Magpie by Kim Dare

inclination to say the man with the drugs could have him any way he wanted, was completely absent in that moment. The fire that filled his muscles was too much to bear. He tried to scream, but his throat killed the sound.
    Suddenly, Kane felt Everet’s arms push their way beneath him and lift him off the bed. Kane couldn’t grapple for a hold on Everet. He couldn’t even demand to be told where the raven took him. He managed to open his eyes, but the whole world was a blur.
    The sound of hurried footsteps competed with the buzzing in Kane’s ears. The world bobbed and weaved around Kane. A sound that Everet couldn’t place filled the void left by the footsteps when they came to a halt. Kane was vaguely aware of being lowered down, then, blessedly, wonderfully, he felt the flames fade a little.
    There had been no scratch against the inside of his arm, no searching for a vein healthy enough to take the needle. There was just relief and it poured over his skin like…
    Kane blinked as his vision slowly came back to him.
    Bright white light surrounded him on all sides. For a second, he thought he’d died and, against all the odds, he’d been given the chance to float off toward some wonderful paradise. Then, lines appeared in the whiteness, dividing the blur into neat little squares. The bathroom in Everet’s apartment at the nest.
    In infinitesimally small increments, Kane lifted his hand. He stared blackly at it as he turned it over. Droplets clung to it.
    Kane felt Everet’s fingers sliding through his hair, stroking it back from his face. The other man’s palm was cool and blissful against Kane’s skin. It was also wet. Kane lifted his head from whatever it had been resting on. He was in the bath. The shower was on above him.
    Everet was in there too, kneeling behind Kane’s back, supporting him and keeping him upright.
    Shower sex?
    Thoughts plodded sluggishly through his brain.
    No, that didn’t make sense.
    “You’re dressed,” Kane mumbled.
    “I didn’t have time to strip off.”
    “Oh…” Kane let his head drop back against the other man’s shoulder. The explanation seemed reasonable enough to him. He closed his eyes. He’d thought that the last shower he’d had at the nest was good, but this one was bloody amazing.
    Nothing but the sound of dripping water filled the air for several minutes.
    Kane groaned as instincts reared up. He couldn’t just lay there. He had to think, had to make his brain work. That was how a man stayed one step ahead of everyone else, how he stayed safe.
    Everet hadn’t had time to get undressed.
    Okay, Kane could work around that.
    “You’ll have to take the time to at least undo your zipper,” he said. The words came out slurred, but it wasn’t because he’d had too much to drink. Kane was sure of that. Lifting one hand, he scratched clumsily at the inside of his other elbow. No, he hadn’t had his shot of quicksilver either.
    Everet caught hold of his hand and made him stop trying to find an injection site. “You’re going to be fine.”
    It had never occurred to Kane that he’d be anything else until Everet tried to reassure him. “What…going…on?” he managed to ask.
    “You’re coming down off your high.”
    “Hurts.”
    “I know it does. But it will get easier soon.” Everet stroked Kane’s hair again. It felt nice.
    Kane smiled. Everet sounded nice too. That was new.
    Kane liked it.
    “Are you hot or cold?” Everet asked.
    Kane mentally checked in with various parts of his body. “Wet.”
    “A hot kind of wet or a cold kind of wet?” Everet pushed.
    Kane frowned. Men who just wanted him to bend over were so much easier to deal with than men who wanted him to think. “Hot.” He finally settled on.
    “That’s fine,” Everet said. “You need to tell me if you start to feel cold. Can you do that?”
    “’Kay,” Kane mumbled, sleepy now that some of the pain seemed to have faded away. He tried to turn over. His knee hit something hard.