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Single White Knight
ISBN # 978-1-906811-04-4
©Copyright Brynn Paulin 2008
Cover Art by Lyn Taylor ©Copyright September 2009
Edited by Claire Siemaszkiewicz
Total-E-Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination
and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or
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Published in 2008 by Total-E-Bound Publishing 1 The Corner, Faldingworth Road,
Spridlington, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, LN8 2DE, UK.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature
readers. This story has been rated Total-e-burning.
SINGLE WHITE KNIGHT
Brynn Paulin
Dedication
To Carol Lynne, one of my best friends and an extraordinary woman.
Here’s your white knight.
And to Silver, who played the music to accompany this writing.
You make me smile and tap my toes. Thank you.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following
wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Goodwill: Goodwill Industries International
Starbucks: Starbucks U.S. Brands
YMCA: National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States of
America
GQ: Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.
Gatorade: Stokely-Van Camp, Inc.
A Knight’s Tale: Columbia Pictures
SINGLE WHITE KNIGHT
Brynn Paulin
5
Prologue
England 1340
Alwyn angrily shoved his way through the branches hanging over the nearly obscured
path leading deep into the forest beside his father’s keep. No one had trodden down this
path since he’d last been here. That was before the adventures of knighthood had consumed
him. Before he’d taken up arms to fight.
His jaw locked.
He’d never take up his sword again. It lay broken on the steps of the village church, a
symbol of his disgrace and the shame he’d brought to his family. His teeth ground. It was a
dishonour his own sire had revealed, dragging Alwyn’s desires to the village square and
shouting them for all to hear.
“Sir Alwyn the sodomite, I will see you removed from your exalted place of honour.
You have sinned before God and his people.”
His own sire. The man looked at every nubile female who passed and fell into bed with
every maiden who would have him, but he had no compassion for his second son, the
‘travesty to men’.
Alwyn felt no remorse, only anger. He’d done no sin.
Yet now he was a dishonoured knight. Homeless. Penniless. Without weapon, steed or
name. An angry horde followed his footsteps, though he’d done them no wrong. Only
through cunning had he evaded them thus far. That might not last.
His only hope for a future lay deep in this forest where he and his first lover had
discovered their need for each other. Tobias, his dear companion, had been slain eight years
past. Trained as a knight, yet from a poor family that could not afford to outfit him to the
position, Tobias had served as Alwyn’s squire so that they might be together. And they had
been, until Tobias’ death. Verily, Alwyn was unsure whether he would ever move beyond
the loss or his guilt over his lover’s death.
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As he moved deeper through the trees, his memories grew stronger. He and Tobias had
often hidden here. He knew they’d left some of their belongings in the small shelter they’d
erected. It was unlikely most had survived the elements and time, but his first sword would
still await his hand. It would do until he could replace it with better.
He mightn’t be a knight in these parts, but he could travel to places uninformed of his
disgrace. His father had seen him well-educated in languages and ensured he learned to both
read and write. He could travel to the continent. There was always a lord in need of steel. All
was not lost.
Time was precious. He could not tarry, or his plan might end in his excruciating death.
He’d heard stories of what was done to men like him.
Determined to escape that fate, he fought his way through the overgrowth and into the
shelter where his love for Tobias had flourished.
“Tobias,” he whispered, sinking to his knees within the hidden clearing, safe for the
moment. “I need you…”
Faint laughter tinkled behind him, and he twisted around to look for the woman. There
was no one there. As the wind whistled through the trees, he decided the sound must merely
have been a gust from the impending storm. No one had found him.
He crawled towards the heavy chest in the corner of the shelter. The weathered wood
was cracked, much like his soul. His hands smoothed over the two letters carved in the top of
the lid above the latch. They were barely visible after all this time, but he knew them. T and
W. Tobias and Wyn. That was what Tobias had called him. Wyn.
Oh Tobias.
The humiliation piled on Wyn that day, the mud hurled at him, the spiteful words…all
of it…it came to this. It came back to his need for Tobias. The one who had always been his
true strength. Tobias. With his love by his side, Wyn would have been able to endure this
humiliation. He could have endured anything. Now he could not. He carried too much pain
already, pain that lingered, fresh even with eight years past.
Sometimes the ache stabbed at him so sharply, he thought he would curl into a ball and
give up. But he forced himself to go on. Tobias would mock him thoroughly for his
weakness. The day Tobias had died, he had told Wyn to go, to fight those who had reviled
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men like them. Together, he and Tobias had been stronger than the emotional frailty that
now crushed Wyn daily. It seemed half his strength had left him.
His arm went around his middle as the pain which always seemed fresh rushed
through him again.
Wyn gritted his teeth and pulled a facade of strength around him. He’d pretended for
years. He could pretend for the short amount of time it took to gather his things and escape
this place.
The hinges of the chest had rusted, and they creaked as he pushed open the lid. The
curved cover immediately fell to the earth with a dull thud, the metal pulling away from the
old wood. It was no matter. The box had served its purpose.
Wyn looked inside, hoping it was as he remembered.
The blanket inside had seen better days and looked as if a colony of small animals had
found it. Beneath the deteriorating fabric, steel wrapped in oilcloth peeked out at him. Alwyn
reached for it then lifted it free.
His first sword. He drew his finger along the tarnished blade and sighed.
Tarnished like his life.
He set aside the weapon and dug through the chest to see what other treasures it might
surrender. Tobias had always been the one to fill the recesses with things he’d wanted them
to remember. With care, he’d retrieved those things Wyn would throw aside as useless. Now,
Wyn was thankful.
His fingers laced through a chain and he removed a pendant with his lover’s family
crest. Reverently, he drew it over his head, tucking it inside his tunic and chainmail.
Quickly he pawed through what remained. Nothing else seemed of consequence.
He snatched up the sword and shoved it into the empty scabbard at his waist. It was
time to leave. Even this place that had once been a haven for two lovers would not conceal
him from bloodthirsty men who called him a sinner.
At one time, he might have questioned why he couldn’t be normal and love women.
But who was to say what was normal? He would rather wonder why others couldn’t
understand that love was love. This was his way. God had yet to smite him.
Tobias was taken from you.
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He scowled at the unbidden thought. Tobias had been taken by an angry horde, not
God.
My love, I will await you. Come for me. Wyn scrubbed a hand over his eyes. Come for
him? How?
Only Tobias knew. He had had the vision. Not so Alwyn. He had no idea what the next
day would hold. Or what his lover had meant.
“He means to wait for you through eternity.”
Alwyn leapt to his feet and swung around at the sound of the ethereal voice. His arm
went before his eyes at the woman standing a few paces away. Light emanated from her,
casting her in a glow. And he could see straight through her! An angel…
His hand moved automatically to cross himself, but he stopped the useless action,
remembering the scene in the church less than an hour past. Pulling his foolhardy cloak of
pride around himself, he stood erect and faced his destiny. He’d awaited this moment since
Tobias had been taken from him.
“They come for you,” the woman said. Her translucent arm indicated behind her. Wyn
followed her motion and saw points of firelight through the trees. They would find him in
minutes.
The glow around them seemed to increase, drawing his eyes back to her. She looked at
him with kind eyes. “You may go where I send you, or you may await your fate at their
hands.”
“I will run.” He would leave this place. He would leave this country and the place so
near his father’s home. He had no future here. He would not tarry and wallow in the grief
that had surrounded him for so long.
“Fleeing will take you nowhere. You will be at their mercy before the hour dwindles.”
He swallowed. Death was death. And, surely, she was its angel. Did it matter which
choice he made? Did it make him cowardly to want to take her choice…the easy way? His
jaw hardened. He did not fear death. He feared life and the loneliness it offered. He was
weak without his lover, but it was not weak to follow where this angel led.
“I will go with you,” he told her.
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She laughed and he heard the tinkling sound he’d heard earlier—such a gleeful sound
from such a harbinger. Who would have though the messenger of demise would be as bright
as the noonday sun?
With an amused tilt of her head, she smiled. “I do not lead you. I send you.”
“Where?”
Mirth shone in her glowing blue eyes. “There,” she said simply as if it answered
everything. He suspected she was being purposely difficult and evasive.
The over-arching trees shifted on the wind, and rain pelted down on him. Water
streamed down his skin, and his hair stuck to his face and neck.
She touched his shoulder. “Do not fail him.”
Fail? What—
Before he could ask her meaning, a flash blinded him and shot into his arm, exploding
through his body. Lightning… Had he finally been blessed with death?
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Chapter One
Dear Lord save him…
“Miss Fremont, please get your hand off my a—body.”
“You almost said ass.” She sighed. “Professor Woods, I love it when a man talks dirty.”
“Oh for the love of—” Toby Woods rushed in to his office and shut the door firmly
before the girl got any more ideas about clutching his backside. He leaned his head against
the solid wood. His eyes closed, and he sighed. Teaching first year English hadn’t been his
intention when he’d come from Northern England to this small private college on the
outskirts of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the United States two years ago. Neither
had he intended to teach class after class of horny, barely eighteen years old girls.
His degree was in History with a minor in English. He’d jumped at the chance to teach
the courses Origins of Modern English and Medieval History at the college near Levey
Museum, the home of a huge collection of medieval documents—documents he’d often been
contracted to translate since arriving here. The kicker was the Freshman English courses that
had been thrown in as part of the package. They comprised most of his work. There just
wasn’t much call for the other two classes.
A little research on the college would have been good, Tob.
Some days were far worse than the rest. Like today.
In his defence, he’d thought Grand Riverside College had been the other school he’d
applied to for a teaching position—the one with a co-ed student population. He’d been
shocked to arrive and learn the truth. Idiot! But he’d gone with the flow, knowing he’d be
instructing in his chosen field with his beloved documents nearby. Well, not his documents.
He just liked to think of them that way.
So he’d attended meetings and his orientation with nary a word about his mistake and
had almost laughed aloud when the dean of the English department, Gerald Palmer, had
sternly commented, “The girls aren’t easy targets for young professors on the make so don’t
get any ideas.”
As if. They couldn’t be more safe from him. He was the one who wasn’t safe.
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Two years later, Palmer still looked at him sideways as if Toby would jump one of the
girls at any time.
He rubbed his backside and strode to his desk to deposit his text and lecture notes.
Bloody hell, the girl outside his office just now wasn’t even the worst today. He would have
a beastly bruise from someone else’s groping. He didn’t know that student—she wasn’t his
pupil—or he’d certainly mark down her grade.
Not taking any chances on a return engagement, he went back to the door and turned
the lock. No office hours today, ladies. And none of the attention you seem to want from me either.
What would good old Dean Palmer say if he knew Toby was gay? Toby could guess.
He grimaced. Palmer would see him fired—probably for some trumped up reason, too—then
send his queer ass packing back to England.
Toby had observed enough at the college to know exactly what would happen. The
administration would privately vilify his sexual preference while publicly finding fault with
his teaching or record-keeping or something else equally false. They’d get rid of the oddity in
their midst despite his complete lack of interested in the students’ bodies.
Bunch of stupid pricks.
Not for the first time, he considered leaving his job, but leaving Grand Riverside would
mean leaving the Levey document collection. Unacceptable. He scowled and pulled out his
cell phone to check his messages. Maybe the curator from Levey had called to tell him they
had some work to fill up his weekend. Or maybe not… He didn’t have a single message. If
that wasn’t a sign of his lacklustre life, he didn’t know what was.
He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. Maybe he should hop on his
motorcycle and take another weekend trip to Chicago to hook up with some guy—any guy.
Just a guy. Someone he could fuck. Someone who wasn’t from around here, where the
grapevine was more far-flung than the one in the small town in upper England where his
adoptive family had raised him.
He wished Levey would just hire him full time to do work on their documents. He’d
leave the teaching gig behind in an instant. But Levey wasn’t hiring in this economy. Nobody
was. And especially not a full time linguist to translate documents that had been around for
centuries and would be for several years more.
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He was stuck unless he wanted to go back to England with his tail between his legs.
That wasn’t happening. Not in this century. Closing his eyes, he lifted his face towards the
ceiling and prayed for strength to get through another year of teaching or the guidance to
find a job somewhere more…liberal.
His entreaty was interrupted by the sound of musical laughter floating through his
office. He jerked around, checking to be sure none of his students had snuck inside. He
winced at the thought of the girl he’d had security escort out last week and the
unmentionables he occasionally found on his desk and on his chair. It didn’t seem to matter
that he locked his door. They still got inside…somehow.
This time, the room was empty. He sighed, turning back to his desk to get ready to
leave for the day. If he hurried, he could throw a few things in a bag at home and be in
Chicago by seven. Maybe six thirty if he—
Thunder crashed outside, startling him from his thoughts and rattling his office. The
windows vibrated and the floor shook. Toby’s phone fumbled out of his hand and onto a pile
of books as he stumbled and grabbed the top of his desk. Papers flew to the floor.
Damn! That lightning strike had been close. What the hell was that? It had been clear
skies when he’d crossed campus five minutes ago, and his office had shuddered more like an
earthquake than a nearby storm. He’d never heard of quakes in Michigan. And that sound
had been like an explosion…
Pushing away from the desk, he straightened and turned. He should see if everyone
was okay. As a teacher it was his duty to—
Holy shit!
“Oh my God…” he whispered.
Standing in the middle of his office, between the ficus plant and one of the visitor
chairs, was a man in full armour with a smoking sword in his hand and a strange, glowing-
white aura around him.
A white knight. In his office. Go figure.
Toby’s vision blurred, and to his utter humiliation, his knees buckled. He slid to the
floor in a very unmanly manner.
* * * *
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“Tobias…”
Toby struggled back to consciousness through a fog of strange visions from the past.
Confused by the peculiar pictures, he opened his eyes and stared into the whisky-brown eyes
of the man leaning over him. Toby blinked at him, wondering why he was on the floor and
why the oddly dressed man’s words were a garble. A muzzy haze seemed to surround them
as Toby struggled to put everything together. Confusion, fear and arousal intermingled as he
stared at the man…a man he knew. A man who would never forgive him.
No! This stranger couldn’t know Toby. There was nothing to forgive. That had all been
fantasies, nightmares, a past lost in the ether of childhood. Toby had never lived in the
middle ages, though he’d once thought he had. It had all been the over-active imagination of
an unwanted orphan who’d been cast aside by his family. If not for his adoptive family, he’d
be dead or institutionalised as a crazy freak.
Still, he’d had recurring dreams of that time and…this man was in them. He was
slightly older than in Toby’s dreams, and Toby knew this knight’s name was Wyn—Alwyn
of Cine Nerung. Toby had no reason to believe otherwise. His dreams had always been
accurate. He knew details about history that he shouldn’t. His mom called him sensitive to
the shadows of the past. Did that make him some sort of weird psychic? He spoke Old
English as easily as if he’d used it since childhood, and no one could explain that. He just
knew it, though reading and writing it had been more difficult.
Another shadow of the past.
Having Wyn before him shed light on something he’d never understood and even now
couldn’t quite comprehend. Other than his dreams, he had no real memory before his
sixteenth year. Though it seemed ludicrous to entertain the idea, he wondered if Wyn might
be a clue to why.
Toby swallowed as Wyn stroked his cheek. Wyn’s gaze was filled with concern…and
wonder. As if entranced, he ran his thumb over Toby’s bottom lip. “Tobias.”
Foreboding knotted in Toby’s stomach as that name caused a muddle of emotions to
race through him. His body responded as readily as if it had responded hundreds of times
before to Wyn’s touch.
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He shoved aside his stupidity. This must be some sort of joke. Something that someone
thought would be funny—put a medieval knight in the History prof’s office. This guy wasn’t
the ‘Wyn’ from his dreams, and the idea that he might be was preposterous.
“Why are you here?” he asked. “Who put you up to this?”
The knight frowned as if he didn’t understand Toby. Hmm…a good actor. Toby was
about to tell him to cut it out when not-Wyn leaned forward, his chest leaning into Toby’s.
Heat shafted through Toby at the passion in the man’s stare, and his pleasure increased as he
fully realised their positions. He liked nothing better than being under a man—particularly
one as handsome and muscular as this one.
But how had he ended up on the floor—
Oh God! Who the hell fainted anymore? He might as well have been one of the girls he
taught instead of a thirty year old man. Bugger it. This stranger probably thought him an
utter wimp, Toby decided. What a freaking wuss he was.
Before he could say anything to help him redeem his dignity—some lie about tripping,
slipping, having narcolepsy…something to excuse his faint, lame or not—the man said
something else Toby didn’t understand though the words sounded vaguely familiar, like he
should know them. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, sure that if someone spoke
English to him he wouldn’t understand at the moment. Perhaps the man was speaking
English.
Slowly, Toby reached back and rubbed where his head had hit the floor. That ceramic
tile hurt like hell. Had he scrambled his brains? Wait! Was he hallucinating this guy?
No…he’d been here before the…um…faint.
The knight’s callused hand slid along Toby’s cheek as he murmured something again.
He leaned forward while Toby’s eyes went wide. A second later, the most perfect lips Toby
had ever felt pressed to his, and a deep shudder of pleasure slammed through him.
Oh man…
The stranger’s tongue thrust into Toby’s mouth, claiming it as if he’d been there a
million times before and would be there a million times more. His familiar flavour of
cinnamon and wine filled Toby while his musky, manly scent surrounded them. Toby
grabbed the stranger’s shirt only to have his fingers repelled by the hundreds of tiny links
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covering the man’s chest. Undeterred, he slid his palms upwards and drove his hands into
the knight’s damp hair.
Toby wanted nothing more than to crawl all over him, to crawl inside him, to feel him
inside…
My beloved. We’re together again… Wait! Toby froze as the words suddenly registered.
Holy fuck! That was Old English! It wasn’t garble at all.
No… it couldn’t be.
The foreboding returned full force to settle like molten acid in his stomach. Despite
being on the floor, he felt dizzy, the world seeming to tilt on its side.
Toby shoved at the man’s chest and wrenched away his mouth.
“Do you understand me?” he asked in the man’s language.
The man’s brow furrowed, and Toby guessed his accent must be awful.
“Tobias…where is this place?” the knight answered.
Toby shook his head. “My name is Toby. This is the school where I teach. You’re in
my…” His voice trailed away. How the hell did one say office in Old English? He’d have to
insert the modern word. “Office,” he finished, indicating the room.
“Office,” the knight repeated as if trying the word on for size. He reached for Toby, but
Toby scooted away. What was happening to him? He hadn’t felt this confused since he’d
wandered onto his adoptive family’s land, in Northern England, fourteen years ago.
Now staring at Wyn… Was his name really Wyn? Were Toby’s dreams actually time-
shrouded memories? Was he going crazy? The last was the most likely option.
“Who are you?” Toby asked cautiously, eying the achingly familiar brown-eyed man.
Standing, he’d be taller than Toby by several inches—and definitely wider. Toby worked out,
but the muscles on this knight were huge in comparison. And geez…why not? His daily
activity until now had likely been to train, ride, train, slay some bad guys, train some more
then feast on a high protein diet.
Toby shook his head at his final, fanciful thought. This was an actor—
“Wyn,” Wyn told him, driving a nail into Toby’s doubt.
“Wyn.” Toby took a deep breath. “From…where?”
Don’t say Cine Nerung… Don’t make me face this…
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Pain flitted across the knight’s eyes. “Cine Nerung,” he answered. “You know me
naught? You do not remember me, Tobias?”
“The year?” Toby croaked, ignoring the other questions.
Wyn stood and paced to the window then touched the metal blinds hanging over the
window. A moment later, he pulled a finger along the shiny spines of the books lined up on
Toby’s pressboard bookshelf and stopped at the framed snapshot of Toby and his parents.
He turned, his face paled. “The year of our Lord thirteen hundred and forty.” He
picked up the picture and examined the photo. Gesturing with it in his hand, he said, “Tell
me, Tobias, to what year have I travelled?”
Wyn’s voice quavered slightly. He was shaken but most wouldn’t recognise it through
his calm facade. They wouldn’t hear the tiny wobble in his words. But Toby…
“Tobias, what year?” Wyn demanded.
“I’m not Tobias.”
Wyn’s jaw tightened. His lips pressed together, and his brows furrowed as he regarded
Toby as if trying to see inside his soul. And something stirred inside Toby, a part of him that
whispered, “I’m here…”
Oh shit.
Scrambling to his feet, Toby leaned against the solid brick wall behind him. “I think you
should leave.”
“And where would you have me go? I do not know where I am. I do not know the year.
The one I counted on…does not acknowledge me.”
Toby looked away to hide the guilt that rushed over him. “It’s two-thousand-nine. The
year of the Lord two thousand and nine. Seven hundred after yours.”
The picture landed on the shelf with a thunk. “How many years have you been here,
Tobias?”
Toby shook his head and chose not to argue once more that he wasn’t Tobias. Wyn
seemed convinced he was, and at the moment, Toby was so confused, he wasn’t so sure he
wasn’t the man Wyn sought. “I’m thirty.”
“Fourteen years, then… For me, eight have passed. I have not forgotten you. The pain
I’ve carried… And you, you don’t know my face.” Wyn’s words portrayed sorrow, yet his
face was an expressionless mask.
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Toby wanted to tell Wyn that he did recognise him. That he did know this virile knight.
