Covenant (boyxboy)

Chapter Seven

Every beat of my heart resounded like a hammer against my eardrums. Connor's lips were an explosion of sweetness against my mouth, his warm, soft body a precious weight in my arms. Even though everything inside me was in pandemonium, I wouldn't let him feel the madness in me. I wanted him to know he was safe. That I wasn't going to let anything happen to him. That he could come out from whatever dark internal place he had created for himself.

Maybe I'd lost my mind as much as he had. In the end this was no better for him than that terrible video game, was it? I was going to end up messing with his head just as much by doing this. But it was like my animal brain, the human half of me, couldn't do anything else. I needed him back. I needed to make him stop hurting. This was the only thing I could do to get close enough.

He gave a deep shudder up against me, and ceased struggling. I moved from his lower lip to the top one, and felt his mouth beginning to yield to mine. His whimpers evolved into shaky sighs. His chin tilted up.

Ezra?

I should have stopped, but really didn't want to. I was flashing back and forth between our senses, feeling relief spread through his limbs, feeling his pulse even out and the pressure in his head getting lighter. He smelled good, and tasted even better. I wanted to drown him in the certainty that I was going to take care of him. I wanted to kiss him until he wasn't sad anymore.

"Dude, Connor, what's happening? Mekas, is he okay? One of you better tell me what's going on."

It was Grace's demands over the television speakers that made me pull back.

Connor's eyes were still covered by the VR band. Up on the television, I saw his character get to his feet and face Grace's Nephilim. The smooth white plane we'd battled in was gone, and they were standing on the roof of the zombie warehouse between big HVAC boxes. The sun was rising over the apocalyptic cityscape. Grace's health meter was fully restored, and Connor's was sliding back into the yellow zone little by little.

Meanwhile, the real version of him was lying in my arms as he spoke. "I'm fine, Grace."

"Thank the Watchers, I thought we were going to have to start over. You are one badass little mofo, you know that? Phanuel knocked me out, and you still finished him off on your own."

"Ezra helped."

"Sure, but he's not the one who almost ended up in Dudael. Anyway, where is he? Tell him to get his butt back in here. We just earned a crap ton of XP and cash, it's time to go shopping."

One of Connor's hands worked its way up to grip my upper arm, and I realized I'd been holding him tighter in objection. "I'm done for tonight."

"What? We beat an archangel, and you're just going to take off?"

"I'll call you tomorrow."

"But—"

"NANO, save and quit." Connor moved his hand again, this time to pull the VR blindfold down. The television went blank, cutting off Grace's argument.

He gazed up at me. I stared back, my heart thunking in my throat. His cheeks were damp with tears, his eyes searching my face. Neither of us was breathing. I'm sure he was wondering what kind of crap I was trying to pull, and he was probably going to throw a fit when I told him that game was being deleted and blocked from every device in this house before bed.

I hadn't even said it yet, and his beautiful eyes were welling up. He freed his other arm from where it had been wedged between us, and seized fistfuls of my dress shirt in both hands.

He pulled me down to him, and we were kissing again.

Merciless Michael, how could anything feel this good? His hot little mouth was perfectly fitted to mine, fierce and demanding. My core temperature shot up several degrees, making my muscles somehow tight and weak with fever at the same time. I laid him against the arm of the couch, stroked the tears from his face and smoothed the satin of his hair in reassurance. He kept hold of my shirt to keep me from leaving, but I couldn't go anywhere when he needed me like this.