by Jamie Magee
Her anger took her all the way to Gwinn’s door. Just as she went to open the door she heard Gwinn giggle, that innocent laugh that she was known for.
Reveca couldn’t do it, couldn’t open that door and see what she knew was there. Everyone had their limits and she had just met hers.
She’d made it to her room, and had prowled back and forth several times trying to settle her rambling thoughts and emotions before Talon came in the room.
“I hate her,” Reveca fumed. She meant Tisk. She didn’t have hate for Gwinn, some innocent girl that was far too lost right then to know she had tread down a road that was better left alone.
“You were with Zale,” Talon said in a near ghostly whisper as his dark eyes slowly glided over her.
She only glared for a second. “I went to talk to Thelma Ray and he was next door. I wasn’t with him. And when I was, Jamison observed our meeting. Doubt me—call him.”
“Should I have reason to doubt you?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Reveca asked lifting her hands slightly.
Talon prowled a bit closer. “It means that for months the only time I get to touch you is when you know you need energy.” He pressed his lips together. “That was fine. You needed space and I gave it to you. Then King comes. Then you drift further away. Then every time you leave this Boneyard you come back and try to kill the first female you come across.”
She rolled her eyes and stopped pacing in front of her dresser. She braced her long arms on it and hung her head before the massive mirror. “I threaten to kill females that fuck with what is mine.”
There was a tense silence then he spoke. “Reveca, I don’t know how much more of this you can take.”
She didn’t bother to look up.
“You’re not dealing with your grief. You’re not dealing with anything.”
Reveca slightly shook her head. Hating that even though she hid a huge part of herself from him, he could still read her, understand her. “Like I have time. I don’t understand why it’s all falling apart at once.”
“Something like this doesn’t happen overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight. We have to take it day by day.”
Reveca sensed him ease behind her long before she felt his strong hands move up her back.
That touch of his was always full of so much heat. That was the phoenix within, a burn that Reveca craved.
She sighed taking in the feel of his now innocent touches. “Too much shit that I’ve buried is coming back to life. I don’t want to deal with my family. I don’t want to deal with Zale.”
“What do you want?” he whispered darkly as his hands moved up her sides, brushed her chest.
She didn’t say anything for a minute. He was gaining control over her body. She was sighing, leaning back, wanting to feel more of those hands of his, and she was trying to figure out if that would make her feel worse or better. With as much anger as she had inside she was betting it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Then again, dealing with it afterwards would suck.
“I don’t want to feel anything. I want my mind to shut up long enough for me to figure out what the hell’s going on.” She sucked in a breath. “But that’s not going to happen any time soon,” she said as she went to walk away.
Cashton only had hours before he had to go back to the Veil, and she wasn’t going to wait until he came back to figure out if he knew he was being coupled with a powerful coven leader’s daughter, and if that was the reason King hated him so. No, they were going to have nice chat before he went back.
Before she could even move, Talon’s hands gripped her waist.
“What, Talon,” she asked, wanting to escape his knowing stare that she felt peering past the angry shield she had in place. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want.”
Her gaze moved to the mirror, stared at his reflection just behind her. Those dark eyes of his were full of far too many emotions at once. “I want my woman back.”
She swallowed somewhat nervously, not wanting to go down this road tonight. “I’m right here.”
“Are you?” he said as his hands moved up her sides again, sliding under her tank as they did.
She gasped when they pushed her bra up, when his thumbs grazed her nipples as his hands squeezed. Reveca’s eyes became hooded as she watched the reflection of him touching her in the mirror. Watching—something about that made it all the more erotic, provocative. She was forced to see what she surrendered to him, able to see that the pair of them had mastered this seduction, in every way, long ago.
His lips met her neck and she gasped, feeling flames. When Talon was all there, when he let himself go, his touch was so hot that at times, even with Reveca’s immortal status, with her knowing what to expect and how to channel it, it caught her off guard.
“Not touching you is torture,” he rasped against her neck as one of his hands slid down her waist and began to unclasp her belt, unfasten the button. The zipper fell as his powerful hand slid down her stomach.
The second his fingertips reached that tiny ball of nerves nestled in the heat of her, his lips stopped. He lifted his head and watched her reflection.
“You know I’m a jealous man, Reveca,” he said as her head fell back to his chest, as his touch started to steal her breath, as she even dared to let her own hands move up her sides, enticing him, touching herself, daring him to lose that calm he liked to have as he waited for her to become completely unwound, soaking wet, and aching.
His fingertips continued to glide against the heat of her. “I don’t share.” Her eyes flew open clearly hearing the accusation in his tone. Anger. That was her defense. Her body may have already surrendered, but she was pissed that he would start this fight now.
“Right now you are giving me this,” he said as his fingertips moved across her clit once more then slid down and sunk deep within. “But you’re not letting me in anymore,” he said as his lips moved across her temple.