But he couldn’t take that step. Something stopped him. Something he sensed buried in his
memories, something that might make Wyn more angry than the fact Toby refused to
acknowledge him.
Anyone else might have refused to acknowledge the possibility of Wyn’s medieval
origin. They would have continued to think this was a joke. Toby couldn’t deny the truth he
sensed, though it scared him and shook the foundation he’d stood on for the last fourteen
years.
“I’m not the person you’re looking for,” he finally said.
“You are not?” Wyn crossed the room, stopping an arm’s length from Toby. He pushed
the hair from Toby’s forehead then traced the faint scar that ran from Toby’s left eyebrow to
the hairline above it. “Where did you get this mark?”
“I don’t know.”
“I gave it to you. We were sparring and the tip of my sword caught you. Lord
Faddelsworth beat me soundly for it because I was only to use a wooden sword. And you
begged him not to hurt me.”
“I’m not Tobias.”
“You have a scar here.” Wyn drew a finger across Toby’s torso, just below his pec. “An
enemy dagger. I killed him.”
Toby shivered at the touch. He wanted more, but he couldn’t be what Wyn said he
was…what he wanted. The darkness of his past promised he’d be sorry if he tried to be
Wyn’s Tobias. He didn’t understand it, but he was afraid of that sinister unknown. “Why are
you here?” he asked.
“I was sent to you.”
Toby wanted to ask why, but he figured Wyn didn’t know any more than he did. “We
should leave,” Toby said. “I’ll take you home. To my home, anyway.” And do what, he
didn’t know. Well, he knew what he wanted to do. He held out his hand. “Wyn…”
The knight blinked his amazing light-brown eyes then smiled sadly, his disappointment
with the situation palpable. Toby’s guilt escalated, but when Wyn slowly placed his hand in
Toby’s, an immediate spark went through Toby. It sizzled through him as if soldering a
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connection between the two men, fixing something that had been broken by reconnecting it.
The jolt went through to his cock as though he’d been stroked by an invisible hand.
He stared at Wyn as his heart thumped harder in his chest. He wanted to grab Wyn’s
wide shoulders and pull him across the small space separating them. Then he wanted to feel
those lips on his once more while he buried his fingers in that long black hair.
Toby steeled himself against doing exactly that. What the hell was wrong with him?
The movement of the bracing only served to draw his attention to his throbbing cock. He’d
gone rock-hard the second he’d touched Wyn.
“Toh-bee,” Wyn said, dragging out the end of Toby’s name. His effort to call him by the
correct name when he obviously wanted to call him Tobias warmed Toby’s heart. Wyn was
the kind of man to do what needed to be done to make things work.
But you didn’t… Toby’s eyes burned as his inner voice prodded at him. He closed his
eyes trying to sort out what he needed to do, what he wanted to do, what he should do… His
free hand drove through his already unruly brown hair. As the connection continued to arc
through him, he knew what his intuition fed him was true. There were no signs that any of
this was an elaborate hoax. Everything meshed with the dreams he’d experienced for so
many years but had pretended not to have.
Wyn was a displaced medieval knight and Toby needed to take care of him, even if he
disappointed Wyn by not being Tobias.
Were his dreams premonitions? In his lucid dreaming, he’d seen this man in medieval
costume. Toby had always put it down to wishful thinking. Lord, he’d been enough of an
oddity to be adopted as a teenager and be the only homosexual in his family. He didn’t want
to add any other weirdness to the mix.
Wyn reached out and stroked the side of Toby’s face with his rough thumb. Toby bit
back a groan. He needed to feel those callused hands everywhere. He shifted, bumping into
the door that led to the hallway.
“You were once mine,” Wyn murmured, following him.
Toby’s cock throbbed at the word mine. He wanted to be. At least for a night. Who
would know anyway? There were things he needed to do, things he needed sort out. Like
why a strange twist of fate had dropped Wyn into his office. Would fate care if he and Wyn
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fucked? Wyn sure seemed up for it. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, it felt right to
him.
First, they had to get out of here. Toby scanned Wyn’s attire. Every girl on campus
would notice him and want to grope him. Thank goodness for knee-length chainmail.
Toby had a spare change of clothes in the office, but there was no way they’d fit those
knightly shoulders or the legs that were several inches longer than Toby’s. Toby would
definitely like to see Wyn in a nice pair of worn jeans that showed off his package to the best
advantage—the best clothed advantage anyhow.
Damn, he was hornier than a teenager on prom night. This instant connection along
with his drought in companionship was playing havoc with his head. All he could think of
was cock when he should be trying to reason through this—well, figure out escape from his
office anyway. He suspected the more he thought through the situation the more confused
he’d get. The situation was visceral, not cerebral.
His tongue ran across his bottom lip as he imagined tasting Wyn’s. Wyn followed the
path with his thumb. His body pressed to Toby’s, and Toby dropped his head against the
frosted window on his office door. His eyes closed. He wanted to feel Wyn. Now. Anywhere.
Everywhere.
“We can’t do this here,” he murmured, reluctantly, as the rings from Wyn’s chainmail
pressed into him through his cotton dress shirt. His shirt buttons clicked as they moved
against the links.
This was the kind of guy he liked. Manly. Assertive. Demanding. Maybe one kiss—
No! Not here. Get a grip, Tob!
He shoved against Wyn’s solid chest, though it was the last thing he wanted to do.
Damn, Wyn was all muscle.
“Look. We can’t do this here. People here don’t know I’m gay. I’d like to keep it that
way.”
“Happy?” Wyn asked. “But you do not seem to be happy at all. You are not as you
were when we were together.”
“We’ve never been together.”
Wyn’s jaw hardened again.
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Toby shook his head knowing he’d have to explain differently. He took a deep breath.
“Gay. As in…homosexual.” This so wouldn’t work. There wasn’t an Old English word for
it—at least, he didn’t know one.
Wyn’s brow wrinkled.
“Gay means that I like men,” Toby finally rasped.
“You always have,” Wyn replied simply.
Well, yeah, but—
“People here don’t know that. If they found out…”
Wyn frowned. “Things are the same in this place as in Cine Nerung.”
“So you understand?”
“Sadly, I do.” Wyn took a step back, and Toby regretted his absence immediately. “Yes,
I understand. My name was denigrated before the entire village. I was stripped of my
knighthood, my sword broken on the stairs of the church that I am never again allowed to
enter. My family has disowned me. I understand. Had I not immediately fled, I would have
been tortured and killed.”
Toby’s stomach lurched as the truth of Wyn’s confession hit him hard. “It’s not that bad
here,” he assured Wyn. “Although, I have heard of families disowning people and churches
being a problem. In my case, I might lose my job…as you did.”
Things weren’t so different here, he decided. Perhaps they operated with more civility,
but the same fates waited for many gay men: denigration, being stripped of a job, being
disowned, emotional torture, persecution.
He shrugged it off. He coped. They all coped. “It’s not horrible here. We have
electricity,” he rationalised, inserting the modern word in a place where none other existed to
explain his meaning.
Wyn looked confused but didn’t ask for an explanation. Toby didn’t explain, either.
Wyn would learn soon enough. Toby had a feeling Wyn was in for a crash course in twenty-
first century living…and Toby was his mentor. And unlike Toby’s students, Wyn was not
going to be safe from his attentions. Good God, he was a slut. He swallowed and grasped the
frayed shreds of his decency.
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“Come with me to my condo…my home,” he added, clarifying what the modern word
‘condo’ meant. Wyn would need to learn modern English and this way seemed as good a
way as any. “I have a spare room you can use.”
He slid away from the temptation of Wyn’s arms and went to his desk to gather the
things he was taking home for the weekend. He shoved them haphazardly into his leather
satchel. His next class was Monday afternoon, and he wondered if he could manage to get a
sub to fill in for him. If Wyn was still with him, and Toby suspected he might be, Toby might
need a few extra days off beyond the weekend.
Behind him, he heard Wyn sheathe his sword with an agility that loudly contrasted
Toby’s tumultuous nerves. The thought of dragging Wyn across campus to where he’d
parked tightened his sphincter muscles with anxiety.
Toby looked at Wyn as the man silently regarded him, and he wondered how he
measured up in the knight’s eyes. What was going on in that head?
“Will you come with me?” Toby asked.
Wyn gave him a short nod. “I have travelled centuries to you, Tobias. I will go wherever
you lead.”
Toby returned the nod with one of his own. Wyn wasn’t going to play fair. He saw
determination in his visitor’s eyes, as stony as the strong façade he maintained. Ever the
warrior… He saw Toby’s refusal to be Tobias as a battle to be won.
He couldn’t win. Intuition warned that, if Wyn triumphed, he would hate Toby in the
end.
“Stay close to me,” Toby warned. “I’ll get you out of here unscathed.” He couldn’t
promise anything beyond that.
Wyn watched as Tobias—no, he called himself Toh-bee—opened the door and glanced
outside as if he expected an angry mob might wait for him.
Finding it clear of enemies, Toby stepped outside then beckoned Wyn to follow. Wyn
had little choice but to comply. Whether this Tobias knew Wyn or not, Wyn had been sent
here for a reason. There was no chance he’d let Toby out of his presence.
On some level Tobias did still know him. He’d follow Tobias anywhere.
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Despite mentally strengthening himself against what he might find outside Tobias’
office, Wyn’s eyes went wide at the sight before him. A bright corridor filled with short-
skirted females surprised him. The clear ceiling overhead stunned him as he stared up at the
blue, cloudless sky.
The women chattered in a language he didn’t understand, and it seemed every one of
them turned and stared at him their mouths hanging open as he passed. Their annoying
nattering almost immediately resumed as they gawked.
“Stay close to me,” Toby admonished. “You don’t want to be lost in their clutches.
They’ll try to change your religion.”
“I have no religion.”
Toby turned to him, raising his eyebrow. “I can fix that.”
Suddenly, Wyn understood he and Tobias weren’t referring to the same thing. “I would
like that,” he replied.
Before he could say more, a man with a thunderous countenance stormed up to them.
His language was as unfamiliar as the women’s, but there was no misunderstanding his
meaning. He spoke to Tobias in an enraged undertone as if he didn’t want others to hear. At
the same time, he gestured emphatically at Wyn. He obviously wasn’t happy to see a
stranger amongst the women. Wyn got the feeling the man thought of them as his, and he
didn’t like the way he spoke to Toby one bit. While the man spouted, Toby’s spine went
rigid, his effort to stay calm palpable.
Anger coloured Wyn’s vision. He could run the man through. The deed could be done
before anyone realised what had happened. No one verbally attacked his lover—no one,
warrior or spoilt noble. Wyn eyed the interloper, sizing up the adversary. His hand went to
the hilt of his sword, his face set in the stone finality he showed his enemies just before their
deaths.
Toby turned suddenly, and his eyes went wide when he saw Wyn’s stance.
“Wyn, no,” he said in Wyn’s language. “He won’t hurt me. He’s just a stupid bastard.
Smile and let’s go.” He grabbed Wyn’s arm, pulling him past the man as Wyn gave the
‘bastard’ a smile that said, “I’ll kill you later.”
Toby kept pulling him until they left the building through two doors covered with a
similar clear material to the ceiling. Wyn’s hand pressed to it, feeling it as they passed.
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“It’s glass,” he observed in awe. “I have never seen colourless glass as clear as water. It
is more clear than water…”
Toby didn’t stop as he dragged Wyn outdoors. Wyn wrinkled his nose. “What is wrong
with the air here?”
Toby sniffed. “What are you talking about? It smells fine.”
No, it didn’t, but Wyn didn’t argue. He couldn’t detect the origin of the terrible smell
assaulting his nostrils. It was nothing he’d inhaled before today. Still, if he couldn’t identify
it, how could he argue? He breathed shallowly as the acrid air seemed to burn his throat.
“Over here,” Toby said as he led the way to a field of strange objects that looked to be
peculiar wagons. He went to one with just two wheels. “This is mine,” he said then opened a
compartment on the side.
Wyn stepped away. It was all strange. This place. The wheeled object before him. The
helm-like thing Toby thrust towards him.
He took it and slipped it onto his head. He attempted to mirror Toby’s actions as Toby
pulled a fastener under his chin but fumbled with the straps. Quickly, Toby secured them,
letting his fingers momentarily graze Wyn’s lightly bearded cheeks. His eyes went wide
again, and he yanked his hand away as if he’d been burnt.
His reaction confused Wyn until he saw Toby look around them. Ah… He was
attracted but didn’t want others here to see. Wyn decided to focus on the desire Toby felt for
him and ignore the rest for now. Eventually he’d admit he was Tobias. Wyn wasn’t so sure
Toby actually remembered his life as Wyn’s squire, but there was an uneasiness about him
that suggested Toby was scared of something.
Toby beckoned towards the wheeled contraption. “We need to leave before I get us into
trouble by jumping you.”
Wyn wasn’t sure what Toby meant by ‘jumping’, but it sounded good to him. He eyed
the silver and black object as Toby swung his leg over it.
“It’s called a motorcycle. It’s like a horse. Only faster,” Toby laughed.
Like a horse? Hardly. “And smaller.”
“Trust me.”
He had always trusted Tobias, and that would not change now. Swallowing, he nodded
and climbed behind Toby, settling his buttocks on the saddle-like portion. His cock settled
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against Toby’s backside as Toby showed him where to put his feet and hands then adjusted
Wyn’s sword so it wouldn’t be in the way.
Wyn closed his eyes in anguish as his thighs pressed to either side of Toby’s legs and
his hands gripped Toby’s slim hips. If they weren’t clothed, if Toby leant forward slightly
and Wyn guided Toby’s hips upward then down, Wyn could be within the hollow he’d
missed for so many years.
His cock throbbed painfully, his flesh like an iron rod. What was Toby’s reason for them
straddling this metal and leather seat? The wheels indicated it was a conveyance, but there
was no nearby horse to pull them.
Suddenly, the thing beneath them made a roaring sound, vibrating his already sensitive
groin. Instinctively, his arms slid around Toby’s middle.
“Yes, like that,” Toby said over his shoulder then turned away again, and Wyn was
glad. His face must have appeared as terrified as that of a maiden when faced by marauders.
Panic pummelled his middle. He’d easily faced hordes, but this land with all its oddities
forced him to a place he’d never experienced—an unsure, sometimes terrifying place.
“Where am I, Tobias?” he whispered, but they’d started to move and the sound from
the steel beast drowned out his words.
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Chapter Two
Toby was a giant ball of barely harnessed sexual energy. With Wyn pressed tight
against his back, he could barely think let alone manoeuvre his bike. He focused, trying not
to moan as Wyn’s arms tightened when they pulled into traffic. A moment later, Wyn
shuddered as they merged onto I-96 and accelerated to seventy. It was the only sign that he
might be nervous. Taking his hand from the handlebar for a moment, Toby flattened his
fingers over Wyn’s to reassure him then returned his hand to the grip.
After a few minutes, he merged onto the connector leading to downtown while his
thoughts continued to tumble. What on earth was going on here? What had brought an
obviously medieval knight catapulting into his life? And such a stunning man…
Whenever Toby looked at him, arousal tingled across his groin, his breathing felt
constricted and his hands shook. If he didn’t grab back some control quickly, he’d come in
his pants like an untried schoolboy. But Wyn made Toby feel untried. It was as if he’d never
known true sexual attraction until now. And he needed to rein it in. Especially in this town
and with the sort of co-workers he had. Grand Rapids might be the second largest city in
Michigan, but it was also as conservative as a bible-belt town could get. Homosexual
interaction received stares. Last year, a man had been sent to the hospital by someone who’d
assaulted him for being gay—the man wasn’t even homosexual. Of course, the jerks who’d
attacked him had been drunk. That wasn’t normal Midwest conservatism in action, but Toby
had worked hard to keep everything about himself above speculation, and that meant hiding
his sexuality.
He gasped as Wyn’s firm lips suddenly settled on his neck in contrast to the thoughts
about secrecy. They would need to have a serious talk about discretion. Wyn nipped at his
shoulder. One hand travelled down Toby’s middle to the juncture of his thighs to smooth
over his cock. Toby jerked in surprise. The bike shot forward as lightning rocketed through
his pelvis and all he could think about was the possibility of Wyn’s fingers opening his
khakis and wrapping around him.
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His cock filled and pressed against the zipper of his khaki pants. The garment had more
give than his jeans but not much, especially with Wyn’s hand pressed over him, running up
and down. He groaned as his knight’s fingers traced the shape of the shaft’s head. Someone
was feeling more comfortable with being on the motorcycle.
“Shit, Wyn,” he yelled over his shoulder, pulling the man’s hand back to his waist.
“What are you trying to do? Kill us?”
Wyn’s laugh shook against Toby’s back. “You have never had trouble riding while I
have touched you,” he yelled back. His thumb hooked in Toby’s waistband, grazing the head
of his arousal. His fingers splayed downward. He outlined Toby’s shaft while he made a
back and forth movement over the top of Toby’s turgid cock. The cotton from Toby’s briefs
rasped over his sensitive tip, damp with his pre-cum.
Toby gasped for breath as his balls drew tight to his body, throbbing with the need to
release. Shit, he couldn’t come. He’d kill them both.
With Herculean effort, he refocused on the road, swerving around a slow pickup truck
with a curse. Wyn lightly pumped his cupped hand along Toby’s shaft, and Toby clenched
his fingers, shuddering with his need. They couldn’t find a bed fast enough.
His vision grew hazy as he veered off the highway and down the street that lead to his
downtown condo. The builder who’d taken on the renovation of the old building had had
trouble convincing people to take a chance on the area, so Toby had gotten a deal when he’d
bought his place. He was thankful for that since he’d wanted to be in the hub of the city, not
on the outskirts. He’d gotten a spacious living space in an area now teeming with growth,
and his investment had garnered him a home worth five times what he’d paid.
His hands shook as he used his access card to enter the parking garage then drove as
fast as he dared to his spot. The bike jerked to a halt at the same time he yanked Wyn’s hand
off his pants. He leapt off the bike, whipped off his helmet then shoved it in the motorcycle’s
saddlebag. Toby heard Wyn copy his movement, but he didn’t look at him as he stalked
towards the door leading to the lobby. Wyn was on Toby’s heels, and Toby knew, if he so
much as looked at Wyn, he’d nail him against the parking garage wall then drop to his knees
to investigate the cock he’d barely been able to feel though the layers of mail and thick tunics.
The lobby was deserted save for the security guard lounging behind his desk, but Toby
noticed little but the echo of Wyn’s booted feet on the white marble tiles as they marched
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towards the elevator. Toby punched the call button. Dropping his arm, he clenched and
unclenched his fingers to relieve some of the tension clawing through him. He twisted his
head in a circle to loosen his neck then rolled his shoulders. Nothing seemed to ease the
unbearable lust knotting his middle.
Wyn didn’t try to touch him, and Toby wondered if he sensed Toby’s agitation, how
close he danced to the edge of losing control. Glancing at Wyn from the corner of his eye,
Toby saw his knight taking in everything with the same wonder he’d had in the parking lot
outside the college. Wyn’s hand went to the hilt of his sword as the elevator doors slid open.
“It’s okay,” Toby murmured, stepping through the doors. Wyn’s peace of mind needed
more attention than his own tension.
Toby turned once he was inside and braced his hands on one of the rails that ran the
walls of the enclosure. He puffed out his chest. “C’mon Wyn. It’s safe, and the sooner you get
in, the sooner you get what we both want.”
Wyn’s brown eyes darkened as he caught Toby’s meaning, and Toby reached out to
press the hold button to keep the doors open until Wyn joined him. Wyn straightened, his
resolve visibly wrapping around him, and he stepped forward, trusting Toby’s word.
His presence seemed to fill the small space while Toby fought for restraint. He couldn’t
understand this uncontrollable need, but as he selected the tenth floor on the panel, he knew
it wouldn’t be long before they were both naked.
Wyn jerked as the car surged upward, but he quickly found an anchor—Toby. His
fingers dug into Toby’s hips, his gaze never leaving him.
“This is a new and wondrous place, Toby,” his said in awe as he stared at Toby’s
mouth. A dark strand of hair fell over Wyn’s eye to his cheek, making him look dangerous
and rugged, but Toby wasn’t afraid. His body thrummed, and if not for the security camera
in the corner of the elevator, he would have found a way inside Wyn’s chainmail and
medieval clothing.
“You are new and wondrous,” Toby replied. He swallowed, wondering how forward
he could be. Judging from the wandering hands on the ride here, he figured ‘forward’ wasn’t
a worry. “I want to suck your cock.”
Wyn swallowed. “It has been a long time. Since you—”
He broke off, reaching for his sword as the doors slid open.
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“It’s all right,” Toby told him. “No dragons here. C’mon. My door is down the hall in
the back of the building.” At the moment, he was the only occupant of this floor. Since no one
would see them, Toby laced his fingers through Wyn’s work-hardened grasp then led the
way down. His excitement grew as he approached 4D, and he feared he’d lose it before he
even got out of his pants. No man had ever brought him to this point—and he’d never
brought another man here. What he was experiencing, where they were going, it all seemed
virgin territory that had been reserved for the two of them to experience together.
