“No.”
“Then why can’t we share a shower, it’s not like it’s the first time.”
Luca’s scent wrapped around Nox, urging him closer. He dug his grip into the doorframe. “Because I won’t be able to keep my hands off you. And if I fuck you again, you really won’t be able to walk.”
Luca stepped back, and Nox shut the door.
He struggled against the urge to turn around, to go out there, to claim Luca until he passed out. Nox flipped the handle on the shower. The whisper of spray against the tiles eerily similar to the white noise infecting his mind until those first connections with Koda were made.
Bright lights hung overhead. Walls moved past Nox on either side. The floor bled winter into the soles of his feet. Two men held him up. They wore body armor but didn’t have guns. The others following them did.
Nox stumbled, his steps ill-coordinated as if there was a short between the conscious act and the response of his limbs.
“What’s happening?” is what he tried to say. But it left his mouth in a garble of sounds. Drool coated his chin, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not keep his head up.
The hall emptied into a room. A transparent divider followed the arch of the wall, forming apartial circle. Inside there were cots and an alcove with a toilet and shower. Another cell sat in the middle of the open space. A narrow tunnel connected it to the larger cell.
The men ushered Nox into the foyer of the divided room, leaving him in a heap on the floor. The outer door closed, the inner door opened.
“Please proceed to the inside room.”
Everything swam, white walls, white light, it bleached the floor. Glare skipped off the clear walls, stabbing Nox in the eyes. He held up an arm.
The disembodied voice spoke again, but the words piled on top of each other.
Nox crawled over the threshold. The inner door slid shut behind him.
A young man dressed in gray scrubs stood in the tunnel, watching Nox through a clear door. He couldn’t have been more than nineteen.
The young man lifted his head, his gaze going to a bubble camera in the ceiling. “Open the door: he needs me.”
Knots twisted Nox’s muscles into painful cramps, and he fell to his side.
Tension creased the young man’s features. He clutched his chest. “Please. He hurts. Don’t make him suffer. Let me in.”
The door in front of him opened, and his scent burrowed its way into Nox’s lungs, creating a surge of energy. It chewed its way to the surface of his skin. Then he unraveled in tendrils of black threads, pouring out of his flesh. They flowed down his hands, up to his shoulders. More erupted from his legs. Nox flailed to get away, but there was no escaping because it came from him.
The young man walked over. “It’s all right.” He knelt.
Nox jerked, fighting for control of his limbs.
The stranger touched him. Just a light brush of his fingertips over Nox’s cheek, and the black substance retreated leaving him gasping for air.
“My name is Koda.” He threaded his fingers through Nox’s hair.
A tremor ran down Nox’s body. His insides tightened and his cock swelled. He gripped Koda’s shirt. No matter how hard Nox tried, he could not let go.
“I promise it’s okay. Don’t fight it.”
Would he say that if he knew what Nox wanted to do to him? “W-W-ats rrng thh e?”
“It’s the Anubis they took from me and put inside you.”
Nox shook his head because he didn’t understand.
Koda petted the hand Nox held him with. “Right now, all you need to know is you won’t hurt me. That what you feel is normal. Don’t fight it. It will only tear you apart.” Koda leaned closer,putting his lips next to Nox’s. “It’s okay. Just let it happen.”
It wasn’t so much the words as the feeling traveling on the sound. Ropes of truth quartering Nox’s will. He roared and rolled Koda over, pushing him to his stomach. Nox gripped the edge of Koda’s pants and yanked so hard the seam down the back gave.