiredly squeezed his mate's. "No one but you, ever again. On my life I swear it!"
Tyr stared into Harper's eyes as his own orgasm overwhelmed him. He wished he could make the same promise, but he knew that he would take another wife and have children. Harper held his heart though.
When his arms and legs would again support him, Tyr stood up, separating from Harper. He scooped the other man into his arms and carried him back to the bed. Laying him down, he settled at his side. "Get some sleep," he urged. "I have a little while before I have to get back to the bridge."
"What about you? You need to sleep too, no matter how much of a 'superman' you are," Harper yawned, snuggling into the tall frame with the ease of familiarity. He'd gotten very used to having a Nietzschean pillow, a Nietzschean everything for that matter.
"Don't deserve you, you know, don't deserve to be this happy. Just a kludge after all, and a pretty scrawny one at that. Gonna make you sure you never, ever regret me, don't want you to leave me, ever," the younger man confessed quietly, his eyes drifting shut and his breathing evening out. "Love you, life," and with that he was asleep.
Tyr lay watching Harper sleep for a time, needing this
quiet time together more than he needed sleep. "I think I love you too,"
he said so quietly that Harper couldn't have heard him even if he had been
awake. Finally, he closed his eyes and slept, knowing he still had a couple
of hours before he had to return to the bridge.