Burning Ashes

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Burning Ashes Page 6

by Jadyn Chase


  What he did next was unexpected as he moved behind me, getting himself wet all over again, he removed the pin holding my hair in place. The reddish-brown hues glistened white, betraying my body’s incessant need for the touch of someone like him. No. Not someone like him, Him. I wanted Julian again. With my hair swaying around my waist, he cleaned every curl and coil meticulously along with my scalp. A shudder ripped through me. I let my dress fall from my shoulders for him once again.

  He turned me around to face him, but I couldn’t look him the eyes. This softness, this vulnerable side, this wasn’t something I let out easily. With him, it flooded my heart like he’d broken down a dam. He was a stranger. He’d burned down my home. But, he also followed this crazy group long enough to warn me about them, and I didn’t listen. I wanted to believe he was more like the Skinner Finch’s of the world, but the reality was there wasn’t anyone quite like Skinner. And as depraved as the former leader of the Onyx Skulls was, he was honest with himself and boastfully so to everyone he came in contact with. I didn’t gift that type of honesty to anyone else when I could have lent a bit of it to Julian. Here he was desperately trying to make up for what happened, and between the searing pain and my Height of Passion, I never decided whether to forgive him or not.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked me, breaking me away from my thoughts.

  “Everything,” I huffed out.

  He held a strand of my hair up with a smirk on his face. “I can see that.”

  “Thank you, Julian. You didn’t have to do all of this.”

  The back of his hand stroked the side of my face so gently I nuzzled against it. He turned to push his fingers into my hair, wrapping his fingers in it; he pulled taut, just enough to send a jolt of heat down to my center and back up to my breasts. He rested his forehead against mine, his breathing heavy and eyes closed, “If you’ve seen what I have, you’d know I didn’t have a choice. I would never let them do what they did to my home, to me, to anyone else.”

  “Still you chose to help me, even when I didn’t believe you. You saved me,” I choked back tears I never expected to fall. The instant I opened my eyes to peer into his, I kissed him. Our lips crashed together like we’d been in love for a lifetime. The threat of danger mixed with our heated urgency exploded into an embrace of passion. His tongue parted my lips with his fingers still tangled in my hair; I felt his arm wrap around me pulling me into his body. The hardness of his cock pressed against my belly through the thin fabric of his shorts. I never anticipated anything between us being better than our meeting at the Skulls, but then again, I never expected to see Julian after that.

  Our bodies meshed together under the water, moving and grinding against one another while our lips danced, and tongues played. The softness of that magical muscle circling my mouth made my nipples perk against him drawing his attention downward to the rest of my body. He moved his hand out of my hair, tracing the faint outline of where my gills would open until his fingers squeezed my nipples before pulling on them. He moaned as my body reacted to the subtle pain. Goosebumps rippled across my flesh. His mouth followed his hand, and once I felt those lips on me, my stomach tightened.

  Julian dropped down to a knee staring at the V leading down to my center. “Are you wet, Aya?” His eyes glanced from me to the lips in front of him.

  “Of course I am,” I responded with a hint of sarcasm taking my hands off his shoulder to let the water drip between my fingers.

  “No,” he moved in close and ran a finger between my folds eliciting a gasp and soft yelp from me. His finger circled my entrance before moving up to my clit and back again. “Are you wet, Aya?”

  This time, no sarcasm, “Not enough.”

  “Hang on,” he grinned. “Let me at least fix that for you.”

  In a flash his tongue was on me, licking me, sending shockwaves to every nerve in the sensitive area between my thighs. He lifted the leg with my bad ankle onto his shoulder. My hands sunk into his hair while his palmed my ass and the other rubbed the entrance of my walls. He dined on my most delicate space. The room filled with noises of his mouth licking, sucking, and tasting me along with my unsuppressed pleasure. My leg trembled with the first orgasm. When he noticed, he glanced up at me, locking eyes with pride and my juices dripping down his chin. He made me want to return the favor.

