Day (Stronghold Book 4)

by Erin M. Leaf

  “Shh,” he said, kissing down her neck. Just as he reached the top of her shirt, the buzz of a cell phone interrupted them.

  Amy froze, heart leaping into her throat for just a moment. The ring of a phone never failed to trip her anxiety, even though it had been years since the phone call announcing her father’s death. She took a deep breath, willing her panic to subside. It wasn’t even her phone.

  “Dammit.” Bruno slid his phone out of his pocket, looked at the display, and then powered off the device. He tossed it onto the nightstand.

  Amy exhaled, slowly, still shaky. “Was it important?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It’s nothing that can’t wait,” he said, kissing her again.

  Amy sensed his tension, despite his words. “This isn’t working.” She pushed him off. She wanted him desperately. The heat between her legs assured her of that, but at the same time, she worried that he wouldn’t be able to give her his full attention.

  “Amy.” Bruno gently prevented her from sitting up with a hand on her abdomen. “There will be no more interruptions. I promise.” His eyes had gone bright with arousal. He eased back between her thighs and pressed his cock right up against her core.

  Oh God. Amy choked back a moan. “You promise?”

  He gathered her hands and drew them up above her head. “Yes. I promise.” He gently bit her neck. “Keep your arms above your head.”

  Amy licked her lips. “Or what?”

  Bruno shrugged, eyes darkening. “Or else I’ll have to punish you.”

  Amy smirked and deliberately ran her hands down around his back instead of leaving them up. “Do your worst.”

  Bruno growled and flipped them both over until she sat astride his waist. He impatiently pulled off her jacket and shirt.

  “This isn’t a punishment,” Amy said, grinning down at him. “I like this position.”

  “Just wait.” Bruno undid the button of her jeans, then smirked at her as he slid a finger under the waistband. “Patience.”

  Amy leaned down and ran her hands over his chest. The sweater he wore brought out the intense color of his eyes. “Off.” She tugged at the material.

  He leaned up towards her, flexing some extremely impressive abdominal muscles, and took off his sweater. Amy immediately pressed her palms into his pecs. His skin was fire hot. She wanted to roll all over him, preferably while naked, but before she could snuggle up, he flipped them again. She squeaked when he yanked off her pants. Her face flushed as she realized he could see all of her. She’d had a few hookups in college, but always with guys she’d already known. She’d never gotten busy with a man she’d just met. She drew breath to speak, and maybe slow things down, but one look at the depth of need on Bruno’s face had her throwing caution to the wind.

  “No more interruptions. No more waiting,” he said, voice gone low with frustration. He shoved down his pants, and his cock sprang out, thick and hot.

  Amy sucked in a breath when he put the tip right against her clit. “Bruno, God,” she muttered, trying to roll her hips for more friction.

  He bared his teeth, then lifted himself up and shoved his pants down the rest of the way. Instead of moving back over her, he scooted down and put his mouth on her pussy.

  Amy moaned when his lips closed over her clitoris. She twisted her hands in his hair, shocked by the heat of his tongue. Dear God, is this really happening? “Bruno,” she gasped.

  “Mmm, do you like that?” he asked, looking up her body, eyes bright.

  She would’ve rolled her eyes—he knew exactly what he was doing—but then his tongue danced over her sensitive nerves again and she lost the ability to speak.

  “You taste divine,” he said, sliding a finger into her body.

  Amy bucked, shuddering. His finger massaged inside of her, curling up to hit her G-spot, and she never wanted him to stop. He added a second finger, and then a third danced around her anus. Amy felt her orgasm roll into her, but just as she was about to peak, he stopped, lifting his hands away.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned, grabbing at him. “Don’t stop.”

  Bruno climbed up over her, placing her thighs up over his shoulders. “Not yet, darling,” he said, wiping at his mouth. “Hang on to me.”

  Those are my juices all over his lips, Amy thought, blurred with pleasure. The man whose face she’d seen on television countless times had driven her to the cusp of orgasm, and now he knelt up above her, as if all of this were normal. She licked her lips, suddenly weirdly nervous. She put her hands over her face.

