Things were going pretty good with me and Nosko until the car dropped us off in front of his apartment building. Nosko froze to the spot, his gaze fixed on what I think was the alley the mugger dragged him into.

The driver swipes my card and pulls away from the curb. It doesn’t seem to faze Nosko at all.

“Hey.” He’s shivering when I put my hands on his shoulders. “Let’s go in.”

I circle around to place myself between Nosko and the alley. The tension in his hand gripping mine as we walk relaxes only when we get into the building itself. “You okay?”

Nosko lets out this shuddered breath that lets me know he was more affected by it than he was letting on. My brave little omega.

“You thought you were okay until you got out of the car.”

We hustle up the stairs and only when the door is shut solidly and locked does he relax. “Yeah. Wow. Sorry about that.”

“What has you upset? That he’ll be back?” Nosko is flitting about his apartment like he has a case of nerves. On his third pass, I manage to get my hands on him and drag him to the couch. “Nosko, talk to me.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Taran. I don’t want to think about it. Except it keeps circling around in my head. The police were no help when I picked up my wallet—”

“I know. I was there when you did. They don’t have anything to go on, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have leads. Let them do their job.”

It’s a fight to keep Nosko sitting down so I drape one of my legs over his thighs.

Good luck moving that, little dragon.

He finally sags and tips over to lean against me. I get my arm around him and he snuggles up tight against me. “I feel calm when you’re here. But after seeing the alley again, it’s so real to me, like it just happened.”

“It did just happen. Last night.”

“No, I mean happened right now.”

I twist on the couch and lean against the arm. Once Nosko is re-situated, I can wrap my arms around him. “Can I do something for you?”

“Beat up the jerk that makes me feel so weird about it?”

“As soon as we find him, I will. But that’s not what I mean.”

Nosko scrubs his face against my shirt. “Sing to me? When my grandmother used to sing, it always helped me relax.”

I have another idea. “Can I do one better?”

“Not sure how you can top that, but sure.”

“It’s a trick I’ve been able to do since I was a kid. It’s how many clients end up falling asleep in my chair, even though the work we’re doing can be pretty intense pain-wise.”

Nosko’s head comes up and he side-eyes me. “Is this going to get kinky?”

“Maybe. It can be.” I urge him to turn around so he can recline against me, back to my chest. “Now close your eyes.”

Once I see Nosko do as he’s told, I relax as well, letting my eyes flutter closed.

It’s a technique I developed over the years. I don’t know what it’s called, if it even has a name. I don’t talk about it much because at a very low level, I can do it without thinking. With Nosko this keyed up, it’s going to take a concerted effort.

I fold his hands with mine and place them over his heart. “Breathe deeply and imagine in your head that you’re opening a door.”

“What’s on the other side?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does. I’m not opening any door that I don’t know who or what’s on the other side.”

“Fine, Mr. Pedant, imagine it’s me.”

Nosko settles down again. “Thank you.”

His breath deepens and I match mine with his so that we’re in sync.

Reaching into the deep recesses of my mind, I imagine a thread. It shines perfectly silver, like Nosko’s hair. I pick it up between my finger and thumb and give it a gentle tug.

Nosko gasps. “What—”

“Keep breathing and keep the door open,” I whisper in his ear.

He calms again and gives a gentle tug back on the thread.

I smile at the connection we have. I build it up in my head until it’s no longer a thread but a string. Then a rope. Then unbreakable chains.

Every increase in the size of the connection between us draws me closer to him.

I’ve never done this with a lover. Not to this degree of connection. It can be dangerous to let someone that close, which is why I only do it to a limited degree when I’m working with a client who gets wound up for some reason. They instantly calm.

Nosko is completely compliant in my arms.

“That’s you.” He breathes out slowly. Turning his head, he blinks his eyes open at me. “That’s you I feel?”

“That’s me.”

“How do you—”

I claim his mouth, a kiss to deepen our connection, to draw the questions from him. No more questions, little dragon. Just come with me deeper into our connection.

Nosko turns without releasing our kiss, his knees sliding on either side of my hips. His erection presses against my stomach. It’s not an uncommon reaction. It verifies that we really are connected on so many unconscious and subconscious levels.

Everything he is opens to me. I can’t put them to words but his fears, thoughts, worries, joys, happy times, grief… It’s all there, like his gallery pictures. I can feel them, sense them.

