by Sadie Moss
Because of me.
A heady feeling of power rushed through me. I was on my knees before a man who never lost control to anyone. Except to me. I had cracked through his carefully erected walls, and as I sucked harder on his cock, those walls came crumbling down.
I licked his slit with the tip of my tongue, tasting his salty essence, and he bucked his hips.
The hand in my hair tightened, finally beginning to guide and control my movements. I let him, opening the back of my throat and pulling more of him into my mouth with each stroke.
He needed this. Needed to let go and take what he wanted.
“Touch yourself, Lana. Keep your mouth on me and touch yourself.”
The rough, commanding edge to his voice was new and thrilling. I fumbled with the zipper on my jeans then reached my hand in to rub my clit, relieving some of the desperate ache building inside me. The rhythm of my mouth and tongue stuttered as my body tensed with pleasure, but I was more focused on his release than mine.
More than anything in the world at this moment, I wanted to make Jae come.
In a dusty room in an unfamiliar house in the Outskirts, with world-ending danger bearing down on us, all I wanted was to make him feel good. To make him feel loved.
My orgasm hit me like a freight train. I’d been so focused on his responses and reactions, trying to drive him over the edge, that my own climax caught me by surprise. But each moan from his lips, each muttered praise and curse, the radiant heat pouring off his skin—it all heightened my arousal until I couldn’t contain it anymore. I flew apart with a muffled cry, struggling through the aftershocks to work him harder and deeper.
Suddenly, his hand on the back of my head stilled. His whole body went rigid.
“I’m coming. Oh gods, Lana, I’m coming.”
Those words, in his strangled voice, were the most incredible sounds I’d ever heard. A heartbeat later, his cock pulsed in my mouth, thickening with his release. I swallowed greedily, not willing to let a bit of him go.
As he gasped for breath, I slowly drew back, flattening my tongue against the underside of his softening cock as I did, making him hiss and exhale roughly. I tucked him back into his pants and zipped them up, then adjusted my own clothes. Resting my cheek on his thigh, I looked up at him, sated and happy.
For a moment, his green gaze shone down on me, a brilliant smile lighting up his face.
Then his smile drooped, his eyes clouding over. “Damn it. I’m sorry. That wasn’t what our first time together should’ve been like. With me half dressed, you fully dressed, in the middle of a crisis, in a room that….” He gestured vaguely around us, pulling away from me uncomfortably. “You deserve better than this, Lana.”
What?
I tightened my grip on his thighs, not letting him get far. “No, I don’t. I deserve exactly this. You. The real, true you, and everything that comes with it. And this”—I mimicked his gesture encompassing the room—“will always mean something special to me. Because it’s the first time this happened.” Rising up, I grabbed the back of his head and kissed him hard. When I felt him relax again, I softened the kiss and spoke my next words against his lips. “This was everything I wanted. A moment doesn’t have to be perfect to be amazing, Jae.”
He cupped the sides of my face, delving into my mouth with slow, languid strokes of his tongue. When we broke apart, he rested his forehead against mine. “Gods, you’re incredible.”
I chuckled dryly. “If you think so, I’m not going to try to talk you out of it.” I paused, regarding him seriously. “But I’m also a little damaged, and angry, and afraid. I want you to know those parts of me too. And I want to know all of you. Please don’t hide from me—not the good parts or the bad.”
Jae pulled me up suddenly, settling me on his lap and wrapping his arms around me, burying his face against my chest. His grip was crushing, like he was holding onto a lifeline. “I’m so fucking angry, Lana. I want to kill him.”
I pulled him close, ghosting my fingers over the marks on his back before running them through his neatly trimmed brown hair. “I’ll help.”
Chapter 15
We held each other for a while longer, and even as worry about what was to come beat against my chest, I reveled in the feel of Jae’s body pressed tightly to mine.
No barriers between us.
No pretenses.
