by Leeah Taylor
Damien’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he took it out, keeping a firm grip on Ollie while unlocking the screen and opening his messages.
Unknown: You meet me at Val Valena 8 o’clock tomorrow night with our brothers, and I’ll leave Sterling unharmed.
Damien scowled and held it up for Lucien and Ollie to read.
“Guess we have a date,” Lucien said.
43
Juliette
Juliette was finally allowed out of the bed only after Riley deemed it okay because sometime between the time Juliette got stabbed and woke up her best friend had become a doctor.
She tilted her head back under the hot stream and tried to forget the ache in her chest. The memories would haunt her for years to come. Damien watching her slip away. Saying goodbye to her in the most intimately painful way. Seeing him break would stick with her forever.
Wait for me, Luv. Words seared into her mind. No doubt that he’d never have found a way to move on and love another. Knowing he would have sought out and challenged death itself to make it back to her.
Juliette turned off the water, grabbed the towel hanging beside the shower, and stepped out. The reflection in the mirror looked like hell. Sleep-deprived, drained, defeated, and still so much work to be done. Like finding a way to stop Ramsey tomorrow night. A fight these brothers would not keep her from.
She pulled the towel away and studied the mangled rose-shaped scar just under her left breast. A constant reminder of mistakes made. Now a faded, jagged red line ran through it. Another reminder of another mistake. She should have used her magic, the residents of Sterling be damned, and stopped Ramsey right there in the middle of Riverfront Square. The grimoire be damned. A knock on the door made her pull the towel back tightly around her.
“Yeah?”
“You hungry?” Damien asked through the door.
“Who’s ordering?”
“Whatever you want, Luv.” She could almost hear his amusement.
If Lucien ordered, they’d end up with bad Thai from that place in the Falls. If Ollie ordered, they’d end up with pizza. If Damien ordered, Juliette got whatever she wanted. Just like old times.
She pulled open the door. “Chinese.”
“Chelsea hates Chinese.”
“Um, whatever I want?”
Damien shrugged. “Oh, I was just pointing it out. I really don’t care.”
She brushed past on her way to the dresser and caught him watching her in the mirror. “Turn around.”
“Luv, really?”
“Yes, really.” He gave her a sweeping appraisal before showing his backside. “No peeking. Now any word on Ollie?”
“I’m sure Riley is taking very good care of him.”
“I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”
Damien laughed. “Your guess is as good as mine. There’s been no screaming reported from Juleps, and Ollie likes screamers, so maybe not.”
Juliette went over to him. “I don’t think Ollie likes screamers so much as they just end up screaming.” Damien turned with a less than amused look. “I mean, your brother is pretty well…”
He pressed a finger against her lips. “Oh my god, just no. Okay? I don’t even want to begin going over all the things wrong with what you were about to say.”
“Like what?” She tilted her head back to look up at him. “The fact that I know how big…”
“Jules,” he warned. “Stop while you’re ahead.”
Juliette giggled. He wasn’t even upset and that just made it all that much more fun. “I think maybe, just a little bit, you’re jealous,” she said, locking her fingers behind his neck. “Hmm?”
“Luv, two of my brothers have seen you. One of them has had you. And you just made me turn around.”
She shrugged. “You’ve kinda seen me.”
“Hmm, not nearly enough.”
She stretched up on her toes, ignoring the ache it created in her chest, and kissed him. “I made you turn around because good things come to those who wait, and we’ve waited a very long time to get here, and I’m not about to let the first time you ever see all of me be when I’m getting dressed.”
“You’re good.”
“I’ve had really good teachers.” She slapped him in the chest. “Now order some food. I’m starving.”
“Bossy.”
“Have to be with you.”
44
Damien
Lucien and Ollie took their girls to Juleps after dinner, but Juliette wanted to stay home, and that suited Damien just fine. He had a surprise for her, and he’d rather have the house to themselves.
Juliette yawned and dragged her feet towards her bed. “How is it possible I’m this exhausted?”
Damien grabbed her by the hand before she could lay down. “I have something to show you.”
“But I’m tired,” she whined, and only she could look so adorable doing it.
Damien smiled. “It’ll only take a moment. I had to ask Chelsea for help. I had to say please and thank you. So please, Luv, just give me a moment.”
“You said please and thank you to Chelsea?” She smirked. “So, you have been up to something.”
He opened the door and took her out onto the terrace. With all the lights off, the moon barely lit up the courtyard. He took a slim, flat remote out of his pocket and pointed down towards the garden.
“Made sure it’s as bright as you.”
With a click, hundreds of white lights lit up the overflowing rainbow of flowers in the four large concrete planters, the walk surrounded by tall, freshly cut topiaries.
He pressed a kiss into her temple. “But you’re more beautiful.”
Damien watched soft light bathe her face. the flowers reflected in her eyes. Hope that I love you was enough bloomed. He tugged her into his chest.
“Who are you, and what have you done with the real Damien?”
“He met a girl that wrecked him in every conceivable way,” he whispered against her lips.
A smirk pulled on the corner of her mouth.
“Wrecked you, hmmm?”
