Luna hesitated. “Come with us.”
He shook his head as Spencer grabbed her hand and tugged her from the room. The door flew shut behind them, the lock engaging. Ronan had locked himself in with that monster.
“I can’t leave him,” she said, desperately trying to open the door.
“We can’t help him now. We need reinforcements. Ronan is weakening, and without him, Azel will overpower you, both of you.” Spencer tugged on her arm. “We have to go!”
He was right, and it killed her to run from her brother. She’d only just found him. But she had no choice, not right then. With her powers blocked, she was as helpless as a human. If she tried to help, it would end in them both being hurt or worse. They needed backup.
Spencer led her to a room at the end of the hall, and pulling a key from his pocket, quickly unlocked it.
“James!”
The male jumped to his feet and ran to her. “How did you find me?”
“I’ll explain later. We have to leave. Now.”
James moved instantly, following her and Spencer through the apartment and out onto the street.
Ronan’s power began to slip away as soon as she left the building, all of it now focused on fighting Azel.
She tried her own again and nearly collapsed in relief when she was able to surround all three of them with a sturdy block. Without it, they’d be exposed and vulnerable. “I have us covered, but we need to get off the street.”
“Gunner won’t be able to sense you if you’re blocking us,” James said.
She grabbed his hand and ran down a side street. “If I drop my block, Azel will send his demons after us. We’ll be outnumbered. We’ll be caught again.”
“She’s right,” Spencer said sticking close. “We have to stay covered.”
“I won’t risk leaving us exposed even for a moment.” There was a car at the end of the alley, probably belonging to the owner of the pizza shop beside it. “Can you make the car drive?” she asked James.
At his nod, she quickly looked around for something to break the window. There was a broken brick on the ground by the dumpster. Grabbing it, she handed it to James.
He smashed the back window without hesitation and popped the locks. “Quick. Get in.”
Luna and Spencer clambered in as James did something with the wires under the steering wheel. A moment later, the engine fired to life and they tore out onto the street.
“Brother…”
“Not now,” Gunner barked at Chaos.
Gunner was being an asshole, he was aware of this, but right then, he didn’t give that first fuck. He didn’t have time to chitchat. He didn’t give a fuck about anything except finding Luna and bringing her home. He’d only come back to the compound long enough to get more weapons. If he was here, he wasn’t out there torturing demon scum and trying to get them to talk.
“I think you’ll be interested in this,” Chaos said.
“You’d be wrong.” Gunner crossed the control room, heading for the doors.
“A car just pulled up to the compound gates,” Chaos said. “Brother, it’s Luna.”
Gunner spun around. “What?”
Chaos said nothing more because of course he’d heard.
Gunner sprinted back the way he’d come, smashing the door to the hall open and rushing into the stairwell. He propelled himself over the railing, ignoring the stairs completely, letting his wings explode from his back to catch the air as he dropped the five flights.
His boots hit the floor with a thud and he was running again, yanking open the door at the bottom and bursting into the parking garage just as the car rolled in. He was on it before it had fully stopped. Gripping the door handle, he yanked the door clean off the car. He hadn’t meant to, but he’d lost all control.
Luna sat in the back. “I’m okay,” she said, trying to undo her seat belt.
He growled, it was all he was capable of, and reached into the back of the car, tore the seat belt in half, and lifted her out, holding her to him. He tried not to crush her, but having her back when he thought he might never see her again was making it hard to be gentle.
He glanced at James as he approached and gave him a chin lift and somehow managed actual words. “Glad to see you as well, brother.”
James did the same, lips curling up on one side.
Gunner motioned to Spencer. “Take him. Put him in a cell. I’ll deal with him later.” Because that fucker was the reason Luna had been captured, and he would pay for it.
Luna shook her head, taking his face in her hands. “He didn’t do anything wrong, Gunner, I promise. Don’t lock him in a cell. I’ll explain everything, but please, you need to help Ronan, you need to help my brother.”
Gunner's head snapped back. “Your brother?”
“He held Azel off so we could escape,” James said.
Luna stared up at him wide-eyed. “He’s alive. He’s been alive this whole time.” She clutched him tighter. “He’s fighting Azel on his own. I don’t know how much longer he can hold him off.”
Boots thudding on the concrete floor echoed around the cavernous space. His brothers.
He pressed his mouth to the shell of her ear. “I want you in my apartment and I don’t want you to leave it. Wait for me there, love,” Gunner said in as gentle a voice as he could manage while relief and fury battled it out inside him.
“Azel’s still strong, you need to be careful.”
He buried his nose against her hair and breathed deep. When he lifted his head, there was no missing the fear in her eyes.
“You will come back to me, won’t you?” Luna whispered.
His body went from trembling with rage to full-out shaking. “Nothing could stop me.”
Her hand lifted, and she cupped his bearded cheek. “Being parted from you felt like dying.”
There she went, rocking him to his fucking core.
“Luna,” he rasped.
