Antidote (Beasts of Prey Book 1)

by LC Lehesaho

  "Like I said, it's none of your fucking business." Cobra's voice trembles, but when I look at her, I know it's not from the rage.

  My heart aches when I see the teardrop on her cheek. Leaving the towel in the sink, I drop to my knees in front of her, making room between her thighs so I can cup her cheeks between my hands. Cobra's eyes are staring past me, her brows drawn into a straight line.

  "Look at me." I pull her closer, even though she's not very compliant. "What did Leo force you to do?"

  She swallows, blinking her eyes like she's holding back tears. Cobra is not a crybaby, never has been, so this is really racking my nerves. Finally, she opens her mouth. "I had to... fight with Pietro. One-on-one."

  A new flame of anger shoots from my spine, and I have to focus, so I don't squeeze her face between my hands. "Pietro did this to you?"

  I'll kill him.

  "Yeah, but that’s not the point. We had to... we had to fight till the KO." Her brows furrow, and her eyes wander over the bathroom walls. "If I hadn't done it, Dad said that he'd do it, and that it wasn’t gonna be pretty."

  Times like these... I'd like to punch Leo in the fucking face. I take a breath, gathering myself so I won't take my rage out on her. Not right now.

  "Is he okay?"

  She shrugs, still not looking at me. "I dunno, Dad didn't let me stay."

  "Look at me, baby."

  "No."

  "It wasn't a question, worm."

  Her eyes slide slowly to meet mine. Every emotion oozes out of her, and I know all of them. I know her.

  "You're going to be okay," I murmur to her, and Cobra's eyes glue to mine as I pull her even closer. So close that our lips are only inches away. "Pietro will be fine, and you'll get past this. You always do, 'cause you're so fucking strong. I believe in you."

  She blinks, eyes looking past me for a while until the hazel-colored beauties come back to me. "Not this time." It's just a jagged whisper.

  My chest is crushing from her pain. The agony that lives inside her is like a black veil trying to strangle her with its darkness. I have my demons, made by other people, but this? It's in her. Coming straight from within herself.

  "Always," I breathe next to her lips, feeling the warmth of them, almost tasting her in my mouth. "Baby, you'll always rise. You're like a fucking phoenix."

  Cobra presses her brows against mine. "Help me."

  I lick the cut on her lip, tasting her blood on my tongue, and she shivers under my touch. There's no longer any resistance in her, not even the slightest. Cobra melts into my arms, and that's like a rocket launch to my dick. I bite her lip, and she jolts so little it is barely notable, but it's still there. Her hands come to my shoulders, sliding all the way to my neck, as if wanting more. Asking for more.

  Well, fuck, yes. I move my hands under her breasts, sliding my thumbs under the fabric, and push her sports bra up. Cobra is with me in a second, lifting her hands and breaking our contact to remove it.

  She's fucking gorgeous.

  I place my hands on her hourglass waist, but I don't have time to admire her before Cobra's hands tangle in my hair, and she pulls me back to the kiss. It's rough, like she can't get enough, and she's running out of time. Like she needs me as desperately as I need her. I trail my hand up to her tit, perfect size for my hand. Stroking and kneading her flesh while I kiss her, I want to freeze time. Right here. With every squeeze of my hand, she moans against my mouth. Her moans make me even harder, which I thought was impossible, but here we are.

  "Tiger," she breathes to me, jerking my T-shirt up, and I give her what she wants—like always. But I want something too.

  Cobra's hands start to travel over my bare shoulders, biceps, whatever she can get her hands on. But it's my turn. Her gaze is stunned as I place my hand under her breasts and push her to lean back on the toilet seat.

  When she opens her mouth to argue, I sink my fingers into the waistband of her shorts. "Get your ass up."

  Without hesitation, she obeys and lets me undress her until she’s completely naked. I might combust before I get to fuck her because she is so fucking stunning, and all the bruises on her skin only make her more beautiful. I can't wait to mark her myself.

