Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

are you proposing a threesome?"
    "Never." The finality in Feral's tone brooked no argument. Though as far as Levi could tell no one was following him, he never felt the urge to allow someone else to touch him. Not since Feral. As if he could read Levi's thoughts, Feral said, "You are mine."
    "Are you mine?"
    Feral smiled and rolled off of Levi, neatly managing to regain his feet. He reached down for Levi. "I do not share my art with anyone else. This is just for us."
    That wasn't precisely an answer, but it was as close to one as Levi was likely to get. He didn't press.
    Feral picked up a candle and then led Levi to his bedroom. It was little more than a large pile of exquisite pillows next to a hookah and another bottle of red wine. There was also a silver bowl of figs. "There's lamb if you decide you are hungry."
    Levi nodded. On the other side of the bed were two tattoo machines, a shader and a liner that Feral used to mark him. "I'll run out of skin eventually."
    "You have a lot of skin before that happens." Feral sank onto the cushions and poured them each a glass of wine. "I think you need a shark."
    "A shark?" Levi asked as he lay on his side on the cushions. Marks from the ropes still banded on his skin. Feral wouldn't begin marking until they had faded.
    "To watch over you."
    "Predators only watch you to eat you."
    Feral laughed and took another sip of wine. "You only know a predator has been watching you when you're about to be eaten. You have no idea what they do unless they have made themselves obvious."
    The statement was odd enough to be mildly disturbing. "What do they do the rest of the time?"
    "They wait until they're hungry enough." That odd smile again. "Until then, you still belong to them. You're protected by their greed. They will not allow any other predators to scoop you up. That makes you safe, see?"
    Levi raised a brow. "Until they eat you."
    "Is it so bad to be consumed by one who loves you so much as to protect you from all others?"
    "But then they move on to the next."
    Feral finished his glass of wine and set it next to the bottle. "That hardly matters. You're gone. What do you care?"
    He had a point. A terrible point, but it was a terrible world. "Is that what you're doing with me? Watching me until you can consume me?"
    Feral walked on his knees to the tattoo machines and started to toy with the inks. "You are too good a meal to have all at once. You're being savored."
    Levi looked out the door to the camera mounted on the tripod. "A predator's whole life is about tracking their prey."
    "Prey should be very honored." Feral met Levi's eyes and smiled. "They're the most loved of all of us."
    Before Levi could protest, Feral turned on the machine. The buzzing filled the silence. Levi lay down. Feral turned him onto his side and moved his arm out of the way. At first the pins abrading his skin hurt, but the pain subsided into something dull and throbbing.
    Levi extended his hand toward the hookah, and Feral stopped long enough to bring the pipe closer to him. He leaned in and kissed around the violated area.
    "So when this is over, Feral, are you going to just stop sending for me?"
    Feral leaned over so he could meet Levi's eyes and stroked the side of his face. "I will never stop sending for you. We will be old men playing this game, my love. Don't be so literal."
    He kissed him tenderly, and then returned to filling in the shark.
    A few hours and a couple of glasses of wine later, Levi stood against the wall so that Feral could take a few pictures of his work. "What do you do with all of these photographs?"
    "Look at them when I miss you."
    "Oh. I thought you were going to do an art show or something."
    The idea seemed to amuse Feral. "Do you want to be exhibited?"
    Levi blushed. "You could cover the face."
    "I do not share." Feral wrapped his arms around Levi. "These are for me."
    Prey or not, Levi definitely felt watched and protected.
    He also started to feel incredibly sleepy. Between the activity, the wine, and the low dose of opium, he couldn't keep his head up.
    In spite of his willowy thinness, Feral was able to lift Levi and carry him back to bed. Tenderly, he lay him down and curled up behind him. After a few beats of the overhead fan, Levi drifted off to sleep.
    The next morning, he awoke to the alarm beside his own bed. Were it not for the soreness of his side, he might have thought it was all an incredible, wonderful dream.
    He slipped from bed. Morning light poured in