“I know I’m new to this and I’m still learning about my emotions and how they feel, but before my brother took me, I was pretty sure I’d fallen in love with you, Gunner. I did quite a bit of reading about it and a lot of the…symptoms, I have, pointed to love. And when I thought I’d never see you again, I knew I was right. Because for the first time since you found me, I didn’t have to analyze my physical reactions or my thoughts, I just…knew.”
He pulled her in tighter, and fuck shaking, he was quaking, breath damn near rattling from his lungs, muscles jumping, veins pulsing, ears buzzing. “You love me?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation or reservation.
Gunner pressed his lips to the delicate skin just below her ear and squeezed his eyes closed, breathing roughly through his nose to hold it together.
He pressed another kiss there, then lifted his head, his gaze locking on hers. “I love you too, Luna. But that word seems too small to describe the way you make me feel, the way I feel about you.”
They stared into each other’s eyes, neither one saying a word but saying so damn much at the same time.
“We need to get going,” Chaos said, breaking the spell.
James was with his brothers, had filled them in.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, then lowered her to her feet. Grace was there, Mia with her, and both females wrapped their arms around Luna before leading her away.
Luna turned back, not taking her eyes off Gunner until she walked through the door and he was out of sight.
Gunner stood in the room that Luna had been held in—he could still smell her scent—and kicked over the bedside table. The room was already trashed.
The whole apartment was fucked, furniture broken and tossed around, curtains torn down, and blood, lots of blood smeared everywhere.
He had no idea who it belonged to, Luna’s brother or Azel. But with the amount of blood around the place, whoever had been injured would be either dead or would need a fuck of a long time to recover. He hoped for Luna’s sake that the blood wa
sn’t Ronan’s.
Gunner was searching the room while his brothers checked out the rest of the place. This wasn’t someone’s home. There were no personal touches. But it was close to where Azel had lived with Luna in his hidden McMansion.
Gunner moved to the next room. The master bedroom. His gaze moved to the bed. The sheets were rumpled. He moved closer, and there was a little blood smeared on the white sheets as well, only this blood had dried. It was older.
Ronan had fed from someone here. Screwing up his face, he leaned in and sniffed. There was something familiar about it. This scent had been on Luna when he first found her, when she still had Azel in her system.
Gunner straightened. The angel had used her brother here. Had convinced the male he needed to feed from him. Maybe Ronan’s dependency on Azel's blood was as strong as Luna’s had been.
Azel was a fucking monster.
A sick, twisted predator who had preyed on Luna and her brother. Who had taken advantage of them, of what they are.
He strode out and helped search the rest of the apartment, but there was no trace of the angel or Ronan and no clues as to where they would have gone.
“Go to your female,” Chaos said, planting his hands on his hips. “There’s nothing here. Laz and Kryos will stay and watch the place overnight. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
Gunner didn’t need to be told twice. He’d come to kill Azel, and since the fucking coward had disappeared again, there was no reason for him to stay.
Not when Luna had just told him she loved him, and not when he’d been separated from her for close to a week. A separation that had almost killed him.
Without another word, he walked out and took to the skies.
He needed her.
He needed her now.
Chapter 31
The door banged shut, followed by the thump of heavy boots.
Tightening the towel around her, Luna rushed out of the bathroom.
Oh god, please, let him be okay.
The bedroom door was already open and Gunner was walking through, amber eyes slicing to her. Her knees actually wobbled as his gaze ate her up hungrily, a wildness in his eyes she’d never seen before.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” he said. “No, I’m not okay, Luna. You were gone for days. I had no idea what was happening, if he was hurting you…”
“No one hurt me, no one touched me.”
He let out a ragged breath. “Azel?”
“He wasn’t there, not until the day we escaped. Ronan didn’t want to believe the things Azel had done at first, the lies he’d been told, but he kept me hidden. He saved me in the end.” Pain sliced through her. “Ronan wasn’t there, was he?”
He shook his head.
Somehow, she’d known her brother wouldn’t be coming home with Gunner.
“Is he…dead?”
“I don’t know, love.”
He had to be okay. He had to be. She couldn’t bear to finally find him only to lose him now. He’d shielded himself and her from Azel, he could do it again. He could keep himself safe. As long as he hadn’t believed the fallen angel’s lies all over again.
“Why are you all the way over there?” Gunner said.
She moved, then ran to him, and he caught her up instantly, strong arms banding around her as he lifted her off the ground. His mouth came down on hers a moment later, hungry and hard. He’d kissed her in a way that told her how much he wanted her before, but not like this. He’d never kissed her like this.
The hand at her back moved up, thrusting into her hair, and he tilted her head where he wanted it, his mouth opening over hers, tongue thrusting deep, claiming, so incredibly possessive.
He kissed her until she was squirming, then lifted his head, tugging hers back at the same time. “I need you, Luna. I fucking need you.”
Her skin grew hot, clammy, and she gripped his shoulders. His level of hunger for her was overwhelming. He’d been holding back from her all this time, hadn’t he? Not wanting to scare her. He’d been fighting to control all the wild hunger rolling off him now.
He’d hidden it, trying to protect her. Always protecting her. Always putting her needs first.