  He pulled them down. “Oh no. Do not get shy now.” He growled, tilting his hips until his cock slid down her pussy. “Hang on,” he gritted out.

  “Hang on to what?” Amy asked. With her legs up like this, she couldn’t move an inch. The tendons in her legs burned, but she loved it.

  “Hang on to me,” Bruno replied, and then he pushed inside with a violent, delicious thrust.

  Amy cried out. Energy blazed along her nerves, and she thought she might pass out. When her eyes found Bruno’s face, she realized that it wasn’t just her feeling this insane cascade of pleasure. Bruno’s eyes had brightened even more, almost as if sparks of power lit them from behind. “Your eyes,” she said, fingers going to his face.

  “Amy,” he groaned, thrusting again.

  She trembled. Her skin felt hot and tight, and then suddenly she shivered. Emotions battered at her mind, and she clutched at him, frightened. “What’s happening?”

  “Sweetheart, it’s okay.” Bruno slowed his thrusts, making sure to slide against her clit with every movement. “Let me in.” He eased down her thighs and cupped her face. His warm hands somehow comforted her.

  Amy shook her head. “What are you doing to me?”

  “This is affinity. We are paired mates, and this is how we bond,” he replied, eyes glowing. “Let me in, Amy. Submit.”

  Amy licked her lips, but despite her fear, she let her body go limp. She sensed his emotions rolling over her. Through her. He felt like a tsunami that had hit the shore. Years and years of loneliness flashed by, as if she was watching a movie of his life on fast forward. Her fear subsided as he stroked her temples with his thumbs. “Your brain is a huge, scary place, Bruno,” she whispered.

  Bruno went still. “You can feel me?”

  She nodded, tears pricking at her eyes. She saw centuries slide through her mind, one after the other, implacable and strange. Pain slammed into her, even as her arousal spiraled higher. “Oh my God, Bruno.” She wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “Yes. Yes, I can feel you. Jesus.”

  “I know, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” he murmured, speeding up his thrusts.

  Pleasure ripped through her, and she arched her back, wrapping her legs around his torso. He grunted, thrusting faster. More emotions crashed into her, and she felt his arousal pushing hers to new heights. Her mind was on fire, and light flickered around them as his brain seared itself onto her DNA. She saw his childhood, mostly happy. She saw his brothers’ births, and then she saw his growing realization of responsibility. Battles with the Spiders and battles with humans slid into place in her skull. When his memories reached his parents’ death, she froze. The twisted emotions of that moment hurt more than anything else. She saw madness, and a horrible choice, kept from his brothers.

  Suddenly, Bruno growled, forehead pressed against her shoulder. “No. This is not for you to bear.”

  Amy curled her fingers around his biceps. “Let me in.” She sensed pain, and a mental wall that seemed impenetrable. She knew she had to dig in and get past it, or this would all be for nothing. Duty requires sacrifice, she reminded herself.

  “No. You don’t need this burden,” Bruno told her, voice broken. “It’s too much for you. Sometimes it’s too much for me.”

  Amy tightened her grip. Bruno sucked in a harsh breath as his erection swelled in her body, and she gasped as her orgasm suddenly peaked. She screamed, or maybe she sobbed, but the crashing wave of her climax twisted their
minds together. Bruno’s orgasm triggered another wave, and she felt him crying against her skin as his hips jerked. Pleasure and pain mingled as her brain opened, and an onslaught of new emotions slammed into her skull. She couldn’t decipher any of them.

  “Oh, God,” Bruno croaked.

  Amy groaned, twisting to get away from the agony. Bruno caught her hands. “Focus. Put up a wall, sweetheart.”

  Amy shook her head, unable to speak. It hurt so bad.

  “Amy!” Bruno shook her.

  Another wave of pleasure rushed through them. Amy sobbed as the pain in her skull threaded through and into the pleasure of feeling Bruno climax again. They moaned together, and Amy sucked in air, feeling simultaneously exposed and suffocated.

  “Focus,” Bruno whispered, sounding like someone had ripped out his vocal cords. “Please, darling.”

