Chapter Four
Blake stared at him, disappointment shooting through him, but something else too. This body—the feel of it and the scent of it—was one he was very familiar with, and he’d been away from it for far too long. Its pull on him was strong.
He could feel and see Davos’s always impressive erection straining against his pants. How could he say he wasn’t his Davos, when he so obviously was? What kind of crazy game was Davos playing? It seemed that Davos, no matter what, wanted him just as badly as he always had, since that first moment they’d seen each other all those years ago. But why was he denying Blake this way and saying they weren’t married? Was he trying to punish him? Or could he be suffering from some kind of illness or amnesia? Along with apparently everybody else on this planet, if that was the case. Could it be something in the air they were breathing or the water they were drinking, and if that were so, would Blake lose his memory soon too? It was a frightening thought.
Davos put his hand around the back of Blake’s neck and brought his face closer. He lingered for a moment, only an inch or so from Blake’s mouth and looked up at him from under his eyelashes, as if waiting for any protest. When Blake merely sighed in pleased anticipation, he felt Davos’s soft, warm lips brush once, then again over his lips, lingering a little longer each time. His tongue gently touched Blake’s, and it felt to Blake like coming home. When Blake made no effort to stop him or resist the kiss, the hand on the back of his neck tightened, and Davos deepened the kiss. Those moist, lush lips moved over his and ground into them, and Blake was drowning in sensation.
He felt Davos’s fingers at the fastenings of his robe and before he knew it, he was sitting naked on his husband’s lap. He shivered and Davos kissed him again. And again. The cool air against his skin, the heat from Davos’s body, the roughness of his clothing against his ass all mingled with the pleasure he was giving him with his mouth. Blake’s cock rose between them and Davos wrapped a hand around it, rolling his palm across the head. Blake closed his eyes and gasped, the pleasure almost too much. He thrust up into Davos’s hand mindlessly.
Blake couldn’t breathe. He stopped moving only with great effort and looked up into Davos’s eyes, still feeling bewildered. He was kissing this man who was but said he wasn’t Davos. It was always good with Davos, and this time was no exception, but the nagging doubt, the idea that something was very wrong had taken root. Blake pulled away, or tried to, but Davos was insistent, pulling him back in to deepen the kiss, sliding his tongue into Blake’s open, moaning mouth. And it felt exactly the same. This was his Davos. There could be no mistake about that because the truth of it was lodged in Blake’s soul.
“P-please,” Blake said, trying one more time. “I-I don’t know if this is a good idea if you can’t remember who I am.”
“No? I think it’s an excellent idea, but I’ll stop if you like.”
His mouth pressed against the column of Blake’s throat and Blake shivered. No one had ever made him feel like this except Davos. The indefinable essence of this man was his husband. His nobyo. There could be no mistake and he thought Davos must feel it too. His breathing had become ragged, and he had lost the air of arrogance he had begun this with.
Blake opened his mouth to tell him there was no need for this game he was playing. This pretense that Davos wasn’t really his husband, but when he did, Davos slipped his tongue farther inside and swept it ever so gently again inside Blake’s mouth. Not forcing him but making the moment tender and perfect and fragile. Down deep inside him, after that last fight with Davos, Blake had been afraid he had lost this for a little while—not really believing he had, but even the possibility that he might never be this way again with his husband—that he might never forgive him—had been terrifying while it lasted. Being this vulnerable to someone else was awful and frightening and wonderful at the same time. It was like walking on a tightrope over a vast canyon. One slip and Blake could be destroyed utterly, but if he made it across, the rewards were beyond measure.
Davos hadn’t shaved since that morning, it seemed, because his beard was raspy against Blake’s skin as he gently nibbled and sucked on Blake’s cheeks and his mouth and his throat. It was strange to be naked when Davos wasn’t. Blake felt vulnerable and a little frightened, but also excited. Davos moved his lips up to lick at Blake’s earlobe and Blake gasped as a bolt of pure lust shot down into his groin. His dick plumped up even more. He could feel the roughness of Davos’s skin, smell the warm, spicy, muskiness of the man and feel the strength of his hands.
Davos was taking his time with this kiss. He had always taken control over Blake this way and made him feel so owned but also so cherished. He realized he was getting lightheaded and tried to breathe in through his nose since he couldn’t seem to get away from those lips. Did he even want to? He felt drugged with Davos’s kisses.
