Stricken

Part Eight

The silence was stifling. At least to him. Angel, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine as he sat on the other end of the sofa, calmly reading through some old book Wes had told him to look over with a firm look. The only sounds being the shifting of the cushions as Xander squirmed around, the soft hush of pages turning and the random pattern of footsteps overhead.

The vampire had offered him something to read but being changed into a werewolf had not changed him that much. Books of any kind were still with the big ‘no, thanks.’ And without a tv to distract his mind, Xander found himself lost in thought. Which was never a good thing, in his opinion, and even more so that night.

He’d apologized over and over for the leather jacket after they’d awoke that afternoon. Well, for the deep holes and fang marks in the leather. Angel hadn’t looked impressed, which might have had something to do with his inability to keep his lips from twitching each time he remembered the look on the vampire’s face as he’d tumbled backwards.

But hey, he’d said he was sorry to the guy.

After his third earnest, “Really, I didn’t understand what it was and hey you should be saying sorry to me, too, buddy, for popping me on the nose like that,” attempt at an apology, the vampire had merely rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair. Which had been very much on the weird side, what with the touching and the wanting to rub up into the touching.

Which he had, and of course the moment Angel realized that, he’d pulled his hand back like it was on fire.

The whole involuntary touching thing was getting to be a seriously confusing pain in the ass. He’d know the vampire didn’t realize what he was doing but he’d be equally as unable to resist reacting. Which caused Angel to pull away so fast he had to wonder if the very idea of Xander liking his touch was as abhorrent to him as it would have been only weeks ago to Xander himself.

It wasn’t a nice thought and it caused all kinds of cowering feelings in the pacing animal that currently resided in his brain. The wolf wanted Angel to want him.

Boy, did it ever.

And the fleeting glimpses he caught of its idea of ‘want’.. well, he’d never hear the term doggy style without his face going up in flames again with the fangs and the claws and the submission and why the hell was he thinking things like that with Angel sitting on the other side of the couch because now the vampire was staring strangely at his bright red face.

He coughed, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he glanced away, feeling Angel’s dark eyes on him a few more moments before the vampire returned to his book.

At least his babbling was confined to the inside of his head lately.

It wasn’t like he wanted to want Angel. In fact, he could honestly say that had been the absolute last thought in his mind when he’d come there.

More than a little of him was still wondering if it was something to do with the wolf or the bite. Because hey, he might like a little danger in his relationships and hadn’t ever gone for the wholly human type but Angel?

Wasn’t it enough he was attracted to a vampire and the Romeo and Juliet-ish ex of one of his best friends that he used to have a mutual not-be-able-to-stand relationship going on with? Did it really have to be a guy, too?

‘Cause he was still much for the girls. Only, apparently also.. more for big, dark, brooding, domin- yeah, he didn’t want to finish that thought.

When he felt Angel’s eyes on him again, he glanced up and realized he’d been growling low in his chest, the rough rumbling sound echoing in the large basement. Apparently, his wolf still wasn’t decided on how well it liked the idea of being beta.

Angel’s slowly arched brow stopped the sound pretty quickly, though, and he mentally rolled his eyes at it, 'Wuss,' while shrugging again at Angel, face sheepish.

Which in turn made the wolf send back images of himself on the vampire’s bed, naked on his hands and knees, hair shielding his face as his head bent forward and tilted in submission for the vampire’s mouth as Angel…

Okay! I get the point.

“Xander?”

He blinked, dark eyes going up to Angel’s more than slightly amused ones, finding himself bristling over that fact. Was his damn fault that Xander was acting so strangely.

“I hate you, you know,” the words slipped out, without fire, without any heat at all, just a simple statement of fact. Though there was enough confusion in his voice to negate that it was a fact. More a used-to-be fact.

A dark brow rose sharply again, something sparking in Angel’s eyes before he shielded them, the vampire’s lips quirking slightly as he replied wryly, “It has been mentioned.”

