by Emma Dawn
Because lying there with him, waking up at his side, had sparked a dangerous current of want and need in me that both terrified and horrified me. How could I possibly think about sleeping with Jessop when I’d only been with Mars a short time before? Yet, I knew that he was as meant for me as Mars had been.
As Kessler would have been had he survived.
Jessop’s hands cupped my face gently and he kissed me as carefully as if I were made of china. “I am struggling to find the right words, Rose. But . . . I agree with Mars. We know going into this flight to the Chalice, we will likely die. Or you will die. That is the only way this journey ends. We’ve only seen one other person to the end. The rest have died in the first challenge, giving up before they ever truly gave themselves a chance to live again. If my death secures your life, I will gladly give it. You are a fighter, and that strength will carry you to the end.” He kissed me again and I pulled back.
“No, I don’t want that,” I whispered.
“I could die anyway.” He lay on his back and tucked his hands behind his head. “I could die without the taste of your mouth on mine, without the feel of you wrapped around me.”
His words—simple as they were—painted a rather vivid picture. Of riding him while the twinkling lights bobbed and danced above us, as sweat slicked our skin, glowing in the light of the candles. I swallowed hard, my fingers twitching, itching to touch him.
“You don’t know you’re going to die,” I said. “You don’t.”
“One of us has to,” he said softly, reaching for me. “That’s how this works.”
I gasped and slapped his hand away. “Wait. What? Explain that last bit to me.”
“That’s how it works.” He sat up, leaning on his side on his elbows which meant the lights only highlighted the lines of his abs and lean hips, including that line that ran across his hips right to his cock which was visible. I jerked my eyes back to his face. Which was grinning at me.
I blushed. “Look, you explain yourself, right now. What do you mean that’s how it works?”
He squinted one eye. “The road to the Chalice demands blood. It is the way, we have always known that. Which means in each challenge there has to be a death before the challenge can be considered over and you or I can move on.”
My heart dropped. “You mean every single one of you has to die for me to make it home?” Then what was the point of this stupid journey then? Vincent said they would die a terrible death if they didn’t help me get to the Chalice. And now I found they would die getting me there?
“Yes, but it has to be willingly on our parts.” He frowned. “Don’t take Ivan with you until the very end. Right now, he doesn’t want to feel anything for you, Rose. He wants to keep his men alive. That was his life before—protecting his pack. That truth has not changed. Perhaps if he feels you are a part of his pack, then he will protect you as he should. But that will take time.”
I bit my lower lip and covered my face with my hands as sobs rippled through me. God, I was a mess. I was never an emotional kind of girl when I was alive. But apparently being dead was entirely different. I was a fucking mess of a crier now, my emotions being pushed in every direction to the extreme.
Jessop’s arms went around me. “Please, please, know that it is a choice. That if it means you get a second chance at life, at living, that I would give you my life for that. Whatever comes, I am willing, Rose. You are special. Kessler and Mars saw that too. From the minute you walked into Vincent’s office and sassed him, we all knew you were special.”
I shook my head and tried to push him away. “No, you can’t just die for me. You don’t even know me. You can’t care for me enough to—”
“Mars was—and is—right. We only have today. What I see in you is strength and determination and intelligence and kindness, concern for others. Rose, you are trying to save me even now by pushing me away.” He carefully pulled my hands from my face so he could see me. “Rose, please don’t push me away. I am going to leave you, but let me leave with the heat of your body still on my skin. With a piece of me living on in your heart.”
I slid my arms around his neck, still crying. Because I wanted him, but maybe needed was a better word for what coursed through me. Jessop matched a part of my soul I wouldn’t have thought possible—just like Mars, just like Kessler. Ridiculous, stupid, childish, those words rocketed through me. Impossible. Yet it was true what he said, there was a strange connection between us.
“I believe we are all meant to be with someone,” he whispered as he moved over top of me. “I believe that someone will light a fire in our souls, in our hearts, that we can’t explain and that it is possible for that understanding to happen in a matter of hours, minutes, even seconds. You are that person to me, Rose. I knew the moment I saw you laughing in Ivan’s face that your heart—at least part of it—was meant for me. To have even a small part of you, I would share you with whoever else your heart takes you to.”
“Jessop, I don’t want you to die,” I whispered. “I can’t bear to lose you too.”
“Then find a way to bring me back.” He stared down at me and seemed as stunned as me that he’d spoken those words. A shiver of hope and disbelief rocked through me.
“Is it possible?” Kessler had said almost the same thing. To save him.
He shook his head ever so slightly. “I don’t know. I don’t know why I even said that.”
I stared hard at him, holding his shoulders as my breath caught in my throat. “If it’s possible, I’ll find a way. A way to bring you and Mars and Kessler back.”
He bent his head and pressed his lips to my forehead. “If anyone can, it’s you, sweetheart. I’ve never met anyone with a heart of a lion before. I’ve heard of them, but never met one. You are her. My lioness.”