Suddenly he pulled away and rose to his feet, taking Blake with him, sweeping him up in his arms and carrying him into the next room. He lay Blake down on his bed and then stretched out over him. His hands were everywhere on Blake at once, on his chest, his stomach, his groin. He practically ripped the clothes off his body, and then he was kissing Blake on every part of his that he could reach. Davos flipped him over on his stomach and bent to bury his nose in the skin behind his balls and lick his way up to the prize he was after. He thrust his tongue inside Blake and pleasured him until Blake was panting and squirming and begging for more. Then Davos, who had found oil from somewhere was pushing first one finger inside his tight hole and then another, stretching him gently. Blake was panting for breath when without warning, Davos pulled his fingers away and fell over on his back on the bed. Gasping, Blake turned to look at him in shock, but he laughed softly, teasingly. “Your turn,” he said, smiling broadly. “to pleasure me.”
Blake crawled, still shaking a little, over his hips and got between Davos’s broad, muscular thighs. Davos got up on his elbows to watch him, the rapid rising and falling of his chest the only sign he was excited. That and the hardness of his cock, pointing arrogantly up toward his stomach. Davos was smiling arrogantly too until Blake turned his head and kissed the inside of his thigh. He looked surprised at the loving gesture, and caught his breath with an audible sound. His breathing became more rapid. Blake leaned over Davos’s big cock and swirled his tongue over the straining head, gathering a few drops of pre-cum that had dripped out of the slit, smiled at him and swallowed them down. Davos moaned softly, closing his eyes and Blake ran his tongue up the underside of his cock, tracing the vein. He did it over and over and as Davos slowly came apart. “Do you like that?” Blake asked innocently. “Or do you want me to do this?”
Over the many cycles they’d been together, he had learned exactly what Davos liked best. He had worked hard on technique and perfecting his gag reflex, and he used it to his advantage now. Blake took Davos’s whole cock in his mouth and swallowed it down. Davos made a tortured, choking sound and gave a hoarse cry that Blake was pretty sure he didn’t mean to make. One of his hands gripped Blake’s head, not forcing him, but simply holding on. Blake finally pulled off with a plop and sat back on his heels, smiling at him.
“How-how did you learn to do that?” Davos gasped and Blake grinned and winked at him. He drew Davos’s cock back in his mouth, hollowed his cheeks and fucked him hard with his mouth, his head bouncing up and down until Davos’s cock hit the back of his throat. Davos yelled something hoarse as his hands tightened convulsively in Blake’s hair. His breathing had become frantic and with another hoarse shout, he came, shuddering and groaning, his head thrown back against the pillows. Blake swallowed every drop, then crawled up over Davos and pressed his mouth to Davos’s, letting him taste himself. Again, he sat back to smile at Davos and this time, Davos’s arms came around him and he slammed his mouth against Blake’s in a messy, urgent collision. Finally, he pushed Blake away and glared at him, still a little breathless.
“Who taught you to do that? Was it the father of your children?”
“Yes, it was.”
He gripped Blake around the throat, his eyes dark and wild, but Blake had never once been afraid of Davos, and he decided he wouldn’t start now. “Give me his name,” he growled.
“You’re hurting me,” Blake replied, his voice calm and cool. Davos stared back at him for a moment and then dropped his hand, his long, thick eyelashes sweeping down to feather against his cheeks. Doggedly, still panting for breath, he repeated himself.
“I need his name.”
“It’s you, darling. You’re the only man I’ve ever been with. You know that.”
His eyes flickered open and he stared at Blake for a long moment before finally huffing and releasing him. “I wish that were true.”
“I swear it.”
He shook his head, but he put his arms back around Blake and held him tightly, as if he’d never let him go. “I want to make love to you,” he said, running his hand along Blake’s erection.
Blake smiled. “I’m all yours.”
His recovery time had always been remarkable, but Blake wrapped his hand around him and stroked him to give him a bit more time. “Do you have more of that oil?”
He nodded toward the table beside him, but Blake leaned across him, his own erection pressing into Davos’s chest and picked it up. Davos stroked his backside, but Blake pulled away, smiling at him, then turned his back so he could straddle Davos’s thighs and lean forward, presenting his ass to Davos. He reached around behind himself to slick and stretch his hole with the oil for as long as he thought the impatient Davos would stand for simply watching and not taking an active role.
When Davos began to growl at him, Blake smiled and turned around to take care of Davos’s prick, smoothing the oil over him in long strokes. Davos moaned as Blake touched him and then, apparently unable to stand it a moment longer, he picked Blake up and set him down firmly on his cock, closing his eyes in bliss as his cock slid snugly inside Blake. He moaned softly.
He pulled Blake by his legs to bring him closer to him and slid his hands over Blake’s ass. Blake squeezed Davos’s cock inside him, teasing him and then rolled his hips.
“What-what are you doing?” Davos asked, his voice hoarse and rough.
