Fuck.I needed that. This whole night has been too damn heavy.
“I promise,” I joke, holding up the scouts’ honor salute and then crossing my heart, making her glower even more.
“Tek mi fi joke and see wah happen,” she states, then shifts her focus to the guys. “Time’s up, she’s mine. You assholes had her and didn’t even tell me she was back. Wait til I see Sebastian. I told him to tell me as soon as you found her, and none of you fucks did. I’m not sure when I would’ve known if I didn’t do my nightly sneak-in.”
Wyatt chuckles. “You think we didn’t know about your nightly terrible cat burglaresque activities? Then you haven’t been paying attention,” he says back to her as he walks toward me, Owen close behind.
Owen sneaks past Wyatt, snatching me in his muscular arms, gliding his nose up the side of my neck, causing me to tip back, allowing him to kiss a trail up my exposed skin before planting his soft mouth against mine. His lips eagerly possess mine, soft but demanding, wild but controlled— everything he is, all at once. I’m lost in the feel of his mouth on mine. His tongue gains access to mine as his hands slide up into my hair. He groans, and I melt into him, feeling the reaction his body is having to my hunger for our connection. Neither of us wants to pull away, but Shay’s protests make me pull back.
“I’m not usually a cockblock, but y’all are on punishment.” She motions her hand, waving it dramatically in our direction and continues. “None of this is happening. Now get the hell out!” she dictates, dragging me from Owen’s hold.
Wyatt intercepts me, and before she can protest, he lifts me by my ass, making me wrap my legs around him, fearing I might fall as he nips at my bottom lip.
“I told you already no one can keep you from me, Love. Not even Shay Warren, as formidable as she may be. No one or nothing will separate me from you again,” he murmurs, crashing his lips to mine. His kiss is different from Owen’s, still commanding but more possessive and all-consuming as pulls me into him, squeezing my ass until my pussy is rubbing against his jeans.This is a recipe for disaster.
“Wy, let’s give the girls their time together,” Owen coaxes, and Wyatt begrudgingly releases my mouth and places me back on the ground.
“Fine, you can have her tonight, Warren, but that’s only because we have to get back,” Wyatt states, placing a quick peck on my forehead. He and Shay snark at each other until the guys reach the doorway, stopping to survey me one last time before winking and exiting the room.
“Seriously, now, tell me everything. I need to know who I have to kill, and I don’t want to miss a single person,” she implores.
I walk toward my bed, crawling back under the covers, preparing to divulge everything to her.
“Okay, have a seat. This is going to be a complete shit show.”
18
LEV
Iscrub my skin, trying to wash away the frustration at my lack of control. How can the Council continue to allow us to walk in absolutely blind? There are so many threats lurking— waiting for their opportunity to strike, and all of them wanther.
The thought of Ariah makes my dick harden— the quick-witted, intelligent force of nature with a mouth that can flay you, all wrapped in the body of divine femininity— a fucking worthy adversary and an even more worthy partner.
I missed everything that was right in front of me. She’s been trapped in a game bigger than all of us, and we almost lost her.That shit can’t happen again.
Groaning, I ignore the throbbing between my legs. I don’t deserve relief, not after everything I did to her. The way I disparaged her— shit, my final words to her before she was taken.
I don’t get to come— not until she forgives me. The look of utter shock in her gray eyes when I spoke to her in front of the ambulance was worse than her punching my nuts. She didn’t expect me to care or worry about her being taken.How the fuck do I fix this?
My hand grazes the scar on my shoulder, a constant reminder of what I had to do in order to get Owen help. The angry line creeps from the tip of my shoulder to my elbow.
When I dove from the car, I landed on a sharp piece of gravel that cut into my skin as I rolled across the road. I had to get over fifty stitches to close the wound. The road rash healed, but the scar welted up, leaving me with raised skin that I couldn’t stand the sight of— a constant reminder of my failure to get Owen out in time before what those animals did to him.
Once I was old enough, I covered it with a chest and half-sleeve tattoo.
I can still feel the phantom grip of the man’s hands on me as he dragged me to the car— like a shadow touch causing me to always be on alert, ready to jump at impending attacks. It’s why I blacked out when Ariah grabbed me that day by my locker.
Water pours over my body as I stand under the shower’s spray, trying to figure out how to possibly right this wrong and do it without her thinking that it’s only because she went missing.
Was it the catalyst? Sure, but sometimes you have to be slapped with a stupid stick to recognize your idiocy. Her being taken, the Council’s secrets, and the realization that I was fighting my attraction to her are among the many reasons I see my mistake for what it is— dumb.
Sighing, I rub my hands down my face, frustrated at myself and the almost permanent hard on I’ve had since I finally allowed myself to want the minx. The thought of her plush lips sassing me when I told her to leave makes my dick jump and my full sack tighten. I grunt and look down at the engorged head of my cock, the veins pulsating and angry that relief isn’t coming. I moan at my level of control over myself, imagining how it would be to have Ariah under my control, tied up with her pussy spread open like a gift at Christmas time. The idea of how pretty she would look with the rope’s fibers against her golden skin as her hair is fanned out above her waiting to be pulled as my tongue buries itself so deep that it could spell my name on her cervix.
The idea has precum leak from my tip, washed away by water. I want so badly to grip my shaft and jerk, imagining it’s her mouth. Instead, I turn off the faucet, reach for my towel, and step out of the shower.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I make my way over to the sink and grab my Waterpik, flossing before picking up my toothbrush and holding it up to my mouth once I’ve added the toothpaste. I begin my regimen, two minutes on the bottom—brushing the stress of the day away. I look up to see the dark shadows sitting like overstuffed luggage, waiting for someone to claim them from baggage claim under my eyes. My usual, closely shaven face is now thick with hair. I shut my eyes and listen to the sound of the swishing of the bristles against my teeth.It will all be fine.I work to make my thoughts a reality. I hear my alarm sound, and my notification system sounds.
“Sir, it appears that Wesley Edgewood and Sebastian Grant have arrived and will be parking a 2022 Bentley Mulliner Batur in the driveway in one minute and nineteen seconds. Would you like for me to open the door?” Geoffrey, my AI, informs.
