Something shifted in her eyes, something that reminded me of her power. It was only brief, and it disappeared a moment later. It had to be a trick of the light—impossible considering the collar.
There was a renewed energy as she rode me again, this time the gentleness gone. With each fall of her body, I met her with a thrust of my hips, slamming into her with a reminder of my promise to her.
I was hers. And she was mine.
The words repeated in my head as her lips found mine again, tongue swiping against my own.
And this time when my climax built, I felt hers pushing me towards the finish.
At the flutter and tightening of her cunt, I couldn’t hold myself back from grunting and spilling my release inside her. Against my mouth, she cried out, her body falling into mine as she panted. When her head fell to my shoulder, and we were both spent, I wrapped my arms around her, holding her until the world around us faded, allowing us to exist in our own cocoon of warmth.
Even if only temporary.
78
Adrian
“This meeting can wait,” Maeve said, turning from the dark clouds towards Ivy and Orion. “A full night’s rest might do everyone good. Especially after the events of the last several hours.”
The rest of the room was tense, quiet. Just from the flush of Ivy’s cheeks, I could tell what they’d been doing up in the bathroom, and I couldn’t tell if the dark, twisted emotions that swelled within me were jealousy or something else. Maybe still shame and guilt.
“Orion needs to catch up on everything we already know,” Ivy replied, offering Maeve a tight smile as she helped the Luna prince into a seat. The male looked better than when he’d been asleep; there was colour back in his cheeks, a light in his eyes that I could only assume was his proximity to Ivy.
Even I could admit that just being in her presence had somehow healed most of the damage left from Dante’s intrusion into my mind.
“And the last thing I want is more sleep,” he added, taking Ivy’s hand when she joined him at the table. “I want to help.”
Before anyone could respond, Rhadamanthus leaned forward in his chair. “Why all the books?”
Orion frowned, staring at the demon. “What do you mean?”
“I have been trying to understand why you have so many random books in these trunks. We thought you were hiding something within them, but I have yet to find an answer.” Rhadamanthus steepled his fingers in front of him, and even Ivy looked curiously at the Fae male.
The others were less interested, though they waited for Orion’s response quietly. Elias abandoned his file and pushed it aside, though he didn’t do more than that. Rowan rubbed a hand tiredly through his hair as he sat back, crossing his arms. He looked between Black and our mate, though he remained silent.
“The names of those Dante hunted,” Orion said, clearing his throat. “Anytime I learned of one, I would take a book from the academy library and put the name inside. Then I would bring it here.”
“Well, that is interesting,” Rhadamanthus murmured.
Even I had to admit, I was curious, especially because I never even considered going for that information while I’d been in his mind. “His list?”
Orion glanced at me before nodding. “It’s not all the names. Most I heard in passing from Hyperion. But there are a number of them. You’ll find them on page sixteen of each book, written in the margins.”
Before anyone could comment further, the demon was gone. Ivy, though, sighed. “Writing in library books and stealing them is a crime,” she said, looking at Orion with a shake of her head. “Why?”
He shrugged, their joined hands moving to the table as he rested his chin on the other. The hand that held Ivy’s was bare, allowing us to see the damage his father had done to him over the years; scars from crushed fingers, mottled skin that’d been burned and not healed right, each one silver after years of abuse.
The other hand, though, was covered by his normal glove.
“Well, I knew none of Dante’s idiots would check the library. And I could take them without notice. I always replaced them, though. You can buy almost all of them intown.” He drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before sighing just as Rhadamanthus returned, carting with him a mountain of books.
“Page sixteen of all these have a name. Found your own within one, Agent Grey.” He tossed a tome at Maeve, which she caught with ease.
Without looking at anyone, the vampire skimmed the front of the book. From where I sat near her, I could read the front of the textbook, which was on herbs and healing. It was common enough to find—Orion was right about that.
Maeve skipped to the sixteenth page, silent as she locked in on her name. Then, she closed it and set it down, taking the seat across from our mate and the Fae prince. “How many?”
Orion glanced over his shoulder at the stack. “That’s not all of them.”
