He let out a happy little hum as he deepened our kiss, our tongues intertwining.
He pushed my skirt up until it was around my upper thighs and his hard dick ground against my lace covered pussy, giving me delicious friction. I moaned as his hand reached between us, and he pushed my panties aside, dipping his fingers into my already soaked core.
“So wet. You ready for me, Red? God, not being inside you has been torture. Watching Rouen make you cum almost sent me crazy.”
I kissed his jaw, moving down the column of his neck and biting gently. He let out a long moan. “Like that, huh?” I said, grinning with feminine satisfaction.
He growled. “Harder.” He was stroking my pussy, making me slick. He unbuttoned his fly and freed his massive cock, and I did what I was told and bit hard into the tendon of his neck. He groaned and buried his dick deep in me with one hard thrust, making us both shout. He was huge, and my pussy burned as it stretched around him. He held me still, his big fingers biting into my hips, waiting for me to adjust. I didn’t want time to adjust.
“Move,” I growled out, and that was all he needed. He pounded into me hard, and I no longer cared that anyone could walk down the alley at any second, or that my tank was riding up and the rough bricks were scraping my back raw. All that mattered was how it felt as he pounded into me over and over again. I buried my face in his neck, muffling my moans as he pushed me higher and higher. My orgasm shuddered across my body and I bit down on his neck, hard, tasting a little blood, and he roared his own release, pinning me back against the wall and burying himself so far inside me we were practically one person.
I panted, allowing him to hold my weight because I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to stand. He leaned back and stared at me, his eyes telling me all sorts of things that I wasn’t ready to hear out loud. Suddenly, his nose flared.
“You’re bleeding.”
He placed me on my feet and turned me around, pulling up my tank to see where the rough bricks had grazed my back. I looked over.
“It’s fine. It’ll be gone by tonight. I’m a pretty fast healer.”
But Romanus wasn’t listening. His pupils had gone wide, and he was staring down at the little dots of blood. He squatted down, and he sniffed again.
“Romanus?” He leaned forward and licked the graze with one long swipe. Then another, harder than the first. He kept lapping at it until the blood was gone and the wound had started to sting.
“Hey, Rom? Snap out of it, dude.” I tried to move away, but his hands held me tight. He wasn’t hurting me, but he was seriously weirding me out.
Rouen came tearing down the alleyway. He skidded to a stop in front of us and wrapped an arm around Romanus’ shoulders, yanking him back. Romanus snarled at his packmate, but Rouen just raised both hands placatingly. He dropped his gaze. “Hey there, Alpha. It’s all good. But you are freaking her out, okay? Take a deep breath.”
Romanus blinked a couple of times, then shook his head. He looked between Rouen and I, his face shutting down. He stormed out of the alleyway and I watched him go, completely bewildered.
“I guess surveillance is over?”
Rouen grinned. “Yeah, Volchek left ten minutes ago, exact same time, exact same bodyguard. Naz told us over comms, but I think you were probably a little preoccupied.”
I looked at the ground and kicked a piece of cardboard that had the audacity to be close to my foot. “I turned my earpiece off so everyone didn’t hear...that.” Rouen just grinned as I connected the dots, his eyes glinting. “Which probably means you shouldn't have been able to hear Romanus losing his shit back there unless-”
“Rom didn’t turn his off. Bad practice, in case you were jumped, you know.”
I groaned and slapped a hand to my forehead. “Seriously? Again? Is there ever going to be a time that everyone isn’t a participant in my fucked up sex life?”
Rouen just laughed, the asshole. “Probably not. Small group, harder to keep secrets.”
He straightened my clothes and took my hand, leading me from the alley.
A flush made its way to my cheeks and I wondered how I was ever going to look at them again. All four of them heard me come. Rouen didn’t seem to care, but he didn’t have human sensibilities.
“Is your comm turned off now?” I asked Rouen. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake for the hundredth time.
Rouen nodded. “It’s just you and me, Tiger.”
