by Rina Kent
“We’re not flooding the streets with drugs and that’s final.” I sit beside Shadow. “But I’ll agree with President Joe’s conditions. Then, we will blow up the factory or inform the police as soon as he starts distribution.”
“Burn.” Flame’s ginger head peeks from behind Mist’s sofa, eyes sleepy. “You will let me burn the factory, Ghost.”
I shrug. “As you wish.”
He gives a curt nod, a satisfied gleam in his pale eyes before he disappears behind the sofa again.
Shadow rubs his bottom lip with his index finger, brows knitted in concentration. “If Hades finds out we’re transferring the factory to President Joe, then Hawk will –”
“Shut it.” Mist slams her glass on the table, and droplets splash all over her hand. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. Why would Hades know? Unless a fucking rat like you tells him.”
Shadow stands slowly, shoulders squared back as if about to pounce. A dark gloom covers his features while he stalks towards Mist then looms over her. “I’m many things, but a rat isn’t one of them. Is that fucking clear?”
She sips leisurely from her glass. The droplets of spilt alcohol run down her arm. “I wouldn’t be so sure. You only care about your fucking self, so no one cares about you. Maybe that’s why you were thrown in a rubbish can.”
“Mist,” I warn, my voice curt. She’s drunk and pissy, but she has no right to say that.
Shadow’s eyes turn to steel grey. His back snaps into a rigid line. His fists clench and unclench by his side – obviously restraining himself.
Good.
If they go at it, even I won’t be able to stop them.
“Listen here, you fucking witch,” he snarls. “The only reason I’m not punching you to death is because you once saved Ghost’s life and he saved mine, so there’s that whole fucking circle going on. But don’t think I forgot, all right? If you don’t tell me where the fuck you hid Zoe, I will break that fucking neck.”
“You can try.” Mist isn’t the least bit fazed. Instead, she takes a sip from her drink. “What will you do when you find her, huh? Drag her back to your hell? Have you ever thought that she wants nothing to do with filth like you?”
Shadow staggers backwards as if he was punched in the gut.
Mist’s words resonate inside me, too.
We live in hell. Always have. But that doesn’t give us the right to drag other people into it. Innocent, pure people like Elle. She thinks she’s been toughened by the streets, but she has no idea that the underground world is a lot filthier and dangerous. She has no bloody idea what she signed up for when she snuggles against me every night.
An unhinged part of me wants to smother her here so she would never leave, but that part is an arsehole.
Shadow barks a long humourless laugh. “You think you’re any better, old hag? I might be filth, but you’re also disgusting. Even Hawk refuses to look at your face anymore.”
Mist reaches underneath her gown and pulls out a knife. The moment she pounces, Shadow pulls out his gun.
“Enough.” I stand between them, blocking the murderous expressions on their faces.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Blood droplets scatter in my brain, and once again, I’m enchanted by the killing energy in the room. The need to commit violence hypnotises me.
I shake my head. I stopped taking Omega two days ago, and I thought the blood droplets would disappear altogether. Apparently, that’s not the case. It doesn’t help with these two clashing animosities.
“Who will attend the meeting of President Joe’s with me?” I ask in an attempt to dissipate the tension.
“I will,” Shadow says, still glaring at Mist.
“Me, too.” Mist still points her knife at him.
“Flame?” I ask.
“Wake me up when it’s time to burn something,” he says in a sleepy voice. “Stop being so noisy.”
I glare at both my mates. “No killing each other until then.”
“You will tell me where she is.” Shadow aims his gun at Mist before he storms out of the office.
She flips him the finger.
They’re incurable.
I head after Shadow and tell Mist over my shoulder. “Let me know if anything happens around here.”
“Where are you going?” Mist asks.
“I’ll supervise the factory personally until the meeting with President Joe. I need no surprises at this stage.”
I ignore the discomfort about not hugging Elle to sleep for three whole nights and head out of the door.