At his door, he paused to look into Wyn’s dark brown eyes.
“Hurry, Tobias,” Wyn urged.
Tobias…
“Toby,” Toby murmured. Was he making a mistake? With a swallow, he turned and
fitted the key into the lock. Wyn turned Toby’s chin towards him before Toby pushed open
the door.
“One and the same,” Wyn asserted. “Do not torture yourself, believing I have confused
you for another. I have not. I do not know why you have forgotten me, but I know exactly
who you are, and I will help you to remember.”
Toby wasn’t so sure there was something to remember, but he trusted Wyn’s sincerity.
He held open the door and let Wyn enter ahead of him. Once inside, Toby leant against the
closed door. Wyn didn’t gaze around the condo as he had the rest of the places he’d been.
His brown eyes bored into Toby, his arousal bright gold against his dark irises.
“Here we are,” Toby said around the lump in his throat. “Home sweet home.”
Wyn gave him a half-smile and took a few steps away. Turning, he unfastened his
sword belt and laid the weapon on the floor. Then he bent at the waist and let the chainmail
slink from his body. A moment later, he was back.
Toby sucked in his breath as he caught his first glimpse of the physique beneath the
armour. If possible, Wyn seemed even larger now…overwhelming. His arm wrapped
around Toby’s lower back, his other lifting to cup the back of Toby’s head. Wyn stared into
Toby’s eyes, silently declaring his intention, then in a blur his lips were on Toby’s. His mouth
devoured and claimed. There was no exploration, no tenderness as the familiar taste of
cinnamon and wine flooded Toby’s senses. Wyn stormed his senses, and there was no
escape, but it didn’t matter. Toby had no desire to flee.
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He gasped at the sensations shunting through his chest in waves. His mouth opened as
he sank into the kiss, his tongue sliding between Wyn’s as he plundered his lips.
Wyn pulled him tight to his hard body. Their arousals ground together as they seemed
to struggle to get inside one another’s skin. Blindly, Toby groped for a hold on Wyn’s thick
tunic. He dragged it upward, and Wyn broke their kiss long enough to let it be swept over
his head. Toby groaned at the second thinner tunic beneath, the first being padding under
the chain mail, the second acting as Wyn’s true clothing.
Wyn smiled at Toby’s frustration and removed the belt around that tunic then yanked
the offending garment away, leaving him standing in only his rough-hewn hose.
Toby sank backward against the door, stunned by the breath-taking specimen of a man
before him. He sank to his knees. His lips pressed to Wyn’s rock-hard belly. He worshipped
that perfection with his mouth while his hands skated over the knight’s equally hard thighs.
Damn, it would be like fucking rock, but that certainly didn’t deter him.
As he kissed along the ever widening pleasure trail that ran from Wyn’s navel to his
cock, Toby worked the ties holding up Wyn’s hose. He had to see that cock, cradled in the
curling black hair that lead there. After what seemed an eternity, he shoved down the
garment.
Wyn’s arousal rose like a thick obelisk to manhood, and Toby was the pagan to worship
there. His thumb traced the thick vein that curved from Wyn’s base to the smooth,
mushroomed tip. Wyn growled with his need for more, pressing his hand to the back of
Toby’s head, but he didn’t pull him forward. He let Toby move in his own time while
making it known he needed more.
“Taste me. Take me in your mouth,” Wyn urged, his voice a gravelly rumble. His
breathing grew ragged as Toby encircled him with his hand then leant forward. A masculine
tang that was all Wyn flooded Toby’s senses as he wrapped his lips around Wyn’s wide cock.
He flattened his tongue on the head, tasting, then flicking Wyn’s weeping slit, gathering his
salty pre-cum. Slowly, he pushed forward, taking more of Wyn’s length into his mouth,
intent on taking all of him but also determined to go slow.
Toby’s lips dragged over the steel-like rod, Wyn’s burning flesh sending lava flowing
through Toby’s veins. But that wasn’t the liquid fire he longed to feel. He stroked Wyn,
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fucking him with his mouth, drawing forward the release that would give him what he
desired.
Wyn’s fingers tightened in Toby’s hair as he groaned his pleasure. His hips canted
forward with each draw of Toby’s mouth. While he laved Wyn’s cock, Toby reached beneath
to Wyn’s heavy balls and cradled the sacs in his hand, massaging them with his thumb and
gently tugging. Wyn liked that. He always had…
As if that knowledge triggered Toby’s inner vision, his sight dimmed and suddenly, he
saw them inside a cavern. Water fell over the opening and at first he thought it was a
waterfall. Lightning crashed nearby and he realised it was a downpour that sheeted the
opening to the cave where the two warriors had found shelter. He and Wyn were both
soaked, but Wyn had removed his tunic. It was bunched up and Tobias knelt on it as he drew
Wyn’s into his cock into his mouth.
“Yes, squire, take me. Take all of me,” Wyn moaned. It was a game they played. Squire
and knight, Wyn exerting his dominance over Tobias. In truth, they were squire and knight,
Tobias and Sir Alwyn, yet Wyn never called him squire except during sex. Other times, he
always called Tobias by his given name. It aroused Wyn to dominate and Tobias loved
nothing more than to be his subservient. It was the perfect reflection of their relationship,
public and intimate. It suited both their natures.
The vision cleared and Toby lifted his gaze to look at Wyn’s face as he returned to the
moment. Had it been a real memory or a vision from the past? The sight of Wyn’s enraptured
face drove away all thought but this man and what they were doing right now.
Toby stretched out two fingers and rolled them over the sensitive skin behind Wyn’s
balls. Wyn moaned. “Yes…oh squire, yes…”
Squire.
Toby froze in shock. Wyn’s fingers tightened in Toby’s hair, and Toby resumed his
movement, knowing it pleasured Wyn.
Suddenly, Wyn jerked, his cock pushing deeper into Toby’s mouth. Toby swallowed
quickly as Wyn’s cum flooded into his throat. He lazily drew his tongue over Wyn’s long
length until Wyn was completely spent.
Smiling, Toby rested back on his heels. He ran his hands over Wyn’s hard thighs
marvelling once more at this man’s build. He smiled at the hose caught around Wyn’s calves
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where his boots stopped the garment. Oh, the hurry they’d been in…and he wanted more.
He needed to feel Wyn over him, chest to chest.
Wyn clasped Toby’s upper arms and pulled him upright and into a soul-invading kiss.
He plundered Toby’s mouth, tugging at Toby’s shirt. Several buttons went plinking away as
Wyn yanked. Toby hurriedly released the rest. Wyn shoved it off his shoulders and they
played a tug of war with Toby’s undershirt. As soon as it was over Toby’s head, Wyn zeroed
in on Toby’s nipples. He nipped them just as Toby liked. In ecstasy, Toby arched into the hot
mouth, shuddering at the waves of pleasure surging to his groin.
“Oh, yes, my knight,” he muttered. Wyn paused, looking up at him. His eyes quizzical,
he straightened.
“Tobias? You remember?”
“I remember…something…”
Wyn gave a nod then bent to shove his clothing off his legs. He grabbed Toby’s arm and
started down the short hall from the entryway to the living room. “You have a bed
somewhere within this kingly abode? By the saints, Tobias, even his highness does not have
dwellings as fine as this.”
“It’s not that much in this time.” Toby kicked off his shoes and opened his pants as they
walked. He jerked his head towards the hallway that led to his bedroom. “The bed is that
way.”
Wyn paused inside the doorway. He startled when Toby flicked on the lights, but at
this point, he seemed so accustomed to the future’s oddities that he wasn’t afraid nor did he
feel the need to investigate. His entire focus seemed to be on Toby’s large four-poster bed
with its thick burgundy and gold comforter and huge pillows.
Toby smiled at his awe. “Does it meet your approval, my lord?”
Crossing to the bed, he flipped back the blanket to reveal the black cotton sheets. He
was about to turn back when he found himself bent over the bed with Wyn against his back.
God. Perfect. Wyn kissed the back of his neck while his hand reached around to slip inside
Toby’s briefs and capture his throbbing cock.
“I have never had you in a bed,” Wyn breathed against his back as his mouth trailed his
spine.
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Toby was hard-pressed not to remind Wyn that he’d never had him, but after the
vision, he wasn’t so sure that was true.
He held his breath as Wyn’s lips hit his waistband. Slowly, the material slipped
downward, that hot mouth following it. Wyn pushed Toby’s pants completely off him then
ran his hands up the back of Toby’s thighs. Toby trembled at the rasp of Wyn’s calluses, but
it was nothing to the shock that went through him and had him on his toes, his face pressed
into the mattress, when Wyn clasped his ass and parted him. Hot breath teased his flesh.
Toby fisted his hands in the sheet, moaning as Wyn ran his tongue over his anus.
“Oh God,” he cried, losing him in the heat of the licks. His heart raced. His muscles
clenched. His toes curled into the thick carpet. His nails rasped on the sheets—his whole
body seemed to writhe without moving. There was no slipping from Wyn’s iron grip and
intent tongue, there was no escape from the excruciating pleasure of the intimacy.
Wyn’s tongue thrust against his tight opening, and Toby’s vision shifted again. He was
in that same cavern, the pouring rain thundering in his ears almost as loud as his heartbeat.
Wyn had him pressed to the cavern wall as he laved his nether opening. The scrape of the
rough wall against his front strangely added to his arousal. This was one of their favourite
spots… Wyn had tied Tobias’ wrists above his head, hooking the rope over an outcropping.
Wyn stood and Toby hurtled back to his awareness of the moment in the twenty-first
century. His wrists itched for the binding again—he could almost feel the chafing of the rope
around them.
Behind him, Wyn spit into his hand, and Toby scrambled up onto the bed. “No, wait!”
“Wait?” Wyn echoed his voice, hard with disbelief.
“No, I don’t want you to stop. It’s just that we do things…” He lifted a hand. “Just
wait…” Crawling over to the table on the far side of the bed, his cock swinging like a
pendulum, he found a condom and his bottle of lube. He turned back to Wyn who’d crawled
onto the mattress. “We need these,” Toby told him.
He ripped open the foil wrapper and beckoned Wyn towards him.
Toby showed him the rolled latex. “Protection,” he said.
Wyn raised a brow in disbelief then both eyes went wide as Toby rolled the rubber over
Wyn’s rigid cock.
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Toby shook the bottle of lube then reached for Wyn’s hand. He placed a dab on Wyn’s
finger. Immediately, Wyn rubbed his fingers together. His lips turned up into a wicked grin,
and he reached for the bottle.
“On your back, squire.”
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Chapter Three
Wyn didn’t miss the excitement that flared through Tobias’ eyes at his order. Whether
he remembered who he was or not, his body recalled what it liked and it liked being under
Wyn’s command.
He squirted a generous amount of the wondrous lubricant onto his hand and rubbed it
over his cock, marvelling at the smooth texture and the easy glide of his movement. It would
feel like heaven inside Toby. He added more to his fingers then moved to Toby and worked
them over his puckered opening. Wyn loved the feel of the slippery substance against Toby’s
heated flesh. He added a bit more of the lubricant then increased the pressure of his fingers.
Bit by bit, he eased Toby into readiness until he was fairly screaming for penetration. Toby
sighed with relief when Wyn pushed in one finger. He worked it in and out of his lover like a
thin cock, but a cock that was nothing in comparison to his own. Toby would have to take a
few more fingers before he reached that level.
Wyn had to fight with himself not to go too fast. Everything in his being screamed that
it had been too long, urged him to take Toby now and take him hard, by Wyn refused to let
this reunion go that route. Toby didn’t recall him, but Wyn would do all he could to show his
lover how much he cared for him. Hard and fast would come later, for they loved that too.
Toby was writhing by the time Wyn inserted a second then a third finger. He worked
them in and out, curving his middle digit to rub against that spot that had Toby fisting his
hands in the pillows. Wyn leant forward and wrapped his hand around Toby’s erection.
“What have we here? A great, firm staff?” He squeezed the throbbing column and
dragged his tongue over the head to gather the salty nectar there while he continued to
plumb Toby’s clutching depths. “Focus on the pleasure, but do not find release, my fine
squire. Not yet…”
“It’s too much. I’m gonna—”
Wyn released Toby’s cock and pressed his thumb behind his balls in the place that
would help Toby stop his ejaculation and find control. “Wait,” he said firmly. “Wait until we
are one.”
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“Yes.” Toby nodded and swallowed, his knuckles now white on the pillows. “Please,
Wyn, hurry. I need you in me.”
“I need you as much,” Wyn groaned. He pushed Toby’s legs apart, fitted his cock’s
head to Toby’s puckered flesh then slowly pushed forward. The pressure drew agonised
moans from both men.
“More,” Toby begged. His hips canted into Wyn’s thrust, taking more than Wyn had
intended. The squeeze of Toby’s walls ignited his barely held control. He clasped Toby’s hips
and drove forward, setting a pace that would quickly drive them over the edge.
Beneath him, Toby quivered. His hands went to his nipples, pinching as he pushed onto
Wyn’s cock, trying to take him all. Over and over, Wyn slammed into him, his cock making
long, smooth strokes, his pelvis smacking into Toby’s firm ass. He grasped Toby’s cock,
pumping it to the same rhythm. His orgasm welled inside him, edging towards the final
explosion, and he wanted Toby with him. He slowed his thrusts, but continued jacking his
lover to release. Toby jolted suddenly beneath him, his ass squeezing Wyn as he flew over
the edge. His cum splashed onto his chest, and Wyn leant forward to lap at it as he renewed
his vigorous drives. The tight passage squeezed his release from him and he emptied into the
‘protection’ as peace flooded him—he and his love were one once more.
* * * *
Toby smiled into the darkness as Wyn curled into his side, snoring softly and warming
him like a large space heater. His stomach growled and his grin widened. So much for living
on love. And there had been a lot of that in the last hours. It was almost midnight and they’d
been in this bed since they’d gotten here. Wyn couldn’t get enough of Toby’s body and
Toby…Toby couldn’t get enough of Wyn getting his body. The feel of Wyn against him, in
him, was the most intense and pleasurable sensation he’d ever experienced. Intuitively, he
knew it wasn’t the sex. It was great, but…maybe it was the visions. They told a story that had
been hidden to him. Maybe it was a past life. Maybe, as outlandish as it seemed, he’d had a
life with Wyn before he’d stumbled onto his adoptive family’s land. If so, why couldn’t he
remember?
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That troubled him, and he suspected it had to do with the guilty feeling he’d had back
in his office, the feeling that Wyn would hate him if he knew the truth. But knew the truth
about what?
His stomach growled again, and Toby decided he’d better get out of bed and make
something to eat before he woke Wyn with the storms going on in his belly and in his head.
Wyn grumbled as Toby slipped free then turned onto his belly, snuggling his face into the
pillows. He’d commented earlier that he’d never reclined on a surface so soft, and Toby had
to wonder if that was why warriors of the past had woken so easily. They were never
completely comfortable and therefore never very sound asleep. Not so with Wyn now. Toby
suspected a herd of elephants could run through the bedroom and Wyn would sleep on. Of
course, Toby thought smugly, he had been worn out.
He scooped up his pants, slipped out of the bedroom then headed for the kitchen before
he was completely distracted by the long line of Wyn’s back highlighted by the moon
peeking through the windows above the bed. Toby loved his corner apartment with
windows on two sides of his bedroom, and he couldn’t wait to see Wyn bathed in the
morning sunlight.
Later…he couldn’t dwell on it now, or he’d be right back in there, waking up Wyn.
He flipped on the kitchen light and opened the fridge, wondering what the heck he’d
make his knight. He seemed to be low on medieval fixings as stared inside while he slipped
on his pants, zipping them, but leaving the button open.
It was too late for steaks, frozen dinners wouldn’t cut it, an omelette was too cliché, but
Wyn probably wouldn’t guess that. In the end, Toby decided on burgers, fries and steamed
broccoli à la microwave. He’d never particularly liked cooking, but making food for Wyn just
seemed…right and gave him a warm feeling of home. Weird.
He pulled a beer from the fridge and took a few swigs to remind himself he was a guy
and not Suzy Homemaker. It was fine for a man to like cooking, but the whole home and
hearth thing just wasn’t him—at least, it had never been before.
“Tobias!” Wyn’s distressed bellow came from the bedroom, just as Toby was placing
the fries in the oven. He sprinted down the hallway and met Wyn, face to neck, as Wyn
stormed from the bedroom. His arms crushed Toby to him, holding him as if he’d never let
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him go, as if he was terrified of losing him. Toby swallowed back tears at Wyn’s pain and the
niggling feeling that he’d caused the fear that lived inside this powerful warrior.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I was just cooking us something to eat. Are you hungry?”
“Don’t ever leave me…”
“I won’t,” Toby promised, not questioning his oath after such a short time. “You have
to trust me, I won’t. Even if we have to be parted while I work, I’ll always come back.”
Why should he trust you? You left before.
Ignoring his inner voice, he laced his fingers through Wyn’s and pulled him towards
the living area. “Why don’t you sit down while I cook? Do you want a beer?”
Wyn nodded, looking a little embarrassed by his outburst. Toby leant down and kissed
him, tracing his lips with his tongue until he let him inside. Leisurely, he showed Wyn how
much he adored him until he knew he had to stop or they’d fuck right there on the dining
room chair.
“I’ll get that beer,” he mumbled. He stroked his fingers lightly over Wyn’s cock.
“Tomorrow, we need to get you some clothes. You can’t run around in a tunic and hose—
especially when it’s not Ren faire season.”
He backed out of Wyn’s arms and dashed for the kitchen, contemplating exactly how
he’d manage to get Wyn clothes. He supposed he’d have to go get them himself in the
morning and hope they fit based on his guesses. He wrinkled his nose at the thought of the
mall. He’d go to the local department store and get some mid-range clothes and pick up
some well-loved jeans from Goodwill. Later, when they knew what Wyn liked, they could go
higher end.
It didn’t take long before he had food on the table and they each had their second beer.
Toby explained the intimacy of condiments while Wyn eyed the strange food, plates and
cutlery in front of him. It all must seem so different from the fourteenth century.
“Trust me, it’s food,” Toby laughed. He pierced a piece of broccoli and ate it while Wyn
pushed at his with his fork.
He looked up at Toby. “It’s green.”
“It’s a vegetable, Wyn. Eat it.”
Wyn reluctantly speared the broccoli and put it in his mouth. He chewed, making a
face. “Vile,” he said after he’d swallowed and took a few gulps of beer.
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“You’ll get used to it. It’s good for you.”
Wyn growled, making it clear he wouldn’t go easily down the vegetable path.
Memo to me: Medieval warrior equals Neanderthal. Toby happily ate his vegetables, smiling
at Wyn’s look. Wyn seemed to enjoy the burger, though he picked off the lettuce, apparently
recognising it as plant, not animal. And he liked the fries…and the ketchup.
He had the culinary palate of an eight year old.
Toby shook his head, watching Wyn push the broccoli far away from the other food,
then leant forward on his elbows. “You know…all the warriors eat this nowadays. I’m going
to eat all mine then maybe, I can be the knight…”
Wyn scowled. Toby went back to his food ignoring the fact that all Wyn’s vegetables
disappeared. There was no question as to who would retain the power in the relationship.
Wyn wins.
Toby smiled to himself as he got up and took his dish to the sink. Wyn followed him,
mimicking Toby’s actions as he rinsed his dishes and placed them in the dishwasher, but he
was only half paying attention to that, his eyes focused on the water spigot. He tapped the
faucet. “Show me.”
Toby turned the knobs. “This one is hot, and this one is cold.”
“Magic…” Wyn turned the water on and off, then on and off, then on and off. Toby
pulled his hands away.
“No, not magic.” He shook his head. “It’s not magical at all. Someday, I’ll explain it all
to you but not tonight. It’s after midnight.”
“Mmm, yes…” Wyn turned into him and nipped his neck, his hand going to Toby’s hip.
“Bed.”
“After all the sex earlier, I think a shower then bed,” Toby said, tilting his head to give
Wyn better access. Wyn probably didn’t understand, but he didn’t comment. He nipped at
the skin behind Toby’s ear.
“Show me,” Wyn told him.
Reluctantly breaking away, Toby headed for the large bathroom adjoining his bedroom.
Inside, he explained the toilet, almost laughing at Wyn’s relief to see it. He started the shower
while Wyn discovered the joy of indoor plumbing. Wyn investigated the room while Toby
got out towels. He turned the sink faucets on and off then nodded, seeming pleased that he’d
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worked out the mechanism. Toby was glad the price of his water was lumped in with his
condo payment or he’d be in for a mint. He stripped off his pants and stepped into the
shower enclosure.
“Coming?” he asked, drawing Wyn’s attention.
Wyn’s lids went half mast, the irises darkening with desire, as he homed in on Toby
beneath the shower’s spray. Toby ran his hands over his slick belly and tilted his head into
the spray. He knew he was acting the tease, but being with Wyn was such a relief to his spirit
that he couldn’t help but play. He groaned with pleasure as Wyn’s hard, hair-roughened
body pressed to his. Distractedly, he reached beyond his lover and clanged shut the glass
door.