“What the hell was that back there with Romanus?” We walked down the steep stairs of the nearest subway station to get back to the hotel. Always separate, although I was never alone.
“From what I heard, I think he fucked you against a wall.” I punched him in the arm, hard, and felt my knuckles crack. He didn’t even flinch, just chuckling at his own joke.
“You know what I mean, dickhead.”
He shook his head. “Just an evolutionary throwback, nothing to worry about. Our saliva has healing qualities. Nature designed it so that when our Queen is injured, we are instinctively compelled to heal her wounds, or heal her enough that we can get her to a proper healer or she heals herself. To achieve that, they made the scent of our mate’s blood like the best thing you can imagine. It smells like cookies and summer and everything good, but times a thousand, and tastes even better.”
“I’m not your mate,” I stated firmly.
“No, you aren’t,” he said quietly. He didn't look at me though. I’d hurt his feelings, dammit. “So, it was probably just because you’d fucked right beforehand.”
He didn’t meet my gaze again, his eyes roaming the train carriage for threats and looking everywhere except in my direction. We walked back to the hotel in silence.
What I would have given for a drink right then. A little dutch courage before I had to walk into a room that currently held a guy I just fucked, his gargoyle boyfriend, my best friend who wanted to be more and a killer who seemed to know all my secrets. And they all knew I’d just had dirty sex in some back alley like a prostitute.
I straightened my shoulders and raised my chin. It was none of their damn business. I was here for one reason only. I’d keep it professional, at least until the awkwardness was gone. Burying my head in the sand was one of my go-to avoidance techniques.
I pushed open the door. Three sets of eyes looked at me, and two slid away immediately. Charlie went back to staring at his computer screen, and Romanus was staring at paper plans on the bed. Only Naz held my gaze, but they gave nothing away. Perfectly blank. He nodded towards the end of the bed.
“We were just going over the footage from the CCTV outside the Starbucks across the street. I was right, his routine is never completely the same, but it’s not random either. They change the pick up and drop off times every three days, and it's always the big guy with the ugly mug with him every time. Which means tomorrow, we’ll have a pretty good idea when he will leave, if you want to get up into his apartment to look around. Romanus thinks the best way to get you up there is to fly you up under the cover of night, but you’d have to sit out there until he leaves. The Gargoyle assures me that he can carry you up there with no problems.”
“You want me to ride a dragon to the top of the building?” It sounded even more ridiculous coming out of my mouth.
“I didn’t think you would have any problems riding a dragon.”
I squinted, trying to work out if he was fucking with me, or alluding to what he heard earlier. I sighed. “It’ll be fine. You know, I could always get Ace or one of the other Fallen to sift me in?”
Nazir nodded. “Sure, you could, but we might want to save calling in the big guns for when shit gets pear shaped. I also happen to know for a fact that Memphis is occupied right now.” His tone had zero inflection, like usual, but something like mirth danced across his eyes. Hmm.
“Fine, if the guys don’t mind me using them like a pony.”
Rouen seemed the only one who was oblivious to the underlying tension in the room. Or maybe he just didn't care. H
e wrapped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me close to his body.
“Babe, I’d let you ride me however you liked for the rest of my immortal life. You only have to say the word.” He was teasing me, that I knew, but I couldn’t help but think that there was probably some underlying truth in there.
Charlie stood. “I’m gonna go shower.” He walked to his duffle, pulling out some stuff before striding into the bathroom and slamming the door. I flinched.
Rouen sighed. “Humans.”
I sat down and listened as Nazir went over the rest of the plan. I was going to try and find out any information about why they tried to snatch Hope, of all people. It didn’t fit their MO of taking the vulnerable and the desperate. Hope was neither of those things and the attack was way too coordinated. They were after her in particular, and it didn’t make sense.