  "Spread your legs for me, baby," I say with a raspy voice because it actually feels like I'm suffocating, and she is my air. Cobra moves her legs to each side of me, still leaning back where I placed her, giving me a straight view between her thighs. Her skin is completely bare. Smooth and slick. And she fucking glistens for me. My body is almost on fire as I put my hands on her calves, starting to trail my way up. I can't take my eyes off her. "I'll fucking eat you alive, baby girl."

  At that, she swings her other leg over my shoulder and pulls me closer with it. "Burn my bones when you're done, love."

  "There'll be nothing left to burn," I answer and lick my way from her thigh to her core. Her fingers thread in my hair, and Cobra moans my name as I sweep her wetness into my mouth, enjoying every fucking nanosecond of it. "You taste so good, baby."

  Her hips sway to the pace of her moans as I keep devouring her. I know, I'm making this way too fucking easy for her, and this was supposed to go a completely different way, but fuck, she's just... mesmerizing.

  And I want to give her everything.

  The way she writhes from the sensations I’m giving her makes my dick throb in my sweats, but right now, it's not something I want to focus on. I want to make her feel good. And I do. Sliding two fingers inside her and teasing her clit with my tongue, she tenses underneath me, shivering uncontrollably.

  "Who are you coming for?" I ask her between teasing.

  "You," Cobra whimpers, her body moving in seductive waves. She's fucking enchanting when she's about to come.

  "Look at me." Her shimmering eyes open just enough so that I know she's watching me. "Who am I, baby?"

  She hums from the pleasure, nearly there. "Tiger."

  "Now, come for me and say my name," I order her, and she does just that. Her back arches, pushing her breasts up, and she tightens around my fingers so hard that I know I'll fucking love it when she does that around my dick. "You're such a good girl, baby." I push her leg off my shoulder and rise to my knees to hover on top of her and watch her while she rides out the waves. I've never seen anything as beautiful as her, but it doesn't surprise me.

  She's always been the one.

  Cobra focuses her gleaming eyes on me and whispers something I didn't expect. "Hurt me."

  "What?" I squint at her.

  "Make it hurt," she says, almost begging. "Make me bleed. Please."

  I place my other hand to the wall behind her and brush her cheek with my knuckles. "Why would you want me to do that to you?"

  Cobra's eyes stay steadily on mine, her breathing still uneven. "I need it. I can't take this."

  "What can't you take?"

  "Life."

  I shake my head. "Nah, I'm not going to hurt you just 'cause you're trying to avoid growing your backbone back. Not now, baby."

  "I fucked Luke today."

  My heart stops beating at her words. Feels like she hit me with a truck. I have to swallow, hard, before I'm able to speak. "You promised you'd never lie to me."

  Say that you're lying.

  Say that you're lying.

  "I, hand on my heart, fucked Luke today, in the front seat of his car," Cobra says, calmly. So. Fucking. Calmly. "Does it feel good now, Tiger?"

  The rage makes my blood boil, and every muscle in me hardens as I look down at her beautiful face when she tells me without batting an eye that she's been fucking someone else. I get up, eyes on hers, and she watches me like she’s waiting for my reaction.

  If she wanted to piss me off, she fucking succeeded.

  I grab her up by her throat and jerk her up against my chest. Cobra's hands fly to my forearms, holding on as I lift her up by her throat, so she has to stand on her toes. Her eyes are hard on mine, and there's not even a hint of fear in them. I want to yell at her, call her fuck
ing names, and throw her off the goddamn balcony, but each of those would be useless.

  Instead, I spin her around, push my sweats down along with my boxers. My stone-hard dick presses against her back as I place my lips to her ear. "You're mine. Till the day you fucking die, you're mine."

  I bend her over the sink, and her hands grab the edge of it, so it's not her forehead that takes the hit. My fingers are still around her throat, and I have no intention of letting go. Cobra stays quiet, and it annoys me even more that she's enjoying this. I can see it in her fucking eyes when she turns her head to the side. There’s a wicked smirk playing on her lips, and it makes my skin tickle.

  "You're a fucking bitch, did you know that, baby girl?" I push her legs apart with my knee and take hold of her other hand, twisting it behind her back. "You want me to fuck you like this, don't you?"

