by K. A Knight
“Oh, so I am?” he whispers, leaning closer.
“Erm, I’m sorry, that answer is not available, please try again later,” I offer, and he laughs, kissing me softly.
“Okay, how about then I just tell you. I am. I don’t care who else you date as long as they aren’t pricks, because then I will have to kill them. As long as I get you, I’m okay with that. You were with Jago when we met, I knew that, plus I’ve seen Dray and Worth with her men. It might even be nice having a family. Someone to protect you when I’m gone.” He shrugs.
“You’re weird, you know that?” I tell him and he grins.
“Takes a weirdo to know a weirdo, Princess.”
“Ugh, you got me there…now, be honest...you missed the fun bags, right? Is that what this war is really about?” I whisper in shock, and he stumbles back dramatically…
“Oh fuck, it is, you caught me!” he shouts in mock horror, then grins and scoops me back up. “Want me to go to war over your body, Princess? I will, and your heart.”
“Cheese ball.” I huff.
“Dance with me?” he whispers, looking into my eyes, the moon shining on our secret spot.
“There’s no music…or people to play our game with.” I snigger then turn serious. “Okay.”
He grabs my waist and starts to spin me across the roof, making me laugh. He grins at the sound, stopping in the middle and just swaying us from side to side. “I missed that.” He strokes my cheek and I lean into his palm. “I thought I was going to war without ever seeing your face again, Princess.”
“Like you were worried,” I scoff. “You would win it with your eyes shut.”
But he remains serious, his eyes tracing my face like he really thought he would never see me again. “This life and the next, Princess, I want you in them all. I’m tired of fighting it. When we left, there was something between us…and I’m hoping that’s still there for you, even with Jago and Evan back…I’m praying I still have a place in your life…and heart.”
I swallow hard, looking into his eyes. “You do, my heart is big enough for you three. I’m coming to realise love isn’t as simple nor as easy as I thought. It’s possible to love more than one person equally. You all have something of me. Evan, I loved as a child, Jago as a woman…you as a warrior. You all had my past, different parts…now it’s clashing together, and I hope you will all have my future. I don’t know if it will work. I don’t know if we will even survive long enough to find out. But I’m hoping we do, I’ve never backed down from an adventure, why would I back down from ours?”
He leans his head down and seals his lips to mine, telling me everything I need to know. He is with me, through it all, no matter what it takes. A noise has us pulling apart. Breathing heavily, I look over to see Evan in the doorway to the roof, staring at us in shock and pain, but he quickly clears it away.
“Jago is looking for you, as is some man named Lupin,” he rushes out, before turning and running away. I sigh, life is difficult.
“Well, this should be fun. I bet he wants to kill me.” Archel grins and I snort.
“Weirdo,” I mutter, as we twine our hands and make our way off the roof.
Time waits for no man…or woman.
A nervous, weedy man is waiting with Evan and Jago downstairs. He looks at me once before glancing away. “Worth told me to come to you when I had something…”
I wait, but when he doesn’t finish, I nudge him. “Did you find something?”
“Oh, erm, I think so. I managed to get into the video feed, but it seems to have been shut off, so I can only access a select amount of footage from before it was shut down,” he informs me nervously.
“Okay, show me.” I nod and he rushes away as we follow after him to the bunker door.
He pulls out a screen linked in with wires, and displays it to me, pressing some buttons. The screen splits into four and my gaze darts between each one, watching as guards troop down the corridor, a destination in mind. If they were looking for explosives, wouldn’t they stop? One heads to the control room and I see them typing away, obviously shutting everything down, but then my eyes catch on something else.
Captain.
My heart slams into my chest, fear mixed with anger. Storming down after them, he follows his troops as they head deeper and deeper into the maze of Paradise, and into sections I’ve never even seen before the cameras cut off. “That’s where it ends, it was strange, they sent us up here for safety, but…”
“But it looks like they are searching for something, not checking for attackers or bombs.” I look at him then.
“What could they be searching for?” he asks nervously.
