He knew he often came off as abrasive, and he was honest enough with himself to admit that he was often an ass. It’d taken him more effort to adjust, and only as the months passed had he started to temper himself.
Still, some of it was to keep his people safe. Many of them just didn’t seem to accept the danger they were in. If he had to be hated to remind his people to be vigilant, so be it.
Courtney came back over to him and handed him another full bowl. Just as quickly as the first, he downed the contents. Then he made his way over to the crusty roll she’d given him. He liked the crunch on the outside and soft center.
Once he had finished his food, Marcus placed the bowl on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch. It'd been a long day, with it ending much differently than he ever expected it would.
Stacking wood for the long winter, then the party, and now checking up the mountain only to find the person they were supposed to be delivering food to had been mauled by an animal.
Marcus glanced over to Courtney as she placed her bowl on the table beside her. Hardly anything was eaten out of it. He knew her nerves must be on edge considering the situation.
She leaned back against the couch and pulled the blanket from the side over her.
Gingerly she scooted closer to where he was and spread the blanket over his lap as well. The warmth from the fire had spread through the living room, and he knew it wouldn't last long. They would need to remain in the living room if they had any hope of staying warm.
She moved even closer to him until her body rested lightly against his side. With his arms spread wide across the back of the couch, it was easy for her to nestle herself into the crook of his arm. They placed their feet on the table in front of them, and he watched as she wiggled her toes under the blanket.
"They're almost warm now," she said.
Marcus dropped his arm onto her shoulder. For a moment, her body tensed against him before relaxing completely.
"Get some sleep," he said. "I’ll wake you if the storm dies down.”
She nodded her head against his side, and he could smell the soft hints of spices as they floated up from her. He wondered if the scent didn't come from her pores. That if he tasted her, she might just taste like one of those cookies.
The fire crackled, and he listened to the steady breathing of the woman next to him, wondering what the hell they were going to do if the storm didn't let up.
At some point, he would need to get more wood, or they would freeze. Even if he could take the temperatures for a long period, she couldn’t. But the idea of leaving her unprotected made his heart thump.
Marcus groaned and leaned his head back. This wasn't what he did. Taking care of other people. Especially a mere human. Nothing about this came naturally to him like it did for some of the others.
Courtney heaved a sigh next to him and snuggled into his chest. Her hand reached out over him and rested comfortably on his stomach.
The only thought that came to his mind was that he had to protect her. As much as it pained him to admit, it just felt right.
Everything the men said about Vestals felt right to his very bones. He’d wanted to deny it, or at least think it didn’t apply to him, but the truth was screaming from every part of his body and soul.
He had to make sure that she was safe, and he would do what he needed to ensure that happened.
Chapter Nine
Courtney woke up warm and groggy. She moved slightly. Her face rested on something warm and comforting.
She breathed in deeply. The scent of pine and sandalwood surrounded her. Somehow the smell gave her comfort.
It felt familiar, as if it were something she had smelled every day for years. She let out a quiet contented murmur.
She tried to remember where she was. Home? That didn’t seem right. Something had happened, and she’d not returned home. The memory of the mountain and cabin returned.
Courtney blinked her eyes open and found herself face-to-face with a very large hand that was not her own. It rested on a solid chest that rose and fell with each breath.
A hard realization hit her like a rock. She was somehow laying partially on Marcus. Heat assaulted her cheeks.
She considered the situation. The last thing she remembered was leaning against him in the warm glow of the fire as she drifted off to sleep. Her adrenaline wearing off and the hiking to the cabin had apparently left her far more tired than she’d realized.
Courtney moved slightly and found her muscles sore from trudging through the heavy snow. It wasn't that she wasn't used to working out at the gym on occasion, something had to combat the sweets she liked to eat, but this was a bit different. This was like shoveling snow all day without a break.
The strong wind didn’t help. When you had to put a lot of energy into just not falling over, it tended to work your muscles.
She tilted her head up. Her face was not far from his. His beautiful blue eyes remained shut. Sleeping, like this, he looked more peaceful than she could have ever imagined.
There’d been so many times she watched Marcus and wondered if he ever relaxed. He wasn’t a man who smiled much, and she’d barely seen him laugh. Still, he pulled at her heart, and she’d spent a lot of time trying to find ways to be near him.
Now there she was, with him, alone in a snow-covered cabin. Her worries from before had ebbed. The same snow that had trapped them there also would protect them from whatever was outside.
A bit of his slick dark brown hair had slipped down onto his forehead. Gently, she reached up and slid the hair back into place.
Suddenly, she found herself rolling with him. She gasped as he turned on his side, taking her with him, nestling her body next to his own as he spooned her back.
Courtney found herself wrapped up in his arms protectively. His hand pressed against her stomach as he did so. She held her breath when he shifted his hips, and she could feel a hard ridge pressed against her ass. A jolt shot to her center, and she bit her lip.
