Dark Demise: Wings of Artemis, Book Seven

by Royce, Rebecca

  “Hi.” He leaned back in the seat, so I adjust how I put my weight on him. Then, a bout of playfulness hit me. Maybe it was the almost dying thing. But I didn’t want to just coast through my life anymore. I wanted to… experience it.

  I slid to the front of his chair and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. He cocked his head to the side, surprise coating his features, and his hands went to my hips, holding me there.

  I grinned at him. He couldn’t see it and that was fine. Canyon somehow knew how I was feeling despite his lack of vision when it came to me. I loved him. He came through in impossible moments, and his heart was huge.

  “Hi, back.”

  Canyon stroked my hair, running his fingers through it. “Waverly, are you bored?”

  “Little bit.” I kissed his chin. “If this is bothering you, I can go figure something else to do.”

  He gave me the smallest smile. “I haven’t seen you like this before. You don’t usually initiate affection. I like the change. It tells me you are trusting me.” He kissed my mouth. Again, for not being able to see, Canyon never stumbled. Everything was always precise.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he stopped kissing me. Anxiety made me catch my breath. “Did I do something wrong?”

  I could disconnect and assume I was off, or I could ask. I hadn’t survived my ordeal to go back into the same bad habits. If I was bothering him, or he didn’t want to do this right now, I’d leave him be. Canyon didn’t have to make out with me just because I was in the mood.

  He touched the side of my face. “No. Never. I… I wanted you to know something. I have no experience, sexually, except that which I had inside the US Machine that Evander used. It was essentially a chemical experience that would put us off having sexual urges. We’d go in every few months, they’d give us some erotic vision, and when we came out we were uninterested until the next time. They chemically injected us to be disinterested in sex. I withdrew from the chemicals years ago, and my interest is on you, completely. I just have no actual experience to draw from.”

  The more I heard about Evander, the more I wanted to eradicate them. “What did they show in the machine? Was it the same for everyone or unique?”

  He looked down. “It’s unique. Most people see the same girl again and again. Or boy, as the case may be. I can’t see faces so the machine couldn’t decide who I would like. It got into my head, and I could actually see faces for the first time since I was two. That should have been a beautiful thing. Only, they kept changing the look on me each time, and honestly, after a while, I just found it stressful.”

  That sounded awful. I hugged him tightly. “I don’t know what I’m doing either. I’ve never had sex, well not technically.” I’d had a sexual encounter with Ari but not actual penetration. “If you don’t want to…”

  His breath hitched. “Waverly, I want to. I just don’t want to be disappointing.”

  “Maybe it’ll be me that’s disappointing.”

  He shook his head. “It’s hard for me, sometimes. When there are a lot of people around me, I can get overwhelmed by it. Light starts to blend into light. My eyes were designed to make me a wonderful sniper. Zoom in on the target’s light, and boom, he’s gone. Sometimes I try to just listen to voices. I still think I miss things. Like someone will say something and I think… the other person must have made a face I couldn’t see.”

  My heart clenched. “I’m sorry. If I’ve done that.”

  He shrugged. “Fact of life, everyone does it. You make me feel like I’m present. When I’m with you, I’m not lost. I want to be here. Not reading a computer screen. I want to be with you in every way possible.”

  “I don’t have any expectations. I think we could probably muddle through this together and get more… proficient at it with time.”

  His smile was broad this time. “Okay.”

  I kissed him again, and he didn’t stop me. Canyon caught up fast, and soon I was keeping up with him. His tongue slipped through my lips and found my own. We didn’t need air, we breathed in each other. He tasted sweet and male. The scent of his soap surrounded me. I held on to the back of his neck, eventually moving my hands to stroke his head. He must have to shave it off constantly.

  His body hardened, and I moved closer on his lap until I could rub against the bulge in his pants. He made a sound—part moan, part sigh—when I did it, and then we were both out of the chair, across the room, and on the bed.

