“Yeah.” He smoothed my hair from my neck and kissed the spot between my shoulder blades.
His tattooed arm looked like burnished gold against the paleness of my skin, and I took a moment to appreciate the art that adorned his forearms. There were words in his native language that I couldn’t read, but there were also pictures of anguish and death. A crying woman, her hands to her face as she wailed, beside the grim reaper walking through streets that were nothing but rubble. It was all black and white, and told a terrible story. I pressed my finger over the tears on the woman’s face.
“This is so sad.”
He made a small hum of agreement, and I looked over my shoulder, and met his hooded gaze. The deep brown of his right eye was the color of bitter chocolate, and in this light, his silver eye glinted like liquid metal. I couldn’t look away, so I turned in his arms and reached up to cup his cheek, the stubble scraping my palm.
“Do you feel different?” I didn’t really, despite the extra bonds. I didn’t feel any stronger, or more immortal. I was used to having a bond in my head.
“Well the sex was pretty mind blowing,” he said, his face serious but his eyes giving him away. Their sparkle said he was teasing me.
I leaned forward and bit his nipple lightly. He groaned and wrapped his hands in my hair.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” I said sternly.
He turned my face up, and moved down, kissing the corner of my mouth gently. “I feel like a whole other being, Rella. Physically and mentally. I feel like I’m invincible, but at the same time my whole happiness rests in these tiny hands.” He entwined his fingers in mine and lifted my hand to his mouth. “So, to answer your question, Estrella, yes I feel different because you remade me.”
There wasn’t any anger or regret in his tone, and I mined our bond for any darker emotions. Oh, I found darkness alright, but it was old, as cemented to his soul as tar to a road.
“What was your life like before I came in and took a wrecking ball to it? Where were you when Hope and Adnan called you home?”
“It’s classified,” he said, kissing my lips softly.
“Were you the good guy, or the bad guy?” I whispered. He looked down at me, his face serious.
“Even when I was doing good things, I was the bad guy, Rella. Men like me are necessary, but not because we did good. We did what needed to be done. We were like a forest fire. Sometimes old establishments need to burn down before something new and better can grow in its place. That’s what we did.” He pulled away, but I wrapped my arms around his torso and held him close.
“No one knows that better than me, Naz. It doesn’t change my opinion. I know your heart now, through this bond. You don’t have to hide from me, ever.”
He pulled me hard against his chest and tucked my head under his chin, holding me so tight that it was almost hard to breathe. I stayed quiet and let him hold me, until I slipped into sleep.
Chapter Five
Another bout of rough turbulence bounced me awake. Naz was gone, but I wasn’t surprised. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who woke up next to a woman very often. I didn’t take it to heart.
I stood, contemplating a shower when we hit more turbulence. I wasn’t sure if being clean was worth dying naked in a fiery plane crash. On the flip side, I smelled like sex, and god only knew when I’d get another chance to shower. Decision made.
I stripped off quickly and jumped in. If you’ve never showered at thirty thousand feet in turbulence, you’ve probably never lived. Let’s just say, it's hard to hang on to those tiny soaps when the plane is rocking like a campervan at a music festival.
I dressed back in my clothes sans underwear, which I stuffed into the back pocket of my jeans. I’d put them in my pack later, when four sets of eyes weren’t watching my every move. As it was, I doubted my shower would fool the gargoyle sense of smell.
My cheeks flushed red at the thought of them scenting me. This was going to be awkward.
I opened the door and walked out as if nothing was amiss. As if I hadn’t just joined the mile-high club with the sexiest goddamn merc on the planet.
Naz was talking to Charlie, who seemed oblivious to what went on behind closed doors. I don’t know how Naz managed that, but I was glad I didn’t have to have another Charlie guilt trip to ruin my post-coitus glow. Charlie was talking animatedly, pointing at his screen, and I was beginning to see how he could miss the whole thing. When Charlie got on the trail of something big, nothing and no one else mattered. Once, about three years ago, he’d figured out a way to bypass the security of a rival gang, and slowly syphoned small amounts of money from every member over the course of a month, through hundreds of accounts until it ended up in the Cayman Islands. He had barely eaten or slept during that month, but he had the stupidest grin on his face the whole time. I’d taken him Chinese food, made sure he slept every second day and then stayed the hell out of it. I’d walked a fine line as a cop.