Three nights later, right before the meeting with President Joe, I find myself stalking my own safe house from the tree across my room’s window. Like a fucking monkey.
It’s past midnight, so Elle is lying on the bed and facing away from me, probably fast asleep. As usual, the lamp is on. She’s wearing a tight T-shirt and tiny shorts – Scar’s influence.
Elle’s long, toned legs stretch across the mattress. The T-shirt is hunched up, teasing at the pale skin of her stomach.
And now I’m hard.
Fuck.
There’s nothing I want more than to jump in there and yank off those little shorts, but Mist’s words from the other day and the whole chaos that’s about to unfold keep me rooted in place. Uncomfortable and stalkerish, but I’m still getting a grip.
Not being beside her, not feeling her warmth all around me is making Omega’s withdrawal symptoms a lot worse. However, I need to figure out this entire chaos before taking the point of no fucking return.
A part of me insists that I already claimed her as mine. What’s there to wait for? Elle will be completely and wholeheartedly mine if I want to. If she lets me. All I have to do is leap through that window.
“Godfaaaather.” Kyle’s singsong voice calls from down below.
Fuck. I’ve been caught like a teenager spying on his crush.
“President Joe and his ‘band of cockroaches’ as Shadow calls them are here,” Kyle continues. “They’re at the security check.”
I use the branches and jump down. Kyle is wearing one of his stylish denim jackets – that he makes me buy on all his birthdays. He’s pursing his lips to suppress a laugh, but his shoulders shake.
“Save it,” I warn.
“Of course not!” His eyes gleam with mischievousness as he waggles his eyebrows. “I always thought ye were above this stuff, Godfather.”
“What stuff?”
“Feelings.” His expression closes. “But I should’ve known. Just because Omega muted them, doesn’t mean they weren’t there.”
“Why do you sound disapproving?”
His face is unreadable as he says, “Ye were a lot more fun when on Omega.”
“What did you just say?” I’m more fun when killing without remorse and not remembering who or what the fuck I am?
“Just kidding, Godfather.” He laughs long and hard. “Ye’ve got no sense of humour whatsoever.”
Hushed footsteps sound from behind me. Kyle doesn’t notice them since he’s still laughing. I reach for my gun and point it at the bushes. Scar emerges, wearing pink rabbit slippers and throwing her blonde hair back. Even her T-shirt has a rabbit on which is written, ‘Kill them with Cuteness’.
Her scowl falls on me. She places a hand on her hip and taps her foot on the ground. “I’m taking Elle back.”
I place my gun beneath my jacket. “No.”
“Julian,” she warns.
“Scarlett,” I counter.
Her docile features fire up. The amber of her eyes is about to turn to flames. “She wants to stay with me.”
“If she did, she would’ve been there.” I’m actually puzzled why Elle didn’t go back to Scar. I wasn’t there to force her to stay.
“She comes around all the time!” Scar shouts.
“To ask about you, Godfather.” Kyle hooks a thumb at himself, his expression dramatically sincere. “I was there.”
My heartbea
t picks up. Elle has been asking about me?
“You bloody traitor!” Scar jabs a finger at Kyle.
“It’s more fun this way.” He places an arm around her shoulder and drags her away. “Meeting in thirty, Godfather.”
“I will be there,” I say.
“It’s not over, Ghost!” Scarlett shouts as Kyle takes her. She’s still mumbling something else, but I’m already jogging to the safe house.
I should check the security one more time and greet President Joe early, but all that’s on my mind is the girl sleeping in my bed.
Firefly has been asking about me.
Just the thought causes me to take the steps three at a time.
The past few days were a fucking black hole. I crave her breath, her soul, her light, and I’m not above tainting her in the dark.
I finally arrive at the room.
Elle is still sleeping on her side – the position where I always slip in behind her. The faint light on the side table illuminates her soft features.
