“I guess my main concern is, will it fit? Obviously, I’ve had sex before, but I don’t remember much. I guess I blocked it out. This is bigger, though, I know that much.”
Silence.
“Will it feel good?” She tilted her head to the other side. “As good as what you just did to me? Because sex has never been good before.”
More silence.
She studied his body. He was beautiful there. Could a penis be beautiful? Well, Gunner’s was. “I know I sound like an idiot. I mean, I’ve touched a male’s…cock before, I’m not completely innocent about what goes on between males and females, but I’ve never enjoyed being…penetrated by one.”
Even more silence.
“Gunner?” She looked up at him again…and jolted when she took in the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
His jaw worked and his nostrils flared as he dragged in breath after breath. “I don’t…I don’t like…” He hissed, yanked up his jeans, and all but flew off the bed, pacing from one end of the room to the other.
“Gunner, you’re starting to freak me out,” she whispered.
“Sorry.” He gripped the back of his head. Every muscle and tendon on display was in stark relief. He breathed heavily and his face was contorted, the scar through his lip making it look like he was mid snarl. “I want to kill Azel, tear him into tiny pieces after I’ve tortured him for hours and made him fucking scream for what he did to you,” he said in a deadly voice she didn’t recognize.
She shot to her feet. She’d never seen Gunner this angry before, didn’t think he could be this filled with rage. “I didn’t think…I shouldn’t have said…”
“No, Luna. You haven’t said or done any fucking thing wrong.” He strode to her, his fingers curling around her upper arms, and leaned in. “I feel so fucking helpless. I want the threat to you gone, I want that piece of shit wiped off the face of the earth.”
“I won’t talk about it…him, anymore, I promise…”
He dipped lower, catching her gaze. “What you went through with him, I don’t want you to hold back. You’re so damn precious to me, Luna. I don’t think you understand how much, not yet. And yeah, knowing how badly you were treated by him, it makes me want to tear down walls, but you lived it, the least I can do is hear it.”
Again, his words rocked her to her core. “Thank you, for being so…wonderful. But I don’t like seeing you this upset. No good can come from talking about any of it.”
He tugged her into his body. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I don’t want you to hold back or measure your words around me. I’ll do better, love, I promise I’ll do better.”
With every word that came out of his mouth, her dead, lifeless heart grew warmer, bigger.
His phone beeped, and he cursed when he pulled it from his pocket and read what was there.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s come up. I have to go.” He kissed her, soft and sweet. “Will you stay here? Will you sleep in my bed with me tonight? I just, I need to hold you. Will you do that for me?”
Luna nodded, wanting to give him whatever he needed from her, and yeah, she wanted that as well. She wanted to stay close to him. Needed to.
He kissed her again. “I have to go to the city, but I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Okay,” she said as he strode from the room.
Her male.
Her mate.
Chapter 22
There were demons everywhere.
Gunner growled and swung his sword, taking off a demon’s arm before the fucker could let his blade fly.
There had been no hiding this time. These demons had made themselves known as soon as Gunner and his brothers had arrived on the scene.
They’d wanted the knights to find them. Why? He had no clue but got the feeling they’d learn fucking soon enough.
The parking lot behind an unused warehouse on the outskirts of Roxburgh was now a full-blown battleground.
Gunner grunted and hacked at the demons in front of him, Rocco at his back. Zenon and Kryos were doing the same a couple of yards away, and Lazarus was near the warehouse fighting beside Brent, Zenon’s “brother-in-law” and friend of the knights, while Silas, a gun in one hand and sword in the other, demonstrated that, yes, he was in fact ambidextrous.
Chaos was close to Grace, fighting alongside her crew, while his mate fired bolt after bolt into the demons coming at them relentlessly. James was fighting with the other demi, close enough to Grace that he could use his telepathic ability to send out her orders if needed while he covered her back.
It was bloody carnage.
Moonlight filtered down on the scene, light glinting off weapons, the clash of steel, the thunder of gunshots, and the cries and screams of pain filling the night. No, these demons weren’t trying to hide. No disappearing acts. No surprise attacks.
Did Azel still have the power to do that without Luna? Her brother's power had been given to someone else, but it wasn’t being used here, not now.
A demon ran at Gunner, ducking his sword and slicing his side with a dirty fucking knife. With a hiss, Gunner grabbed the demon’s hair, wrenched its head back, then planted his foot in its chest, sending the fucker flying. When it came back at him a second time, Gunner didn’t miss, and the demon’s head hit the gravel, turning to ash a moment later.
A scream came from behind him as Rocco shoved his sword through another, taking its head as well—
A loud whistle echoed across the lot.
Gunner spun around.
The demons around them suddenly stopped what they were doing, turned, and ran for the shadows.
“After them!” Chaos roared.
The knights took flight, the others chasing them into the surrounding streets. Grace managed to take several more down with her bow as they tried to run, and Chaos stalked after them, removing their heads.
They continued to search the area, but most had gotten away, splitting up and running in all directions, heading for the darkness.
