A Crown of Blood and Bone: Paranormal Romance (The Shadow Walkers Saga Book 1)

by Sloane Murphy

  “We need to talk,” I say to him, moving closer before turning to face Roman, making sure I’m fully between them. “Roman, can you give us some time. I can call you later or something.”

  He growls again, and Creek’s hand comes to my waist but I plant my feet so he can’t move me.

  “If he hurts you, Remy. I will kill him.”

  “I’m not the one who would hurt her, that was your fault and you know it!” Creek snaps from behind me.

  “Enough. Please.” I push Creek backwards, into the kitchen space, freeing up the pathway to the door for Roman, whose eyes glow so bright, I fear he might shift. “Wait here. I say to Creek and move slowly towards Roman.

  “I will be okay,” I say, putting my hands on his chest, before placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

  “Please.”

  He stands tall, before reaching down and kissing me, as if claiming me as his own before ripping away and leaving without another word. The door slams as I turn back to Creek who looks at me, a mix of broken with an edge of betrayal.

  “You need to explain, Remy.”

  “I know,” I sigh. “Maybe you should sit.”

  He shakes his head and crosses his arms leaning against the counter.

  “You want a drink? Cause I sure as fuck need one.” I move around him and pour myself three fingers of whiskey, and throw it back, before pouring another. I grab a glass for him, and he takes it.

  “So, I guess, I need to start from the beginning…” I say, and dive into the tale of how my memories came back about them, all three of them, and I pieced together that I loved all

  of them in different lifetimes, but in this lifetime, they were all here, all holding a piece of my heart. Willing to take me, however they could have me, if only I would love them too.

  “I love you, Creek. I always have I think, even since we were kids. It’s like I just knew. I wanted to tell you everything before, but I was afraid. Afraid that you would reject me. That you’d hate me.”

  I watch him, on edge, as he takes everything in, and try not to let my emotions get the better of me, but I can’t take the silence.

  “Creek say something. Please…” I trail off, an insecurity that had never been present before. Not with Creek. But now he knows, and it could change everything, but I couldn’t lie to him. Not anymore.

  “Remy,” he breathes, his voice soft, gentle, calmer than I expected.

  “Come here,” his request is part command, part plea. As though being this far from him is a travesty.

  He walks us to the sofa, pulling me in to straddle him, my arms around his neck, covering the colorful tattoos that adorn his entire body. “There is nothing you could say to me that would change the way I feel about you.” Fisting my long hair in his fingers, he pulls me back exposing my neck. I think he’s going to kiss me but instead, he runs the tip of his nose along the column of my neck until he reaches my jaw where he leaves a tender kiss. Repeating the same action on the other side of my neck, he again kisses me gently on my jaw.

  “Even this. Did you fuck the Lycan yet?” I shake my head as much as I can, my scalp stinging from his grip. “The Dracul then?”

  “Yes,” I breathe, not used to seeing this side of him.

  “Did he bite you here?” he asks as he kisses my pulse point, his hand keeping my head back.

  “Did he make you bleed?” His words aren’t harsh but there’s an edge to them that instead of scaring me, turn me on.

  “Yes,” I whisper, grinding my core on his ever-growing thickness.

  “Did you enjoy it?” His mouth now on my collar bone, nipping a path from one side to the other.

  “Gods yes,” I am panting now, remembering the way Kain had had licked up the droplets he’d caused with his teeth.

  With my eyes closed, I see nothing, but I feel every one of his moves. Every lick on my skin and every pinch of his teeth. I know he’s comparing himself to Kain but he shouldn’t.

  “I am going to show you how much I love you, no matter what you tell me. I am going to make love to you until you forget anything but us.” Make love to me… Because that’s what this is. He looks at me like wants to worship my body and my mind, like I’m the reason for every breath he takes.

  “Every day for the rest of my life, if you’d let me.” Instead of pulling my hair, he pushes my head closer to him, just shy of our lips touching, “Don’t you know, Remy? I would destroy the world and create a new one if you asked it of me.”

  Slowly, deliberately, he brings our lips together. First gliding from side to side, taking our time, breathing in our scents, listening to our shallow breaths.