By now, Wyn seemed somewhat accustomed to the concept of water inside a dwelling
though Toby didn’t fool himself into thinking there wouldn’t be a lot of investigation to
come. Wyn now seemed more intent on investigating Toby, and Toby had no complaints
there. As Wyn’s fingers skated along Toby’s back and thighs Toby did his own investigation.
He soaped his hands then played them over the hard muscles of Wyn’s back…such a
warrior. He’d have to make sure they went to the Y regularly so that Wyn could continue to
train, though that training would indeed be different. He’d heard of a local sword fighting
group. Perhaps he could look into them. Or perhaps Wyn would just drag him out to the
park and expect him to spar.
Toby’s limbs itched as if remembering the activity and suddenly, he longed for the
weight of a sword in his hand. The sensation confused him more than ever. This was
craziness. Forgetting his fanciful thoughts, he moulded Wyn’s firm buttocks and worked his
fingers between them. The pad of his forefinger slid over Wyn’s puckered flesh.
“Squire, you forget yourself,” Wyn ground out between his teeth, yet he didn’t move
away.
“I forget nothing,” Toby replied. His soapy finger pressed the opening then slipped
inside the tight orifice. Wyn groaned. His hips flexed into Toby as Toby slowly thrust in and
out. Wyn was the top but that didn’t mean he couldn’t experience some of the pleasure Toby
so enjoyed. He had no intention of fucking Wyn—he didn’t think Wyn would allow it—but
he wanted to massage his lover’s prostate and bring him soaring into bliss.
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He added a second finger and tapped backward against Wyn’s sweet spot, drawing a
strangled cry. Wyn’s cock jabbed Toby’s lower belly.
“Let me take you there, my knight,” Toby whispered, urging him to just let go and
enjoy the pleasure. This wasn’t about power. It was about sharing the pleasure of being
together, of breaking a long separation of souls.
He slid from Wyn’s embrace, never ceasing his smooth strokes, and knelt. Water pelted
the back of his head and streamed over his shoulders. He reached for Wyn’s cock, knowing
he must be close and wanting that burning cum to fill his mouth once more. He took Wyn
deep. At the sensation of the fingers in his rectum, the water pouring over him, and the lips
around his cock, Wyn’s hands slammed out to his sides, one palm slapping against the white
tiled wall and the other knocking open the shower door. From the corner of his eye, Toby
saw Wyn grasp the corner of the doorframe, and warm tendrils wove through him. He liked
that he had this strong man struggling for balance and control. He redoubled his efforts,
thrusting harder and applying a suction that had Wyn gasping.
Toby was so over-aroused his cock wept, profusely leaking his pre-cum, and he
suspected he might come right along with Wyn when the moment came. Some men might
protest that, but the shared pleasure between them, the intimacy, was enough in this
instance. He didn’t need penetration or manual involvement. When Wyn, jerked, stiffening
all over, Toby swallowed as fast as he could. He loved Wyn’s creamy elixir.
When the vision came this time, it took Toby by surprise. They were in a darkened
room. A pallet lay nearby barely visible through the moonlight flooded room. The shutters
were open letting in the light, but there was none other in this rented room.
Tobias and Wyn passing through this town on their way home from months at the
king’s court. Tobias had wanted to sleep in the woods, but Wyn had insisted on a room.
When Tobias made to sleep in the stable, Wyn had insisted that he accompany him instead.
Uneasiness filled the squire. He was subject to premonitions. He normally kept them to
himself, very rarely sharing them with Wyn. This one scared him. Something was awry.
As Wyn found release, Tobias slipped away. “I will see to the horses and find you some
sustenance, my knight.”
“Tobias, you are not my servant.”
“But I am. It is my station.”
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“Not in my heart. The horses are fine. I am not hungry. I desire that you stay here with
me.”
Tobias wanted nothing more, but it was not his fate. Against what he willed for himself,
he was drawn to the outside. If he didn’t go, that fate would come here to the place he and
Wyn hid from the world.
He stood, placing his hand on his beloved’s cheek. The stubble scratched the inside of
his wrist but was hardly felt by his callused palm. Tears pricked his eyes, but he knew Wyn
wouldn’t see them with his face hidden in the shadows.
“I love you, Sir Alwyn. Remember that always.”
“Tobias…”
“I’ll go see to the horses.” Tobias turned and left the room, knowing he’d never see his
beloved Wyn again, but determined to be as much a knight as he had trained to be. That
dream would never come nor would forever after with his one true love.
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Chapter Four
“Tobias!” Wyn looked down in horror as Toby pressed his forehead to his thigh and
sobbed as if his favourite dog had been killed. When he didn’t respond, Wyn pulled him to
his feet. Toby’s eyes were blank, empty as if he wasn’t there. He’d seen this look on Tobias’
face many times. A vision. Toby wouldn’t be cognizant again until it was over.
Gently, Wyn washed him then held him up while he haphazardly soaped himself and
rinsed them both. It took several tries to determine how to turn off the water since it was a
different mechanism from the other water wells. He stepped outside and picked up one of
the soft towels Tobias had set out. Tenderly, he dried him then dashed the cloth over himself.
Though Tobias had always hated it when Wyn carried him, Wyn lifted him into his arms and
brought him to the bed. The sobbing had stopped, and now Tobias shook as if he was
freezing or experiencing overwhelming fear.
Wyn tucked him beneath the covers of the kingly bed then climbed in beside him. He
drew Tobias firmly to his body, absorbing the trembling. The visions had always disturbed
him, and this one bothered him no less. He wondered if Tobias was remembering his past
and how Wyn fit into his life. Not for one moment did he doubt that this Toby was his lover,
Tobias. The angel had told him Tobias intended to await him for eternity then told Wyn she
was sending him here. There was no question why he was here—to reunite with the other
half of his soul.
“Tobias,” he whispered, smoothing the hair off Tobias’ forehead. He kissed his temple.
His lips moved to his lover’s ear. “Come back to me love. Leave this vision that troubles you.
Come back to me.”
He didn’t respond. An echoing pain gnawed at Wyn’s chest. Was Tobias remembering
that day? The hour they’d separated forever? Wyn pressed his forehead into the back of
Toby’s neck as he remembered.
Tobias had been caged, awaiting the wrath of those who’d snatched him from the inn
that night, men who hated their kind, men who claimed to be on a mission from God. They
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were not godly men, not by any measure. Rage had filled Wyn. They’d beaten Tobias, and he
curled in the corner of the cage, hiding his nakedness.
Wyn was ready to kill them all, to wreak vengeance on the ones who’d done this.
Tobias had grabbed Wyn’s tunic through the bars as Wyn had crouched beside him.
“Do not tell them. Do not reveal yourself. Do not dare,” he’d rasped. Desperate fear had
filled his eyes as he’d begged.
They meant to kill Tobias, and they both knew it. Wyn wouldn’t let it happen.
“I will rescue you from this. You are my squire. They cannot do this.”
“They are the law here, and they will kill you. You must deny me,” Tobias had urged.
“This fate awaits any like us. You must so you might stop the blight preying upon us.” He’d
looked out the corner of his eye at the mob who’d gathered. “You must leave. You are in
danger. Promise me you will leave and you will fight.” His hand had shaken as he’d yanked
at Wyn’s tunic, as if begging. “I wish I could kiss you one more time,” he’d whispered.
“Promise me.”
“Tobias—”
“Deny me!” Tobias had grated, his pained tone low as he cut off Wyn’s harsh whisper.
“You must. You must save yourself…and avenge me.”
Wyn had straightened, his soul rending as the final veil of his youth had been ripped
away.
“I have examined this man, and I know him naught,” he had announced, turning on his
heel and heading through the crowd as they parted at the sight of his thunderous
countenance. He had never intended to desert Tobias. He’d intended to rescue him as the
darkness of night fell, but that had been too late. As the sun had sunk beneath the horizon,
Tobias’ corpse had cooled, thrown in a field to await the carrion who would dispose of it.
Wyn had saved his body from that desecration. He’d carefully buried the man who had
served him and loved him so well. All the while, he’d vowed revenge.
His tears fell on the back of Toby’s neck. “I killed them,” he rasped. “I killed them all. I
avenged you, Tobias.”
* * * *
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Toby had never had such an awful nightmare. The visions he’d had in the night shook
him. The terrifying sight of a hot poker turning red in the fire as he was tied spread-eagle to a
table had jerked him awake, a silent scream ripping at his throat.
He’d never been so happy to see his sunlight flooded bedroom. The flush of his toilet
told him that not all of what he remembered from the previous night had been a dream. He
sat up, his arms crossed contentedly over his middle as he leant against the headboard and
waited.
The sunlight seemed to dance across Wyn as he emerged from the bedroom gloriously
naked. He was unbelievably beautiful. Toby would never share that descriptor with him—
Wyn certainly wouldn’t appreciate it—but it was true.
“Good morning,” Toby greeted him. “I was hoping I would wake first so I could get
clothing for you and be back before you were up and about.”
“You had a…difficult night,” Wyn replied. “And I have always risen early. You know
that.” Wyn came to the bed and sat on the edge. He palmed the side of Toby’s face. “Are you
all right?”
Toby’s brows furrowed, and his head tilted at his strange question.
“You had a vision,” Wyn supplied.
There was no point in denying it, though Toby refused to share the horrific things he’d
seen. He nodded.
“You know now. You know they took you from me and killed you…”
“If they killed me, how am I here?” Toby asked.
Wyn shrugged. “How am I here? The ways of the heavens are not for mortals to
understand.”
“You always said that, and I always found it annoying.”
Wyn’s wide smile lit up his face. “You remember!”
“Some. Not everything,” Toby replied.
“Then you believe me?”
“With the things I’ve been seeing, how could I not? It’s still unbelievable to me, but
it’s…so clear.”
Wyn leant forward, his lips covering Toby’s, and he opened as naturally for his lover as
he knew he always had in the past. This time was a leisurely exploration, a reaffirmation of
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who they were together. Wyn changed the angle of the kiss then gave him short pecks on his
lips and over his cheeks.
“I need to get you clothes,” Toby moaned. He extricated himself with great difficulty—
mostly because he didn’t want to go—and Wyn plopped down in the spot Toby had vacated
on the bed. He watched with hungry eyes as Toby got ready for the day.
“Do not go…” he murmured on Toby’s final trip out of the bathroom.
“I need to or you’ll be stuck here with nothing to wear. I wish I could just ask you your
sizes. I’m guessing about two inches and a shirt size on me.”
Wyn looked at him blankly and Toby realised what he said probably sounded like
gibberish.
“The last time you left I lost you for eight years,” Wyn said, his voice flat as he looked
out the window at the Grand Rapids skyline.
Toby knelt beside Wyn’s hip on the bed. Gently, he cupped Wyn’s face and turned him
towards him then dropped light kisses on his face. “I’ll come back. I promise.” His thumb
pulled along Wyn’s bottom lip. “I have wicked things I want to do to you.”
He slipped off the bed before he indulged.
Wyn watched as Tobias left the chamber and sighed when he heard the door close a few
minutes later. He was being a child. Still, he couldn’t fight the memories of the last time
Tobias had gone to do a task for him. Unwilling to stay in bed, he rose and left the bedroom.
This was a strange place—not just Tobias’ condo but everything in it, everything he saw as
he looked out the large windows that would never have graced a dwelling in his time. There
were no fortifications, and none of the buildings seemed to have arrow slits for defence. The
lord’s manor wasn’t readily visible, nor were the huts of the serfs. Where did the ruler of this
land live? The servants? He concluded this was a more peaceable time—Tobias didn’t carry
so much as a dagger and this dwelling didn’t contain the weapons of a warrior. That was
strange since, though a squire, Tobias was truly a warrior.
In the main living area where they’d eaten yestereve, he saw it. Mounted on the wall
was a medieval sword, much like the one he’d always carried. He lifted it down from the
pegs on which it rested. The heavy steel felt familiar in his hands. A piece of home in this
foreign land.
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He hefted the weight and found the weapon nicely balanced. Tobias had chosen well.
Carefully, he placed the weapon back where it had been then wandered towards the door,
taking in everything. Last night he hadn’t been interested in anything but Tobias’ body,
today he took in everything, every unfamiliar object, texture, smell and sound.
He recognised the table and chairs for what they were, though they looked completely
different and never had he seen a table decorated with a rock and water formation like the
one on Tobias’ table—he’d never seen a table decorated for that matter. Two large chairs,
more kingly than a throne, were several feet away in the area across from where the sword
was on the wall. Another oversized chair—or was it a bed—was also in the space.
A low rumble from outside blended with a constant hum droning through the
dwelling. It seemed to be everywhere, and he could only conclude that it was the sound of
the future for he’d heard it in Tobias’ ‘office’ too.
Near the door, he gathered his clothing, chainmail and sword. He placed the sword on
Tobias’ table near the rock decoration and draped the chainmail over the back of the chair
next to it, but the weight tipped the seat. The piece or furniture was light and obviously not
well-constructed if it could not hold this bit of armour. After placing the mail on the floor, he
pulled on his hose and knotted the ties about his waist. Somehow he’d lost a boot, and a
search did not reveal it.
He wondered how long he’d be here. Was he here temporarily? Would the angel come
back and pluck him away and set him down…where? Crossing his arms over his bare chest,
he went to one of the large windows on the far side of the living area. They were truly
wondrous.
He stared through the marvellously clear panes at the world below. So many people. So
many of the conveyances he’d seen yesterday when he’d come here with Tobias. He stood
there for a long time, just watching. Finally, when his stomach growled, he turned away and
went in search of food. Again very little looked familiar. He recognised apples and grapes
and something that smelled like bread but was too white in colour and light in texture.
Deciding it was some poor sort of bread, he took a few pieces to the table along with the fruit.
Having watched Tobias with the beer last night, he opened one to complete his morning
meal, though he would have liked to have some meat.
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The bread seemed to melt before he could chew it, and he decided he didn’t like it.
Perhaps he would avoid it in the future. He’d finished the grapes and was partway through
the apple and the beer when Tobias returned from his excursion.
His lover stopped inside the doorway to the living area and put down his parcels. He
crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, leaning against the wall. “I guess I should have
fed you before I left.”
Wyn took a bite of his apple. “I am well. I can find food.”
“These days, we don’t drink beer in the morning. The water is safe so you can drink
that without fear of disease. Of course, there’s juice in the refrigerator, and I like to drink
coffee. Speaking of coffee…” He lifted one of the things he’d brought in with him. “I thought
I’d see what you think of Starbucks. Careful. It’s really hot.” He handed a cup to Wyn and
Wyn carefully took a sip.
He made a face. “Sweet,” he commented.
Toby’s face fell. “You don’t like it.”
“It merely surprised me. I like it.” He’d say anything to remove that disappointed look
from his lover’s face. And he really did like it. He took another sip. “This is called star buck?”
“It’s coffee from a place called Starbucks.”
Wyn nodded, drinking the strange liquid. Tobias set his down and reached for the four
large parcels by his feet. “Clothes. Shall we? There are a bunch of places I’d like to take you
today.”
* * * *
‘Lifting weights’, as Tobias called it, was enjoyable. The treadmill was boring—Wyn
would rather be outside running. The swimming was good. Overall, he liked this place called
the YMCA. He was glad to have a place to work his body. If only they had a field where he
could swing his sword and other knights to spar with. He looked at Tobias speculatively. He
has a sword and he knew how to spar.
Tomorrow, his squire would take him to a place where they could train.
Pleased with his decision, he started to push at the swimsuit he’d worn in the pool. It
was an odd material and stuck to his legs in an unfamiliar way now that it was wet. He
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preferred swimming naked. He couldn’t wait to get it off and sit in the small, steaming pool
of water where Tobias said they were next headed now that they’d showered.
“Leave it on,” Tobias said.
Wyn made a short motion at the other naked men. “But—”
“Leave it on,” Tobias repeated.
“Tobias, I am not deformed or ashamed of my body. Am I lacking?”
“No…I…” He turned away. “It’s fine. I’m being silly. Go ahead… I think I’m going to
change and go wait in the lobby. Do you remember how to get there?”
Wyn caught his arm. “What troubles you?”
Tobias sighed. “It’s stupid really. I don’t know if I can be naked with you in there and
not be completely obvious about wanting you. I should be able to—I’m not an animal. But—”
Heat burst through Wyn’s middle. Ah, his squire wanted him. Badly. Wyn wanted
Tobias just as much. And he saw an opportunity…
“Perhaps we can soak in the steaming pool a different day,” he said. “For a token.”
“A token?” Tobias asked as he changed his clothes. Wyn shoved off the suit and, after
drying, pulled his clothes from the space Tobias had called a locker.
He wrestled on the odd white pants he was to wear first. They cupped everything in a
manner he was unaccustomed to, but Tobias assured him that was normal.
“What favour do you ask?” Tobias prodded.
“Tomorrow we train.”
“Train? For what—wait! You mean sword fight. No. I don’t know how.”
“You know how.” Wyn slipped on the soft pants Tobias had told him were called jeans.
He liked them, and Tobias had said they ‘fit his package nicely’ whatever that meant, though
judging from where the squire had stared, Wyn was fairly sure of the meaning.
“I don’t.”
“You do. A knight never forgets.”
“I’m not a knight.”
“You’re a knight in all but name. If your family had had the wealth to outfit you…”
Tobias scowled then pulled on the last of his clothes and sat to pull on his shoes. “I got a
call while I was out earlier. I have to go to the museum when we leave here. I translate
documents for them when they need me.”
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“You have become quite the scholar. Reading old documents. Teaching.”
“Squiring doesn’t pay well these days.”
Wyn yanked a shirt over his head. Tobias’ eyes grew dark as he stared at the way the
stretchy material hugged Wyn’s torso. He quickly looked away, but Wyn was left with the
impression of that look on his skin.
“I don’t suppose one can earn their way as a knight in this time either.”
“Not the sort you are. There’s soldiering, but I don’t think it would suit you. It wouldn’t
suit me to have you in danger that way.” He picked up his bag. “Ready?”
Wyn repeated his action, the reality of his situation starting to sink in. Everything was
new. His skills weren’t of use here. What would he do?
Tobias elbowed him as they were walking. “I know that look. Stop worrying. I’ll take
care of you.”
Wyn scowled. That wasn’t the way of things.
He followed Tobias outside to his car. He much preferred the motorcycle, but Tobias
claimed this was better for carrying their things. He also claimed it would rain today. Wyn
wasn’t so sure. It looked fine to him, but Tobias claimed that in this place called Michigan the
weather often changed drastically throughout the day. Still, he’d rather they had ridden the
motorcycle. It seemed like a lightning fast horse. The car just…terrified him. He felt trapped
and out of control, and he didn’t believe Tobias for a second when he said it was safer.
Pulling a blank face that wouldn’t reveal the way his heart thundered in his chest, he
got into the car. His left palm flattened on the top of his thigh while his other hand, hidden
from Tobias, clenched into a fist.
“I’d believe you were calm if you’d breathe,” Tobias chided as he manoeuvred the car
onto the street.
“I am fine,” Wyn replied.
“Ever the warrior.”
Wyn glared at him. For the duration of the journey, he considered the flogging he’d
give Tobias’ fair ass when they returned home. Far from the punishment Tobias deserved for
taunting him, they would both enjoy it. Wyn considered lashing his squire to the bed and
tormenting until Tobias begged for relief then tormenting even more. The plan had just
begun to solidify in his mind when Tobias turned off the car. He got out and walked into a
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large building made of sand-coloured brick. Rather than going up the wide steps to the front
doors, he led the way to a door on the side of the building. He pulled out a rectangle of a
material that new substance so many things were now made of. Plastic. He dragged it
through a small slot then pressed numbers on the wall beside the slot. A flash of green above
the numbers accompanied a buzzing sound, and Tobias opened the door.
His carefree familiarity with everything Wyn found so foreign settled uneasily in Wyn’s
middle. There was so much to learn and to understand. He felt like an infant who knew
nothing of the world to which he’d been born. Even the language was unfamiliar. He
understood Tobias because he spoke the language of their time, but everyone else… They
might as well be speaking the language of the Muslims in the Holy Land, though at least he
understood some of their language.
The inside of the ‘museum’ interested Wyn with its many displays from his time. Of
course, it was disconcerting to see things he’d known as new look so aged. He tried to look
like he understood the conversation when a man and woman started talking to Tobias. He
was startled by the sound of tinkling laughter when the pair walked away.
The angel…
Was his time here complete? Had she come to rip him away? Heat prickled across his
shoulders, his middle jolting with a fear greater than that of being in the car.
“What’s wrong? Your face has gone completely white.”
He shook his head. A flash of white beside them kept him from answering.
“This is ridiculous,” the angel said. “I’m not supposed to interfere, but you’ll never get
anywhere if you don’t understand.”
“What the hell?”
At Tobias’ exclamation the angel pinned him with an admonishing glare. “Don’t swear,
Tobias. You know who I am. I saved you from a fate very nearly like hell on earth.”
Turning back to Wyn, she placed her thumbs on his neck. Her cool fingers reached up
to his ears, two fingers resting in front of his ears and two behind. His skin seemed to tingle
where she touched him. Then she looked into his eyes.
