by Katee Robert
“Why are you asking me about babies?”
I’m not ready to answer that question. Deciding that I want to keep Aurora and actually managing to do it are two very different things. There are so many elements that must line up for any relationship to work, and we’re already starting at a disadvantage. I know this woman’s kinks inside and out, I know what turns her on and what gets her off. I know that she’s a fierce friend who burns a little too brightly compared to those around her. But beyond that? Even with the little pieces of information she’s allowed to slip through over the last couple days, so much of her is a mystery to me. “Spread your thighs wider.”
She hesitates but finally obeys. I coast my hands over the dip in her waist and up to cup her breasts. I trace her brown nipples and the shiny silver piercings that intersect them with my thumb, enjoying the way she gasps. “Do they still hurt?”
“Sometimes.” She meets my gaze. “I like it.”
“I’m not surprised.” I lean down and take one nipple into my mouth. She bucks under me but manages to keep her hands on the headboard. I take my time, teasing and licking my way over the curve of her right breast to her left. I have a meeting later this morning, but I can’t quite bring myself to rush this.
I lightly rake my nails over her ribs, watching her stomach hollow as she gasps. She’s squirming under my gaze, her hips restless on the mattress. I drag a single finger up the center of her pussy, nearly moaning when I find her soaked, and stop just above her clit. “If you were mine, I’d command you to pierce this, too.”
Her eyes go wide, but I don’t give her a chance to respond. I slide down her body and kiss her pussy. Gods, this woman’s taste. It drives me crazy. I can’t get enough of her, something that would worry me if I hadn’t already decided to find a way to keep her. I dip my tongue into her and then move up to tease her clit.
Aurora makes a keening sound. “I’m close, Mistress.”
I lift my head. “Already?”
She glares at the ceiling, when I know she wants to glare at me. “I’m very horny in the morning, Mistress.”
“Brat,” I murmur. I exhale over her clit, making goose bumps rise in a wave over her skin. “If that’s so, I can always stop and wait for you to spontaneously orgasm from this morning’s horniness.”
She clenches her jaw, and for a moment, I think she might actually agree out of spite. Finally, Aurora shakes her head. “Please keep going.”
“So polite when you want something.”
“Isn’t everyone?”
“No.” I go back to what I was doing. I should wait, should tease this out, but she’s too damn sweet. “You have permission to orgasm.” I want her to come, and I want to be the cause. I want… Fuck, I just want. There are so many sins one could lay at my feet, if I believed in that sort of thing. Lust. Pride. Greed drowns them all. It’s what drove me from Sabine Valley when I could no longer contain my desire to rule. It’s what built me an empire within Carver City, what made me arguably the most powerful territory leader, short of Hades. I don’t know that I’ve ever looked at a person and had that same greed flicker to life, the all-consuming urge to possess them in every way possible.
Not until Aurora.
Her whole body goes tense as pleasure takes her, pleasure that I’ve dealt. I draw wave after wave out of her, teasing her to new heights, until she collapses back to the mattress, a fine sheen of sweat coating her skin.
I lick my lips and sit up. Yes, I could get used to a sated and spent Aurora in my bed. It’s just as pleasing a sight as the warm and cuddly version I received upon waking.
She blinks up at me. “Malone?”
“Yes?”
Gods, the way she looks at me when she forgets herself. As if she wants to taste every part of me, as if she wants me exactly as much as I want her. She’s too drunk on lust to keep her impressive walls in place, and I luxuriate in the knowledge that I’m the one who got her there.
Finally, Aurora says, “I would very much like you to sit on my face. Right now.”
I don’t point out that she’s edging far too close to a command. Not when I want this as much as she apparently does. Not when her wanting it makes it that much hotter. Instead, I climb up her body and carefully arrange myself astride her face. The grin she gives me feels like a kick in the ribs. And then there’s no more space for thinking because she grips my hips and lifts her head to lick my pussy.
I brace my hands on the wall and stare down my body at her. She’s got her eyes closed, as lost in this moment as I’m in danger of being. Gods, it feels good. She explores me with her mouth, intent on devouring every bit of the desire spawned from when I tasted her.
Belatedly, I realize that I’ve relinquished control. I start to lean back, to say something to bring the situation to heel again, but Aurora sucks hard on my clit, and a moan springs free from my lips. I rock against her mouth, enjoying the slick slide of her tongue, the pleasure coursing through me.
She skates her hands up my sides and cups my breasts, her clever fingers toying with my nipples. And then the little asshole bites me. Not hard enough to do damage; no, she sets her teeth against the spot right over my clit just hard enough to send a spike of pain, quickly followed by the pleasure of her tongue. It surprises me so much, I orgasm on the spot. I grind down on her mouth, moaning and cursing, until the last wave crests.
Only then do I slump to the side and stretch out next to her. “That was a nasty little move.”
Aurora swipes her thumb over her bottom lip, making a show of gathering up the evidence of my orgasm, and sucks it clean. “I didn’t hear you complaining.”