  One orgasm after another, he licked away furiously, and when he’d had his fill he let my leg down, undoubtedly anticipating entering me, but I had something else in mind. I pushed him against the tiled wall and lowered myself along with his boxers, allowing his erection to spring loose. He was massive, tan, with veins pulsing. The tiniest bit of slickness glazed the tip that I rubbed around his head with my thumb before grasping his shaft in my entire hand. He sucked in air as if he held his breath while I stroked him back and forth, delicately teasing him with kisses in between.

  “Please, Aya, let me inside of you,” he begged. His emerald green eyes dark and brooding with need. I obliged finally taking him into my mouth. Thanking him for saving me with every slurp, kiss, lick, and twisting motion as my hands worked behind my lips to make sure every inch of his girth was stroked.

  I glanced up at him as his fingers gripped the walls like they were searching for something to hold onto. I moved one to my hair, and that did it. He groaned as his hands grazed my scalp, slowly thrusting into my mouth.

  “I don’t want to cum like this.”

  11

  Julian

  Aya’s mouth worked magic up and down my cock threatening to make me explode in that pretty mouth of hers. I’d never been this greedy before. I was a giver. I took pleasure in seeing anyone I was with satiated. Call it the nature of the Emerald Siren. We always tended to others, both neighbors and lovers. A thousand thoughts ransacked my mind as ecstasy washed over me with every bead of water that fell from the shower. I clutched the wall looking to brace myself. When she put my hand in her hair, I nearly lost it. I didn’t want to fuck her face, but I couldn’t help but thrust into her mouth, touching the back of her throat. I had to stop her, or she’d be swallowing every drop of me.

  “I don’t want to cum like this,” I told her.

  I pulled her up, kissing her, taking her mouth into mine sucking on that full lower lip of hers while reaching around to squeeze her ample backside. Born swimmers, Aya’s lean physique was toned but feminine. Her curves only accentuated the trail of freckles swarming around her body. As beautiful as she is, it made me wonder what her Scaler looked like. A distraction to be contemplated at a different time. I wanted, needed to enjoy her right now.

  My mouth probed hers with desire. I squeezed the softness of her ass as I lifted her off the ground, still with my back braced against the wall. She pinned her thighs to my sides, hovering over the tip of my pulsing erection, driving me crazy. Aya arched her back and slid down onto the tip, clenching her walls as she did. The ripples and folds of her slit hugged every inch of me as she moved slowly. With her hands buried in my hair at the back of my head, she leaned her face close to mine. When our eyes locked, a surge shot through me like no other. I spun her around so that she was pinned against the wall with her legs draped over my elbows. With a soft slide out, I pushed back up into her with a ferocity that caused her breath to hitch.

  “Oh, Julian,” my name whispered off her lips made me growl in submission. I was hers. I kissed her as my thrusts sped up while she rode me, rolling her hips while I moved in and out of her brought me to another plain of pleasure. Fuck giving. I wanted to take everything she was giving me. My mouth moved to her neck, running my teeth along her skin that made her sink her nails into my back. I swear if I climaxed like this I’d probably drop her. We moved over to the sink where I sat her on the ledge and pulled out slowly. Seeing her sweet nectar coating my shaft was a work of art. I slammed into her and pulled out again slowly. Then she took our sex to another level as she reached to play with herself while I slid out and pushed back in.

  “Aya.”

&n
bsp; She shoved the fingers she’d been rubbing herself with into my mouth, and I sucked them gently while she eyed me with her lids low. “Just fuck me, Julian.”

  Your wish is my command. I let her wrap her legs around my waist while my hands braced themselves on the counter behind her. I couldn’t hear anything but the sounds of our skin slapping against each other as I pushed and pulled inside of her walls until I felt like I was about to burst. My orgasm exploded inside of her, giving Aya every drop of my essence.

