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Charles struggles against the thick bands of silk tied around his wrists and ankles. It's surprisingly strong for something so delicate. Twin points of pleasure bloom on Charles’s chest when the bands tied around his bare torso rub against his nipples. A definitive wetness has begun to gather around his groins, dampening the flimsy white cotton tied around his waist. Heat is pricking his skin around beads of sweat. His telepathy flickers and strains when he tries to stretch it.
Fuck. He's going into heat.
Charles groans.
'It'll be over soon, my love,’ En-Sabah-Nur says, removing his white crown and placing it at the foot of the altar. His bald head gleams under the rich fire-light like desert sand under the midday sun.
Charles in the same room he was pulled into before his son and—
'David,’ Charles gasps. He tries to sit up, only to be stopped by bands of sand binding to cover his forearms. Fear clogs his heart.
‘David,’ he shouts.
There's no reply.
'What did you do to my son?’ Charles spits. ‘If anything happens to him, I swear, I won’t leave you alive.’
En-Sabah-Nur doesn't reply — head bowed over the altar — eyes closed and lips moving in a silent prayer.
Charles looks frantically around the room, straining his neck awkwardly, for any means of escape, any mind he can trick into releasing him. Though there are four guards standing at the two entrances of the circular room, Charles can't reach their minds. It's shut off to him.
'Where is my son?’ he shouts again. His voice echoes around the walls of the circular dome that stretches to touch the sky above him. 'Where is my husband?’ His voice wavers at the end, the probability of losing them real and poignant.
If only he could see Erik one more time, he’ll apologise profusely for dragging him into this chaos and tell him that he was right; that his intuition was right. The memory of goading Erik to accompany him to Genosha is still fresh in Charles’s memory.
‘Come on’, he had said, draping himself over Erik’s lap. ‘You’ve been working way too hard. Your firm can live without you for a month. It’s going to be fun.’
Erik had laughed at his petulance. ‘Only you can call digging around the desert for pots and pans fun, Charles. Besides, what do you even know about this excavation apart from what Hank brought in last week. The place looks… weird. Call it alpha intuition, but something doesn’t feel right about it.’
Charles had rolled his eyes. ‘First of all, that’s how all archaeological excavation sites look. Secondly, it's more than an archaeological site. There’s a resort joint to its periphery. It’s going to be good for us as a family. When was the last time the two of us went out after David’s birth, hmm?’
Charles had ground down on Erik when he had still looked uncertain and purred in his ear, ‘Please, Erik. For me.’
Erik had laughed, pulling him further into his lap, and had said fondly, ‘You’re going to be the death of me, Charles.’
‘I am,’ Charles had agreed and pulled Erik down on the sofa.
Oh, how he wishes he could take his words back.
Just the thought of Erik heats up his skin further and the wetness between his legs intensifies. His head swims and floats, unable to concentrate.
‘Where is my alpha?’ Charles shouts again, forcing himself to focus.
En-Sabah-Nur lifts his head up at that, his kohl-lined eyes blinking once. ‘Right in front of you, my love,’ he says. He picks up a goblet from the table in front of him and sips once from it.
‘What have you done to my son and husband?’ Charles spits out the words. Erik had been hit on the head and David pulled away from him.
What if…? Just the thought makes him giddy.
‘Please…’ he begs, mindless of how helpless he sounds. ‘Please kill me if you wish, but leave my David and Erik alone. Please don’t harm them. Please—’ His words cut off around a hitch.
‘Kill you?’ En-Sabah-Nur walks around the table towards Charles. One of his hands comes to tangle in Charles’ hair. Charles flinches at the touch, turning away. En-Sabah-Nur’s musk is overbearing and pungent. ‘I’ve never killed anyone before, my love, and I’m certainly not going to start with you. The River Gods have given you back to me only now. I cannot lose you again.’
‘What do you want from me then?’ Charles asks, half spitting the words at En-Sabah-Nur’s face.
The alpha-mutant chuckles calmly. ‘You always did have a wild spirit. I loved that about you then, and I’m glad that it hasn’t changed.’
The fingertips of his other hand trail over Charles’ left leg and slip into the opening in the waistband, massaging Charles's groins and spreading his slick. ‘I don’t want anything from you, Charles. I want you. To be with you. I want to give you children, my love. Children who will rule over these lands.’
Charles thrashes his hands and legs futilely, unable to dislodge En-Sabah-Nur’s hand on him. ‘Don’t touch me,’ he yells. ‘Don't you dare touch me, you bloody maniac—’
His struggles get cut off as En-Sabah-Nur’s hand lands on his forehead. ‘Rest now, my love. All will be revealed when you wake up.’
No… No… He can’t sleep now. Not now. He can’t
His eyes close of their own accord just as a cloud of black bursts in front of him.
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