Real.
This feeling was real.
What Julius pushed me into, the sick trance he held me under was all fake. He wasn’t here.
“It’s pointless to run to him, he can’t keep you away from me for much longer.”
His words inside my head only made me run harder through the hallway. The fact that Julius seemed almost desperate to keep me away from Sebastian meant something.
I threw open the door. His brothers left him on top of the covers. He looked peaceful, but I climbed over him in a rush and ruined that rather quickly.
Dark laughter filled my head. “He only makes me go away for a little while.”
I gripped his cheeks and touched his neck. Some kind of empowerment came over me as Sebastian came to life at my touch, rising quickly. I grabbed his shoulder and looked into his energies and as I did, I saw that greed and wrath still swirled inside him just as he ripped my shirt down the middle.
In his wake, Julius’s voice died inside my head and my darkness purred a new song for this man instead.
In a moment of clarity, I wished Sebastian wasn’t under the influence of his brother’s sins. I wanted a moment where it was just me and him instead of his wrangling the force of three curses. Within the confines of Sebastian’s new rough touch—spurred by wrath and greed—that I discovered something else.
Sebastian said I was his energizer, but he was every bit the haven I so desperately needed.
I gasped as Sebastian’s head dipped between my breasts. Using one hand, he unhooked my bra while the other squeezed a boob. His teeth met the nipple of my other. “He was inside my mind,” I panted, overcome with lust and vulnerability. “He doesn’t like you touching me.”
His head lifted from my nipple, and his lust-filled eyes transformed into rage at the mention of Julius. “He can get inside you like that?”
I flushed with mortification. “This is the first time, or at least I don’t remember if he did when I was with him.” There was so much I probably didn’t remember and most nights I begged for all the memories to leave me instead of it coming back like they did. My hand moved to cup his cheek, but I hesitated. “For some reason, he wants your sins. You shouldn’t keep me here. How else will he take them if not by me?”
“How else would you escape the hold he has over you if you leave and no longer have me to touch?” Sebastian asked, holding my gaze.
I swallowed and looked down, trying to wedge our bodies apart. Suddenly, the reason I came running in this room to touch him, became the reason I wanted to push him away. “That is not a good cause for any of this,” I did a sweep over his body with my heated stare, “and it’s not a good purpose for me to stay.”
His jaw hardened, his eyes flickering from blue to black. “It is. It’s just not the one you want it to be, nor is it why you ever stayed here to begin with.”
The truth heated my skin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He grabbed my wrists and pulled me in when he saw I was trying to climb off his lap. I peeked into his energies again and saw the last bit of wrath and greed’s sins die out. “Why is it so hard to accept you’re just as drawn to me as I am to you?”
“Let go of me.” My flight response kicked into overdrive at his question.
He let go, only to cup my fingers in his hands, bringing them up to his cheek. “Your touch might put the fire in my veins,” he moved his free hand to my chest, “but it’s your soul which has been tainted by darkness that fights a fight no one should be able to win within itself that calls to me, Isabella. I yearn to see more of your spirit, which is so much like mine. We fight a battle within ourself every day that we aren’t expected to win.”
My eyes were misty with unshed tears. I didn’t dare blink, nor did I trust myself to say anything. It was like he created a dam inside my heart with his words and his eyes as they looked into mine. His everything called to me in a terrifying way.
In my silence, he whispered. “The last bit of their sins have left me.”
I finally blinked and nodded, looking into his energies to see for myself. “I know. I don’t see their energies inside you.”
He let out a ragged breath. “If you know, then what am I waiting for?”
He came in quick, but his lips were gentle when he kissed me. Gentle as it was, he devoured my lips in slow, sensual strokes and once more, I leaned back into him, sliding against his lap, denim against denim as his erection pressed through and ignited a hunger within me. I loved the way he kissed, maybe I just loved kissing him. He was so thorough and precise with his mouth and tongue, almost like he knew the art of lovemaking needed to be experienced between our tongues until there was nothing left between us besides white, hot desire.
