Hagen’s POV

“We’re leaving at 10, Hagen.Ten. Don’t be late.” I pause my mocking to check the time on my phone. “It’s almost ten, Nikola!”

Nikola doesn’t reply. There was no way he was ever going to reply, but he didn’t need to. I could feel his panic, like my own, through our bond as he struggled to get ready without exceeding the time he’d set for himself.

Knots hisses at me in a warning that isn’t nearly as scary as it would’ve been a month ago.

“I’ll stop,” I promise as I plop down onto my couch, resigning myself to wait patiently for the beauty queen. “No need to bite.”

Knots hisses again, though this time it somehow sounds… sad? As if the mere suggestion of him ever biting me saddened him. The fact that I thought as much was further proof that I was either warming up to the python or I really needed to go outside.

Truth be told, I was used to spending weeks inside my apartment without ever venturing outside until I had classes, needed to replenish my stocks, or the need to stretch my legs outweighed my desire to take a nap. I had absolutely no problem being a shut-in when the opportunity arose, but that was different when I was shut-in with Nikola.

With the effect just being around him had on me, I was itching to get out of my apartment at this point, and of course, Nikola, being Nikola, had a date lined up just in time for that.

I try not to smile too hard as I stare at the space in front of me, the one Nikola and I had filled just hours ago when we’d shared tasty s’mores and lukewarm cups of hot chocolate. My impromptu date had been a success, a really fucking big one considering it was the first date I’d actually put together for Nikola.

I’d known, or hoped, that he’d like the card, but from the way Nik’s eyes had became glossy as they studied it, I’d known he loved it.

Even earlier this morning, when the sun was threatening to rise and we finally decided to get some rest, he’d lingered as he set the card carefully atop his designated nightstand. A smile had cemented itself on his face and in turn, it’d found its way onto mine as I watched him.

I’d never known, let alone imagined, just how happy I could feel from making Nikola happy. But the sensation of being the root of his small smiles was…addictive, like scent marking. I just wanted more.

You know, at first I thought there was a mistake when we were paired —Zyair chimes with annoying chipperness.I mean, you’re a slob, you have no sense of fashion, and you failed to see how wonderful our mate was.

But now… —I start for him, intrigued more than anything to see what direction this would take.

But now, I know there was no mistake —Zyair concludes, all but squealing —you want him as desperately as I do. We are meant to be Hagen.

It’s sad that this was the confirmation for you, and anyway, I don’t believe any wolf could want their mate as desperately as you do, Zyair —I reply with a chuckle —There’s a reason I haven’t let you take control yet.

Harumph! —Zyair says, because he was way too dramatic to make the sound and just had to say the word itself.

I roll my eyes, but before I can dive down that rabbit hole, my phone chimes in my pocket. I dig it out and smile when I see a missed call from Josey. I didn’t know what she was calling me about, but I treasured every chance I got to talk to my sis, even if she was annoying as hell and as stubborn as a one-legged ox.

I unlock my phone with the intention of calling her back right away, but Josey’s demon-fast fingers have a set of texts popping up one after the other before I can.

Second me: Hey, tried to call you, but I guess you’re busy.

Second me: Just wanted to let you know that I spoke to Dad and Grandpa about the mate awareness, and they said theirs’ lasted two weeks.

Second me: I did some digging into archives the elders gave me, and there’s no case of mate awareness lasting between a pair of mates for longer than a month. Ever.

Second me: Call me.

I stare at the texts, reading them over and over while my mind fails to slot the information.

I’d half-forgotten that Josey had offered to look into the mate awareness still lingering between Nikola and me. Being with Nikola all the time just felt so natural now that receiving this news feltwrong, like the details were misplaced or being shared in a language I didn’t quite understand.

More than a month? Nik and I were tiptoeing on four.

Was it us? Or something else?

Second me: Have you guys tried to see if it’s still there?

No, we hadn’t, or at least I hadn’t. If Nik had, then he hadn’t shared as much.

I shove my phone back into my pocket but my fingers linger over its outline as I stare ahead. I should reply to Josey, but I didn’t want to. Anything she’d say would make me scared or upset, and anything I’d say would make me seem stupid.

My eyes shift to the door at the end of the hallway.

I could get up right now, step outside, close the door and see what happened. It was that easy. If nothing happened, then yay, problem solved, and if something did, then ow. But either way, nothing bad would really follow.

Not unless… No. I shake my head to rid the vile thought from it.

Okay. We just had to test it out, and if it was that simple, then I didn’t have to test it out right now— on Valentine’s Day, before our date; it could wait. I could mention it to Nik tomorrow or something, and we could figure it out together.