Finally, he lifted me off his lap and stood slowly. He stroked my cheek, gazing down at me with worshipful green eyes, then laced our fingers together and led me from the room.
The hallway we entered was dark and shadowed, but light glowed from the staircase at one end. A worn carpet covered the steps, muffling our footsteps as we descended. Voices reached my ear as we entered a small, mostly empty room. A wide archway on the left opened up into another room, and the voices cut off as we stepped inside.
Old furniture was spread around the intimate space, forming a rough circle. Noble was perched on the arm of a large chair next to a woman I didn’t recognize. Fen, Akio, and Corin sat on a worn red couch, and several other Resistance members took up other seats in the room.
“Jae!” Noble stood and crossed to us quickly, clapping Jae on the shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I am. Thanks to Lana.” He shot me a smile, and Noble transferred his attention to me.
I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but the man’s internal tempo was even faster than the first time we’d met. I half expected him to burst apart into pieces of pure energy at any moment.
“Well done, Crow. We’re going to need you both more than ever. Rain needs to be stopped. Sit, sit! We’re working on a plan of action.” He paced back over to his chair and perched on the arm again.
Jae guided me over to a large armchair, mimicking Noble’s pose by sitting on the side. He wrapped his arm casually around my shoulders, his thumb brushing my collarbone.
It was a gesture of intimacy and possessiveness he definitely wouldn’t have made even yesterday, and I flushed slightly as all three of my other men noticed it. Corin and Fen didn’t seem surprised—they almost looked pleased, actually. But Akio’s face hardened, and he blinked several times, his jaw clenching.
My blush deepened, and I avoided his penetrating stare. I wasn’t sure what his problem was with me and Jae, but now wasn’t the time to get into it with him. Instead, I turned to Noble, who was speaking in low tones to the woman next to him.
“So, I’m assuming you were brought up to date on what happened at the palace?” I asked. “Do you have any updates? What happened after we left?”
He shook his head, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Nothing good. Rain Blackshear has taken control of the government and declared martial law. He’s being backed by Victor Kruger, Nicholas Constantine, and Jonas Nocturne.” His gaze shifted to Jae. “I’m sorry.”
Jae dipped his head in acknowledgement. The mask of calm was back in place, but I felt his fingers tighten on my shoulder, and I was grateful he didn’t try to hide his response from me.
“What about the other Representatives?” I asked.
“Theron Stearns is dead. So is Simon Gaunt. We think Olene Romo may have escaped, but Rain was able to capture Eben Knowles alive.”
My jaw dropped. “Eben Knowles? Fuck. You mean Rain has one of the most powerful wizards in the country?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Noble’s voice was grim. “Which means he’s found a replacement for you, Lana. And that means—”
“The doomsday clock has started,” Fen interjected with a frown.
“Godsdamn it. He could be doing the magic pull on Eben as we speak.” My heart clenched as I thought of the old wizard. He’d been the quietest of the Representatives, and though I had no reason to suspect he was a good man, I’d hated him a lot less than some of the others.
“Yes,” Noble confirmed. “And if he is, that gives us less than a week to stop him before he’s ready to perform a large-scale magic pull.”
“And we can’t count
on the Representatives to stop him. There’s no fucking government left but Rain and his goons.” I kicked at the threadbare carpet, my heart rate ratcheting up. “Gods, I can’t believe how easily he demolished them. He’s stronger than he used to be. Whatever kink there was in his first spell that wouldn’t allow him to transfer magic to a new host, he’s worked it out. And we have to assume that by the time we go after him, he’ll be even more powerful than he is now. It’ll take a fucking army to stop him.”
The woman next to Noble spoke up. She had dark skin, a long neck, and hair so short it hugged her scalp. “Most of us can’t fight him with magic. But we can be a first wave attack, distractions to keep him busy while those who can fight magically get into position.”
I blinked. She’d spoken so straightforwardly it took me several seconds to realize what she was offering—that she and others like her would sacrifice themselves to give the rest of us a chance against Rain.