“I am,” she breathed. She meant for that to sound harsh, but it was anything but. Talon could always do that to her, manage to make her body a slave to his, touch and tease until the point where her mind finally gave in.
“I need it all, Reveca,” he said as his lips moved down her neck once more.
Both his hands lifted and then tore the tank from her, baring her chest which was just barely restrained by her bra to begin with.
He reached for her hands and braced them on the dresser. “You be a good girl, and keep your hands right there,” he said as he gave her a wink in the mirror. The fact the he called out that she was purposely trying to get him to lose his control a second before sent a sizzle right through her body.
When he had this much command about him, this calm, that hunger in his eyes, he could make her forget anything.
Talon pushed her shorts and panties down past her hips, to the point where they could fall to the floor on their own, then he leaned her forward. His kiss began to slide down her back as his hands slid around and toyed with her chest, squeezing one moment, caressing the next, before falling down her body.
Her breaths became fast and heated long before she felt his kiss slide across her ass, dare to nip at it. Long before he spread her legs and she felt the sweet sensation of his lips caressing the most aching part of her body.
It was all that she could do to stand. She felt pure fire—and he was in control, knew exactly what rhythm would drive her up the wall, what she liked and didn’t. He enjoyed making her wait for what she wanted. He’d bring her to the edge then glide his tongue away, a tease, one that nearly infuriated her.
Talon reached his long arm between her legs, let it slowly snake up to her chest. In the reflection of the mirror she watched as he all but owned her in that moment.
“Talon,” she moaned as she felt herself build, felt her legs began to shake. Tease or not, he had hit that mark enough times that she was on the verge.
“Let go,” his lips hummed against her flesh.
Sh
e shook her head no, even moved her legs together around him. She wanted to stay on that edge, and when she fell over it she didn’t want to fall over it alone.
He knew that. This was a game to him, that part of it anyway; she wanted to cum with him, like always. Not alone, never alone. That was just her deal and he liked to make her miserable about it, blissfully miserable.
That long arm fell from her chest, his lips eased away from her only to surface at the base of her spine and glide upwards as his hands slipped down, once again daring her to let go.
As he rose, Reveca realized he was completely dressed, Kut and all, as she stood all but nude before him.
She tried to turn but his strong hands held her in place.
“I need to touch you,” she said with a pant as his hands grazed across the hard peaks of her chest. She kicked her way out of her shorts which were at her ankles.
“Need or want,” he asked right as his hand slid down her stomach once more, right as his fingertip began to taunt the edge she was doing her best to cling to.
She could feel the hard length of him pressed against her back.
“Want,” she said as soon as the thought registered.
“I’m not convinced…a bit too much delay,” he said as his fingers slid further then dove inside swift and hard. The moan that left her sounded more like a shriek of shock. Flames, the boy was flames.
“Talon, let me touch you,” she nearly growled as she turned in his arms, breaking the seductive hold he had on her.
He stood still as a statue, letting his dark eyes rain down on her as she pushed his kut from his shoulders, as she went for his belt, finally freeing him. Her hand slid down the length of him as she lifted her eyes to meet his. She knew exactly how to touch him, too, what he could and could not handle, and with each glide of her hand she was proving that.
“We still have fire, Reveca,” he said with a hiss.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she went to kiss his stomach, went to repay every favor he’d given her, but he grasped her arms, pulled her up then let his lips crash into hers. When he pulled away his eyes were distant. “You’re not here. Your mind is a million miles away.”
Frustration. She owned that emotion right then. “It’s a million miles away because I’m waiting for you to cum with me. If you don’t shut up I’m going to let go.” She gripped the length of him. “Then at least one of us will walk away satisfied.”
His jaw clenched. She’d hit a nerve, but that was exactly what she wanted to do. Tick him off.
He turned her, braced her arms on the dresser. His hand urged her legs apart seconds before he pushed himself deep inside, ensuring his thrust was quick and to the point. One hand reached around her waist and teased the heat between her legs as the other rose to her chest.
“Watch us,” he demanded.
When her eyes stayed closed with pure ecstasy his hand broke from her chest and reached for her chin lifting it up. “Watch,” he commanded.
And she did.
She watched his powerful body move at a rapid rhythm against hers, watched as every touch and every thrust brought a raw ache to her. Watched as her lover owned and ruled her body just as he always had. Thrust after thrust, the way he’d hook his hips so he could get nice and deep, how he only gave her a second before he’d moved again.
All at once that cliff she had been avoiding swallowed her whole. She felt her entire body convulse, her legs shake, the sweet agony of release shake her to the core.
Talon didn’t stop, every thrust extending her orgasm to the point where breath was hard to take. She couldn’t stand on her own anymore, it was his strong arms that held her against him. He took his time but he followed her. Hearing him grunt out a curse as his hands clenched her waist was pure satisfaction for Reveca. Made her feel like she took back some of the power she always surrendered to him.
Together they slid to the floor, both panting, covered in sweat.
A second later she heard a low chuckle come from him.