  Canyon’s gaze was hard. He couldn’t see perfectly, but he could certainly express himself with his eyes. Right now, what I saw was pure heat.

  “You want this, yes? I need you to say it straight out. I can’t always read subtlety. Hard to hear it. So if it’s no, that’s fine, say no.”

  He was worried he’d missed some indication. Now that I knew he had these fears, I would do everything to alleviate them. “I want this. I don’t really know what I’m doing any more than you do, but I want it.”

  His mouth met mine again. This time, with his body over mine in the bed, all I had to do was hold on to his body and let his warmth flow through me. I closed my eyes. With every kiss, his hips pressed against me and then released. I could feel him growing harder by the minute. I opened my eyes. My imagination wasn’t nearly good enough. I wanted to see this beautiful man, I wanted to feel him every way I could.

  I stroked him on the outside of his pants, and he moaned, a long, hot sound. He grabbed at my shirt, pulling it with a large yank off my body. His hand moved over my breasts, feeling the bra before traveling upward where he gently touched my face. I blinked. What was he doing? It dawned on me. He was memorizing my face, my body. He was learning it with his hands.

  “I love the slope of your nose.” His voice was low. “I’ve felt it here and there. When I carried you from the ship to the medical ship, I touched your face with my gloves on. It wasn’t the same. I was terrified your light would go out, and I wouldn’t know from memory yet how your face felt.”

  I grabbed the side of his face. “Canyon, you were there for me twice when you should have been physically unable to be. How do you do that?”

  “I… I don’t know, Waverly. But I am just glad that I’ve been able to pull it off.”

  He kissed me hard, his hand skimming the outside of my bra until he found the latch, which he quickly undid. My bra opened up, and I pushed the straps away before I chucked the bra somewhere. He touched my breast almost reverently. He closed his eyes. Canyon did that when something was too much.

  I grabbed his wrist. “Are you okay?”

  “So fucking good.” He dropped his head and sucked my nipple. My whole body came alive, buzzing with excitement.

  My back arched off the bed. Canyon changed breasts, doing the same with the other, and by the time he stopped, I was on fire. I pulled at his shirt, and then with his help, I managed to get his shirt off. He had a spray of dark brown hair on his chest. I ran my hand through it, brushing my fingertips over his nipples when I did. He breathed hard.

  Canyon was built like statues we had on Sandler One. I didn’t get out much, but occasionally, some nanny or another would take me to an art museum. Canyon was made from stone. I ran my fingers around his abs, tracing their definition. He jumped under my fingers.

  “Now that I’ve had this, how will I ever do without it?” he asked me.

  I sat back on my elbows. “Why would you ever have to do without?”

  “Nature of my life,” he said before kissing me again, causing my head to spin.

  We undressed each other, taking off clothing with lots of oomphs followed by laughter. Everywhere I uncovered, Canyon stopped to feel me. It should have made me nervous, only that didn’t happen. I loved this man. We’d been born on two different sides of the galaxy and somehow found each other. How had that happened? He’d been born to work for Evander, and I was a Sandler daughter. What were we both doing on The Farm together?

  Those were questions for another time. Canyon slid down the bed until he faced me
between my legs. “I want to taste you.”

  The metal glint in his eyes glowed for a second. I sucked in a long breath. “Um. Okay.”

  “Don’t me nervous. Your heart kicked up just a bit. I am going to make you come.”

  For a man who had never done this before, he certainly knew how to say the right things. “By all means.”

  His smile was pure male satisfaction. “Thank you for that.”

  I’d never imagined this scenario happening in my whole life. I didn’t know what to anticipate except that when he moved toward me to place his mouth in there I got nervous. What if he didn’t like it? What if I…

  All thought fled. I closed my eyes. His tongue found my clit. Whatever he thought about not knowing what he was doing, my partially blind Super Soldier guy seemed to be an instant expert. It took him a moment to find his rhythm, and then I was moaning. I clutched the bed. My body screamed for release, knowing what was coming.

  He stopped abruptly. I gripped the bed, practically panting.

