* * *
My eyes snapped open to darkness. What. The. Fuck? The clock hands glowed in the gloom, showing it to be four o’clock, and unless the apocalypse had happened while I’d been asleep, that meant it was four a.m., because at four in the afternoon, it would still have been light out.
Two hours of sleep? Seriously?
Tris was silent. Stone.
Early again.
Three hours early, because sun-up was just after seven a.m. in the winter. Lark had checked the binding. He’d said it was fine.
Maybe this was how it was going to be from now on?
I could go to sleep right now. I could fall asleep, crash through the barrier Vinod had set up all those years ago, and punch the shimmer man in the fucking face. Just a moment to nurture the superhero fantasy … Kill the shimmer man, save my mother. Get the fuck out.
Reality check. If I went in unprepared, he’d probably kill me.
Urgh.
Was Bres awake?
Sod it. I slipped out of bed and padded out of the room. Bres opened his door before I could knock and then stepped back to invite me in.
“You’re awake.” I wanted to bite my tongue. Of course, he was awake. Way to state the obvious. “I mean, why are you awake?”
“I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon,” he drawled.
Ah, the whole I-can-be-up-all-night-if-I-want syndrome. “Don’t you feel tired?”
“No. What about you?”
“I’m kinda wired.”
“So, raspberry girl, you want to … hang out?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
I bit back a snort. “Sure.”
He closed the door and wandered over to his dresser where he’d—I shit you not—set up a coffee machine and a toaster.
“You can use the kitchen, you know.”
He paused with his hand on the coffee machine switch. “Would you prefer we have coffee in the kitchen?”
In the kitchen where anyone could join us? “No. Here’s good.”
His drapes were open, and I walked over to look down at the winter wonderland below.
The lights in the room dimmed, and moonlight took over with its silvery rays glittering on the pearly white snow. Damn, it was breathtaking outside. Frozen but alive.
Death hadn’t changed the world. It had changed only me. “I’m never going to know her.”
“I know.”
“I’m so mad at myself. I have all this urgh inside me, this energy, this need to do something.”
His arm brushed my shoulder as he joined me by the window.
“Karishma isn’t picking up her phone. I can’t do anything about the shimmer man without her help. I’m stuck.” I turned to face him. “He’s coming for me. I know it, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight him when he does.”
Bres cupped my shoulders. “You won’t be fighting him alone. I’ll be by your side.”
I looked up into his kohl-rimmed eyes, into the amber streaks that lit up the pale red of his irises like lightning, and damn if I didn’t believe every word he said. The moths were back. The butterflies were going crazy. My gaze dropped to his mouth.
“What are you thinking, raspberry girl?”
And then my mouth went and did a thing. “I’m wondering what your mouth tastes like.”
He sucked in a sharp breath. “Only one way to find out, Kat.”
Kat, not raspberry girl. My stomach flipped hard with desire. He stepped toward me, and the backs of my thighs hit the windowsill. The butterflies were in my throat, in my blood.
I closed my eyes. “Bres, you need to back up.”
“Why?” His voice was a delicious rumble.
Because I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. Because if he didn’t, I’d lose control and do the thing that was circling my brain like a ravenous vulture.
Bres leaned in so his breath caressed the delicate shell of my ear. “Maybe it’s time to stop skirting around the issue. Maybe it’s time to take the next step.”
The next step? “Gah, Bres, you just … you …”
He pulled back, and our gazes locked. There it was, that warm, dark emotion sliding across his features. It hit me straight in the chest and made the moths in my stomach go into a mating frenzy.
“Me inside you,” he said simply.
Oh, fuck. “Bres …” My voice was a breathless whisper.
“I’m free, raspberry girl. I could leave right now, so why the fuck do I want to stay?” His gaze roved over my face. “He left you. I won’t.”
Tears blurred my vision. “I thought you just wanted sex. Just sex.”
If he said he wanted just sex, I’d cry.
