He leaned over her, bracing a hand beside hers so that he could tease her clit with his free hand. He felt her body tighten over his cock, gripping him.
He was close. So close.
One more thrust and she cried out, losing herself as she writhed and bucked against him. Her head dipped down, spilling her hair forward. He caught her hips and slammed into her, letting go of the tight restraint he’d exerted over himself. For long, wonderful moments, they spun out of control.
It took them both several breaths to settled down afterward. He withdrew, and she straightened. Her robe dropped around her, leaving a long column of skin exposed in her reflection. He wrapped his arms around her ribs and held her against him. “Let’s skip dinner and stay in bed.”
“No. We can’t. I want to hear what the guys have to say about everything that happened today.”
“I don’t.” He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
Selena turned and put her arms around his neck. She smiled up at him, melting away the bad temper overtaking him. “We have all night to be together.”
“Bien.”
He lifted her, kissing her, penetrating her with his tongue and cock as he carried her into the bathroom. He set her on the counter. Her eyes softened and her lips parted as he moved in her.
He made a few more slick thrusts, then pulled out. “If we cannot stay here, then we must shower.”
“Dammit, Bastion. Come back here and finish what you started.”
“Non. Now is not the time for fucking, or so my light has said.” He’d spent a decade pretending to enjoy encounters with women, trying to regain his lost desire, all for nothing. And now he had his light—and an unending flow of hunger for her. He resented the intrusion of social obligations, but none of that was her fault. Nor his. And as she’d said, they had tonight.
He reached into the shower and turned it on, then gathered a couple of towels near. He was already naked, but Selena still wore that robe. He lifted her from the counter, then pushed the robe off her shoulders, staring into her beautiful green eyes.
He loved her. And he owed the Matchmaker a debt of gratitude for bringing them together. Bastion caught her face in his hands and kissed her.
32
Hawk couldn’t sleep. He and Lion had argued on the way home. They never argued. What was his problem?
You shouldn’t have left.
True. He hadn’t wanted to leave the team’s home in Wyoming. It was Friday. They could have hung out there the rest of the weekend. Odd. That had been their plan when they went home late the night before. So why hadn’t they stayed?
Go home.
The urge to get in his truck and drive back to Wyoming was strong. But he never left Lion alone, and Lion wouldn’t want to head up there in the middle of the night.
Hawk tossed under the heavy blankets, unable to get comfortable. He was hot, then cold. Maybe he was getting sick. He got up then pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee as he shoved his feet into his Chucks. He went down the hall to Fiona’s room. Flattening his hand on her door, he listened for sounds from inside. Nothing. Of course there was silence—it was after midnight.
He opened the door. Ambient light from outside illuminated the big space. Fiona was asleep in the center of the big bed. It was wrong to be there, in her room. Geez, this was Fiona. Her boyfriend owned the apartment they lived in. She was off-limits for that and so many other reasons. She was like a sister to him.
Put your hand on her mouth, then get on top of her. That way she won’t be able to scream as loud.
Hawk rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. He must be sleepwalking. He’d never been in Fiona’s room, so why be there now?
She’s yours for the taking.
Hawk took a step into the room. Everything inside him rebelled. This was not right…whatever this was. He found himself actually struggling to resist his need to walk over to the bed.
You should have stayed in Wyoming.
That was true. He wouldn’t have been as out of control there as he was now. Through sheer force of will, he made himself back up and leave Fiona’s room, closing the door behind him. That cold sweat he was feeling earlier was back. He went downstairs, thinking he would just get some water, maybe make a sandwich.
Instead, he found himself at the front door, keys in hand. He blinked as he stared at the keys. He didn’t want to, but he felt compelled to leave the apartment.
He took the elevator down, then went out the hallway that exited onto the sidewalk instead of going into the garage. See? He still had control over himself. He put his hands in his front pockets and curled his fingers around the thin pocketknife he always kept with him. He and Lion weren’t allowed to bring the knives they’d had in the pride with them to the campus. A pocketknife with a short blade was all that was allowed.