  “Waverly.” His voice sounded gruff. “I am so turned on right now I am afraid I am going to… embarrass myself. I need to be in you… I want you to come. I don’t want to…”

  I interrupted him. “Come inside of me. Please. I want that, too.”

  Canyon was huge. His cock was so big I wasn’t at all convinced we were going to get it inside of me at all. I wasn’t going to tell him that. We’d just have to figure it out.

  I wanted to touch him there, but Canyon moved so fast I didn’t have the chance. He fit himself on my edge and then slowly pushed inside of me. My muscles stretched to accommodate him, and I was glad he had the self-control to let me breathe as he moved.

  Somewhere in the middle of it the surrealness of this moment hit me. Canyon was inside of me. We were as close as two people could ever be.

  I lifted my head. “Kiss me. Please.”

  His lips touched my own while his body finished filling me. He pulled out, his lips not leaving my own. With every movement, he caressed me with his lips at the same time. Over and over. I loved this man.

  I raised my hips to meet his thrusts; and much as I suspected I would be sore tomorrow, I didn’t care. I craved all of it. This was everything.

  Pleasure shot through me, stealing my breath. I wanted release, and yet, I didn’t. Maybe this moment could last forever. Canyon reached between us, finding my clit and pinching it. My body exploded around him. I cried out his name. Colors passed over my eyes, bursts of light. I held onto him, listening while he spoke my name, a prayer against my lips, and emptied himself inside of me.

  I held this man, both of us trembling, and knew I’d never be the same. Like Canyon, I was certain I’d seen the colors of the universe.

  I lay across his chest, his eyes half-lidded. I was pretty sure if I just left Canyon alone, he’d take a nap. But I was wide awake. I wanted to talk and couldn’t seem to settle myself down.

  “Why do you shave your head?”

  He stretched his arms over the pillow. “Because I can’t see my hair. I don’t want it to be uneven. It grows at varying rates. People don’t take me seriously if I look disheveled.”

  Canyon had a pretty good answer. I smiled against his chest so he could feel it. “What do you mean you can hear machines?”

  “Just that.” He yawned. “When they screwed with my DNA, they made me able to hear technology. The side effect they didn’t expect is that sometimes I can control it.”

  I pointed at the light above our heads. “You can hear that? I mean other than the wheezing or whining that can happen when it needs to be replaced. You can hear it?”

  “Hard to explain. It’s not alive. It doesn’t say, hey, Canyon, how’s your day? It says, on. Or it says, off. I understand that’s what it can do. And if I’m angry or I don’t want a light on, I can affect change on it.” The light turned off, and the action bathed us in the late afternoon sun. “I could break it if I wanted to, but I’m happy and relaxed.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever understand.”

  He yawned. That was twice for Canyon. I needed to let him sleep. “The best I can explain it is when they were testing us as children, they identified certain things about us. I was seen to be… difficult… but bright. They didn’t want to put me down.”

  I shuddered. My good mood fled the room. “Thank the universe.”

  He rolled his hand over my back, kneading the muscles. “I was seen to be defiant. They weren’t at all certain I’d take to the training. I might object to the killing. I read all of this when I got through blockages meant to keep me out of my own files. A good way to undo my resistance was to dehumanize humans. That’s the best way to put it. They were nothing but light. I just had to turn off the light.”

  The fact he’d just turned off the light wasn’t lost on me, and I was sure he’d done it on purpose. “I guess that makes a certain amount of sense.”

  “All it did was make me fascinated with that light. Defiant to the end, I suppose. I should have resisted earlier. It’s hard to know why I didn’t. My whole life was Evander. My friends. I kept trying to just be okay. That was my life. The only one I’d be given. My purpose was to serve Evander.” He sighed. “I got out, and here you are. I wish I’d known earlier.”

  I rolled off his chest and tucked myself against his side. “I love you.”