If that wasn’t as fruitful as we’d like, Charlie had placed a tiny little DotBot, a magnetic droid the size of a bug that used magnetic energy to move, as a tracker under his car to see where Volchek went every day. While I was rummaging through his apartment, Charlie and Naz would be tracking where he went, and do a little reconnoitering on the location.
Rouen and Romanus would be with me.
The shower was still running, and I walked into the bathroom without knocking. I didn’t want to go to bed with bad feelings between us. If growing up in my family had taught me anything, it was that communication was the key to any happy relationship, be it familial, lover or friend. The other thing it taught me was to never go to bed angry, because life can shift dramatically in a single rotation of the sun.
“Charlie?” Silence. “I’m sorry.”
I heard a sigh, and the thunk of flesh against the tiles. “What are you sorry for, Rella?”
It was my turn to sit on the lopsided toilet this time. “Everything? For screwing this up so bad? For taking so long to recognize…”
His head poked out from the shower curtain. “To recognize what?”
“That what I feel for you isn’t just normal friendship. That it’s something more. But you’ve always been there, and it was easier than trying to make it more and messing everything up. But I did it anyway.”
Charlie pulled his head back into the shower cubicle. The shower curtain hid a lot of things, but I could see the silhouette of his body just fine. The long curve of his back, the firm muscle of his ass, his long strong legs he got from running every morning almost religiously.
“It’s fine, Rella. I will always be here for you, you know that. Plus, the Gargoyles are probably a better fit for you. They want to devote their life to you, and how can any guy compete with that? They look like Vin Diesel had sex with the goddamn Oscar statue.”
I laughed at the visual, remember the actor from all those old car chase movies Charlie had made me watch as a teenager.
“You're perfect as you, Charlie. I don’t need musclebound; I need my best friend.”
“Don’t lie to me, Rella. I have eyes. I can see how you all are together. You move in perfect synchronization, even though you don’t realize it. If you have a need, they seem to be able to preempt it, and they're there. I can’t compete with that, and it’s unfair to ask you to choose.”
“Do I have to choose?”
“I need you to choose,” he murmured, more to himself than to me.
“Need or want, Charlie?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yeah it matters. You seemed okay with the whole sharing the other night.”
Even as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing. “The fact you think my problem is sharing you for sex, means you know nothing of how I feel, Rella.” His angry tone told me that that was the end of the conversation, but I felt worse than when I walked in here.
I stood and moved closer to the shower. “I hate this, Charlie. I love you. I don’t want all this angst between us.”
He flicked the shower curtain aside, exposing one side of his body, though hiding all the fun bits. “I love you, too. No matter how this all pans out, nothing will change that. How about we just table it until later, okay? Can you pass me a towel?” He turned off the shower, and I watched the little droplets of water cling to his chest hair, and rivulets run down his bare skin. “But you’re gonna have to stop looking at me like that right now.”
I handed him the towel and averted my eyes. “Don’t pretend you weren’t perving on me through the shower curtain the other day, Charles Mulligan. I know exactly how see-through that curtain is now!”
He wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out. “Off you go, Rella. We are okay for now. We’ll figure the rest out later.” He leaned over and kissed the side of my head like he’d done hundreds of times before.
I smiled at him and slipped out of the bathroom. Only Naz was in the main room.
“They’ve gone to grab food. I think they needed to talk. Seems to be the flavor of the day.”
I flopped down on the bed and flung an arm across my eyes. “Sorry about earlier.”
Naz laughed, and the sound made me look at his face. I was struck again about how handsome he was when he smiled.
“Hey, don’t be. I’m living vicariously through you, I think. Though I’m going to have a serious case of blue balls soon.”
My face flared red and I groaned. Now I knew he was teasing me. “I’m glad this is so amusing for you.”
“Don’t stress it, kid. There's worse things than having men fighting over you.”
“Yeah, like what?” I taunted.
“Like being alone.” My eyes traced over his face, searching for a hint of emotion behind those words, but there was nothing. He’d locked his emotions behind an impenetrable wall, and no matter how I searched, I couldn't find a crack.
