No Longer Alone (House of Garner Book 1)

by Erin R Flynn

  I felt the same, but there were also thousands of corrupted still in the city. I could sense them, and in a large city like Columbus that had had a good sized population, it made sense there were a lot.

  “Columbus was like in the top twenty-five, I think,” Callum muttered, rubbing his hand over his head. “But the really big ones were bombed and other focused targets like certain bases or NORAD. That still probably puts here at over half a million people. Assuming half got infected before fleeing—”

  “Half is kind—” Vance argued.

  “Before fleeing,” he repeated. “I know they’re guessing seventy percent of the world was wiped out or whatever, but assume half of that was before they could flee.”

  “And maybe a quarter of that got eaten outright, not just infected,” Darius muttered. “You’re still looking at almost two hundred thousand, as some would have fled here from the bigger cities but thinking there was safety.” He swallowed loudly. “I didn’t know that seventy percent was wiped out.”

  Callum shrugged. “That’s their guess, taking in the huge cities and populations that was also bombed. They have no idea. Realistically, it could be more than that. I mean, look how many cities you’ve traveled around that are just gone on top of the major ones.”

  “Okay, let’s not get distracted with that,” I muttered, rubbing my chest still as it sank in just how bad of a place the world was in. Fuck, I had never thought those numbers too. It made me really, really grateful I had family left and worried for them, wanting to check in again.

  How I fucking missed phones.

  “We can’t just hang out and clear them all,” Darius reminded us. “We’ve been thinning, cutting through the packs and doing what we can to even the scales, but our mission isn’t to wipe them out. We can later, but we have other problems too. Clarence. Others that would want her. Apparently the US government has lost it’s mind, not that it’s really a government anymore, and her coven will be in the US.”

  “Does it have to be?” Vance groaned, scrubbing his hands over his head. “Shit, the Goddess is always right, but shit, that’s going to be a fight.”

  “Do we deserve to have a future after the apocalypse if we don’t fight?” I muttered, getting back to work. “We stay on the plan and do the best we can. We’ll talk to her when she’s done. Keep switching out and take a break.”

  And that was what we did. Every half an hour the car would come back, understanding the rest of us were worried, and trade drivers. And each time she’d look more and more beat up until I was desperate to keep her near me when Callum pulled away with her well after lunch.

  When they came back, she burst out of the car, tripping over her feet and almost falling flat on her face. I caught her in time and dragged her to stand.

  “I did it!” she exclaimed too loudly as if her head hurt or the ghosts that had been shouting at her for hours echoed in her head. “I got them all.”

  And then she fainted again.

  “I’m taking her back to camp to rest,” I muttered, swinging her up in my arms.

  “Wait, you need to see what she did,” Callum said, looking a bit pale.

  That couldn’t be good.

  “You mean she fixed the electric SUVs and trucks we found so we could get them later?” Wolfe asked, glancing with Wilson. “Yeah, we know. Wilson drove the SUV back.”

  “She charged up what we already had and all the batteries too,” Darius muttered.

  “We just drove around because she wasn’t itchy,” Vance muttered, Asher nodding the same.

  “Yeah, but then she got itchy, just trust me,” Callum said, shaking his head and waving for us to come with.

  I sighed as we loaded up in the SUV, car, and cargo van just because none of us were little. I held her as I rode in the cargo van with Darius, sharing a few worried looks, but at least we didn’t have to go far.

  Callum stopped at a solar panel store. Okay, that was a smart place to go to, but I didn’t get why he was being so weird. We’d seen her fix panels and fix the batteries attached to them. I left her curled up in the seat, ducking into the store and realizing it wasn’t just a store.

  “They’re a small name, but this is their production plant,” Callum told us. “And she fixed them all. I felt it. I felt her power and the energy jump along every panel and component in here.”

  “Shit, that’s—” Darius started to say.

  “I’m not done,” he warned, leading us back outside and across the parking area of the industrial complex to another store. “That was when she finished with Asher and Vance when I started driving her and she was sort of itchy. She was really itchy at the end, and I remembered seeing this place, so we came back.”