“That was before.”
“Before?”
His lips hovered over mine. “Before I wanted everything.”
Oh, now he’d done it, with the face and the words … I pushed up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. Firm, soft, slightly pouty. I could bite them. Instead, I flicked my tongue out to taste him. He tensed, then went still. I braced my hands on his chest and then drew his bottom lip into my mouth. Oh, yeah, he tasted of sweet dark coffee. My pulse pounded in my throat and roared in my head as I released his lip, grazing it with my teeth. My gums ached to unleash my fangs, but no. Not yet. This was the beginning, the sweet, sweet beginning of the fall.
I kissed him again, softly plucking at his top lip. His hands went to my hips, and his chest rumbled. My palms picked up the vibration, and my fingers pressed into the fabric of his tee. It was going to happen. Any second now. I pulled back enough to look up into his eyes, to see the darkness, the hunger, the want, and then he was kissing me. Taking the lead. Claiming my mouth with teeth and tongue and a hint of copper. Blood, mine or his, didn’t matter. I didn’t care. The need rose up inside me like a tidal wave, and a haze of lust grabbed my torso and squeezed the breath out of my lungs.
I dug my nails into his shoulders and maneuvered him with my body. Lips locked, it was impossible to see where we were going. My leg bumped something, and then the wardrobe shook as we slammed into it. He was wearing too many clothes for my liking, and his shirt tore with a satisfying rip. God, he tasted good on my tongue. I wanted to climb him, to rub up against him, to be crushed beneath him. To straddle him and ride him.
As if reading my thoughts, he lifted me so I could wrap my legs around his waist. Open-mouthed kisses carried us across the room, then we were falling. His body pressed mine into the mattress, and then his mouth was on my neck. My thoughts gave way to sensation. The cool kiss of air as he tore open my robe, his calloused hands on my hot fevered skin, kneading and caressing. His warm wet mouth on my breasts, oh, God. I arched, reveling in his ministrations. There was nothing but his taut velvet skin beneath my fingers, his demanding mouth on every inch of my skin, licking and sucking until I was a throbbing, whimpering mess.
“Fuck.” I grabbed his shoulders and twisted my body, flipping him onto his back so I was straddling him. Why was he still wearing pants?
I shoved down the waistband to free him. The sight of his arousal was my undoing.
He lay back, chest heaving, hands behind his head. The pose was casual, relaxed, but every line of his body was rippling tension, ready to explode.
I rose up and positioned him at my entrance.
His breathing sped up, and his hips jerked involuntarily. And then I eased onto him. A low, guttural moan echoed around the room as he filled me. Mine. All mine. I began to move.
* * *
Bres may have let me take the lead the first time, but the second and the third, he was in control, and the room … Well, there were some furniture casualties. The sun had risen an hour ago, and the room was golden and warm.
“Got to say, this is a great way to spend my waking time.” I propped myself up to look down at him.
He lay with his eyes closed, chest rising and falling evenly, but he was awake.
He opened his eyes and fixed them on me. “You want to go again, raspberry girl?”
And damn if I wasn’t ready to oblige. I opened my mouth to say yee-haw but ended up yawning in his face.
Real smooth, Kat.
He chuckled, the sound deliciously abrasive. “No more sex for you till tonight. Come here.” He tucked me into his side. “You need to get Karishma here. You need a better sleeping pattern. It will eventually catch up to you.”
“Hmmm.” He was warm and safe, and he smelled soo good …
Shit, no. Stay awake …
Darkness surrounded me. A haven. A bubble webbed with hairline fractures. Oh, God. I was sleeping. I needed to wake up.
Crap.
One of the cracks in front of me splintered into several more. It was almost like being in an egg waiting to hatch, except this chickie didn’t want out.
My dream hand slapped my dream face. Wake up!
Awareness scratched at the back of my mind. Something was out there. A shadow visible through the fragile shell keeping me safe.