His words sent shivers through my body and I realized that might have something to do with the way his hands caressed my arms and sides as they traveled down to my knees and then back up over my hips. No erogenous zones, and yet, I was shivering with want, with the delicious feeling of his fingertips coursing over my skin. My tears had dried under the heat of a determination that was filling me. I would find a way to bring them back. All of them.
No matter the cost.
Chapter Ten
I’ve Gotta Say, This Almost Makes Up for the Crabs
Jessop’s hands traced their way over my body, again and again, almost like a massage that soothed away the aches and pains, that eased the hurt in my heart. With my eyes closed, I could imagine we weren’t twenty feet away from pony-sized crabs that wanted to take a piece out of the two of us. Then again, maybe that bit of danger helped me to see things more clearly.
His lips parted as he stared down at me. “You are amazing, Rose. I see the determination in your eyes already.”
“I’m a determined kind of girl. I’ve yet to fail completely. I didn’t even manage to die right.” I winked up at him and he barked a laugh, the sound echoing around us.
“You sure you’re up to this?” He was on his knees, and his cock was obviously up for the task.
“So, gentlemanly to ask first.”
He frowned. “Have you not always been asked?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ve had to fight off a few pervs in my day. But I don’t want to talk about that right now. That was then, this is now.”
“Later.” He nodded as he took my hand and then put a hand on my hip. Before I knew what was happening he flipped me over on my belly. A giggle escaped me. Like it was my first time.
“What’s so funny?” He let his hands trace the curves of my ass.
“I don’t know. I guess I just expected that if anyone wanted to do it doggy style, it would be Ivan.” I looked over my shoulder at him, my hair partially obscuring my view. He threw his head back and laughed again.
“God, Rose, you make my heart light. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve laughed like this. Certainly, not twice in the space of an hour.” He leaned forward so his chest w
as against my back, and his cock pressed against the lips of my pussy. “But I think the laughing might be done for a moment.”
“Or two moments.” I gasped as I pushed back against him but he stopped me. He swept my hair off the back of my neck and kissed the nape. Then worked his way down my spine to my ass. He nipped at each cheek making me squirm. But then he slid lower, flipped himself onto his back and grabbed my hips, pulling me down to his mouth.
I clutched the pillow as he spread my legs, lowering my pussy right to him and that luscious mouth of his. “This is what I want, Rose. I want to feel you come in my mouth.”
“Isn’t that my line?” I whispered. And then there were no more words—or at least no more cohesive words—as I struggled to not just press down into his face. His tongue dipped between my folds, flicking the edges and then his teeth tugged gently here and there, making my lips swell. He slid his hand between us and pushed two fingers slowly inside me, as his mouth found my clit. I groaned and fought the trembling in my legs as he sucked and pulled on the bud between my legs, teasing into a swelling, throbbing mess. Even as I thought it, I tried to breathe through the sensation of the orgasm coming for me already, of the growing swell of need.
I fought it because I wanted this to last with him as long as possible. My feelings were so tangled in need and want, but also in desire, not just for his body, but for who he was, to have him beside me. To walk with me in whatever journey I was going to take in life—or death as the case may be.
I struggled not to rock my hips, struggled to hold steady and think about things that would hold off the growing sensation of coming.
“Relax,” he murmured against my inner thigh, and then he bit me. His fangs slid into my skin at the same time he pulsed his fingers in and out of me, as his thumb pressed against my clit and his other hand . . .oh God his other hand crept toward my ass.
I wanted it all. I couldn’t help myself. The way his mouth felt on my inner thigh, the pressure on my clit, the image of those brown eyes soft with longing and desire . . .I cried out. I don’t think it was even a word as I began to pant. My breath came in gasps as the wave of pleasure built, but the wave came in small rushes, only to withdraw and slide over me again more intense than the time before.
“Jessop, please.” I whimpered the words because I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for, what I needed. Only that I needed him to take me there, that he was the one who would help me climb that peak. If he stopped right then, I was sure my heart would stop with him.
He pressed harder against my clit and drove his fingers along my inner wall, finding that soft spot that was so hard to make work if you didn’t know what you were doing. Only it was working a little too well in that moment. I couldn’t control my breathing any more than I could control my body. I rocked back and forth with him, distantly knowing that I was making it harder but knowing only that I wanted everything he had to give me.
Pleasure rocketed through me from the bite, as sure as if his hands had suddenly roamed everywhere at once. My nipples tightened, and the wave coming for me this time, I knew it would take me out.
I think I screamed his name as I came, as he drank my blood, and his finger worked magic inside me. I don’t know. I only know he was there, that he held me up like a boat rising and cresting through the wave and then slowly I was coming out of it, my heart rate settling back into something of a normal rate. Pounding still but better.
Jessop lay beside me, a rather smug grin on his face. “Good, huh?”
“Get over here,” I whispered, tugging him on top of me. Missionary, it was going to have to be, I didn’t have the energy to get more creative than that. Jessop smiled and slid his body on top of mine.
