Forever (Descendants of Ra: Book 4.5)

by Tmonique Stephens

  He palmed both breasts; his calloused hands caused goosebumps to flash across her flesh in anticipation. Alexis smoothed her hands over his broad shoulders, loving the feel of his muscles, and then traveled to his hair. She sank her fingers into the soft tresses until she scraped his scalp.

  He moaned and her nipples absorbed the vibration. A hot wave of lust swept from her nipples to her groin. Sweet need blossomed between her thighs.

  “Oh, God,” she cried and parted her legs.

  He took her mouth again and settled in the cradle of her hips. He skimmed his palm down her abs and dipped his fingers into her wet heat.

  “Alexis.”

  He sucked on her tongue and strummed her clit with the calloused pad of his thumb while two fingers went deep inside. She bucked, rolled her hips, so desperate to have him end her hollowness. A hollowness that stretched further than the empty space between her legs. “You’re killing me.” He chuckled. He knew what she wanted and wouldn’t give it to her. “Bastard.”

  That earned her the most wicked grin and a shifting of his finger. Instead of plunging inside her, now, he teased her opening, dipping, and retreating, heightening her frustration and passion.

  She glanced between their bodies. He’d fisted his thick, rigid flesh and paused at her entrance. He growled low, and her gaze darted to his. Lust sharpened his features, his dark wild eyes promised a rough ride—exactly what she planned to give him.

  Alexis flipped him onto his back. The surprise on his face changed to hunger when she straddled his hips and sat on his thighs. His erection bobbed, speaking in a language she completely understood.

  She ran a single finger over the veined, silky flesh. His entire body tensed. A bead of fluid seeped from the tip, and she used her thumb to spread it over his skin, down his length. He moaned, low and long, while she gave a throaty laugh.

  “You like me at your mercy, don’t you?” he rumbled.

  “As much as you enjoy having me at yours.” She rose to her haunches and met his raw blue-eyed gaze because she had to see his expression as she lowered herself onto his length. Eyes at half-mast, lips peeled back over gritted teeth, veins straining in his neck, never had she felt more primal than when they were joined. She needed him, and that terrified as much as it fortified.

  Lost in the velvety glide of his body parting hers, they shared a gasp, which transformed into a staggered groan. Her head dropped back at the fullness, and she tried not to lose herself in the ecstasy. This moment had to last forever; then again, she wanted every moment with him to last forever.

  He dragged her to him and latched onto a nipple. She growled his name and snagged a fistful of his hair. Then, she lifted her hips and wiggled her way back down. It drove him nuts when she did that, so she did it again. He palmed her ass—fingers digging into her skin—and licked his way from her nipple, up the center of her chest, over her collarbone, up the column of her throat, the curve of her jaw, to her ear.

  His teeth sank into the lobe. The tiny burst of pain added to the pleasure. Mindless, she flexed her hips. Reign gripped her ass and lifted her until he almost slipped free. He dropped her back onto his length. She cried out at the intense pleasure.

  It was so good between them. No, it was downright perfect because what they did to each other wasn’t sex. It was carnal, sensuous, frantic, passion distilled to its purest level.

  “Love you.” He breathed in her ear.

  And she loved him. Madly.

  Totally.

  Not only with her body but also with all of her soul.

  She rode him. Up, down, rolled her hips, leaned forward to slow the pace when her orgasm was too close, tilted back when he clasped her hips and reared back. She came undone, pleasure rippling through every nerve ending. Reign fucked her right into the next one, his hand between them, stroking the top of her sex, matching her rhythm.

  Ecstasy spiked her system. She died a little at the euphoria saturating her body. This was death and life all at the same instant.

  Reign bucked beneath her and shouted her name. Suddenly, she was on her back and Reign was wrapped around her, driving deep. His hips pistoned with merciless intent, hitting her at the right angle to send her flying again. Panting, gripping his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his hips to lock him inside her, this slice of heaven belonged to them.

  Please, God. Make it last forever.

  His head snapped back. Deep inside her, he swelled and jerked. She splintered. The world fell away, leaving two people.

