Page 80 of Incubus
Because the second thing Nathan saw was the golem hurtling across the clearing toward Sasha’s turned back.
Nathan cried out again, andagain, but he knew that by the time Sasha realized what was happening and reached for his gun, it would be too late.
Allowing the momentum of his run down the slope to fuel his sprint across the clearing, Nathan leapt from the ground at the same time as the golem. He threw himself into the air, firing his shotgun at the golem's chest. Nathan skidded and rolled through the mud when he landed, tumbling right into Sasha.
As Sasha toppled over, they rolled together a good distance, ending up with Nathan sprawled half on top of the incubus. Both of them were breathing hard and completely covered in mud.
"Nathan, what are you doing?" Sasha sputtered.
"Saving you from the bad guy," Nathan said. "Thanks for noticing."
He nodded to the golem near them that looked similar in shape to a Rottweiler but was about the size of a small bear. Its cracked stone body was lying a mere six feet from them, almost exactly where Sasha had been standing a few moments before.
"Huh," Nathan huffed, still trying to catch his breath, "it's already falling apart." Somehow he had hit the golem's power source, because the stone was crumbling into rubble.
"Nice shot," Sasha said. "You probably just saved my life."
"Guess I did. Sounds like you owe me a thank you."
"Hmm, maybe I do." Sasha's voice lowered and his hand came up behind Nathan's neck, pulling him down into what was meant to be a kiss.
They broke apart gasping and sputtering until both of them eventually started laughing. They were out of breath and couldn't breathe properly through their noses because of the mud caking their faces, not to mention that the mudtastedterrible.
Nathan reached down to wipe at Sasha's face, still chuckling, and Sasha did the same for him. The rain sluicing down around them helped to wash most of the remaining mud away. Nathan could feel the heat between their chests that were tightly pressed together, felt so much more prominently with everything around them so cold and damp. Even with the rain, Nathan couldn't help completing the act Sasha had attempted and pressed down onto Sasha's lips.
Slipping slightly in the mud, Nathan repositioned himself as best he could, sliding his body up Sasha's torso as he kissed him. He used his new position to deepen the kiss, and the heat between them helped him forget all about the cold and constant rain.
Sasha purred low in his throat to voice his approval, but unfortunately the incubus was having a harder time forgetting the rain. Between what was still falling from the sky and what was falling off of Nathan, Sasha soon gasped out of their kiss, spitting out a mouthful of water onto the ground.
"Sorry," Sasha said, pushing Nathan off so they could both roll onto their sides, "but I'm drowning here on the bottom."
"Yeah, you look it." Nathan took in the normally red hair that was now caked in mud. "In fact, you'd give a Rastafarian a run for his money about now."
"Yeah? Well, same to you, pal," Sasha smirked.
They went to reach for each other again.
Suddenly, there was smashing through the underbrush and Jim came hurtling out of the woods shouting their names. His sloppy footing made it impossible for him to stop when he finallynoticed Nathan and Sasha. Jim went down feet first, sliding neatly in between them and spraying them both with a fresh coating of mud.
"Jim!" Nathan shouted in annoyance.
"I heard shots! Didn’t you hear me shouting?"
"It’s a torrential downpour! We didn’t notice anything until you were on top of us," Nathan said, leaving out that they may have been distracted for other reasons.
Jim's hair looked almost as coated as Sasha's, and the cascading rain was plastering his longer black locks down his face and into his eyes. "Fine, fine. So you got it?" he panted, staring wide-eyed at the giant stone dog beside them.
"Cujo's not going anywhere," Nathan said, “but he sure did seem to have a hankering for incubus ass.”
Sasha snickered. "I normally really like dogs," he said. "Not golems, obviously, but even the real ones don't often likeme. Definitely has to be an incubus thing." He scooped up a glob of mud and chucked it Nathan’s direction, narrowly missing his face.
Nathan gave his best deadly glare. “Dude, you don’t even want to start with me.”
Jim laughed, actuallylaughed, looking mostly just relieved to have found them both okay.
Meanwhile, Sasha started scrounging for another glob of mud, but he didn’t get the chance to throw it.
“I’m so glad you like it here,” said a sing-song feminine voice.
