Nathan didn't consider himself a man who was very possessive in the least. Young and prideful, he didn't think twice about being a tad flirtatious with any man he chose at Blakely's and he certainly didn't mind at all being flirted with . A few times, he had smiled and made insincere apologies when the other homosexual Alphas had stepped up to defend their conquests but he was not the sort who wrote off anyone as purely off-limits. There were some very young Alphas who held a particular sort of loyalty to the men who had brought them into these circles and Nathan Thornley was forever grateful that his own induction into the culture of the molly house was nowhere near as sordid as all that. He'd never been touched without wanting to be touched and he'd certainly never felt any kind of strange and disjointed loyalty toward men who so often stripped young boys of innocence and left them when they became adults in a cesspit of depravity with no friend to lean upon.
And this was, of course, how he met Tristan. The night was dark as it was a new moon and the summer was upon them, the usual stench of London downwind to them and so there was nothing but the scent of sweet grass filtering in through the open french doors to the walled-in garden. There was a single torch lit near to a table close to the door and when Nathan peered out into the warmth, he found a boy with his head in his arms and a whole bottle of gin open beside him. His scent was pitiful.
"Oh dear," Nathan tried, coming outside and tapping his boots over the stones as he came to the other seat at the table. "I swore I felt something odd in the atmosphere and so I looked out here and found you, you poor devil. How drunk are you?"
The boy lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot and his cheeks ruddy and tear-stained. He could not reply, his voice caught in swooping sobs which left his open mouth as rasping wheezes.
"Oh, come now, it cannot be all bad." Nathan reached for the bottle of gin and found it to be still half-full. "You've got all this liquor and not even a tonic to mix it with, come. Let's go to the bar and get you a decent drink, him?"
The boy did not respond, his hand coming to his hair and gripping it tight, tufting it between his fingers and pulling as if to punish himself for whatever thoughts he might have had. He looked familiar, Nathan thought, his hair unkempt and his cravat missing. He'd been around, of course, but surely he was some lord's pet. He was too young to have been anything else.
Nathan tapped the bottom of the bottle on the table to jar the boy a bit and then headed for the door. "Come, you boyish little brute. You can't drink this whole thing if you're weeping the whole time. Tell me your troubles while I suck your cock upstairs if you can find the voice to do so." Without turning around the see if the boy followed, he found himself at the bar inside and he requested a bottle of tonic which he put on his credit and by the time he turned around, the teary and hiccuping Alpha was behind him. "Ah. Good. I'm Nathan Thornley, and you are?"
"T-Tris..."
"Tris. Brilliant. Come with me and I'll help you polish this off while I make your night a little easier." He didn't wait for a reply and again headed off for the stairs with his hands full, hopeful that Tris was behind him. When he was in his room, he left the door open and was heartened when he heard it click shut as it meant he was not to spend his whole night alone. Perhaps it was merely for the gin he'd commandeered but it was enough, anyhow. "Now, I hope you know that though the offer to suck your cock is always open, you do not have to allow it. It is always up to you what you allow." He made up a drink from the tonic and the gin and turned around with it, finding the still-sniffling Tris by the door with his head slightly bowed and his shoulders trembling. "Tris, please. Here. Take your drink. How old are you, Alpha?"
"I am...eighteen."
Eighteen. A fine age for an Alpha, Nathan thought. A decent age to be cavorting around with men. He chuckled sardonically to himself as he turned around to make himself a drink as well. He, himself, had fucked at least two or three other boys by the time he turned eighteen though he could not claim any real affection toward them. "So you've got your heart broken, have you? I swear I've seen you about. You were a pet of some lord or another, were you not?"
Tris' hand shook as he sought to take a sip from his glass, his eyes closing as fresh tears tumbled over his cheeks. He could hardly drink for his sobbing and Nathan waited until he'd gathered himself, the gin and tonic gone and the boy hiccuping again.
"It was Lord Saines, I'm sure of it."
To this, the boy let out an actual, audible cry before he shuffled toward the table with the gin and he took up the glass bottle, bringing it directly to his lips.
"You're going to kill yourself if you go at it like that," Nathan told him, pulling it away gently as not to spill it. "That old prig has been a snake in parlors as long as I can remember. My own father warned me about him, you know. It's not as if he isn't known for being absolutely disgusting about his tastes for boys. It's only that he's got money and power that he keeps things so well under wraps."