I nodded. “You're right. Don’t worry, I know how lucky I am, no matter how it feels right now.”
He nodded, and we were silent, each lost in our own thoughts.
Chapter Seven
We’d all woken in the middle of the night, dressed in black and armed ourselves. We drove to Central Park, eerie in the darkness. Rouen and Romanus got out of the car, Rouen holding my elbow as I slipped out of the back seat.
“Who’s changing?” I asked.
In answer, Romanus shifted. It happened between one blink and the next, and all I caught was a shimmer and a few grunts. When I opened my eyes, a large slate grey dragon stood in front of me. He was about the length of a pickup truck, and about as wide. He had four powerful legs the size of tree trunks and large ridges down his back. His body was patterned with alternating muted green and blue vee’s down his spine, interspersed with the grey. The same blue and green of Rom’s eyes. He was beautiful.
I let out the little gasp I’d been holding in and walked towards him. So beautiful. I reached forward and ran a hand down his side. It felt a little like his human skin, like sun warmed rocks. I walked down his side, awed by the sheer power of his body.
“Aw, no fair. I want her to stroke me like that,” Rouen pouted.
“Yeah, but I have to carry your heavy ass to the top of the building, so we are even,” a voice rumbled, and I realized it was Romanus. Well, Romanus the Dragon. It was like his ordinary voice, but more. It was deeper, louder and you felt it right in the marrow of your bones. A roar from Romanus would make a human mess himself.
“You like my ass,” Rouen said, winking. The dragon chuffed out a laugh.
“Let's do this before we give some night-time jogger a heart attack,” Naz said, apparently completely unfazed by the freaking dragon in his midst.
Rouen was beside me in a second and boosted me up. “Settle at the base of his neck, between his shoulder blades.” I shifted into the spot and then Rouen was bounding up the side of Romanus’s body to settle behind me. He leaned forward and nuzzled my neck. “This shit is going to blow your mind,” he whispered, and Romanus’ wings spread wide.
They were as beautiful as his hide but better. One wing had sapphire blue spots and the other one emerald
green. Spots was probably the wrong word. It was like someone had jammed the actual gems into his skin and they glowed with otherworldly beauty. Like stars across his wings.
With a few powerful beats of those glorious wings, we were airborne. He pushed higher and higher, and weirdly, I felt perfectly safe. Rouen had his arms wrapped around me, and I was pressed securely into his chest. When we were a fair way off the ground, high enough that pedestrians wouldn't notice us, he circled back to Volchek’s building.
“How does no one see his wings from the ground?” I asked. They shone like stars.
“The underside of his wings are dark grey. It would be very difficult for human eyes to see him in the darkness.” We glided down and landed on the roof of the apartment building with a barely audible thump. He tucked his wings back in, and Rouen slid down off his shoulder.
I ran my hands up and down his neck, and he rumbled a purr. It sounded like thunder in the distance.
“I don’t want to hop down yet,” I pouted.
“I promise one day you can lay all over me for hours, but a dragon on the roof of a building is a little conspicuous for a stealth mission.” He shifted, and I was falling, but human arms caught me before I even hit the ground.
“That happens so fast,” I said, sounding breathless as he held me in his arms, cradled protectively against his chest. He put my feet on the ground and took a big step away from me.
“It’s a skill I have. It takes Rouen a little longer.”
Rouen shrugged. “Women like a man who takes his time.” He gave me a saucy wink and I laughed. We settled in beside the air conditioning unit, hiding us from the view of surrounding buildings. It was a tight fit, but they were both conscious not to get into my space. Eventually, Rouen growled. “Nothing sexual, but I need to touch you.”
Romanus gave him a hard look, but Rouen lifted his chin. I was missing something, but I didn’t want to try and figure it out now. I just settled back into the comfort of Rouen’s chest and yawned.
“Sleep, Red. We’ll keep watch and wake you when it’s time.”
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 39