  “Kiss me, then, Creek. If you’ll have me, knowing everything, then I am yours,” I whisper, our mouths finally breaching the space between us, our tongues dancing to a song of our own making. With my hands on his bare chest, I dig my nails into his colorful skin, my pussy begging to be filled, to be loved by this man.

  The sound of ripping alarms me at first but I can’t bring myself to look, my attention fully on his kiss. It’s only when I feel the cool air touches my back that I realize Creek has just destroyed my tank top. The leather pants won’t be as easy to discard.

  “Take them off,” he demands, biting my bottom lip before putting his hands on my hips and pushes me to standing.

  I do as he asks, shimmying off my pants like a cat in heat, my purple eyes fixated on his green ones, bright, almost luminous with lust. I’m about to pull down my underwear when he stops me, a gentle touch to my hand. “Let me,” he says, scooting up and pulling me between his parted knees.

  Placing a kiss on my stomach, he licks a path from my panty line to my navel, circling it before placing both of his hands on my ass and lifting me up to his face as he lies back on the sofa.

  My pussy, albeit covered by the thin material of my underwear, is at his mouth. His hot, wet mouth. I can feel his tongue pushing the material inside me, rubbing against my clit and making me moan from the pleasure of it.

  Another rip and this time I know what it is without seeing. My ass is bare and soon my core will be at his mercy. “Oh god, Creek, that feels so good,” I cry out as his tongue spears inside me, licking up every drop of my juices. My gift to him. Reaching my clit, he sucks the nub into his mouth and just as I’m about to feel the orgasm rip out from deep inside me, Creek pushes two fingers inside my pussy from behind and I’m done. I don’t recognize the cry that bursts from my lungs, I only know it belongs to Creek.

  Before I have time to regain my senses, Creek is up and within seconds he’s naked, his cock proud and ready to make me his.

  Sitting back on the sofa, he spreads his legs and lets me straddle him once more, both naked, both filled with undeniable lust. Both feeling the love emanating from our very pores.

  “You may love them, Remy, but know this,” he pulls me close, the tip of his thick cock just resting at the entrance of my hungry pussy, “you will love me too. Because I,” he enters me, slowly, deliberately and painfully filling me one torturous inch at a time, “belong,” he grips my hips and buries his cock so deep I can feel him in my heart, “to you.”

  My hair falls on either side of us, our gazes’ prisoners of each other’s as I take control of our lovemaking, rising and falling in tempo with our breaths. Faster and deeper with every second closer to paradise. Purple eyes to green eyes, man to woman, Hunter to Hunter. We are one soul, one love. The faster I fuck him, the deeper his nails dig into my skin. The louder I cry, the further I fall for him until, finally, our bodies joined to the hilt, halt with the saving grace of an orgasm beyond anything I’ve ever felt.

  Sliding his hands up the length of my spine, he hooks his fingers at my shoulders and pulls me closer, grinding his long, hard cock deeper still and suddenly we’re falling over the edge together.

  We cry out, our heads falling back, our mouths parted on a gasp and our souls intertwined by our very essence.

  “I love you, Remy, now and for always.”

 
“I have no idea how I let you talk me into this,” I huff as Colt pulls the chair out for me. “I can get my own chair.”

  “Come on, little bit. It’s been forever since we hung out, just the two of us. And after your birthday months ago was… well it wasn’t exactly a celebration, then everything that’s happened since, I wanted us to do something nice. Especially since I missed last year too.” He smiles that cheeky smile at me again, and I cave.

  “Fine, fine, I’ll play nice.” I laugh and take a seat. He pushes me under the table before sitting down opposite me. “I don’t even remember the last time I came here.”

  “Franco’s is the best Italian on this side of the world, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.” He grins, and I laugh at him.

  “So… you and Fallon, huh?” I ask as I waggle my eyebrows and he groans.

  “No, Remy. Just no.”

  “Oh, come onnnnn. She’s been so tight lipped, but I know, I know something is going on,” I tease.