  She swallowed his harsh shout while her body milked him forever. Forever lasted until he slumped in her arms. Then he turned, and she splayed across his chest, boneless and sated.

  His hand stroked from her shoulder to her thigh. So soothing. Reign was her savior, her anchor in the midst of the storm, everything she wanted and desperately needed.

  So why couldn’t she let him have the last corner of her heart?

  Chapter Three

  Footsteps echoed on the staircase. From beneath her lashes, Alexis peeked at Reign who sat at the opposite end of the breakfast table. He sipped his coffee between shovels of scrambled eggs, link sausages, and a mountain of buttered toast. Her own breakfast grew cold because she couldn’t summon the energy to lift her fork. Nerves had her stomach in knots. What to say? How to say it? For months, she longed to see any member of her family to explain the many reasons behind her actions, for them to understand...forgive. To tell them she hadn’t lost her mind and become the criminal the news outlets portrayed. Or worse, been seduced by a criminal.

  She glanced at Reign again.

  Well...she was seduced, but the only thing criminal about Reign was how good he was in bed.

  Thomas had reached the bottom of the stairs. From her vantage point, she watched him scratch his head and scrub a shaky hand down his face.

  His hair was too long for military service. The shaggy mass touched his shoulders. She let out a slow breath as the gravity of Thomas’ situation hit her. No wife. No military...and no family. She’d checked his phone this morning while he snored. Not a single text or call from anyone wondering if he was alive. George and John, Thomas hadn’t called or texted their older brothers in months. Nothing from their mother or father either. Had the family cut him off, exiled him like her, or was he in hiding from the authorities, also like her?

  Thomas’ dumbfounded stupor had lasted long enough. Alexis cleared her throat. He jerked around and had to grab the wall for support. A low groan issued, and he rested his forehead against the cool plaster. His eyelids scrolled upwards, and his bloodshot eyes met hers. “Lexi?” He blinked and scrubbed his eyeballs with his fists. “Sis?”

  She waved him over.

  His gaze darted to Reign who continued to eat. “What are you, me...um, us? Doing here at Grandma’s old home. Mom sold this house.”

  “To me. Though, she doesn’t know it.” The one person her mother didn’t want to own the ol’ family homestead. Alexis left her seat to pour him a mug of hot coffee. She placed the mug at the setting next to her and pulled out the chair.

  Thomas lumbered over and plopped himself down. He cupped the mug with hands that trembled enough to make the dark brew jiggle. That told her a lot; this binge wasn’t a one-time thing. Her little brother had a problem. Is that why the family had cut him off? Any weakness, no matter how small, wasn’t tolerated and only acknowledged out of necessity.

  Thomas took a gulp and grimaced. “Got anything stronger?”

  “We do not,” Reign answered. The blatant contempt in his voice and on his face made her bristle. She threw Reign a frosty glare and wished he would focus on his plate. Her brother wasn’t an alcoholic. He was just having a difficult time.

  Her contradictory thoughts made her head throb. Right now, she could use a drink.

  Thomas looked up from his mug and met Reign’s unflinching stare. And looked away. What happened to the brash brother who ran roughshod over rules and regulations until the Navy Seals harnessed that energy?
Where was the boy she followed around the house, emulating his every move?

  Oppressive silence blanketed the kitchen, changed the cozy room her grandmother loved into a two by four interrogation cell. Her attention shifted between the two men at her table and her uneaten plate of food. She scooted her breakfast over to Thomas who studied the eggs, bacon and toast, but didn’t pick up the fork.

  “The last thing I remember is a hot blonde sidling up to me, and Helen and her fucking boyfriend. I don’t remember you being there, Sis. Or how I got here.”

  Alexis swallowed the lump in her throat. “Let’s talk about you. What’s going on, Thomas?”

  He shook his head and, by his quick groan, regretted the motion. “You don’t get to turn the question around to me. You and your boyfriend over there”—he hitched a thumb at Reign—“are wanted fugitives. Man, I would’ve bet my paycheck you were in some European hovel laying low for the rest of your life. Not living in The Bronx! How did you do it? Why did you do it?”