And, let us not forget my darkness.
Only in Sebastian’s caresses, its dark thoughts and needs were nothing but purrs. Even Julius’s creation stood no chance against what Sebastian could make my body feel. The darkness moved just beneath my skin and where his touch fell on me, it followed.
Our lips broke away, the fleeting moment our eyes opened and met, I was foolish enough to paint a happier version of my future—one with a blue-eyed Reaper that said whatever he was thinking and kissed a mere stranger like he had been waiting on her his entire life. I closed my eyes and counted to three, and when I reopened them, my gaze was fixed on the shirt he wore instead of his face. Something safer. Pressing my fingers against his chest, I thought about whispering a spell and making our clothes disappear, but he had already pulled that move last time. Instead, I trailed my hand down his abdomen and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. In one quick movement, I pulled the shirt over his head.
I let myself admire all his ridges and although he had one of those pretty-boy faces; he was made of all these edges that told me a powerful man lay beneath me. One that used his power and strength for good instead of evil. I needed to stop comparing him to the evil in my life when there was nothing to compare.
Sebastian was a prince while Julius was the dirt on my shoe.
Once I was finished ogling Sebastian, he leaned forward, forcing me backward as he laid me down on the bed. Moving his legs to that he was on his knees, he bent over me, his wide chest looming above mine. He did nothing at first, just stared at me until I started to squirm underneath his gaze.
Then he lowered his head and kissed my collarbone before scooting lower. Heat blossomed through my core. I sucked in a breath as he kissed my stomach. I grabbed a handful of his hair and urged him lower, excitement and desire taking control of me.
He stopped at my jeans. When he started unbuttoning them, I was quick to help out and once we tackled my zipper; I lifted my ass in the air so that he could slide them down, panties too. I thought I heard him growl as he took in my need with how hard my hands shook as they made their way back into his hair.
His head lowered once more, my hands helped him get there as he got on his stomach. His breath touched me, I arched, and his mouth reached my clit. I gasped, he groaned. I ground my pussy into his face and held his head down, urging him on. My actions sent an invitation to rougher touches. I thought that maybe I drove him just as reckless as he made my body and heart feel.
I spread my legs further apart for him so that he could fucking do whatever he wanted with his tongue and mouth—or cock. I gasped again when he pressed a finger inside me while sucking my clit.
“Right there,” I whispered, but there was no way he wouldn’t know when I couldn’t keep my pussy from grinding his face.
His finger retreated, and he lifted his gaze up and met mine, a smirk within his eyes even though I couldn’t see his mouth. “Here?”
He couldn’t tease me. Because I teased back. I raised up and grabbed his hand that held one of my legs, grabbed it, moved it up toward my breasts—as far as they’d reach so that I could bend forward and take one of his fingers in my mouth. And I sucked. So hard. Until he muttered, “Fuck,” and rammed two fingers inside me at once with his other. I crie
d out, but I didn’t let go of his finger as I did. “That what you want?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” I whimpered.
Getting on his knees, Sebastian towered over me while keeping his fingers exactly where they were. I laid back comfortably while I teased and sucked. “Come for me, Izzie, and I’ll let you put my cock in your mouth before I fuck you with it.”
Oh, God.
He put his thumb over my clit, rubbing without mercy, and fingered me until the orgasm crashed over me. The hairs on my arms stood on end as he took me into another mind-blowing release. Sebastian watched me with a controlling intensity in his stare. It was when I was crying out from my desire that the suctioning stopped from my lips. He used that opportunity to replace his one digit with two. He groaned when I resumed sucking.
Two fingers in my pussy. Two in my mouth. And I still wanted more of him.
Then he was removing his hands, earning a needy protest from me. He made everything better when he dropped some of his weight on me and kissed the ever loving darkness out of me. I moaned, wrapped my arms around his so that I could sink my nails into his back. I could taste me on his tongue.