Yeah, that would work.

“I am ready, and it is only 9:45,” Nikola says as he strides into the living room with a deep frown meant for me. “Not that your taunting helped.”

My lips spread wide as I stand to my feet, “Nobody was taunting you. I was just ready on time, and you weren’t.”

Nikola scowls, his brow twitching slightly as he eyes my approach, “Iamready.”

“With my help,” I quip, and his scowl darkens, that is until his eyes settle on something within mine and his irritation clears all at once.

“What’s wrong?”

I frown, genuinely confused at first until I remember what I’d been worrying about before Nikola had come here with his stern yet cute frown and annoying adoration for timeliness, and it’s almost terrifying how easily it’d all slipped my mind.

I’d seen him and then just forgotten about that possible bomb in my pocket.

“No,” I promise as I bypass him and head for the door. “Not unless you keep holding us back.”

Nikola grumbles something that doesn’t sound quite like English as he follows close behind me, hot on my heels, as if the mere inches between us were too much. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Who knew. I was tired of stressing about the little things between us. Last night had been sodamngood, and I just wanted more of that. I wanted our date.

“Are my bad habits rubbing off on you, Nikola?” I ask with a smirk as my phone dings in my pocket again. I ignore it and open the door. “Or are you just showing your true colours now that you’re comfortable?”

My fingers cling to the doorknob as I hold it open for Nik to step through, only he steps right into my space to slide his lips over mine. Electricity races up my spine and then spreads through my nervous system as his magic lingers where his fingers pinch my chin.

“Keep taunting me, and see what I do, Hagen,” he whispers as he draws even closer, “…see what I do.”

Nikola pulls away and heads down the hallway as if he hadn’t just knitted my two brain cells together.

——————————————

As it turns out, our date was one that I should’ve been able to guess, given the fact that Nikola had told me about it weeks before.

“So this is Zen Weaving,” I announce as I look around the large room with its endless colour-coordinated wall of thread and the opposing sets of wooden contraptions bordered by some thin, nearly sheer fabric. “But with a Valentine’s twist?” I hazard as my eyes zone in on the tables full of wine, chocolate-coated strawberries and marshmallows at the side of the wooden deathtraps.

“Yes, but there are other… couples,” Nik is careful with the last word, as if he thinks it might send me running.

I look up at him, “I’m not the one with the people allergy.”

Nikola’s lips quirk and his palm finds my back as he nods towards a free set of deathtraps. I move away from his guiding hand because I couldn’t slap it away here, plus, Nik seemed to like it whenever I did that and I wasn’t about to endorse what Nik liked after what he pulled in my hallway.

You know that’s just going to wind him up more —Zyair warns with slight concern.

I sigh dramatically for him, in a way he’d do for me —Yes. I know that, Zyair.

Oh…. OH! This is on purpose?! —Zyair all but screams in my head, doing enough laps to exhaust me even before I sit down on one of the awaiting stools. —I love who you’re becoming, Hagen! I really do!

While Zyair tries to give me an aneurysm, I look across at the other couples in today’s class. Despite the way Nikola made it sound like an infestation, there were only two, and they were all smiles, hand holding and lovey-dovey heart eyes as they talked quietly and picked from the plates made for each pair.

I glance at Nik, wondering if he might want that to some extent, but he was already playing with the strings of the deathtrap as if he were tuning a guitar.

“Have you done this before?” I ask, suddenly worried that I was about to be way more out of my depth than usual.

“No,” Nikola replies, fingers still strumming.

My worry evaporates and I leave Nik to his fiddling until something scratches at my insides, demanding to be let out. It was the same ‘something’ that had me pressing Nikola’s buttons while he was getting ready and stroking the fire behind his eyes whenever it kindled there.

Leaning over slowly, I drop my voice to whisper for my mate’s sharp ears, “Then don’t you think maybe you shouldn’t be touching what you don’t understand?”

Nikola’s fingers freeze, his eyes lifting to stare straight ahead before he shifts them onto me. My pulse jumps as greyed eyes focus on me, and only me. Amusement flashes within them along with a certain measure of excitement as Nik’s earlier smile returns and he abandons the strings to lean closer as well.

“You’re finding many faults with the things I do today, Hagen,” he breathes, his smooth voice slinking to me in a whisper that sends a shiver down my spine. “Is there a problem?”

I quirk a brow, “Did I say there was a problem?”