“You know what I’m doing.”
“Did he teach you to do that?”
Blake simply smiled and shook his head. Davos held onto Blake’s hips and thrust up into him, making him take his whole length. Blake rose up on his knees, sliding up Davos’s shaft and making him groan. Davos pulled him back down with a growl and shoved into him deeply, again and again until it was Blake’s turn to groan.
Blake began to ride him, faster and faster, drawing gasps and curses from Davos’s lips. Davos sat up, holding Blake in his lap, and he smacked Blake’s ass to make him go faster. Blake’s body contorted, as his breathing came faster and he came with a loud cry full of pleasure and relief. Davos followed him a few seconds later, his own shout echoing off the ceiling. Blake collapsed onto the bed beside Davos and pressed his face against him, loving his unique smell, mixed with sweat and sex.
“I love you,” Blake said against that sweet skin and though he noticed how tense Davos suddenly became, it didn’t matter. Not in that moment. He wouldn’t allow anything, not even Davos himself, to spoil this moment.
“You’re very sweet, little human,” Davos whispered back to him, and in that second, Blake pulled away, staring down at him. Davos had called him human and that one word had brought back his doubts. Doubts that this was actually his Davos. He looked exactly the same but there were subtle differences in his personality. What if this wasn’t his Davos, but instead some kind of double? What if this harsh, beautiful man who looked so much like his husband, was, in fact, not his Davos but some other? Some alien version of his mate? He’d heard it said that everybody had a double somewhere. This man had said as much himself. I’m not your husband, and it would be wrong of me to let you continue to think so. How much plainer could he be? God, what had he done?
Blake pushed on his chest. “Please,” he said, sounding desperate. “Let me go. I can’t do this anymore.”
Davos’s breathing was harsh as he struggled to get control of himself. For a few seconds, Blake wasn’t sure he would allow it. Finally, he removed his hands from Blake’s waist and allowed Blake to scramble off him. Blake jumped from the bed, picking up his robe off the floor and retreating back to the other side to belt it tightly around himself.
For a long moment they simply stared at each other. Then Davos spoke, his voice rough with the remnants of his passion. “If that’s what you want, then I think you should go while I can still allow it.”
Blake nodded frantically, and Davos hesitated for another moment and leaned over to pick up his communicator and say a few words into it, his voice still slightly unsteady. He put it down and gazed up at Blake. “A guard will be coming to escort you back.”
Blake nodded. “Will you—will you be interrogating me again soon?”
Davos looked up at him, his gaze a little dazed. “I don’t know.”
The guard arrived in the next few moments, looking around suspiciously when he sensed the tension in the room, but then dropping his gaze and saluting smartly when he met Davos’s gaze.
“Take the prisoner back to his room,” Davos instructed him sternly, or at least that’s what Blake thought he said.
The guard took his arm, in an unnecessarily rough manner and pulled him from the room. Davos made no protest to the treatment at all. Blake went quietly, allowing the man to take him to his cabin. He went obediently inside when they reached his door and then over to his bed to wait quietly until a few minutes had passed. Then he went to press his ear against the door. When he heard nothing but silence, he slipped out and hurried quietly across the deserted common area in the dark, hoping no one would challenge him. The yard was filled with shadows, but Blake could see lights shining in most of the cabins. He slipped as quietly as he could to the last cabin door Derrick had indicated. When he reached it, he knocked very softly on the door and almost collapsed in relief when it swung open almost immediately to reveal Derrick.
Derrick pulled him inside and hugged him fiercely. “I’ve been waiting for you. I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to come back tonight, but I’m so glad you did.”
“I couldn’t wait to see you again, sweetheart. I was so worried it had all been some crazy dream.”
“It’s this place,” Derrick said. “The Never Never make you feel that way.”
“You keep saying that name, but Davos says this place is called Tveir.”
“It is,” Derrick said with a shrug. “But it’s still part of the Never Never.”
“I have no idea what you mean, but that seems to be about par for the course since I arrived here. I don’t know what anybody’s talking about.”
Derrick started to speak, but Blake stopped him by holding up a hand. “Wait. I do want to talk to you about all that, but first there’s something I have to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Blake took a deep breath and clutched Derrick’s hand. “It’s about your brother, Larz. Derrick, he’s missing.”
Derrick’s eyebrows went straight up. “What? Larz? What do you mean, he’s missing?”
“Your father sent him to military training school as soon as he got home with him. Mostly to spite me, I think. Anyway, he was already gone when I made it back home.”
“Wait…Father left you on Vokaria?”
“Yes. We had a terrible fight.”