  I looked around at the large batteries that I knew weren’t vehicle ones and looked a bit like the others we’d found for panels, nodding. “So she charged some batteries. Got it.”

  “She charged them all,” he corrected, bobbing his head when we gave him disbelieving looks. “I felt it like the hair on the back of my neck or when you turn on lights and they flare up one by one. And these are industrial batteries meant for power plants and grids. This is the corporate office and manufacturing plant of the company that makes and sets up power plants. She lit up their fucking stock.”

  “How many?” Darius whispered, swallowing loudly.

  “I have no idea, but the whole back is full of them,” he answered. “This is just the pretty show room store front. “Did you look at the back seat of the car? The whole thing was covered in seeds, the floor as well.”

  “No wonder she passed out,” Asher said with a whistle. “She’s a fucking miracle.”

  “We need to stash these in trailers like the weapons and the panels,” I muttered. “Get it all loaded up and hidden to pick up later. And fast. She has more stuff she has to find.”

  “What are you going to do?” Vance asked, understanding I was giving orders.

  “Treasure our miracle the way she deserves after doing all of this,” I answered, heading back out. I tried to hide I was shaken, but I saw Darius was too as we got back in the van. “She smells wiped and down on the tank but not hurt. She didn’t use too much power and hurt herself.”

  “No, but that had to be exhausting.” He started the van and brought us back to the car. “I’ve never seen anything like this, like her, and she’s still so weak.” He glanced over at her. “Fuck, what can she do when she’s grown into her power and has a court?”

  “More miracles than the stories of the goddesses of old,” I muttered, kissing her hair. “And we’ll worship her just as our ancestors did them.”

  “She wants to be loved, not worshiped.”

  I snorted. “Isn’t that the same thing when a man gives his heart to a woman?”

  “Yeah, it’s the same,” he agreed after a few moments.

  I got her moved to the car and brought her back to our camp, snuggling her in bed before getting the grill and smoker fired up for dinner. Then I crawled in with her, knowing how much she liked to be held, not feel alone anymore. It had been all she’d known and years of shouldering it all. She was a miracle.

  She slept for another hour before sucking in a deep breath to let me know she was up. She blinked around as she pushed up. “What happened?”

  “You fainted again,” I answered, pulling her back to me. “How do you feel?”

  “Tired, a bit spacy, but that itching got bad,” she murmured. “Are we alone?”

  “We are,” I breathed, cupping her head as I lowered my lips to hers. “You should sleep more.”

  I saw the hesitation in her eyes, but she swallowed it down and gave me a teasing, sultry reply. “Wear me out so I can.”

  “My pleasure,” I groaned, rolling us out of the bed and getting us naked in a flash. I carried her and the bathing stuff to the lake.

  “Is it weird that I hope we still do this even after we build a coven or whatever?”

  “No, not at all, as we’re very in tune with nature,” I
told her as I set her on her feet. “I loved to do this now and again even before everything went to shit. It’s fun to enjoy life.”

  “It is,” she agreed, getting shy when I stared at her body.

  “Inez, do you want me?” I whispered as I ran my hands over her soft skin, touching as well as looking my fill. I smiled when she blushed and ducked her head even as she nodded. “Do you want me as much as Darius?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, shivering with desire as I let my fingers rub over her nipples.

  “Will you let me be with you like he is?”

  Heat filled her eyes as she looked up, licking her lips. “Yes, you can fuck me too. Do you want to fuck me, Jaxon, or the princess?”

  “You,” I snarled, shoving two fingers in her wet pussy. “Are you mine, Inez, or just my princess?”

  “I’ll be yours,” she mewled as she dug her nails in my skin. It made me agree she might really have a cat as her spirit animal as she mewled, scratched, and purred more and better than any other woman I’d ever seen. “Will you still be sweet?”

  “I’m going to give you everything, including all the sweet you could want,” I promised. And I did. I washed her with care, kissing and touching her in ways she clearly liked. I brought her back to the mattress and then took the world’s fastest bath while she had a moment to dry. I came back with a bottle of moisturizer and started at her feet, peeling off her towels so I saw all of her.