He might need it tonight.
He walked a few blocks, moving deeper into the heart of Old Town. It was past closing time at most bars, so the night was sparsely populated with drunken students. That was okay. He didn’t need a lot of people. Just one would do.
One female. Any one of the young girls that were so plentiful in the college town. One who would be too scared to fight back. Hawk felt a shiver move through him, followed by a deep sense of love and appreciation. It warmed him on the cold February night.
He came to an alley that cut across the middle of a city block. It led to a maze of small, reserved parking lots, each belonging to a different establishment on the front side of the block. A breeze dipped into the shadowy space. Hawk sniffed the air, sifting through the different smells for the scent he wanted.
Oh, it was sweet.
A young human female.
Easy prey.
Hawk approached her, his hands in his pockets. Usually he was nervous around females, but not this time. She was going to give him the pleasure he sought.
Sweet, delicious fear. And an orgasm like he’d never experienced. He would be chivalrous at the end, staying with her as she took her last breath. He wasn’t a monster, really.
The girl saw him. Her car was parked behind a bar. There were a couple of other cars, but the bar itself was quiet for the night.
Mmm. Maybe it was just as well he’d come back to Colorado. This was worth the delay his leaving caused.
The girl watched him nervously. Hawk gave her an engaging smile. She dropped her keys, then bent hastily to pick them up. She fumbled to right the key chain so she could hit the key fob. Hawk took the keys from her. “You don’t need these.”
The girl’s eyes grew wide. She wanted him, just as he wanted her. Hawk leaned over her, pressing her back against the side of her car. He ran his fingers down her face. She was the perfect choice for tonight.
Well done, Hawk.
Hawk pressed his knees between hers. She had way too many clothes on. He retrieved his knife and opened the blade.
Fear broke through the girl’s momentary panic, as it had to for this interaction to be as potent as he needed. Hawk put a hand over her mouth and slowly shook his head, and though he’d silenced her voice, her eyes still screamed.
Perfect.
Before he could even do so much as nick the soft flesh of her neck, Hawk was yanked away from her. Some great force spun him around.
Lion. The meddling bastard.
He pounded Hawk with a right hook, then a left, moving him away from the girl.
Bent over, Hawk glared up at his friend. “What the hell’s your problem, Lion?”
“My problem?”
“Yeah. Like, why can’t you mind your own fucking business?”
“You are my business.” Lion handed Hawk his hoodie.
Hawk grabbed it and jerked it over his head, suddenly aware of how cold he was. “What are you, my mother?”
Lion shoved his shoulders. “You know as well as I do we had no mothers. Geez, Hawk, you were gonna rape that girl.”
Hawk stared at Lion, feeling something shift inside him. It was a crazy feeling, like he cou
ld finally get air to a part of his brain that had been suffocating. He looked back at where the girl had been, but she and her car were gone.
Never fear, my pet. I’ve erased her memory. I will keep you safe—no cameras in the alley have recorded you because none of them are working. We will try again another time. Don’t be disappointed. Hunting was fun tonight.
Nausea made Hawk buckle over as he violently emptied his stomach. Some guy came out of the bar behind them, hollering for them to take off. Lion grabbed the back of Hawk’s hoodie and pulled up, dragging him deeper into one of the alleys.
Hawk folded his hands under his arms and kept his head down as he ran-walked beside Lion. “I’ve never been with a female. I don’t want my first time to be a rape.” That sounded off, even to his own ears. “I never wanted any time to be rape.”
“What’s up with you?” Lion snapped.
“I dunno. I’m not myself.”
“You haven’t been for a while.”
“I want to go back to the woods, Lion. This never happened there.”
“We can’t now, Hawk. The team has expectations of us. We can’t let them down.”