“You can’t—”
Her look cut me off. “We’re helping. One way or another, we’re going to stop that son of a bitch.”
Determination straightened her spine, and Noble dropped a hand on her shoulder. The girl’s voice was light and musical, and when I looked closer at her, I realized she couldn’t be much older than eighteen. The hardness in her eyes had fooled me at first.
I wanted to argue with her further but didn’t know how. Could I tell her not to fight? I sure as hell wouldn’t listen if our positions were reversed. But my stomach turned at the thought of what Rain would do to an army of Blighted men and women. Hell, with the new powers he was developing, he could probably take down an army of the Gifted without breaking a sweat.
And still, we had to stop him. Somehow.
I looked around the room at the gathered company. “We’ll work together. Blighted, Gifted, Touched—there’s power in numbers, and we all bring something to the table.” I grimaced, turning back to Noble. “If we go in now, we’ve got a better chance of catching Rain off guard, before he fortifies his defenses even more. But then again, we’ll also be going in blind, with no solid plan of attack. If we wait, we’ll be more organized, but so will he.”
A smile flashed across his face. “You think like a general.”
Panic flared, but I pushed it back down. I wasn’t the leader here. He was. I didn’t want that kind of responsibility, couldn’t be the one held accountable for the lives of all the Resistance members. Brushing off his words, I rolled my eyes. “I think like someone who doesn’t want to get her ass handed to her by a super-mage.”
“Agreed.” Noble was still smiling fiercely, an expression that made him look a bit feral. “As to your question, I think we’re better off—”
He was interrupted by another man entering the room. I recognized this one; he’d come to the war room to report to Christine once when we were there.
“Sir? We’ve got company.”
The atmosphere in the room grew tense, the air seeming to thicken.
The smile slipped from Noble’s face. “How many?”
“Two. Out front. They haven’t broken through the concealment spell, but they’re definitely trying to.”
Noble nodded sharply then cocked his head at Jae and me. We rose smoothly, and I summoned a flame above my palm as we followed the Resistance member to the front door.
“You take the one on the left. I’ll take the one on the right,” I whispered to Jae. Then I stopped. “Wait. Should you be fighting this soon after almost dying?”
“If I could handle what you did to me upstairs so soon after a brush with death, I think I can handle this,” he murmured back, his voice so low no one but me heard him.
I flushed but snorted a laugh. I’d always suspected Jae had a wicked sense of humor. It was nice to see him letting it out.
We peered through the small window in the door. A Gifted couple loitered on the cracked sidewalk outside the house, almost invisible in the gloomy evening light. It would be full dark soon, and there were no working streetlights in this neighborhood.
From what I could make out, they looked middle-aged and affluent. They also weren’t being subtle about their presence at all. Were they Rain’s soldiers? Some of his new recruits?
I shot a glance at Jae. “Don’t go for a kill shot. We need to question them.”
He nodded in agreement then gestured to Noble, who had his hand on the door handle. The Resistance leader twisted it suddenly and pulled.
We stepped up to the open door, careful to remain inside the concealment surrounding the house as we raised our hands in unison.
Maybe the couple somehow saw through the concealment spell. Maybe they sensed us.
Or maybe they were just out of better ideas.
Before I could hurl the ball of flame in my hand, the woman looked straight toward the house, and called out in a low voice, “Hello? We’re looking for The Crow. Please, we want to join you!”
My arm froze in a cocked position, and I fisted my hand to put out the flame.
“Oh shit, killer! They’re here for you!” Fen’s loud whisper from behind us made me jump.
“Looks like our kitten’s got a fan club,” Akio drawled.
I dropped my arm and scowled at him over my shoulder. “Did you forget I know your weak points?”
Akio smirked, but stepped out of arm’s reach. Smart man. I’d discovered a while ago that he was ticklish, and I wasn’t above abusing that knowledge.