  She couldn’t tell him everything. The truth was so unbelievable; her logical brother would laugh, and then leave. Possibly head straight to the authorities. Not that the police could apprehend her and Reign; regardless, Thomas turning her in would hurt. They’d shared a deeper bond than with George and John. Although, maybe it was one-sided, little sister adoration.

  Reign’s neutral expression gave no clues as to the direction of his thoughts, which told her he would follow her lead. An elaborate lie or the ridiculous truth, a parcel of each, or her unfiltered reality, the choice was hers.

  Reign had suggested she tell Thomas the truth, and he was right. A lie as big as the one she was about to tell couldn’t support itself. She had no choice; however, she needed him to spill first.

  “Did you get kicked out of the military?”

  His eyes narrowed a fraction and quickly opened. “Who—”

  “Your hair is too long.” She cut him off before he asked who’d told her and waited as his gaze shuttered. His chin dropped to his chest, and he moved the food around his plate.

  Alexis sipped her coffee as her brother tried to regain his equilibrium. She didn’t want to strip his pride. She wanted the truth. “What happened, Thomas?”

  The fork clattered to the plate, and he exhaled a tired sigh. “Came home from deployment early to a truck parked in my driveway. Found them fucking in my living room. I beat the shit outta him. Then shot his tires, windshield, and radiator. Destroyed that bastard’s new F150. Police came. Cornered me.” He shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalance that terrified her. “I would’ve killed some of them, and they would’ve killed me. At that point, I didn’t give a shit.”

  The vision of her brother bleeding out in his driveway seized her brain. She had to clear her throat to speak. “How...what?”

  “The thing is, she knew I was coming home. The military always notifies the spouses when their soldier is on the way home. Helen wanted me to catch her like that. Buck naked, some dude humping her.” He gritted his teeth and curled his hands until his knuckles creaked.

  Alexis reached to squeeze his hand, convey her sympathy. He moved away, out of her reach. She understood and didn’t take the rejection personally. He was still too raw to accept the simple comfort. “What stopped them from shooting?” she asked.

  “One of the officers saw my Semper Fi tat and talked me down. He was retired Corps. Dad pulled some strings and got the charges dropped, got me an honorable discharge. And paid off the guy to keep his mouth glued.”

  Dad. She purposely avoided thinking about her father, the retired Major General Lever, and how she’d disappointed him. Her gaze zeroed in her brother. He hadn’t told her everything. A key part was missing. “What did you do?”

  His face suddenly hardened and his brown eyes waited her out. She recognized that fixed, intractable expression. He wanted her to move along to the next topic.

  “A woman doesn’t set up her husband like that without a damn good reason.” A reason she could guess.

  “I screwed up with a woman back on base, okay. Helen found out. I ended it, though she forgave me.” He snorted. “Payback is a bitch.”

  So another marriage in her all American family goes tits up. George was on his second wife. John and Lisa entered marriage counseling their second year and hadn’t left eight years later. Her parents? Their marriage had been south of Antarctica for three decades.

  No wonder she didn’t want to get married. No relationship had ever lasted longer than two months. What she had with Reign wouldn’t be any different.

  Conveniently, she ignored the eight months they’d been together.

  Hell, I should leave and save us the heartache.

  Her gaze drifted to her man. Unblinking, he stared into her eyes. A novel swam in the depths of his blue orbs, words she wanted to hear even though he’d already told her, showed her, a thousand times.

  “Now your turn.” Thomas’ gaze swiveled between her and Reign.

  Thoughts of leaving evaporated. Immediately, she wanted Reign near. His presence made the words easier. Thomas wouldn’t believe Reign hadn’t drugged or/and coerced her, especially if he wouldn’t leave them alone. “Can you give us some privacy?”

  The neutral expression on Reign’s rugged face didn’t change. He set his fork down next to his nearly empty plate and took his time wiping his mouth and short beard with a napkin. The chair scraped the floor with an abrupt screech when he pushed back from the table. She winced, knowing he’d done it on purpose to show his ire. They listened to his footsteps travel into the living room and the groan of the springs in the sofa as he settled in. The illusion of privacy was clear.