Hawk stopped him, a hand on his chest. “I don’t have control over myself.”
“Meaning?”
“I don’t know. I need help. I can’t go back to Blade’s. I shouldn’t even go back to the apartment. Lion—I went into Fee’s room.”
“I know. She told me. It’s why I followed you.” Lion pressed his lips into a thin line. “I’ll call Max, see what he says.”
“Don’t call him. Please, not him, not anyone on the team. They’ll kick us out. They’ll kick the whole pride out. They can’t know about this. Swear it to me.”
Lion was silent a long minute. “I can’t. You need to trust me. We’ve gotten through everything to this point. We’ll get through this too.”
33
“Bonjour!” Bastion called cheerily as he entered the brightly lit and very busy kitchen the next morning. Jim and Russ worked together like a well-oiled machine—Russ calling out orders and Jim scrambling to respond.
“Morning,” Jim said. Russ only grunted, his attention stuck on the sizzling pan on the stove.
The kitchen was filled with the scent of heavy American breakfast foods: meats, eggs, cheeses. There was a bowl of fruit and a covered basket of breads, but not a croissant or baguette in sight.
Bastion’s motives for working his way into the kitchen routine were entirely selfish; he wanted to be sure there was good bread, premium butter, and quality jam. It appeared he’d have to make do with what was offered.
Instead of voicing his disappointment, he jumped in to help Jim carry dishes out to the sideboard in the dining room.
“Do you think Russ would let me use the kitchen to make some bread today?” he asked.
“That man is territorial,” Jim said, looking worried that Bastion, a newcomer to the group, would ask such an indulgence.
“I want to make some proper breads, maybe some croissants for the team.”
“Sounds divine,” Ivy, Kit’s wife, said. “If he won’t let you, I’d be happy to offer the kitchen at my diner, as long as you make extra that I could sell.”
“Bien sûr. I could do that,” Bastion said.
“Or you could use the kitchen at my house,” Mandy, Rocco’s wife and Zavi’s stepmom said. “It’s not an industrial kitchen, but you’d have the place to yourself.”
“That would work as well,” Bastion said. “I could make some chocolate croissants pour les enfants.”
Mandy’s jaw dropped. She rubbed her huge belly. “Forget the kids. We need those for ourselves.”
Bastion laughed.
“No. Seriously,” Ivy said. “What do you need from us to make that happen?”
“Not a thing. I will go shopping for what I need.”
A groan sounded from the living room entrance to the dining room. “Not another shopper,” Selena said.
Bastion heard what went unsaid—that her buddy Val was big shopper. Bastion had seen that in the assistance he’d provided to the two weddings that had happened in the residence recently.
He grinned and opened his arms. “I love shopping. I love cooking. I love fighting. I love fu—” His gaze shifted to the two young boys coming into the room. “Fun. I love fun. I am an easy man.” It was going to take some getting used to moderating his behavior around the swarm of children that lived here.
“He’s promised us chocolate croissants, Sel,” Ivy said. “We’re going to have a problem with anything that gets in the way of that. So if he needs to go shopping, then shopping it is, feel me?”
Selena laughed. Ivy was beginning to sound like her husband. “Sorry to disappoint, but Bastion’s going to be tied up in training today.”
“Not the whole day,” Bastion said. “And if I have to stay up late tonight, I will so that you have your treats this time tomorrow.”
“Captain Hook!” the taller of the two young boys said as they flanked him. “You’re still here.”
“I am. Your papa has graciously asked me to stay for a while. But remember, my name is Bastion, not Capitain Hook.”
Bastion turned his attention to Selena as the two mothers fixed plates for their kids. He checked her over, glad that she seemed rested. A slight touch of color warmed her cheeks as their shared gaze continued. He went around the table to her. Ignoring anyone else in the room, he caught her fingertips.
“Bonjour, ma petite chou,” he whispered as he leaned forward and kissed her. She stared up into his eyes, her pupils dark. Bastion gave her a very male grin. Maybe they should go back up to her room.