  I didn’t know what the future held for us, but I knew I wanted her to be in mine. I didn’t care how. Whatever she wanted me to do to make that work I would do. We washed up again, dried ourselves, and even though her ankle was fine, I still carried her to the bed. Laying her down, those beautiful brown curls rested around her. She finally opened up that box I went back to retrieve, revealing a few ingredients to make an elixir that would speed up the rest of her healing. I made it exactly per her instructions, and when I was done, she downed the mixture with a twinge of disgust. Everything we made wasn’t meant to be flavorful just potent and useful. She closed her eyes and let sleep take hold of her. Exhaustion found me as well. As soon as I laid down beside her, we both fell asleep.

  The rest didn’t last long for me as hunger pains struck. Opening my eyes, Aya was curled up into my body begging for me to wrap my arms around her, but I knew she’d appreciate me getting food for us. So I tried my best to get out of bed without disturbing her. I went into the bathroom to toss on my clothes and headed out into the forest to hunt.

  The sky was black with stars littered behind the clouds. It’s possible that my rest lasted longer for me than I initially thought. Inhaling deep, I took in the scents around us making sure the Sect, or the two traitors traveling with them, weren’t around. I couldn’t get a whiff of any of them, but something else caught my attention. Rabbit.

  They spawned by the dozen, and this house had to be near a few burrows. My stomach begged me for the meat, but logic told me if I started slaughtering innocent little bunnies, I’d attract the attention of the Sentinels and every other predatory beast in the forest. So while I pet a few of the furballs, I let them go on their merry way choosing to swipe some of the vegetation and fruits growing nearby. I managed to grab some root vegetables, a few apples and berries, along with wild greens. Using the flames I’d been naturally born with to roast them, I torched a few carrots and beets while rinsing the fruits and greens for a salad that looked a lot better than I thought it would.

  “Mmmm.” Aya’s soft moan as she emerged from the bedroom sent a chill down my spine before landing on the tip of my head. My hair shifted as I offered her a bowl of the wild garden eats, trying my best not to succumb to the urges growing inside of me.

  “I have work to do after we eat,” I smiled, “These past few hours with you have almost made me want to forget about my mission and stay holed up here.”

  “You know neither of us can survive in solitude with just each other. We’d go nuts. Who are we going to fix up? Injured bunny rabbits?” she laughed, but if she only knew what I’d contemplated before settling on the ingredients of our meal.

  “You’re right. Honestly, I don’t even know where I’d go after I kill Six and Axel. I would love to go back to Roselake, but there’s nothing left. I need to find a new city to be a Siren to.”

  “What happened, Julian? What did they do to make you want to kill them? After what Cyrus tried with me, I don’t think either of them understands they’re doing his bidding.”

  “Aya,” I breathed her name as I pushed down the rage building inside of me, “I don’t care. They allowed him to manipulate them, a mere Anthro. They should have sliced his throat and fed him to the sharks. Do you know how many lives we didn't have to lose? How many cities that would still be intact, if they had done what we’re all taught to do?”

  I wasn’t sure of Aya’s upbringing, but in my childhood, it was thoroughly explained to me that as Anthros despised their new position in the world, they’d do anything to survive. If they ever got too close to harm you, you’d have to take them out. The method landed them as option number one on the menu. It didn’t hurt that their population numbered in the billions. As they dwindled down, they went into hiding. Some cities fell apart while others waged war. The Earth was still a mess, but a much calmer one than when Scalers first took over. I stared at her waiting, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to leave well enough alone.

  “I think we should try to help them before we kill them,” she told me in a soft tone.

  “Even after they snapped your ankle? And you know what they were going to do to you right? They were going to capture you and leave you tied up so Cyrus could whisper words in your ear forcing you to inhale that toxic scent he wears. It immobilizes you. You’re awake when they start, Aya. Have you ever heard the screams of a Scaler burning to death?”

  I closed my eyes trying to shut that memory out. It’s the scream that alerted me to their presence in Roselake. My cave was buried deep into the waterbed. I’d come out whenever someone signaled for me at the dock. I always traveled to whoever needed me. But that night, there was no signal, only the screams as a Scarlet Wing Scaler being seared and burned like prey on a spit. They had a few captured already while Axel and Six demolished the city looking for the rest.

