We ate in silence until Bastian finally broke it.
“There’s a meeting happening tonight.”
“I’ll go,” I said immediately.
“No,” Bastian responded just as quickly, making me frown. “This one requires my attention.”
“Well, why don’t we all go? I’m sure we could take them out together,” I said, but Bastian shook his head. Nox and Thorne remained quiet, which was surprising. I at least expected Nox to argue, but he didn’t.
“This isn’t a meeting for killing, it’s more fornegotiating. I’ll let everyone know what I’ve found out once I return.”
After he made his statement, there was an uneasiness that filled the house. The air wasn’t charged with anticipation anymore but rather apprehension, and I didn’t like it.
The rest of the day, everyone seemed more quiet than normal, and by the time the sun began to set and Bastian was readying to leave the house, I rushed down the stairs to meet him on the porch.
“Wait,” I called.
“Don’t follow me, Serina,” he commanded with a firm look.
“I don’t take orders from you,” I argued, and he blew out a breath that I wasn’t sure came from relief or frustration.
“I know, but Thorne and Nox have been ordered to keep you here, so unless you want to stake them to the wall before you come after me, be my guest.” He gestured with a flourish toward the house. “But I’m sure they’ll put up a good fight.”
“Can you at least tell me where you’re going?” I asked, portraying more emotion in my voice then I intended to.
He shifted on his feet, his resolve cool. “No.”
“Why not?” I shouted.
“Because I can’t, Serina!” He raised his voice, more than he ever had toward me. “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath and then his long strides ate up the short distance between us as he moved to pin me against the railing of the porch.
One moment, he was just out of reach, and in the next his mouth was on mine. No hesitation as he cupped my face and kissed me.
Needy, hot, and insistent.
I shouldn’t want this, but I didn’t stop him as he molded the space between us, wedging me between the railing of the porch and all the strong lines of his muscled frame.
His hands slid up the back of my neck to cradle my head, angling me for a deeper kiss, and I opened for him eagerly without a second thought.
I wasn’t thinking at all, just feeling, wanting, needing all the things I shouldn’t from him—from any of them.
His hands moved down my body, curving around my ass. He picked me up, setting me on the railing. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he cradled his arms around me, his kiss becoming more needy.
His tongue slid perfectly along mine, making a whimper work its way up my throat, and he groaned at the small sound escaping me.
We were a wicked mess of tongues and teeth, his hips gently grinding into me, and the friction elicited another whine from my lips. Need pulsed through my center, my body begging for more while my mind whirled on about how I shouldn’t want him.
But no matter how my thoughts ran, I couldn’t deny the truth.
I wanted him. I wanted all of them in some way or another. I tried to deny it, but I only fell deeper into the madness of his kiss.
I succumbed to him fully, letting the thoughts disappear to the back of my mind. My hands moved freely against his body as I stopped fighting the war with myself and accepted all the things I wanted even though I shouldn’t want a monster…
But wasn’t that what I was? What I had become to get here?
Bastian pulled back, resting his forehead against mine with a furrowed brow and eyes filled with so much emotion, so much pain, I couldn't describe it.
His lips moved gently down my jawline. “You have been my undoing,” he rasped. “A vexatious little monster that has crawled under my skin and refused to leave…”