“I feel you, Kitty Kat.”
The mark on my arm flared in pain. “Shit.”
“I knew you’d come. I knew once I had her, you’d come for her.”
“You’re lying. You don’t have her.”
“Why don’t you come over here and find out?”
My fist ached to bury itself in his face. “Fuck you.”
“Maybe. If you’re a good girl.”
Nausea rolled up my throat.
“Let me see …” The cracks began to grow and spread.
Shit. Wake up.
“Oh, Kitty Kat, we’re so fucking close. I can almost taste you.”
No. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!
“Kat!”
My eyes snapped open to Bres’s frantic face. Couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe.
“Breathe!” He lifted me up and slapped me on the back.
Air exploded from my lungs, and then I sucked in a deep breath. “Oh, God. Oh, God.”
“Two minutes,” Bres said. “It was only two minutes.”
I needed to stand, to move. To stay awake.
“Kat, speak to me.”
“He spoke to me. He almost broke through the barrier. I fell asleep. I can’t fall asleep without Tris. Ever.”
He walked over to his wardrobe and began rummaging.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting dressed. We’re going out for espresso.”
Chapter Nineteen
Espresso was followed by breakfast, followed by another espresso, and my exhaustion vanished. Caffeine was my friend.
The waitress who’d been hovering throughout our meal, practically drooling over Bres, descended on us as soon as I’d drained my cup.
“Can I get you anything else?”
And yes, she was looking straight at Bres. I couldn’t blame her. He looked good with his sexy, dangerous vibe and the tatts peeking out from beneath his shirt. Yeah, couldn’t blame her for looking, but she didn’t have to stand at an angle to block me. That was just rude.
Ah, fuck it. I picked up the half-eaten hash brown on my plate and popped it in my mouth.
Bres blinked slowly at the waitress, and then looked at me. “Kat? Would you like anything else, or should we head home and fuck some more?”
I almost choked on the hash brown.
The waitress straightened with a blush. “I … I can give you two a moment.”
So, it was you two now, was it. “Nah, we’re good. Just the bill.”
I could see her mind ticking as she totaled the amount we owed on her little note pad. Wondering if we were really going to run home and bang. Wait, were we?
She put the bill on the table. I went to pay, but Bres shoved a wad of bills at the waitress before I could hand her my card. She took it and headed to the till.
I stared at him. “You have money?”
He sat back in the booth and shrugged. “Jay and I invested a lot over the decades and spent little. It’s paid off. We’re comfortable.”
He slipped out of the booth. “I’d like to see the town in the daylight. It’s been a while.”
So, not going home to bang.
His smile was an intimate promise. “Later, raspberry girl.”
Oh, my God, he probably thought I was gagging for it. “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.”
Fuck. “You know what? I’ve been in Scorchwood for a couple of months, and I’ve only been out in the daytime a handful of times. Let’s do it.”
An hour and a half later, Bres tugged me into Foot Fetish, the local shoe store, and when I say shoes, I mean the high-end, expensive designer labels. Shit I’d never wear simply because I wasn’t Mai and couldn’t run in more than an inch heel.
Bres walked in as if he owned the place, and two assistants were hovering behind us in seconds. They shot not so surreptitious glances at Bres while pretending to adjust the pretty displays.
I followed him through the store. “You want to buy shoes?”
Bres’s gaze swept over the displays. “Yes. I do.”
“Um, you do realize these are ladies’ shoes.”
He looked down at me with a speculative gleam in his eyes. “What size are you?”
“What?”
He picked up a shoe with a six-inch heel and pointy toe in a deep crimson velvet material and turned it over in his hand. “Put it on.” It was a command.
“It’s hard to kick ass in heels.”
“These are for after you’ve kicked ass.” He leaned in, his breath kissing my lips. “These are for recreational purposes.” He canted his head. “Unless you don’t want to wear them for me.”