I kiss her. There’s no artifice behind it, no ulterior motive. I just want to kiss that bratty mouth, and so I do. She meets me in the middle, half pulling me back on top of her. And then there’s no more time for thinking. We’re off again, my hand dipping between her thighs, her hand cupping my pussy and pushing two fingers into me. It’s messy and rushed and damn near a frenzy as we kiss and stroke each other toward the peak again. And again. And again.
By the time we surface, my phone is buzzing on the fifth call from someone, and the clock tells me I’m going to be late. Fuck.
“I have to go.” I press my forehead to Aurora’s.
“Are you sure you have to go?” She kisses my neck and skates her hands down either side of my spine, urging me to keep rocking against her. “Doesn’t this feel good?”
“You’re nothing but trouble.” I kiss her and disengage before I can reconsider. As good as this fucking has been, it’s too easy to forget that I’m trying to scale her walls and simply revel in the pleasure of it all. I can’t shake the feeling that she’s well aware of that, too. That maybe she’s using it as a distraction to keep me at a distance.
That won’t do. It won’t do at all.
“Stay there.” I stalk out of the bedroom and down the hall to the playroom. It takes ten seconds to find the toy I’m looking for and return to find Aurora exactly where I left her. I toss it onto the mattress next to her. “Six times.”
She blinks. “What?”
“Use that to make yourself come six times after I leave. After every one, you will say, ‘Thank you, Mistress,’ before you begin again.”
She props herself up on her elbows and eyes the vibrator. It’s a relatively new piece of technology designed by a genius of a woman to deliver blended orgasms. I’ve used it on myself, but never with a partner. Not until now. Aurora makes a show of frowning. “What’s to stop me from lying?”
I toss her phone, which I had pocketed, next to her. “You’ll record it. I’ve already put my number into your phone.”
“If you wanted a sex tape, you could have just asked.”
I allow myself a smile. “No, Aurora. I don’t want a video of your pussy as you come. I want one of your face.” I watch the understanding dawn in her expression as she realizes the vulnerability I’m demanding of her. It’s one thing to orgasm with another person—or several—in
the heat of the moment. It’s entirely another to do it alone with the knowledge that it will be viewed later. I point at the phone. “Six orgasms, six videos. Text each to me as you finish.”
She presses her lips together. “And if I don’t?”
I shrug, because I knew this was coming. Aurora wouldn’t be Aurora if she didn’t push back with every step forward we make. “Then you won’t orgasm for the remainder of this assignation. It’s your choice.” I turn and walk away, allowing myself a smile as her curses follow me into the bathroom.
Some days, it’s good to be queen.
18
Aurora
As soon as Malone leaves the room to go to work, I flop down on the bed and curse hard. I am a fucking failure. Not only did I not take advantage of the opportunity being in Malone’s bed offered, but I woke up humping her like a horny teenager. Worse, for those few hours with her mouth on my skin and my hands on her body, I forgot I hated her at all. There was no room for anything but sheer need.
“What the hell am I doing?” I pick up the phone and stare at it. I already know I’m going to obey her command. No matter what questions I asked, there was never a drop of doubt that I’d be recording myself orgasming and sending the videos to her.
Maybe that’s why I start dialing. I’ve been here less than a week, and I’ve already lost sight of the ultimate goal. I need the reminder, the slap in the face to get my head on straight. There’s only one person capable of doing it, only one I’ve trusted enough to tell the full truth.
I call Allecto.
Despite the relatively early hour, she answers quickly. “Do you need out?”
Guilt swarms. Of course she would assume that’s why I’m calling—that I’ve killed Malone and need an escape. “No, I’m fine.”
Allecto blows out a long breath. “You are hell on my blood pressure, you know that?”
“I’m sorry.” And I am. I never really thought I’d end up with a family of sorts in the Underworld, but that’s exactly what’s happened. Their presence in my life doesn’t negate what I lost, but I can’t deny that they have enriched my life and given me more love than I thought possible. Allecto will always be there when I need her, and as much as I need her right now, I really don’t relish the coming “I told you so” she’ll no doubt deliver. “I, uh, need some advice.”
“End the assignation early and come back to the Underworld today. There, see how easy that was?”
Against all reason, I laugh. “Shouldn’t you wait to hear the situation before you start offering advice?”
“No, because I know you. This ends one of two ways. Either you kill her and have to leave the city to avoid her people strapping you to a pyre and setting you on fire, or you can’t go through with it and you end up mired in misplaced guilt and bullshit self-loathing.” She softens her tone. “I know you’re grieving your mother, but this isn’t the way to do it, Aurora.”
I close my eyes. It would be so much easier if the only reason I was calling was to request an exit. She’s right; it’s the smartest course of action. But I’ve never been smart when it comes to Malone, and I only seem to get more foolish as time goes on. “I can handle this.”
“Is that why you’re on the phone with me right now? Because you’re handling it so well?
I glare at the ceiling. “She deserves to die.”
Allecto makes the jump with me without hesitation. “We’ve all done shit that could be argued we deserve to die for. You know my past isn’t free of sins. No one in the Underworld is—including you.”
“It was one tiny fire.”
“Aurora, the only reason that asshole isn’t dead is because his brother hauled him out a window. He still suffered two broken legs from the fall.”
