My body. My mind. My soul.
Wow.
I wet my lips.
“If we’re all on the same page,” I murmur, “then yeah.”
“Are we?” he presses.
He moves closer, dropping to his knees beside Talon and me. He tilts his head, eyes pale, fingertips hovering inches from my face. Then he touches me. Just a swipe, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
So delicate. So charged.
“Iam,” I whisper.
The air thickens until even the birds outside seem to hush.
Talon moves first, unable to stand the silence. He rolls his shoulders beneath my hands, that wolfish grin returning, and presses his hips forward until I feel his cock against my pussy.
He’s rock hard.
“Let’s do it, Little Grim,” he purrs. “Forget the world, yeah?”
Just one question. Asked almost innocently.
I’m still aching from what he did to me behind the building. My nipples tighten. I don’t need convincing.
My head’s moving before I know it.
I’m nodding.
That’s all it takes.
Nathaniel moves. His hand drops from my face to my leg. And before I can breathe, he’s lifting me off Talon’s knees, carrying me in his arms like I weigh nothing.
“Showers,” he tells the others.
Cassian falls into step beside us. Talon trails behind, whistling low under his breath.
The showers in this place are a joke—cracked white tiles, drains that always smell faintly of rust, pipes that creak even when the water’s off. But when Nathaniel sets me down on the bench against the wall, it doesn’t feel bad at all.
“Did you guys… clean in here?” I ask, looking around.
They’ve always been neat where it mattered, but this is different. The space smells sterile. Disinfected. Almost new.
“Changed a few things,” Talon murmurs. “Part of the welcome package.”
He kicks the door shut with his boot. Cassian turns the water on before any of us are undressed.
“Fixed the pipes,” he mutters by way of explanation.
Nathaniel kneels in front of me, dark hair falling across his face. From above, he looks like some long-lost gothic poet. Tragic, out of time. The metal in his skin is the only modern thing about him. That haunted quality never leaves.
“Let’s clean you up,” he says softly. “Shall we?”
He picks up my leg and massages the ankle just for a moment before his long, pale fingers begin to undress me. Behind him, Talon kicks off his own shoes, while Cassian starts from the top, peeling off his top and throwing it to the floor.
Nathaniel takes off my sneakers and puts them neatly to the side. Then he tugs the shredded blouse off my shoulders and works his way down to the thin cotton shirt beneath. His fingers ghost over my ribs, not lingering, not even trembling, but I know it’s a big deal to him.