Tris didn't appear comforted, gin dripping from his chin along with more of his tears. It seemed he was an endless well of them.
"He truly had you right under his thumb, didn't he? Well...the old scab doesn't have you now." He set down the bottle and reached his hands to the boy's face, wiping away his tears with compassionate thumbs. "You're free, though you didn't wish to be and you might find your freedom dubious at best. But no matter, that. You are free. Has any other man held you but him? Has any other man comforted you?"
"N-no..."
"Gods, you are so deprived. And how long has it been, since he took you and kept you? How young a boy were you when he tore away your innocence?"
Tris let out another soft sob. "F-Fifteen..."
"Gods, how could a man do such a thing to a child?" He took Tris into his arms and held him. Though he'd not met him before tonight, he felt an overwhelming surge of protectiveness for him. It alarmed him, nearly, to feel very motherly . "I've got you, Alpha." With that, he felt Tris' arms come around him and the boy eased into the embrace. "Any port in a storm, I always say. How about you and I lie down and I'll make you another drink and you can hold me if you don't find my scent too objectionable."
Tris' voice was muffled against him. "I like it..."
"Then you're welcome to all of it you can handle. Clothes on or off?"
The younger Alpha was quiet for a small bit before he sniffed again and backed away slightly, only to reach up and tug at Nathan's cravat. The choice was made. Clothes off. When they were both naked, Nathan set the boy on the bed and made them both another gin and tonic, settling under the covers with Tris beside him.
"Alright. Now that you're less teary, tell me your favorite thing to do in bed."
His lips were tight, tucked between his teeth as he thought.
"Absolutely anything. Do you like it when a man sucks you?"
Tris' eyes were big and watery. "I...I don't know."
Nathan stared at him blankly. "You cannot tell me that the hairy bugger didn't ever put his mouth to you." At Tris' rather guilty expression, Nathan felt a heat well up in his heart. "He never put his mouth on you? Ever? You've got to be joking. You must be. He probably taught you every method in the book to touch him and he never reciprocated? How in the devil did you ever get your heart broken by a man who wouldn't absolutely worship you that way? Gods, never even on your backside?"
He very gently shook his head.
"For the love of Mary...please tell me you'll let me kiss you right where he used to plug you up. My god, I bet you taste like honey, not that the blighter would ever know."
"I...you...I couldn't..."
"Drink your gin and then let me taste you, Alpha. Please. I will beg if I have to. Then I will make you scream so loudly that your old master who's tossed you aside will hear you and will find himself furious with jealousy. How should you like that?" He leaned toward Tris who was settled back among the pillows, his scent nervous and unrefined. With a cheeky little kiss against his brow he pulled back to meet his eyes. "You're curious, aren't you? How another man might feel? How I might touch you differently? How it might feel to have your revenge?"
The boy blinked, seemingly overwhelmed. He took in the rest of his drink and then set the glass upon the bedside table, hesitating before he reached out to Nathan's shoulders. "W-Will you be above me?"
"Are you practiced upon your back?"
"Yes."
"Then spread your legs, Alpha. Unless you should like a kiss first. It would be decent of me to get to know you..."
Bashful, the boy's face flushed a bit before the bitterness of his sadness faded and he reached up again to Nathan's face, guiding him down until their lips met. He was tentative and though he was well-practiced, he was clearly waiting for Nate's guidance. He was a very trained little pet, every single one of his motions meant to be passive and receiving. It would be difficult to break him out of that habit, Nathan thought, but it was worthwhile. Too many men would only be so happy to have such a broken boy but Nathan was not at all inclined to let him go on like this forever. He would put a streak of stubbornness back into this Alpha!
When they broke from each other again, he pressed his lips to the edge of the boy's mouth. "Oh, I have said ' any port in a storm ' but I care not to be a port only in the event of the storm...I am going to give you such pleasure tonight, Alpha, that you will remember my name. And it is my hope, of course, that you will come to me where there are clear skies in your heart."
Tris sighed, his fingertips gently skimming over Nate's bottom lip. "I think...Alpha...you will not have to worry about the storm clearing...for it is dark as night and I shall take my port where I find it."
Nate kissed him again, deeper and longer and more giving with soul. When he was finished, they were breathing hard with arousal, the spice of them both hanging heavy in the air. He felt breathless and he could not think to let this boy go...at least not for a little while...