“You will never, ever lay a hand on him,” Makayla growls with all the fury of a demon. “He’s not a saint, but he helped me. He risked his life for mine. And he’s constantly forced to do things he doesn’t want to do. He’s owned.”
Yelling interrupts whatever else he was going to say. Ten feet away, Cy is desperately pulling on Zexistr’s arm.
“Let go of me! I’m fucking going!” Zexistr shoves his brother back.
“You idiot. They just declared all-out war. They’ll try to hurt you!”
“They can’t. No one can. If I die, the entire Universe collapses. They all know it. They wouldn’t even fucking try. I’m going. I’m getting my daughter out of there. And her mother is going to fucking answer for lying to me like this.”
Zexistr jerks his arm out of Cy’s hold and turns, his molecules dispersing.
“I’ll go with him—” Keiros squeezes Cy’s shoulder—“Maivera has to answer for her lies. It’s about time he confronts her. You stay here and help the others.”
Zeniel steps away from Dy, throwing the male one last warning look. Then he’s moving towards me, his long, powerful legs eating up the inches that separate us. He kneels next to me, placing his hand on Ianthen’s head.
“I’m starting to get jealous here, ass.” I see the blue-and-gray part of his aura expanding, his power flowing into Ianthen. “You’re gonna have to get that head away from my female’s breasts soon. I’m not that benevolent.”
Air huffs out of Ian’s nostrils, but he does move closer to Zen’s hand.
“We need to get her back to Enzyria.” Cy bends down, moving to pick up Sol—
Ianthen is out of my arms in a flash, large teeth snapping at his best friend.
“Bro, chill! I’m just trying to help.”
“I’ll do it,” Zen volunteers.
Ianthen seems to calm down at that. Cy doesn’t even look surprised. And that’s when I realize: Ian really is jealous of his best friend when it comes to Sol. Something happened, and the tension between them is beyond thick.
My attention snaps back to my mate when I feel him run a thumb down my cheek in that way he loves to do. His jaw twitches as I turn to him. The kiss he gives me this time is a soft promise.
“As soon as we can,” he moves to whisper in my ear. “I need you. I need you to focus me.”
I know exactly what he means. The only thing that centers us both is physical contact with each other. Just thinking about it makes my core go solar-hot, as if all the energy in my body has decided to focus on that instead of all the emotional bullshit it’s trying to process.
Zen presses one more kiss to my cheek, then moves to lift Soleria gently into his arms.
Ianthen rubs his snout into the palm of one of her dangling hands.
Then he’s gone. He just takes off at a full run, heading into the alleyway between two buildings.
CHAPTER 42
EVESSE
I ’m aiming for the main hall of Enzyria, but a shock of power grabs me in mid-air. One moment, I’m about to materialize near Dimithinia’s energy signature, the next I’m materializing against a wall on the second floor.
A large, leather-covered hand palms the back of my head, then slides down to wrap around the nape of my neck.
My legs are uselessly weak. Just as well, because Zen tightens his hold on me and drags me away from the wall. I go soft in his grip, torn between the two raging needs that have been clawing at me since the battle.
The voice of Justice has gone mute, but the need for more bloodshed remains. The enemy’s.
Zen’s.
Someone’s.
“Tell me you’re okay.” Zeniel sniffs me and drags his teeth across my jaw. “Evesse. Answer me. I need to know.”
“Zeniel. My powers. It still hurts. Everything hu—”
His gloves are suddenly gone. He lifts my hair, dematerializing the collar of my armor so he can nuzzle my neck.
“Z-Zeniel. Too much. Please help me.”
He kisses and licks my neck gently. Softly. “You need to focus on me.” He turns me, cupping my face in his bare hands.
I nearly suffocate. I’m still not used to the sight of him like this—those blue-and-gray eyes, his demon markings on full display, and his cheekbones as stark as they can be.
He stares down into my eyes. “Focus on me. Focus on us.”
Tucking me against his chest, he wraps those powerful, armor-covered arms around me, engulfing me.