  “He’s got you on a short leash.”

  She knew that’s how it appeared. “It isn’t like that. He’s protective.”

  “He should be after all he’s cost you,” Thomas grumbled.

  “Nothing that happened was Reign’s fault. I made a choice—”

  “You chose wrong,” he whispered, his attention divided between her and the door beside the pantry that led to the backyard.

  “Don’t waste your time. I’m not going with you.”

  “You want to be with a criminal?” He shook his head.

  “He’s not a criminal. He’s a warrior. Fought in military campaigns. Took lives and saved lives. Just like you.” She had an idea what he did in the military, though he’d never spoken of his duties.

  His fist landed on the kitchen table, rattling the silverware and dishes. “I’m a fucking war hero!”

  Alexis snorted. “A war hero Daddy’s had to save from disgrace.”

  “Just like you.” Thomas snorted and folded his arms across his chest.

  Touché. Now that struck deep. “Daddy didn’t save me from anything.” She couldn’t keep her voice from shaking.

  “That’s ’cause you chose him.” He pointed toward the living room. “Was he worth losing everything?”

  God yes. And she’d do it again, leave it all behind, only sooner. “Was hitting Helen’s new man and trashing his car worth it?”

  A grin spread across his face as he flexed his knuckles. Now there was the brother she remembered. “So what now? Gonna live off your retirement inside of a bottle?”

  Thomas hunched forward, elbows on the table, and lifted the mug to his lips. The tremor in his hand had ebbed a bit. He stared at her over the rim. “What’s your story?”

  Moment of truth. Alexis swallowed past the lump wallowing in her throat and forced herself to meet Thomas’ eyes. She started with the Order and the history of the women, and what she was. Then she told him about Reign and the Egyptian Gods. She left out the rest of the Nicolis clan. He didn’t need to know all the secrets.

  “You expect me to believe that pile of shit?” His blank stare matched hers.

  The springs on the sofa creaked.

  “It would be nice if you did since it’s the truth.”

  He gave a dry chuckle. “Egyptian gods, a secret order of women? And a bo
yfriend who’s two thousand years old. Yeah, and I’m ten with a hairless dick and prepubescent balls.”

  “Prepubescent? You even used the word correctly. Impressive.” She saluted him with a glass of OJ.

  Thomas whistled and pointed at her wrist. “That’s a nice hunk of gold. Your boyfriend’s rich too?”

  Tirrika’s ruby and emerald eyes twinkled. Alexis rubbed the dual heads before unwinding the bracelet from her wrist and placing her on the table. He reached for the bracelet. Alexis smacked his hand. “She doesn’t like to be touched.”

  His brow dropped low and he cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

  Alexis stroked Tirrika’s dual heads and a tremor traveled the length of the bracelet. She enjoyed the attention. The anu’Ra, ancient relic of the Great Goddess Nu, uncoiled. Thomas jerked back from the table, his eyes wide yet locked on Tirrika. Unconcerned with her audience, Tirrika slithered across the table to the nearest mug and coiled around the warm ceramic.

  “Nice magic trick.” Thomas gave a nervous chuckle.

  “It’s magic, all right. Though not Houdini. Grow for me, sweetie.”

  Red and green eyes flashed with annoyance.

  “Please, sweetie. Make a believer out of him. Show him what you got. You know you want to.” Alexis coaxed the stubborn anu’Ra.

  Tirrika slithered to the end of the table and leaped. Thomas’ gaze followed her trajectory to the linoleum, watching with widening eyes as the serpent lengthened from the size of a five-inch garden snake to an eleven foot, dual-headed, hissing python.

  “Holy!” Thomas jumped to his feet and backed away.

  Heads weaving, forked tongues sniffing the air, Tirrika tracked Thomas’s movement.

  “Calm down,” Alexis ordered.

  “I am calm.”

  “I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to her.” Alexis tapped the serpent on one of her heads, gaining the attention of the ruby eyes. “My brother is harmless.”