Guild of Truth 01 - Silent as the Grave

by Mary K. Norris

  Cali didn’t want to feel sympathy for Collette, but she remembered all too clearly the other pain-filled memories the woman had disclosed to her. “She was damaged long before you came along.”

  Felix’s head tilted.

  “When she was here she kept rambling on about how she was never good enough. How she never measured up to what others wanted.”

  “Her parents,” Felix said with a nod. “They pressured her from a very young age to become a world-class actress. They treated her like a princess until she blew an audition when she was twelve. They were filthy rich and as punishment cut off her trust fund. She spent her whole life trying to get back on their good side.” He shook his head. “I’m not going to pity her. Been there, done that. She had a shitty life, but it was her choice to follow the path she’s on.”

  It was frightening how much of herself Cali found in Collette’s story. If Felix hadn’t been the one to find her first, would she have followed Collette willingly? Was her endless need to prove her independence to her family nothing but a cry for power?

  “I think it’d be better if you took your shirt off.”

  Cali blinked. “What?”

  Felix picked up the rag again and motioned to her body. “I can’t get to the other wounds with that tattered piece of cloth hanging on you.”

  It was stupid to feel embarrassed about taking her shirt off, especially after what had happened yesterday, but Cali still hesitated. The worst was when she couldn’t do it by herself and Felix had to help her. Just having his hands so close to her exposed skin made her heart trip all over itself.

  Her shirt was beyond ruined but at least it had saved the skin underneath. There were a few red spots along her sides, and she sighed in relief when Felix pressed the cool rag to them.

  He inhaled sharply through his nose. The muscles of his torso looked tense. Cali couldn’t stop staring at him. All that bronze skin. She wanted to lick every square inch of it.

  She dropped her gaze out of curiosity. Felix’s erection strained against his jeans. She remembered how large he’d been in her hands, how soft and responsive. Her sex pulsed. She cleared her throat and looked away.

  “How’d she do this?” Felix’s voice was husky. She pretended not to notice.

  “She made some kind of bomb right in the middle of my living room. Bitch probably took out a lot of my belongings too.”

  “We’ll get them back,” he promised as he fingered her bra. “This needs to come off. There’s a burn right on the side of your body.”

  “Is playing doctor the only way you know how to get a woman naked?” she teased him. His eyes flashed.

  She reached to undo the clasp at her back and paused. “Close your eyes.”

  Both his eyebrows rose in amusement. Heat crept up her neck.

  “It’s nothing I haven’t felt before,” he murmured.

  “Eyes. Closed.”

  He gave an over-exaggerated sigh and shut his eyes.

  Cali pulled off her bra and flung it into the closet. What was left of it anyway.

  “Can I look yet?”

  “Not yet.” She drew her arm across her chest.

  Felix continued conversationally. “By the way … ” He held up three fingers and drummed them against his chin. “I do believe I’ve taken the lead with three.”

  She wanted to punch that smirk clean off his face.

  “You know I can feel your glower from here.” He cracked open an eye then shut it. “Yup, definitely felt the glower.”

  “Shut up and open your eyes already.”

  Grinning, he continued his nurse-like duties. He pressed the rag to her side and she clamped her mouth shut at the stinging.

  “Do you want me to get you anything for the pain?”

  “I’m fine. Really.”

  His other hand came up to press against the opposite side of her rib cage to keep her steady. He ran the rag along the small burns, and the fingers resting on her side twitched. His thumb brushed the underside of her breast, causing her to gasp.

  Felix froze.

  His voice was low, throaty as he said, “Sorry,” though his eyes told Cali a different story entirely. His gaze lingered on her chest. He trailed his thumb against her breast purposefully.

  Cali inhaled sharply.

  He watched her, waiting for any kind of negative reaction. Yeah, right. She could do nothing but stare at him, his hand continuing to tease her skin. His fingers brushed against the hand she was using to cover herself and, in an act of pure insanity, she removed it.

  The greens and blues in his eyes churned. His fingers danced along her exposed nipple, light as a feather. Cali shivered, a deep ache starting between her thighs.

  “I could stare at you for hours.” He cupped her breast and squeezed.

  Her lips parted on a sigh. All her aches and pains evaporated.

  He kissed her.

  She could feel all that coiled power within him, but he held back. Most likely he didn’t want to hurt her.

  Screw that.

  Cali leaned into him, sliding her tongue deep into his mouth. She ignored the twinge in her arms as she reached for him. She wanted to feel all that hard, warm skin beneath her hands.

  His chest rumbled beneath her palms and she pressed more fully against him, nearly tipping off the edge of her bed.

  The rag he’d been using against her burns dropped forgotten onto the floor with a wet splat.

  Both his hands grasped her breasts, rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. Pleasure streaked through her, the ache between her legs growing.

  Felix broke far enough away from her mouth to speak four words. “Fuck, I want you.”

  Her arousal spiked, her body shaking with the need to have him inside her.

  She spoke against his lips. “Take me.” She was sick of waiting. She wanted him with such longing it was nearly burning her from the inside out.

  “You’re … ” His tongue stole into her mouth. Retreated. “Hurt.”