I try. Lord help me, I try, but my system is in shock and I have no clue how to break out of it. I’m beyond overloaded. The tsunami of chemicals that my powers have unleashed in me have utterly violated my mind.
Everything we just went through keeps coming back to me in all its fucked-up, blood-drenched glory.
Zen pulls back, no doubt because I’m shaking so hard that our armor clanks together. “Evesse, if you don’t focus . . .”
He doesn’t finish, fisting my hair instead and tilting my head back as he drills me with his determined stare.
He’s lost behind a blurry haze. Currents of peace pulse into me, but they barely register.
Zeniel lets out a low “fuck”, no doubt realizing that his powers aren’t calming me at all. He lifts me up into his arms and rushes through the nearest door.
“You’re overwhelmed,” he repeats. “If you don’t push past it, you might lose control to your powers when they reawaken. Hundreds of beings are on the way here. If you lose control, I’m next.”
“I-I’m trying.” The few seconds I can focus on him, his body calls to me. The thick, charged heat of his need licks at my insides.
Zen places me down on a stone bench, jarring me back to reality. By the time I’m able to blink my way out of my daze, he’s lowering himself in front of me, his hulking form almost blocking out the view of the indoor garden he brought me to.
He grabs my chin, dragging me to the edge of the bench. The upper half of his armor is gone. Every tattoo-like marking on his face and torso is on display. His muscular, leather-encased thighs are on either side of my legs, fully flexed from the effort of holding him up. His hand scorches the skin of my face.
The fog surrounding my processors snaps back with rubber-band force. One instant I’m confused; the next, I’m downright captivated.
His scent rises, curling around me, inside me, infusing his taste onto the back of my tongue.
“There you go.” He encircles my waist with his left hand, dematerializing the rest of my armor so that only my black tank top and leather leggings remain.
I spread my legs for him and sink my nails into his shoulders. I distantly hear Zen speaking to me again. He’s telling me to breathe and focus. That he needs me right here with him.
I’m unable to speak, unable to tell him that I’m so right fucking there with him. So, I spread my legs more and pull his frame closer. Panting, throat dry, I raise my hands and get rid of his ponytail.
“Ze-Zen. What are you—” I clench my teeth together, fighting the raw urge to eat him alive.
Zeniel gives a throaty chuckle as I tug on his hair.
The primitive, pleased undertone of that laugh seems to curl around my sex, settling within me and leaving me pounding.
“What is this—What are you doing to . . . ahhh, me?”
I brace my hands on the bench and shift. Yes. Yes. Closer. Oh fuck, his shaft is a fully swollen ridge inside his leather pants. He lifts himself up just enough to be level with my lips.
“I’m doing to you what you did to me inside my temple, my R’ma.”
I have enough coherence left to realize what he means. He’s taking control of my processors, using our connection to command my body so that all I can think of is the merciless need to have him.
My eyes drop back down to his crotch. His cock is just as vicious as I remember—just as monstrous as it throbs behind those leathers. Zen’s shoulders and arms flex as he moves closer to me, lowering his head and nipping at my bottom lip with his canine.
Dazed,
I barely notice when Zen drags me down. He lays me flat on the huge stone bench. My legs close around him instantly, tightening like a vice.
“That’s it.” Zen nuzzles my cheek. “I need you as much as you need me. Need you to focus me, as well.” He lifts his head, his eyes flashing black-and-red.
My incisors grow longer and my lips part on a sharp inhale. “Zeniel. Please. Now.” I manage to dematerialize my own pants. Then, I lift my hips and rub my swollen flesh against him, mindless for him.
“Shit.” Zen’s fingers slide into the stone on either side of my head, as if it’s nothing more than loose dirt. He clenches his hands and I hear a crack echo through the garden.
I go dizzy at the feel of his still-clothed cock sliding up and down my cleft. Whimpering, I sink my nails into his back, tearing his skin. Zen bends down and bites right through my tank top, tearing the fabric off my breast with his teeth. He takes my nipple into his mouth, looking up at me with his black-and-red eyes.
“Zen, please. I know you can feel me. So wet. It hurts. Please.”
