by Layla Nash
I ran my tongue along the shaft from base to tip, then sucked the tip into my mouth and teased the slit. He huffed and cursed, fingers tightening in my hair, and I braced one hand on his thigh. I managed to take half of him in my mouth before he hit the back of my throat and I stopped, trying to suck him as his cock swelled even more. Lust coiled low in my stomach and I ached to take more of him. Atticus watched me, his eyes gold with lust, and pressed on the back of my head. "Just a little more, babe."
I relaxed my jaw and let him ease more of himself into me, until the wide head bumped into my throat and I struggled to breathe or swallow. Atticus eased back with a groan, never looking away from me as he repeated the gentle thrust again and again. I loved seeing his expression change, the tightening around his eyes and the clenching of his jaw, and I stroked myself as I sucked him. A smile lit his face and his fingers dug into my scalp when he saw that I touched myself. After only a few seconds, he abruptly stepped back and hauled me to my feet. I blinked and he shoved me up against the cool tile, slapping my hip until I wrapped my legs around his waist, and then he split me open, filled me until I stretched painfully around him. He pounded into me with such ferocity I was surprised the tile didn't shatter behind my back.
I held on for dear life, trying to move to meet him but instead was just swept away in his lust, and cried out as my insides collapsed and clenched down on him. Atticus growled, slamming into me again and again in jerky, short thrusts until he shuddered and held still against me, his hips rocking and twitching as he filled me once more. I leaned my head back against the tile, trying to catch my breath, and petted the back of his neck.
He nuzzled my hair under the stream of cooling water, then stepped back and his body slipped from mine. The shock made my knees wobble and he caught me, held me to his chest as he finished cleaning us up. Then he turned off the water and reached for towels. He kissed me as the water dripped from us and he took his time drying me off, helping me step out and onto the rug. He got dressed as well as I pulled on my pajamas, suitable attire for a girls' night as far as I knew, and he was still pulling on his t-shirt as someone knocked at the door.
Atticus opened it, yawning. "Hey Nat. She's almost ready."
I caught sight of Natalia's grin through the doorway and flushed immediately. Damn it.
The chef laughed as she edged into the living room, looking around but studying Atticus more closely than anything else. "Gee, Atticus, what have you guys been up to all afternoon? I thought you'd be in the gym."
He blinked. "Sophia's teaching me how to meditate."
"Is that what kids are calling it these days?"
Atticus frowned, about to ask, then abruptly snapped his mouth shut and flushed beet red. I patted his chest as I zipped up a hooded sweatshirt I'd borrowed from someone and headed for the door. "She means sex."
"I know," he muttered, and followed us into the hall. His cheeks turned almost purple as he cleared his throat and jerked his thumb at the next door down. "I'll be in my room if you need anything."
"I'll bet you —" Natalia started and Atticus grumbled, a heartbeat away from his cheeks smoking.
He tried again, enunciating each word carefully. "If there's any trouble, just call. Hopefully Sophia is too tired for an uncontrolled shift, but —"
"Why is she so tired?" Natalia bit her lip as a giggle escaped. She took pity on him and patted Atticus's shoulder. "Oh, you sweet boy. Go get some rest. You look like you could use it, since clearly you didn't get your nap this afternoon. If we have any issues with the leopard here, you'll be the first call. Since you're the leopard tamer and all."
Atticus held up his hands in surrender and turned on his heel, disappearing into his room without another word. Natalia held in a belly laugh until his door shut, but no doubt his supernatural hearing clued him in that she still found plenty funny about the situation. I pinched the bridge of my nose; it was pretty damn embarrassing for me as well, although teasing Atticus seemed more her intent. "I know I'm not allowed out, so I'm guessing our girls' night is inside?"
"Yep." She linked her arm in mine and led the way through the maze of hallways in the mansion. "Eloise is still... meditating with Benedict, so she'll be along directly. I thought we could start with dinner, then move on to some trashy movies or television. Unless you have other suggestions?"
I would never be able to meditate again without thinking of sex with Atticus. Which undermined the entire purpose of meditating. "Uh, no. I can't say I've ever had a girls' night or anything close, so I'll defer to your experience."