A force like a raging river rushed through his head, shifting his memories and filling
him with new. Not events. A lifetime of knowledge. He understood without experiencing a
minute, a book filled with information but never alive.
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Suddenly, she stepped back, severing the connection, and he stumbled. With a half
smile, she nodded then disappeared like mist in burning sunlight.
Tobias said something to him, and Wyn turned to focus on him. “Repeat that?”
Tobias spoke again. It took a moment for Wyn to realise his squire spoke in Old
English—that’s what it was called now. Before Wyn could focus his thoughts enough to
translate the words, Tobias stopped speaking. “Wait! You just spoke in modern English…”
Wyn rubbed his temple. “Yes… I do not know what she has done, but… I want to go to
a movie. Have pizza. And…get a…cell phone so I can call you whenever I need to.” He bent
slightly forward, holding his head, his eyes tightly closed. “God’s teeth, what has she done? I
have all this empty knowledge, yet I understand nothing.”
Tobias clasped Wyn’s upper arm, squeezed then gave two manly pats. “I’d say she’s
taken a shortcut. Made things easier for you. You’re lucky. It took me a year of intensive
language lessons to get even close to up to speed. Though from the sound of it, her
interpretation of Modern English doesn’t include today’s colloquialisms and is rather…old.”
He smiled, feeling himself falling into professor mode. “The language evolves constantly.
You speak like someone from a century ago.”
“I still have much to learn.”
“I’ll help you.”
The thought of his squire teaching him grated sideways across Wyn’s senses. He’d learn
what he needed to without lessening himself in Tobias’ eyes.
Tobias raised a brow and laughed, obviously understanding his defiant body language.
“Or not,” he conceded. “C’mon. Let’s go find David then go get something to eat.”
“David?”
“He’s the director of the museum.”
Visions of the past flittered through Tobias’ head as he led Wyn to the back of the Levey
and up a dark set of stairs to the offices housed in the uppermost portion of the building.
Frankly, the stairwell and the storage area they’d passed through to get to the lighted work
spaces on the far side of the floor were spooky. At least, Toby thought they were. He half
expected a bat to fly from behind a musty collection and wing its way past him.
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He wasn’t afraid of bats—he’d been through far worse. The angel brought that all back
in glaring detail. He’d suppressed the memory and now struggled to push it away again. It
was too gruesome.
In the near darkness, he laced his fingers with Wyn’s. Anticipation of the night to come
had been building in his belly since he’d watched Wyn trying on clothes earlier. God, how
his jeans fit. He wanted to kiss his way over the soft fabric that covered his cock and defined
his hard thighs. He wanted to kiss him passionately, losing himself in Wyn’s mouth while he
plunged his hands into Wyn’s back pockets and cupped his hard ass.
With a slight jerk of his arm, Wyn pulled Toby to him and stepped between two stacks
of wooden crates. One iron-like arm held Toby pelvis to pelvis with Wyn while the other
hand explored Toby’s chest. Toby groaned as illicit sensations wound through him. He
ground his erection against Wyn.
Wyn’s hand slid up into Toby’s hair, fisting and pulling back his head. He tasted every
part of Toby’s exposed flesh while Toby wrapped his arms around Wyn’s shoulders and held
on. His groin continued its gyrating. The friction, the way his erection forced its way over
Wyn’s, shoved him further along the road of no return.
Wyn kissed his way to Toby’s ear, pulling on the lobe with his teeth then soothing the
skin with his tongue. His hot breath sent a shiver through Toby.
“Tobias… I would that we were at your home and I could strip these clothes from you. I
want to feel your skin on mine.” He pulled Toby’s hips hard against him, his hands
squeezing Toby’s butt. “I want to take this ass and fill you with me until we don’t think we’ll
ever be parted.”
“Yes—”
“Toby? Are you out there?”
Toby jumped. “David,” he whispered to Wyn. “Hey, David,” he called. “Yeah, I’m here.
Just got up here.”
“Okay. Katherine called and said you were on your way up and I heard something.”
Heat rushed to Toby’s cheeks. God knew what David had heard. Way to keep it on the
down low, Tob.
Stepping away from Wyn, Toby shoved his hand through his unruly hair. “C’mon,” he
said in a low voice.
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David waited for them at the door to his office, looking as impeccable as usual. His grey
suit fit perfectly and, though it was late afternoon, remained crease-free. His silver-streaked
black hair lay obediently in place with one strategically dashing lock curled onto his
forehead. The man had GQ going on. Attractive but definitely not Toby’s type. Toby glanced
at Wyn. He preferred his men more sleekly muscle-bound…and gay.
“Hi, David. Sorry, I was a little distracted on my way here. Stopping to look at things.”
David smiled and lifted a brow with a quick tilt of his head that clearly said, if that’s
your story… “And is this your young man?”
“Excuse me? I—”
“Come into my office.” He headed inside to his spacious office in the work suite. He sat
behind a large mahogany desk then indicated for his visitors to sit in the chairs across from
him. “Toby, I asked you here because I need to discuss your knowledge of the medieval
period.”
“Is there a problem with my work?” All he needed was a problem at Levey. He didn’t
need the job—except for his sanity. The work with the documents soothed his mind. Now
that Wyn was here, he understood.
“No, no nothing like that. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to explain why. I’m sorry for
the all the secrecy.”
“Okay…” He’d like to say he understood, but he didn’t really. He itched to reach out
and take Wyn’s hand while he talked—this questioning made him nervous. How did one
explain innate knowledge? Instead, he folded his hands in his lap. “I think you know I’ve
always had an interest in the period. It’s been my life obsession.”
David nodded. “I have your resume from when you came to us. I guess you’d have to
be somewhat obsessed to get your doctorate at such a young age. The question is…how
invested are you in the period? You’re teaching English and a single history class at the
college when there’s so much more you could do with your degrees.”
The question of his investment surprised Toby. He leant forward. “Truthfully, I took
the job because it was near here. I wanted to work with your documents. I have the skills for
dealing with artefacts and the knowledge to understand them. Invested? It’s my life. I might
not be famous in my field, but I’d wager I know more about the subject than anyone—except
perhaps Wyn,” he added, looking at Wyn. He glanced back at David. “That was rude of me. I
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haven’t introduced the two of you. David this is my…colleague Alwyn…Nerung.” Wyn
didn’t truly have a surname. His home’s name would have to suffice. “Wyn this is David
Harper.”
Toby’s eyes went wide when Wyn stood and held out his hand to David in a civilised,
modern manner. The angel…
After the men shook, Wyn turned to return to his seat. “Yes?” he mouthed, his face
showing his hope that he’d done the right thing. Toby gave a slight nod.
“So…” David went on. “You took a job you don’t particularly like so you’d have a
chance to work with our collection. Hmm…I think that speaks well for your obsession, as
you called it.” He lifted a picture from his desk. “Toby, have I mentioned my partner,
Bryant?”
Toby’s mouth dropped slightly open at the photo of David with his arm around a
young, black man.
David laughed and placed the frame back in its spot. “I’m astounded your gaydar is so
broken. I’ve known about you from our first meeting. I thought you were equally aware. I—”
He paused pressing his lips together, appearing to be choosing his words. “I don’t know how
it is where you teach, but I suspect they’re rather…conservative. Around here, you don’t
need to hide who you are. You won’t be judged or discriminated against because of this
personal choice.”
Toby glanced at Wyn, stunned. David coughed, covering discomfort. “I’ve spoken out
of line. I apologise—”
“No,” Toby rushed to say. “I’m just… Thank you. I appreciate your candidness. It’s
difficult to know who I can be open with—and where I can be, too.”
“Okay, good. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure until I saw you with your Wyn here.”
He chuckled. “Was beginning to think it was my gaydar that was off-kilter.”
“No, not at all. I’m just not used to talking about it.”
“I appreciate you coming in so I could ask you these questions—not that I didn’t
already know the answers. You know…the board and their formalities. I trust you’ll know
why…eventually.”
The whole exchange perplexed Toby as he and Wyn left the Levey, but if it meant the
board allowed him to continue on, he’d gladly answer whatever questions they had. He
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frowned as he and Wyn exited into the parking lot. Several skaters he’d seen before lounged
on the kerb. He had no problem with skaters, but this group liked to taunt him. Today was
no different.
“Check it out,” one of them heckled. “The fag geek brought a friend with him today.
Did this dusty old place get y’all turned on? Bet you want him to fuck you up the ass.”
Toby stared at them, mortified. He swung away, heading for his car. “C’mon, Wyn.”
At the car, he turned and found Wyn had gone over to the four teenagers. Their eyes
were a little wide as they stared at his hulking figure. They scrambled to their feet, each
hugging their boards to their chests as they listened to whatever Wyn said. They nodded and
backed away.
Apparently finished with them, Wyn joined Toby at the car.
“What did you say to them?” Toby asked.
Wyn shrugged. “Nothing much.”
Toby glanced at the teens. They still looked a bit shell-shocked. He’d said nothing?
Yeah right.
Despite Wyn’s high-handed protection, warmth spread over him. He was under the
shelter of his knight once more.
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Chapter Five
The Levey was on the outskirts of town, halfway between downtown and Grand
Riverside College. The area was largely undeveloped but in recent years, restaurants, banks
and a few strip malls had started to dot the landscape. Toby liked this area where much of
the land was still wild. One of the restaurants he frequented overlooked the Grand River. At
the moment, April melting and heavy rains were flooding the river’s banks, but the business
was far enough up the bank that it could remain open.
As soon as they were seated in front of the big north-facing windows, Wyn covered
Toby’s hand with his. Uncomfortable with the display, Toby slid his hand away then felt like
a jerk. He busied himself with the menu. They ordered and made it through half their meal,
discussing nothing consequential, before Wyn placed his hand on Toby’s again.
“Don’t,” Toby said again pulling away.
“Have I made you angry?”
“No. We can’t…” He waved his hand as if to indicate everything they couldn’t do. “Not
here.”
Wyn sat back, his arm draped over the back of his chair and regarded Toby. His face
was full of displeased speculation. “We are not the only gay couple in this room,” he said
quietly. “Why are you different? Why can’t you publicly show affection? They are. No one is
staring at them.”
Toby looked around. Indeed there were other men who were obviously involved. None
were overt about their affections, but they were discretely touching as they dined. Guilt
heaped up the guilt he’d already been experiencing. A fear he couldn’t explain to Wyn kept
him following suit to the others in the room.
“This is a different world, Tobias. Are we to live like we did in thirteen hundred? Are
we to hide who we are, and pretend to be society’s concept of normal? I don’t know that I
want to live life with that mask on anymore. I want people to know I love you.”
“You’re being unreasonable.”
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Wyn stared at him, and Toby knew his words were a misstep and had hurt Wyn. Anger
simmered in Wyn’s eyes. “We had better leave before I do something untoward. I might be
so overwhelmed that I pull you onto the table and fuck you right here.”
He shoved away from the table and got up. All eyes in the room followed him as he left
then they turned to Toby, and he rested his forehead in his hand. So much for discretion.
* * * *
Toby tossed and turned on his lonely side of the bed. Every time he woke, Wyn was
hugging the other side of the bed, his back turned on Toby. Toby stopped trying to sleep. He
stared up at the shadowy ceiling, watching the occasional lights from cars below reflect onto
the ceiling.
He couldn’t understand his reluctance to show his affection for Wyn any more than
Wyn understood it. Sure there were the surface things. It wasn’t readily accepted by society.
If the administration at Grand Riverside found out, his job would be in jeopardy. Were those
strong enough reasons to hurt the man he loved?
What was he not remembering? Why was he so scared?
“Do you really want to know?”
He glanced over, startled to see the angel seated beside him.
She brushed the hair from his forehead. A tingling energy surged from her fingertips. It
seemed to seep into his mind, shifting his thoughts.
“Do you really want to know what you have locked away deep inside here?” she asked.
“Yes,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes. Her head bowed as she took a deep breath. The energy intensified.
“I’ve kept it hidden from you all these years…”
“Show me. I need to know before I ruin things with Wyn—if I haven’t already.”
“Your love is not ruined.” Her fingertips brushed over his eyelids. “Sleep. The memory
will come to you in your dreams.”
The angel’s voice seemed to grow farther and farther away as he travelled through a
swirling tunnel of light to his past. Fear, no terror, grew inside him, and suddenly, he was
back in the vision that had horrified him that morning. Iron pokers heated in the fire, and he
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was tied face down to a rough table. No matter how he fought, he couldn’t free himself from
the bindings.
This was how King Edward had been killed five years hence, punished and murdered
in a way relevant to his lifestyle for it was rumoured the king had had a male lover who’d
been beheaded as a traitor.
His body shook as a group of five men entered the room. “Please…” he begged. “Do
not.”
“Silence, sodomizer!”
He struggled for control. His eyes burnt from the smoke from the fire and the tears
burning his eyes. “I am not. Let me go,” he pleaded.
They ignored him. Two of the men roughly parted his buttocks while two others held
down his shoulders and pushed his head into the table.
“No!” he bellowed as the final man pulled a poker from the fire.
“I can take you from this.”
Tobias’ eyes went wide at the sight of the ethereal woman standing before him. He
could barely see her for his position, but a light glowed around her. She was not of this earth.
“Please,” he begged.
“You will leave it all behind. Have a new life.”
“No… Wyn…” he murmured.
“See he calls for his lover,” one of the men cackled. “He will not save you, sinner.”
“You must choose. Life or your lover, though you must know your life is but moments
from ending. Tell me and I will take you from this.”
“Life,” he said. The heat from the poker seemed to already burn his anus as it drew
near. “No!” he screamed.
Suddenly, rain fell on his face, and he found himself alone in a field. Alone. Pain free.
“Tobias!” A voice pierced his loneliness, a voice he’d never thought to hear again. He
looked around but there was no one there. Tears streamed down his face at his loss.
“Tobias!” His body started to shake, and he felt iron compress his shoulders. “Tobias!
God’s teeth wake up!”
Slowly, he opened his eyes and found himself staring up at his lover—no longer in the
past but in the here and now. “Wyn…”
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“You screamed. God’s teeth, Tobias. That scream…”
Toby sat up and pressed his face into Wyn’s chest, wrapping his arms tightly around
his waist. Tremors ran through him as he tried to anchor himself in the present while the
physical and mental anguish of the past racked him as strongly as if they’d just happened.
Wyn gently pulled Toby across his lap then eased Toby’s head away from his face. Toby
shuddered and Wyn was struck with the need to protect him from whatever he’d seen.
“What did you see? What was this vision?”
By all holy, he wished he could keep these visions from Tobias. They tortured him so
and Tobias’ reactions often terrified Wyn. Though he was still angry over Toby’s cold
rejection earlier at the restaurant, he loved this man.
“They were…” Tobias’ voice shook. He clasped Wyn’s arm as if drawing strength.
“They were about to kill me. Like Edward. With the poker.”
“Yes, I know. I found your body afterward. I have been to war, have seen many horrific
things, but I had never been so gutted as when I found your body.” His head bent to Tobias
and he buried his face in his hair. “The things they did. For years I have lived with my guilt. I
could have saved you—”
“The angel came to me—the one we saw at the museum today. She came to me then
and gave me a choice. Leave you and have life…or stay.” His body shuddered with a silent
sob. “Wyn…I chose to leave you. I abandoned you.”
“My God, Tobias. You had no choice. I would never have you go through that torture.
You had to decide as you did. If you had not, you would be dead. We would not be here.”
“I wish I could go back and keep us from going through all this.”
Wyn lifted his chin and kissed him lightly. “If not then, it might have happened another
time.” He shifted so Tobias was beneath him on the bed. Their naked bodies rubbed together
as they enjoyed the feel of being alive and together. “I seem to remember some talk earlier
about being together.”
“Having you so deep inside me that we think we’ll never be parted,” Tobias supplied.
Reaching between them, he tweaked Wyn’s nipple then rolled the supple flesh between his
fingers.
“We will never be parted,” Wyn promised.
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“Kiss me. Kiss me hard,” Tobias breathed. “Then fill me again. I need you so much
Wyn. No matter what I do, I need you.”
“I know.”
Wyn let out a long breath as their hips undulated against each other. Their cocks
duelled in the ancient dance of warriors each parrying for dominance, both knowing who’d
win but enjoying the challenge. Wyn’s balls dragged over Tobias before he retreated. This
time between them would be slow. They could savour the perfection of being together. All
adversity disappeared when they were in each other’s arms.
Tobias spread his legs and wrapped them around Wyn. His hands dragged over Wyn’s
back to his ass. “My knight, take what is yours.”
“In time, squire.” He raised Tobias’ arms, clasping hands with him for a moment. Then
he moved his lover’s hands to the headboard. “Hold on, and do not let go for any reason.
Understand?”
The muscles in Tobias’ arms flexed as he shifted. “Yes.”
Wyn straddled him. He licked and nipped his way down Tobias’ right arm,
rediscovering how sensitive the inside of Tobias’ elbow was. He sucked at the tender flesh
until Tobias moaned for mercy then moved lower to bite his lover’s straining biceps.
“Wyn!” Tobias cried out.
Wyn turned his head to Tobias’ ear. “I have only just begun, love.”
Going back to where he’d been, he kissed his way down to Tobias’ shoulder. Wyn bit
his lover’s shoulder and Tobias writhed beneath him.
“Damn, Wyn…” he swore, his voice a low moan as Wyn nuzzled his armpit then
nipped his way up to his nipple. Wyn laved the erect bud, loving the feel of the rigid flesh
against his tongue. But he didn’t linger. His lips drifted over Tobias’ abdomen. Tobias was
leanly muscled, but he had delightful ripples of muscles over his stomach and Wyn explored
each ridge before he moved to the jut of muscle and hip bone that tempted Wyn whenever
Tobias took off his shirt. Tobias thrust his hips, begging for more. Wyn held him down as he
journeyed to Tobias’ centre. He kissed a path down the narrow trail of hair leading to his
lover’s cock, but bypassed that staff and left open-mouthed kisses over Tobias’ groin on his
way to his slightly spread legs.
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Wyn shoved them apart, leaving a line of light bites to his squire’s knee. Turning
Tobias’ leg slightly, Wyn sucked on the back of his knee with long draws into his mouth.
“You’re gonna make me come without ever touching my cock,” Tobias complained,
and Wyn chuckled at the deep rumble in his lover’s voice.
“Perhaps that is my goal.”
Tobias groaned in response, and Wyn kissed along the long line of Tobias’ calf. He bit
Tobias’ ankle then licked to his toes. He teased the big toe then shifted to the other foot. Ever
so slowly, he repeated the path along Tobias’ body, this time moving upward and having far
greater difficulty ignoring Tobias’ cock. A large drop of pre-cum glistened at the tip and he
wanted it in his mouth, but he wanted to worship Tobias more.
He traced the shell of Tobias’ left ear with the tip of his tongue. “Do you want me to
fuck you, fine squire?” he whispered.
“Do I want to breathe?”
Wyn laughed, low in his throat, and the sound came out as a growl. His arousal
throbbed so hard with the need to be inside his lover. Still, he prolonged the torture.
“I am going to make you come before I fuck you.”
“Like I could get much closer!”
“Mmmm…” Wyn replied. He slid down to his lover, grinning at the damn trail of
Tobias’ cock along his chest. Yes, his squire was fair excited.
Without preamble, he took Tobias deep into his mouth, drawing a bellow from his man.
Relentlessly, he sucked as he drew his lips up and down that long cock, savouring each inch
and willing Tobias to lose himself. His tongue pressed into the spot just below the head that
had always driven his lover wild.
Tobias bucked, his cock pushing to the back of Wyn’s mouth. The hot splash of his cum
pulled a moan from deep in Wyn’s chest. While Tobias twisted under him, he continued his
rhythm, sucking and licking, milking every last drop of that sweet cum from him. When
Tobias relaxed, sinking limply into the bad, Wyn crawled back up the bed. He straddled
Tobias on all fours.
“You can let go now.”
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Tobias immediately wrapped his arms around him and yanked his mouth down. He
kissed Wyn hungrily. He thrust his tongue into Wyn’s mouth, consuming, thanking,
begging.
“Don’t make me wait,” he said as he re-angled his kiss.
Wyn blindly reached for a condom and the lubricant while wildly taking his squire’s
mouth. He sat back on his haunches, taking Tobias with him as they continued devouring
each other. Reaching between them, he sheathed himself then slathered on the lube.
He slowly pulled his mouth away, diving in for several quick pecks on his way.
“On your knees,” he ordered.
Tobias grinned. “’Bout time.”
“About time?” Wyn repeated. He pushed Tobias’ shoulders to the bed then yanked his
hips higher. A firm smack resounded between them as he smacked Tobias’ ass…just as his
mouthy squire liked it. Tobias moaned and pressed towards him.
“Just take me. Don’t wait.”
“I’m not hurting you like that.”
Conscious that they were both on the edge and they needed to hurry before they both
lost control and Tobias got hurt, Wyn loosened Tobias while he kissed the pink mark left by
his hand. Tobias ground into him. He fucked Wyn’s fingers like a randy buck in need of any
pleasure he could get. Wyn smiled. He liked Tobias wild, out of his mind with need.
