Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 30

THADDEUS

As silent acceptance stretched on between us, Aria's sweet breath fanned out over my face. Everything about him drew me in like a moth to a flame, and I didn't even know that I was burying my face deep into his neck, licking furiously at the place where my bite mark was until I felt his arms wrap around my head, delicate fingers tangling into my curls.

And honestly... not even once did the idea of my hair being messed up even cross my mind. In fact, I kinda wanted him to mess me up on the outside, so that maybe my body would finally reflect the way he made my insides feel, too.

After all that fancy talk I'd just spewed out – some words I'd used so damn big, they made my head spin – I easily lost myself to the sensation of re-claiming my mark on Aria, craving the way it soothed some dark part of me that wanted only to destroy any and all things that hurt him.

I only managed to regain active consciousness when I felt his pulse speed up beneath my open-mouthed kisses, his skin growing clammy with worry and our bond crackling with nervous energy. I pulled back pretty much immediately the moment I sensed that, blinking the possessive cloudiness out of my vision.

"What... do we do first?" Aria asked quietly, his soft hands remaining on either side of my neck. Even somebody with a single brain cell could have caught onto the layer of unease that still lingered just beneath the brave face he was trying his very best to put on.

No matter, he had nothing to fear. I would take care of him, Elders be damned.

My poor, sweet Bug...

I couldn't answer Aria truthfully. At least not yet, not until I'd assessed our surroundings. 'Cuz I mean, let's be real, I wouldn't be surprised if those creep ass Elders had glory holes built in this fucked-up room, made specially for them to peep in on us and get off to it.

Fuckin' wrinkly dickheads.

My eyes flickered around everywhere in the dim room, and with my first scan, I found nothing particularly interesting aside from bare walls and the door that didn't have a handle to open it from our side. However, as I shifted my gaze upward, sweeping my gaze across the ceiling, the reality of what I'd hypothesized became disgustingly clear.

I could have missed them in the dim light, which was probably what the Elders wanted all along. But as I squinted, focusing my vision, I was able to make out the outline of five, black circles, every one of them the same size and shape as the cameras that the Construction Unit periodically installed and replaced within the public areas of The Society.

In each corner of the square room, the cameras perched, their lenses fixated directly on us. And the fifth one was situated smack-dab in the middle of the ceiling, no doubt intending to capture the ideal bird's eye view of Aria and I's... relations.

My skin crawled like a million ants were attempting to burrow beneath it.

Even though I'd slept through about ninety-nine percent of the sex and reproduction lecture in Instructional, I still knew enough to know that it was supposed to be a private event, a special moment shared by the two parties that were perfectly matched by the Soul Mate Service. But now, as those cameras surrounded us like vultures, their beady, black eyes trained on us, waiting for scraps of the slaughter, something dark, twisted, and filled with possessive vengeance enveloped me.

No amount of brainwashing and propaganda could ever make me believe that what was happening was right. The Elders, with their insidious grasp on power, had crossed every conceivable line, stretching their authority to unthinkable limits.

So, as stood there on all fours, hovering over the one person I would always protect, fuming enough for smoke to pour from my ears, I made a vow to myself.