  “Remy, please just drop it. She’s not a Hunter, so nothing can come of it.” He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “Does it matter that much to you?” I ask, for myself as well as him and he shakes his head.

  “It doesn’t. But it’s not just my opinion that matters. The Bennett’s are a respected Hunter family. An affair with another faction, even with an ally, would devastate the people closest to us,” he whispers and picks up the menu.

  “The people closest to us should love us, regardless of who we’re with.” I frown but pick up my menu too, because he doesn’t seem to want to talk about this anymore.

  “You and Creek though, that’s a good match. That’s exactly what people expect.” He says with a tight smile. “I’m happy for you.”

  “I hope you find happiness, Colt. No matter who it’s with.” I reach over and squeeze his hand.

  “Thank you, now enough of this crap. Let’s eat some good food, and then I’m thinking, laser tag.” He grins again, and I laugh at the childish glee on his face.

  “I haven’t been to laser tag in foreverrrrrrr. Hell yes!” We order when the waiter approaches and just shoot the shit, and after eating the most beautiful chicken Alfredo and garlic bread, I am bloated as hell.

  "I have no idea how I'm going to run around laser tag right now." I puff up my cheeks and he snort laughs at me.

  "You look like a hamster," he giggles, rubbing his own stomach. "But we'll walk there, walk off all these carbs, plus you can't back out. Creek and Bauer are on their way back from the airport, douchebag Archer was summoned home, thank god, so they're going to join us."

  "You don't like him either?"

  "Guy is so far up his own ass, I can see his eyes in his mouth. Thinks he's better than the rest of us, when he's a subpar Hunter at best. He's a damn good tracker, I'll give him that, its why he was sent after Roman, but that's about it."

  "I'm glad he's gone; Bauer was weird with him around."

  "You noticed that too, huh?" he says, leaving cash for the bill and standing. I follow him out of the restaurant and out into the bright street. Fall is officially coming, but the sun is still high in the sky.

  "It's hard not to notice. It's like he's harder, and just not Bauer."

  "I think something happened a long time ago, and Bauer just doesn't want to let his guard down, even if he says he can trust Archer with his life. He won't talk about it, just brushes me off, but yeah. It’s weird." He shrugs.

  We stroll in comfortable silence to the laser tag warehouse and sit in the sun waiting for Creek and Bauer to arrive. A few minutes later, Bauer’s truck pulls into the lot, and they climb from it. My mouth goes dry as I take Creek in, his hair down and wild, like he's been running his hands through it, and that white t-shirt is tight as sin on his arms.

  "Down girl," Colt laughs and I shove him gently, rolling my eyes.

  We play wrestle until the two reach us when I victoriously get Colt into a headlock and bounce around to celebrate my victory. Bauer bursts out laughing while Creek just shakes his head. "You guys never change."

  "I don't ever want to." I laugh as I release Colt and give him a hug. "You guys ready to be annihilated?"

  They all laugh at me, shaking their heads, but head inside. I feel giddy, like a kid. We haven't done anything like this in years, and with all of the stress and headaches of everything recently, this is exactly what I need.

  We pay the woman at the counter and then gear up. Glad I wore chucks, shorts and a vest with a shirt today, I've not got any hinderances. I can't stop the huge grin on my face as I pull my hair back into a ponytail. Creek walks towards me, somehow rocking the chest piece, his eyes dancing when he reaches me. He pulls on my ponytail, and I sigh, falling forward to rest my hands on his chest as I kiss him softly.

  "Hey you."

  "Hey," he smiles, "How you doing?"

  His voice gentle, and his smile soft, it melts my heart. That he can still look at me like this, love me like this, knowing what he knows. I feel so much lighter, closer to him, now that he knows.

  "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

  "I told you, beautiful. Nothing in the world would change what you mean to me, or how I feel about you." He cups my chin and kisses me softly and I melt against him.

  "I guess the love birds are teaming up." Colt laughs and I roll my eyes as I pull away from Creek, but he keeps me close, his fingers intertwined with me.

  "It’s us four, versus the team already in there according the guy who gave me the gear." Bauer says. "Poor fuckers."

  "Yes!" Colt whoops and I laugh at them both. "Is that even fair?" I ask and Bauer shrugs.