If she still needed to breathe, that realization would have knocked the wind right out of her lungs. The male staring down at her so intensely was the best male she had ever met—kind and generous and selfless and affectionate. What he felt for her was in every single thing he’d done to make her life easier, safer. In the way he held her and spoke to her, looked at her.
His big body quaked. “I’m sorry, love.” His arms still banded around her squeezed tighter. “You’re not ready. I just…I was so fucking scared.” He pressed his face against her throat and breathed in deep, shaking harder. “The need to get closer to you is an ache down to my bones. Just let me hold you, okay? We don’t need to do anything else. Just…I need to hold you.”
Those heavily muscled arms squeezed again, crushing her to his massive chest, the trembling of his body not waning, his ragged breathing not slowing. He thought she was afraid, that she didn’t want to take that final step with him when it was all she wanted at that moment.
“Gunner,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to his temple, the only place she could reach. “The way you want me…” she whispered against his skin. “You make me feel so incredibly loved. I’ve watched you for so long, a yearning I didn’t understand building every time I saw you. My soul recognized you before I did, it knew who you were.” He lifted his head, and she cupped his whiskered jaw and stared into his gorgeous eyes. “I wasn’t living until you found me. My heart may have stopped beating, but I’ve never been more alive. Not ready? I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
He snarled as deep repetitive vibrations rolled from his chest, as the muscles in his strong arms flexed against her.
She smiled, letting him see everything she was feeling. Emotions that she was able to experience now because of him, because he found her and changed her whole world.
“I want to be your mate, Gunner. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
The sound that left him wasn’t of this world. Animalistic and raw. His demon was right there with him. His massive hand cupped the back of her head gently, reverently. “Are you sure?” he asked, voice full of grit, of need. “Once it’s done, it can’t be undone. It’s forever, Luna.”
“I want forever with you,” she said, somehow managing to stop the tears trying to break free.
He sucked a breath in through his nose. “Luna.”
That was all he said, just her name, but the weight in that one word, his tone deep, solemn, and so rough, expressed more than anything else could.
He moved then, carrying her to the couch where he sat, keeping her across his lap. Then, gripping the towel wrapped around her body, he tugged gently. Luna bit her lip as it fell away as Gunner pulled it out from under her and threw it on the floor.
She was completely naked in his arms, in every sense of the word, and she’d never felt safer in her life.
“Do you have any fucking idea how gorgeous you are?”
She shook her head.
A half chuckle, half grunt huffed out of him and goose bumps lifted all over her body as a big calloused palm made slow progress up her calf. “This smooth skin like cream silk makes me crazy. I want to spend hours just running my lips over every part of you. And these curves,” he said as his hand moved over her thigh, to her hip, then to her waist. “Curves that feel fucking phenomenal against me, so soft, so sweet.”
One of his hands cupped her breast, and she sucked in a surprised breath.
His long, thick, rough-skinned fingers toyed with her nipple and he pressed his forehead to hers. “You are everything I ever dreamed of, Luna, everything I would have wished for.”
Oh god.
“But your beauty is so much deeper than this gorgeous body, this stunning face, those exquisite eyes. It shines from within; it lights you up. You shin
e so bright, love, I can’t look away.”
“Gunner,” she choked, trying to hold it together.
He was destroying her in the best possible way, one sentence at a time, and as he spoke, that huge battle-scarred hand continued to move over her skin, smoothing over her stomach, her arms, skating over her thighs, teasing, tormenting, making her squirm and shiver and tingle all over. He made another pass across her upper thigh and she moaned, squeezing them together.
“Please,” she said, covering his hand with hers.
He dragged his nose up the side of her throat, sucking on her jaw, nipping her earlobe. “Spread your legs for me, love.”
Holy hell. She didn’t think she could get any more turned on, but at this quiet demand, she felt a rush of heat between her thighs.
Gunner continued kissing her neck, sucking on her skin as he cupped her and slid one thick finger along the seam of her pussy.
“Fuck, Luna, so wet.”
She whimpered and tilted her hips, silently asking for more. He gave it to her instantly and moved that wicked finger through her slick, tender flesh. His erection was long and hard beneath her, and knowing how much he wanted her, too, just turned her on more.
“Please, Gunner,” she begged.
“You want to ride my fingers, love?”
She nodded quickly, and his dark chuckle caused another of those hot zaps through her belly.
He dragged his fingers back through her center before pushing one deep. Luna jerked in his arms, crying out, spreading her thighs wider, asking for more, always more. He thrust in and out of her body with smooth and steady strokes. And when he curled his finger inside her, hitting some perfect spot, she reached down and covered his hand, holding him there.
“More?” he gritted out.
“Yes.”
He pushed in a second finger and thrust deeper. “Fuck, you’re all over my hand, Luna, soaking into my jeans. You gonna come for me?”
She cried out again, so close, right on the edge.
“Faster?”
She bit her lips and nodded.
His fingers moved faster, and the feeling building inside her, that now familiar feeling grew and grew until she was sure it couldn’t grow any bigger until she was moaning and calling Gunner's name, desperate to reach the peak.
Knight's Absolution (Knights of Hell Book 5) Page 25