"He raped me." Asche kept his gaze plastered on the leather chair as he spoke almost vacantly. "I begged and pleaded for him to stop, to--to just have mercy but he just kept going and going."

I clenched my teeth and tried to stem my trembling from my boiling fury. As Asche spoke of this...this monster, I felt every bone in my body shift to transform into my dragon, sniff him out, tie him to a tree and incinerate the bastard.

He forced himself on a helpless boy! He took advantage of him and soiled him continuously. It seems as if the rape didn't stop there. Asche's lips were still moving, telling the horrid story of why he did not trust easily. I'll kill him, I'll kill him slowly!

"Asche, please. Say no more." I held him and rocked him in my arms as tears stung my eyes at the thought of his suffering.

"I have to," His voice broke. He was clearly traumatized by the assault and was desperately trying to make me understand. "You have to know."

"You don't and I don't," I said more solemnly. "I can see that it's hurting you, my love. I can't stand to see you peel away in pain like this. I cannot believe he did that to you! I'll find him, and when I do, he will rue the day he has ever placed his filthy hands on you!"

"No, Drakos, don't!" He gripped my shoulders with pleading eyes rimmed with tears. "I don't want you to get into trouble. He's not worth it."

"No he's not but you are worth it and for that, he will pay...dreadfully and excruciatingly. He took your innocence away by manipulation. Coldhearted manipulation. All just to satiate his abhorrent desire to bed a young boy. You were barely an adult. He's a sadistic fuck who deserves to get his cock singed off."

"I was eighteen, Drakos." Asche blinked, sliding his arms down my hands with a slight uncomfortable laugh.

"That's right! A mere infant in my eyes!" I protested.

Asche's head shifted up and he stared at me inquisitively as he said slowly, "How old are you exactly?"

"I'm about two-thousand three-hundred years old," I told him.

He gasped. "Bloody hell. Are you kidding me? There's no wonder you think eighteen years is infancy. Wow. I'm shook."

"I bet you are." I quirked a smile. "So like I said, he's a predator, preying on young boys. I'm sorry you had to go through that, Asche. I wish I had known you sooner so that I could have protected you from all harm."

Asche shrugged. "It's no biggie. Everything happens for a reason and...and I'm thankful I learned a lot from my past experiences. It may have damaged my way of thinking and acting a bit, but I am way cautious of others now. I know I'm a snappish son of a bitch and I've been nothing but an asshole to you. There's no excuse for the way I treated you. I'm going to try and get my shit together. I'm soon to be a father anyway and I don't want our child to be like I was."

I took his hands in mine and laced them together in front of us. "I understand now, love. If it takes me ten years to heal all of your wounds, then I don't mind waiting because you are worth waiting for. I truly want you to be happy with me Asche. I want you to be comfortable and not worry. I may not be able to erase every horrible experience of your past completely but I do hope that I can rewrite everything, filling it with exceeding joy."

His head rested in the cusp of my shoulder and he closed his eyes. "I know you mean me well. It's just that I was afraid of letting go. Of taking another chance. The 'what ifs' popped up and I started to panic. I know I'm moved by money but I also have a heart and I am capable of loving someone. I just...I'm just so afraid."

"I'm not like that bastard," I growled out, feeling a wave of anger wash over me. "My love is tender and I have no intentions to manipulate you although I do admit that my approach has been a bit aggressive. That is because my dragon sometimes becomes obsessive over you. He is an unruly one."

Asche chuckled and Zyros huffed in disapproval.

"See? He agrees with me." I lied teasingly.

"I can believe that," He said, turning his nose to inhale my throat. "I want to go home." He complained.

"Jules will be back soon," I brought his hands to my lips and kissed it.

"I want to be pampered," He pestered.

"What do you want in particular?" I asked, a smile curving on my lips.

"I want you to bathe me," He said, his tongue sliding up my throat.

"That can be arranged," I responded breathily.

"And I want you to feed me and rub my back. It aches." He rambled on, kissing my throat.

"I'll soothe every ache from your body and indulge you with the tastiest of food," I vowed, loving the way his warm tongue felt on my skin.

"You know what else I want," Asche said more throatily and my cock stirred awake, knowing well what that statement meant.

"I'll give you all that you desire, my love." I twisted him so that he was straddling me and I snaked my hands around him, kissing his temple. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes. Now that you kissed my boo-boo away." He grinned.

"Good." I stared at him, searching his eyes for any signs of worry or hurt or anything associated with negativity but I found none. His face was filled with amusement.

"You know, I had already taken a look outside and noticed that we stopped at a flower shop." He said, hooking his arms around my neck.

I tapped a finger on his nose.

"You naughty boy. I told you not to look."

"I couldn't help it. I'm nosey." He said unrepentantly.

"You're incorrigible," I laughed.

Jules had returned with a bouquet of red and white roses, opening the door to present them to Asche who smiled and took the beautiful arrangement from the Frenchman's hands.

"Thank you, Jules."

"It's a pleasure, monsieur." He bowed and closed the door.

Asche placed the roses on the seat beside us as he marveled over them.

"They're beautiful, Drakos. I love them. Thank you so much for all of this." He gestured at the limousine and the flowers. "Taking me to Paris, buying me flowers. Taking me to The Wall Of Love. All of it."

I kissed him chastely on the lips and whispered, "Anything for you, my love."

In that, I meant avenging him and exterminating that cockroach named Tye.

***