She looks so beautiful and at peace, I want to engrave every detail into memory. I reach for a few rebel strands of hair and stroke them off her forehead. Still caressing her hair, I sit on the edge of the bed. My fingers glide over the swell of her cheek. Then, I wrap my hand around her neck and rest my thumb on the pulse point.
Feeling the steady rhythm of her breathing has become my addiction. Not like Omega. This is more intense and satisfying.
Elle stirs, but her eyes remain closed. Her lips part. Then, she moans, “Julian...”
My heart nearly stops beating. My erection surges to life. Just a single word and I’m fucking screwed.
She moans again, and her pupils move in quick succession behind her lids. What is she dreaming about?
Her eyes flutter open. They search sideways before focusing on me. The affection in those deep blue gates catches me off guard. No one has ever looked at me that way. Like they care. Outside my circle, people either fear or hate me. There’s no in between.
Even those in my circle are all screwed up. There’s no such thing as caring.
Why would Elle even care? What is this fucking tightening in my chest because she’s looking at me that way?
Her soft hands cradle mine – that’s still clutching her neck. A small smile tugs on her lips as she whispers. “You’re here.”
I don’t think.
I lower my head and crash my lips against hers. She tastes so sweet and so fucking right. When she opens her mouth and gives me access to devour her, I know one thing’s for certain.
This woman, I’m never letting her go.
14
Elle
Julian’s lips pry mine open and his tongue swirls with mine.
It isn’t a dream.
His kiss is gentle and passionate at the same time. It’s like he’s slowly tasting me, engraving me to memory. Heat invades my body. My head turns and someone moans aloud. Me.
As if I hit the switch, Julian’s soft phase comes to a screeching halt. He cages my body with his legs and hovers over me while continuing to kiss me. This time, it’s ravenous, animalistic and so out of fucking control.
I thread my fingers through his thick hair and surrender to his relentless onslaught. I’m drifting away and falling apart. The only one I can clutch for balance is the same man who’s blowing my world to pieces.
Sure, I’ve been kissed before, but they’re pathetic compared to Julian’s primal intensity.
My pulse nearly leaps out of my throat under his thumb. The mere sensation of his fingers wrapped around my neck shoots a spark of pleasure between my thighs.
Julian’s hot lips trail kisses along my jaw and down my neck.
He wants me. It’s so obvious from the ravenous way he’s savouring me. His large body is all over mine like he’s trying to fuse himself to me.
And I know. I just know, that from this moment on, I will never be the same.
It’s scary as hell.
It’s thrilling as hell.
Julian sucks on the sensitive skin along my collarbone. A moan and a strangled noise I don’t recognise rip from my throat.
My nipples tighten and peak against the thin cloth of my T-shirt as if begging for his attention.
I’m turning into a puddle of need, and I have no way to stop it. I should. Julian isn’t right for me. Julian is part of the world that took Zoe away, but Julian is all I’ve been thinking about in the last three days.
Without my damn permission, he’s become a constant. An addiction. A drug l look forward to every day. His disappearance caused an unexplainable hollowness inside me. A worry. A need to know if he was fine.
When I slept and didn’t feel his warmth surrounding me, it was like being denied my fix. I planned to return to Scar and forget all about him. Now, I can’t even pretend anymore.
I want him. More than I ever wanted any man in my life.
So I cling to his shoulders, needing more of the friction he’s igniting inside me. Time ceases to exist.
Julian’s strong hands slip under my T-shirt. I melt when his warm skin meets mine. As if that isn’t enough, his fingers brush against my ribs and glide up.
Up.
Up.
I suck in a stuttering breath when his forefinger strokes the swell of my naked breast. His calloused finger finds my engorged nipple and squeezes. Hard. Pain and pleasure shoot straight in my core and I cry out.
Julian grunts. The sound is so primal and does strange things to my super sensitive skin. His heated eyes fly to mine, their golden rings fired up. I lick my lips at the raw lust in them. For me.
