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him, sweeping him up, tumbling and tossing him until he lost all sense of direction. With a hard groan, he collapsed on top of Kasha, crushing him into the blankets as the aftershocks left him trembling and panting.
    When he caught his breath, he levered himself up on his arms and withdrew much more gently than he had entered. Kasha shivered and moaned as he slipped free, shaking from head to foot. With a frown, Willem gathered him into his arms to hold him on his lap, stroking his back and sides.
    "Hey, you all right, babe?"
    "I'm shattered," Kasha whispered against his throat. "Nothing but a kaleidoscope of jagged pieces."
    "Did I--"
    Kasha put a finger over his lips to shush him. "You are not a stud, my dear Willem. You are a god."
    Willem grinned and tipped Kasha's head up for a tender kiss. "A little over the top, there. But I'll take it."

 
Chapter 4: Retribution And Reconnaissance
     
    Kasha woke as a cat the next morning, sore and unreasonably content. His first bout of sex in several decades had a good deal to do with that, but the sunbeam caressing his body and the large, sleep-warm body beside him certainly didn't detract.
    He rubbed his face against Willem's jaw, delighting in the rough stubble. Such a handsome lord he had this time, so considerate and giving. If only they could simply stay here, tucked away in their mountain stronghold. Ah, well. Willem needed more. He deserved more. It was a selfish, ridiculous thought, the one that kept whispering to him that he could have his lord to himself, truly be his lover, his partner.
    A product of his loneliness, such absurd thoughts. He was merely the instrument of change, the faithful servant. When human lives settled again, when the novelty of magic wore off, they wanted human things and a human life. Willem would need that, too, perhaps sooner than later. It would be good to see him content, perhaps even in love, before Kasha had to leave him, the day Willem no longer needed him and dismissed him. Rightly so, a banished, disgraced kasha had no place in a good man's life.
    When Willem began to stir, he stared in unabashed fascination as the blankets slipped from one broad shoulder, hard-packed chest and flat abdomen exposed as he rolled to his back, the soft line of golden hair from chest to navel inviting him to move his eyes lower. Kasha pawed at the blankets to pull them down farther, to the pelvic crease, to the lovely morning erection lying heavy on Willem's stomach.
    Willem's eyes fluttered open. He stretched, powerful biceps on full display.
    "Damn!" Willem sat up and pulled the blankets close. "Cold in here."
    With a twitch of his tail, Kasha tamped down on his disappointment at having the tantalizing view spoiled so soon. His eyes half-closed, he contented himself with catching teasing glimpses of skin while Willem built up the fire and started breakfast, oatmeal for the human stomach, another tin of tuna for the feline.
    Willem stroked his ears while he gazed into the fire. "Kash, when you said you were bad yesterday, did you really mean you were bad? Did you do something bad?"
    Before the claiming, Kasha could have lied or ignored him. Now, his heki-sama had asked a direct question. The compulsion made anything other than truth quite painful. "Yes. I did something of which perhaps you would not approve."
    The petting hand froze on his head. "What did you do?"
    Kasha paced to the other side of the hearth to give himself a bit of room. "It was a matter of retribution. Of setting things right."
    "Retribution?" Willem's pale complexion edged toward gray. "Damn it, Kash, what did you do? Who was it?"
    Oh, this isn't going well at all. "I paid a brief visit to your ex-lover."
    "To Joey?"
    "Yes. It was a matter of justice, for his cruelty to you."
    Willem surged up, yanking on clothes as quickly as his shaking hands allowed. "Is he... oh, my God, did you hurt him?"
    "It's merely discomfort, Willem. He is unharmed. For the most part."
    "What the fuck is that