“I don’t think there was a single moment. Perhaps when you asked me to take care of your family. Or when you asked why any demon would choose to wear glamour.”
From the beginning, Rowan and I had hating glamour in common.
“I asked you to protect Dad and Benn when I was still ugly.” I crawled into bed, pulling the sheets Rowan brought me over my naked breasts.
“Your looks were not what made you unattractive.”
“I know.” I understood that now.
“However, I can tell you with absolute certainty the moment I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist this…thing…between us.”
My eyebrows shot up. “I knew you felt the thing!”
Rowan’s lips quirked up at the edges, and my lips tingled. Suspecting what moment could have made him admit how he felt, I asked, “when Connell dropped me?”
He nodded.
“He’d asked if he could pursue me,” I began, but forgot what I was saying as Rowan removed his pants. I fought to keep my gaze locked on his face, but failed.
Oh, he was gorgeous. Everywhere.
“I just bet he did,” Rowan grumbled down at me as he stepped beside the bed.
“I said I wasn’t available anymore. Connell knew you hadn’t made a move on me, so I think, in his crazy, mischievous way, he was playing cupid.” Hysteric words flew from my mouth, giving sounds to nervous feelings.
“I would have realized it without his help,” his smoky voice a soft rumble. “Eventually.”
Rowan lay down beside me, his bare, unglamoured chest hot against my hands. The feel of him was as magnificent as I’d remembered. Maybe more so. His unglamoured skin was sun-kissed on every inch. His chiseled muscles looked even more powerful lit by moonlight shining through the window. Soft and hard at the same time.
There was no more fear. No more doubt. No voice inside my head reminding me of why this wasn’t going to work. Not this time.
Rough and gentle hands, a paradox that drove me crazy, touched my face, caressed my neck, and I savored each second.
Tomorrow, I might die. Tomorrow, it could all be over. So tonight, I wouldn’t hold back. I wouldn’t deny the feelings inside me. The lifetime my emotions spent in a cage, they deserved this. I deserved this. Rowan deserved to know what he meant to me, how wonderful he was.
At first, there were soft touches. Gentle kisses and caresses. But neither of us were able to resist the other. Passion took over, erupting in the air.
His kisses grew deep fast, each stroke of his tongue making me whimper softly. I was too hot to stay under the covers, so I threw them off, modesty forgotten.
A dewy sheen glistened on his skin, and the tips of his golden hair clung together at the ends, sticking to his forehead. As he kissed me, his upper lip deliciously salty, Rowan began trailing a hand leisurely along my body. I loved it. After the third trail from lower thigh to neck, my skin sang for him.
Rowan’s roaming hand stopped on my hip, and traced across my lower belly. Breath caught in my throat as I gasped, electricity making my body jolt.
Something snapped, igniting between us, and there were no more exploring hands. No more leisurely, studying caresses.
White gold flames lit his eyes, and he practically purred as he stalked up my body, claiming my mouth roughly. I couldn’t contain the strained, pleasured noises coming from my throat.
“I’m…trying to go slow…but…”
I blinked up at him. “But?”
Hesitance dissolved. “Oh God, Savannah. You’re…” Rowan kissed my throat, and I squirmed under the pleasure, “so…beautiful.”
He said it like he’d been trying not to, and couldn’t hold it in any longer. Rowan thought I was beautiful. When Grayson said it, it meant nothing. He’d only meant my appearance. But knowing my Warrior saw me that way thrilled me, because it wasn’t just about how I looked.
“Mmm,” I kissed his chest, this won’t be our only night together.
And for the first time, I believed that.
I felt the last wall he’d been keeping between us crumble, just as mine did.
When he moved, I moved, having no difficulty knowing what he wanted me to do. Rowan’s massive form hovered over me for an instant, his eyes ethereally beautiful as they glowed so bright, I couldn’t even look directly at them.
He nestled his hips between my legs. With lips on mine, he eased down, and I couldn’t keep still. My body jerked against him the moment he touched wet, sensitive flesh, drawing him inside in a rush of sensation. He made the most delectable sound as he froze inside me.