  Amy grabbed at him, grounding herself with his body. His hot skin was the only thing that felt real. His eyes glittered as he stared at her, direct and determined. She exhaled sharply as pain slammed into her skull, piercing through her eyes, and then she painstakingly began building the mental barrier she needed to survive in the middle of Manhattan. She took the knowledge of how to do it out of his memories, and finally, after too long of a moment, her spine relaxed. The pain retreated behind a transparent wall inside her head. She poked at it with mental fingers, then winced, not entirely sure what she’d done. Aftershocks of pleasure still sparked through her body, and she swallowed, trying to get her heart to stop tripping against her ribs.

  “Amy, I’m so sorry,” Bruno said, kissing her gently.

  She blinked, then willed herself breathe in and out. In and out. After a while, the pleasure stopped fizzing through her bones, and she felt like she could think clearly again. Sadly, being able to formulate thoughts coherently did not mean she had a clue about what had just happened to her.

  “What the hell just happened?” she croaked. She forced her fingers to uncurl from Bruno’s shoulders, then winced when she realized she’d drawn blood. His skin looked like a cat had gone feral on him.

  “Shh. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Bruno murmured.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him. The wall she’d created in her mind didn’t seem to work on him. She felt every last one of his emotions: regret and joy, terror and satisfaction. The joy colored everything, which surprised her, because the regret he felt was so overwhelming. The pain in his skull throbbed hotly, and she winced from the secondhand echo of his headache. Her head didn’t hurt, thank goodness, but it didn’t matter. Bruno was in pain, and that hurt her.

  “Just a little headache,” he said, like an idiot.

  Amy stared at him. “You have a debilitating migraine.”

  He shrugged, then rolled to the side, tucking her in against his body. “It happens sometimes.”

  Amy scowled. The most astonishing sex of her life, and the guy ended up with a headache? No. She poked him. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  He sighed, but didn’t speak.

  Determined to root out the cause of his pain, she sifted through the memories he’d given her. His responsibilities made her cringe mentally—how did one man handle all the things he had to in any given day? She saw how he’d personally seen to the creation of the Stronghold net, building on his father’s first attempts to create the technology. She saw how he’d nurtured Solomon until his younger brother could take over the tech maintenance. She watched him teach Greyson how to create things, and she watched him teach Isaac how to fly. The problem was, she couldn’t see what happened to Bruno when his parents died.

  “Your mother was kidnapped. The separation from your father killed them both,” she said, thinking to spur him into admitting his role in that tragedy. “Because they were paired. Bonded.”

  “Isaac blames himself for their deaths, but his hesitation had nothing to do with it,” Bruno said slowly. “He couldn’t have saved them, even if he’d killed the kidnappers when they first took my mother.”

  Amy inhaled slowly, and then let the air out again. “They were already dying, weren’t they?”

  Bruno nodded. “Yes.”

  “What happened?” She went up onto her elbow. Compassion for this incredibly gifted and strong man filled her. She understood now why he needed her. No man should have to bear the burdens of an entire world alone.

  He shrugged. “My father had dementia. The illness damaged the bond he had with my mother.”

  “You never told your brothers.” Amy knew this in her bones.

  “No.”

  “Why not?” she asked, putting a hand on his cheek. His stubble scratched her palm. “Why deal with this all by yourself?” Her heart hurt for him. This pairing thing had rocked her equilibrium, and pushed her way past anything she thought she’d have to deal with, but she was adult enough to understand the larger picture. Bruno had too much to deal with. She could help him. She let the compassion welling up from somewhere inside of her take focus. She could deal with her insecurity later. Right now, Bruno needed her to be strong.

  He looked away. “They didn’t need to know.”

  Chapter Six

  Bruno struggled to control his emotions. He felt Amy’s empathy flow along his mind like a cool, soothing stream. It was enough to nearly break him, even as she eased his migraine into a dull throb instead of an overwhelming agony. He couldn’t afford to falter, not now.

