On Your Knees, Prospect (Kings of Hell MC 3)

“Warm up.” Jake rubbed Vars’s back as gently as his new form allowed. He wasn’t sure of his strength yet, just like he hadn’t realized how heavy he now was, and he’d rather not risk breaking bones of the man who now seemed so fragile in his huge arms.

Vars slowly met his eyes, breathing loudly through his nose as he clung to Jake’s chest, still damp and shivering. “You’re like that statue in the house.”

Jake let out a low whine, imagining the diabolical features of the statue instead of his own. He didn’t want Vars to see him this way and couldn’t help but look away even as he hugged the man tighter.

Vars swallowed, rubbing the middle of Jake’s chest with a hand that now seemed small like a child’s. “You understand me, don’t you? He’s no longer talking to you?”

Producing words with his new mouth and throat was much harder, but Jake still made the effort. “I understand. I move on my own. He… it… pulled away. It’s waiting.”

Vars licked his lips and slowly climbed up Jake’s body under the webbed wing. His eyes were intense when he got close enough that they could look one another in the eye. “Can you turn back?”

Jake retreated into his own mind, searching for that trigger to help him return to his form, but if the freezing cold water hadn’t done the trick, how was he supposed to change back?

“I don’t know,” he choked out, helpless like a child. The newfound strength meant nothing when he was feeling so lost.

Vars’s nostrils flared, and Jake could almost hear the synapses in his brain bursting with energy. “Fuck... the ice didn’t help this time, did it?” he asked and put his arms around Jake’s head. They were still cold and yet so soothing, so familiar. Vars might not have all the answers, but he was there to support Jake, regardless of previous animosities.

“It affected me, but I didn’t change back. It’s different now than it was before. I’m in control. But I can’t get out of this shell.”

“You’re so big now. You wouldn’t fit into our room,” Vars said, shaking his head.

Hot tears pushed at Jake’s eyes, and his chest squeezed with physical pain. “I wouldn’t fit in anywhere. I can’t show myself to anyone. I’m a monster.”

Vars inhaled sharply and petted the top of Jake’s head. Next to Jake, his heart beat so powerfully Jake wished he could have its sound lull him to sleep. He wanted to forget any of this ever happened. But as disgusting as Jake’s current form was, Vars didn’t recoil or look away. He was there for him, petting Jake and talking to him gently.

“Maybe the collar would help?”

“My neck is huge,” Jake whined, wishing to hide his face from Vars, so he put his arm over it.

“Why not try? Isn’t this why we stole it in the first place?” Vars said, and the authoritative side of him Jake knew so well was back, despite ice forming in his beard.

Jake whined in reply, but let Vars slide out of his arms. He was resigned to his fate, since no matter what he did, nothing had so far worked against the parasite that now not only lived inside him, but also managed to take over a second time.

Vars sat up, straddling Jake’s chest with his glistening bare torso right in front of Jake’s face. With a stern look, he reached back and pulled on the metal collar that had been attached to the back of his belt throughout the flight. He took a deep breath and glanced at Jake. “I’ll try my best to fit it on,” he said, reaching for the buckle at the front of the contraption. There was no padlock to keep it shut, just the fragment of a rusty chain hanging off an O-ring.

Jake exposed his neck, mewling as he closed his eyes. “Maybe you should cut into this—my skin? Do whatever you need to close it.”

Vars’s breath caught in his throat, and he slowly leaned forward, resting his elbows below Jake’s collarbones. The device opened with a sharp hiss, like a trap that Jake was willingly walking into.

Jake twitched, squeezing his eyes tighter, and a frantic shudder overcame his body when the cool metal brushed against his skin. Nothing happened at first, but then his entire body went wild. His limbs stiffened, his ears echoed with loud hissing, and his heart started burning hotter.

The collar was on, and it fit him perfectly.

He opened his eyes in confusion, frightened of the power Vars now held over him. “How did you do that?”

The blue eyes above him expressed the same confusion Jake was feeling.

“It just... it just fit. Expanded. I can’t explain it,” Vars said in the end and glanced into Jake’s face. “What about now? Can you shift?”