I don’t want him to be alone with that, so I open to him as well. The hard life I’ve had, the times of sorrow, of fear, of being in love and being betrayed. I want him to see all of me.

He jerks his head up, staring down at me with his wide, passion-dark eyes. “I don’t understand—”

“Then stop trying. Just feel it.”

Somewhere along the line, we have to move from the sofa to stretch out next to each other in his bed.

All the physical sensations are heightened. The soft slide of his sheets drifts across my skin like feathers. His every exhale is a gentle breeze against my cheek. He shivers against me when I roll to press him against the bed. I kiss him until we’re both dizzy.

Instinct moves ahead with us trailing behind to catch up. Nosko’s body is ready for me, his arousal a thick, heavy scent that fills my head until I’m drunk from it. My fingers probe him, his slick allowing me to plunder him until he is shaking.

I feel his need intensely, like a deep well in my soul.

“So wet for me. Is this how badly you want my cock in you?”

“No,” Nosko pants out. “I want all of you in me. And I’ll scream if you don’t do something.”

Using his slick, my fist slides over his cock, a smooth motion over the thick shaft until his hips rock beneath me. “Taran!” His voice is strangled and desperate and it leaves me just as desperate as he is.

I flip him onto his stomach and pull at his hips so I can plunge into his body with one smooth stroke. He shouts and the sound echoes through my physical being. It’s a primal sound of desire and lust and such a deep longing for connection to someone else.

That someone is me. That someone will always be me.

I lose myself in motion as I plunge into his body, my hand on his cock matching my pace. My own desires and lust and deep longing for him drive me forward until it’s instinct that buoys us up.

We don’t leave our physical bodies but spiritually, we’ve lifted into the air to float among the clouds, twirling and twining and coming together in a flash of scales and fire, claws and teeth, and the threads that braid us together forever as fated mates.

Soul mates.

Mine forever.

My orgasm rushes out of me and I choke on his name as it blindsides me with the subtlety of a freight train. I empty in him, throbbing and thrusting on instinct as the knot at the base of my cock slips in with a pop to lock us in place.

Beneath me, Nosko sobs quietly, his cock jumping in my hand as he finds his own release. Gulping breaths keep him steady before his arms give way, and he plants face first into a pillow.

I take him down with me to our sides and to avoid the wet spot from where he splashed his sheets. With my knot buried deep in him, I wrap around him, arms holding him tight. “I’ll never let any harm come to you, Nosko. On my life I swear it. With me at your side, you will be safe. Always.”

Nosko places a clumsy kiss on my chin before flopping back on the bed. “I know. I felt it. That was… I never felt that before. How did you do that?”

My heartbeat slowly returns to normal. I tuck a few pillows under our heads while we stay locked together. “I don’t know, really. It’s more instinct. I don’t think about it most times but I figure it’s why people stay calm around me when I should be pissing them off or something. Or why they stay in their chairs even though the pain of the needles has them wanting to jump up and call off the tattoo. Sometimes, they even fall asleep. But I just… have this instinct, I guess, the ability to feel other people and how to answer those feelings.”

“That’s cool,” Nosko says after a yawn. “You can use it on the baby when he can’t sleep at night.”

The baby. My baby. Mine and Nosko’s baby. “If I plan on getting any sleep, you can count on it.”

“That’s not a misuse of a gift at all.”

Even tired and afraid, Nosko still has his humor. “Why not use it if I have it.”

Nosko is quiet for a long time, to the point I think he’s fallen asleep. My knot is starting to go down but I’m not going to pull out until the last minute. I’m tired enough that I may just fall asleep like this while still in him.

“Do you use it to get your way?” The question jerks me awake.

“Like, to manipulate people?”

“Yeah. Like that.”

I consider lying. That’s not cool, especially after we’ve just shared everything about ourselves. I won’t betray that trust. “When I was younger and found that I could do it? I thought about it. Decided against it. Too much bad karma.”

“Now you just used it on me.”

“I won’t do it again if you don’t want.”

Nosko rocks back and twists to look up at me. “Not on your life. That was probably one of the most intense orgasms I’ve experienced. You’re going to start doing that all the time.”

I bark out a laugh. “Yes, sir.”

“And using it on the baby when he’s fussy.”

“Yes, sir.”