He shudders and I feel his cock pulse. “Tell me what you need,” he rasps, licking my nipple. As if he doesn’t already know what I’m desperate for.
I reach down and sink my nails into one of his muscled ass cheeks, squeezing hard. As Zen jerks and shivers above me, I arch my back, pushing my tit further into his mouth.
“I’m freaking soaked for you. For your cock. Give me what’s mine, Zen.” Especially since he’s made damn sure that’s all I can think about it.
He hugs me to him, groaning as if pained. In one quick move, he flips us over, so that I’m on top of him and he’s the one lying on the bench. His leather pants disappear, leaving his dick pressed between my pussy and his lower abs.
I rip off the rest of my tank top and reach down to circle one hand around my mate’s large, corded, marked neck. My mouth waters at the sight of his mating mark.
“Yes.” He kicks his head back, lifting his chin. Grabbing my hips, he moves me up and down his length slowly, wetting it with my juices.
I lower my other hand and run one finger across his swollen lips. He writhes under me and nips my finger, eyes heavy-lidded. “That’s it. Take me. I’m yours, Eve.”
My breath ragged, I rise on my knees. Shameless and out of control, I circle my hips, rubbing his precum all over my pussy and his cockhead. Zeniel’s sharp moan is throaty and sexy as all hell.
There are no flashbacks this time. No memories of him and the other female. All that matters is his heat, his taste, and having him inside me.
Zen grabs my ass and presses his tip to my opening. Before he can slide me down onto him, I grab his chin and make him look at me. “Give—give me . . . fuck, baby, give me Tranquility.”
There’s no question that he understands what I’m asking for. Zen squeezes his eyes shut, his jaw jumping frantically as he grinds his molars together. His lips pull back, exposing his clenched teeth.
When his eyes shoot open once more, they’re back to being gray-and-blue. The sight of my sexy male and the proof of his wholeness sets me off. Zen slides his tip inside me. The scent of his blood hits me and an orgasm detonates inside my core.
He forces his cock the rest of the way inside, cupping my face with shaking hands.
I chant “please”, my voice breathless, over and over even though I’m already riding his cock, rotating ruthlessly on it.
“Oh, Gods, female. The way you feel around my cock. Too much. But never . . . enough . . . fuck, baby, going to make me—shit! Evesse, I’m fucking coming!” Zen grabs onto my shoulders, holding me tight as he pumps his shaft into me.
A loud crash sounds through the garden, almost as loud as my frantic moans. The bench beneath Zen broke apart.
In a flash, he’s on his knees on the floor, surging deeper into me. His length trembles with the force of his power as he holds me up over him.
“You feel this? Do you feel what we are to each other, baby?” He kisses my cheek, inhaling me and sounding almost frantic. “I feel only you, Eve. Only you.”
I lean my forehead against his. Whimpering, I nod, feeling him hit the deepest point inside me. The sensation is a teasing lick of pain. It surprises me every single time how much I love it.
His big arms are wrapped around me. The heat of his body blankets me, and his energy swirls around us, making me feel completely drugged.
I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on as my hips churn.
“Easy, baby. Slow down.” Zeniel tightens his arms, forcing me to do exactly as he asked.
I need more of that glorious rush I always get when he goes at me hard. “Harder, Zen.”
“Fuck.” He kisses the corner of my mouth softly. “I love when you demand what’s yours.” But he doesn’t move, even though his dick is throbbing so hard it’s practically kicking inside me.
“Zeniel. I need to come again. I need more—”
“I know what you need,” my R’mann breathes against my lips. “Let me give it to you.” He shifts, laying me beneath him, my back on the floor and my thighs split wide to accept him.
When Zen’s lips part, his throat jumps as he seems to struggle for air. I run my fingertips across his cheekbone and nod. Tears spring to my eyes as a wave of emotional warmth rocks us both.
“I waited so long for you.” He leans down, breathing against my mouth. “Even if I didn’t remember, the hunger was still there. It haunted me. You haunted me.”
Heart in my throat, I slide my hands around and cup the back of his head. “I love you, too.”