He nodded. “Did a right good job of it too.”
She fell back into his chest. “Now it’s home.”
That was all he needed to hear. If home was where the heart was, then he was holding home in his arms. Right where she belonged. He’d cover Sterling in flower gardens to give her home.
She turned in his arms, looking up at him glassy-eyed, and swallowed hard. “What if tonight is all we get?”
Damien frowned, staring out at the colorful garden, the lights illuminating the courtyard. His lips pressed into a hard line. Death. He would have welcomed it over the misery of the last twenty years. He glowered past the lights, into the deep darkness, and shivered. Their story didn’t end now.
He cupped her face in his hands. “Jules.” His voice hardened, the breath tight in his chest. “I haven’t spent over a century falling in love with you, for tonight to be all we get.” He tucked a few strands of hair out of her face, fingers trembling. “But if tonight is all we have left, Luv, how do you want to spend it?”
He knew how he wanted to spend it if it was all they got. His heart thudded hard against his ribs. The sensation welcome to his usual mellow rate offset by Juliette’s normal racing beat.
A glowing purple galaxy swirled up at him as her fingertips grazed just below the hem of his shirt before lifting it up over his head. She tossed it away. Her fingers trailed across his chest and stopped over his heart, gasping. She traced the black lines of a new to her tattoo. He watched in fascination as her fingertips followed the lines of the scripted letters of the initials, J A M.
“When?” she whispered.
His hand closed over hers and pressed it to the spot above his heart. “Five years ago.”
“You really thought I was dead?”
“I just knew you were beyond my reach.” He hooked a finger under her chin to bring her eyes up to his. “I wanted you etched into me, a reminder
that I’d lost you and when I wanted you back, it was too late.”
It would always be her.
Juliette pressed her lips to the spot. “You’re etched into me too.”
She whispered kisses across his collar bone. A low rumble vibrated in his chest. Fingers explored, slow and teasing, the dips and lines of his abs down to the button of his jeans as her lips tasted his flesh. She leaned into his chest, looking up at him and tracing the outline of his erection through the fabric. He groaned deep, almost a growl.
“You asked how I want to spend tonight?”
Damien slid his fingers under her shirt, grazing over her belly and pulled her close. “Tell me, Luv.”
Juliette pushed up on tiptoes, grazing her lips over his. “I want to spend the night with you.” A smile lit up her face. “In your bed.”
“Shit, done.”
He lifted her, giggling, and she wrapped her legs around his waist then kissed him hard. Cherry sweet was his new favorite flavor.
“Do you know how long I’ve fantasized about having you in my bed?” he asked, walking into the hall.
She snickered. “No doubt you’ve had me in every dirty, delicious way.”
He threw his head back, laughing, as he stepped over the threshold to his bedroom. “You have no idea, Luv.”
I want her in my bed every night. I want to wake up to her every morning.
He lowered her down to the bed and kicked off his shoes. “You just surrendered your bedroom.”
“Did I?”
He crawled up the bed to her and pushed her shirt up to expose her belly. “This bed is yours.” He brushed his lips just below her navel, and she shuddered. “This room is yours,” he whispered over her flesh as he moved up her body.
Juliette sat up, a teasing smile pulled up on the corner of her mouth while she took her shirt off and tossed it off the bed.
“Is this your way of asking me to move in?”
Damien chuckled and sat back on his knees between her legs, fingers working the button of her shorts.
“This is me telling you what’s mine is now also yours.” He pulled them off with a smirk and tossed them to the floor to join her shirt. “But I also don’t plan on letting you escape this bed for a good long time either so…”
Damien’s gaze swept over the curves and contours of her body. He stopped on the marred skin just under her left breast, the flesh mangled into the shape of a crude rose. He leaned forward and touched his lips to the raised skin.
“I’m etched into you,” he echoed her words and kissed the spot, wishing it’d disappear. “I am so sorry, Luv.”
She took his face into her hands and pulled him up to her lips. “I love you is enough, Damien, to begin healing.”
I just want a chance to love and heal you, Luv.
He didn’t deserve for I love you to be enough, but he’d make sure he earned it every day forever. She’d stripped away everything. She left him raw and at her mercy. Unique and rare like a shooting star, Juliette had crashed into his world like a meteorite.
He kissed over her jaw line down her neck, lingering in the spot where her throat pulsed against his tongue. Imagining how decadent she was going to taste. He pressed his lips to the point, coaxing a soft whimper from her, but resisted the urge to mark her flesh despite wanting her in every possible way.
Not yet.
He peppered kisses over her collarbone while her fingers fumbled at the button of his jeans. He grabbed both her wrists in one hand and pushed them above her head.
“Impatient?” He smiled against her lips.
“I think I’ve earned the right to be impatient.”
“What did you tell me earlier?” He thought about it while she glared at him. “Oh yeah, good things come to those who wait. Now behave, or I’ll tie these pretty little wrists to the bedpost.”
She glared harder. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, Luv,” he chuckled. “You have no idea what I’d dare do to you, but if you don’t behave, I’d be happy to oblige.”
