“Uh-huh.” Her eyes brightened in merriment. “Everything is within reach.” She moved her bottom, dragging her core over the length of his hardening dick.
His smile faded, the need to take her gripping him by the balls. “Good thing I think it’s an excellent idea, too. But this sexy, over-large t-shirt has to go.”
Her sweet laughter sputtered free and lodged in his heart as he pulled off the tee. He kissed her lush mouth and palmed both her breasts, his thumb flicking her nipples. Her sigh turned to a moan.
He nipped her lower lip. “Remove your underwear.”
When she moved to get off him to slip it off, Nik pushed her to stand on the bed.
Arching an eyebrow, she held onto his shoulders, and as she reached for her panties, Nik drew them off. He tossed her underwear aside, then wrapped his arm around her thighs, keeping her there, hiding his smile at unsettling her. With her legs spread open, she was open to his gaze and so damn perfect. He ran his tongue between her folds. She gasped and clutched his head.
A soft chuckle rumbled free from his chest, he trailed kisses across her hips to her bare mound, then licked her between her folds again.
He wanted their pleasure to last, drag it out as long as possible, and hopefully forget for a while what awaited them…awaitedhim. The insurmountable cliffhehad to scale to help Shadow feed again.
Chapter 27
The late noonsun cast a golden glow over the rugged cliffs on the north side of the castle estate. Shadow slipped her shades to her head and shifted on her hard, uncomfortable stone seat. She’d sought refuge here after her walk, safe in the knowledge Nik was busy working on his stock market portfolio. Who knew he actually liked stuff like that?
Her gaze flickered down below, the waves crashing against the bluff’s rock face in a raging fury, her mood a little like the untethered waters as her anxiety escalated.
She gently rubbed her throbbing chest, then she pulled the neckline of her top down and glanced at the lesion along her sternum. It had healed, but the center node still sported a slight reddish ring where the demon had tried to gouge out her symbiont.
Well, she could hold out a little longer. She’d done so before and refused to let this part of her ruin things with Nik. The last couple of days had been amazing,normal, until this morning, when the gnawing sensation in her torso amped up full-scale.
She tightened her mind shields further so that he wouldn’t sense her worry through their mate-bond. God, she missed their deeper connection, the awareness through their shared souls, but what else could she do?
“What are you doing out here?”
Her brother’s voice hauled her from her troubled thoughts like a well-aimed slingshot.
She glanced back and smiled. Liam approached, the sun gleaming off his over-long, shaggy brown hair. He grinned, shoving his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans, his gray Slipknot t-shirt hanging down his wiry frame. He appeared so much more relaxed these days than the sad boy she’d first seen at The Shelter.
More, it pleased her how he’d settled in at the castle, seeming to take things in his stride at being surrounded by immortal warriors, and especially with meeting the archangel. Guess fighting demons with Kira had prepared him some. But he understood, too, the need to keep the secrecy of living in this world.
“What’s up, bro?” she asked. “I thought you were playing foosball with Týr?”
He chuckled and sat beside her. “I still can’t get over the slang—the way you speak,” he said, picking up a stone and tossing it into the crashing waves. “You’re a badass. I mean you kill demons. When I helped Kira search for Tomas, the homeless boy, after he escaped from The Shelter, she was terrified. But you just laugh in the face of danger.”
“Hardly.” She rubbed his arm, love for her sibling overwhelming her. Despite all the hard knocks in his young life, he’d grown up so much stronger for it. “I do get scared, but I learned long ago to put aside my fears and get things.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I feel you.”
After several minutes of silence, she pushed to her feet and dusted off her bottom. “C’mon, let’s head back. I’ve been out here long enough.”
“I’m sure Nik noticed,” he teased. “The guy is like an extension of you, almost as if there’s an invisible cord between you two. You move, and it’s like he does, too.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Shadow huffed out a laugh. “Nik’s too self-contained,” she said as they climbed down the rugged surface. She jumped the last three feet, landing smoothly on her sneakered soles. Liam followed.
She hooked her arm through his as they walked across the grassy ground, heading for the forest separating the cliffs from the castle.
“After all we’ve been through,” Liam said, “living here is like a fantasy. I wish Olivia could have seen all this.”
Her heart dipped. “Me, too, Liam. Me, too,” she whispered. She looked up, and a smile started at finding Nik waiting for them near the edge of the forest.
“Told ya,” Liam muttered under his breath then grinned. “Okay, I’m outta here. Catch you later tonight. I’m off to The Shelter in a little while.” He winked at her and strolled off between the trees.
“He seems to have settled in,” Nik said as she approached.