“Even so…he’s never done that before, has he?”
“No.” Blake sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It was pretty bad, Derrick. He’s always been unreasonable about the pirates, but I’ve never seen him that way. So out of control. After I got back home, I found your father gone after you and then a message came in from the training facility saying Larz’s ship had never arrived.”
“Gods, what happened to it?”
“We don’t know. Your message came in at almost the same time. So Mikos has gone to find Larz and I came after you and Davos.” His voice broke a little, and Derrick put his arms around him.
“Mikos will find Larz. He has to.”
“I hope so.” Blake allowed himself a few moments to grieve before he pulled away and wiped his eyes. “I can’t think about it or I’ll go crazy. I have to try to think about something else. Tell me about this place. What’s wrong here? Is there something in the water or in the air? Your father claims he doesn’t know me, but I’m almost sure it’s him. No one else could look that much like him.”
“I know. It’s really confusing. And Father doesn’t know me either. Even Rhaegar acted like he didn’t know me. But that’s exactly what Rhaegar said would happen in the Never Never.”
“But what is that? What kind of name is that? You started to tell me something earlier—something crazy about parallel universes, but I didn’t understand.”
“I don’t understand it either, not completely. And it may sound crazy, but I think that’s what I think is happening. Are you familiar with the theories about parallel universes?”
“No. I mean, I’ve heard the term…maybe. Once or twice. But I wouldn’t say I’m familiar.”
“We studied the theories in school. It has to do with space and time. See, space and time are united in a mathematical way. They both follow Euclidian Ge—wait a minute—do you understand Euclidian Geometry?”
“Are you crazy? Of course, not. I can barely do long division.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t even know what that is. Is it hard?”
“I almost failed fifth grade because of it,” Blake replied with a slight smile. “But go ahead, sweetheart. Tell me about these theories. But leave out the math if you can.”
He thought for a moment. “Let me try to explain it this way then. Imagine a big patchwork quilt, like you showed me in those old pictures when you taught us Earth history. But this quilt goes on forever. To infinity.”
“Okay.”
“Now imagine that each of those ‘patches’ is an entire universe. The idea is that all of these universes exist right next to each other, laid out like the patches on a quilt.”
“Okay. Got it so far.”
“Scientists can't be sure what the shape of space-time is, but most likely, it's something like that—flat and going on forever, with the universes arranged on it like those patches. But if space-time goes on forever, then it has to start repeating at some point. Do you understand?”
“Not really. Why would it have to start repeating?”
“Because there are only a finite number of ways that particles can be arranged in space and time, according to the math and science you don’t want me to talk about. Okay, so, since these universes go on to infinity, they have to start repeating at some point. You see?”
“If you say so.”
“It’s not me—it’s mathematics.” Derrick smiled at him. “So, to carry on with the quilt analogy, imagine that each patch is a little different. Two identical things can’t exist in the same space. That’s simple physics. And there are only so many ways particles can fit together and be arranged.
“Now each difference might be really small, like in one of these parallel universes, you might have brown eyes instead of blue. Or the universe could have a lot of differences, like this one does to ours, but then some things will be similar or almost the same. In other words, you might even find another version of yourself. Assuming you even exist in that universe.”
“Why wouldn’t you exist?”
“Well, you might be dead in some of these universes. Or never have been born at all. Like in this universe, I think neither one of us existed here in this world before we suddenly showed up here.”
“Why do you say that?”
Derrick shrugged. “Because we still have our old memories from our own universe. If we existed here, then I think we would have been absorbed into the other version of ourselves that already exists here.”
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I think that’s what happened with Father and Rhaegar and the others. If two exact things can’t exist in the same place, then they must have merged into those other versions of themselves.”
“Oh my God. My Davos is in there with this other Davos?”
“I think so. It’s all just supposition on my part. But that’s what I think Rhaegar was trying to tell me when he explained it.”
“But that didn’t that happen with you and me—we didn’t merge with anyone, because we didn’t exist here before?”
“Yes. There was nobody to merge with. We’re unique. You didn’t exist; therefore, I couldn’t.”
“Some things are the same, though. Your father looks exactly the same. He’s the king and these people are Tygerians. They look and act like them. But they’re obviously still at war with the Alliance. And their home world—Tygeria—has been destroyed somehow, according to what Davos told me. And they moved here to this planet they call Tveir.”
“That’s right. Parallel universe, get it? But if you don’t exist here, then you’ve never met Father. You’re not his consort, so I’m not his son.”
Blake grabbed both sides of his head. “I think my head hurts again.”
Derrick patted his shoulder, but Blake lifted his head and looked at his son.
“You’re actually believe this?”