Naz turned around and winked at me over Charlie’s shoulder. But Charlie was still talking so fast I could barely keep up.
“That’s why I know that Vladimir Rousevik doesn’t exist. He’s a straw man, a front!”
I stilled. “What are you saying?”
Charlie turned, excitement at solving a puzzle lighting up his handsome face, and I sucked in a breath. How had I missed how alive he was, how infectious his smile was. How that smile made him look so deliciously handsome?
Seemingly oblivious to my stunned look, he turned his computer toward me, showing me raw data on a screen.
“I couldn’t find any information on him because he didn’t exist. I hacked the Shine Foundations financial records and traced the initial transaction from Rousevik to an account in Switzerland, before the entries for Rousevik were ever added to any other databases. They tried to backdate them, but there’s still a trail. Anyway, that first transaction was made by a shell corporation that was created and then dissolved in the space of a year, as was the previous to shell companies that housed it…”
Charlie went on, but my forte wasn’t financial forensics.
“Bottom line me, Charlie. You lost me.”
He smiled. “The initial funds were used to create Rousevik. He doesn’t exist.”
I sat down opposite him. “Then who runs the whole thing? Both the legitimate Shine operations and the people trafficking?”
Charlie’s smile fell, and I felt like I’d kicked a puppy. “I don’t know.”
I put my had over his. “You unraveled their secret in a day. You’ll find out the rest before they know what hit them.”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“Where’s Romanus and Rouen?”
Charlie shrugged, as did Naz. “They weren’t here when I got back from my shower.” Naz’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and he gave me a hot look. I cleared my throat, turning away before Charlie saw my heated cheeks.
“I better go and find them in case they’ve eaten the pilot.” I moved back down the plane towards the rear. There was a separate kitchen and washroom back there. Seriously, this plane was better decked out than my apartment.
They weren’t in the kitchen. I pushed against the door to the bathroom. It wasn’t locked, and I was about to turn away when I heard a noise. Pushing open the door more, what I saw made me suck in a surprised breath.
My first thought was how did two guys as big as my Gargoyles fit together inside such a tiny bathroom stall. The second thought was apparently it wasn’t just Naz and I who’d decided to join the Mile-High Club.
Romanus had Rouen bent over the sink, which looked miniscule beneath his huge hands. Both of their jeans were around their ankles, and Romanus’ body was pressed tightly against Rouen’s back, his cock buried deep in Rouen, his hand around his dick and his teeth buried into the meaty bit of his shoulder.
Holy fuckballs.
I must have squeaked out a noise because Romanus’ eyes snapped to mine, though he didn’t slow his punishing pac
e. He removed his teeth from Rouen, and wrapped a fist in his hair, pulling back his head and turning it toward me. The action was so brutal, but given the guttural moan Rou released, I didn’t think he minded.
“Our Queen is watching, my Beta. I think she likes it when I fuck you like this,” he gripped Rouen’s hip and slowly slid out of him, until just the head of his cock was still hidden, and then slammed home, the sound of their bodies crashing together a dull thud that mixed with Rouen’s grunts. “I think she likes to know that I’m the Alpha, and that my body can make a strong man like you beg. What do you think, Rou?” Another deep thrust. “Should we make sure our Queen knows that we were made for her pleasure? Should we put on a show?”
“Yessss,” Rouen hissed out, his eyelids hooded and his muscles shining with sweat. “Fuck me, Romanus.”
Heat rushed to my pussy, and I was moments from coming just standing there in the doorway. Romanus looked satisfied. “Watch our Queen, Rou. Don’t take your eyes off her,” Romanus ordered and released the hand he had twisted in his hair. That hand wandered down Rouen’s body, over the twitching muscles of his back, the sweat making them glisten even more golden. Rouen caught my eye, and I was momentarily transfixed by the swirling gold and brown of his irises. That was until Romanus kicked his feet apart and bent him over further, their bodies now distinct and I could see every inch of Romanus’ cock as it worked Rouen’s body. He picked up his pace, moving with demonic speed.