"Never?" Her perfectly-groomed eyebrows arched, then she shrugged and quickened her pace. "Good. Then you won't be disappointed." She stopped in the massive kitchen on the first floor, all dark cabinets and quartz countertops and intricate backsplashes along with the stainless steel appliances. It looked like a television kitchen. And she looked right at home in it, parking me on a stool at the enormous island while she swirled around gathering ingredients.
By the time Eloise appeared, looking a little rumpled and flushed herself, Natalia and I had prepared a reasonable spaghetti bolognese, though my dicing skills left much to be desired, apparently. A steady stream of people came through the kitchen to help themselves, including the staff, and Natalia kept a constant rotation of garlic bread coming out of the oven so everyone had fresh. Eloise mopped up the last smears of sauce in her bowl with a hunk of bread, then waved it at me as she nodded in Natalia's direction. "The girl runs a soup kitchen. Watch out or you'll get shanghaied into volunteering."
"She doesn't have mandatory community service to complete," Natalia said from across the kitchen, never breaking stride as she juggled more bread and pulled a tray of creampuffs from the industrial size fridge. The chef sent a dark look Eloise's way. "And you're still short on your hours, Eloise Deacon. When do you see the prosecutor again?"
Eloise muttered and ducked her head, her dark hair tangling around her head as it reacted to the challenge. I shook my head and gathered the dishes, taking them to the sink so I'd be out of the line of fire in case Eloise got too crazy. I thought I had it bad — but apparently being part gorgon was a lot worse. Well, it would be worse if I ever got my shit together with the shifting. As far as I knew, no one would punish her for having an accidental laser show with her eyes.
The thought of facing a judge and jury to prove I could control my leopard sent uneasiness through me and I sank onto my stool. Natalia glanced at me as she slid a plate of creampuffs in front of me. "Penny for your thoughts."
Eloise plonked a bottle of wine down in front of me as well. "This might help."
"Nothing worth mentioning." I attempted a smile, but from Natalia's reaction, I failed. So I took some liquid courage and chocolate fortitude before going on. "Just worried about what happens if I can't control this stuff. Atticus tries to explain how it works, but it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't translate. I feel like I'm the odd one out once again."
"We're all the odd one out," Eloise said under her breath, and gestured at her out-of-control hair with a grimace. "That's the nice thing about the supernatural community here. All kinds of misfits. Most people end up in a city to get lost, you know?"
The chocolate tasted bitter, and not because it was dark. I dared a look at them both — dark eyes and silver eyes studied me, measured me, and I wondered how much of this was an audition. They both cared for Atticus and guarded their family well, no doubt they wanted to know who and what I was before they let me sink my claws into him even more. I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to find the right answer. "I've been lost long enough I guess I just want to be found."
"Who lost you?" Natalia leaned her elbows on the island as she watched me, but there wasn't any judgment in her expression. Just curiosity.
Eloise raised her hand. "Foster kid, child of gorgons. You can't beat that."
A smile tugged on the corner of my mouth. "I don't really know who lost me. I don't remember anything before twelve or thirteen. Just an
orphanage, some nuns, being at the hospital a lot."
"Damn." Eloise sighed and poured more wine into my glass. Her hair drifted and she shoved it out of her face, gray eyes going more silver as she studied me. "Well, you're found now. I don't think Atticus will let you get lost again."
"Mmm." Natalia straightened and started cleaning up the kitchen. "Right. And there's no way in hell he'll let the Council kill you. So no worries about that. For movies, I thought —"
My blood ran cold and I lay my palms flat on the cool quartz. "What was that?"
"The Council." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, frowning at something on the stove. "They kill rogue shifters, the ones who can't control their animal side." She went still, then looked back at me. "Didn't they tell you?"
Wind rushed by my ears, even inside, and I couldn't hear anything else she said. They killed rogue shifters. I cleared my throat and concentrated on breathing, even though the air felt like molasses in my lungs. "How long do I — do I have?"