My stomach did a little flip. No point lying, he’d know. “I’m a size four.”
I tried on twenty pairs while the shop assistants fawned over Bres, and then we walked out with five.
Who knew that the fomorian had a fetish for heels?
* * *
“He bought you shoes?” Mai ogled the heels I’d taken out of their boxes and lined up at the bottom of my wardrobe. “Oh … wow!” She picked up a pair and caressed them. “I think I’m in love. You lucky bitch.” She put the shoe back. “So … how was it? I assume you guys did the deed.”
“Why? Because he bought me shoes?”
“Yes, because he bought you shoes. Now spill.”
My neck heated. I looked back at the bed where Tris was still in stone form. It was fifteen minutes after sunset, she could wake any moment. It was one thing listening to her harp on about cocks and sex when it was confined to her romance novels, but it was weird to talk about my personal bedroom antics around her.
“Bres and I are … compatible.”
Mai rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on.”
“Fine, furniture was broken, and a marathon did ensue.”
“Now that’s more like it.”
“What about you and Kris? You guys seem to be getting close.”
She wandered over to the sofa set and fell onto it with a sigh. “Kris and I are amazing. He’s amazing. We spent the night together, and I totally rocked his world, by the way. He’s probably still recovering.”
“And how is Lark taking the news of you and Kris being together?”
Her smile slipped. “He says he’s fine, but I think it’s hard on him. It’s for the best, though. We both need to move on. Besides, his family is arranging him a match. There’s a ball at Mirage Hills every year, and he’ll be introduced to her there. He’s leaving today.”
“You made the right call.”
Her smile was back. “I know I did. Kris and I … we just work. I know I said I was all for casual when it came to Kris, but … I think we could be more given time.”
A bubble of joy expanded in my chest, for her, for me, and then the shimmer man entered my head, and the bubble popped. The fucker overshadowed everything good.
He needed to die.
There was a knock on the door, and Kris entered.
I gave him a mock glare. “You’re supposed to wait to be le
t in.”
“Damn it, you’re both clothed.” He slapped his forehead.
Mai giggled. Actually giggled, and then snapped her mouth closed in horror. “Ignore that.”
Kris walked over to her with a fond smile and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. “I got to head out for a few hours.”
“Oh?” Mai looked up at him curiously.
“Vick just called. He wants to see me urgently. He sounded upset.”
“You want me to come with you?” Mai asked.
“No. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Does Jay know?” Mai asked.
“Yes, he said he’d take patrol tonight.”
Mai and I exchanged glances. Jay had been unable to go on patrol because every time his adrenaline spiked, he’d fallen into a deep sleep.
“Lark cleared him for duty before he left for Mirage Hills,” Kris said. “They ran some tests on his adrenaline levels, and he’s no longer falling asleep when the levels are high. I guess now that he and Bres are no longer bound, the problem has corrected itself.”
Jay was coming on patrol. Hard to imagine the controlled, uptight feyblood getting down and dirty with a hellion or kicking a rogue Nightblood’s ass, but hell, I’m sure he was perfectly capable. He’d been a shadow knight, after all. He’d fought in the war, except every time I thought of Jay, I imagined him sitting in a leather chair sipping brandy and playing chess against himself.
“I’ll be back soon,” Kris said. “Don’t miss me too much.”
“Cocky, aren’t we?” Mai said.
“Rightfully so.” He left us with a wink.
“Was that Kris?” Tris piped up from the bed. “I smell his cologne.”
“Sleeping beauty awakens,” Mai said.
I looked over to see her sitting up and stretching her wings. “You were stone by three a.m.”
She frowned. “I was?”
“Your stone periods are getting longer.” I dialed Karishma, and it went straight to voicemail. Thank God. The last few times, it had simply rung and then cut out. “Karishma. Please, call me back when you get this. It’s urgent.”
Ghost at the Feast: The Nightwatch Book 3 Page 12