  Cobra doesn't say shit, just because she knows it pisses me off. I squeeze my fingers tighter around her throat, knowing that it will leave a bruise. "Answer me."

  "Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were fucking me yet. I thought your dick would be big enough for me to feel it," she retorts, her throat bobbing against my fingers.

  I didn't even know I could get angrier, but what do you know. I'm fucking boiling over.

  "Your big mouth will get you killed, baby," I snarl back, but most of my anger fades away when I thrust myself inside her because she feels so damn good. Cobra moans in pleasure, pushing her ass against me, and I'm a fucking goner.

  "You feel me now?"

  "Yes," she vows, her hand gripping tighter on the sink for balance, and the snake tattoo on her side slithers as she arches her back, giving me better access to hit deeper. "My gosh, yes."

  How the fuck could I be mad at her when she takes me like this and enjoys it?

  But... I'm not letting her out of this so easily. "I hate you so fucking much." I breathe out as I slam into her hard, over and over again, without holding back even a little.

  "I hate you too," she gasps. "Just don't stop."

  And I don't because first of all, I'm not going to disappoint my girl, and second, I'm in no hurry to come when she feels like this—lets me fuck her like this. She's my poison, making my emotions go haywire and totally out of control, the drug I need to stay alive, addicting me more and more every waking second, but she's also the antidote. The one I need more than air. The one I can't live without.

  No matter what she's done, what she'll do, I'll always want her.

  "Baby girl." I tighten my grasp around her delicate neck, leaning toward her much smaller body. Her breathing grows even more labored while she gasps for air. "I've been waiting for you for years. Don't run from me."

  Cobra doesn't reply while riding the high I'm giving her, she just grinds her ass harder against me. Feeling her walls tightening around my dick feels so damn good that my eyes are about to roll into the back of my head as she comes, a long purr reverberating out of her.

  It knocks me off the edge, and I fill her up, giving her every last drop.

  After gathering myself, I haul her up, and Cobra is still in a blissful state as I pull her to the shower with me. I hold her against me, and there are so many things I want to tell her, but I can't make myself say anything. She leans into me, her hands resting at my sides.

  We stayed there for a long time. Not saying a word to each other.

  Then she washes with my shampoo, steps out of the shower, takes the bathrobe she gave me last Christmas, and wraps herself inside it. I just stare at her, my words lost. I know I shouldn't have fucked her like I did. It should've been totally different. I had no right to be angry at her.

  Cobra turns to look at me after gathering her clothes from the floor.

  "I waited for you—the whole night. I stayed up and waited for you to come home, so I could ask you the thing." My stomach twists into knots at her words, from the look on her face. "I waited for you, Tiger."

  It feels like a punch to the gut.

  "Cobra, I'm sorry, I didn't know… I thought that—"

  She cuts me off. "Yeah, you thought. I told you I wasn't going to have sex with him again. I made a mistake back then, and I paid the fucking price. I've messed up so many times in my life that I can't count, and I've paid the price every single time, literally spitting blood after it, but you know what? Nothing has ever felt as bad as waking up to the sound of her moans as you fucked her against my wall. You know how that feels, don't you? Were you able to breathe when you watched me and Luke? Did it feel like your heart was carved out of your chest?"

  Cobra takes a breath, fighting back the tears. Just like I am. I take a step closer, but she throws her hand in the air, stopping me, and drops her head back, looking at the ceiling for a moment.

  I run my fingers through my hair, unable to breathe.

  She straightens, and her glistening hazel eyes come to mine. "I did it to survive the night. So I wouldn’t walk to the club's bathroom with a broken bottle and carve my arms open 'cause I love you so fucking much, and I had to walk away from you. It fucking killed me to leave you, 'cause I knew it hurt you too." She gulps down a sob and wipes her nose with the back of her hand, while tears roll down her cheeks. I feel my eyes leaking too, but the shower washes the drops off as they come. "But what you did last night… You wanted to hurt me. And you did, Tiger. You hurt me so bad, and I fucking hate you for it. Just ask yourself, does it feel good now?"

  At that, she turns and walks off.

  32

  I don't leave the shower for a long time. The mirror above the sink has gone steamy from the humid air, and it's getting harder to breathe. Heavy as the feeling in my chest.