Natalia's expression grew guarded as she shared a look with Eloise. "Honey —"
"Tell me."
She folded her arms over her chest. "It was a week. So Tuesday."
Four days. Four days to live. My heart thudded and the kitchen tilted. For a moment I thought I would actually faint, but I braced myself on the solid stone and dredged up enough of my mantra to find stability. My voice sounded strange in my ears, as if it belonged to someone else. "And who is supposed to — kill me, if I fail?"
Eloise cleared her throat, still close at my side. "Why don't we take a break? I'll go get Atticus and we can —"
"Who?"
The gorgon rubbed her forehead and looked to Natalia. She put her hands on her hips, the no-nonsense chef in control. "Technically, it would be Atticus. So you can see that it won't happen. It's not even possible. Don't worry about it."
Don't worry about it. A bitter laugh escaped and shivers crawled up my spine as adrenaline surged through me. "Don't worry about it? I might have four days to live."
"Hey." Natalia snapped her fingers right under my nose, making me blink, and jammed her finger into my chest. "You will be fine. You'll get this shit under control and show those bastards you're fine. That's just how it's going to be. Got it?"
My insides jumbled and dropped and I had to grip the counter to stay upright. "But I can't control it."
"You've got four days to figure it out." Her expression darkened as a frown creased her forehead. "And I don't want to hear any of that 'can't' bullshit. You can. Believe you can, and you can."
"How do you know?" Dark spots obscured my vision and nausea surged. I wheezed a breath as I faced her. "How could you possibly know?"
"Because you came from nothing, the same as I did." Natalia didn't back down, walked me back until I bumped into a wall of cabinets. "And you're still here, aren't you? You're still alive when no one did anything to help you. So you can do this, too."
The energy coursing through me was off balance, surging and retreating until my entire body shook. Eloise swore and yanked Natalia away, shoving the human into the other room, and said, "Call Atticus," before she looked at me. Mercury filled her eyes and a growl burned my chest. "Take a deep breath, Sophia. Find an anchor. Find something to keep you steady, keep you here. You can work through this."
I bit back a scream as something tore inside me and I fell to my knees. Every muscle froze. I looked up just as Atticus skidded around the corner, his face bloodless, and I snarled — a feral, feline sound. Everything went black.
Fourteen
She turned just as he reached the kitchen, but it wasn't the same as the other uncontrolled shifts he'd seen Sophia go through over the last few days. This one looked tortured — slow, grinding, bones snapping and popping.
But it gave him time to shift as well, and meet her lion to leopard. Natalia had long since retreated to safety but Eloise remained, crouched on the kitchen counter out of the way but with her eyes shooting lightning. Atticus wished she'd just run, like Natalia — Benedict would kill him if Eloise got so much as a scratch on her. So he charged Sophia as soon as the leopard stood, and distracted her from any other targets.
When she yowled, pain and fear echoed in the sound. Her eyes flared gold and blue, and something else lurked behind them. Nothing human, despite how desperately he hoped, but a deep knowledge of her own mortality. Natalia hadn't explained exactly what happened when she called him, but told him that Sophia knew about the Council and the deadline. He could guess what put her over the edge.
She attacked immediately, her claws shredding his side as he turned to absorb the impact. He grunted but leaned into her, knocking her off balance, and was grateful her leopard half didn't know any of the dirty tricks her human half used. He shouldered her back and back until he pinned her against the wall and she writhed, swatting at his head and throat and legs. Pain erupted across the full length of his body and blood dripped to the floor from his shredded skin, but that didn't matter. He'd survive.
Sophia, on the other hand...
Atticus braced himself as a distant roar rocked the house — Logan, arriving to find chaos and his mate recently in danger. Atticus used his greater bulk to lay across Sophia, despite how she snarled and dragged her claws across his belly, and protected her as Logan in lion form crashed through the door and took out half a wall of cabinets.
He roared again, mane shook out in a cloud of black-striped gold, and everything in the mansion went still. Logan snarled and loomed over his brother, growling so loudly it rattled the teeth in Atticus's head.