There was pain, but as Rowan stayed still, his upper body trembling but our bodies still connected in the most intimate of ways, my demon half allowed me to heal, for the pain to only last a moment.
Then, all there was, was being filled up with the male I adored. I loved.
The way Rowan made my body react before today, just by looking at me, putting his skin on mine. I should have known the entire world would disappear for the span of time when we were finally able to be together.
A few slow thrusts, and that was all it took for the building heat and exquisite pressure to burst between us, around us, in the air and inside our bodies. He could feel my projection I didn’t have a chance of containing, and I could feel his waves of ecstasy. I didn’t think anything could be more erotic than knowing exactly how amazing we made each other feel.
It was so powerful being with the male I wanted, knowing he wanted me too. So much power in it, I felt like I could achieve greatness, conquer anything.
After, ragged breaths and galloping hearts were the only sounds in the room. We lay wrapped around each other, every inch of him touching every inch of me.
“Curiosity abated?” Rowan asked with a warm chuckle after so long, we may have dozed off like that.
Propping myself up on my elbow so I was pressed against him, with a half-lidded gaze, I shook my head slowly from side to side.
His teeth were on my neck, not breaking the skin, but biting down harder than ever before. It said I was his now, and he was mine. The simplest thing in the world, and the most significant. Like breathing.
CHAPTER 41
The morning was a tornado of stolen kisses and frantically relayed strategy. Yesterday, I wouldn’t let Rowan talk about the details of today, so we had a lot to fit into the short morning. We discussed scenarios as he watched me from the bed, a pen and notebook propped up on his sheet-covered legs, his chest bared in all its glory.
I tried to keep to my task. Clothes. I had to put on clothes, brush the tangles out of my wet hair, and prepare for the day.
But those white gold eyes warmed me like sunlight, and the way Rowan watched my every move like he was spellbound made me lose focus more than once. I was lusciously sore in wonderful places, but I didn’t give it a second thought.
During my second attempt to get dressed, Rowan was in the shower, so I succeeded, though it wasn’t easy to resist joining him there. The thought made my skin warm with the remembered sensation of his body against mine.
I felt drunk. Not the way I would feel if I drank alcohol—demon blood in any amount and liquor didn’t mix—but the kind of drunk I imagined was a human’s aim when becoming intoxicated. Goofily, foggily blissed out.
We finally made it downstairs, cleaned and clothed, as the sun peaked over the horizon, lighting The Bookstore through the drawn shades.
Benn showed up a few minutes later, looking bleary-eyed. I’d told him yesterday he should stay away today, but he realized things I was certain I hadn’t let slip. He wasn’t acting like this might be the last time he’d see me, but there was a knowing there. He always had been uncannily observant.
I sent him upstairs to make coffee for himself, then hoped he didn’t peak into the bedroom for any reason. It was a disaster area, and if the fact that Rowan was here this early with wet hair and white gold eyes glued to me weren’t clue enough, the crumpled bed and claw marks across the headboard would be.
Cyrus a
nd Grayson jumped in next, Tanis pressed against his side. The hair that had been covered up when I first saw her was freshly dyed a bright, neon pink, cut to her shoulders with baby doll bangs that rested above her eyelids so when she blinked, the hairs caught on her thick, black lashes. Tanis clutched Grayson’s arm, half her face hidden behind his shoulder.
Focusing, I picked up on their tension.
Grayson urged his half-sister off his arm, and I studied her face. Tanis looked terrible, and looked worse and worse with Grayson’s every step away from her.
The second her eyes locked on mine, they went silver black-out and I could feel her prodding around inside my mind. I made noises, but didn’t know if I said anything intelligible.
Whatever I said must have been loud, because running footsteps from upstairs grew nearer, down the stairs before whatever Tanis was doing to me stopped. And her eyes flicked to the stairs.
“Bennett, stop where you are.”
Cyrus got out the warning before I could, but it wasn’t enough to keep Benn from charging toward me to make sure everything was okay.