Nik’s eyes flash, and I smirk. My blood pulses in my veins like an unlocked tap as we stare at one another. Zyair claws at the surface, so far beyond thought that all that was left was the pure, unfiltered need to have at our mate.

The last time we’d played this game, it had been tentative, with us only just discovering our footing. This time, there was nothing tentative about it.

“I would ask to kiss you, but something tells me you’d say no if only to torture me,” Nikola muses as his gaze travels over my face before it finds mine again. “Thankfully, Goddess blessed me with extra talents.”

Before I can wonder, a phantom touch travels over my neck with the same presence and strength of Nikola’s firm hands. My breath hitches as Nikola draws back, returning to plucking strings while the invisible fingers squeeze the base of my throat. It’s not tight enough to cut off air, but enough to suggest as much, and it empties my mind in an instant.

“This is a date, Hagen,” Nikola says as if I were a child he had to remind of their manners. “We should enjoy it properly.”

The grip loosens with that parting threat—because what the fuck else did you call that —but it doesn’t fade. It remains around my neck like a warning that should panic me but instead does the very opposite.

“So,” I clear my throat, struggling to swallow with the magic still set in place. “I…uh… I guess there was a problem? You could’ve just said that.”

Nikola barks a laugh, one that surprises him as much as it does me because he rushes to cover his mouth as the other lingering couples look towards us. I laugh, unable to help it, and as he smiles at me, our laughter grows like a contagion that only spreads between us.

Something big and warm and wonderful sprouts within my chest and then explodes like someone had planted a thousand seeds and they were all finally blooming all at once. It’s heavy, the joy I feel, but I don’t fight it as Nikola and I stay happily locked within our bubble.

It’s not long before our instructor, a middle-aged woman named Chiyo, enters to start the class. Chiyo had been weaving since she was five. She’d learned it from her grandmother in Saitama, Japan and then carried it on as a career. Zen Weaving or ‘Saori’ was where that career took her, and these classes were a way to share that piece of her culture and life with others.

“It was all about letting your ‘self’ guide you,” she says in the front of the room. “There are no rules, no expectations or goals. This is about expressing yourself in whatever manner you feel directed to. Everything has its own individual dignity— that’s what ‘Sai’ means. The ‘Ori’ is weaving, which will be our medium.”

I’d never been good in class— I usually zoned out as soon as people started speaking, but I paid close attention to Chiyo as she spoke. I loved learning about different cultures, no matter what format that came in, so this was like gold wrapped in pudding.

The deathtraps were called looms. Apparently, they weren’t always so big and intricate. There were baby sizes out there, but we were getting the full experience, hence the big death trap contraptions. They were complicated though— there was this whole needle thing to thread and then this peddle to keep it moving, and then you had to keep shoving up the threads between each rotation to make sure it was all in place, but by the time Chiyo finished her demonstration, it wasn’t all that scary. It was exciting, so exciting that when she said we could pick our first colours, I was first to the wall.

“Red?” Nikola asks as he joins me where I stand in front of the wall, trying to choose between two threads with completely different textures and colours, but they were both red.

“Yeah, I just don’t know which one,” I reply in a half whine as I shift them up and down like a scale. “Big and fluffy or thin and silky?”

I look at Nik but he just shrugs, “It’s up to you.”

I resist the urge to call him useless. His magic was still settled around my neck and I knew he’d squeeze if I teased him again.

“Pink for you?” I ask, looking at the soft pink, almost ribbon-like thread in his hand.

“I’m a creature of habit,” Nik retorts as we head back to our seats.

With the instruction of Chiyo, we start working on our tapestry, and I fuck up immediately. Thankfully, the sheer walls keep everyone but Nik from seeing exactly how a person managed to fuck up on their first step of getting the thread started on the loom. Nik doesn’t comment on it and when Chiyo comes to help me, she’s sweet enough to not make me feel dumb as she helps me start again.

Then I’m off again, and I don’t fuck up. And I keep going, and going, until I’m getting the hang of this shit and I stop looking over at Nik’s to compare.

I’m just working on my tapestry, doing my ‘Saori’ and soon enough, I’m heading back to the wall for my next colour.

We go like that for a while, everyone just weaving in the company of softly chiming bells and Chiyo walking around to help where needed. She teaches us another stitch, but mostly, it’s just us following our ‘selves’ and seeing where the adventure takes us.

When I sit down after grabbing two more threads to try next, I glance over at Nikola, my eyes widening when I see how short his is in comparison to mine. He’d barely taken off from the start, but his lines were tight and the colours travelled like a gradient.

I’d thought he’d set this up for me, as something new to try that he’d endure for my sake, but Nik seemed to be in the zone and not bothered at all by the size.