Gods, the way he smiles at me. How is it possible that he can bring tears to my eyes, calm me, and do so while his cock is still pulsating deep in my pussy?
Zeniel rubs his nose across mine. “You need to promise me. That from now on, whenever it’s necessary, you will not react. That you’ll let me calm you.” He takes my bottom lip between his teeth, suckling it softly. “Just as I’m going to need you to calm me.”
A pleasured breath leaves me, followed by a low moan. I squirm under him.
“Say it, Evesse. Swear to me that you will not fight me. That you’ll let me—”
“Yes.” When he makes me feel the way he does? When he’s both calming me and setting me on fire all at once? What other response can I possibly give him? “Yes, Zeniel. I swear it. Anything.”
He lets out a pleased grunt. Then he’s moving, his hips swinging back and forth slowly.
My head slams into the floor and my back arches. “God. Yes. That cock. Need it.”
Zen laughs, sounding strained, and pushes harder into me. “Damn it. You have no idea what it does to me when you talk like that. When . . . you . . . fuck, tell me how good it feels.”
I scour his back with my nails. Wrap my legs around his hips and try to control the rhythm.
He won’t let me. His thrusts are hard, deep, but oh so fucking slow.
Maddening. He’s driving me insane. I feel him everywhere—all over me, inside me, within the cells of my body. His voice is inside my head, showing me just how good I’m making him feel. Telling me how much he loves fucking my pussy.
And even as he drives me way too high for me to handle, he kisses my cheek, nuzzles me, and keeps hitting me with that calm warmth he’s sending through our connection.
I’ve felt mindfucked before; this is on a whole other level. “I can’t—harder . . . please, please, please just—”
He roughly turns my head to the side and gives my mating mark a long lick.
I mewl, vision lost.
Zeniel sucks on my neck right before growling in my ear. “Come hard for your male, my R’ma.”
I instantly come, exploding around him, obeying his command.
He pushes his dick deep, using all his strength to keep himself still. “Yes. That’s it. Right there. Shit . . . feel it. All around.” Throwing his head back, he groans at the ceiling, the sound animalistic.
He barely moves through the whole thing, his back arched, the tip of
his cock pushed as far as it can go. The muscles in his upper body flex and shift; he seems to fight to bring his head back down so I can see the pleasure on his face.
Oh, God. His thick lips are parted, glistening, and I see the tips of his incisors.
I cup my breasts, the sharp pulses of my orgasm making my legs shake. “Drink me. Please, Zen.” My voice is breathless. Porn-star worthy, even to my own ears. Moaning wantonly, I expose my neck. “Take me.”
He falls on me, cursing, and the moment his teeth pierce my neck, I scream, my world spinning into a whirlwind of color.
Zeniel turns brutal on me, finally giving me what I’ve been asking for. His thrusts are hard enough to almost destroy the floor beneath us. He pounds into me, again and again, lifting me up to his neck.
All the while he drinks from me, grunting as he takes deep, almost punishing pulls.
With a growl, I bite down harder, answering Zen’s silent plea. His massive frame shudders. At some point, we both stopped coming, but does it really matter?
Hell, no.
Zeniel finally pulls back after what seems an eternity, his breath harsh. He pets my hair and rubs his cheek against mine, making me want to melt even more. I would love nothing more than to pass out right here, in my R’mann’s arms.
“Feeling better?” he asks, a cocky smirk in place.
I merely purr, pressing my nose into his shoulder and inhaling our combined scents.
“Good. Because we need to get back down there. I can feel the energy signatures of the others gathering.”
That one statement reminds me of everything I’d forgotten. Soleria is somewhere—hopefully with Vedlyl, being taken care of. I have no idea where Makayla is, or what else is happening with the others.
The last thing I want to do is leave this garden, or separate from my mate, but I have no choice.
“I’ll go check on Soleria for you. I’m sure she’s in the medical wing. It’ll give you some time.” Zen rubs his thumb along my jaw. “Meet me in the hall where the others are. Okay?”
I press my lips to his and nod. Zen disengages us, placing me gently on the floor beneath us. His armor reappears on his form.
Ryze Series: Books 1 & 2 Page 59