  “I feel like you’re oiling me up to eat me like when you cook meat,” she moaned, her head resting on her shoulder as she watched me. “That feels so good.”

  “I do plan to eat you,” I promised. “But what you did today, what you’ve been doing is tiring, and pampering your body will help.”

  “It smells good.” She let out a soft giggle. “I’ll be minty fresh now.”

  “The spearmint and chamomile draw out impurities, and the eucalyptus soothes your body,” I murmured, wanting her to relax before I pounced and sated her. “I like the smell too, but it smells so much better on your skin.” I leaned in and sniffed her ankle. “Much better when it’s blended with you.” My nostrils flared when I smelled her wetness.

  Wow, she really liked it when we saw her the woman and not the princess. That was obviously a hard point for her to get used to, and I was glad we knew it so soon.

  And I was really glad I’d thought ahead and snagged several bottles of this when I’d seen it days ago when we were gathering supplies.

  After I massaged every inch of her skin with the moisturizer, I brought out something else I’d snagged. She stared at me with a lazy gaze, relaxed and smiling. I slowly rolled the first stocking up her leg before doing the other. She watched me as I slid on the panties and garter belt, clipping it to the stockings. Her breasts jiggled as I put on the matching lace corset, and my cock twitched with need for her.

  “Not sure I get to wear virginal white stuff anymore,” she chuckled nervously. “And why do that to take it right off?”

  “Because you’ll let me and then I get the fun of taking it off,” I murmured as I kissed her pushed up breasts. “Fuck me, you are perfect.” I pulled her to sit up, studying every inch of her. “And you’re a virgin with me.” I smirked at her. “Be my virgin as it’s our first time?”

  Her eyes lit up with understanding. Yeah, Darius was so thrilled he’d gotten her virginity that any woman would worry it would be an issue with the other man in her life, especially when that man had witnessed what he’d missed out on.

  She nodded, getting to her feet and modeling the lingerie for me even as I saw how nervous she was. She shivered when I gestured for her to turn around.

  “If you bend over, I might blow before I get inside of you,” I admitted.

  And of course she did it. I fucking loved that about her. She knew I wanted it and would do it, not just tease to be mean, but teased only to please.

  I leaned forward and licked her through the panties. “Nothing has ever tasted better than your pussy, Inez.” She snickered like she was going to snark at me, but I licked her again and she just moaned. Perfect. I moved us fast enough that she yelped and sat her on my face, digging in to the dessert she’d promised me. At first she was nervous, not knowing what to do.

  But after the first orgasm she didn’t care about nerves, fisting my hair and grinding her hips to get more of what I offered. I reached up and teased her perfect breasts, bringing her through a few more orgasms until her legs couldn’t take sitting like that.

  I slid her off of me and moved between her legs, eyeing her over and loving that glazed look in her eyes. “Let me have you, love. Fuck me, just let me feel you wrapped around me.”

  “Yes, please,” she whimpered. “I need you, Jaxon. That’s what I wanted, to feel like I would die if you weren’t in me.”

  “I feel the same,” I promised, yanking the panties off her instead of simply pushing them aside.

  She was more than wet and ready for me. I slowly pushed my cock in her, giving her time to adjust as I rocked us. When I was fully seated, I reached up and started to untie the corset, revealing more of her pale, perfect skin and kissing it as I did.

  I gave a deep, hard thrust, making her gasp and sending every nerve in my body into overdrive. I’d found heaven, and it was inside the gorgeous princess unlike any other. Guiding her legs up high on my back as I leaned over her, I thrust like that again.

  “Mine, you are fucking mine now, Inez,” I grunted against her lips. “You’re princess, but more importantly, you are my woman.”

  “Yes,” she whimpered, digging her nails in my skin. “Yes, I’ll be yours.”