“Touch yourself, Beta. But do not come until I say you can, you hear me? And do not take you eyes off our Queen for a second.”
Rouen fisted his hand around his cock and pumped ferociously, his moans and grunts getting louder, Romanus finally losing a little control and growling with every thrust.
I was starting to pant, and Rouen did something that shocked the hell out of me, though it shouldn't have. He stopped fisting his cock, instead reaching out a hand and pulling me closer, jamming me into the tiny bathroom with them. He leaned in and kissed me, his hand snaking between our bodies and into my jeans. He moaned when he met no extra layers.
“Rom, she's not wearing underwear.”
Romanus’ gaze lit me on fire, promising me pleasure even though he wasn’t touching me.
Rouen’s fingers slid between my folds, and although I was still a little sensitive from my moment with Naz, I pushed against his hand. I wanted to be a part of this.
Shifting his body, Romanus changed his pace, and Rouen let out a whimper. “Make her cum all over you hand, then you can cum too.”
His eyes still on mine, not defying his Alpha’s orders, Rouen slid his fingers inside me, moving them in and out of me in time with Rom’s thrusts. I knew Rouen wouldn’t have to wait long, I was primed and halfway there already. When his fingers brushed against my clit, I let out a scream, kissing him punishingly hard to muffle the sound. Without conscience thought, I tore my mouth away and moved down, burying my teeth in the hard muscle of his pec.
He let out raw, pained noise as hot streams of cum spurted all over the basin in front of him.
A few more ragged thrusts, and Romanus bit down into Rouen’s shoulder as he came hard, balls deep inside his lover. He pulled out, licking the small points of blood from the bite mark.
Rouen lifted his fingers, the ones still glistening with my wetness, and Romanus took them into his mouth, sucking them and tasting me.
I let out a shuddering breath. “You guys should come with a warning label. That was…indescribable.”
Rouen kissed me quickly, a contented grin on his face.
“Yep, it definitely was.” He pulled up his jeans, and found his tee, pulling it over his head and hiding the delicious planes of his muscles. “We felt all the fun you were having with our new pack member. It’s exciting to ride the wave.”
I swear my left eye twitched a little. “What?”
Romanus rolled his eyes at Rouen, buckling his belt but not bothering with a shirt. “We feel your connection to things. Pain, anger, fear. Desire. Lust.”
“Mind blowing orgasms,” Rouen interjected with a grin.
I gave him a little smile. Couldn’t argue with that.
“Your pleasure gets layered onto ours, making the whole thing twice as mind blowing. Making you cum makes the whole thing more intense for us,” Romanus continued.
“I would have you on your back all day every day, giving you orgasm after orgasm if Romanus wasn’t such a spoilsport,” Rouen said as he gave Rom a mischievous smile.
For some reason I’d thought they’d stop having sex with each other, now that they’d found a Queen. I wanted to slap my head at my own hubris. They had centuries of love and companionship between them. It hadn’t just been a Band-Aid measure while they’d waited for me to come along.
Rouen rolled up his t-shirt and appreciated the tiny little teeth marks where I’d bit him when I came.
“Ugh, why can’t I help but bite you guys? I swear I have never been a biter ever. Now you guys come along, and I’m basically part vampire.” It was a compulsion that I couldn’t deny, especially when I was about to orgasm.
We walked into the kitchen, and Romanus made coffee in the French press.
“It’s just another evolutionary throwback. You’re Queen now, so you’re claiming us and asserting your dominance over us at the same time,” he explained.
Rouen pulled down two mugs. “I like having your marks on me.” He gave me another hot look that seemed to explain all the different ways he’d like to fuck me on the kitchen counter.