Was he even asleep?
Marcus nestled his face into the crook of her shoulder. She felt the low rumble that came from him as he breathed in.
No. He was definitely asleep, yet somehow still turning her on.
The sound of his rumble made her nipples harden and push against the fabric of her dress.
Marcus moved against her, sliding his hard length against the crack of her ass. Hot liquid pooled at her center the more he moved. She ached to have him inside her.
This was crazy. Sure, she was attracted to him, but he was practically making her climax when he wasn’t even awake. This had to end before someone did something they regretted.
"Marcus," she moaned.
He startled fully awake but then froze. She felt his body stiffened.
Courtney turned in his arms. This was not at all what she expected. He stared at her, surprise on his face, but lust still lingering in his eyes.
She’d wondered if he was distant because he didn’t find her attractive, but looking at him then, she knew that was not the case. He felt the same want she’d experienced every time he was around.
He wanted her. She knew it.
Something about him called her, and there was no way he didn't feel the same pull that she did.
The question was what they should do about it, if anything. It wasn’t exactly like they had a busy schedule other than sitting around and waiting for the storm to end.
No. She was tired of waiting, tired of hoping life would deliver what she wanted. She gathered her courage again. It was time to make a move.
Courtney moved in slowly, watching him as she closed the distance between them. When their lips met, it was soft, like a whisper of a touch, but that was all it took.
Again, a low rumble erupted from deep in his chest. Her breasts pressed firmly against his chest, making her nipples achingly hard.
Marcus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him. He planted his mouth more firmly over hers, tu
rning the soft kiss into one of pure hunger.
He slid his tongue along her lips, and she opened without thought. A hand slid into his dark hair, and she pulled herself closer to him, moving her mouth so he could invade her in all the ways she wanted.
Their tongues twined with one another, moving as if they’d known each other for their entire lives. As if they were always meant to be. The kiss had her center throbbing with anticipation, the fires of lust lighting her whole body aflame.
Courtney pulled her fingers out of his hair and slid them down his neck. She grazed the spot where she knew his tattoo to be gently.
Sparks of passion flashed between them. The sensation was so strong and powerful she pulled her mouth away from him and stared in wonder.
Marcus hopped off the couch in one fluid movement, staring down at her with what looked like the same surprise she felt. The surprise mixed with fear in his face.
"What was –" she began.
"Bathroom," he said. “I need to use the bathroom.”
She watched as he quickly raced from the room back to where the bathroom was and shut the door behind him, leaving her to wonder just what the hell had happened.
What the fuck was he doing?
The whole experience felt like some sort of fuzzy dream, one where she was pressed against him in all the ways he craved.
When she said his name, Marcus knew that it wasn't a dream. When she had turned, he had been so close to running, but then she stared at him with those big doe eyes that called to his soul.
Her soft brown curls framed her face, all the make-up from before gone. She was just a fresh-faced angel staring back at him like he'd always imagined. Like she saw him. Not the hybrid but the man.
Something broke in him. Damn it. He couldn’t deny the truth.
She was his Vestal.
His.
No matter how much he tried to deny that, she would always be his and he hers. He might as well shout against the wind.
The kiss had been the result of a buildup over time. His denial fueled an explosion of desire.
He felt it instantly when she touched his tattoo. All the knowledge of who she was to him came crashing down on him in a moment, a feeling so strong he couldn’t face it.
Marcus turned on the water in the sink and splashed some on his face. This was the worst moment ever to accept he was falling for a human.
He wanted to laugh. They were stuck on a mountain in a blizzard with a dead man and a crazed animal stalking the area.
Even though he knew all of that, the animal in him couldn’t push away thoughts of her. Now that he knew, he needed her. Not just needed, but wanted her with a desire unlike any he had ever known.
Marcus still didn’t know if he truly believed in the will of the fates or the gods, but this was something real. A burning need he couldn’t describe.
"Fuck," Marcus mumbled.
Any other time, being in a cabin with Courtney might not be such a bad thing, but regardless, now was not the time for him to get lax in his duties. If he wanted to see where things went with Courtney, he needed to make sure that above all else he kept her safe. There was no way in hell that would happen if he didn't keep his fucking dick in his pants.
Resolved in his new-found path, Marcus opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out into the hall. He frowned when he heard a strange noise in the living room.
He rounded the corner and found Courtney bent over on her knees, her beautiful round ass pointed directly at him.
Marcus swallowed hard. His semi-hard cock came back to full attention as he watched her wiggle her ass slightly as she stared inside a tiny cupboard.
Marcus cleared his throat and made his way over to the couch where he'd been sitting before.
Courtney sat up quickly and moved over to him. “I guess, um, we should do something to get our minds off things.” Her cheeks flushed. "I thought we might put in a movie."