  Roselake was small with a population of less than five hundred. I could barely gather the strength to look her in the eyes. I didn’t want to break, not in front of her. I didn’t want any more reasons for her to negotiate why the lives of two traitorous Jade Sentinels should be spared. I glared at her, “Whoever was left either fled or joined the Sect. After that night, I followed them, knocking them off one by one, but they keep a healthy group of at least fifty Anthros as they keep moving and recruiting. I can’t kill them all fast enough.”

  “Maybe, if we take care of Cyrus, we can convince the rest of them to back down. We can break the Sentinels out of whatever hold Cyrus has over them. With their help, fifty Anthros isn’t a lot. I can’t kill a Scaler knowing it isn’t completely deserved. We don’t let them die, Julian. It’s in our nature to help them. Can we at least try to help them first?”

  “And when you hear the screams erupting from Black Harbor, what will you do then?” I didn’t mean for the question to come out as cold as it did, but until she knew and saw everything I’d experienced with the Sect, she couldn’t give me these kumbaya ways out of it. Mind control or not, Six, Axel, and Cyrus needed to die for what they’ve done, and I was damn sure that I’d be the one to kill them.

  12

  Aya

  The pain radiating from Julian’s eyes saddened me. Death wasn’t an uncommon thing amongst Scalers. Death by each other’s claw was even more prevalent. But after everything I’d lived through, I wouldn’t stand by to let another Scaler die if there was a way for me to prevent it. He may have given up on them, but I hadn’t.

  I knew our conversation was over. Regardless of what we’d shared moments ago, the nightmares of his past drove him to the decision. I wasn’t a stranger to the chaos he described. I didn’t stick around for the ritual. It wasn’t right he had to endure that. We’d already been through enough as a species from centuries of living in the shadows to taking over as the dominant beings. My heart swelled with the anguish of just wanting to help him while knowing that was something I couldn’t do.

  “How’s your ankle?” Concern replaced the angered tone in his voice.

  “It feels fine.”

  “You should go and rest. I have to head back out, and if you’re going to come with me, you need as much rest as possible. What are you going to do, Aya?”

  I shrugged, “Are you asking me if I’ve changed my mind already?”

  “I don’t want you getting hurt, but I don’t want you getting in the way.”

  “I have to get in the way.”

  “Haven’t you ever lost anyone?!” he slammed his hands on the table. “There’s no way you’d be saying all of this if
you had!”

  The pain of that statement stabbed me through the heart.

  “How dare you?! Just because I won’t go on some murderous rampage doesn’t mean I haven’t lost people in this fight. My parents are dead, Julian!” My voice cracked, “My mother is dead! My father is dead! The very first place I ever called home is gone! The home that I’ve spent the last decade living in is GONE! It’s all gone! Everything I have is gone! So, I’m sorry if I’m not ready to lose anyone or anything else!”

  He approached me as the tears in my eyes broke free rolling down my cheeks while my steely facade cracked. I didn’t want to be like him. I didn’t want my anger consuming so much of me that it drove me to murder.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just so frustrated and angry. I’m angry that you don’t feel the same way I do. I’m angry at Cyrus for getting away with this shit for so long! I’m angry that I didn’t kill him when I had the chance! He was there! He was right in front of me!”

  “What happened?” I asked wanting to do everything in my power to stop these damn tears from flowing.

  His eyes locked onto mine, “Six and Axel left to grab food for them. I could have taken them on, but then they mentioned you.”

  “Me?”

  “Not by name, just that he spotted the Emerald Siren, and her hair was white. You know what happened after that.”

  A soft smile rode his face as thoughts of what happened next obviously crossed his mind and mine. The greying of his hair taunted me with fantasies of us wrapped around each other, but his focus was on the contents of his satchel that he’d scattered over the table. He shook away his urges, “Every time before that presented too much of a risk of being captured. I refuse to let them continue on this path. They must be stopped. I’m going to stop them.”

 

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