“You having a good time?” I ask as peer down at the greens and pinks lining his tapestry.

“Yes,” he replies, hands and eyes focused as he works like a machine before he suddenly stops and looks up at me. “Are you having a good time?”

“Yeah, the best,” I promise before he can panic. I laugh as Nik deflates like a cartoon character, “This is really nice— unique. Thanks for finding it and like, arranging it.”

“Thanks for coming,” Nikola replies, turning on his stool to face me.

I do the same, ignoring the heat that envelopes me when our knees touch. It’s just knees, Hagen, relax! You’re not a fucking thirteen year old. You are a grown man!

The butterflies in my stomach apparently don’t get the memo because they still go haywire.

“Well, my date last night was so great, I just had to give yours a chance,” I reply with a mock shrug.

Nikola chuckles and the sound is so sweet, it almost puts my grown man butterflies to the test as he peers at me, “How generous of you, Hagen.”

Dear Goddess and all the wolves in the plains.

“Let’s take a break,” I say, shifting my gaze from my bewitching mate to the awaiting table of treats between us. “We haven’t had any of this.”

“Which is surprising considering how you were salivating over the strawberries when we first arrived,” Nikola comments which stops me before I can grab one of the said strawberries. I stare at him, my mouth wide open. He frowns, “What?”

“That was insanely rude. Likeinsanelyrude.” I state while he blinks at me as if he were lost. “You should not talk to your mate like that.”

Nikola stares at me for a moment longer before his confusion clears, “You are joking. Okay. Regardless, I was just being honest.”

I huff, ignoring my rude-ass mate to reach over for the protruding bottle of wine that turns out to be champagne instead of the strawberries so I at least wouldn’t prove his point just yet. There was also the fact that I needed to keep my hands busy so they wouldn’t do something stupid like try to find Nik’s. I had nothing against holding Nik’s hand here, but unlike the other lovey-dovey heart-eyes couples, with the easy flow between right now, I had a feeling that the second I touched Nik, it would be over for me.

Nik dutifully takes the waiting glasses in hand and holds them steady while I pop the bottle open before filling them to the brim.

“To….” My mind goes blank as I return the bottle to its home and take my offered glass from Nik.

“A good day,” Nikola fills in. “It’s a good day, Hagen.”

My lips tug into a smile as I nod. It was. It was agreatday, and if we had days like this all the time, then maybe this wasn’t as hard as it seemed.

Maybe we just had to take it step by step, and the rest would figure itself out.

I hold onto that wish as our glasses meet.

“Howdidyou find this?” I ask as I pop a marshmallow into my mouth followed by a strawberry.

“I was looking for things in your area, in the case that you’d be able to easily do it again if you enjoyed it,” Nik explains while he surveys the selection between us. His nose wrinkles. “I thought you’d enjoy this for the cultural element and the implied relaxation behind it.” He glances around and frowns a little, “I would have preferred no others to be here, but that was non-negotiable.”

I snort, picturing way too easily Nik trying to convince a human to drop their class numbers so that it’d just be the two of us.

“They’re not bad company,” I reply as I look over Nikola’s shoulder at the couple currently feeding each other strawberries. I look away as quickly as I’m physically able to.

Okay, so maybe they were.

“I suppose,” Nikola allows, ignorant of the love-fest going on behind him.

How would Nikola react if I did that to him? It’s a silly passing thought, except it doesn’t pass. It lingers and sets up shop until I actually start to think about it.

Do it! —Zyair insists, appearing with sudden vehemence —Hagen, do it. Do not tease me. Do it!

I’m not feeding Nikola a strawberry, Zyair —I dismiss while I take a much-needed gulp of my champagne. —That would be fucking crazy.

Mostly because I didn’t know how he’d react, and then I would react in turn. Plus, that was a bit too far into the lovey-dovey territory than I was prepared for.

Then let me do it —he sobs, almost shrivelling with his desperation.I can pretend to be you. I can play slob!

While Zyair cries his heart out, I keep picking at the treats, my gaze focused on Nik. HowwouldNik react to something like that?

For all the time we spent together nowadays, no easy answer comes to mind. Nik was great with his words when he wanted to be and he knew just how to incapacitate me, but I wasn’t sure if he liked that type of thing. He didn’t seem like the PDA type. And knowing Nikola, he might tell me to go wash my hands first or just stare blankly at me, and then I would die of embarrassment and be forced to jump out the window.