“I guess so. I think I do. Rhaegar knew a little about it. Enough to know we shouldn’t come here, and enough to call it the Never Never, as in ‘never go there.’ There had to be a reason for that. Father and Rhaegar blended—melded—into these other versions of themselves. So did the other men on the ships. Probably that’s what happened to your crew too.”
“If this is true, then that’s why Davos treats me like I’m crazy. This version really doesn’t know me.”
“Part of him yes. But I still think my father is inside him too. Even though he thought I was a pirate, he had me locked up here, instead of taking me to the prison where they took Rhaegar and his men. He wouldn’t let his men hurt me. And from what I’ve heard so far in here, this King Davos is normally pretty ruthless. He doesn’t usually care much about prisoners and he despises pirates.”
“But why does he hate them so much?”
“I overheard the guards talking a little about it. They said his father was killed by pirates and he was kidnapped by them. He was only a kid but the pirates abused him to the point he had to be hospitalized.”
Blake turned a shocked face to him. “Like sexual abuse?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God!”
“And he was pretty young.”
“But my Davos never had those experiences. His father died in the war, and he’d have told me if something awful like that had happened to him.”
Derrick shrugged. “Again, there can be differences in the universes. Maybe that’s why Father hates pirates so much though. A deep trauma like that could have caused a ripple effect that went through all the different universes. I’m not sure, but it’s as good a theory as any.”
“Tell me, is Rhaegar a pirate here too?”
“Yes, but he’s…different. More aggressive. Rougher around the edges. Not as much money or influence either. When his ship blew up and we all got tossed around in that wormhole and flung out to this universe, he had me wrapped up in his arms, trying to protect me. When we finally stopped spinning around and Father’s ship stabilized, he looked down at me and the look on his face was … well, he looked at me like he had no idea who I was. Like he wanted to fight me. He roared at me and pushed me away, then pulled his knife and came right back at me like he was going to kill me. I put up my hands and the minute he touched me, he staggered back like someone had hit him, dropped the knife and went dead pale. Then the Tygerian soldiers surrounded us.”
“That’s because Rhaegar’s half-Lycan. I always thought it was the strongest part of him. Lycans know their true mates as soon as they touch them. They imprint on them and mate for life. So that much hasn’t changed, I guess. Where is Rhaegar now?”
Derrick shook his head, looking miserable. “I don’t know.” He drew in a ragged breath. “They took him away. He kept calling to me, but they kept hitting him.”
Blake could see that he was fighting back tears, and his temper flared at Davos again. Stubborn ass! Why couldn’t he have left Derrick and Rhaegar alone? If he had, then none of this would have happened and he’d be back home trying to find Larz. If anything happened to Larz… He forced the thought away before it overwhelmed him again.
Derrick was saying something, and Blake compelled his attention back to him. “I think they put Rhaegar in prison.” He jerked his thumb behind him. “Over there behind that other fence. We’re here in the mental section of the prison.”
“Is that bigger building the Consillorum?” That was the building complex back home on Tygeria that housed not only the governmental offices, but also the palace. “It was pretty small.”
“No,” Blake replied. “I don’t think so. From what I’ve heard from the guards, this is not the capital city or any kind of city for that matter. It’s the prison and POW camp, and they use part of it for a training facility for their soldiers. We’re a long way from any cities.”
“Davos has an office over there. He took me there for, uh, interrogation.”
Derrick, who had been brave up to that point, put his head in his hands. “I wonder if I’ll ever see Rhaegar again. If we’ll ever get out of this place.”
Blake pulled him into his arms and just held him for a moment. Then he pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Don’t do this to yourself, sweetheart. Of course, you’ll see him again, and we’ll get out of here. I’ll get us all back home too, if it’s the last thing I do.”
“How? This planet is huge and mostly uninhabited. According to what I heard one of the guards say, you could walk travel for days and not see any other civilization.”
“Look, if there’s a way on this planet, then there has to be a way off it. I refuse to believe anything else. But first things first. For now, we have to find a way out of here and go find Rhaegar. We have to get him to help us get back home, so I can find out about Larz. And we figure out a way to get your father back too.”
“That won’t be easy. And where would we get a ship? Rhaegar’s was destroyed. Yours was too.”
“I’m not sure, but we have to try. Our life is back where we came from and not here.”
A sudden loud knock on the door made Derrick spring to his feet, just as the door flew open. Two huge guards surged inside, looking at Blake and Derrick suspiciously. Then they stood aside, revealing Davos himself, leaning negligently against the door frame.
He shook his head, his eyes like chips of ice. “Just another lying fucking pirate. I should have known.”