Love in the Land of Fire, Brochu, Rebecca [best free novels .txt] 📗

doesn’t want to spend the next year with this shell, this pale imitation of the man he’s been itching to claim as his own since he first saw him.

“That’s not what I asked you. I asked you if you enjoyed cooking and I would like an honest answer.”

Rafe actually looks up at him then, green eyes studying his face, and Josiah falls back on his training to make sure that nothing he feels is given away. The last thing he wants to do is startle or alarm Rafe by letting the intuitive man catch a glimpse of the darker emotions that are rioting inside of him at the moment. Josiah almost hums with pleasure when Rafe seems to gather himself before he answers, his shoulders straightening as he comes to a noticeable decision.

“No, not particularly. I’m well educated in the subject, as it was something that I was expected to know, but it’s not something that I’m all that fond of.”

“Then I’ll handle the meals or we’ll take turns as the mood strikes us. You’re not here to serve me, Rafe; you’re here for your own protection. I’m not going to treat you like a slave. You’re a person; being a submissive doesn’t make you less than I am and despite what you might have been told in the past I believe that you deserve nothing but respect.”

Rafe stares at him, eyes slightly wider than normal, and Josiah is both pleased and saddened by the look of almost shocked delight that flitters briefly across the other male’s face. It’s replaced all too quickly with a sort of wary acceptance. He knows that it’ll take some convincing before Rafe truly trusts him, that it’ll take work to make the submissive understand that he’s telling the truth. Just like Marcel had warned him earlier in the week Josiah knows that it will not be easy, but he also knows that Rafe is well worth the effort.

2Chapter Eight

They fall into a steady routine together sometime within that first week. Josiah is as soft spoken and gentle tempered as he can force himself to be and Rafe wanders through the apartment like a wraith. Marcel is a regular visitor and her loud and unapologetic presence provides a pleasant sort of buffer between Josiah and the still skittish submissive. Even better are the days that she is sometimes accompanied by Isaac.

The obviously happy and well-loved submissive visits on the rare days that he doesn’t spend locked inside his studio, spinning the pottery that makes him famous. His presence seems to almost reassure Rafe on some level, almost as if it’s a small amount of proof that Josiah is telling him the truth. Somehow it seems as if Isaac’s obvious love for Marcel and the joy that is palpable between the couple begins to help Rafe believe that he might actually be safe with Josiah, and he slowly starts to relax.

Josiah himself gets an unexpected jolt of pleasure from seeing Rafe interact with Marcel and Isaac. It’s as if seeing him there, getting along with two of the only people Josiah actively trusts pleases Josiah on a deeper level. It’s further proof to him about just how well Rafe would fit into his life if the submissive would be willing to try.

Things go on like this and Rafe heals quickly. The steady meals, low stress and freedom of movement within the apartment do much to reverse the effects of spending a week sedated in a bed and to speed what bit of healing Rafe still has to do thanks to his other injuries. It is in this way that, despite his misgivings, despite wishing otherwise, Josiah returns to his duties as an enforcer fulltime with little in the actual way of complaints.

Weeks pass and Josiah and Rafe coexist around each other instead of actually together. Josiah rises first in the morning and is often out of the apartment before Rafe begins to stir. Rafe is often awake long into the night and Josiah falls asleep to the small sounds of the submissive existing not too far from him. Generally the atmosphere in the apartment is filled with a delicate sort of tension that Josiah itches to break but refrains from doing so. He knows that what he wants must come second to what Rafe needs now more than ever.

Things do not change until the day that Josiah is sitting, calmly completing the files upon files of digital after-case paperwork that is the main downside to his job. His concentration is disrupted by the low, vibrating ping that signals an incoming message on his p.a.t.c.h. Absently he pauses in his work and undocks and unfolds his screen, fingers bringing up the message through sheer muscle memory alone. His mind wanders for a moment, pausing on different thoughts here and there, lingering as always on the ones that revolve around Rafe.

He freezes though, feels fear rush through him at the message displayed on his screen.

Vanguard,

The danger and plot are larger than you know so watch your boy’s back before someone sinks a knife into it.

Reestablish contact soon,

Skirmisher

Vanguard is something that he hasn’t been called since his days in the Crimson Elite, where he’d specialized in the forward assault. It’s the sender though that truly gives him pause, the name Skirmisher sending all sorts 2of warning bells ringing in his mind.

Gar.

Gar Druce, or Skirmisher as he’d been known in their unit, had been a sniper by trade and a shadow by nature. A tall, leanly muscled dominant, Gar had been all wild dark hair and pale white skin. He’d been quiet and intense but fiercely loyal to the unit and braver than most. He’d taken to his job of disrupting any enemy troop formations and guarding their collective asses like a stalking tiger, fiercely territorial and all fluid movements and quick