I reached up, smoothing the line that had formed away before stroking my hand down until I was cupping one of her breasts. She smirked and I moved so that my palm laid flush above her heart, which was now racing under my touch. “I wasthinking of what I was going to do with you. Tell me, love, do you want rough or sweet?”
Her eyes flared with surprise, heating further. She leaned in, our lips nearly touching. “Don’t ever be sweet to me, Lex, or I’ll kill you myself.”
I let out a genuine laugh, one that had her grinning back at me. She liked it when I laughed, when I smiled. I didn’t do it often either. Just another way we were similar.
Pulling her underneath me, I trapped her, my hand skimming up her skin until it was gripping her throat. I tilted her chin toward me, our gazes locked as a fiery burning desire raged. I separated her thighs with my knee, settling myself between them, my cock pressed against her entrance.
“As you wish.”
My hand tightened around her throat, and I thrusted into her, fast and hard, but she had been ready for me. She was always ready for me, and fates, did the feeling of her inner muscles squeezing around my cock not feel like the best fucking thing in the world.
“Lex,” she moaned, her words barely a whisper. I pushed her right knee upward toward her chest and she wrapped her left leg around my waist, urging me deeper, harder.
“I love you,” I whispered against her lips, and she whimpered back, “I love you too.”
Chapter 22
Zara
Bile rose in the back of my throat as I was jostled. My body was shaking, my head was pounding, and whatever or whoever was shaking my bed was going to be murdered.
Groaning, I sucked in a breath. The sounds of hooves hitting against earth sounded and fuck. Was I on top of a horse? What had I gotten into last night? But wait? How was I sitting upright? Whose hands were on me? My back stiffened as I realized I was leaning against a hard chest, and strong muscular arms were wrapped around my waist. The foggy memory of last night tore through my mind, and I jolted forward, but his grip on me tightened, pulling me back.
My eyelids were heavy, and I tried to open them, but the blinding light made it hard to see anything other than the calloused hand that was now slapping across my mouth. The scent of rain filled my lungs, and I went to bite him to try to escape, but a strong, awful smell of peppermint and cloves wafted up my nose. My muscles instantly loosened, my bodysagging once more, and I cursed, gaining a small chuckle from my captor before passing out.
*
I awoke again, and this time found myself on a cold, damp stone floor.
Pushing myself up, I winced at the pounding still happening in my head. The smell of must and mold filled my lungs, and I scrunched my nose at the dank odor. My vision was still blurry, but I was able to make out that I was in some sort of cell. Long, dark, barbed metal poles were sunk into the floor a few feet away, the space between them full of gnarled, threatening pieces of spiked metal.
“Good, you are awake.” The sound of Jaxon startled me, and I spun, scrambling slightly backward. “I thought I might have used too much nightshade powder, but fortunately or unfortunately for you, it looks like it worked out.” Jaxon's voice echoed around us, and I found him sitting in a chair in the corner of my cell. The barbed metal doors wide open next to him.
I went to shadow but winced as my magic was choked out. A sharp sting pinched at my ankle, and I glared down at the silver charm, the memory of what happened a blurry image in my mind.
“Xavier,” I growled, and Jaxon smirked at me, his golden eyes flashing with amusement as he ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees as he looked down at me on the damp floor.
“Seems you aren’t so hard to capture after all,” he said with a half-grin. “I told you we had to work on your stealth skills. Always so oblivious to your surroundings.” He was chuckling, a smug, arrogant smirk on his lips. I glared at him. I had to think… I had to be clever.
“And who says I didn’t want to get captured?”
Jaxon let out a short laugh and leaned back in his chair. “Right.” He grinned, and I wanted to punch it off his face. “You smelled like the dirty floor of a tavern when Xavier passed you off to me. I don’t think he had to fight that hard to trap you. He probably just found you passed out drunk.”
I got to my feet in a huff, my blood heating in annoyance.
“Well,prince. You caught me. Now, exactly what is it you plan on doing with me?” I spat, resting my hands on my hips as I fought the urge to lunge at him, to bolt for the open cell doors which were clearly a trap.
“That’s not up to me,” Jaxon said, folding his arms across his chest.
My eyes lowered, and I scanned him from head to foot. The sight of him was a little nauseating. The memories of him and me felt like a distant dream, but they were there, and then they were sharp and flooding my mind, making me wince.
Jaxon chuckled again, “You know, you almost look like the old Zara, the human one, like this. Vulnerable.”
I hissed between my teeth, “I was never vulnerable.”
“Sure, you were. You cared about things, us, your friend, what was her name again? Cynthia, right?”
My heart skipped a beat at him saying her name. Did he know where she was? Did they have something to do with her disappearance?