Fitting his cock where his fingers had been, he pushed forward. They both groaned as
Wyn breached the tight muscles of Tobias’ anus. Wyn rubbed Tobias’ lower back, then
flattened his hand there as he pushed further.
“Ah, God, Wyn…” Tobias muttered. “More. Oh…more.”
“All of me.” Wyn paused, balls deep, savouring Tobias’ fiery heat, savouring the
complete feeling. No matter what Tobias did to anger him, this would remain. This perfect
union.
As he started smooth surges, in and out, they both cried out. His release built. His hips
moved faster, intent on giving Tobias as much pleasure as he could before he came. As he
reached the pinnacle, Tobias shuddered, coming again. Wyn’s orgasm washed over him.
Such intense pleasure. Such fulfilment.
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He bent over Tobias, kissing his back until they both calmed. Slowly he pulled free. His
legs seemed to wobble on the way to the bathroom. He returned with a cloth and cleaned
Tobias.
Tobias snuggled into Wyn’s arms. “I’m afraid to go back to sleep. I’m afraid of what
vision will come now.”
Wyn’s arms tightened. “You are safe with me. Whatever you see is in the past. It cannot
touch you.” He kissed Tobias’ temple. “We are safe together.”
* * * *
“See, you have a decent sword.” Wyn pulled the sword from the wall and handed it to
Toby. He hefted it in his hand, expertly testing the weight. Wyn nodded. “Once a man is a
warrior, he is always a warrior.”
“It’s old,” Toby tried, ignoring Wyn’s statement and eyeing the blade. He’d bought it at
an auction. An incredible find.
“So are we—about eight hundred years by my estimation.”
Tobias sighed his defeat. “Just don’t cut me when we do this. I like my body parts as
they are.”
“Don’t be such a woman. As soon as we get to the field and you have the steel in your
hands, it will all come back to you.”
They were both dressed in athletic pants. Toby was more distracted by that…the way
the material outlined Wyn’s package, the way his cotton T-shirt delineated Wyn’s muscled
torso. The clothes were perfect for sparring, but excellent for throwing off Wyn’s opponent,
Toby, too.
“Fine. We’ll go, but I’m not making any promises. I don’t remember anything about
sword fighting, and even if I did, it’s been fourteen years.”
Stepping around the weapon in Toby’s hand, Wyn came chest to chest with him. His
hand slid into Toby’s unruly hair a moment before he dropped a lingering kiss on his lips.
“Then I’ll retrain you. Prepare for pain, squire.”
Toby groaned and stepped away.
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“I’m a teacher not a soldier,” he muttered as he wrapped the sword in a beach towel to
transport it.
“Training is far better exercise than walking on those machines as we did yesterday.”
“More dangerous, too.” He picked up a cooler he’d packed with Gatorade and food.
“I do not recall you whining so much in the past.”
“I’m not whining, I just don’t want to die today.”
“I’ll not hurt you. Besides…you gave your oath yesterday.”
Toby frowned. So he had. He headed for the door, knowing Wyn followed close behind
him with his own weapon.
It was a short trip to the park Toby had chosen for the fight. It wasn’t busy this time of
the year—the ground was still too damp and the weather too dicey for most people. It would
suit Toby and Wyn’s needs.
He led Wyn towards a wide grassy section of the park. He dropped the small cooler on
a tree trunk then unwrapped the sword and tossed the towel on top of the cooler. Unsure
what to do next, he turned towards Wyn. His eyes went wide. Wyn already had his weapon
unsheathed. A fierce look on his face, he immediately went on the offence. Panic shot
through Toby then adrenaline. Then, suddenly, his body was moving as if it contained some
sort of long dormant muscular memory. It wasn’t possible for him to be on the same level as
Wyn—he hadn’t trained in nearly a decade and a half—but he held his own against the
seasoned warrior, even driving him backwards a few times.
Smiling, with gritted teeth, he let instinct lead him in taking advantage of Wyn’s
weaknesses. He thrust and dodged with a skill that surprised him, the ring of steel singing
through him like the barely remembered lullaby. It filled him with warm reminiscence and
the comfort of home, and made him wonder why he’d taken so long to come back to this.
He realised that Wyn was probably holding back slightly, but he didn’t care.
Eventually, they’d once more be on even ground. If he remembered correctly, he’d bested
Wyn on a few occasions then Wyn had bested him in bed as recompense. Wyn wasn’t much
for losing and he’d felt the need to be overly dominant in bed those nights.
The thought caused Toby to misstep and Wyn dove into the opening, out-classing Toby
and in moments, Toby found himself on his back with his sword a few feet away. Wyn
gently pointed his sword into the hollow of Toby’s throat.
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“Give,” he ordered.
Toby set his jaw. “Never.”
Wyn tossed his sword on top of Toby’s. He knelt quickly, straddling Toby, capturing
his hands and pressing them on the grass to either side of his head. “Give.”
“No.”
Wyn leant forward. He nipped Toby’s bottom lip. His hips lowered and Toby felt the
proof of his arousal pressing into his own arousal. “Give,” Wyn breathed against his mouth.
Toby smiled. He purposely shifted his hips beneath Wyn. “I prefer for you to give. You
do it so well.”
“Mouthy squire…”
“So punish me.”
Before Toby had completed the last syllable, Wyn pressed forward, his mouth fully
covering Toby’s and stealing his breath and any more teasing words. His tongue thrust into
Toby’s mouth just as effectively as he wielded his sword, and Toby countered with far more
skill than he had with a weapon. Their warfare had moved to another more effective, more
dangerous playing field.
Toby’s knee lifted beside Wyn’s hip as he tried to get more of the knight, and unable to
move anything else, he lifted his head to try for more of Wyn’s kiss. If this was the result of
sparring, he was all for it—daily.
The honk of a horn and the obnoxious yells of a group of teens heckling them jarred
Toby from sinking completely into the moment. He yanked his mouth away from Wyn only
to draw more screams of ‘fags’ and ‘homos’.
Good lord! What had happened to his head? He knew better than this. He shoved at
Wyn’s shoulders. “We can’t do this here.”
“They are just churls.”
“Even so, I could lose my job if I’m caught like this with you. They’re completely closed
minded.”
Wyn frowned and Toby wasn’t sure if it was displeasure over Toby’s job situation or
his refusal to continue the intimacy. Wyn rolled away and sat to Toby’s side, his knees
slightly drawn up and his arms resting loosely on his knees.
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Toby didn’t move except to cover his eyes with his arm. He didn’t want to fight with
Wyn. Not now. Not again.
“I know things have changed,” Wyn began, “but in many ways, they seem to be exactly
the same. We still must hide what we are, covertly sharing our love, hiding in the dark and
pretending to be like everyone else.”
“It’s not like that everywhere. Some people can live openly—”
“But it’s like that here, Tobias. I feel as if I’ve been thrown forward into the same
situation with a different setting. Only now, I have no usable skills. The one good thing, that
part I cling to, is our love. It rips out pieces of my heart each time you deny me. If I am to live
a lifetime like this, I will end up with nothing. A living shell with no soul.”
As Toby moved his arm to look at Wyn, Wyn leapt to his feet and stalked to his sword.
He sheathed it as Toby got up and reclaimed his own weapon.
“I would like to go home,” Wyn said. “I know you do not want a disagreement any
more than I do. We can be there without this coming between us.”
“Let’s. I’d rather focus on spending time with you before I go back to work tomorrow.
You’re right. I don’t want to fight.”
Wyn looked around then pulled him to his chest with one arm, and it killed Toby. He
hated that Wyn had to do that, that the future had broken that much of his spirit—just as it
had his.
* * * *
The evening had been spent eating pizza, drinking beer and critiquing A Knight’s Tale—
Wyn laughing uproariously at the improbability then pulling Toby to the floor for his
demonstration of the joust.
Wyn had been less impressed by Toby’s safety lessons regarding things with cords and
the dangers of electricity. Still there was no way Toby was leaving Wyn alone in the condo
without warning him that a knife in the toaster could kill him.
Toby was still worried when he went to work the next morning. Compounding that, a
message awaited him in his staff mailbox. Dean Palmer required Toby’s presence as soon as
he arrived.
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His stomach clenched.
Just great.
When he got to the dean’s office, the dean’s secretary treated Toby to a sour look that
did nothing for his nerves.
“Go in. He’s waiting for you.” She pursed her lips then turned back to her PC.
Toby’s hand shook slightly as he reached for the knob. He paused. Why was he so
worried? It wasn’t as if the townspeople from the past awaited him in the office with hot
pokers. He was a warrior and he’d already faced the nastier opponents. He could face down
that blowhard Palmer. What was the worst he could do?
Fire you.
And therein lay the problem. He could be fired and be forced back to England since his
work visa would be invalidated, and where would that leave Wyn? It wasn’t as if he had
papers and could just hop on a plane with Toby.
But Toby hadn’t done anything wrong. There was no reason to fire him. Squaring his
shoulders he went into the office.
“Professor Woods. Have a seat.”
Not even ‘hello’. This was gonna be great.
Toby silently took his seat, carefully resting his arms on the rests and keeping his hands
loose. Fists would betray his agitation and he didn’t plan to do that.
“How was your weekend,” Palmer asked.
“Good, thank you.”
“Your friend from out of town still visiting?”
Toby’s brows pulled together. “Yes…”
“Hmm…I suppose it was him. I won’t keep you in suspense. That’s not my style—”
Sure it’s not. Palmer enjoyed the power play.
“—someone from the staff reported seeing you out with this fellow at a park. Publically
kissing him where any of our impressionable students could have seen you. This individual
reported your behaviour to the board because of a concern about your influence on the
students enrolled at Grand Riverside. Frankly, the board is concerned as well.”
Toby had feared this, but in fruition, it seemed ridiculous.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
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“You must be aware your position here is tenuous. Your behaviour and performance
must be above reproach—”
“Wait! You’re calling my work into question, as well?”
“You’re suspended until Friday afternoon when the board is scheduled to meet. At that
time, they will decide your fate at this school.”
“Answer my question,” Toby demanded. “You’re questioning my performance?”
“Frankly, yes. Have a good day, Professor Woods.” The dean turned away, dismissing
him.
Toby surged to his feet. “This is a farce! I can’t believe—”
“Don’t!” Palmer spun towards him with a glare. “Don’t make this worse for yourself
than it already is. Don’t forget, I am one of those scrutinising your behaviour.”
“Yeah. Well, I guess I’m lucky, because we all know how well that will go.” The words
were out of Toby’s mouth before he could stop them. Crap. Shouldn’t have said that. Rather
than back-pedalling, he stormed out of the office. He’d eventually regret his words, but at the
moment, he just wanted to punch something.
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Chapter Six
Toby sped home, going well over the speed limit. At the rate his day was going, he’d
end up without a job and in jail. And Wyn would have no idea what had happened to him.
That didn’t sit well. And it slowed him to a more reasonable speed, though it was still over
the speed limit.
In minutes, he’d parked in his space and was on his way up the elevator to his condo.
On his floor, he didn’t smell smoke—well, that was a good sign. And he tried to summon a
smile before he went inside.
Wyn was sitting at the table with his back to the door when Toby entered. He seemed
completely engrossed. He jumped and turned when Toby turned the lock as if startled to
find him there.
Toby tried to smile. “Hi, honey. I’m home.”
Wyn frowned and put down whatever it was he’d been so intent on. His chair scraped
across the marble tiles as he got up. He rushed to Toby and pulled him into his arms. The
concern on his face showed his embrace was more from worry than affection. Apparently,
Toby’s brave face was transparent as glass.
“What is wrong?”
“Do you remember yesterday when I told you kissing in public could cost me my job?”
Wyn nodded.
“Well, it may have cost me my job. Someone saw us and reported me. My behaviour
and job performance are being reviewed.”
A growl rose from Wyn’s throat. “I’ll skewer them.”
“No. No you won’t.” Toby leant his head into Wyn’s shoulder. “You know…I hate the
job anyway. I’m just worried. If I have to leave the country because my work visa is
invalidated, I don’t know what you’ll do.”
“Tobias, we’ll figure it out. The angel wouldn’t have brought us together again only to
have us parted.”
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“Are you so sure of that? Perhaps this is a test or a joke… You’ve always said it’s not for
us to understand the way of heaven. What if heaven is just as against us as everyone else?
What if this is a lesson we failed last time and are having to redo?”
Wyn rested his head against his. “Do not be negative. I am not losing you again unless
it is your choice that we part.”
“No worries there. I just wish I could tell everyone how much I love you. I hate that I
can’t.” Toby turned his head and kissed Wyn’s neck. Wyn hugged him tighter, and they
clung to one another, taking solace from their embrace and being together. Toby almost
believed everything would work out. Then he remembered the look on Palmer’s face. There
was no mistaking his utter disgust. He’d already made up his mind.
“I need to go see David and let him know I might not be available after this week.
Maybe he can recommend someone to get you out of the country.”
“Perhaps. Tobias…you may retain your job. Do not despair yet.”
“I still need to talk to David.”
Wyn nodded. “I’ll go get on my shoes. There were strange papers on the table when I
awoke. What are they?”
“I didn’t leave anything.”
Toby went over to where Wyn had been sitting and stared at the pile of paperwork.
“Wyn…oh my God…Wyn…”
“What is it?”
“This…this is what I was worried about. It can’t be this easy.”
“And why not?”
At the words, Toby looked up to find the angel standing near the wall. “Well,
because…well…”
“Cat’s got your tongue? Perhaps I should have gifted you with language, too,” she
laughed.
Wyn came up behind Toby and put an arm around him. “Are we to be parted?”
“That’s entirely up to you and how much you plan to mess things up. That paperwork
ensures no government will part you by sending either Toby or you to another country.” She
rubbed her nails on her sleeve then looked at them. “I’m just that good. Have fun, kids, but
wait ‘til I leave. I’m supposed to be pure and stuff.” She pointed up. “The big guy gets
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irritated when I play outside the corral.” She made a square with her fingers. “But He’s all
loving and believes in all love, if you know what I mean. So cut out the ‘it’s a test’ theories,
kid. You don’t want to get hit by lightning.”
Wyn leant into Toby’s ear. “I have already done that. It hurts a bit.”
The air seemed to shimmer around them, and the angel disappeared. “Is that our cue
for fun?” Toby laughed. He shook his head and picked up one of the papers. Education
credentials. His eyes wide, he dropped it and looked at another, then Wyn’s passport, several
credit cards and his driver’s licence—well, damn, he wasn’t letting him try to test that plastic
out soon. What the hell was the angel thinking? Fourteenth century knights couldn’t drive
cars.
“Wyn…you have dual citizenship and you’re nobility, Lord Alwyn Farnsworth. Geez,
and your family is wealthy. Look at you. What are you doing with me?”
Wyn chuckled, none of it seeming to affect him. “You know why I’m with you.”
“This is crazy. Your father’s—your real father’s—castle is yours now. I was sure it
hadn’t existed anymore. I know the town was gone.” He sighed. “Weird. I guess the castle
could be off by itself with now town nearby. I bet more info about it is in this stack.”
“I thought I was reading wrong.”
Toby stared at him. “You can read English.”
“Apparently.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“There is nothing to understand, except…we’re together.” He kissed Toby. “I want
you.”
“Yes.” Toby looked around. “She’s gone?”
“I doubt she is ever really gone. But I do not think she is watching us. Not right now.”
“Good. I have wicked things in mind for you.”
“Again?” Wyn laughed. “You wore me out last night, squire.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” Toby slipped from his arms and headed for the bedroom. “You
seem to have an unlimited stamina, my knight.” He turned. “I need you to tie me down and
have your way. Take everything out of my hands so I can stop worrying for a while.”
“You are not afraid of being tied? After what you went through, what you told me of
your vision—”
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“I’m not with you. I trust you. I know you can make my worry go away for a while. I
have these satin love rope thingies.” He shrugged. “I got them for some reason, but they’ve
never been used. I never had anyone I wanted to use them on, and I definitely didn’t trust
someone to tie me.”
“I do not want to hear about your other men.”
“What other men?”
“Exactly.” Wyn crossed his arms over his chest. “Go to the bedroom, squire, and get
ready for me. I want you naked and loose for me. Go now, or you’ll get a whipping to go
with the tying.”
Heat flared through Toby at the thought, but he rushed to do as Wyn bade anyway.
Quickly, he laid out the lube and a condom then pulled the ropes from their hiding place in
his closet. He ripped them from their packaging, tossing the wrapper on his dresser, and
brought them to the bed. His clothes were off in a flash. He got onto the bed then reached for
the lube. Getting himself ready for Wyn seemed almost as intimate and sensual as Wyn
fucking him, even without Wyn in the room. He parted his legs and pressed his slick fingers
over his anus. They felt good against his heated flesh. Instinctively, he raised his hips and
pressed, pushing one digit inside to the third knuckle. So good…
He worked in and out for a few moments then added the next finger. He worked
against his hand, fucking himself and pressing his lips together to keep his moans silent.
“Yes, squire, like that. Add another finger. Open your lips so I can hear you.”
Toby’s focus shifted and he found Wyn standing at the foot of the bed. His arms were
still over his chest, and he looked like a satisfied slave owner as he surveyed his slave to love
in action. Toby stared into his eyes as he followed Wyn’s order, adding another finger and
letting his moans colour the air. His eyes followed Wyn as he circled the bed and picked up
the ‘love ropes’ then tested their strength with a few sharp tugs. A shiver of sweet
anticipation raked over Toby.
“You can stop,” Wyn told him. He sat beside Toby, running a hand over Toby’s torso.
His dominant mask cracked and gave way to something akin to tenderness. Compassion?
Understanding? “I am going to tie you. If a vision starts to overtake you, if you feel the terror
or panic of that night, you must tell me. Understand?”
“Yes.”
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Wyn nodded. “Roll over and give me your back.”
He turned, and Wyn slipped two pillows beneath his hips. He yanked Toby’s hands up
together over his head, giving Toby the roughness he desired, then lashed the silken rope
around Toby’s wrists. He laced the other end through the headboard, the short length
between hands and iron taut. Moving to the foot of the bed, he bound each foot then attached
each rope to the end of the footboard, far enough apart to leave Toby spread and vulnerable.
Toby pressed his forehead into the mattress as the first dregs of fear hit him. He didn’t
want to tell Wyn. He tried to breathe through it as his panic shook his body.
Wyn smoothed a hand over Toby’s back, and Toby realised his agitation had caused
him to sweat.
“Hush,” Wyn said quietly, sounding very much like he’d expected this reaction. “You
are safe. Your knight will not let anyone harm you.” His hand continued up and down
Toby’s back. “Relax,” he said sternly. “I will only bring you pleasure this morn.”
At Wyn’s instruction, the tension drained from Toby. “Yes, my knight.”
“Did I tell you to tell me if you experienced fear?”
Toby swallowed. Uh-oh. “You did.”
“For disobeying and not trusting me to help you, you will be punished.”
“I trust you.”
“Do you?” Wyn countered.
“Completely.”
“Can you move?”
Toby tried to shift. Wyn had him trussed perfectly. Wyn had angled him just right for
his own pleasure. All Toby could do was rock his hips.
“Not really,” Toby replied.
“As your punishment, you may not come until I tell you—if I tell you.”
“No, oh please not that.”
“You do not get to choose. Do not come or I will redden your ass. Afternoon
approaches and I can administer your punishment without breaking my oath.”
Toby sighed. Wyn knew exactly what he was doing. If Toby focused on controlling his
body, he couldn’t be pummelled by memories. And control was difficult with Wyn running
his hands over him and exploring the crevice of his buttocks.
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Since Toby was ready, Wyn didn’t wait. He pressed his cock into Toby’s ass, moving
past his slight resistance then driving forward. Instinctively, Toby yanked his arms to try and
help propel his body into Wyn’s but the bonds held tight and taut. The helplessness both
aroused and grounded him. Wyn could do whatever he wanted to him, and Toby wouldn’t
be able to stop him. But he completely trusted Wyn not to do anything that would injure
him.
And he never wanted to stop the in and out slide of Wyn’s wide cock, not the slight
burn, not the fullness, not the pressure against his prostate that was making it nearly
impossible to follow Wyn’s order.
He tried to shift to relieve some of the pleasure pulsing through him at each drive of
Wyn’s cock, but Wyn grabbed his hips. Relentlessly, he took Toby’s passage. Toby’s head
rocked back as his balls drew up.
“Please,” he moaned.
“Do. Not. Come,” Wyn replied in a strained voice.
Toby’s head dropped forward. He didn’t want to disappoint Wyn by failing. The pillow
beneath him was already damp with his pre-cum. He was but moments away. His teeth sunk
brutally into his bottom lip, drawing his attention to the pain rather than the divine pleasure.
He tried to divert his thoughts to non-sexual things, but the abrasion of Wyn’s thighs as they
moved against his, the heat of Wyn’s cock possessing his ass, Wyn’s fingers biting into his
hips…
A cry strangled in his throat and his breath came in tortured pants. “Please let me come,
my knight.”
“Do. Not. Saints, Tobias, your ass feels so good around my bare cock.”
Toby’s eyes went wide, and the words nearly did him in. He craned his neck to the side
and saw the condom still on the table. Bareback. Oh God, so good.