Atticus braced for the attack, grateful that Sophia froze the moment the other lion entered the room so at least he wouldn't be torn up from both sides at the same time. But Logan didn't move. He just breathed and snarled. Atticus dared a look up and saw only his brother's teeth, a hair's breadth from his face. Edgar, Carter, and Benedict, all in human form, stood back in the kitchen to watch. Atticus hoped they would intervene if Logan went after Sophia.
Something moved underneath him and Atticus grumbled a warning, wishing he could tell Sophia to remain still or Logan would tear her apart, but then fingers dug into his side and he groaned. She'd shifted back to human and made herself even more vulnerable. As she struggled out from beneath his bulk, Logan snarled again and started to retreat. Atticus remained between his brother and Sophia as she huddled behind him, naked and afraid.
Edgar cleared his throat. He was the only brother brave enough to talk when Logan went into full alpha mode. "Okay. Logan, please go check in with your mate. She keeps calling me to find out what's going on." He held up his phone as it chimed. Then he turned his attention to the other brothers, despite that Logan didn't move. "Ben, take Eloise somewhere else. Her hi-beams are on and I don't want a bunch of statues by accident."
The half-gorgon muttered something unkind but silenced as Benedict threw her over his shoulder. The lawyer looked pretty pissed himself, and as he stalked out, he started reading her the riot act for staying in the kitchen while an uncontrolled leopard charged around. No doubt they would both have a lot to say about when and where she put herself in harm's way.
Then Edgar looked at Atticus, and he took a deep breath. "Change back, get dressed, get her dressed, meet me in the office." His attention shifted to their middle brother. "You too, Carter."
Before Atticus could move or think, Edgar turned on his heel and marched out, though he kneed Logan in the side on his way. The alpha snarled once more for good measure before stalking after his security chief, his tail lashing the air. Atticus waited until they, and Carter, disappeared, before he dared shift back to human. Sophia huddled against the wall, looking numb and traumatized as she stared at him. Blood smeared all over her and his heart stopped. Maybe he'd hurt her. Maybe he'd pushed her too hard or his claws accidentally...
Atticus changed back and crouched next to her, ignoring his own pain from all the damage she'd done. "Are you hurt?"
She stared at his throat, her arm
s pulling her legs to her chest, and her voice hushed out. "No."
"All the blood..." He shook his head and reached out to check her himself, needing to feel that her skin remained whole. But she jerked away from his touch and he froze.
Sophia's expression and intonation remained flat. "It's yours."
That he didn't care about. Atticus sighed as he shoved to his feet. When she didn't look inclined to follow, he caught her arm and drew her up. Whatever fire animated the leopard, it had completely died out of Sophia, and she trudged beside him until he opened the door to her room and sent her in. "Take a shower and get dressed. We have to see Edgar."
She went without another word, and Atticus stared at the door as it shut in his face. Something changed. Only a few hours earlier, he drilled her in the shower and now something happened so she wouldn't even look him in the eyes. Atticus squeezed his eyes shut as he limped to his room next door, the breath hissing through his teeth as he climbed in the shower and hot water flayed the many wounds she'd left.
They'd only partially healed by the time he got out and toweled himself dry, pulling on old jeans and a sweatshirt that wouldn't cling to the slices in his back and chest. His hair was still damp as he went next door and knocked on Sophia's door. No telling how long Edgar would wait without getting irritated, and he needed Edgar in the best mood possible. When Sophia didn't answer, he stuck his head in and called her name. Nothing.
His heart sped up. He hoped she hadn't done something crazy. He limped through the kitchen and living area and into the bedroom. She stood naked in the steamy bathroom, unmoving. At least she'd cleaned all the blood off. He waited in the doorway for her to acknowledge him or move or say something, but she didn't even blink.
Atticus cleared his throat. "Sophia, are you ready?"
She finally looked at him, her hazel eyes unfathomable pits. "Are you really going to kill me?"
He felt each word like one of her right hooks. And made a mental note to have a conversation with Natalia and Eloise about what they decided to tell his mate. Atticus rubbed his temples and handed her pants and t-shirt. "Edgar will explain."