“Need inside you,” he said through our heavy tongue and teeth battle.
I answered through smothering kisses. “Which way?” He smiled against my lips.
“As much as I want that mouth, I’ll wait until I take you out on at least one date.”
I laughed, a warm, fuzzy feeling hitting my chest. “You mean guiding the dead and those trips of chasing down bad guys weren’t dates?” I asked him.
“Fuck no, Izzie,” he muttered, real serious about this issue. “Just wait, I’ll wine and dine the fuck out of you. I’ll earn that blowjob you’re gonna give me.”
What hurt was how hopeful I was that he meant it.
Shit. He was making me feel everything.
“Then, I’ll be waiting.”
He was kissing me again. Always kissing. With his tongue inside my cheeks, a soft caress against my own, he pressed his erection against my entrance, then slipped all the way inside. He stretched me completely, my body prickling with desire as he consumed every part of me.
He pumped in and out of me slowly, lifting my hands above my head and entwining our fingers as we fucked, and it really didn’t feel like fucking, it felt like something more. Every touch, every thrust he gave me, as rough or demanding as it was, it still burned me with odd caresses that had me responding to his hands that held mine, and the tongue that continued to tangle with mine.
And just like that, there was no pausing or much breathing if I were honest. It was more static and sensations that blinded me with so many feelings at once. I felt disconnected to the outside world and lost in the sensation of Sebastian Reaper.
The desire that ran through me as his thrusts grew more purposeful was like a string that grew thinner and thinner until it eventually broke, leaving me crashing down into a sea of warmth—the warmest kind that left so much more even after it was over.
My body pulsed around him but before he succumbed, my spell prevented him from doing so that I placed on him earlier. “Do you want your release?” I asked him with a shuddering breath.
“Izzie…” He was practically begging, so I let him have it which dragged another one out of me as he emptied himself inside me. He caught my cry in his mouth and slid his tongue leisurely over mine.
Our lips parted as he gazed down at me, but instead of responding to his blues, I pulled my hands free of his and sought out his neck where I traced the hardness that defined every part of his body.
I was strangely content, and I wondered if he felt as sated as I did, but instead of asking, I continued to explore his body slowly until I ran across a small rise on his skin. Everywhere I had touched had been smooth and flawless except that one spot on his shoulder blade. I rubbed it again.
“What is that?” I finally spoke, breaking the silence. My voice was thick and full of proof that he was still completely rooted inside of me even now.
“A snail,” he said it so nonchalantly.
“A snail?” I was dumbfounded.
He nodded. “It’s the symbol of the curse I carry. The snail is the animal most humans associate with the sloth sin.”
I traced my fingers over the bump. “Huh,” I said thoughtfully. “How odd.”
He chuckled. “I’ve had it since the day the Devil cursed us all.”
“What does it look like? Let me see,” I pressed his face against my neck, smiling as his breath tickled my face. I raised my head up trying to see it on the upper left side. I ran my hand over it again when I found it with my eyes. “It’s blue,” I whispered.
It was a simple blue snail. Just like a tattoo. It didn’t look like a curse. I sniggered. “It’s cute.”
He huffed. “All right, don’t go laughing. If you think mine’s bad, you should know that August’s animal symbol is a toad.” I dropped my head down on the pillow, tired of holding it up to look over his shoulder. Lifting his head, Sebastian stared at me. “He fucking hates—” He stopped talking mid-sentence when I wiggled beneath him, gripping his semi-hard erection with my pelvic muscles in the process. He was completely hard again in seconds. Heat bloomed inside my stomach.
“You can’t be sated, can you?” he murmured as if pleased by that, eyeing my lips like he was about to kiss me crazy like he always seemed to do.
“So tired,” I admitted softly. “Don’t want to stop though.”
He studied my face before brushing my cheek gently. “I think my curse is affecting you when we embrace one another for too long.”