When he stopped mid-room, it wasn’t because he saw that I was fine, it wasn’t because Cy’s words finally sunk in. It was because Tanis, with completely silver black-out eyes, focused on him.
Being Marked didn’t matter. In that moment, Benn wanted whatever the girl was doing to him. He dropped like a rock as the air in the room grew heavy with that Tempter scent of candy, spice, and sex.
I looked at the girl’s silver eyes, a faded lavender and pale silver pattern now rolling down her skin in chaotic pulses.
She needed help. I had to help her.
“Is it okay if I touch her?” I asked without looking away from the girl, remembering what that pattern of Grayson’s had done to me.
Grayson shifted, his nervousness shone so bright in the waves he gave off. “Are you predominantly attracted to males?”
Nodding after a pang of memory from last night twisted desire through my belly, I turned away from Tanis, unable to deny myself a glance at Rowan.
“You should be mostly unaffected,” Grayson said, the tone of his voice heavy with attempted but wavering control. He felt helpless, and I could tell it wasn’t something Grayson was familiar with.
“Tanis,” I said, putting my hand on her chin and wrenching her face up so she was looking at me, not at Benn’s unconscious body. Her skin stung a path from my hand up my arm, but stopped there.
It was hard to tell if her attention was on me while her eyes were silver black-out.
“Your hair looks awful. Just…terrible.” I tested, feeling Grayson and the other demons shift uncomfortably, not understanding what I was doing. But I knew. My Razer half whispered what I needed to do. “Is it usually black silk like your brother’s?”
The silver in her eyes faded, but I still couldn’t see the violet irises I knew were hidden somewhere behind the metal.
“Honestly, pink, purple, and silver don’t go together at all. You look like a six-year-old. Maybe I should give you pigtails, make you really look ridiculous.”
A flash of violet, and Tanis blinked. The sexually charged air evened out, calmed to normal, and I realized I could once again take a deep breath. Even Benn stirred from the floor, slowly opening his eyes.
“Touch my hair and I’ll break your arm,” Tanis growled, but there was no danger in her words. It was hard to feel the waves of emotion she gave off, but they were there a little. She was hurt, fragile, but deep in the smoke-and-fire, like I had been so many times before I understood them.
Then the little vixen pounced on me without warning, knocking me to the floor and kicking the closest thing her foot could find, which happened to be my kidney.
But I knew what she needed. I understood what was going on, even while she repeated the merciless kick, only this time to my face. As I saw the three demons lunge towards us, I put up my hand. As Tanis landed another kick, I sent all three males a telepath.
I’ve got this.
Each full-caste demon stopped mid-lunge, though I could feel how hard it was for them not to intervene.
With my newfound demon threshold for pain, her skinny waif legs didn’t hurt much, so I grabbed her foot and forced her backwards into the front door. She slid down ‘til she hit the floor, but was relentless. Crawling towards me like a cat crouched in the grass, I thought of Dmitri’s defense classes. I’d always thought they were a load of crap. Maybe they were, but I cleared my mind, took a slow breath even as Tanis pulled back a fist and decked me in the right cheek.
Mina would have this girl pinned by now.
I rolled, and thrust out a leg as the half-caste leapt towards me. At my angle from the floor, the impact struck the base of her ribcage, knocking the air out of her and making bones crackle.
I hoped Tanis had demon healing abilities.
A few cracked ribs didn’t stop her. Elbow first, she fell down on my stomach, and I let her make the impact even though I saw it coming. As I struggled to fill my lungs with air, I slid my feet into her hips and shoved, sending her stumbling, then flat on her back.
Three seconds later, as I was starting to wonder if she’d really been hurt, Tanis laughed.
Giggling with her, rubbing my kidney and cheek where she’d done the most damage, I let Rowan lift me to my feet.
He didn’t ask if I was okay, which made me kiss the spot on his neck I could reach from my tip-toes. Instead, he looked at Benn, who was staring at Tanis, both of them lying on the floor. “You okay, Bennett?”
My best friend rubbed his neck, then got to his feet, a little wobbly, but otherwise okay. “I guess.”
