by S King
Tightening her legs around my waist, her smaller hands rested against my shoulders.
“You,” she whispered before kissing me with more passion and need than she had ever kissed me before.
Green light. Food could wait. Sounded fine to me. Pressing her closer to me I carried her to my room without breaking the kiss and kicked the door open. Her hands ripped the front of my shirt open and clawed at my chest.
Her frenzied movements were met with my own. Setting her down on the bed, I pulled the shirt over her head, thankful for the lack of bra. Luminous was the furthest thing from being a board. She wasn’t full figured, but damn had she gotten curves for days during the time we had been apart.
My shirt met hers on the floor, followed by my pants and boxers. Lifting her from the bed, I was pleasantly surprised to find she wasn’t wearing any underwear as the baggy sweatpants dropped in a heap around her ankles.
“I missed you so damn much,” tangling my fingers in her hair. I forced her to look in my eyes.
“Prove it,” she challenged and jumped on me again.
“Careful what you wish for,” I kissed her hard lowering her on my throbbing cock. We had spent too much time apart to be sweet and gentle. And although the kiss from Pexi was somewhat nice. Nothing. Not even a fleeting kiss from a stranger compared to that of my Luminous River.
Her walls tightened around me while a pleading moan left her lips. She was as I remembered her. Tight, warm. Home. Slowly I pulled out of her before ramming back home. Between her moans and her claws biting into my skin, I didn’t know which was better and didn’t care.
Laying her on the bed, I didn’t slow the tempo as I spread her legs and pumped into her harder. Finding that special spot that made Luminous go crazy was the same as winning the lottery ten times over.
“God!” Her hands shot out, grabbing the sheets like a lifeline and arched her back. The move gave me access to drive deeper into her precious body and unleash what I had been holding back.
Grabbing her hips, I circled her clit with my thumb. With my own climax started coming, forcing me to think of something that would deter me from erupting in her so early. Anything would do at this point, but thankfully the woman who had stolen my heart—or what was left of it anyway, had prevented me from thinking of anything other than her screams.
Jackknifing off the bed, she grabbed my arm. Digging her nails into my forearm as I forced her to ride through the climax as I kept pounding into her. That was until my body won the fight over my mind. In an erratic fashion I sped up the pumping before stilling in her, buried to the hilt in her creamy flesh.
While my member twitched and jerked, I kissed her hard. Unforgivingly so. This woman was mine and now I knew for certain, without a shadow of a doubt, I was hers.
When my heart slowed down enough to stop sputtering and my breathing became somewhat normal. I rolled over to the side of the bed taking her with me.
“I guess you did miss me,” she mumbled sleepily.
I snorted, trailing my fingers through her damp hair as I closed my eyes for a second.
“You shouldn’t have doubted me.”
She made a noise in her throat, as her hand snaked its way onto my chest and her breathing slowed.
“Do you want to eat?”
“Mm,” it was the type of answer that told me she didn’t care one way or the other if she ate or went to sleep. But I didn’t want her to become weak. Not after what she had survived within the last few months.
At the memory of what I had done, I clenched my teeth and did the very thing I shouldn’t have done. Shifting just enough to the point she wouldn’t notice, I found the faint scar right above her hip, slightly to the left. Too close to her womb and too wide for my comfort.
To know I was the one who had done this to her, I felt like the world’s biggest jackass. A monster. How in the hell had I thought she was going to have any type of feelings for me after what I had done? I didn’t deserve her love. I didn’t deserve to be inside her. I didn’t deserve to call her mine.
In fact, since I was on this honesty train in my mind, I had to admit one simple fact. I wasn’t pissed off at the fact that she and that mother fucker named Shang had kissed. I wasn’t even mad she had kissed him back. No, all of it was understandable, especially after I had seen for myself what my very hand currently holding her had done just a few months ago.
No I was pissed off at the idea someone else saw the type of jewel Luminous was and knew he would be able to treat her better than me. On any given day.
“Demir,” her voice snapped my mind away from my self-berating thoughts and brought me back to the present.
“What?”
She sat up in the bed and rubbed her eyes, “let’s go eat. I don’t want that food to go to waste.” She said through a yawn.
I smirked, moving her hair away from her neck and kissed the tender flesh.
“Since when do you know how to cook?”
She slapped my chest lightly and rolled her eyes after grabbing my button down from the floor. “I lived on my own since I was sixteen. I know how to cook,” with a seductive wink and only the three remaining buttons closing the shirt. She sauntered from the room and called over her shoulder, “come on before I eat it all.”
I snorted, rubbing a hand over my jaw. Now was as good as a time as any, I thought to myself as I looked at my closet. An almost nervous giddiness settled over me as I got off the bed and went straight for the black Dior backpack.
Grabbing the black box from the hidden pocket, I shoved my legs into a pair of flannel pants and cut off the light before going into the dining room. Dropping the box in my pocket, I sat at the table across from her and watched as she filled both of our plates with the rewarmed food.
“Is any of this poisoned?” I asked after taking the plate from her.