Other members of her team were coming into the dining room, moving around them. Noise filled the long room. China clinked. Conversations started.
And still he and Selena stood locked in their silent exchange. Do you want to go back upstairs? he asked.
Yes.
Then let’s not waste time here, he said.
But I’m hungry. And I’ve a feeling I’m gonna need sustenance.
It is true. You will.
When he pulled his attention from Selena, he realized many of her teammates were watching him with less-than-friendly expressions. He ignored them, but he knew that their reaction stung Selena a little. She didn’t realize that their hostility originated not from a rejection of him but protectiveness over her. He respected them for that.
He led her over to the buffet table so they could get their breakfast. Bastion filled his plate.
There were no assigned seats, so they sat at the end of the table, leaving plenty of space for other couples to sit together.
The two boys, Troy and Zavi, moved from their seats by their parents to the end of the table where Bastion and Selena sat. He pretended not to notice their fascination with him. They exchanged several whispers, hands cupped to muffle the sound.
They reminded him of his childhood with his brother. They were forever in trouble, forever getting into anything and everything they weren’t supposed to.
Guess that was how they ended up where they did.
That was a sobering thought. He hoped these two had better sense than he and his brother had.
“Mr. Bastion?” Troy asked almost timidly.
“Oui?”
“Zavi doesn’t believe you can disappear,” Troy said.
There were many conversations happening. No one noticed the quiet statement Troy made…or the challenge it held for Bastion.
“Sometimes we know things that we don’t have to prove to those who don’t know them,” Bastion said, trying his damnedest to sound like a mentor.
“He saw it, but I didn’t,” Zavi said.
“So you don’t believe it can happen, is that it?” Bastion asked.
Zavi and Troy both nodded.
Bastion leaned toward them. “I can make you both disappear. Shall I?”
The boys’ eyes got big. They exchanged fast whispers, then nodded.
Bastion smiled.
“It is done. No one can see you. Or hear you. Or feel you.”
“No one?” Troy asked. “Even if I shout?”
Bastion shrugged. “Try it and see.”
“Hey!” the boys both shouted. No one at the table moved—except Selena, who turned to frown at Bastion.
“What are you up to?” she asked.
“You will see.”
The boys stood on their chairs. “Hey! Hey look at us!”
Nothing. They exchanged shocked glances, then decided to step onto the table and walk toward their parents. They were laughing and dodging dishes. Just before they got to the far end, where Owen sat, Bastion removed their invisibility.
The boys stopped cold and stared in dread at Troy’s dad. Their mothers squawked but were too pregnant to lift them down. Owen and Rocco swept their sons off the table.
“Bastion made us invisible,” Troy said.
Owen glared down the table at him.
“That is true. But I did not tell them to walk on the table.”
“You made them disappear?” Addy, Owen’s wife, asked, alarm making her voice tremble.
Bastion wasn’t the mind reader that Liege was, but he could tell that something terrible had happened with Addy and her boys, something that even now, in a room filled with loved ones, filled her with terror.
He sent her a wave of calming energy. He meant no harm in his little stunt. The truth was that it had been an important exercise.
Owen looked furious. “In the den. Now, Bastion.”
Why do I feel as if I’ve been called to the headmaster’s office?
Because you have. We had a no-trick policy, remember? Selena said.
It wasn’t a trick. It was an exercise.
Both boys looked remorseful as he neared them. Zavi was crying. Bastion put his hand on the boy’s head. “Be at peace, boy. I have faced far worse than Troy’s papa.”
Zavi gasped some ragged breaths as he nodded. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bastion.”
“It is I who should apologize, boy. Have no fear. All is well.” Bastion smiled as he stepped into the hall. Yup. Those two were just like he and his brother. Trouble through and through. How he missed Simon.
Bastion: O-Men: Liege’s Legion Page 30