Besides, I didn’t even know if I could do that. Sure, kissing Nikola was starting to become as easy as breathing, but wouldn’t this be new territory? New doors? Did I want that shit opened?

“You are very loud when you think,” Nik says, drawing me from my mind’s unravelling.

“I didn’t say anything.” Did I?

“Which is why it’s so loud,” he replies before he tilts his glass back for the rest of his champagne. It slides down the inside and down his throat where he swallows in a strong gulp. “What were you thinking about?”

“Something weird,” I reply before I can stop myself. I blink past my thoughts enough to look away from Nik’s throat and up at his face where he hikes a brow up. “Maybe not weird-weird. Just like… weird for us. Weird for me. And you. Us. Weird.”

Nikola stares unblinkingly at me, then carefully asks, “Do I want to know?”

“Maybe,” I admit. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I want you to know.”

“Okay,” he replies, frowning slightly. “You do not have to tell me if you don’t want to. You can keep your weird thoughts to yourself.” I laugh and Nik’s frown deepens, “I’m being serious.”

“No, I know you are,” I promise as I try to shush myself. “It’s just the way you said it. It made me laugh.”

Nik relaxes some and nods, “Okay.”

I smile at him, feeling like a fucking kid with a crush with the way my heart goes crazy, as if it wanted to beat a tune for Nik’s tastes.

Ah, fuck it.

I pick up the last strawberry and hold it up for my mate.

Nikola’s grey eyes zone in on the offered fruit. He stares at it for a beat before he looks up at me. Then back at the fruit. He frowns a little, as if he were confused or maybe doubting what this was, but then helooksat me and the air in my lungs abandons me completely.

Looking at me and only me, Nikola leans in slowly and parts his lips to bite into the strawberry. My arm shakes a little with the effort to keep it up as his teeth dig in and his lips follow, brushing my fingertips in the process. Goosebumps race up my arms and spread all over my body as I hold his gaze that dares me to look away.

I don’t. I just watch as Nik chews slowly and then swallows, and as he does, the magic around my neck traces a line down my throat in a mirrored motion that has me clenching my legs together and biting back a moan.

When he’s done, I set the root of the strawberry down like it’s on fire and turn back to my loom and my red tapestry that’s half complete or maybe finished already. I don’t know. I just stare at it, pretending I wasn’t currently panting; pretending I wasn’t clenching my own thighs like a lifeline and replaying the last minute of my existence in my head like it was the only one I had on record.

Nikola doesn’t speak, he only turns back to his own loom and returns to work as if nothing had happened, and all around us, everything does the same. Chiyo keeps circling the room, the chimes keep playing, and the lovey-dovey couples keep being lovey-dovey while Zyair and I try not to die on the spot.

We continue the class as we were before— focused on our tasks, sharing words here and there, but Nik’s lips wrapping around the strawberry stay at the forefront of my mind and keep my blood hot as we work. I stay attentive, I keep working, but Nik is there as closely as his magic is for the duration of it.

“What do you think your soul was taking you with this?” Chiyo asks me at the end of the class as I look at my tapestry of mostly red, with random strokes of black that grew large in some areas and small in others. “What were you thinking of?”

Strawberries.

“I don’t know,” I reply, because although the strawberries explained maybe why the last few rows were just red, I had nothing else for the rest. “I don’t even like red that much or black.”

“You might figure it out, or you might not,” she says with a small smile. “But just remember, you don’t have to.”

I return her smile, grateful for her time and kindness. Whether or not I figured out what all the red and black was about, I had a great time and would definitely love to return if she had future slots available.

“And you, Nikola?” she asks as she moves over to Nikola’s piece that must’ve been half the length of mine, but it was strangely delicate in his hands, even when he’d used threads similar to mine.

“Spring,” he answers easily while his eyes rove over the length. “The pinks and the greens— it makes me think of spring. I think this is a river.” He points to a line of green that he’d somehow kept consistent between the other threads and colours. “Or a path.”

“Very interesting,” Chiyo says, “Your mind is clear.”

Nikola doesn’t reply immediately, but then he nods, “I suppose.”

With a final thanks to Chiyo, we leave the studio with our tapestries in hand and head down the familiar roads of my city. It seems different somehow as we leave, as if some new layer had been added on top that made everything just a little clearer so that my eyes didn’t just pass over the things around me, but took a second to take them in.

“That was really fun,” I say as I glance at Nik. “I really really liked that, Nikola. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replies with an honest smile. “I have a lunch planned for us.”

“Of course you do! UGH! I could kiss you,” I groan, the comment slipping out without thought until Nik’s gaze drops to my lips and I realise I could actually kiss him ’cause we did that now.