“I couldn’t find your poison,” she quipped with a devil may care smile playing on her lips.
I rolled my eyes and thanked her for the food. all the while running through the different approaches I could take.
“Anything new happen in the courts today?” She wouldn’t meet my gaze, but I knew what the underlying message was behind the question. She wanted to know about what had happened—if anything from our little explosive exit from Ravendowager.
I grabbed the glass of wine and downed half of the glass before answering her. “Right now there’s been no mention of it.”
“Or they haven’t told you?”
I shrugged, “it could be. But Alexi would’ve told me had anything happened.”
“When did you two become so close?” A furrow pinched her brow as she looked at me over the brim of her own wine glass.
“After the whole Nine Lives event.”
She nodded, stabbing her fork into the steak, “we haven’t talked about what we’re going to do now.”
“What do you want to do?” I poured her another glass of wine and waited to see where her head was at.
“Running away isn’t an option.”
I had wanted to ask her why the hell not? But stopped the argument before it started. I knew there was no way in hell Luminous would ever run away from a fight and this situation was no different. She was just as much a fighter as a special ops soldier and anyone who said otherwise was more than likely a paper pusher who couldn’t see past the nose on their face.
“We need to find out who is helping us from the shadows. They know more than what they’re telling and doing something like that doesn’t sit right with me.”
There was my fighter. She may have been sick at the mere thought of what would happen to her should she be caught by the PG members. But even with the thought and fear dancing behind those damning eyes of hers. Luminous River was back.
“What do you suggest, Miss. River?” I leaned back into the seat and smirked at her.
A wicked smile, one I had recognized all too well appeared on her slightly swollen lips.
“We need to set a trap.”
I opened my mouth to ask her what kind of trap she was talking about when my phone ringing cut off the conversation. Glancing at the clock I knew the only one calling me would be the very band of people I was trying to avoid right now. Until the flames from Ravendowager had fanned enough to be brushed away, I was on hyper alertness.
Getting up from the table, I grabbed the device from my briefcase and answered the thing.
“This is Losett.”
“The judges are convening, be prepared for a fight.” Judge Alexi sounded about as thrilled as the ominous warning he had just handed down.
“How soon?” I stared out the window at the wanning moon and gritted my teeth.
“Within the hour, don’t be late.”
He didn’t give me the chance to question him further on what it was that we were going to be arguing about. But something in the pit of my stomach grew like the black hole in my heart.
The meeting had to be about Luminous and Ravendowager. There was no way it couldn’t have been. Black Diamond Orders didn’t come this late at night and if they did it was for a guard member who had crossed the line in more ways than one.
Dropping the phone on the couch, I turned to Luminous.
“You have to go?” She asked and sat back in her chair.
“I’m sorry,” I crossed the floor and offered her my hand. When she took it, I helped her from the chair and ran a finger down her throat. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She tried to smile at me as she nodded, “it’s fine. I’m going to clean up and probably go back to sleep.”
Kissing her quickly, I rested my forehead against hers, “move your things into my room. Ok?”
Lifting a brow, she leaned back to meet my gaze, “are you asking me to move in?”
I snorted and rolled my eyes, “as if you haven’t already.”
With a fashion in the only way she could, Luminous straightened her back and saluted me. “As you wish, honorable Judge Losett.”
The move made my button down shirt ride up a little higher to show off her thighs. As she bent to get the dishes from the table, I had one hell of a time not mentally telling Alexi and the other judges to just fuck off. But I couldn’t do that, and I wasn’t going to.
Regretfully, I marched my ass to the bathroom and got in the shower. I had no problem going around with Luminous’s perfume on me. The problem, however, was I didn’t know who else would recognize the scent. And I didn’t want to give anyone—especially Sadvidge—a clue about where the mysterious Silver Angel was hiding.
For now, I needed to act as if there was nothing out of the ordinary and the Platinum Guard members were still on the hunt for the woman who had my heart wrapped around her finger.
§§§§§
I nodded to the other judges as I took my seat in the middle of the bench. Thanks to my appointment I was given the seat facing the door which would open in to reveal the person meant for execution, assignment, or questioning.
Whether it was someone from Honor, Silver, or Gold each of them entered through the same door. Even though all three guards had their respective territories littered throughout Castlehedge. The underground tunnels always came back to the Onyx Elite.
But as I adjusted myself in the leather chair, I took note of the slight difference in the door fifty feet away from the bench. Normally the black marble barrier looked like the rest of the courtroom. Shiny, unblemished, solid. Yet today something was off with the barrier. For one reason or another it wasn’t as perfectly unblemished as it had been when I left the room just mere hours ago. No, there was definitely something different about the door in front of me. But to hell if I could figure it out.
“Judge Losett,” I glanced over my shoulder and frowned as Judge Alexi jerked his head for me to follow him.
Pushing out of the chair, I followed the other man from the courtroom and down the hallway. The other judges would be getting themselves prepared for whatever the night had in store. Behind the confines of their own office doors and without the ease of access to listen to idle conversations meant to be private.
