Something flickered in Ksar’s eyes. “I suppose it’s a habit by now.”
Seyn could feel that Ksar was saying the truth, but not the full truth. He was about to question him when Ksar suddenly pulled out of him—out of his body and out of his mind. Seyn pouted, the sudden emptiness disorienting and unpleasant.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Ksar said tersely, a grimace crossing his face, as if pulling out wasn’t pleasant for him, either. “A telepathic merge is illegal for a reason, and prolonging it would be highly irresponsible.”
Seyn pursed his lips, a little mollified that Ksar didn’t pull away completely— Ksar’s large body was still half on top of him. A small part of him was disturbed by how clingy he felt, but Seyn refused to think about it too much. He could freak out later. Much later.
“Have you done it before?” he said.
Ksar shot him a sleepy look that somehow managed to be entirely unimpressed. “Sex?”
Seyn scowled. The reminder that Ksar was a lot more sexually experienced than him irked him for reasons he didn’t want to examine too closely. “A telepathic merge during sex.”
“Of course not,” Ksar said, looking at him as though he was insane. “Even if I wanted to do it during a meaningless sexual encounter, I could hardly risk the other person finding out about the extent of my telepathic abilities. In any case, a telepathic merge isn’t something to be taken lightly—it isn’t something I’d do without the other party’s fully informed consent.” Ksar gave him an unreadable look. “There are very few telepaths insane enough to allow a Class 7 telepath the absolute access to their unprotected minds.”
There were several noteworthy things about Ksar’s answer. The most important thing should have been the fact that Ksar had finally admitted that he was Class 7. It wasn’t.
Instead, Seyn found himself fixating on one particular thought.
Was this not a meaningless sexual encounter for Ksar?
“I’m not scared of you,” he said aloud instead of asking the question. If he did, it would make it obvious that he cared about Ksar’s answer—which he didn’t.
Except he kind of did. He really, really did.
Fuck.
“I could have done anything to you during the merge,” Ksar said.
Seyn shrugged, trying to shake off the panic creeping up his throat. “You didn’t.”
“You little idiot,” Ksar said, taking him chin and forcing Seyn to look at him. “When you allow me a full merge, you let me past all your defenses. Telepathic merges are outlawed for a reason, and that’s without taking into account that I’m a Class 7 telepath. If I had been careless during the merge, I could have rendered you brain dead.”
Seyn just looked at him for a moment. Contrary to what Ksar thought of him, he was well aware of the dangers of the merge; every telepath in the galaxy probably had heard the horror stories. Those horror stories still didn’t stop some couples from doing it, but it usually required an incredible show of trust in one’s partner.
It was terrifying to think that he trusted Ksar to that extent, but the evidence was pretty damn undeniable.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Seyn said quietly. “Even when I hated your guts, I never thought you’d hurt me. I guess…I guess I trust you.”
Ksar gave him a long, indecipherable look, something conflicted in his eyes. At last, he said, “Hated? Past tense?”
Seyn felt his face become warm. “Hate,” he said, but it came out teasing rather firm. “You’re still a dick.”
Ksar’s gaze was so intense it made goosebumps run over Seyn’s skin. Fuck, he loved having Ksar’s eyes on him. It was sickeningly exhilarating. It made him feel so damn alive.
Heavens, this was really messed up.
“Then why are you clinging to me if you hate me?” Ksar said, his tone amicable and lazy.
Seyn scowled. “Shut up, I’m not,” he said, lifting his chin. His arms and legs might be wrapped around Ksar, but it absolutely didn’t mean he was clinging to him. He simply didn’t feel like letting go. The merge was still messing him up. It was hard to go from being one with Ksar to not having him close.
Ksar leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, the touch barely there.
Seyn breathed out unsteadily. Why did he still feel so damn hungry for this man? So damn needy? He’d just come, for heaven’s sake. He shouldn’t feel this way.
“You don’t have to be defensive,” Ksar said against his mouth. “It’s likely a side effect of the merge.”
“Yeah?” Seyn murmured. “Do you…do you feel it, too?”
Ksar nodded, nipping at Seyn’s bottom lip. “Want to put myself in you and never pull out.”
Seyn shivered, his whole being craving the insane intimacy of it again. “Ksar,” he whispered, rubbing his cheek against Ksar’s, his cock already half-hard. “Let’s do it again…just one more time?”