“By all means,” Nikola mumbles and it’s like a jolt to my system that reawakens the lust he’d sparked with that fucking strawberry.

“Maybe later,” I reply with a smirk that hardly lasts a second. “When we’re back at my place.” Where I wouldn’t be judged by onlookers if I completely lost it.

“There’s time before our reservation,” Nikola breathes, his hooded gaze still focused on my lips. “Enough time.”

“For?” I prompt, my breath lost with his.

Nikola looks at me, his gaze hungry in a way I was beginning to crave as he swallows, slowly, and the hint of it draws a gasp from my lips.

He couldn’t mean—

“Yes or no, Hagen?” Nik asks, his tone strained as if he were a second away from snapping.

“Yes,” I reply immediately. If this was what I thought it was, then, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

Nikola doesn’t teleport us. He makes us walk, he makes me wait, makes me think and hope and wonder if he meant what I thought he meant so that by the time the front door to my apartment slams shut behind us, I’m already reaching for him.

I moan the second his lips find mine, immediately setting off that intoxicating rush of adrenaline and pure pleasure only his body could ignite in mine. He tastes like chocolate and strawberries, and the memories of his lips against my fingertips and now on my tongue make me shudder as he pushes me against the wall.

“Ngh!” I grunt as he drives me up the wall, his hands on my body rough on their mission to claim me even through my layers of clothing. “Nik!”

“Pup,” he mocks and my cock jerks hard as I moan his name against his lips. I feel Nik’s smile as he swallows my moan and grinds his leg up against my dick, “Is that what you needed?” He leaves my lips to nibble on my ear and whisper, “Is that why you were rude today? You wanted to be my pup?”

“No!” I snap even as my heart lurches at the stupid name coming from his tongue.

“I can smell your arousal,” he drawls as his lips find mine again with brutal force. My lips part immediately and my eyes roll at the delicious combo of his lips against mine and his leg grinding against my rock-hard dick.

I bite into his lip, hard enough to tear flesh and Nikola pulls back with a curse and a moan. “I’m turned on—” I remind him, “that usually has an effect on the way I smell.”

Nikola drags his tongue over his bruised lip slowly as one of his hands slides down over my crutch. My throat bobs at the first grip and I don’t dare breathe as he studies me quietly.

“Hagen,” he whispers, but it’s like a moan or a loving song, and it makes my toes curl. He smiles.

“Pup,” he whispers next, and once again, my cock jerks hard and of course, he feels it. Nikola’s smile turns wicked, “I think we have our answer.”

If I could strangle the fucker I would, but my body is weak with his so close, and I don’t know how to fight it.

I try to say that I hated that ridiculous name more than anything, but then Nik’s hands are unbuttoning my jeans and I’m not stupid enough to stop what comes next.

Nikola’s hand on my dick was becoming an addiction for me.

I loved the way it felt; how big his hand was, how his fingers were soft where his palms weren’t, the way he knewexactlyhow to get me off. But most of all, I loved the way he looked at me and cursed and always got off right after, just from touching me.

“We have twenty minutes,” Nikola says sharply as he tugs my pants down over my hips, making me yelp as he tugs me forward in the process, pressing his erection against my hip. “Twenty minutes, pup.”

“O-Okay,” I mumble, trying hard not to cum just looking at him.

Nikola nods before he continues pulling my pants down, but he doesn’t stop at my thighs, he keeps going and going until they’re at my ankles and he’s on his knees in front of me.

“Holy shit,” I mumble as I stare down at him and his dark grey eyes and wet, fucking sexy lips just inches from my leaking dick. “You’re gonna—”

Nik isn’t looking at me— he’s too focused on my cock that bobs under the attention as he studies it as if it were some unknown treasure. Heat races up my neck as I reach my hands out to cover it, but magic slams my wrists down to my sides and locks them there.

He looks up for the first time and the look in his eyes has fresh precum gathering at my tip.

“Same rules as always, Hagen,” he breathes, his voice hoarse as if he’d already gone down on me. I push up on my toes, trying to move, but his magic slithers up my body like a chain to keep me perfectly locked to the wall by my head and my hips. “You be my good pup, and I’ll make you cum.”

“F-Fuck!” I groan as my balls tighten. This was too much. Too fucking much, and he hadn’t done anything. “Nik, please.Please.“

Nikola’s eyes fall from mine as he looks back at my cock where the precum was falling in a line now. He leans down, parting his lips and stretching out his tongue to collect the trickle and following it back up to my tip where he licks it off before he pulls back with a groan.