Eventually, they all made their way back to the parking lot. Silas, Brent, along with Laz, Zen, Roc, and Kryos were standing in the center. Gunner wasn’t the only one bleeding. And he sure as fuck wasn’t the only one pissed right the hell off.
“What the fuck was that?” he said. “Were they just in the mood to get fucked up or what?”
Silas shoved his fingers through his black and gold hair. “Some were skilled fighters, but most were not.”
“Yeah, which means they were dispensable,” Brent said, wiping his blade clean on the side of his suit pants, his gun now back in his chest holster.
Grace and Chaos strode over to join them, the rest of her crew standing back.
“We managed to get a couple more, but most got away,” Chaos said, looking as pissed off as the rest of them.
Grace scanned those assembled, then turned to her crew, the demi who fought beside her almost every night. “James?” she called out.
The demi all glanced around when James didn’t come forward, and several jogged to check the dark corners of the lot in case he was on the ground injured.
“Maybe he’s left already?” Brent said.
Grace shook her head. “James is my right hand, he wouldn’t leave without telling me.” A muscle jumped in her jaw. “Something’s not right.” She pulled out her phone and tried to call him.
No reply came.
Roc and Kryos took flight, searching from the sky. Gunner, Zenon, Laz, and Chaos joining them a short time later.
The others went back to search on foot.
Several hours later, James was still nowhere to be found.
Gunner walked into his apartment, anger and frustration still riding him.
Fuck.
He paced the small living room, trying to get it together.
It was quiet, but Luna was here, right where he’d asked her to stay. His pacing took him to his bedroom door, desperate to see her. He’d only been apart from her several hours, but he�
��d felt her absence the way he would a missing sword arm—the most vital part of him, or at least it had been until he’d found Luna.
His hands curled as soon as he saw her, itching to go to her, to touch her skin.
She was lying on her side, head on his pillow, fast asleep. Christ, he forgot how to fucking breathe every time he laid eyes on her. He wanted to climb in with her right then and there. Fuck, he needed her so badly he shook. But he was covered in blood, his own and the demons he’d killed. And the strength of his need for her right then, shit, it scared even him.
So he forced himself to walk past her, to close himself in the bathroom, and strip down.
His muscles and joints felt weary for the first time in a long time, so much so that when he climbed in the shower, he had to press his palms to the cool tile. Head bent, he let the hot spray wash over him.
He clenched his teeth as the rock in his chest kept growing.
James wasn’t a knight, but he was their brother. The demi had been with them for more years than Gunner could remember. Always there, always giving everything he had to the knights, to his people.
Not just training, but fighting, putting his life on the line every damn night for the greater good. He was their friend, their brother, and right now he was in the hands of their enemy. There was no doubt in Gunner’s mind about that. He was either dead or wishing he was, and they had no fucking clue how to find him.
Azel was behind this, he had to be.
They’d searched for hours, but James was just…gone.
Grace had sent word out, she had eyes and ears around the city, but there was nothing more they could do, not without a trail to follow.
He shuddered. Fuck. Grace was one of the strongest females he’d ever met, but tonight she’d been broken. James wasn’t just her friend, he was her brother-in-arms, her right hand, and like the rest of them, felt she’d somehow failed him.
Gunner groaned as that rock in his chest grew heavier, so heavy it was almost too much to bear.
“Gunner?”
He sucked in a sharp breath, head twisting to the female standing on the other side of the shower glass. She was wearing one of his shirts. It swamped her tiny frame. He tried to steady his voice. “It’s okay, love. I’ll join you in bed shortly.”
She stood there, those stunning violet eyes blinking at him through the water rivulets running down the glass. “Something’s wrong. You’re upset.”
“I’m fine. I promise. You head back to bed.” He turned away, unable to continue to look at her and not fall on her, not beg her to hold him, to let him have her. Because right then he needed her in an all-consuming way, and it was only growing stronger.
A moment later, he heard the door open behind him, and he squeezed his eyes shut, gathering himself.
He turned—
“Fuck.” He dragged in an unsteady breath as Luna climbed into the shower with him, her small, curvy body completely bare except for the gold cross hanging around her neck. “Luna…”
“You’re injured,” she said. “I can smell your blood.” She glanced down at his most obvious wound and made a soft sound of sympathy. Her head tilted back again. “You were fighting tonight?”
He dipped his chin, it was all he was capable of doing right then. How could he speak when he was in the shower with his female? The most beautiful, sweet, tempting little female he had ever encountered. She was his, and one day soon they’d make it official. They would mate.
But they weren’t there yet.
She needed time, and having her with him, naked and wet, and looking at him as if he hung the stars and the moon was more than he could handle. Still, he didn’t tell her to go, because his need to be close to her—the roar of his demon to get closer to what was theirs—was more than he had the strength to fight right then.
So he stood completely still as her small, pale hands moved over his body, cataloging his injuries. She whimpered as if she felt it as well when her fingers danced gently around the knife wound in his side. She bent down, he assumed to get a closer look—
“Christ,” he barked as her tongue swiped softly over the deep cut. It didn’t cause pain, no, the opposite.
She stayed where she was, but her gaze lifted to him. “Did that hurt?”