I picked up Romanus’ shirt and resisted the urge to smell it. I couldn’t believe I was about to say this but… “you should put a shirt on. We are going to land soon and we should get back to our seats.”
What I really wanted to do was run my hand over his hard, defined abs, and memorize every single one. And the vee of his hips that was currently being framed by the low rise of his black jeans.
I hadn’t touched them much over the last couple of days, and I was beginning to feel the longing to just curl up in their arms and let them make love to me for days.
Romanus finished making coffee and handed one to me, exactly how I liked it. Strong and a little sweet. How he’d found the time to learn how I liked my coffee was a mystery. He handed the other cup to Rouen, and they shared a small, intimate smile. He took the shirt from my other hand, and leaned forward, whispering a kiss across my lips.
He made a happy humming noise, then left the kitchenette.
Rouen nudged me after him, his hand slipping down to pat my butt. “After you.”
The Captain's voice came over the intercom. “Please be seated for landing.”
I walked past Naz, who gave me a sultry look. Yep, there goes any chance of having sex on the sly ever again. Or touching myself in the shower. Not that I would need to. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be short on shower buddies anytime soon.
Chapter Six
Our hotel room this time was a suite. There were two bedrooms, which I thought was a little disappointing, and a large open plan living room/kitchen area. Both Naz and Romanus appraised the building for entry and exit points. Romanus had growled when Naz had insisted on doing it too.
Rouen whistled low between his teeth. I shot him a sharp look and he gave me an innocent smile. I didn’t trust that smile as far as I could throw him. Which is not far at all considering they seemed to be a more solid mass than humans. Rouen weighed about the same amount as a smart car.
“What?” I snapped, my eyes narrowed.
“They are going to have to figure it out soon, once and for all. Neither of them has conceded Alpha.”
I remembered their first fight, back at the warehouse. “Naz conceded.” Kinda. Even though at the time it seemed kind of half hearted.
Rouen scoffed as he unpacked his duffle, pulling long knives wrapped in worn leather sheaths out by the dozens. Where would he put all those? When he pulled out two swords, I drooled.
Lux had taught me how to fight with shor
t swords when I was five, much to Mom’s disgust. But he’d busted me trying to steal his sword one too many times and argued it would be better to teach me to use it rather than cut my arm off on his deadly broadswords. He was the reason I was so quick on my feet, that I could think with a clear head during stressful situations. Running on raw emotion will get you dead quick. Your mind is your greatest weapon. Lux had drilled those lessons into me over and over again. Those short swords were still mounted on the wall of my apartment.
Rouen saw my adoring look, and handed me the blades, hilt first. I pulled them from the elaborately tooled sheathes. They fit perfectly in my hand, balanced evenly in my grip. I frowned.
“These are wrong for you. You need something longer, weighted for your increased strength.”
I felt stupid lecturing a couple of hundred year old gargoyle on swords. I guess, with his strength, he could make a toothpick a deadly weapon, but still. Lux had taught me you were only as good as your sword.
“I know.” He gave me a grin, the warmth reaching right up through his mismatched eyes and into my chest. He tilted his head to the weapons. “They aren’t mine.”
“Who’s are...oh. Oh, they are for me?” I held one of the swords in my hand, the flat edge of the blade resting on my palm. They were beautiful. There was intricate scrollwork for about three inches up the blade from the simple pearl inlaid cross guard. The grip was wrapped in a deep red leather. As a pair, they were gorgeous.
“How did you find a matching pair in New York? Or a swordsmith anywhere at all. These are beautiful, Rouen.” I placed the sword down and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing tight against his chest. I blinked back girly tears that threatened to pool in my eyes. He reached down and tilted up my chin.
“Not half as beautiful as you. Consider them a welcome present. Romanus said we shouldn’t overwhelm you with our customs, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you as my Queen.”
He kissed me then, his tongue gently slipping between my lips, running over the edge of my teeth. I kissed him back, stroking his tongue with mine as they danced. Rouen reached down and placed his hands under my ass, lifting me until we were face to face. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him back with a desperation.
The Unrepentant- Part Two Page 4