“Oh, fuck! Fuck! S-Shit!” I curse as my hips jut forward, but I remain otherwise helpless, with nothing but the short, sharp tinges of pleasure that Nikola’s fucking erotic lick set off within me. “Nik!”

“Putain,” Nik curses as he licks his lips, tasting me and groaning his pleasure delight.

He passes his tongue over my tip again, and I cry out as pleasure warms my cock, making me shiver as Nik reaches up to stroke me. My eyes cross as I drop my head against the wall, moaning as I thrust into his palm, his fucking perfect palm.

“You keep leaking,” he says clinically, but his voice sounds wrecked. “It’s like your body knows how much I love the taste of you already and wants to give me more.” I drop my gaze in time to see Nik draw close again as he tilts my cock up, “Give me more, pup.”

“Ahh!” I moan out as Nikola wraps his lips around my tip and sucks, hard. “Agh! Oh- fuckkkk!”

Nik’s eyes fall close as his cheeks hollow out, and he sucks my cock between his tight lips and into the wet perfect heat of his mouth. My cock jerks, balls tightening as Nikola growls, the sound racing up my spine and making my legs weak. I would’ve been on the ground if not for his magic locked around me, its grip growing tighter and tighter as he sucked my cock greedily.

“Hagen,” he growls as he pulls back, his eyes purple and glowing while his hand strokes my length slowly. “You’ll need to cum more than once.”

“I… W-What?” I ask, panting as I try to catch my breath.

I hadn’t even cum yet, though I was fucking close, and the way Nik was looking at me and panting over my dick wasn’t helping.

“I’ll need it more than once,” he states stiffly, not sounding quite all there. “Once won’t be enough.”

My lips part to reply, but then Nik sucks me back between his lips, going deeper this time and a moan rattles out of my mouth as fire licks up my spine.

“Ah! Agh! Yesss!” I moan as Nikola strokes and sucks me, humming and groaning as if he loved every second as much as I did. I watch him move, watch the dark curls of his head shift while his big body rocks beneath mine that remains locked above.

I shift forward, trying to get deeper, trying to fight against his magic but it only clamps down on me, tightening even around my neck. It tightens and tightens, my dick pulses and my balls constrict, and as Nik’s magic chokes me hard enough to cut my breaths, I cum.

The world turns white, my lips fall open on a cry and I cum hard.

“Nik!” I rasp as my cock jerks in his mouth, my ass clenching as I thrust against the wall. My orgasm pulls me apart, making me cum harder than I ever have in my life.

Nikola takes it all, not drawing back for a moment as he sucks on my tip, swallowing my cum with an eagerness that made my orgasm last longer as he holds me still for the duration of it.

I can barely see when it ends, can barely breathe as I slump against the wall. A puddle of goo, barely able to stay conscious as Nikola finally pulls back, letting my cock slip from his lips.

When our eyes meet, I shiver, my legs shaking as he looks up at me as if he was about to tear me apart.

“Nik,” I whimper and his eyes glow brighter.

“Good boy, Hagen,” he whispers and I immediately close my eyes.

I close them so he can’t see what those words do to me, so that he can’t see the way they light something up inside of me, the something that makes me want to beg for more. But it doesn’t matter, cause there’s nowhere for me to go with Nik’s magic keeping me here when he’s not done yet.

“You’re not done,” he says, drawing a whimper from me as his hands travel up and down my legs like a soothing touch. “I want you to cum again.”

“Nik,” I pant, shaking my head. “Nik. This is… this can’t. I can’t— fuck.” He rubs his thumbs over my inner thighs, tracing them over the scent glands there, ”Nikola!”

“I love the way you moan my name,” he groans as he leans forward to dig his teeth into the sensitive skin.

I whine as I shoot up on my toes, trying to get away, but I can’t. So he feasts on the space, licking and biting at the skin in my inner thighs until there’re tears gathering in my eyes and I can barely breathe.

When I open my eyes, his are still waiting for me. They’re unhinged, teeming with a type of feral need that makes me wonder if I have the same look in mine. I must’ve, because my cock soon grows hard again and Nikola’s right there to stroke every inch of me.

“That’s it, pup,” he praises and I feel drool slip past my parted lips. “You’ll give me as much as I want.”

It’s not a question. I almost cum again.

“You’ll be good for me,” he says, and this time, he looks at me.

He looks right at me, waiting for an answer.

I don’t move. I stay perfectly still except for where my heart hammers in my chest, even despite the urge to nod and promise to be just that.