Per the usual, the corridors were perfectly silent and not even dust particles dared to tarnish the dim but shiny black marble flooring. Tonight, however, there weren’t any court flunkies standing against the wall waiting for the command of the OE judges. An oddity within itself.
I followed Alexi in his office and took in the black furniture. Unlike my office, his didn’t hold any form of color or decoration. Sure, I had a picture of Luminous on my desk and a map of Colorado behind my chair. But Alexi opted for keeping things simple and ordinary. Smart on his part.
“Close the door.” His tone was hard and determined. Unlike any other time he had talked to me. What the hell was going on now?
I did as I was told, closing the door only to frown at him.
“What’s going on?”
He tossed a thick file folder at me on his desk and pointed it. “Have you read the case for tonight?”
“No,” I said slowly crossing the floor.
“Slade Zuko decided to get the bright idea to break into the courts and take a confidential file on Shang Wylan.”
“What?”
No, no, no. They weren’t supposed to find out about this, and they really weren’t supposed to catch Slade. How in the fuck did this happen?
Ok, sure he didn’t specifically tell me how he had gotten Shang’s information and had told me and Dristan not to worry about it. But if he kept the mission close to the vest. How did the judges of Onyx Elite find out the details?
I ripped the file from Alexi’s desk and flipped through the pages detailing all of the information Slade had taken. But he didn’t just take the file from anywhere. No, of course not. The crazy son of a bitch had broken into Sadvidge’s office and tore her filing system apart to find the information. And why did he do it?
Another wave of guilt washed over me for the second time in less than eight hours. Since I had asked Slade and Dristan to find out what they could about Shang, I had ultimately put both of them in imminent danger of the Onyx Elite. That was why he had done it. And now I had to figure out a way to get things back in order while keeping Slade very much alive.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Alexi glared at me with the type of rage a father would have at his son for doing something so stupid it was next to incomprehensible.
Swallowing hard, I stared at the pages of charges and what the recommended punishment was going to be. How were we going to get out of this? My mind ran rampantly on ideas but no matter how hard I tried to think of a solution. I had nothing.
“Answer me, Losett!”
Grounding my teeth together, I closed my eyes for a second. Admission would enrage the senior judge further but denying it wouldn’t help either. Maybe I could weasel my way into talking Alexi into coming up with a solution for me.
Looking at him, I breathed “yes.”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
I did. Or at least, I was getting a pretty fucking clear picture to what was coming.
“Sadvidge wants that kid’s head. Make an example out of him so the other guards know what will happen should they cross the line.”
“She doesn’t hold the majority vote.” I countered, clutching the file folder to my side as I looked at him. “She can vote for it, but it’ll—”
“Do you think this isn’t going to pass with all of the evidence stacked up against him?”
“It can’t—”
“It can and it will, Demir. I don’t know what type of fucked up rank you’re pulling on your former guard members but let me give you a piece of advice.” He rounded the desk and came to stand in front of me. “Keep your friends out of harm’s way if you want to have any friends after all of this.”
I clenched my teeth and shook my head as I dropped my eyes, “no. This…I did not tell him to break into the office. I didn’t tell him to take the information.”
“But you asked
him to find out everything he could on Shang, didn’t you?”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer the question. A thousand lives passed over my mentor’s face and from each of the shadows dancing within his eyes. I saw them laughing at my ignorance and the pain that was to come.
Blowing out a hard breath, he pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. When he had regained some of his composure, he looked at me.
“Keep your mouth shut until the vote and do not tip Slade off about what is coming his way.” He warned. Pushing past me, I could tell he was on the verge of losing his mind. As he opened the door to his office, a final command from his lips.
“Let’s go.”
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was losing everything at once. Sure, Luminous was back but how long would she remain at my side? Then there was Slade.
When he was healing me from my own ass kicking from the Honor Guard, I had seen his death as soon as he grabbed my hands. Unlike anyone else’s life flashing before my eyes, his was peaceful. But I had seen it. Tonight, no matter what I said or did, Slade would lose his life by a broken neck from Roxy. Unless I could figure out a way to stop the entire thing from happening at all.
It wouldn’t be the first time I had seen someone’s death and interfered with fate’s plan. I had seen Luminous’s death, and she was still very much alive. It was all a matter of planning everything just right. The question now was if I had the time to stop the act from happening.
Clenching my teeth, I walked ten paces back from Alexi, trying to think of a solution while forcing the images of Slade’s death to the back of my mind. There’d be no reasoning with Sadvidge. She wasn’t the type of woman to listen to anyone except maybe whoever was above her. And pulling a sneak and grab was out of the question considering my position.
As different possibilities ran through my mind, I remembered how Slade and I had become something of friends over these past few months. We weren’t as close as me and Dristan were, but we had become enough of associates to listen to each other. Help when it was needed and have a beer or two. To think of all of the times Slade had come to mine, Dristan’s Karina’s and Luminous’s rescue when we were on the cusp of death. It was obvious he meant more to our little quartet than just another pair of hands.