I can’t help my satisfied smile. “Maybe he shouldn’t have fucked with Tink, then.” Not that she knew what I’d done. No one but Allecto did, and only because I needed her security clearance to get the relevant information on the man who’d tried to rough up Tink in one of the private rooms. He hadn’t gotten far before security stepped in, but Hades chose not to do anything beyond banish him from the neutral territory. That wasn’t enough of a punishment for me.
“My point,” Allecto continues, “is that Malone was perfectly within her rights as challenger to do what she did. It doesn’t make it less shitty, and it doesn’t make you less hurt by it, but no one in that territory sees things the way you do.”
“We’ve gone over this before.” My voice catches. “My mother is dead because of her.”
“Yes. And I’m sorry for that, but it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense to throw away your life for something that happened twenty years ago.” She pauses. “I know it doesn’t feel like twenty years ago, not with what happened last week, but that just confirms that you need to be here, with your people, not off on a reckless path of revenge.”
“If I wanted a lecture, I would have called Hades.”
“Great idea. Let’s loop Hades into this.” Her tone goes dangerous. “Hades who does not know about the decision you made regarding your mother.”
Guilt flares. “If he knew, he would have said no.”
“Yeah, he would have.” She huffs out a breath. “What happened? Obviously, something changed, or you wouldn’t be calling me right now.”
Now that I have her on the phone, I’m not sure I can verbalize it. It feels like too much a betrayal to my mother. I swallow hard. ”She’s not what I expected.”
“Considering you expected her to be a fire-breathing dragon, I’m not surprised.”
“I’ve read her file.”
“We all have. Stop stalling, and spit it out.”
“She’s just so human at times; not like a monster at all. It’s messing with my head.”
Allecto’s silent for a long time. Long enough that I have to bite my bottom lip to keep myself from babbling. Finally, she says, “It almost sounds as if you like her.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“That’s not a no.”
“It’s also not a yes.”
She waits a beat. “That isn’t a no, either.”
I drag my hand over my face. “Liking her would be unforgivable. You know that. After everything she did, I need to hate her. I do hate her. She took everything from me, and she deserves to see consequences because of that.”
“Are you trying to convince me…or yourself?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Aurora, you’re human. So is Malone. Is it really that surprising that she’s got nuance and that there might be stuff about her that you actually like?”
“Weren’t you ready to take her out so I wouldn’t have to?”
“Yeah,” she answers easily. “But that was to protect you, not because she’s a monster.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Yours. Obviously.” She sighs. “But cut yourself a break. No matter what your history, you’ve been drawn to Malone from the start. It’s not exactly surprising that there might be something more there.”
“There is not anything more there.” Even as I say it, I feel like a liar.
Another of those sighs, like I’ve disappointed her. “If you can’t kill her and aren’t going to change your mind, you might as well call off the assignation now. Hades will be overjoyed. He’s been stalking around here, looking half a breath from ripping people’s heads off. Everyone’s so scared of him, they’re on their best behavior, and it’s making my job too easy. You know how I hate being bored.”
She’s right. I know she’s right. If I can’t follow through on my plan, I need to get the hell out of here. I have no reason to stay without that driving me. And yet… “I’ll stay through the end.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Don’t you dare make that sound at me, Allecto.”
“Mmhmm.” She snorts. “Tell her that if she mistreats you, I’ll gut her myself, golden queen or no. But as long as she’s on the same page, I look forward to an invite to the wedding.”
“You are such an a
sshole.”
“Just because I’m an asshole doesn’t mean I’m wrong, and you know it.”
Except she is wrong this time. Ribbing me or no, there is no version of Malone and my relationship that ends in happily ever after. Even if I can get past what she did to my mother, the hurdles to surmount are impossibly high. Better to just end things now. I close my eyes and try to steel myself to do exactly that. There is absolutely no reason for me to ride out this assignation. Not a single one that makes sense.
I still can’t bring myself to make that call. Not yet.
“Aurora.” Her tone has changed, some of the amusement falling away. “Do you need me to make the call and get you out?”
A small, cowardly part of me that I’ve worked so hard to exorcise wants to beg her to do exactly that. If someone else makes the call, then I’m not responsible for how things fall out. I don’t have to figure out my confusing feelings for Malone. I can just run. Allecto won’t hold it against me, either. She’s got no problem wading into a situation and hauling her people out, regardless of wrong or right. She just does what she feels is necessary.
I clear my throat. “No. I have it under control.”
“You sure as hell don’t.” She sighs. “I’m trusting you to call if you need me.”
“I will. I swear I will.” I even mean it. Except… Some things you have to do on your own. This is one of those things for me. If I can’t follow through on my original intention—and I’m still not sure if that’s true—then I need to get myself out of this mess with my own willpower and strength. Allecto would call me seven kinds of a fool for feeling that way instead of using the plentiful resources I have at hand with my friends, but Allecto has already fought all her personal demons and won.
I glance at the clock by the bedside. “I have to go.”
“Stay safe.”
“You, too.” I hang up and flop back onto the bed. What a mess. I don’t know if I really thought calling Allecto would result in the heavens opening up and the answers falling into my lap, but obviously that didn’t happen. No way forward but through this.