  I'm losing her.

  I can't lose her.

  I can't lose them all. The smell of disinfectant comes to my nose, and I try to shake it off, knowing that it's only the memory playing in my head: the sterile hospital room, a bed with clean sheets, and ready to take in a new patient. The words passed away, and Amelia's cry. Her arms around me when she felt the same sorrow I did. If I had just been brave enough to run off with her, I wouldn't have lost her too.

  Turning off the faucet and slamming the shower door behind me, I grab a towel and dry myself off, trying to keep myself calm and to not think about them.

  I can get them out of my head, push all of those memories back into a box, and shove it deep inside of me, but I can't get her out. I don't want to get her out, ever.

  She's the yin to my yang; Cobra pushes me until I stop bending, and then she bends in fucking perfect harmony in the other direction. We've never broken each other before, but right now, I feel like we’re shattered.

  On autopilot, I dress in sweatpants and grab my cigarettes as I walk to the balcony. But when I get out there, I don't light up a smoke. Instead, I jump over the railing between our balconies and walk into her apartment. There are no lights on, so she must be sleeping already, but I don't care. I need her.

  I need to make this right.

  Her apartment is clean as always, everything in its place, and it's because she's obsessed about keeping everything in order. Her mind is the only thing she has no control over, so all that frustration leads to cleaning. I can't even count how many times I've found her at my place, cleaning up and placing my painting tools and markers in order. Once she took it so far that she arranged all of them by color. I have over two hundred markers alone, so it hadn’t been a quick job.

  But if she finds some kind of balance by doing it, I'm okay with it.

  I push her bedroom door open, peeking in. "Worm?"

  Her sheets rustle in the dark, and then the lamp on her nightstand comes on. Cobra's pink hair is messy, which tells me that she's not okay either. Not even once in her life, has she gone to sleep without brushing her hair after a shower. Not. Even. Once.

  She looks at me, eyes reddish, and leans on her elbows. "What the fuck do you need?" she huffs out, frustration clouding her features.

  You. "Can we talk?"

  "Is it a must?" she asks,
looking tired as fuck, but I know she can't sleep either.

  "Yeah, it kind of is." I convince her, even though I have no fucking clue what I'm gonna say. Sorry that I'm an asshole? Run away with me? Are you okay with it if I kidnap you?

  Cobra pushes herself up, leans against the headboard, and pulls her knees to her chest. "Oh, my fucking God. Fine."

  I walk to her bed, and the fact that her eyes roam over my bare upper body doesn’t go unnoticed. Like realizing it herself, she snaps her eyes up to mine. I'm tempted to mention it, tease her, but I'm just too much of a fucking mess to do that. And I know it's not the time to fuck around. I sit down on the side of the bed, crossing my other leg in front of me, and try to find something to say.

  Nothing.

  I come up with nothing.

  "Oh, fuck." I sigh and wipe my face with one hand. "Okay, first of all, I want to apologize for... everything. I messed up last night, and I messed up today. I had no right to be angry at you for—" I clear my throat, but the choking feeling doesn't disappear. "You know, for having sex with Luke. Today. Or the last time either 'cause you're not accountable for me. We aren't together, and I kind of understand why you did what you did. So, I'm sorry about how I've been behaving."

  I lift my eyes from the sheets to her, and Cobra stares at me, face completely blank. Not saying a word.

  "Ah, okay." I'm crawling out of my own skin because I have no fucking clue how to do this. How to get her forgiveness. I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants, gathering myself. "So, um... I know I need to learn to take a minute and think before I act, and I'm sorry for what I did last night. It was a fucking low move. Can you forgive me?"

  Cobra cocks an eyebrow. "Forgive you?"

  "Yeah, like... give me another chance?"

  "I think you should leave."

  Fuck, how such simple words can hurt.

  "Do you really hate me?" I ask, unable to look at her, so I stare at the wall behind her. The pressure inside me is excruciating. Somehow, she's managed to crack my box of feelings, and everything I've kept in is leaking out, making me even more unstable than usual. I can fucking feel that I have no control whatsoever.