  Her hands slid down the hard planes of his body. She followed the trail below his navel and started to undo his pants. “Then be gentle with me.” She planted an open-mouthed kiss right against his heart. It beat wildly under her tongue. He groaned his surrender, his hands making fast work of the button and zipper on her shorts.

  He pulled them and her panties down in one hard swipe.

  Cali pushed off from her bed to straddle his legs, the cool air tickling the sensitive skin between her legs.

  She worked the material of his jeans down. Then his boxers. It was difficult with him sitting, but eventually she cleared enough room to free his cock. It was thick and swollen, the tip glistening. Her heart stuttered. Moisture flooded her sex.

  He was so big.

  The muscles in his neck strained. “Everything. Okay?” he gritted as she palmed his shaft.

  More than okay, she wanted to say, but her brain was too fogged to connect the words to her mouth. Instead she slid further up his lap and eased herself down onto him.

  Felix threw his head back with a shout.

  His hands gripped her hips, but still he held back, not wanting to hurt her. She didn’t think she’d ever been with a man who thought about her before himself. It made her want to please him more.

  She worked herself down farther onto him. She had to go slow. He was so big, and it had been so long for her.

  But God, he felt good.

  “Cali.” His voice was like a plea. She grinned wickedly and squeezed her inner muscles around him. He moaned helplessly. Once he was fully sheathed within her, she did nothing but sit there to allow herself to get accustomed to him. She licked his neck, tasting the salt from his skin before working herself back up to his mouth.

  One of his hands snaked up to grab the nape of her neck. He pulled her close, putting all his pent-up emotion into his kiss. Cali’s head spun. She wound an arm around his neck and rocked herself against him.

  Pleasure sparked. She started moving faster, but their
position suddenly grew very limited. She needed more friction. Her already weakened body couldn’t keep up with the pace she wanted.

  “Felix,” she all but sobbed against his neck. “I need more.”

  As if they shared one mind, he wrapped his arms under her and stood, keeping himself pushed as deep as he’d go.

  Cali had no idea how he managed what he did, but somehow he got them both down on her bed without jarring her injuries. His pants were no longer around his thighs but hanging half off his ankles. Then nothing mattered anymore because Felix started thrusting. Deep, powerful strokes. All she could do was hang on.

  Her hands slid along his sweat-drenched back, gripped his hips, trying to draw him in closer to her body. “Faster,” she all but whimpered.

  His breathing was heavy in her ear. The sound of slapping flesh filled her room. Pleasure built inside her. Higher and higher still. Felix worked a hand between their bodies and pressed on her clit.

  Cali screamed.

  Her climax hit hard. She wrapped her legs tight around his waist and squeezed around his still-thrusting cock. He gave a strangled growl, his body jerking. He stiffened inside her as he came.

  Chapter 15

  Cali had no idea how long they lay there, his heavy, warm body atop hers. And she didn’t care. She never wanted to move again. She was drained and not just from mind-blowing sex. The fatigue from using too much of her powers had a headache knocking at the edge of her conscious. She wanted to tell it to fuck off, but that wasn’t likely to happen.

  Felix kissed along her jaw. “Did I hurt you?”

  She ran her finger up his spine, loving the way he shivered against her. “Never.”

  Her body was positively glowing. She wanted Felix in her bed every night. She’d never felt this way about anyone before.

  Briefly she wondered if it was even her feeling this. Or was it that Mirror Mate bond everyone kept telling her about?

  Some of the lust-filled fog left her brain, her mind returning back to her encounter with Collette.

  People were after her because there was something they wanted from her. Her stomach plummeted as she remembering thinking Felix and his group could have been some of those people.

  Felix propped himself up, instantly aware of her stiffening muscles. “What’s wrong?”

  She’d made a huge mistake.

  She stared into his eyes, wanting her heart to lay dead in her chest, but it pounded with traitorous fervor. It was already too late. Her feelings for Felix had already grown roots that dug into her very soul. She could lie to any number of people, but the one person she couldn’t lie to was herself. And she was falling for Felix. Hard.

  Fuck. What if he has some kind of hidden agenda?

  She needed to find out what Niella had Dreamed. She had to know if she was being played for the biggest fool. She didn’t think she could survive the experience twice.

  “Cali?” His fingers trailed down her face.

  She couldn’t stand being so close to him when she didn’t know his intentions. Fuck Collette. Fuck her and her manipulative comments!

  “I — ”

  Her phone went off.

  Cali shot up from her bed. Felix barely moved away in time to avoid a bloody nose.

  Her body protested the movement. Her skin stretched, her wounds stung, and her vision went black for a few seconds. She fumbled with her cell and nearly dropped it when she figured out the number on the ID.

  The Kratos Corporation. Her interview!

  She ran her free hand down her body as if to smooth out her clothes only to realize that she was still completely naked. “Hello?” she answered hesitantly.

  “Miss Crazar?” That same pleasant female voice came from the other end. Cali wanted to sob in frustration. She hadn’t forgotten her interview, honest. She’d been attacked by a psycho bitch.

  Somehow she doubted they’d find that excuse acceptable.