“I don’t know, but I know someone who might. Good work. Keep trying to get this door open. I’m thinking this is more about keeping us out than anyone in.” I nod and turn to the others.
“We need to speak to Worth’s dad.”
Nine
My Shadow
“I need to talk to you,” I call when I spot him trying to build a fire. He looks up at me and nods before standing. I turn and head back to Worth’s tent—or mine, I guess—not wanting anyone to overhear what I am going to ask.
Pushing past the flaps, I turn when I’m inside and cross my arms, narrowing my eyes on him when he steps through. Archel, Jago, and Evan stand behind him, not letting him escape as his eyes dart to me with a frown. “Please do not take this for disrespect, but they need a leader out there, and they won’t follow a…erm.”
“Woman,” I interject.
“They know me, so I took over, it looks bad when you come and give me commands,” he points out as he straightens.
Grinning, I step closer, making him uncomfortable. “I don’t give a fuck. I’m not here to make friends or play nice, I’m here to save your ass, so stick your sexist bullshit where the sun don’t shine, Papa Worth. Now, I asked you here because you used to lead, and I need to know some information.”
“What information?” he questions, frowning at me, wrinkles crinkling around his lips.
“They are searching for something down there, something they needed everyone gone for, a secret, I am guessing, and I want to know what.”
“And you think I know because?” he challenges.
“Because you are a politician, and you are all corrupt bastards who know secrets, so what are they looking for?” I repeat, as Jago snorts, crossing his own arms until we look like a big me and a mini me, how cute. Couples who fight together stay together.
He ruffles at that. “I am not corrupt. You forget who is top here with you—”
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes. “I don’t need your speech, just your information, so for God’s sake don’t monologue and just tell me what I need to know.”
“I don’t monologue,” he argues with a huff, but deflates when I continue glaring at him. “I don’t know, I don’t!” he protests when I snort. “I was only signed into office five years ago. There are still a lot of things under military control that we aren’t allowed to know, so it could be anything.”
“Then there is only one way to find out,” I muse. “Get down there and see.”
Evan nods. “But how, Pip?”
“That geek will get us in, then we go in as a team and search, capture, and do some recognisance, like that game we used to play.” I grin at him and he laughs.
“We aren’t kids anymore, Pip,” he cautions.
“Damn right we aren’t. No way could my sexy ass fit in those vents, doesn’t mean the same rules don’t apply though. Go tell Lupin he has until dawn to open those doors.” I look at Papa Worth then. “You’re dismissed, go and suck your cock somewhere I don’t have to see it.”
Damn, this power is addicting, how does Worth do it?
“Brawler,” Jago sighs, “it’s lick your wounds.”
“Same thing.” I wave my hand, dismissing him, and turn away, throwing myself on the sleeping mattress. “Damn, so this is how a queen sleeps. Not too bad for little old pied piper of cocks,�
� I whisper to myself, stroking the soft bedding.
“Princess.” Archel laughs and then throws himself on top of me, wrapping himself around me like a blanket as we both giggle. “We should build a fort,” he whispers, and I nod, looking into his eyes, ignoring the others.
“Do you think Meat Head and Doctor Dolittle will help?” he inquires, pretending to whisper again.
“Maybe, I could flash the fun bags and distract them, or hypnotise them,” I offer, and he nods seriously.
“It could work,” he muses.
“Or just say you hurt your ass again,” Jago interrupts, and comes and stands over us, glaring at Archel. “If you start feeling her up, I will chop your hand off.”
“You could try,” Archel retorts, and snuggles closer, “but Princess will protect me.”
“Ugh, men.” I groan and slip out of his hands, offering mine to Jago who helps me stand up. I brush off my ass and look at them to see them tracking the movement with hungry eyes. “I didn’t actually hurt my ass, Jesus.”
Rolling my eyes, I walk past them and back into the camp, and I hear them scrambling after me. “Now, what did I hear about a shower? ‘Cause there is sand in places it shouldn’t be.”