  "Nothing is fair in love and war. You'd do well to remember that, Remy," he says, looking at me funny, but whatever it was disappears and he smiles. "Let’s get this done."

  He slaps the laser gun against his shoulder and heads into the dark room, Colt bouncing behind him as I lead Creek behind them.

  "I was right, not even close to fair." I laugh as we hand the gear back to the guy behind the counter, who just looks at us wide eyed. After a few hours of decimating any team that came up against us, barely taking a hit, we decided to call it a day.

  "So much fun though," Colt says, his eyes glittering, still riding the win.

  "It's been a while since I had that much fun," Bauer agrees, looking more carefree than I ever remember seeing him.

  "Oh, Mom will kill me if I forget to tell you, we're throwing a surprise party for your Dad this weekend. At his, because his place is bigger than anyone else’s, and we'll never get him out. Saturday morning. Be there by 10am or face her wrath." Creek smirks hugging me from behind.

  "Dad hates surprises," Bauer says, eyebrows raised.

  "You tell my mom that. It's his fiftieth, there is no way in hell she's letting it go."

  "Didn't Dad say he just wanted a quiet night?" Colt asks Bauer who nods.

  "Yep. I'll hide in the back. I'll make sure to stay there Friday night, so I'm not late," Bauer says, as he leads us out of the restaurant.

  "I'll do the same," Colt agrees.

  "Maybe I should too, and we can make him a small dinner?" I say and they murmur their agreement. "Awesome, I'll shop before I head over."

  "You guys need a ride?" Bauer asks Colt and I.

  "Sure, just to Franco's. We walked here from there earlier," I say and climb into his truck. The drive to Franco’s doesn’t take long, and it’s only a few minutes until I'm climbing back out of the truck, Creek at my back.

  "Can I come back over tonight?" he asks quietly and I smile up at him.

  "Yup. You can come over with me now if you like?"

  "Not expecting any other visitors?" his eyes darken a little at the question.

  "I'm never expecting visitors, they tend to just, appear out of thin air, but no," I reassure him. While he might be okay with me being with them, he is still a Hunter, I don't expect him to just get over his prejudices overnight.

  "Then yes, I'll come with you n
ow," he kisses me before turning back to my brothers.

  "I'll catch you guys in a bit. Safe patrols tonight, boys." "Be good boys and girls. Don't do anything I wouldn't,"

  Colt belts out a laugh as he climbs into his truck, and Bauer just waves before he drives off. We get into my car and he puts his hand on my thigh, fingers stroking the soft skin as I start to drive, the heat increasing already.

  "You better be ready to finish what you start," I purr, my eyes focused on the road ahead, but my body completely attuned to the man beside me.

  "Don’t I always, beautiful?” Creeks asks, licking his lips as his hand squeezes my bare thigh. I’m suddenly more than happy with my decision to wear shorts today. My house isn’t far off but maybe he can get an A for effort.

  “Yes, but this is going to be cutting it close. There’s barely ten minutes left before we reach my building, I doubt you could make me come in that sort of time,” I shrug because we could always play catch up once we get home.

  “Is that a challenge, beautiful?” he asks me, determination in his tone.

  “It is, what it is, Creek. You can’t…” One long finger slides up the leg of my shorts and breaching my entrance without hesitation, making me lose my grip on the steering wheel.

  “Holy shit, warn a girl before you do that,” I moan as he drags my juices from the opening to my clit and rubs in deliberate circles until my legs begin shaking.

  “Still think I’m at a disadvantage, here? That I’m not up to the challenge?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, pushing two digits inside me, my eyes losing their focus, my legs spreading wider still to accommodate his movements.

  “I- no- um,” I’m an incoherent mess by the time he pinches my clit and leans in to suck on the column of my neck. I close my eyes for the briefest of seconds but it’s enough to make us swerve. Luckily, Creek has better reflexes than I do right now and brings us back to the correct side of the road.

  With less than five minutes before we get home, Creek has a thumb on my clit and two fingers inside me, pumping through my walls and sucking on my neck, urging me to pull over.