  “Right the fuck you are,” I growled, sliding my hand in her hair and kissing her as I took her slowly, deeply but not roughly. No, she wanted gentle and tender and whatever my woman, my princess, my Inez wanted, she would have.

  She chanted my name until her orgasm found her, then she screamed in bliss loud enough that it echoed in the empty park. Perfect, she was fucking perfect.

  And she was mine.

  17

  If dressing up just so Jaxon could take it off me flipped his switch this much and ended with passionate, life shattering making love, then I would wear whatever the fuck he wanted me to. The first orgasm left me shaking, and he wasn’t nearly done with me.

  He lowered my legs and angled my hips while keeping my shoulders on the mattress. Then he folded my leg between us and took me so deeply I was sure my body would never be the same. I whimpered his name as the pressure built and built. When he saw I was getting too close, he slowed down or changed the angle. Minutes and minutes of that and finally I was begging him to let me finish.

  “That’s my woman, demanding what she wants,” he praised before kissing me deeply. “Scream for me, love. Tell me how good I’ve made you feel and scream my name.”

  One more deep thrust and I did just that, scratching his arms to shit as I did, my whole body going insane. My fangs ached to come out, and I wanted his blood, but I wanted this chance of it just being us without blood or the extra crazy more.

  He pushed up and smiled at me with a heated gaze as my body still shook with aftershocks. “I’m going to do that again, harder and fast this time, and it will still be lovemaking and not fucking because you want it like that, and I will make us both sing with pleasure and love.”

  I nodded, knowing it was more of a statement than question, but still, I agreed, I wanted that.

  He moved his hand to my folded leg and the other to my hip and did exactly as he said, the intensity jumping levels but not taking away the tenderness, the need for each other. He did wind me up and let me cool a bit again, several rounds, and I was worried how he wasn’t going insane from needing to finish as well.

  Until I realized he was. Finally he couldn’t take it and slammed in me hard enough my joints rattled, and I fucking loved it. He bellowed out my name as he finished in me, my body feeling hot from his release and my orgasm that crashed in me.

  When we were done
, all I could do was stare at him, gasping for air, my world completely rocked. Every inch of me was sated and ached deliciously.

  “I think I’m going to stay here forever,” he mumbled as he lowered my leg. Then he rolled us so I was lying on top of him, his dick still in me. He kept us like that as he pulled the blanket over us, smirking when I giggled. “Just for a bit. Let’s see if I can even go soft from that if I’m still in you. I don’t think it’s possible.”

  “I can’t believe you just said that,” I chuckled, burying my face against his chest when I felt a giggle coming.

  He kept repeating I was his, and something about his possessive and aggressive side coming out tugged at the same side of me I didn’t know I had. I pushed to sit up and moved so his dick slid out of me, kissing him when he objected.

  “Are you mine?” I purred, sliding down his body and wrapping my fingers around his cock. “Is this mine?”

  “Yes, all yours,” he moaned. “I am yours.”

  “All mine? No other’s?”

  “No, only you, Inez,” he swore.

  I nodded, stroking him slowly. “If you put this in me again, giving it to me, it better be only me or I’ll fucking kill her while you watch and then drain you.”

  He shivered and in a good way at my crazy threat. “I want no others, only you, forever. I’m only yours.”

  My fangs came out, and I grabbed his hand, cutting his palm and then rubbing the blood on each of my breasts. “Is that what you want, Jaxon?”

  “Yes, yes I do,” he panted, staring at me with heat and a bit of shock.

  I moaned at how good it felt, but then the cut healed. I smirked as I brought his hand up to my mouth again. “Do you want that again?” I chuckled when he nodded. “Beg me to let your blood touch my naked skin.”

  “Fuck me,” he groaned deeply. “Please, please, Inez, please let me bleed on you. Cover yourself in my blood.”

  I sliced his hand deeper this time and then moved it over his dick. “Bleed on what’s mine before I take it in me.” He did and a lot, vibrating with need and excitement. I took his cock in me, moaning as the tingling and fire raced all over. I didn’t move though, putting my hands on his chest. “It’s mine now, Jaxon.”