I smiled sheepishly. “It’s fine. It’s not as bad as the first time. I’m still awake and when we touch, it’s only intense when we go too long without holding each other.” We were glued together all over. I looked down at my breasts and his chest brushing together. “See? Instead of the full-blown orgasmic feelings I normally get, it’s tampered down to small butterflies against my skin.”
“So, are you saying we should disconnect for a little while, so you can get the good stuff?”
I snorted, gripping his arms so that he couldn’t leave me. “I’m satisfied either way.”
And with the press of his smile against my own, he twisted me around until I was lying on top of him. He let me roll my hips above him as he traced the sides of my breasts with his fingers. His eyes sought all the places on my skin, and soon his hands grabbed my ass cheeks and he worked my body over his, thrusting in and out in sensual, powerful strokes until we were both crying out as a passion so strong exploded between us.
Then I fell asleep with the darkness humming so low in my chest that I thought for a second it wasn’t there.
Eighteen
Sebastian
My cell phone blared long and loud somewhere in the room. It was dark. At some point, while staring at Izzie sound asleep, I turned off the floor lamp by the bed. I fell asleep next to her, knowing she’d be against me to wake me.
When I tried climbing out of bed in search of my phone, my arm stopped me from doing so. It wasn’t my arm; it was what lay over it, snuggled so tight against me in all the right places that something in my chest cracked and all these fucking crazy ass feelings came bursting in. I welcomed them though. I’d dated several women over the years but never had I been drawn to someone as much as I was to her.
I was falling too fucking fast, and I doubted my witch would believe me if I told her touch had nothing to do with me being all over her last night. We helped each other—she kept me awake while I calmed her darkness and settled her worries. But I wished to know more about the woman taking over my thoughts completely. Everything between us told me that Isabella Wen was my destiny. There was no way I was letting Harvest or anybody else take her from me or steal her from herself again.
My phone cut off for a second, then started right back up. Izzie stirred next to me and I gently slid out from all the body parts she had draped over me in search of the device. I found it in my jeans on t
he floor.
I answered. “Hello?”
“Bring Isabella over.” It was Mom. I spotted Izzie lifting her head and peeking at me beneath her dark hair. “Looks like you might have been right about Harvest. And your lady friend is the only one that can give us some insight on him.”
“She doesn’t know anything.”
Mom sighed. “Yeah, well, still bring her. I know a lovesick fool when I see one.” My chest tightened at her words. “Let’s see who’s awakened my sleeping prince.” She hung up.
Izzie lifted the sheet to her chest and I swear, I’d never seen anything so earth-shattering beautiful in all my years living between two worlds. Still, she had no idea what I got her into when I invited her into my home and bed. My family could be overbearing—okay, we were overbearing and protective.
“What is it?” Her voice was sexy and thick with sleep. “Is it Julius?”
“Fuck Harvest,” I hissed without thinking at all. Her eyes widened. I sighed, materializing clothes on me instead of going through my closet. “Maybe some of Barron’s sin is still left in me,” I pondered.
She tilted her head at me and there was a slight twitch to her mouth. My witch was trying not to smile. “There’s nothing left of your brothers’ curses,” she told me.
“Then I guess I just want to murder the bastard that’s hurt you,” I muttered absentmindedly.
“Only you can’t kill an entity,” she brought up. That reminder seemed to darken my mood. “Thank you, Sebastian.”
I paused and looked over at her smiling at me from the bed. “For what?”
“For showing me what it feels like to feel protected. Even if we are practically strangers.”
“I’d hardly call us strangers. Strangers don’t make date and blowjob plans.”
She snorted. “Actually, they do. It’s called paid escorts. Or prostitutes.”
“You’re supposed to be eating up my charm, not throwing it in my face with irrelevant shit.” The smile on her face told me I was doing something right at least. “All right, Izzie, time to get out of bed. My family wants to ask you about Harvest, and they’ll most likely ask you about me.”
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