Wyn pushed Toby’s head back to the mattress. “It matters not, squire. You are mine. I
want nothing between us.”
“I can’t. Oh, please…”
Wyn snaked a hand beneath Toby then yanked away the pillows so that the only thing
holding him up was the knight’s strong forearm. The arm cooled Toby’s cock as it bobbed
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with Wyn’s thrusts. It did nothing to pull him back from the edge of release. Wyn wrapped
his fingers around Toby’s length.
“Ah shit!” Toby cried. His hands fisted. There was no stopping—
“Come,” Wyn rasped. “Now. I want to feel your hot spending on my arm. Now,
Tobias.”
A bellow ripped from Toby as his cum sprayed Wyn’s arm and his own chest. His arms
and legs pulled at the ropes, the restraint unforgiving. It drove his arousal even higher
despite his release. Was that possible? Already he needed to come again.
“Yes, Tobias,” Wyn groaned as Toby writhed. “Yes, sure. Milk my cock with your tight
ass.” The hot flood of his release filled Toby, and he shivered as a second wave of tremors
shook his body. Together they collapsed to the bed, and Toby found he could move his legs a
bit when he was against the mattress rather than propped up.
His breathing ragged, Wyn kissed the back of Toby’s neck. “All will be well, Tobias. I
will not fail you again.”
“You never failed me.”
Wyn didn’t reply. He silently got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. As Toby
lay still bound, he realised he wasn’t the only one struggling with guilt.
* * * *
“That’s ridiculous,” David exclaimed when Toby explained it was likely he’d be
returning to England following the board’s meeting. His jaw clenched as his finger tapped on
the blotter on his desk.
“I guess it doesn’t surprise me. There’s not a ton of acceptance around here.” Toby
glanced over at Wyn who sat in the chair beside him. He hated that each day here
disillusioned his knight more and more. As if reading his thoughts, Wyn gave him a small
smile and squeezed his hand.
“You’ve got that right. Bryant had his tires slashed last week. Hate crimes in Grand
Rapids? Shocking,” he said sarcastically. “It disgusts me. So does this business with the
college. Do you have recourse?”
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“No. It’s a private college. They have a decency clause in their contracts. I signed but at
the time, I didn’t think it would be a problem or that they’d use it against me because I’m
gay. Over the past two years, I’ve quickly come to realise they have no compunction about
leveraging that section of the agreement.”
“Bigots.” He paused. “Excuse my language, please. I get irate over this idiocy in this
day and age.”
“It surprises me, as well,” Wyn said.
David nodded, in accord with him. “I hate that we have to be so careful who we
befriend, who we trust with the knowledge, what we show. It should be a non-issue. In some
circles it is, but…” He let his thought trail of as a useless reprise of his frustration. He sighed.
“Toby, you’ve always been so careful. What happened?”
“We were, um, at the park. Sparring. And after Wyn knocked away my sword, I don’t
know… We ended up on the ground and he—we kissed. Someone saw us and reported me.”
David glanced down at his desk, tapping his forefinger again as if punctuating
whatever was going through his head. He levelled his gaze at Toby. “Look… Confidentially,
the museum is deep in negotiations to expand our medieval collection. With the changing
economical landscape of Michigan, we’re looking for a new foothold in the education and
arts sectors. As part of the deal, we have to prove we have the wherewithal to care for the
collection—hence the battery of questions the other day. We’re weeks from approaching you
with the position. We’re familiar with you and know your work. You’ll be perfect, as long as
this comes to fruition. It will delay things if you have to go back to England, but it won’t
change our offer so don’t go selling your condo…” As Toby stared at him stunned, David
looked at Wyn. “You were…sparring?”
“Medieval sword fighting,” Toby supplied. His brain reeled. If Grand Riverside fired
him, he might have his dream job after all. Of course the possibility remained that he might
not. He’d have to figure out a way to keep that job until he was ready to leave it.
Remembering Wyn’s credentials, an idea came to him. Toby had no idea what Wyn
would do with his future, but he might give him a viable foothold. “Wyn is an expert in
medieval lifestyle—especially that of the knights. He’s quite the aficionado. I know some
fighting techniques, but Wyn is bent on improving me.”
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David steepled his fingers and tapped them against his lips as he sized up Toby’s lover.
“You’d be interested in perhaps giving talks or demonstrations?”
Wyn looked at Toby with raised brows as if to say, ‘what have you gotten me into’.
“He’ll think about it,” Toby answered.
“Excellent. I must add this to the proposal. It might bring us even closer to have another
expert available. Demonstrations…” he said halfway to himself as he started writing
frantically. “Yes. Should have thought of that.”
Toby almost chuckled at the man’s instant immersion into his idea. “We’ll catch you
later, David.”
“Hmm? Okay. Call me if you need anything and please keep me updated so I know
where to reach you. I’m here to talk if you need me.”
Wyn and Toby headed out of the building. As they exited the museum, Toby
impulsively hugged Wyn, the excitement of the job prospect overwhelming him. “This is the
job I’ve always wanted,” he exclaimed.
Wyn kissed his temple. “Congratulations, love. Perhaps losing your job at the school
isn’t a terrible thing.”
A blast of wind and a swat to this ass had Toby yelling, “Hey!” He looked up in time to
see one of the teens who hung out at the museum’s parking lot whizzing past on his
skateboard.
He skidded to a halt and spun around, kicking at the end of his board and popping it
into his hand. “Ah, c’mon you liked it, fag.”
Toby narrowed his eyes, his chin lowering. “Let’s get one thing straight, kid. Whether I
like guys or not, you’d better watch your step. I’m completely capable of kicking your ass,
‘fag’ or not. And…you and your friends seem to like hanging out here, and the museum
tolerates it for some reason. Keep it up and you’ll find yourselves banished. Do you really
want that?”
The teen swallowed at Toby’s professor voice. “Um…no sir. I—we don’t mean nuthin’
by it. We just like clowning you.”
“Well stop. I don’t mind joking around with you, but I won’t put up with bigoted
behaviour. Clear?”
“Clear. So you’re not kickin’ us off the property?”
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“No. You’re not harming anything and as long as you leave people alone, I don’t have a
problem.”
“’Kay. Sorry, mister.”
Toby walked towards him, thinking he should have said something a long time ago. He
held out his hand. “Truce?”
The skater stared at his hand then he looked over at his friends.
“I’m not going to give you gayness,” Toby laughed. With an eye roll, the teen
enveloped Toby’s hand with his sweaty fingers. Toby mentally made a note to bring the guys
some bottled water next time he came to the museum. The group played hard and he got the
feeling they had no other place to go.
Wyn shook the boy’s hand, then he and Toby went to Toby’s car. It was then Toby
noticed Wyn had stayed silent during the confrontation and hadn’t hulked up beside him
and taken over. Toby glanced askance at him.
“Well done, squire,” Wyn said when they were seated inside the car. “I told you the
knight still lingered inside you.”
“I like the knight inside me. Perhaps later?”
“Definitely later. Perhaps sooner.”
Toby sighed. “I need to be more careful. I was so happy with David’s news I wasn’t
thinking. But…well, to tell the truth, I don’t want to lose my job at Grand Riverside. I’d quit
in a minute, but I don’t want to be fired. Hell, all day today I’ve been fighting with myself.
What can I do to keep from getting fired, what can I say? Or…should I just admit I’m gay
and outright tell them? That would be the brave and heroic thing to do. But can I really? It’s
also foolhardy. The economy sucks. What if David’s job doesn’t happen? I’ll be jobless with
the black mark of being fired next to my name.”
“So I am to remain at a distance.”
Toby swallowed around the knot in his throat. He’d begun to get over the guilt of
leaving Wyn before, but now he was failing him again. “I’m sorry.”
Wyn shook his head and stared out the window apparently immersed in his own
thoughts.
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Wyn stifled a furious sigh that wanted to be a howl of frustration. They were in a
constant dance. One moment they were making progress towards sexual freedom, the next
Tobias was hiding. Again.
He couldn’t say he didn’t understand. Not with everything he’d seen and heard. Not
with what he knew of human nature and indoctrination. It seemed like a no-win fight, and
he wasn’t sure how much he could take. Was this his punishment for denying his lover that
day of Tobias’ death? Now, he was fated to the inability to claim Tobias publicly though he
wanted to. It was like the work of a demented imp.
In truth, Wyn fought with himself every time Tobias pretended their relationship was
other than it was. Things kept to the shadows became withered and twisted. Perhaps they’d
been well on their way there, years ago. Wyn didn’t want that for them. He didn’t want his
insides filled with poison of bitter resentment. He’d have to find a way to deal with this.
Leaving Tobias wasn’t an option. But denying their love only seemed like a repeat of history
that had had a destructive ending for both of them.
“Tobias? If you do not lose your teaching position, what will we do?”
“Continue on as we are, I guess. Be more careful. Hope that the job at Levey
materialises.”
Wyn nodded. “It would only be a matter of time before the school tries to attack you on
another front. It is the way of things. Perhaps you should quit. Let me take care of you. You
know taking care of you pleases me, and from what you’ve told me, I have the means.”
“And be a kept man? Hmm… Enticing, but I’d go crazy with nothing to do.”
Wyn snorted. He’d keep his squire busy. He understood Tobias’ reluctance as well. He,
too, would be crazed with no useful occupation. Already, the restlessness from it threatened
him. It gnawed at his gut telling him he no longer had worth. Wyn knew better, but it built
an anger within. And when Tobias pretended their love did not exist, it stoked that fire
hotter.
He fought to be calm. He was not a temper-driven knave. “I suppose training is not an
option today. Will we go to the Y?” he asked.
“If that’s what you want. I was thinking I’d veg on the couch and watch TV.”
“Tobias…” Wyn sighed. “If I spend my life on your couch, I’ll get soft and grow a belly,
and you would not love me anymore.”
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“Of course I’d love you.”
Wyn laughed. “But you like my hard body better.”
“I just like having your body here. Let’s leave it at that.”
Then show me that, Tobias. Wyn nodded then looked out the window. “This veg on the
couch sounds all right to me. I want to hold you.”
* * * *
There was nothing on the television so Tobias turned on music and they lay together on
the large couch while they talked. Wyn reclined behind him, his arms wrapped around his
lover. Tobias laced their fingers together over his heart as he laid half on and half off Wyn.
Wyn worked his knee between Tobias’ legs, entwining them.
“If I lose my job, I’d like to go to your home and explore,” Tobias told him.
“Is that not what I offered earlier?”
“No. Earlier you said you’d take care of me.”
Wyn gave him a quick squeeze. “I will always take care of you, job or not. I am your
knight.”
“What do you want me to be?” Toby asked good-naturedly. “You want me to be a
warrior, but you want to take care of me—”
“You may be the greatest knight of this time, but I shall always take care of you, Tobias.
It is my God-given task.”
“Hmm…”
“Tobias, I have a boon to ask of you.” Wyn tipped his nose to Tobias’ shoulder,
breathing in his essence and closing his eyes against possible rejection. He had to ask, despite
the fear.
“I don’t know… Last time, I ended up in a knighthood refresher course and flat on my
back. What do you want?”
“David and Bryant… David called Bryant his partner. They are a couple?”
“Yes…”
“I want us to be a couple. As we could not be in the past. Even if we cannot tell a soul—
at least not right now. I want my claim on you.”
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Tobias wriggled out of his arms and sat up.
Despair weighed on Wyn. He shouldn’t have gone out on the limb. He slipped onto his
back and tried not to look hurt as he regarded Tobias. At odds with Wyn’s thoughts, Tobias
leant forward and cupped his cheek. “I need to show you something.”
He jumped up and disappeared down the hallway. A few minutes later, he returned
with a small white box in his hand.
“When I showed up on my family’s land I was wearing these.” He removed the lid of
the box and set it on the small table beside them then pulled out the two rings inside it and
slipped them on his forefinger and his ring finger. “These are very similar, and it’s obvious
they were made to match,” he said. He tapped the one on his forefinger. “Perhaps we can get
this one sized to fit you. I mean, if you want.”
“There is no need.” Wyn took his hand. “Obviously, you haven’t remembered all.” He
slipped the ring off Tobias’ forefinger and placed the smooth silver band on his own ring
finger. “I had wondered what became of these. No one knew. These rings…” He placed his
hand beside Tobias’ and smoothed his thumb over the design carved into the top of Tobias’
ring. It matched Wyn’s band. “These hold my family crest. When I gave you that ring, I
claimed you as my own. People thought it only that I was marking you as a valued member
of the household. They were right…and wrong. And this ring,” he lifted his hand, turning it
so the light caught the silver, “is mine.”
“Yours? Why did I have it?”
“You carried it because, during the journey, it had interfered with my new gauntlets. I
needed them fixed but could not see to it until we returned home. I usually wore the ring
when I did not have on my armour, but you had not given it back to me that night. Some
nights you did not. I trusted it in your keeping. Just like I trusted my heart to you.”
“Then I left.”
“We have discussed this. You had no choice.”
Tobias nodded tightly. “So we wear them from here on.” In contrast to his words, he
pulled off his ring. But immediately, he slipped it onto his other hand. “The left is the
commitment finger.”
Reaching for Wyn’s hand, he removed his ring as well, then paused with Wyn’s left
hand in his. “I’m yours, Wyn. And you’re mine. Forever. My knight and my love.”
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The band pushed into place at the base of his finger and Wyn pulled Tobias down into
his embrace, settling Tobias’ body over his, as he sealed their pledge with a kiss.
Forever didn’t seem long enough, but it was a start.
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Chapter Seven
Despite, Toby’s worry, the week passed with remarkable speed. He and Wyn spent
every minute together better reacquainting themselves. Wyn did his best to distract Toby
while Toby tried not to fret. He also did his best to bring Wyn up to speed on the twenty-first
century, a monumental task even with someone as smart as Wyn. Thursday night they
decided to get out of the condo. They were both weary from their efforts but eager for more
time together.
Toby took them to O’Tooles, his favourite bar for burgers and beers. It was a small
place, cosy but not cramped. After he’d parked down the street in the municipal parking,
they walked the short distance, chatting amicably.
“No getting me drunk and having your way with me,” Toby quipped.
“I don’t need to get you drunk for that,” Wyn returned, holding the door open.
Remarkably, there were only a few patrons that night.
“Let’s sit in the booth back there,” Toby said already heading towards the last of the
booths that ran the middle of the west wall, parallel to the bar. The table and the wood
panelling were pitted with the marks carved into them by patrons before them. Every table
was the same and Toby had always figured the bar encouraged that.
A waitress outfitted in black pants and a black tee, approached the table after the two of
them had slid into opposite seats. Wyn’s leg sprawled out and Toby stretched one of his
against it. After they’d both ordered Bourbon Street burgers and beers, they settled back.
They just looked at each other silently, and the side of Toby’s mouth turned up. “I could get
used to this.”
“You should.” Wyn glanced around. “I like it here.”
Though he knew he should watch his expressions, Toby let his smile widen. He didn’t
recognise anyone here. No one would care if he was dining with Wyn. “This is one of my
favourite places. I wanted to share it with you. I come here about once a week.”
He pushed a small wicker basket of peanuts towards Wyn, took one and opened it,
throwing the shell on the floor afterward as was the practice at O’Tooles. Chewing on a
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peanut, he flattened his hands on the table. He spread his fingers and looked at the carved
graffiti surrounding them. Were any of these people gay? Were ‘S and W forever’ two men?
Or Casey and Will? Were they?
“Tomorrow’s the meeting,” he said, bringing it up for the first time since Monday. “At
three.”
“Whatever happens there, it will be all right. You have been through far worse than
they can deal out.”
“Not in a while, but yeah, I’ve faced down enemy armies and dodged flaming arrows.
And endured a backcountry inquisition. I can stand up to this.”
“I killed them, you know.”
“What?” Toby’s brows came together as he tried to decipher Wyn’s meaning. As Wyn
was about to answer the waitress brought their burgers with a pile of fries next to each. They
each ordered another beer. Once she’d departed, Toby looked back at Wyn. “What?” he
repeated.
“The men who killed you. Every one of them.”
“How did you know—”
“Who? They bragged about it. Then when I returned to wreak vengeance, they
whimpered and begged like babies. But I showed no mercy.” He took a gulp of beer. “I saw
what they did to you… Such desecration. Men like that do not deserve to live.”
The thought of hunting those men and cutting them down twisted Toby’s stomach. It
was a different time, that era they’d once lived in. Wyn’s action wasn’t unlawful or unusual.
Those who cut down a loved one were slain without pity.
“This shocks you,” Wyn observed.
“There are so many things I’d forgotten. We don’t live like that anymore. What you did
is illegal now. I… Well, thank you.”
“Anything for you, Tobias.”
The bar had filled as they’d talked and now noisy chatter and loud music made it
nearly impossible to talk as they had been. Each man focused on their burger, making short
work of their meals before leaning back to savour the remainder of their beers.
“Woods!” a voice thundered beside their table. Toby looked up to see one of his co-
workers, a professor from the math department.
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“Stanley,” he said with a nod. The man wove slightly though he stood still, and Toby
surmised he must have had at least one too many. Stanley’s glassy eyes set on Wyn.
“So the dirt is, you’re about to be canned. For being a homo. This the guy?”
Toby glanced at Wyn. He stared over Toby’s shoulder, his jaw set and his arm resting
lightly on the back of the booth. Toby knew Wyn enough to know tension knotted though
him, despite his relaxed posture.
He glanced back at Stanley. It was unlikely that he’d remember their conversation in
the morning, but still, Toby’s job might depend on his response.
“I’m not gay,” he lied. “This is my friend, Wyn.”
Wyn leant further back against the booth, saying nothing. His face didn’t change and
his stare didn’t shift.
“Well, fuck me,” Stanley exclaimed, spitting slightly as he spoke. “Guess I lost that bet.”
He shambled away, and Wyn glared at Toby.
“I am ready to leave,” he said. “I would walk through fire for you, Tobias. I know now,
you would not do the same for me.”
“Wyn—”
Ignoring him, Wyn got up and walked away. Toby dropped his head into his hand.
He’d screwed this one up bad. He’d thought Wyn knew his situation, that he understood.
Swallowing back his panic, he tried to flag down the waitress for the bill. Fifteen minutes
later, he finally exited the bar.
He thought Wyn had gone to the car, but he wasn’t there.
Shit! Where was Wyn? He scouted around the parking lot then headed back towards
the bar. He headed east on Bridge Street, thinking perhaps Wyn was attempting to walk
home. He didn’t like walking around here after dark, but he was worried about Wyn.
Wyn was nowhere to be found and didn’t reply to Toby’s calls.
“Lose your puppy?”
Toby stiffened at the grating voice behind him followed by scattered chuckles of a few
others. He turned to find four men, obviously somewhat tipsy though he wasn’t sure how
inebriated they were. They looked like normal, clean cut college students in polos and jeans.
It was the alcohol that made them dangerous.
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He started to back away, but two men quickly darted behind him. Shoving him towards
the ring-leader.
“Oh, you want me, fag?” The guy sputtered with laughter. “We saw you come in with
that other queen. Had a hissy fit and left you, did he?”
“Just let me go.”
“But you want a fuck. You like it hard?”
Terror shot through Toby. Surely, they wouldn’t assault him.
“Well, fuck this!” the same guy spat. He grabbed Toby’s collar and slammed him into
the brick wall of the building beside them. A jagged edge caught Toby’s temple. Before he
could move away or lift a hand in defence, a meaty fist smashed into his face. His shirt
twisted into his neck as the guy held him. His air cut off as he struggled. Blindly, he swung at
his attacker and heard a grunt as he hit his mark. Almost immediately, his hands were
caught and held to the sides. His main attacker grabbed his hair and slammed his head into
the wall. A few random punches pummelled his abdomen, but the pain began to blur as it
sluiced through his body and his vision greyed.
He thought he heard someone yelling, but he couldn’t be sure as the pressure on his
neck suddenly released and he collapsed to the ground.
* * * *
The four thugs had done enough damage to send him to the hospital by ambulance.
The Spectrum Hospital ER had patched him up, but had insisted on CT scans to look for a
concussion—which he’d had. They’d kept him overnight for observation then slapped him
with a phenomenal bill. He was thankful Grand Riverside hadn’t fired him yet. At least he
had insurance for a few more hours.
He hurt like hell as he took a cab from the hospital to the parking lot where his car was
parked. The patrol cop who’d intervened in the attack had seen to it that it wouldn’t be
towed. Toby was so thankful for that man. He’d likely be dead or, at very least, hurt far more
if the police hadn’t happened by. Wyn hadn’t been anywhere nearby as a crowd had
gathered to see the spectacle. He didn’t know where Toby had been all night.
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As Toby let himself into the condo shortly later, it occurred to him that Wyn apparently
didn’t give a rat’s ass where he’d spent the night. His home was untouched, the bed unslept
in. Fighting the emotional pain that welled inside him to rival and surpass his bodily pain,
Toby pulled off his clothes, popped a pain pill, set the alarm so he wouldn’t miss the meeting
then fell onto the bed.
When he awoke a few hours later, Wyn hadn’t returned. Aching, he showered then
pulled on a navy suit with white button-down shirt and a paisley tie. His head throbbed as
he bent to tie his polished dress shoes. He gasped with alarm when he looked in the mirror at
his bruised face, split lip and swollen eye. Neat stitches made a track from his temple to his
hairline. He was a train wreck.
