“Warrehn?” he said softly.
His expression pinched, Warrehn looked at him, then looked away again, his jaw working. “I wanted to hate you,” he said at last, his voice tight and rough. “You’re Dalatteya’s son. That’s all you should have been.”
Samir took a step closer. “War?” he said, lifting his hand and touching Warrehn’s stubbled cheek. His fingers were unsteady, he felt almost dizzy from the mad hope coursing through him. “Do you…?”
“I should hate you,” Warrehn said, catching his fingers with his larger hand and kissing his knuckles one by one, his mouth hot and reverent.
A small noise slipped out of Samir’s mouth. He gasped, pressing his trembling fingertips against Warrehn’s lips.
“I shouldn’t trust you,” Warrehn said, his other arm wrapping around Samir’s waist and crushing him to him. Samir whimpered, his mind going blissfully empty as the safe-perfect-protected feeling he’d craved so much was back.
“I shouldn’t,” Warrehn said, tucking Samir’s head under his chin and hugging him hard. “But I do, damn you.” He buried his face in Samir’s hair. “I know it’s irrational. I have no proof of your loyalties. But I hate seeing you upset. I hate seeing your tears. They make me feel guilty for arresting your mother, even though she deserves it a hundred times over. You have no idea how much it fucks with my head—how much you fucked me up and changed my priorities.”
Samir couldn’t breathe. He felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. He cradled Warrehn’s face with his hands and kissed him hard, pouring everything into the kiss. I’m sorry, Mother, he thought, his eyes stinging. But I love him. I love him so much. He was done being in denial. If he could still feel this way for a man who had sentenced his mother to a fate worse than death, it could only be love.
And if he couldn’t save his mother, at least he could save this fragile, precious feeling between them.
Taking Warrehn’s hand, Samir moved it to his telepathic point.
“Please,” he said against Warrehn’s mouth. “Do it. Merge us.”
Warrehn went rigid against him, their breaths mixing. “You have no idea what you’re asking for. Merging with me is dangerous. You have no experience. I’m a Class Six telepath, Samir.”
Samir froze and pulled back a little, looking at him wide-eyed. He had suspected that Warrehn was strong, but he had thought he was a Four, maybe a Five at most. A Six was… he could do a lot of damage to Samir in a merge if he was careless.
He didn’t believe Warrehn would be careless.
“I trust you,” he said, holding Warrehn’s gaze. “I want you to trust me, too.”
Warrehn’s expression softened. He smiled at him, the smile making him breathtakingly handsome. “I don’t need a merge to trust you. That’s the problem.”
Samir felt a little choked up. He looped his arms around Warrehn’s neck and smiled at him, feeling so besotted that for a moment he didn’t know what to say. “I insist. I want us to get to know each other on the deepest level. I don’t want you to feel bad about trusting me. I don’t want there to be even a shadow of doubt.”
Warrehn studied him awhile before nodding. “Let me know if you’re uncomfortable, all right?”
Samir gave a small nod and closed his eyes when Warrehn’s hand touched his telepathic point below his ear.
He didn’t know what he had expected. He’d heard that telepathic merges were incredibly overwhelming. He’d heard that they were very invasive, even unsettling.
But it was none of those things.
It was like feeling the fresh breeze on your face after a long and tiresome day. It was like getting into your soft, comfortable bed after barely sleeping for a month. It was like coming home.
He shivered in delight as he felt Warrehn slip deeper and deeper into his mind. He could feel Warrehn’s every emotion, and he knew Warrehn was feeling his, so he opened himself up, unashamed and hungry for more, hungry for this man in ways that went beyond physical need. When Warrehn finally reached his telepathic core, Samir heard himself moan—it felt so good, he couldn’t even describe it. Warrehn stroked his core, faster and deeper, until he felt like he exploded into a million pieces, the pleasure so intense and unlike any he’d felt before, and it went on, and on, and on.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he regained his ability to think. The merge felt less intense now, but no less addictive: he could feel Warrehn so intimately it was like they were one person. He could feel how lonely Warrehn had been all his life, the hollowness inside him that yearned for something to call his. A family. Something that had been stolen from him.
It made Samir incredibly sad—and incredibly thrilled and honored when he realized that he was the one thing Warrehn regarded as his now. The only person who filled the hole inside Warrehn’s chest and made him feel at peace.