She elbowed him. “Angry sex was always your favorite,” she said as she let out a long, deep breath.
That next second he was on top of her, staring down. His hand reached to caress her face. “The mood you’ve been in lately—I knew that was the only way I was getting any.”
“I’m not amused,” she said trying not to smile as her eyes searched his.
“No, but you’re satisfied,” he said with a boyish smirk.
She slapped his shoulder.
His lips fell to hers, and he took in a slow sweet kiss. When he pulled away he looked deep in her eyes. “I mean it though, Reveca…I don’t share.”
“I told you I was spelled to lust after Zale…that’s long over. The second we find Evanthe he’s getting the hell out of our town.”
“What?” she asked when his stare never faltered.
“I’m not worried about Zale. Spelled or not it was very clear back then he can’t handle you, can’t satisfy you.”
Reveca shifted out from under him, yanked on her panties and shorts and went to find a new tank.
“How do you know him?” Talon asked after a moment.
King. The notion of him was right there in that room, standing between them. He was the sting in Reveca’s energy, the guilt that she didn’t know what to do with that was hanging in the air.
“I don’t.”
“You’re lying,” Talon said as he moved his hands behind his head giving himself a pillow—looking sexy as hell with his shirt lifted up, his jeans still wide open.
“I don’t know who that is,” Reveca said as she let her stare move over Talon. He was a miracle. She knew that. Not only was bringing him back a miracle, but also bringing back a man that could put up with her endless rollercoaster of emotions for ages and still satisfy her like they were new lovers made him a miracle. On top of all that, he was her best friend.
Reveca had to wonder if the reason she was having such a hard time right now was because she had shut him out.
“But you have crossed his path,” Talon said with a playful groan as he watched her cover her chest with a new tank.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You don’t want to talk about the fact that your sister sent you after him, that you avoid him like the plague.”
“Talon,” she growled as she jerked her belt into place.
“I just want to know who he was to you.”
“A soldier. One that died for no reason.”
“Before time was recorded. In your homeland,” Talon said as he put the buckle on his jeans back in place.
“What did he say to you?” she asked.
“What you just said, nothing else. I’m not a fool, Reveca. I know the look in a man’s eyes when he wants a piece of ass and I know the look in a man’s eyes when there’s history there.”
There was a hint of jealousy in his eyes, a hint of pain, but most of it was confidence, confidence he deserved to own. Reveca and he had been through a few of these jealousy tiffs. They all ended the same way. Where no one else really got them, satisfied them the way they did each other.
“It’s an extraordinary brief history, Talon. He knew a girl. You know a woman.”
A dark chuckle left him. “Then why are you avoiding him?”
“I’m not.”
“You are,” he said with a lifted brow letting her know that was a red flag, a sign of guilt at least.
“Talon.”
“Reveca.”
She let out a breath. “I’ve got enough to deal with right now. He represents a world I can’t see any longer and it pisses me off.”
“Someone you knew briefly represents the home you lost,” he repeated with a wink, calling out her BS.
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to be honest with me…did you love him?”
Reveca felt the wind knocked out of her. Felt her energy turn defensive.
“That’s what I thought,” Talon said as his dark eyes mo
ved over her.
He hesitated, then he stood, grabbed his kut and pulled it over his shoulders.
“Where are you going?”
“To work. To save a few dozen addicts, bring you back a witch, and apparently set a Rouge free for Zale to collect.”
“You’re not going to come in here and have an angry fuck, tell me that you in your all-knowing way figured out I know King, and then just leave.”
“Why not?” he asked with a mischievous grin.
She glared in response.
“Vec, you and me…we’ve been doing this for a while. I’m not going anywhere, and as it stands now you’re too scared to go anywhere.”
“I’m not scared of anything.”
“You’re scared of the unknown, and as long as you have lived, that’s not much.” He moved to her side and pulled her against him, lifted his hand to her face, careful caressed away the loose strand of hair lingering there. “I’m always going to be there for you, and I’m always going to do what I know is best for you. Right now, that’s you and me. We’re going to get through this war just like all the others.” He squeezed her waist. “And now that you know I’m aware of our mystery guest’s background you’ll be able to focus on the task at hand instead of trying to hide that from me.”
He leaned down and let his lips graze against hers. “I’ll see you after work,” he said with a wink. As he walked past her he made it a point to slap her bottom.
She yelped then glared over her shoulder when she heard him laugh.
Reveca wasn’t surprised that Talon had figured any of that out. The man had watched her too long to not know when something was bothering her.
One thing Reveca knew was that she had to find a way to stop this hum, this connection King seemed to have with her. She had to understand where the hell he’d been and what the hell that had to do with the war at hand.
She felt her stomach flip, felt sick all at once knowing there was one sure fire way for her to get mad enough to fearlessly approach him with any of those questions.
She had to see him as the ass he was.
Holding her breath she charged out of her room, stalked down the hall, cursed herself when she felt that hum all but reach through the door at her.