“So you decided to cuff me?”

“Yes.”

“Do I get a say in this?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Cym’s tiny mouth turned down in a pout. “I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m not a huge fan of being locked up.”

Fourteen sighed. “I know. It’s only when I’m asleep, and…” Fourteen took a deep breath and confronted the elephant in the room. “You can always order me to release you.”

Cym’s eyes darted to meet Fourteen’s in alarm. “No. I’m not doing that again. No one ever gets to force you to do anything against your will again.” Cym’s tears were gone and his eyes were frigid. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Warmth bloomed in Fourteen’s chest, and for the first time in his memory, he knew what it felt like to be cared for. He’d chosen the right person to follow. The right person to protect with his life.

He just needed to make sure his person followed the rules.

Fourteen decided to start with rule one. “No more running. I can’t keep us safe if I don’t know where you are. And I will keep us safe.” He used the word us because he had a sense that Cym would be more likely to comply if he knew Fourteen’s own well-being was also at stake. “We’re a team now.”

Fourteen didn’t bother to phrase it as a request. They were a unit, and Cym would get used to the idea eventually.

“You still want that?” Cym’s voice was uncertain, and his gaze went back to hovering over Fourteen’s shoulder.

Want it? For fuck’s sake. It no longer mattered if Fourteen wanted it. He needed it. It was so much more than a mere want. It was a craving. A desperate shout deep in his soul. If Fourteen didn’t get this, the entire world would burn.

Instead of voicing the brutal truth, he simply said, “Yes.”

The relief on Cym’s face was instant. “Thank the gods. I mean, yes. Yes, we’re a team. All the way.”

“Good.”

“No more running, I promise. Unless you’re running with me. Does that sound good?”

No, it didn’t sound good, because Fourteen hated the idea of running away from anything. He’d rather kill the shit out of whatever was coming for him, but he wasn’t a him anymore. Fourteen was a them now, and he needed to make concessions. “Affirmative.”

“Hmm… You don’t like that do you?” Cym wrinkled his nose in thought and shifted his weight back to inspect Fourteen’s face. “You get more soldiery when you don’t like something.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

Cym gave him a brilliant smile and leaned down to give him a kiss on the nose. “I like this talk. You’re good at give and take.”

Fourteen snorted. No, he wasn’t, but he’d learn to be. Cym’s magic was a huge help in allowing his brain to access basic human concepts and emotions. All serious discussions between them would have to involve cuddling from now on. Otherwise, Fourteen was likely to fall back into soldier mode. The soldier—the Cold— wasn’t good at compromise. His methods for solving problems mostly involved killing.

Cym’s magic had helped him break free of the chains binding his mind, but he was still who he’d been raised to be. Twelve years of being the puppet of a monster had shaped Fourteen into what he was now. His own brand of monster.

Fourteen looked forward to finding out exactly what that meant for him.

Hopefully, Cym would too.

Fourteen stopped thinking when Cym leaned down and kissed him again. It started out as soft, sweet little kisses over the bridge of his nose and across his cheeks, but when Cym’s lips found his, they were right back where they started.

Fourteen hard, panting, and aching to be inside Cym.

He had more to say. He was sure of it.

Too bad his brain wasn’t in charge anymore.

There was a loud pounding on the door, and Cym jumped a foot into the air.

“Who the fuck is that? Did they find us?” Cym went from mild lust to terror in a split second.

“It’s okay. We’re safe.”

“Safe? Umm… where are we, exactly? I forgot to ask.” Cym tapped his index fingers together and looked down in embarrassment.

“We need to work on your situational awareness.”

“Maybe.”

The pounding on the door came again, and it was followed by Jack’s voice calling out, “Stop doing dirty things to Cym. We have a situation.”

“Shit! We’re with the guardians?” Cym hissed.

“Yep!” Jack answered merrily. “You two have a nice safe place to get to know each other better. But you need to do it later. There’s a meeting you two need to be a part of. You’ve got ten minutes to get downstairs before I come and fish you out myself.”

“Um…” Cym sat frozen on top of Fourteen. It was possible he was broken.

“Copy that,” Fourteen replied to Jack so he’d go the fuck away.

He tuned his senses toward the other side of the door, and when he heard Jack’s footsteps fade into the distance, he said, “I think he’s gone.”

“Thank the gods. I’m okay with being with the guardians right now, but wow, some of them need to learn boundaries.” Cym shrugged, gave a kittenish smile, and dipped his head to whisper against Fourteen’s mouth. “There’s a lot we can manage in ten minutes, or so I’ve read.”

Cym gave a happy wiggle and Fourteen was reminded of the intimate position they were in. He wanted nothing more than to flip Cym over, strip off his clothes, and bury himself as far inside the small man as he was allowed.

But they weren’t done yet, and Cym’s enticingly wiggly ass was tangential to the last thing they needed to discuss. Thank god for Jack’s timely interruption. Without it, Fourteen doubted he’d have had the ability to focus past the irresistible man in his arms.

Fourteen gripped Cym’s hips, planning to hold them still, but he couldn’t stop himself from grinding into Cym’s ass. Cym’s eyes went glassy and he met the thrust with an enthusiastic moan.

Fuck, that had been a terrible idea. Was Fourteen really going to do this to himself?

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them and inspected Cym, taking in the beautiful blush on his cheeks and those clear, innocent eyes. The mess of pale hair draped over his shoulder made Fourteen want to tug on it to see what would happen, but the open trust on Cym’s face was enough to give Fourteen pause.

“We’re not ready for this yet.” Fourteen knew he probably could have said it in a gentler way, but he didn’t know how to be a gentle person. The only thing he knew for certain was that he needed to be clear.

“Wha…?” Cym blinked in confusion, clearly not expecting to hear this. “Um, do you not want this? Because it feels like you want it from where I’m sitting.”

Fourteen gave a small laugh. Cym may look innocent, but he certainly wasn’t acting like it right now. But he was still young and inexperienced. And very obviously traumatized from a long, horrible ordeal.