Something wicked flashed in her galaxy.
“Promise?”
He pushed her back into the mattress, holding her hands in place, and crushed his lips to hers. Bare chest pressed to his. The feel of her skin like fire, igniting everything it touched with an ever-burning flame. Scorching his usually cooler body.
He slipped his fingers between her legs, already wet and wanting as he pushed one inside of her. She broke the kiss with a moan, trying to wiggle her hands free from his grip. I don’t think so, Luv. He went back to the spot on her neck. Mouthwatering, throat burning to taste her. He drove a second finger inside of her instead, distracting himself with the decadence of her body for a little longer.
“Do it,” she whimpered.
Don’t tempt me.
“Patience, Luv.”
She flexed her hands with a growl. He liked her right where she was. Underneath him, trapped between pleasure and ecstasy, with nowhere to go.
Releasing her wrists, he dipped down to capture a nipple with his mouth. Nipping and licking at it until it pebbled, switching to the other while pressing his thumb to her clit and hooking his fingers inside of her.
I’m going to learn every pleasurable inch of her body.
She sucked in a breath, back arched, and now he could taste her. Fangs dropped, he didn’t give her a moment before sinking them into the flesh just below her nipple. She cried out and tensed as hot, warm blood coated over his tongue. A decadent semi-sweet, like chocolate, tingled over his taste buds with a hint of heat. Hot euphoria exploded in his chest, and he got lost in the taste of her as she unraveled underneath him.
When her moans turned to gasps, he pulled back to meet her galaxy swirling down at him. Full of lust and desire. Drunk on the high of her pleasure.
She nearly growled. “So help me if you don’t get out of those jeans.”
“And if I don’t?”
He was almost ready to test the waters just to rile her up and see that raging purple inferno light up.
I’ll never get enough of her.
When her fingers found the button to his jeans, he let her have her fun. Getting off on watching her. Feverish lust overtook her senses. It was hot and made him achingly harder, loving the feel of her fingers grazing over his skin as she pushed his jeans down. Ready to bury him deep inside her the minute his dick was free. The jeans be damned.
He kicked them off with a chuckle. “So impatient.”
Arms around his neck, she pulled him down, her lips consuming him. She wrapped her legs around his waist. He was inclined to slide his fingers inside of her again for round two of unraveling before giving her what she wanted.
I don’t have that much resolve left.
“You can spend forever teasing—”
He thrust into her hard, stealing the last words as she hissed.
He pressed his lips to her ear, “I will spend forever pleasuring every inch of your body, and you’ll never get rid of me now. Feel too damn good.”
“I never want—”
He caught the words with his mouth, coaxing out a moan as he moved faster. Her body arched up into him with fingers tangled into his hair, pulling him closer. He loved the way her body melded against his. The feel of her wrapped around him. The way her hips met his with every thrust, hungrier than the last.
“God, Damien…” Nails dragged down his back, marring the wolf, his blood tainting the air.
He buried his lips in her neck. Craving to taste her one more time. He wanted to become completely drunk on her. She tilted her head to the side with a silent invitation. Rocking his hips into her, he bit down. She yipped, nails digging into his skin, and his name spilled from her lips as her orgasm wrapped tight. Grabbing hold and dragging him down into her undoing.
He peppered kisses over her face. Delighted in her little gasps with her heart thudding against his chest.
“Ruined, Luv,” he heaved a breath. “Wrecked.”
He didn’t
move. Determined to stay between her legs. Buried as deep as she’d take him all night. If tonight was all they had, he planned on using every second to make up for too much time wasted.
“We can’t die up there tomorrow night, Luv.” He caught her bottom lip and sucked on it. “Only one night to be inside of you isn’t nearly enough. So,” He continued, rocking his hips while she shuddered, “don’t you dare try to die up there.”
“I won’t if you won’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Luv.”
45
Juliette
Juliette stopped just at Ollie’s door. Riley turned a blade over in her hand before sliding into the sheath strapped to her thigh.
“Hey.”
Riley smiled, but it never reached her eyes. “Bring back memories?”
Her friend didn’t leave anywhere without the blade strapped to her somewhere.
“Look,” Juliette started. “If tonight gets dicey, I want you, if you can, to get you and Ollie out of there. Whatever it takes.”
Nobody was dying for her. Riley especially. She’d dragged her into this world, and she would not let it kill her. If Ramsey was half as powerful as Juliette suspected, she didn’t plan on coming down from Val Valena alive, but she’d take him with her if need be.
Riley clenched her fists. “Jules, I love you, but you have to stop trying to save and protect everyone.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“And I love you for that, but,” Riley grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze before she finished, “it’s not just you and me up against the world anymore. You don’t have to face this alone.”
Juliette smirked. “Guess that means you’re sticking around after this is all done?”
“Are you kidding me? Oliver freaking Frost, Juliette. That’s all I’m saying. Oliver freaking Frost.”
“I warned you. One look. One smile. You’d be hooked.”
Riley practically swooned. “God, it’s so much more than his look or smile, Jules.”
“Like I said,” Juliette giggled. “I told you so.”