That unearthly look is only for me.
I buck against him, silently begging for more.
No idea what’s the more I want, but I need him to do something.
Julian’s lips devour mine again. They don’t kiss, they claim. I can’t breathe. I can’t even think. But I don’t need to.
Not now.
He lifts my T-shirt. Instead of breaking the kiss to pull it over my head, he straight out rips the cloth open.
I gasp against his mouth as my breasts pop free.
Holy. Hell.
This man is a caveman.
The insides of my thighs pulse at the mere sensation. If only he would do that to the shorts as well.
Where the hell did that thought come from?
He pulls back to stare at my bare breasts. If eyes could shoot fire, I would be turned to ashes about now. My nipples throb, wanting more of what he did earlier.
“Damn you and how beautiful you are, Firefly,” Julian growls. He’s glaring at me like he hates me. Like he hates that I’m making him feel this way.
Well, that makes two of us. I didn’t want this either. But we’re there and he knows it. He knows neither of us has a say in the matter.
He leans over and bites a nipple in his hot, wet mouth. His tongue rolls around the sensitive skin. Pleasure pools between my legs. I squirm and arch my back, my fingers getting lost in his hair. He’s nibbling, biting, and driving me crazy. He’s moulding me into a mess.
But it’s not only my body.
His touch is causing stupid shit to happen in my heart, too.
His bent knee settles between my legs and he spreads them apart. Or I open them willingly.
I need friction or something. Anything.
Still worshipping my breast with his mouth, Julian’s hand trails down on my stomach, leaving a scorching heat in its wake. His lean fingers slip underneath the shorts and find my slick folds.
He lifts his head, releasing my aching nipple. I whimper in both frustration and need.
The dark want in those eyes swallows me whole as he grunts. “You’re so fucking wet.”
I bite my lower lip, roll my hips, and silently beg him to continue.
“For me?” he asks.
“For you.” It’s pointless to deny it.
A hungry possession fills his eyes as his finger thrusts inside me. My head tilts back in a wordless whimper.
Some other strange noises slip from my mouth. My hands fist the sheets.
He adds another finger and starts moving them. My walls clench around him and my stomach tightens. His mouth finds my sensitive nipple again. The moment his free hand wraps around my throat, I shatter all around him.
The orgasm hits like a strong wave and rips through me in a rush. I close my eyes as loud, strange noises leave my lips.
I didn’t even last a minute. Is that normal?
When I finally open my eyes, Julian is kneeling between my legs watching me like he’s a ravenous lion and I’m his prey.
It should’ve given me red alerts, but I’m utterly lost in the aftermath of what just happened. Julian lit a fire I didn’t know existed, and now, I don’t think I want it extinguished.
I can’t help admiring his raw freaking masculinity. Tattoos peek from the cuffs and collar of his shirt. A few dark strands of hair escape the neat sleek and fall on his forehead.
Just when I’m contemplating stroking them back, Julian’s hand slips under my waist. He pulls me into him so I’m kneeling on the bed like him. I yelp then moan when my still aching nipples brush against his shirt.
“You’re so fucking screwed, Firefly.” He wraps an arm around my waist so his erection presses at the bottom of my stomach. “Now, you’re in for good.”
I put a small distance between us so I can reach a tentative hand to his bulge. “So are you, Julian.”
The moment I touch him over his trousers, a groan rips from the back of his throat. The sound is so masculine and animalistic, tingles start between my legs all over again.
No idea what the hell I’m doing, but I love how he hardens underneath my fingers until he sucks in a breath. I have this effect on him just like he has on me.
A phone vibrates somewhere.
We pay it no attention.
I properly position myself in front of him. My touch turns bolder as I stroke him over the cloth.
“Fuck, Firefly.” Julian grunts, his fingers fist into my hair. “Are you trying to drive me insane?”
I lean in and plant a kiss on his erection, smiling with sheer satisfaction. “Maybe.”