“No,” he gasped.
“Will you let me?” she said, motioning to the slice in his skin. “My saliva will help speed up healing, the same as when I lick the puncture wounds I make with my fangs.”
He nodded, his ability to speak now choked off completely as he watched her, her little pink tongue, now streaked with his blood, sliding over the slice in his flesh.
She swiped over it several more times, then checked with him again. “You’re sure I’m not hurting you?”
“You’re not,” he managed to get out.
No, she wasn’t hurting him, and if she looked down, she’d see exactly the effect she was having on him. His skin tingled where she’d licked it. He could actually feel himself healing, the skin drawing together. His own natural ability to repair his injuries was fast, but not this fast. He was forced to use the tile wall as support again as his sweet, well-meaning, utterly gorgeous female worked her way around him, licking every cut and graze he’d received tonight until he tingled all over from it.
Until he was so impossibly hard, his cock was angled straight up, dark and veined and throbbing.
She’d moved around his back and was at his other side, lapping at a slice in his bicep, when she stilled. Yeah, she’d just gotten an eyeful of his hard dick.
Gunner’s breathing was ragged, chest pumping, eyes heavy-lidded, and so incredibly close to grabbing his cock and fucking his fist right there in front of her, he had to clench his fingers tight.
“Gunner?”
Her palm rested on his lower back, soft and warm, the other hand sliding across his stomach, making him suck in another breath. “Ignore it.”
“It feels good when I heal you?” she asked, and there was no mistaking the curiosity in her voice.
“Yeah, love, it feels good. I’m tingling all over, and you’re naked and so fucking gorgeous…” Another ragged breath. “Just ignore it, okay?”
He wanted her beyond reason, but not until she was ready. And there was no way she was, not yet, not after the shit she’d been through.
Her hand drifted lower, and he grabbed her wrist with a hiss.
Eyes wide, she looked up at him. “You don’t want me to touch you?”
“It’s not that, I promise it’s not that. I’m hard, yes, but I’ll live. You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to,” he said, voice like gravel.
“Before you left earlier, I wanted to. I wanted to touch you. It’s all I’ve been able to think about. Will you let me now?”
He should probably discourage her, should do the right thing, but he needed her so bad, to be closer to her in any way he could. So instead of telling her to leave, to go back to bed, he released her wrist. “You can touch me however you want, love.”
Please, touch me. I need you to touch me.
Her fingers tentatively curled around his length, and Gunner’s hands slapped against the tile in front of him again because his knees were dangerously close to giving out.
She moved then, ducking under his arm so that she was standing between them, right in front of him. Her gaze dipped to what she was doing, sliding up and back, then lifted to his again, searching his face, gauging his reaction to her touch.
He couldn’t stop himself from rocking his hips into her soft grip, desperate for more.
She licked her lips. “Am I doing it the way you like it?”
“Tighter…please. Grip me nice and tight.” She did immediately, and he growled under his breath, gasping. “Faster…that’s it.”
He wasn’t going to last long, not this time, not the first time she touched him like this. His gaze moved over her, her soft, round breasts, her nipples tight. The way her stomach trembled, her bare pussy, the way she was clenchin
g her thighs together, then back to her gorgeous eyes.
She was wet for him, aching just as badly now.
“Spread your legs for me, Luna,” he said, or more demanded, but he couldn’t control the rumble to his voice. Thankfully, she did as he asked immediately, proving him right.
He slipped one hand between her thighs and his balls drew up tight. She was slick and hot and perfect.
He leaned in and kissed her sweet mouth as he toyed with her clit, groaning as she kissed him back enthusiastically, while she stroked his cock at the same time.
“Gunner, I need…”
“I’ll get you there.”
“Please,” she said, gripping him tighter, making his damn eyes roll back.
His finger brushed over her tight opening and he almost fucking came. “You feel so good, love.”
“So do you,” she said, huskily. Her hips moved as well. “I feel so…I feel so incredibly empty.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
She was destroying him.
“You want me to slide a finger inside?” he managed.
“Y-yes, I think I’d like that.”
He parted her pussy with his fingers, then gently slid one inside, nice and slow.
She cried out softly and clenched around his finger. That was what finished him off. Gunner growled and hissed and came hard all over Luna’s hand.
He was still recovering from blowing the hell up, but Luna’s needs were more important, giving his female everything she wanted was branded onto his DNA and drove him like nothing else ever had in his long life.
So before he was even done, he dropped to his knees and lifted one of her thighs over his shoulder. He looked up at her as he slid his finger back inside, watching her eyes as he worked her.
Her hand went to his head, but there was nothing to grab with his hair buzzed and her nails grazed his scalp. She kept her gorgeous eyes trained on him, a look of pure pleasure on her face.
“You like that?”
“Y-yes…but I need, I need more. Can I have more?”
Gunner was hard again in an instant, and he bit back another growl as he slid his finger free of her tight pussy and pushed back in with a second. “You can have anything you want, love. Anything. I’ll always give it to you.”
Knight's Absolution (Knights of Hell Book 5) Page 18
