QSFer R. Phoenix has a new MM dark paranormal romance out, the first in her new Need trilogy:
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Excerpt
Tavi set the bottle down on the nightstand a few feet away and went to his brother, lightly smoothing back his hair from his face. He was beautiful.
It felt particularly narcissistic to think, especially considering he was essentially looking at his own face, but Rex wasn’t just a mirror image, wasn’t a clone. He was a different person entirely.
Rex began to stir, and Tavi braced himself. He went back to the door, turning the light on before returning his gaze to his brother. Those familiar dark eyes were alight with fury, with that disbelief still blazing right alongside it. He tried to speak, but the sock Tavi had pushed into his brother’s mouth and tied around his head didn’t let anything but muffled noises out.
Tavi shook his head. “Don’t,” he cautioned. He took a deep breath. “I know you’re confused.”
The look from Rex made it clear that confusion wasn’t the word he was going for, but it felt amazing to throw his brother’s words back in his face.
“That’s what you tell me,” he continued, offering a half-smile, “when you do something new that I don’t like. That I’m confused.”
Recognition dawned in those eyes, and Rex went still. It was like it was finally starting to sink in, though his brother wouldn’t accept it nearly that quickly. He was only coming to terms with the fact that this was really happening.
“I’m going to take the gag off now,” Tavi said gently. “And I know you’re going to want to scream and yell at me.”
His brother might as well have shouted duh.
“But I’m not changing my mind.” He hadn’t understood until that moment just how much conviction he had… and it probably had something to do with the hard cock in his pants, so unwelcome but at the same time, impossible to ignore. “So if you start screaming, I’m going to leave the room.”
He still had over ten hours before Rex’s magic could return. He could afford to make that point, and the house had been made for captivity — for Tavi’s captivity, really. It had been a gift from their parents to their good son, who had selflessly agreed to make sure to keep his human twin under control. He’d never really let himself think about the extended implications of the soundproof, windowless room that was meant to be his, but he did now.
Tavi wanted to be able to say that Rex had never used it before, but it would be a lie. Days of isolation, of begging, of trying so fucking hard to convince his brother that he didn’t need to be locked away…
And those things would’ve been nothing compared to what Rex would’ve done to him for trying to run away. Tavi very well could’ve been the one in the bed, with a bottle in Rex’s hand — and that thought was enough to make his cock stop responding. No, he was done with being taken care of. No matter what his brother might’ve treated him like, he wasn’t a child simply because he didn’t have magic. He was human, not… well, not a baby.
He wished he knew why it turned him on so much to be the one in control. It had to be the novelty. He’d only endured Rex’s soft kisses. If he’d gotten erect, it had been because he needed the affection…
Where else was he going to get it?
Rex made another sound, jerking against the ropes.
“Stop,” Tavi said, his voice firm — but not unkind, like the brochure had said.
Fuck, this was worse than when they’d gotten a puppy when they were twelve, and he’d tried to follow the instructions while Rex had gone on and trained the damn creature without even looking at it.
Rex pulled again, as though just because he could, but then he lay still.
Right. The gag.
He didn’t want to get bitten, so he gingerly untied the gag from around the side. He wasn’t going to reach into Rex’s mouth to pull out the sock, but he grabbed one of the edges and tugged. Rex let it go.
Tavi eyed him. Rex’s mouth had to be dry. It couldn’t be that difficult to get him to—
“Octavian! Let me go right the fuck now!” his brother demanded. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Mom and Dad aren’t going to let me keep you after this!”
Keep him. Like he was the dog he’d just been thinking about and not a person.
He let out a bitter laugh. “Thanks for making this easy, Rex,” he remarked, sarcasm dripping from his voice — though truthfully, he was a little grateful for it because it helped him retain his resolve.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rex asked, as indignant as someone could be when he was tied down to a plain bed, stripped of his usual dignity.
Tavi ignored him. “I brought you dinner,” he said abruptly, grabbing the bottle off the nightstand.
Rex blinked once, twice, then turned his incredulous gaze onto Tavi. “Like hell am I going to drink out of a baby bottle!”
Tavi had expected that. How could he not? This was going to take time, but he had that in droves. It wasn’t like Rex had a job that would miss him, and family dinners… He’d worry about those when it was time. For now, he just had to focus on making sure his twin stayed magicless and, for the time being at least, drugged.
“Your mouth must be dry,” Tavi coaxed, his voice softening. He wasn’t going to make baby noises, even though a part of him wanted to, but he was gentle.
Rex gave him a withering look, but he pressed his lips together firmly.
“You really are acting like a child,” Tavi remarked. “So this pretty much suits you.”
“I—” The second — predictably — Rex opened his mouth to bitch, Tavi shoved the nipple of the bottle into his mouth.
“You should’ve seen that coming,” Tavi said, and a shiver ran through him as he cupped his brother’s cheek and firmly held him still.
Rex tried to spit out the bottle, but there wasn’t much he could do to deter Tavi.
“Shh,” Tavi soothed, something strange and warm running through him as he held Rex’s face in place. “Suck. It’ll make you feel better. I promise.”
Rex stared up at him, trying to talk around it, and Tavi sighed before squeezing it.
A stream of milk went down his brother’s throat, and Rex had to swallow it or risk choking. Tavi hated doing it this way, but there weren’t many options if he was going to keep his twin subdued and under control.
Some of it bubbled up around the corners of Rex’s mouth, but Tavi was relentless, making sure he got as much of the milk into his twin’s stomach as possible — as much of the drugs into him as possible.
He ended up smearing milk all over Rex’s face before the end, but his brother’s body slowly went lax as the drugs hit his system. Tavi breathed out a sigh of relief when he coaxed Rex into drinking the last third of the bottle, grabbing the edge of the sheet and carefully wiping his twin’s face.
Baby wipes. He had baby wipes. He hadn’t thought he’d need them, but this was messier than he’d expected. All of this was different than he’d expected, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to do this.
Rex’s eyes drifted closed when only a gulp or two was left of the milk, and Tavi didn’t try to wake him to finish. It would have to be enough for now. Unable to stop himself, he leaned down, kissing his brother’s forehead.
Despite everything, he didn’t really want to hurt Rex. That wasn’t what this was about.
This was about revenge, but it was also about teaching his twin a lesson.
The problem was, Tavi wasn’t even sure if he could teach it… or what would happen if he did.
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