  And more importantly, she doesn’t need to know what I know about Sentries and our DNA, and the inevitable slide into madness. No one needs to know this, not my brothers and not Amy. It’s bad enough that our power is so much stronger than my brothers’. When he’d first seen her in a vision, all those years ago, he’d vowed to keep away from her. He had no intention of subjecting her to his madness. He didn’t want her to have to deal with his life: the pressures, the fame, the inevitable brain damage, but the swarming Spiders ruined his best intentions. God forgive me for needing her so desperately.

  “Bruno. Look at me,” she said, leaning in.

  He sighed. “Sweetheart.” He kissed her, then smiled. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “How can I not?” she retorted. “We’re linked. Our minds are stuck together like glue.” She kissed his cheek. “I can feel how upset you are, and I want you to be happy.” She breathed deeply, then rubbed her cheek along his. “I can feel how much your head hurts.” She rubbed circles on his temples.

  “Happiness is so fleeting,” he said, leaning into her touch. She didn’t know it, but she was healing him with her new power. Everything she did seemed to come naturally. I don’t deserve her.

  She grimaced, as she caught the echo of his remorse. “It may be fleeting, but we still have to try.” She paused, and seemed to gather her thoughts. “And we have a duty to the people who need us,” she added, clearly feeling the pull of responsibility that sat on Bruno’s shoulders every minute of the day. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Bruno’s heart ached. He felt her struggle to understand their pairing, and what it meant for them both. Her emotions bounced from bliss to worry and back again. “Amy.” He gathered her close, inhaling her sweet scent. “Your eyes have stars in them.”

  That startled a laugh from her. “What?”

  He grinned as her amusement eased his turmoil. His headache faded even more. “You’re a Sentry now. You have silver streaks within your irises.” He stroked her hair away from her face. “Stars.”

  She wiggled out of his arms. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “See for yourself.” He nodded towards the bathroom, smiling as she gave him a skeptical look. “The answer is in the mirror.”

  Amy narrowed her gaze at him, but then rolled out of bed and padded across the room, clearly not the least bit ashamed of her nudity. He liked that. He liked that when she made a decision, she didn’t dwell on it. His woman had courage and determination to spare. When she reached the bathroom, Bruno watched her lean over the sink. Late afternoon sunlight lit the white floors, highligh
ting her silky curves. Her short, blonde hair stuck up on one side from being pressed into the mattress, but it was the expression on her face as she saw the silver shards in her eyes that made him grin.

  “Whoa.” She smoothed down her hair impatiently, then tilted her head from side to side as she studied her reflection.

  She’s gorgeous. Bruno stretched, taking a moment to just breathe. He needed to push away the turbulent emotions he felt, and be calm. They didn’t have long before his brothers called, he was sure of it. He rolled out of bed and joined her.

  “You’re very beautiful,” he said, smoothing a hand down her arm. A ferocious wave of protectiveness surged through him. He’d go through fire for this woman who’d so easily absorbed his memories and then, when he’d least expected it, gifted him with her understanding.

  “Whoa, Bruno. Easy there. I’m okay,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’m just a little weirded out.” She pointed at herself. “I never expected this.” She looked back at the mirror, and then she touched a finger to the corner of her eye, apparently unconsciously mirroring the greeting of the Sentries. “This changes things,” she murmured.

  “You’re one of us, now,” Bruno said very clearly, running a hand down her arms. He didn’t want her to misread him.

  “Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “I understand.”

  She’s thinking about duty, Bruno realized, frowning slightly. He didn’t want her to think their relationship rested on duty alone, but the truth was that he’d never have come for her if the Spiders hadn’t swarmed. He hated having to drag her into his life. I would’ve lived a thousand years, knowing that she was mine, and never touching her. I would’ve kept her safe from me. He slid his arms around her and cradled her as he tried not to let her feel his regret. It would only hurt her. He still could not believe how composed she was, especially after being confronted with the end of her life as she knew it. Everything for her would be different now.

  “Hey. Stop brooding.” She poked his arm. “I want to enjoy the afterglow.” She frowned slightly. “And hopefully next time it won’t hurt so much.”