  “Is everything all right? You had an appointment with Mr. Vander Donahughe at two P.M. We were wondering if perhaps you were having car trouble? Were you still planning on attending the interview?”

  Cali couldn’t speak. This was too surreal. No company was this amazing.

  “You mean I can still come in for the interview even though I’m late by over a half hour?”

  “Yes, Miss Crazar. Mr. Donahughe was most concerned that something ill had happened to you.”

  Something ill had happened to her.

  She stared down at all her battle scars. Fuck it, she thought. “I’ll be right there. Thank you so much.”

  “My pleasure, Miss Crazar. We’ll see you soon.”

  Warmth covered her whole backside. “What was that all about?”

  She turned and nearly collided head first into Felix’s chest. Her heart tore as mixed emotions bombarded her. With all that taunt muscle in front of her, she wanted to push him back onto her bed and ride him till her body collapsed. She wanted to hear him call her name as he came. She wanted to take him over and over again until her heart was so full it burst.

  But she couldn’t.

  She wouldn’t.

  She wouldn’t be that girl again, that girl that was used then discarded, who was set up and left behind to pick up the pieces of her ruined life and heart.

  He reached for her and she jumped out of range. “They called about my job interview. I missed it — ” Because we were having amazing sex. “ — because of Collette. They’re still letting me come in late. I have to leave. Now.”

  Felix pulled his pants on. She missed the sight of all that naked flesh. “I’ll drive you.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I’ll go on my own.” She slid into her purple pencil skirt with a wince as it scraped her tender legs. As she pulled on her top she asked, “How’d you get here in the first place? I have your car.”

  “Joel came over after you left and I took his truck. He’s probably still waiting at my house. I should call him.”

  Cali ran to her bathroom. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  • • •

  Felix watched as Cali raced out her front door without even sparing him a backward glance. He had no idea what the hell had just happened. His body was still stirring after being with her. He’d never experienced anything like when he’d been inside Cali. He could have sworn something had formed between them, but then why was she pulling away from him?

  He ran his hand through his hair with a curse.

  There had to be something more to her paranoia. She’d been fine when they’d been having sex. Even afterward, she’d run her hands along his body like he was hers. He’d wanted to take her again right there, to push himself to the hilt as her warm body clenched around him, her small injuries be damned.

  His cock hardened.

  He growled in frustration and readjusted himself.

  They’d been fine. More than fine. And then it was like some stray thought had worked its way into her head and frightened her off. She’d jumped from his touch when only moments ago she’d been clinging to him, begging him to give her what she wanted.

  Every instinct told him to go after her. To drag her back here and demand to know what the hell had just happened. He knew she was afraid of trusting people. He knew she was wary of every action someone took, thinking it was against her. But Cali wasn’t the type to have sex with someone she didn’t trust or didn’t have feelings for.

  She must have heard something.

  Or been told something. By someone.

  Felix slammed his fist into the closest doorjamb. Pain exploded across his knuckles but it helped focus his thoughts.

  “Collette,” he growled. That bitch had manipulated the women in his life enough. He should have known she’d divulge traitorous suspicions along with her truths. It explained why Cali knew so much about her and why she’d asked him about Kevin.

  The fact she even believed him capable of killing someone settled like a stone in his chest.

  You are capable of killing.
<
br />   He clenched his hands into fists. It was true. Who was he to think he was some sort of saint? When pushed to his limit, he could kill. It was only through fate that Kevin hadn’t been killed when he’d hit him across the head. And at that moment the idea of silencing Collette permanently was starting to sound more and more appealing.

  He was never going to fully bond with Cali if Collette continued to get in his way. The worst part was that Collette was the only one that knew anything about Mirror Mates. Niella had only gleaned information to offer support to Collette’s claims. Sometimes he cursed himself for not getting more information out of her all those years ago. He still had no idea how the bonding process was completed, or if it would give him the control he sought with his powers. He never again wanted to fear making someone vanish.

  Mirror Mates don’t have to love one another.

  The comment haunted him more than he liked to admit. He’d told Cali what she’d been told was a lie, but what if he was the one lying? He couldn’t believe there could be a soul-deep connection between two people and no love. He refused to believe it. Sydney called him a hopeless romantic on occasion, and he guessed she was right.

  But deep down he just knew love had to be part of the equation. Soul mates couldn’t bond to become full forced without some intimate connection.

  He wished he’d asked how Collette had bonded with Kevin, but that ship had long since sailed. He was going to have to flounder around on his own. And the idea of feeling his way around in the dark with Cali was fine by him as long as she was by his side.

  He pulled his phone out, his fingers itching to call Cali, but he refrained. If he pushed too hard he’d only frighten her. Instead he called Joel.

  “Felix.” Joel sounded relieved. “Where the fuck have you been? Is everything all right?”

  “Cali was attacked.”

  “What?”

  “Collette made her move, but not the one we were expecting. According to Cali she was doing some kind of recon work. She left Cali behind after blowing up half her apartment.”

  Joel cursed. “Is Cali okay?”

  Felix forced his muscles to relax. “Just peachy,” he gritted out. “She’s already gone to some job interview covered in minor cuts and bruises.”