“This way,” Evan offers, popping up behind me and looking beyond thrilled to be able to help. I follow him, Jago and Archel trailing after me, and he stops at what looks like a pumping station, puts in a code, and swings it open. “To the right, Pip.” He smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes as he looks behind me to see the other two.
“Thanks. Shadow, I need you to fill me in on what’s been happening. Jago, go and check on how the Paradise peeps are hanging. Evan see if Lupin needs anything,” I instruct, and he bristles and I sigh, giving him puppy dog eyes. “Please?”
He nods, flickering a look over my shoulder and then back to me. “Anything for you, Pip,” he murmurs as he leans closer, grasping my head and dropping a chaste kiss on my forehead like he used to when we were little before he walks away, whistling to himself. Jago watches him go with narrowed eyes.
“Someone needs to kick his ass to sort out the pecking order,” he grumbles, and Archel nods.
“You first, then me.” He laughs, and ignoring them, I head inside, stripping off as I go. I walk through another door and spot the shower in the corner.
Slipping inside, I flick on the water, jumping when it first comes out cold and then relaxing as it turns warm. Pulling the sheet over the cubicle, I tip my face back and let the dirt and sand wash away as I hear the outer door shut and then nothing. That fucking sneaky assassin, I know he’s there.
“So, what happened when you left?” I query, as I scrub my body and hair, my voice muffled through the water.
“I met up with Dray and he asked me to hunt Worth down. She had been gone too long here at Paradise. I found her and we headed back for their Summit. It went wrong, Princess, and some of our people were killed. She ended up being captured by Ivar and her men were taken by the Cities. We tracked her up to the castle, but she had already killed the mad king and was being crowned queen, then we headed here,” he recalls and I whistle.
“So, a lot.”
“I missed you every day,” he whispers, and I lock my lips, looking through the sheet, trying to see him.
“I missed you too.”
“Doesn’t seem like you did that much,” he scoffs bitterly, and I sigh.
“Don’t start, Shadow. I care for you all in different ways, you already knew about Jago, you said that yourself, and I did miss you, don’t ever think I didn’t. I slept in your shirt every night, not wanting to wash it to get rid of your scent, and every morning and night I stood waiting at the entrance to camp, hoping you were coming back. You can’t hate me for deciding I was tired of being left behind.”
He rips back the curtain and stares at me, his eyes dark. “You’re right, I’m sorry, Princess. I won’t leave you again.” His lips quirk up. “I guess we can keep the big guy as a pet, is he house trained?” he teases, and I laugh, making his eyes drop down to my lips and then to my exposed skin like he only just realised I was naked.
“Archel?” I murmur, watching as his eyes go dark, locked on my body. My heart starts to race at the utterly devoted and hungry look in his gaze. We always danced around this, acutely aware I wasn’t ready for anything physical. He was there to save me, to keep me alive, and put me back together again. He saw me at my darkest, my most vulnerable, and he stuck around, he made me laugh again, taught me to protect myself…and then he left, and only then did I realise how much he meant to me. That I craved his brand of darkness and crazy and I regretted never being with him, never finding out if he was as controlled in bed…or as strong. Fuck, I clench my thighs together. When he left, I was still a broken woman, and although the cracks are sealing together, I’m not perfect but neither is he. My shadow. My protector. The man who admitted he had been hurt like me, he knows that feeling. I want him, it’s that simple.
It could fuck up everything, but I’m done fighting my own feelings, done trying to be everyone else’s version of perfect. If they don’t like it…fuck them. If Jago loves me, he will stick around, and if he doesn’t…well, it will break my heart, but I can’t force someone to love me and stay…just like I can’t force myself to stop loving more than one man.
The world could just be very well ending, and I want to face that final goodbye knowing the feeling of this assassin’s body against mine.
Decision made, I grin at him, but he stands there, his hand clenching the sheet like a lifeline, his eyes locked on the rise and fall of my chest.
He won’t make the first move, I know it. Somewhere down the line Archel was hurt and violated like I was, and now he wants to protect me, even from himself, even if it’s not what I want, so instead I make the initial move.