But at the moment, I had bigger issues to deal with. Like the Gifted pair in the street who were still swiveling their heads around, as if at any moment they’d catch sight of the house in their periphery.
They could be lying. Rain had taught me an unforgettable lesson about believing people too easily.
But Corin had taught me another lesson. Trust had to start somewhere if we wanted to move forward. Even Akio, who’d been given maybe the best reason ever not to trust another person again, had decided to give Noble a chance.
Trusting no one meant always being alone. And we couldn’t win this battle alone.
Steeling myself against the urge to reignite my flame or at least pull a dagger from my thigh sheath, I stepped out of the house onto the crumbling front steps. As soon as I crossed the threshold, the couple’s attention snapped to me.
“I’m—” I cleared my throat and tried again, hoping my words didn’t sound as dumb as they felt. “I’m The Crow.”
The woman’s eyes widened. If she was disappointed by how I looked when I wasn’t painted on the side of a building, she didn’t show it. In fact, she appeared a little awed. “It is you. We… we’ve come to volunteer. To join the Resistance.”
I glanced behind me. My four were crammed into the doorway, all looking extremely tense. Noble was slightly shorter than all of them, so I couldn’t see him through the wall of muscle blocking the doorway. But screw it. He was the one who’d made me into “The Crow,” so he could hardly complain about me making an executive decision on this.
“Come in. It’s not safe out here.” I gestured behind me, ignoring the tension radiating from the bodies at my back.
The couple darted up the steps quickly, casting furtive glances around them. The street was deserted, but I assumed at least some of the houses nearby were occupied. It really wasn’t safe for us to be out here.
Grudgingly, the men stepped back, and as soon as the Gifted pair were inside, Noble closed and locked the door. He leaned back against it, arms crossed over his chest, watching the couple intently. Their eyes, however, remained fixed on me.
“Our names are Grace and Silvius,” the woman began, a slight quaver to her voice. “We—we saw you on television today. We didn’t go to the palace for the ceremony, but we were watching. We saw your spell, saw your memory. I can’t believe….”
She broke off, drawing deep breaths as tears glistened in her eyes. The man, Silvius, wrapped an arm around her waist, picking up the thread where she had left off.
“We couldn’t believe what the Chief A
dvisor did. All this time, we didn’t know. We thought it was the—” He glanced at Corin, Noble, and the several Blighted Resistance members surrounding us. “Well, you know.”
Tension thickened the air in the room. These Gifted might finally believe the Great Death wasn’t caused by the Blighted, and they may truly be here to help us—but old prejudices died hard on both sides.
“We never attacked the Blighted,” Grace said, her voice low. “But we didn’t do enough to defend them when the Gifted mobs went looking for blood after the Great Death. We were still reeling from what had happened.” Her thin face was drawn, her eyes haunted. “The sickness struck so fast. A perfectly healthy person would be dead within hours, and so many people were falling. Bodies were left on the street. People barricaded themselves inside their houses, but it didn’t help. We didn’t know where it would stop, if it would stop. Or if it was coming for us all.”
“I lost my entire family,” Silvius murmured. “It’s a miracle I still have Grace.”
Grace gripped her husband’s hand so hard her knuckles turned white. “We tried to rebuild our lives after that, to climb out of our shock and grief. We heard stories, rumors that the Blighted were to blame, but we never attacked them. We just… tried to get by.”
Corin let out a muffled sound behind me, but he stifled whatever he’d been about to say. I could guess his thoughts though. “Getting by” was something the Blighted were intimately familiar with.
Grace licked her lips before continuing in a halting voice. “Last year, our daughter… ran away with a Blighted man. She told us she’d fallen in love with him and asked for our help. But we were afraid of what it would mean for her, afraid she’d be an outcast in society. We refused to help her. So she slipped away with him one night, and we never saw her again. We don’t know if she’s alive or dead, or—”
She broke off, covering her mouth as a sob burst forth.