  He kissed the top of my nose. “I love you, too. You’re not tired. You won’t sleep, at least not long. Go see Ari in the Med Bay and have your checkup for the day. When Ro hears my heartbeat change to sleep, he’ll cue back in on yours. We’re trying to give each other some privacy that way. You’ll be safe because he’ll listen.”

  Canyon had just made love to me, and now he was directing me in what I should do while he slept. I supposed I could feel chafed by his interference, only I didn’t. I loved it. He cared where I went and what happened to me.

  I kissed his shoulder. “How did you know how to do that to my body?”

  He was quiet, and I wondered if he’d fallen asleep. “I read about it. A lot. I’m glad I was able to… put some of my research into use. I have other ideas for next time.”

  He did? What did he mean? Canyon snuggled down into the pillow and closed his eyes. I watched him settle into sleep. There were a million more questions to ask him about everything I’d only touched on. But for now, I was going to leave him to rest.

  And do just as he’d told me to do because I had a feeling that if I didn’t, he’d wake up and come see why I hadn’t. This was a man who had resisted the pull of time travel sleep for me.

  I grinned. I’d just made love with him. What an absolutely beautiful day.

  It was freezing outside, and I pulled my coat around me tighter. How had I forgotten it was winter? Well, because I had been warm and safe inside the Time Travel facility and not thinking about the outside world. Above my head, a shuttle fired at one of our bomb drones. That was probably Rohan’s invention.

  He’d been in charge of blowing things up when they rescued me from the space station where I was going to be sold on an auction block.

  The shuttle fired again and again. A strong hand pulled me, and I gasped. It was Rohan. His grasp didn’t hurt, but he was serious about moving me along. I did as he wanted, and soon we were inside.

  “Don’t stand out there, Wavey, and watch, okay? There could be debris. We’re safe inside. Minimize your time exposed.”

  I nodded. “Pretty stupid of me. I was transfixed.”

  He shrugged. “It’s quite a sight. Go straight to Ari.” He moved like he was going back outside.

  “Hold on.” I tugged on his arm. “I thought we weren’t supposed to be outside.”

  “That’s the rule for you.” He looked so genuinely confused I almost laughed. “Not me. I’ll be fine. I need to see the fire rate. I can move very fast. Debris won’t hit me.”

  I really didn’t have anything to say to that. I watched him go back outside to the fighting. Why was my father sending shuttles
here when he knew we were simply shooting them out of the sky? I sighed. Stares made my spine stiffen, and I turned around. A large number of people seemed to have stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

  With my hands on my hips, I stared right back at them. “Okay, I survived a terrible ordeal. Keep staring if you want to. I’m happy to be on display since it’s not like we’re under attack and there was nothing else you could do with yourself.”

  A woman ran up to me. “Is it true you’re with two Super Soldiers, Jackson, and Ari? What are they all like?”

  Was that why I’d garnered so much attention? I shook my head. I wasn’t going to do this. Everything about my developing relationship with my guys was private. Maybe I’d talk to Paloma or Diana, but not random women who wouldn’t have nice things to say behind my back anyway.

  In the distance, I saw Wade’s sister. He’d told me once that he came to help here after their parents had been killed. She was a teenager, and Wade was raising her and his brother like they were his kids and not his siblings.

  She had brown hair and big brown eyes. I’m not sure what made me walk toward her, but she seemed as alone as I felt in that moment.

  “It’s Madi, right?” I guessed her to be about sixteen years old.

  She nodded. “You’re Waverly.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re okay.”

  That seemed a strange thing to say. She looked down at the floor. “Sorry, I have to go. Be careful, okay?”

  “Okay. You, too.”

  I watched her run down the hall toward the schooling area. There was something off about Wade’s sister. Dark circles marred the skin under her eyes. She was either sick, allergic, or not sleeping. I supposed I should tell Wade, but I didn’t want to. I hadn’t seen much of him since I’d woken up in the med machine after being attacked, still in pain.

  If given a choice, I’d work with just about any other doctor. He stared too long, and I hadn’t liked how he’d reacted to Rohan. None of this mattered right now.