Nikola smirks as he rests his head on my hips and slips his free hand down to his straining pants, “You drive me crazy, Hagen.”

I swallow, and then swallow again as he dips his hands into his pants, groaning as he strokes himself slowly. I can’t see his length, which was probably for the best, but I still watch on. I watch as Nikola’s brows tighten and his arm flexes as he strokes himself within his pants while mine remains untouched, needy. But I don’t beg. I wouldn’t.

“You’re making this harder for yourself,” Nik taunts, sounding frustratingly calm even as he stroked his own cock and remained kneeling beneath me, but he wasn’t. The harsh breaths brushing against my cock were his tell.

“You—” I pause, working hard to get the next words out, “you’re… the one that…that wants me to cum again.”

Nikola’s jaw locks.

“And we’re running out of time,” I swallow, “so suck.”

Nikola’s eyes fall shut as his arm suddenly tenses and his hand stops, and then he groans. The sound is tortured and wrecked and it makes a twisted form of pleasure ignite within me. That pleasure blossoms and turns into something else when Nikola opens his eyes and settles a proud grey stare on me.

“You win— this time,” he breathes and I can’t help but choke on a laugh as pride swells within me. “Just this once.”

“Sure,” I pant, not daring to say anything further than that given the fact that I was still plastered to the wall and at Nikola’s complete mercy.

Nikola still smiles as he presses a kiss to the inside of my leg before he bites over the skin, the sharp prick of his canine making my head fuzzy before his lips find their way back around my cock. Then I’m gone again, lost to the pleasure of Nik’s tight, attentive lips and the raw hunger for me.

I don’t bother fighting against his magic, not when it felt so good where it was locked around my arms and legs. I let myself sink into the pleasure, opening my fingers to Nikola’s when they find mine and hold tight.

“Close,” I warn soon enough as another orgasm inches closer and closer. “I-I’m close.”

Nikola’s fingers tighten between mine and he delves deeper, sucking hard as my cock hardens, nudging the roof of his mouth. I thrust forward, my hips desperate to drive me deeper and Nikola lets me, too consumed with sucking me dry to stop me.

“Oh Goddess! Ahhh! Nik!” I moan as I stare down at him, at the length of me disappearing in and out of that perfect mouth. “Nikkk, I’m—“.

My orgasm hits me like a truck, one that sends me plummeting off the cliff’s edge into pure unabashed pleasure. I become a sensitive bundle of nerves as Nikola sucks the cum out of my dick, drowning me in so much pleasure I see the plains for a split second as I get lost in white, hot satisfaction.

It takes forever for my mind to clear, for me to become focused enough to realise that Nikola is pulling my pants back up, buttoning me up and wiping something wet from my cheeks as he looks down at me.

Our eyes don’t dare waver as we breathe together. I felt wrecked, and likely looked it, but Nik looked as put together as he always was. His only tell was how wet his lips still were, and how swollen they appeared, and then there was that feral look in his eyes that he hadn’t quite yet managed to hide.

As his magic slips away, leaving me to slump in his hold, Nikola swipes his fingers under my chin, “You drooled.”

My face heats but before I can try to pull away, Nikola pushes his wet thumb into my mouth, forcing the saliva back in. Eyes wide, I stare at him as he swipes the digit over my tongue, his gaze fixed on my lips.

“But you were very good, pup,” he finishes breathlessly. As he draws his finger out, he pulls my bottom lip down with it, growling as he parts my lips slowly, “So… very good.”

I shudder, teeth dropping to bite my lip out of habit, only Nik’s finger is there and they dig into his skin instead. He winces and then moans as he watches me bite his finger. With his finger still between my lips, I stare at Nikola with a half-dazed mind that rattles with a million questions.

I want to ask him if he came, if he was alright, if that was as intense for him as it still felt for me, but I couldn’t speak a single word when there was really only one thing on my mind.

I fuckinglovestrawberries.

———————–

Writing this sent me on a journey I can’t put into words 🧘🏿‍♀️

Thoughts????????

Thoughts on the date???? On the couple being a couple??? And on that last scene???????

Oh, that text from Josey!! Thoughts on that?????

That was so fun to write. I love a good smut scene and ugh Nik and Hagen deliver every fucking time. I love them so much!!!!!

Nikola cursing in french…😌🧨

Like always, please share any thoughts you have, whether or not you enjoyed. And please vote if you did enjoy!

Next up is some Patreon updates, so I have no idea when the next Control chapter will be, but hopefully this will keep you all sedated! lmfaoooo

Until next time,
Byeeeeeeeeeee Humansssssssss