I step back and grin. “Joining me?”
He gulps, but lifts his hands and grabs his shirt, and in one move he yanks it over his head before kicking off his boots and jeans until he stands naked before me. This isn’t like with Jago, I’ve never seen Archel naked. He’s beautiful, all muscle, golden skin peppered with blond hair, and…scars, which only add to his raw masculine beauty. He’s a survivor, a warrior, an assassin. I want to trace every cut, every lash, every last ragged memory.
Each one is a testament to his strength, to how strong he is, and each one fills me with desire, but he takes my silence badly and starts to turn away, so I hold out my hand. “What, I’m not allowed to look? You gawk at me,” I scoff, and he turns back to me with a smirk.
“Oh, you can look, Princess, I would rather you touch though,” he teases, hiding his vulnerability behind his flirty words as he steps into the cubicle with me, pushing me farther under the spray. He’s taller than me, and sometimes I forget how big Jago is, but Archel is only a tiny bit taller, and our lips are close to touching right now, our bodies only a hairsbreadth apart as we just stare at each other, both of us panting, our gazes hungry but hesitant.
When we cross this line, there is no going back, Archel will be mine...but wasn’t he already?
“Are you sure?” he asks, obviously seeing the desire in my eyes. He’s asking if I’m okay, if not, I know he would back away, no matter how much he wants me.
“Don’t get all shy on me now, Shadow, I heard assassins are good with their hands…that true?” I query breathlessly.
That control snaps and he rushes at me, slamming me back into the shower wall, no longer soft and teasing. The assassin is in his element, stroking my body with his weapon scarred hands, memorising my curves as he stares into my eyes, letting me see the wild power there, the strength and ghosts, everything that makes up the darkness inside him…the very thing that allows him to kill now allows him to hold me effortlessly.
“We are good with other things. Want to see, Princess?” he whispers against my lips teasingly, as his hands caress my curves in a gentle touch.
“Thought you would never ask,” I murmur, sealing our lips
together. This is no goodbye kiss this time, there won’t ever be one again. With this kiss, I seal our promise, our promise of forever. The assassin and the forgotten. Two lost wanderers who found each other in the bloodshed in the sand out there, we were meant to be.
I feel his heart slam in time with mine as he groans into my mouth, his tongue tangling with mine before he pulls back and nips at my lips playfully, like the man himself.
“Archel,” I gasp, as he draws away and runs his lips across my neck, lapping at the water there before leaving stinging bites that have me moaning as I clutch his head to me, tipping mine back to the wall as I close my eyes in bliss.
“You taste so good, Princess,” he growls against my skin, as he traces his lips across my collarbone and then meets my gaze as his hands part my thighs and stroke the sensitive skin there.
“Yes,” I groan, pushing closer, trying to get his hands where I need them.
He chuckles against my skin and finally cups my pussy, pressing against it as he nips at my skin. “Fuck, you are so wet,” he breathes, as I rub myself against his palm, my eyes closing in bliss at the pressure, but it’s not enough.
“Shadow, please,” I beg, opening my eyes to meet his, and like those were the words he needs, he traces his fingers down my pussy and slips one inside me, teasing me before adding another and another until he is stretching me with them.
His hands are used for killing, they are his weapon, and right now they are aimed at me. He traces kisses back up to my lips and swallows my moan as he starts to slowly pull his fingers out and push them back in, fucking me shallowly, speeding up so slowly that I don’t even notice it until he is slamming them inside me with such force, I hit the wall harder.
He swallows my moans, his other hand tweaking my nipple before tracing across my stomach and flicking my clit. He sucks on my tongue as his fingers throw me over the edge and I have to rip my mouth away to breathe as I come back down from the high.
He pulls his fingers free from my clutching pussy and steps back to show me as he wraps his glistening fingers, still wet with my release, around his cock, and strokes his hard length. My mouth goes dry, my thighs quivering as I watch him. His fingers were good, but I want his cock.