He pressed the tip of his cock to my wet, throbbing pussy, and sucked in a sharp breath. “God, you are—”
“I know, soaking wet and that’s your fault.” I gave him a mock slap on the shoulder. “So, you’d best make use of it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave me the mock salute I’d seen him give Ivan. He slid into me, not slowly but with a hard thrust that caught me off guard as it seemed to set off everything he’d already touched. I clung to his shoulders, but I wanted to feel more of him. To know him inside and out. I let my hands drift down his back as he began to move over me and then all my thoughts were scattered on what could only be the growing pressure of another orgasm.
“I don’t think I’m going to survive this, but it’s a good way to go,” I whispered.
He kissed me gently and I kissed him back as he slowed his pace. I could taste myself on his lips, but I didn’t mind. That was my pleasure he’d given me, and I’d gladly taken. He grabbed my hands and lifted them over my head as he shifted his weight, thrusting smoothly and hard into me, bringing another series of groans to my mouth.
I flexed against the sensation of being held down, reveling in it. Because it was Jessop and I knew I was safe. I was here with him, and that was all that mattered.
His eyes found mine as we moved together in a rhythm as old as time, and I found my eyes watering, filling with tears and leaking down the sides of my face into my hair and the pillow.
Concern filtered over his face but before he could ask, I smiled.
“Good tears. Happy tears.”
He kissed them away and I lifted my hips as my pussy convulsed around his cock, a slow, quiet orgasm catching me off guard for the gentleness of it. He groaned and pushed harder, thrusting into me as we climbed a new peak of pleasure together, then willingly leapt off the other side and tumbled down into one another’s arms.
I lay there as he rested against me, breathing hard, our bodies slick with sweat. Relishing that quiet moment of pure and unadulterated completion. Of being together and not thinking for a few moments.
It didn’t last.
A rumble rose below us, reverberating through the trunk of the tree and the mattress we lay on. We both sat up, our eyes meeting in what could only be called alarm. I wanted to sleep after a lovemaking session like that. Or maybe have another go around with him. That I’d take too.
The rumble came again. I got up and padded across the room to the floor on the far side, then smoothed my hand over it to create a little trap door I could open and look out. I cracked it open, frowning at what I saw.
I motioned for Jessop to come closer and we peered through the trap door together. At the base of the tree, thirty feet down, the crabs had returned and they were driving their claws into the base of the tree, causing the rumble.
“They can’t cut it down,” I said. “Can they?”
The tree shook and the twinkling fairy lights dimmed as if they were attached to some electrical plug straight into the big tree. I put a hand on either side of the trap door, thinking. “Can you tell what time of night it is?”
“You mean how close to dawn?” Jessop nodded. “Real close. Maybe an hour away.”
Crap, that was not what I wanted to hear. I pushed to my feet and strode to the table where my clothing still lay in a puddle. “Get dressed, we have to get out of here before they drop us.”
He gave me that cheeky salute again and I stood on the pile of green mush that had been clothes. I smoothed my hands over my body thinking that a wetsuit would be better, maybe one with shark proof mesh woven into it. The material slid up and over my legs and body, clinging to me. My feet, hands and head were the only part of me not covered. I turned around and looked at Jessop. He wore pants and his white shirt.
That was not going to do. I moved to his side and smoothed his clothes out, making a dark blue wetsuit with the same meshing that I had woven within it.
“Clever girl.” He kissed me and then pointed to the roof. “That’s going to be our best way out I think.”
He held his hands out for me to step into, boosting me up so my hands could reach the ceiling above. I pushed it away with ease, but felt the corresponding drop in my energy. I said nothing to Jessop, there was no point. This had to be done. I was going to fight to get him b
ack with me to the other men.
It didn’t matter to me that he thought blood was required for the Chalice to be satisfied. We’d all get there, and then we’d find a way together to make this work. I didn’t know just how that was going to go, but I was going to . . .the world swayed as the tree below took a mighty hit.
Jessop shoved me up through the whole I’d created and then leapt after me. The view of the ocean in the night, of the full moon, of the tree tops, it was all breathtaking. Stunning. I wanted to stay there and breathe it in.
A flicker of firelight caught my eyes out on the water, out past the breakers. Impossible, yet I knew that was the way back to the other three men. I pointed to it. “There. That’s where we have to go.”
He grunted. “Of course, it is.”
We shimmied across the remainder of the roof to where it touched the branches of the tree next to us.
I took a breath and jumped as Jessop shouted for me to wait. Too late, I was midair. I slammed into the tree branch and clung to it like a monkey with my arms and legs wrapped around its thickness. The wind was knocked out of me and I waited a second to get it back. Jessop landed next to me, lightly on his feet. “I can help you make the leap, Rose.”
“Oh.” I felt dumb. I was just trying to hurry us up because. . . behind us came the groan of wood snapping, of a tree that had to be a thousand years old toppling.
I turned and looked over my shoulder.
The giant tree that had been our sanctuary was coming straight for us.
Chapter Eleven
And Jessop Came Tumbling Down
Jessop and I stood there like a pair of idiots staring as the giant tree swung toward us. In truth, we were only immobile for seconds but it felt longer. Mostly because everything happened so fast.