Xander fidgeted, eyes going to the ceiling as if he could see the moon slowly starting to rise, for some reason feeling a burning need to get this said before then. Well, anything he needed to be said had to be said before then, otherwise it would all be growls and stuff and he didn’t think he’d get what he wanted said across that way.

Not that he wanted it said.

“Good. I just wanted to make sure you knew.” At Angel’s blank look, he felt himself flushing, the words coming out in a rush as he cringed the whole time he was speaking, eyes focused somewhere behind Angel’s left ear.

“Because I really kinda think I want you to kiss me now.”

***

He blinked.

Then blinked again, those words ricocheting in his head. They were almost as startling and confounding as the words the boy had spoken when he walked into the place, asking Angel to kill him.

“You hate me but you think you want me to kiss you.”

He repeated it slowly, tonelessly, stressing each word as if it were a sentence of its own because when put together, they made no sense at all.

The boy’s face flushed, dark eyes dropping, then meeting his head-on as Xander grinned harmlessly, shrugging and getting up, motioning towards the cage. “Moon’s rising, must be that lunacy talking. Or the wolf, y’know, with the demon and wolf tie and yeah, I’ll just be over there. In the cage.”

“I didn’t say no.”

Angel slowly got to his feet, moving towards the fidgeting and backing away boy, dark eyes flicking between him and the cage almost as if he thought the cage would protect him. But hadn’t he just asked for this?

“Xander..” he said softly, tongue curling around the word as he reached out and gripped the boy’s wrist, pulling him to a halt. “I won’t do this if it isn’t what you want.” Somewhere in his mind was a voice telling him he wouldn’t be doing this anyway because just three days ago, they’d hated each other. Couldn’t stand to be the in the same room.

But he found his eyes drawn to the soft lips, white teeth biting into the lush bottom one as Xander realized he was staring, seeing them part as the boy tried to speak, the quick swipe of the tip of a pink tongue, and had to wonder if he would be able to not kiss the boy, now.

Didn’t matter because he saw Xander straighten his shoulders, which amused him slightly, and step forward, then another step until he was directly in front of him, still fidgeting awkwardly. Angel cupped his hands on the boy’s shoulders, lightly massaging and stroking up and down his upper arms until he glanced up.

When the dark, slightly wide and wary eyes made contact with his, he let one hand slide up to cup the tanned, warm jaw, stroking over the slightly stubbled skin. Tilted his head back just a little before lowering his own, brushing his lips in the softest of touches over the warm, parted ones.

He almost immediately felt the demon surge inside, urging him to back the boy up against the wall and devour him before making the boy submit. And in the end, he decided the first part wasn’t a bad idea.

The mouth under his was hot, silken soft, Xander’s tongue hesitantly meeting his own and drawing out moans from both their chests as Angel deepened the kiss. Slid both hands into that shaggy mess of dark curls as he stepped him backwards, slowly, until Xander’s back hit the wall, then thrust his tongue deeper.

Felt him gasp and moan again, the sound soft but with an undercurrent of pleased growl that just made Angel want more. Scraped his blunt teeth over the soft bottom lip as he flicked his tongue along the delicate inner flesh of the lip, before sliding his tongue deep into the warm mouth again.

He was so caught up in the heady, rich taste and heat that he didn’t notice for a moment the hands pushing at his shoulders. Groaning as he pulled away with a last brush of his tongue, he searched Xander’s face for any signs of disgust but it was just heat and lust in the dark eyes.

Then the slightly dilated pupils went slowly oval and he understood, taking an unsteady step back, turning away to give the boy room and privacy as he felt the electric crackle of the magic. He’d put away his jacket earlier, feeling the boy was safe enough down there with him without having to put him back in the cage.

Glanced at the stretching wolf with a grudging smile as it shook the remnants of Xander’s clothes off and came over, almost knocking him over with a rub of its shoulders against his legs. He reached down and scratched softly at the thick black ruff, running his nails between its shoulders as he licked over his lips, still tasting Xander there.

“You have the worst timing.”

He could swear it grinned as it sat near his legs, tail thumping once against the wooden floor.