Moving the shade aside, I looked out the front window. The sun was up, shining through the trees. We’d be late if we didn’t leave soon.
“We must go,” Rowan said, and as I stared at Tanis, who had calmed down and was now looking sad, I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to leave her. I could help her. I wanted to be able to.
But I had responsibilities now.
“All right,” I said, and he put his arms around me. “What about everyone else?”
Grayson said, “we will escort you to the Blooding.”
I wondered if Iliana gave him that order. The formal way he said it made me uneasy.
“Let’s go then.” I slid an arm around Rowan’s waist. Being so close to him after last night made my skin smolder. “Better to be early.”
“We are ready,” Cyrus said, Tanis pulling herself together enough to accept Grayson’s arm, and Cy put a hand on the Tempter’s shoulder.
I braced myself, except nothing happened. No whirlwind. Cyrus and Rowan’s faces twisted into sneers—one I hadn’t seen on Rowan’s face in days.
“We’re blocked from the Gate.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Rowan removed his hand from around me, and leaned over, putting his entire mouth around the dip between my neck and shoulder. Fangs grazed flesh, and as he held the pose, I realized how perfectly his mouth fit around the responsive spot. His frustration in the air eased.
Every single face of our audience was blushing, or had turned their backs to us pointedly. The waves I felt coming off them weren’t only embarrassed, but alarmed.
I slicked my hand down Rowan’s hair, the softness of it tickling my cheek, and he withdrew, glamouring himself as he pulled away.
“We must walk,” he announced, and startled eyes turned back to us. “I fear we will now be late.”
Slipping into a jacket, which chafed my uncovered arms but would have to do, I locked the door when everyone was outside. No one besides Benn wore a coat, but I didn’t stand a chance of convincing the demons to bundle up. I hoped the Gate entrance was close.
As our troupe began the trek, Rowan was speaking with Grayson quietly about something, Tanis at his side, but no longer clinging to his arm. I seized the opportunity.
“Cy?” I jogged, joining him at the front of the group. “Can I ask you something?”
/>
“Of course, Savannah.” I grinned, loving that he no longer called me Scion.
“What does it mean when Rowan…you know…?” I put my nails into my neck. “Whenever he does, demons act really weird.”
Cyrus looked away, his classically handsome glamour reddening as his neck and ears flushed, and his wave of distress struck me.
“See? That. What is that?”
“It’s,” Cyrus began, having a hard time looking at me. “It is very intimate, what he does with you. With such ease.”
When Rowan did that, it was intimate for me. I didn’t understand why bystanders would see it that way. Could they sense how it made my insides flutter?
“A female trusting a Hammer as you trust Rowe, it is the greatest tribute you can grant him. You allow him to take your life into his hands. His fangs could tear into you, were made to tear into you.” Cyrus shook his head. “You’d do well to be more cautious. Young Hammers…lack control.”
Never once had I seen Rowan lose his cool. It made him even more remarkable in my eyes. He could snap, but never even sort of did. Couldn’t Cyrus see how in control my Sentinel was?
I wanted to ask more, but Grayson had caught up to us, and Cyrus looked so grateful to have an excuse to end the conversation. I was surprised Tanis wasn’t beside Grayson now. When I looked back, she and Benn were walking together.
Watch her, I telepathed to Rowan. Even though I wanted to trust her, she was unstable. And I just didn’t. Not with Benn.
“Will you speak to me, Savannah?” Grayson asked, tentatively, Cyrus falling back a few steps. Though at some point he was able to resist my command, the one that Marked me as Royalty, at least enough to use my given name and look directly at me, he was still following protocol. Grayson asked for permission first now.
“Sure, Gray,” I said, nudging his arm with my elbow. I didn’t think he would try anything with me now. I’d given him Tanis’s freedom. That had been all he needed from me. And he obviously knew about me and Rowan.
“Your mother—”
“Please.” I put a hand on his arm. “Don’t call her that.”
Pain threaded into his diamond eyes.
Defying Instinct (Demon Instinct Series) Page 27