Marcus frowned. He hated television, the stupid box where people moved around and nobody made any sense. Still if it made her happy, he supposed he could sit through it. If anything, she was right, it’d give him a distraction that wouldn’t take all his attention away from the environment, unlike sex.
"What sort of movies do you like?" she asked.
He shrugged. He supposed it didn't really matter. It wasn't like he would understand much of it anyway.
Courtney pulled out a small thin box, which was still wrapped, and held it up to him.
“It’s called The Princess Bride. I’m surprised he had it, but since it’s still wrapped, I’m guessing it was a gift. I think you might like it," she said nervously.
He could still see the red on her lips from their kiss.
“Otherwise, there are a lot of Tom Cruise movies here.”
Marcus didn’t know who Tom Cruise was. He nodded to the box in her hand. “That one’s fine.”
He watched as she placed the disc inside the smaller machine and then went to the fridge. When she came back, she handed him a can of beer.
"I think we've earned it," she said.
He watched as she popped the top and took a drink and then did the same.
He wasn’t worried about a single beer. One can would barely faze a man of his size, and a slight bit of relaxation might help. Maybe, combined with the movie, he’d be distracted enough so he wouldn’t want to do other things with her.
Marcus took a small drink and then readied himself for two hours of nonsense.
Chapter Ten
As the credits rolled, Marcus frowned at the TV. “Is there more to the movie?”
“No,” Courtney said.
“Is there a sequel?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand. When do they kill the prince?"
Courtney turned and shook her head. It had been question after question during the movie. She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t get many of the jokes. From what she knew of the hybrids, they’d been prisoners not exposed much to the outside world, but he seemed to have trouble with certain basic concepts she assumed everyone was familiar with. All of this led her to wonder how often he even watched TV.
"They don't kill the prince," she said.
His brow furrowed even more as he looked between the TV and her.
"That makes no sense," he said, shaking his head. "When he's the king, he'll just come after them. Why wouldn’t they remove the threat?”
She almost laughed, but resisted. He was putting far more thought into the movie than she ever did. It was interesting dealing with a person who didn’t take everything for granted.
“That’s not really the point,” she said. “The point is that they are together, and that’s all that matters.”
A darkness spread over his expression. “That’s not all that matters.”
She let out a sigh, watching as he stared off into the distance. It was just a funny story to her, not real. After all, she’d not had to deal with real threats to her life. She hadn’t thought how someone with his background might think about it.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Of course it’s not.”
He looked over to her. Guarded emotion played behind his steely exterior. Marcus and his people had been through so much, escaping the evil Horatius Group only to encounter a new evil in the Azilians.
She knew about the terrible horrors going on in the Azilian compound. When she’d tried to help Taylor, she’d learned just what sort of people were living near her home.
His jaw tightened. “Taking away the essence of a person should mean something, and the prince deserves to pay. He deserves to pay with his life.”
Something that was a dark but whimsical scene in the movie was far too close to the actual horrors Marcus and his people had been exposed to.
Courtney nodded at the force behind his words, knowing they were meant for far more than just a movie.
Marcus leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He snorted. “Besides, that movie is full of lies. W
hat they had isn’t true love.”
This time it was her turn to frown. She didn’t want to get mad over a movie, but she assumed his sheltered existence meant he just didn’t understand the themes of the movie.
“What?” she asked.
Marcus glanced over to where she sat next to him on the couch. “That movie only thinks it knows what true love is.”
Courtney huffed loudly. How could he say something like that about the perfect love story? She stood and gathered the cans to take to the trash. “And I suppose you do?”
She stomped away from him into the kitchen to the trash. When she turned, he was standing so close behind her she nearly stumbled into his arms. Marcus reached out to steady her.
“My people are fated. We have one person, and that is the only person for them,” he said and stepped a little closer to her.
“My friends told me about it. Vestals?” Courtney breathed in deeply as she looked up to his bright blue eyes.
He nodded once. “So yes,” he said softly. “I know what true love is.”
They stared at each other, their breathing quiet, the force of the words hanging in the air over them.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched him, his presence calling to her. She’d felt it before when they’d kissed, like finding the long-lost key for a lock.
She didn’t know if she believed everything she’d heard about Vestals, but she couldn’t deny how much he called to her.
“I know what true love is,” he repeated, breaking the silence between them.
His mouth came down hard against her own, as if to prove himself. Her head spun as she tried to catch up to what the hell just happened.
They had been talking about true love, and now suddenly she was getting a confession. Or a sort of confession.
She couldn’t think with his mouth on hers. Nothing was really making sense. The only thing that she knew was how right they were together.
His body pressed hard against her as he backed her up to the wall. Courtney ran her hands through his hair and down along her shoulders, feeling the powerful muscles there.
Marcus: #5 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) Page 5