He gripped the sink as the world seemed to swim. Carefully taking deep breaths, he
waited for things to settle into place then drew a cool cloth over his cheeks. Nothing
improved, and his heart sank. Here was a great image to present to the board. Frankly, he
was more worried about where Wyn had gone. He prayed he wasn’t hurt somewhere or lost
with no idea how to find Toby. He had a cell phone—Toby had hooked him up with that on
Tuesday and they’d practiced calls so Wyn knew how to use it. Lost just didn’t wash. Wyn
was purposely staying away, especially since Toby had called him several times and the calls
had gone to voicemail. Toby hadn’t told Wyn he’d been attacked and hurt. He wasn’t
playing the pity card.
Anger keeping him strong, Toby made his way back down to his car, aware he
probably shouldn’t be driving. He was angry at the four men who’d beat him, at the college
for the crap they were putting him through, at society for looking down on him and even at
God for the trials he’d sent and the glaring lack of protection. He wasn’t, however, angry
with Wyn. By some measure, Toby felt he deserved Wyn’s ire and his lover had nothing to
do with what had happened last night. He would never have willed this to happen to Toby.
Toby rubbed his face then winced at the instant pain. Thank heaven, the four who’d
done this were arrested. He hoped they’d stay locked up for a good long while, though he
supposed they were probably already out on bail.
He squinted into the bright sunlight as he left his parking ramp. The movement made
him wince. Oh to be back in bed. After taking a few more pain pills. His head throbbed as he
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headed to the college. He didn’t dare take anything. He wanted his head as clear as possible
for what he had to say.
The board waited in their meeting room when he arrived, and he was directed inside to
sit in a chair facing the U-shaped meeting table.
Dean Palmer started the hearing as soon as Toby was seated. As if purposely making
him wait, the group of twelve talked about inconsequential things for a half hour while Toby
struggled to remain upright in his chair. Finally, Dean Palmer turned his eyes to him.
“Next up, the matter of Professor Toby Woods and whether or not he should continue
employment with the college. You’ve all received my report on the gay incident this past
weekend and his history of belligerence.”
History? Really? When?
“Please take a look at the professor now. Obviously, he believes brawling is appropriate
behaviour for a teacher. Do any of you have any questions?”
A middle-aged black woman sitting at the corner of two tables leant forward.
“Professor Woods, have you seen this report?” She held up several sheets of paper.
“No.” Toby carefully shook his head while flashing lights skyrocketed before his eyes.
He winced. He waved away a copy of the report and stood slowly. “I have a few things to
say, and they’ll remain the same no matter what the dean has stated in his report.
Belligerent? I disagreed with Dean Palmer over my suspension. That was the extent of
anything I’ve said that might be construed as out of line by the dean.” He paused. Now was
do-or-die. “Am I gay? I’ve done everything possible to keep my personal life separate from
my existence here on the campus above speculation. The instance the dean has likely
outlined took place off-campus and away from students. Am I gay?” he repeated. “Yes. And
that man is my life partner. I’m committed to him.” If Wyn would have him. “And I don’t
think that makes me a bad influence. If that will cost me my job, I guess that’s how it is. I’ve
been gay a long time and that’s not going to change. I’m tired of denying who I am and
hurting the man I love by denying him, as well. This,” he indicated his face. “This is because
more people don’t stand up for themselves. This is because people think they can dictate
how other people live and hate them if they’re different. If any of this violates the morality
clause in my contract…” He shrugged. “I guess that’s for you to decide. You’ll find my
records up-to-date and complete.”
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The same woman nodded, her lips pressed together. “If you’ll wait outside, we’ll
discuss this matter then let you know our decision.”
* * * *
Toby dropped a box of his things inside his condo door. He leant against the door and
listened to the tomblike silence. Wyn wasn’t here. He felt it with every bit of his being. His
fear that he’d completely lost his knight weighed him down more thoroughly than the worry
about his job had. In the end, they’d fired him, and to his surprise, he felt relieved about the
loss.
But true relief was not to be his. He’d failed Wyn. Until today, he hadn’t realised how
off his thinking had been. He’d relied on Wyn to be his white knight, but it was Wyn who
needed the knight. He needed someone to love and stand up for him. Wyn’s father never
had. Toby had never been in the position to. Nor had anyone else. Wyn had only needed
love, and he’d do anything for that person who’d give it to him unconditionally. And Toby
had failed. He’d been there for Wyn—unless he’d been called on to stand up for their love.
God, he sucked.
He had to fix this. Somehow. Weary from staving off the pain through determination,
he staggered into the living area and froze, his blood running cold. No! No…
All Wyn’s papers they’d left on the table this week were gone. Every last one. And in
their place sat a single sheet of paper and Wyn’s ring.
Toby’s heart had stopped beating and he clutched the back of a chair, groping his way
around it to sit down. His hands shook as he picked up the note. Wyn had written it in Old
English since he still wasn’t completely comfortable with his otherworldly grasp of modern
English.
Tobias,
All I have ever wanted is to be with you. In our time, that was impossible though I would have
chanced the outrage of our people if it would not have meant your death. In this time, judgement
remains, as does danger to those who are different, but it is not the same. In this day, men can admit
their love for one another…and live. Since you cannot or will not acknowledge me, perhaps this ring is
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90
better placed on your finger once more. You have my heart, but you can keep it in that box until you
want it in your palm for a while.
Alwyn
Tears streamed over Toby’s cheeks as he read, Wyn’s ring cutting into the palm of his
fisted hand. He had to find Wyn, but where? He was pretty sure Wyn didn’t know about
planes—God, he knew next to nothing about the twenty-first century. Where would he go?
Toby looked around the apartment. Wyn’s sword was gone, but he’d left everything
else. Of course, he’d taken his weapon. It was the one thing he could have faith in. It
wouldn’t fail him. Not like people. Not like Toby. The sword was the one thing constant with
a knight. His sword, his livelihood… Toby closed his eyes. The sword was the only thing he
could trust to get him through, but even that was removed in the twenty-first century. In this
day and time, what did Wyn have?
Tobias. He’d damn well have Tobias. Somehow, he would prove to Wyn that he could
trust their love.
Pushing aside the excruciating pain that had moved from a throb to a stab through his
skull, he left the table. Nothing mattered other than finding Wyn.
He shoved the ring in his pocket. The only finger it was going on was Wyn’s. The
elevator seemed to take forever but taking the stairs was out of the question. He wanted to
get outside, not land in a heap on the landing when he lost his balance. Finally, the elevator
arrived then started the slowest descent it had ever made while Toby impatiently tapped his
foot.
The security guard stared at Toby as he marched across the lobby then he rushed out of
the building. He groaned as he ran into a wall of human flesh. Wyn. Without looking up,
Toby recognised his scent, the feel of his hard body, the sword swinging at his hip. Toby
wrapped his arms around Wyn, hugging him with all his might. He pressed his face to
Wyn’s shoulder.
“I need your help to get me to my home in England. After that, I won’t bother you
again.” Wyn said, his voice expressionless, his arms hanging at his sides rather than holding
Toby.
“No,” Toby said flatly.
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91
“No?”
Before Wyn could react—or see his damaged face—Toby reached up and pulled Wyn
into a kiss right there on the street for anyone to see. It hurt like hell, but he wasn’t stopping.
Wyn didn’t immediately respond then, all at once, he groaned, his strong arms pulling Toby
flush to his body. Toby didn’t flinch or pull away, even when the catcalls came. He just let
Wyn continue kissing him, possessing his lips and tongue.
“Come inside with me,” Toby urged, pulling his mouth slightly away. “Not because I
want to hide, but because what I want to do with you will get us arrested… I swear I will
never hide my love for you again. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Wyn nodded, his wary eyes turned to shocked when he spied Toby’s face. “Who did
this to you, Tobias?”
“A group of thugs last night when I left the bar. They’re in jail. A cop stopped them
before they could—do worse.”
Wyn traced the stitches then his fingers moved over his face. “Tobias… If I’d been
there…”
“Don’t,” Toby ordered. “Things might have been worse if you’d been there. You could
be in jail, because they were too drunk to know better.” He thought it better not to tell Wyn
he was searching for him. That guilt wouldn’t easily go away. “I love you, Wyn. I’m just glad
you’re here now.”
He took Wyn’s hand for all to see and pulled him inside to the elevator. He didn’t
release him as they stepped inside. “Kiss me again,” he said.
“I will hurt you.”
“The hell with that. Please…”
Wyn kissed him lightly, his lips barely touching Toby’s even when Toby strained for
more. “By the saints, Wyn. I’m not going to break!”
The elevator opened on his floor before Wyn had a chance to kiss him more effectively,
though Toby was beginning to doubt he would. Shaking his head and starting to feel a little
better, he dragged Wyn to the condo. Inside the door, Wyn stared at the box of Toby’s things.
“What is this?”
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“I told them I’m gay and that I’m not going to hide it anymore. That I couldn’t do that
to the man I love. It’s been a bad twenty-four hours. Worst was that I drove off my knight.”
His fingers went to Wyn’s sword belt. The weapon fell to the tile with a clang.
“Tobias…”
“Please don’t leave me. I’ll do better. I promise. I want to be with you for the rest of our
lives. Please…I was so scared I’d lost you.”
Wyn pushed Toby’s suit jacket off him then started on his buttons. “I want to see how
angry I need to be.”
Toby covered his hands. “I’m fine.”
“I doubt that. I failed you again.”
“No,” Toby replied firmly. “For the first time, I saw clearly today. I failed you. Never
again Wyn. Not on purpose. I knew denying our relationship hurt you, but I did it anyway
out of self preservation. I should have been more worried about what I was doing to you.”
“Tobias.” Wyn cupped his face. “I love you. I did not know what else to do. I could not
live with you and pretend I did not want you, that I did not love you more than anything.”
His lover’s pain pierced Toby. What he’d done! “I’m sorry…”
Wyn shook his head. “No more. No recriminations. We are both to blame. Now…we
will be together. Nothing else matters as long as you are by my side—really by my side.”
“Always,” Toby promised.
“Come to bed,” Wyn urged. “I need to feel you in my arms. And you look as if you
might fall over any minute.”
“I’m fine,” Toby said though he felt light-headed. He clung to Wyn’s arms to stay
upright.
Wyn shook his head. “I know you hate to be carried, but I am afraid you will be on the
floor in a moment.”
Toby didn’t bother to protest. This would be the last time Wyn would carry him—
ever—and he might as well enjoy the moment. Tomorrow he’d address that he was perfectly
capable of walking. At all times. “Maybe later, we can go out. I’ve heard of this club where
we can dance. I have a lot to celebrate, you know.”
“You lost your job.”
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93
Toby shrugged. “That’s not a bad thing, and who cares? I found you. That’s a lot more.
Whatever comes, I’ll have you with me and it’s just gotta be good. We have an angel on our
side.”
“That we do. We are also not going dancing. You are not leaving this bed.” Wyn laid
him atop the comforter and Toby wiggled backward onto the pillows.
“Will you stay here with me?”
“Try and stop me.”
Toby smiled, but it hurt. He sighed and tossed an arm dramatically over his eyes. “I fear
I’m too weak for that.”
Wyn laughed and settled beside him. “You are a mouthy squire.”
“Yours. So what’re you going to do about it?”
“Whip you soundly and keep you in bed.”
“There might be many such lessons you’ll have to teach me,” Toby teased. He pulled
Wyn’s ring from his pocket and held it out to him. His eyes shimmering, though Toby would
never insult his knight by calling them tears, Wyn silently took the ring and slipped it on. He
bent over Toby and dropped tender kisses on his cheeks. “Love you,” he whispered.
“By the saints, I love you so much…”
As they reunited, this time forever, they heard the tinkling laughter of their angel and
as the sound faded away, they knew it was the last they’d hear of her even if she always
watched over them.
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94
Epilogue
Toby sat at his work table with his back to the wall, reconciling the inventoried
shipment of artefacts to those promised. Despite the often tedious paperwork, he loved his
job at the Levey museum.
“I’m leaving for the evening,” David said from the doorway behind Toby. “I’ll lock up
and set the alarms on my way out. Be careful not to trigger anything when you leave. You
won’t be much longer will you? I have it on good authority you have a very handsome man
waiting at home.”
“Wyn’s teaching that sword fighting class tonight. He won’t be home quite yet. I have
about a half hour then I’m outta here.”
David came around the table and leant his hip against the edge. “Is he ready for his
demonstrations next week?”
“Always. He’s such a perfectionist he drives me crazy. Has he told you he’s using me as
a prop?” He grinned. “It’s been nice working for you.”
“Ha. That man wouldn’t hurt you if a knife was to his throat.”
Toby knew that was absolutely true. “He is pretty spectacular, isn’t he? Now, you get
out of here and get to your own hot man.”
David’s face lit up as it always did when he thought of Bryant. “Outta here. See you in
the morning.”
No sooner had David left than callused hands covered Toby’s eyes.
“You were listening the whole time,” he chided.
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching your class?”
“No. It starts next week. I lied so I could surprise you.” He kissed Toby’s neck. “Happy
birthday, love.”
Toby turned in his office chair then stood going directly into Wyn’s arms. He’d spent an
awful lot of time there in the past months. After he’d lost his job at the college, they’d
travelled together to England. Wyn had met Toby’s parents, then the two of them had gone
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95
to Wyn’s castle. It seemed no more inviting to them than it had back in the thirteen
hundreds. Still, they’d explored all the nooks and crannies and rediscovered the few places
they’d secret rendezvoused. The castle was now a bed and breakfast, catering to foreign
visitors. That was fine with them both since they didn’t intend to spend time there and it
ensured Wyn an on-going cashflow.
Most of Wyn’s things, artefacts from their time, had been moved to be with them at
their condo.
All the while, Toby had shown Wyn the world while they’d waited on his position at
Levey to eventually come through. Now, Wyn was writing a book about the middle ages
while Toby worked, though he did participate in special engagements at the museum as a
contracted worker.
“Will you be much longer?” Wyn asked against his lips. His hand strayed down to
Toby’s ass, and Toby knew exactly what he wanted—exactly what they both wanted all the
time.
“Just a few more minutes work, but I can go now. This will hold until tomorrow
morning.”
“Hmm…okay, come with me then.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. David was very helpful since it’s your birthday.” He led Toby to a part of
the museum Toby had set up to demonstrate actual rooms within a medieval castle. Wyn
didn’t stop until he’d reached the lord’s chamber. There are no real artefacts in this area so
neither of them were concerned with setting off alarms. There were none, and no cameras
either.
“What are you doing?” Toby asked.
“Something I have always wanted to do.”
“Wait… It’s my birthday.”
“You’ll get your present,” Wyn promised.
“Why do I feel like I’m getting gypped? I get your fine body every day.”
Wyn growled at him then sat in the lord’s chair. “Take off your clothes, squire, and get
on the bed.”
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“You’ve had me in a bed—probably every way there is to have me,” Toby argued while
he took off his clothes.
“You are a difficult servant.”
Toby snorted. “Servant?”
“By the saints, work with me here.”
“Well, I am difficult. You’re right about that.”
Wyn shook his head as Toby stood beside the bed naked. “Climb up.”
“Wouldn’t you rather we went home to our soft cushy bed?”
“No,” Wyn said flatly. “The lord would like to fuck in the lord’s chamber.”
“David knows about this?” That would be a little embarrassing.
“Exact details? No.”
Wyn devoured Toby with his eyes while he took off his own clothes.
“You know,” Toby said, his arms behind his head. “This bed is about as comfortable as
a board. Oh wait. It is a board.”
“Difficult…”
“Did you bring lube?”
“Oh course.”
“Wyn, I don’t know what it is that you’ve always wanted but will you hurry? I need
you.”
“I’m right here, love.” Wyn’s mouth came down on his. They moved together in a
rhythm that had become natural to them in the last months, both now knowing exactly what
the other loved most. Toby dampened a finger in his mouth then worked it against Wyn’s
anus. Slowly, he slipped the digit inside. It was the extent of penetration Wyn wanted from
him. Some might find that strange, but not Toby. He liked being Wyn’s bottom and didn’t
have any desire to switch up. Wyn groaned his approval into Toby’s mouth and rubbed his
groin against Toby’s.
“Like that?” Toby murmured.
“You know I do. You know everything about me.”
“Except what you want most,” Toby countered, crying out as Wyn’s teeth captured a
nipple.
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97
“To make love to you by torchlight in the lord’s chamber. Even in my own castle we
could not because it is a part of the castle’s exhibit and not a private room.”
“Mmm…all so clear now. How will you have me, my lord?”
Wyn nipped beneath his chest moving towards Toby’s navel. “On your back with your
legs drawn up. I want to see the face of the one I love most.”
Travelling lower, he pressed a hand to Toby’s belly. Firm pressure kept Toby still as
Wyn took his cock in his mouth. Toby’s head came off the pillows, his mouth opening on a
groan as Wyn’s heat enveloped him. “Yes, Wyn…”
Wyn pulled off with a pop. “You are going to come, squire. We cannot soil the lord’s
chamber. No waiting today.”
Toby would have laughed, but Wyn’s mouth was already on him, sucking forward
Toby’s release with skilled lips and tongue. In minutes, Toby was bowing from the bed. His
hands clenched into the blanket as his cum filled Wyn’s mouth.
Wyn licked his lips. “So good.”
“You’re so good.”
“I am glad you think so.” He wasted no time coating his fingers with lube and pressing
them into Toby. He stroked Toby’s sweet spot while Toby writhed with pleasure. “Hurry
Wyn!”
“Always in such a hurry.”
“Don’t tease me. It’s my birthday.”
“So it is. Legs to your chest, squire. Let me in.”
“Always,” Toby promised. He was always Wyn’s. In public. In private. However Wyn
wanted. Since making that choice, he hadn’t regretted it. His eyes closed. “You feel so good,
Wyn. Deeper. Deeper,” he begged and didn’t stop until Wyn was all the way in.
Though he was all the way in, Wyn jerked his hips forward as if trying to give him even
more. The action seemed to open Toby and Wyn slid that extra millimetre, filling him to
perfection. “You feel so good,” Wyn moaned.
“I’d feel better if you’d move and really fuck me.”
“Mouthy,” Wyn laughed and gave Toby’s hip a smack.
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98
“Mmm…more,” Toby cried. Unwilling to wait a second longer for his lover, he gyrated
his hips. Wyn took up the momentum, and pistoned his hips forward and back, slamming
into Toby with unrelenting force.
Toby gathered enough thought to complete his lover’s fantasy. “Yes, my lord. Fuck me.
Fuck your mouthy servant.”
Above him Wyn stiffened, and Toby groaned as his knight’s hot cum filled him. This
was how he’d always longed to be. In the arms of his knight, his lord. They had a timeless
passion, right in thirteen hundred and just right now.
“Dinner?” Toby asked as they left shortly later. He held Wyn’s hand while Wyn reset
the door alarm. Then Toby moved closer, snuggling to Wyn’s warmth as the cold of the early
fall evening bit into him. He didn’t care that they were outside where anyone could see. He’d
always be willing to be seen in public with his lover…as his lover.
“Pizza at home. Naked. And I’ll give you your other present,” Wyn answered. Toby
chuckled, thinking they were a lot like a pair of newlyweds…and they kinda were.
The normal skaters heckled them once more as Wyn and Toby passed, but Toby was
used to them. He winked at Kent, the leader, who Toby suspected might be gay—but he’d
never had much of a gaydar. Toby flipped them off good-naturedly and they chortled.
“You’re a menace,” Wyn laughed.
“Only with you. You like it.” That said, he pulled Wyn into a kiss the likes of which the
skaters had probably never seen. And as their heckles turned to catcalls, he realised that
everyone could change. If they want to. But his love for Wyn, never would, because it was
happily-ever-after-the-end.
About the Author
When it comes to books and movies, Brynn Paulin has one rule: there must be a happy
ending. After that one requirement, anything else goes. And it just might in any of her
books.
Brynn lives in Michigan with her husband and two children, who love her despite her
occasional threats to smite them. They humour her and let her think she's a
goddess...as long as she provides homemade chocolate chip cookies on a regular basis.
Brynn is president of her local chapter of Romance Writers of America and also hosts a
weekly writing critique group. She’s conducted workshops at several writers’
conferences around the country as she enjoys mentoring and meeting new people.
According to Brynn, her writing success can be attributed to 70's music, her local road
construction crews, a trusty notebook, and of course, her husband (and willing
research subject), AKA Mr. Inspiration.
Brynn loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and
author biography at
.
Also by Brynn Paulin
Redemption: Fallen
Redemption: Incubus
Tribute for the Goddess
Circle of Three: Tempting Tamera
Circle of Three: Phantoms’ Pleasure
Legend: A Legend Arises
Legend: A Legend Accomplished
Brits in Time: In the Dark
Summer Seductions: Stealing the Bride
Total-E-Bound Publishing
www.total-e-bound.com
Take a look at our exciting range of literagasmic™
erotic romance titles and discover pure quality
at Total-E-Bound.
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