Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 38

[ Garrett ]

"Hey." I called out while trying to hide my surprise at seeing Josephine in the middle of the morning. Something was off. She pulled out a dagger that had been concealed in her dress and cut the strings on the front of the bodice in one swift motion while storming across the training room; shedding the dress like a second skin. Standing there in just under clothes I tried to gauge what was going on. "Joseph?"

"Willis." They growled. They were pissed about something but not at me, and not at me calling them Joseph instead of Willis. Smoothly they kicked off both heels, stepped in and went for a punch to my side. I dodged.

"Sloppy move Willis." I stepped left, arms up.

"Shut the f**k up." They snarled, sending another solid but obvious punch in my direction. I blocked and grabbed their wrist, stopping everything. Anger rolled off them.

"Whoa." I squared up to Willis. "I'm not your punching bag Willis. You wanna talk? We can talk. You want to blow off steam and spar? Fine by me but don't rock up with an attitude and take it out on me. It's not fair. What do you want right now? You want your Captain or your boyfriend? Neither of which is going to let you beat the s**t out of them, by the way."

Willis seethed as I waited. Narrow shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths, their jaw was clenched as they periodically shook their head - as if by doing so they could clear whatever thought was causing them to be so aggravated. My hand was still wrapped around Willis's small wrist, I could feel the pulse racing.

"Captain." They said finally.

"Run laps, Willis. I'll get you something to wear."

"Thank you, Captain." Willis told me as I turned to leave. A little smile crept onto my lips. It felt like we had turned a corner. We had worked on our boundaries regarding work, I'd stopped losing sleep over whether Jo was going to leave if I called them by the wrong name or pronoun mistakenly, Joseph had become more relaxed with showing his animalistic Fae side and Josephine, well, she didn't cry or cringe, or try to hide from me in the bedroom anymore.

There were still moments of course; of anger and frustration and fear often all accompanied by tears or silence but we were growing together. I had learned so much, seen a depth to them as Jo and Joseph and Josephine. I hadn't realised that Willis was another dimension to them, not until today. Willis was a quandary though and I was going to have to pay more attention and speak to them. Was Willis more of a title like I was boyfriend or Captain or did that part of them fit in with the she, he, them in some way?

Another big turning point had been moving in together. It had just sort of happened. My quarters had become their quarters mostly because we spent every night together but when I was in the city poking around for information on Taiya's condition I'd seen a powder blue bedspread. I bought it on pure impulse thinking it would, Ye Gods, I’m not 100% sure on what I was thinking. I wanted Jo in my life, I wanted to show them they belonged - that they weren't just a bed warmer. The idea seemed great at the time but when I got back to my sparse and simple lodgings it felt more like a token than the intended grand gesture that I wanted it to be AND it now seemed to be unintentionally about just the bed and s*x… Jo meant so much more to me than that.

So… I made us a simple dinner (because my cooking is atrocious), with candles, and lavender in a cup because I didn’t have a vase then presented the bedspread as a symbol. Words aren’t always easy and sometimes actions speak the loudest. That entirely innocuous gift held so much of my heart. It said ‘this is your space too’. It said ‘you belong’. It said ‘I care’. I wanted to say ‘I love you’ but it was too soon. Jo had looked at me like I’d lost the plot. Bedspreads as a gift? I might as well have bought socks for all the excitement Jo managed to muster, that was until I handed over the entirety of my pay for that month. Told Jo that I wanted the space to be ours, not mine.

They went nuts and now every room was an artful blend of simplicity and powder blue. I’d expected a gawdy cluttered space, in an overwhelming clamour of that specific shade but Jo had stuck to the line of it being ours and not crossed into the realm of it being theirs.

“Willis.” I called. I’d watched them do almost a dozen laps around large training the room. Well not really watched, mostly I was thinking about us - thinking about taking them dancing or on a picnic or maybe something with a little more oomf, like a boxing match.

“Captain.” They stopped in front of me. The edge of the anger had been eased by the running but not eradicated, tension in the muscles and hardness in the eyes told me as much.

“Dress, then we spar.” I handed Willis the clothes. They kept their eyes down. The action was different to the normal way they would avoid eye contact, it seemed measured, calculated and oddly comfortable. As they put on the loose workout clothes I tried to recall when else I’d seen that look on their face. Ye Gods, how had I missed that? It was always when I was Captain; a dynamic between superior and subordinate that I had been overlooking.

I didn’t want to overlook anything about Jo. I wanted all of them; unfettered access to their soul so I could nourish them in every way possible.

“Hands up, let's go.” I started on the offence and went for the first swing. It landed but it shouldn’t have. “Willis, defend. We’re sparing now.” I grabbed them by the back of the neck and brought their face tight up to mine. “If you want roughing up we can do that later… in the bedroom; now put some effort in or you can go back to running laps.”

“Yes, Captain.” There was a flash of excitement in Willis’s eyes but they got down to business in the training room, bringing their focus and working up a sweat. We hadn’t done this since before we became official. Ye Gods, I’d missed it.

Not the violence, my job involved violence but it wasn’t me, it was the adrenaline, it was the closeness, it was the slight smile on their lips, the way they moved like liquid mercury and the time spent together. All of Jo’s days were spent with ‘Lady Esther’ at the moment and their nights were spent with me. The nights were insatiable; complete, all consuming, carnal ecstasy but it wasn’t enough. I wanted their laughter. I wanted to talk until my throat was sore and I knew every tiny detail about them.

I’d known Jo for years, we had been casual for much of that time but this spark was new. Like there was something that had come alive in me. Every cell of my body was tuned to Jo, making my body sing when they were near.

After sparing we practically ran back to our quarters. I didn't ask why we suddenly had this time, why they weren’t with Taiya. The door was barely open and my lips couldn’t wait to take theirs. Willis tasted of heat and the stinging burn of salt in sweat. Greedy I licked the sweat from their top lip.

Groaning with the fever of need, my hands were everywhere. I squeezed and pulled and grabbed. Everything was burning, flames consumed me. Willis was pliable in my hands, moving without resistance to everything my body demanded. I was pulling off their clothes trying to get more. No matter what I did there was too much space between us.

Giving in, I let my mind melt away, running on pure instinct. My tongue dipped into their mouth, I licked their teeth; pushed my tongue right up to where their gums met the inside of their cheek. Taste. I wanted to taste them. Willis licking my armpit came to mind. It had seemed strange and foreign before but now, in this moment I got it.

I nipped their chin, licked their jaw, bit their earlobe.

“Harder.” Willis panted.

“Captain. Harder Captain.” I growled, pinning them with my whole body.

“Harder Captain, please.” Willis trembled with their own desire. Those three words made me harder and lit up my mind in a way that I didn’t think was possible. I bit down on Willis’s earlobe making them squirm and whimper.

With kind fingers I rubbed the dent my teeth had left, easing the pain while licking along the sensitive top of their sexy Fae ears. Willis swallowed and breathed heavily.

“Hit me Captain, hurt me, cut me. Please. Please.” Willis begged in quiet desperation. It shocked me.

“I’ll be rough,” I ground my c**k against them and pinched their side, they gasped a little, “but I’m not hurt you and I’m definitely not going to cut you.” Willis went stiff, not in a good way. A closed off, ceased to be interested in our current activities kind of stiff.

“Get off me.” They didn’t have to say it, I was already moving back, opening space between us that I really didn’t want. Without another word Willis moved for the door.