Chapter 30: In My Defence, He Started It!
The kiss didn’t stop.
Neve had planned for it to stop. He had a whole timeline in his head. He just wanted the kiss to be brief, affectionate, reasonable and done, but none of it was happening because Cael’s hand was at the back of his head, and Cael kissed him very hard, like he had already decided how this was going and was simply following through.
Neve’s hands were still gripping the front of the wrapper. His head tilted every second as the kiss deepened.
He told himself to let go, but his hands would not let go.
Cael’s other hand settled at his waist, and Neve’s eyes widened at the pace at which this was going.
’This is fine. This is seriously fine. It’s just a kiss, humans kiss, beastmen also kiss. It’s a completely normal activity that I’m participating in with full awareness and control...’
"Hng..."
He made a sound in Cael’s mouth. There was definitely no control over what was going on.
The sound he made was small and involuntary, and it happened before he could stop it.
He shut his eyes harder.
And suddenly he wasn’t in the cave anymore.
.
.
Neve had a short flashback...
He was in his first year of college. He was standing in the corridor outside the science building one late afternoon, even as everyone else was already gone.
The senior had walked him there deliberately. Neve had known it was deliberate and had gone anyway because there was something about the senior that made him feel like maybe, just this once, he was wrong about men not being his thing.
He was tall. Popular. The kind of person who moved through spaces like they owned them. He had been nice to Neve specifically. It was different from how nice he was to everyone. He treated Neve like he was the only one in the room. It felt so personal.
Neve had been ready to say something to him. Maybe confess about his feelings to the senior. He had the words arranged and everything.
And then he heard the locker room.
He hadn’t meant to stop outside it. He was walking past, and his name reached him through the gap in the door, and he stopped without deciding to.
’...going to be easy. In twenty-four hours or maybe less. He’s already following me around...’
Laughter echoed through the room, followed by several voices.
’...that cute junior’s been looking at you since September...’
’Just fuck him and win the dare. Don’t drag it any longer.’
Neve had stood outside that door for approximately four seconds.
Then he had walked away.
After that, he avoided the senior, which was something he was very good at. He took different routes, different schedules, different lunch times. The senior had noticed the change and had started following him instead, showing up outside his classes, waiting near his building, sending messages that started friendly and became something else when Neve kept not responding.
It had escalated.
Especially that day... At night.
He was finishing up his project for the exam. Since he was the last in the laboratory, he locked the door and began walking in the hallway. He heard footsteps behind him. He looked back and saw the shadow of someone following him. He didn’t know who it was, and fuck! He didn’t want to know.
He just picked up the pace, and when the shadow behind also picked up the pace, he ran.
The shadow ran after him, and he started screaming for help. The shadow was obviously the senior who grabbed Neve’s hand and pinned him to the floor. He threatened Neve never to ignore him. He tried to kiss Neve and force him to do other things, but luckily, the security found them
The senior was then walked out of the building. Neve had sat on his bathroom floor for an hour afterwards.
He had not been interested in people after that.
Not in men. Not in women. Not in anyone who looked at him the way the senior had looked at him... like something needed to be acquired, something to win, something that was going to happen whether Neve was part of the decision or not.
He had been alone on purpose after that.
For three years.
Until a cave in a beast world and a leopard who went down on both knees and said, ’Do it properly,’ like Neve’s participation mattered, like Neve being willing was the entire point.
.
.
He came back to the present.
Cael’s mouth on his. Warm and unhurried. The hand at his waist remained steady and did not move anywhere.
Neve made the sound again. He could not stop it this time either.
He pulled back, just enough to breathe. Enough to see Cael’s face from two inches away.
Cael’s face was very red.
Neve had never seen Cael’s face do that. He had seen Cael fight a leopard and walk through a celebration for killing it with the same expression he used for everything, which was nothing but a dead expression.
He had seen Cael face down his own father and a wolf prince with that same uninterested expression. He has done several things with his unbothered expression.
Right now, Cael looked thoroughly bothered.
"I’m sorry," Cael said, looking sideways. He couldn’t meet Neve’s eyes at all. "I shouldn’t have—"
"Stop apologising," Neve said.
Cael stopped.
Neve’s eyes went down without his full cooperation.
He saw something poking through the wrapper he had spent five hours making. Cael had a situation where the linen was not successfully concealing, and Neve stared at it for one second before looking back up at Cael’s face.
His own body was not behaving either. He was very aware of that. He could feel his own dick getting hard under the shorts he had made for himself. His red tail started wagging by itself.
’Fuck! What’s happening?’
He looked at the cave wall and looked at Cael.
Cael was standing with his arms slightly out from his body and his jaw set with tension, like someone exercising enormous self-control over something.
Neve looked away and tried to hide his flushed face. Cael saw how red his face was.
"Are you sick? Do you need me to call Gideon?"
"I’m fine," Neve waved his hand. "You’re the one who seems to need help. Isn’t that uncomfortable?"
Neve asked, pointing at Cael’s twitching bulge through his skirt.
"Don’t worry," Cael said, looking away from Neve. "I’ll go to the village. It’ll be gone by the time I get there and back."
Neve stared at him.
"You’re going to walk through the village like that," he said.
"It’s normal—"
"It’s not normal," Neve said. "It is not normal to walk around like that in front of people."
"Huh? Normal?"
Neve stopped talking and realised maybe he’s the one being crazy. Something like this seems normal here.
"I don’t care if it’s normal or abnormal, Cael." Neve pressed two fingers to his own forehead. He could not believe he was having this conversation. He could not believe this was his life. "You cannot go out there like that with that erection."
"Then what do you suggest—"
"I’ll help you," Neve said.
Cael looked at him.
Neve’s face was burning. He knew that. He could feel it. He was still holding onto rationality with both hands.
"Help?" Cael repeated.
"Yes," Neve said.
"How."
Neve looked at him for a moment. Then pointed at his lip before saying, "I’ll use my mouth."
The cave was very quiet.
"Five minutes," Neve added, as he stretched his palm ", Maybe less. Once I’m done, then you can go to the village."
Cael was looking at him with an expression Neve had never seen on him before. Something had happened to all that steady, calm, and unbothered look. It was still there underneath, but there was something else on top of it, something that was paying very close attention to every word coming out of Neve’s mouth.
"You don’t have to," Cael said. His voice had gone different.
"I know I don’t have to," Neve said. "But I still wish to help you."
"I can handle it myself—"
"Cael," Neve said. "Stop talking."
He reached forward and took the end of the belt.
Cael went completely still.
Neve’s fingers found the knot he had tied some minutes ago. He had made it tight and secure, but right now he was undoing it with his hands.
He looked up at Cael once.
Cael was looking down at him with yellow eyes that had gone very dark and very focused.
Neve looked back at the belt.
’In my past life,’ he thought distantly, ’I’d have never thought that I would be the one to make the first move. When did I become so bold? I’m sure it’s because of that damn system.’
He pulled the belt loose.
’But this is different from the time with that goddamn senior,’ he thought. ’After all, I’m choosing this myself. That’s different.’
The wrapper loosened, and Cael’s hard cock almost slammed Neve’s face out of the way.
Neve went to his knees on the cave floor.
"Five minutes," he said again, mostly to himself.
His tail was wagging hard behind him.
Cael’s hand came to rest in his hair. It just rested there.
Neve took a breath.
’Okay,’ he thought. ’Let’s suck him off.’