Kings of Carrion

by Keri Lake

  Six ducks as he enters the cave, closing the woven door behind him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good. It doesn’t make any sense. But good.”

  “I don’t know much about the science, and maybe it was stupid of me. After he destroyed those samples, though, just seemed like the only way I could save you.”

  “How did you know it’d infect him like that?”

  Six shrugs, shaking his head. “When we were in the tunnels, waiting for the others, Jed covered his face with his shirt, and used a handkerchief from his bag to lift it out. Figured it must’ve been pretty contagious.”

  That must’ve been when Legion came to the door, because I don’t recall seeing him pull the syringes from the bag. “You’re an observant one,” I say, brow kicked up with amusement.

  “I’m still baffled by it all, though.”

  His lips stretch to a smile, as he removes his shirt, boots and pants, until he’s standing completely naked and glorious in front of me. He slips beneath the thin blanket covering me and pulls me against him. “As long as you’re good, it doesn’t have to make sense.”

  “Papa’s journal described your antibody as strong. The strongest of any Alpha’s. He diagrammed it out. That’s why Ericsson was so hellbent on finding you.” Resting my hand against my belly, I give voice to the thoughts that have spun in my head since we left Szolen. “Maybe it’s your baby inside of me that kept me from turning.”

  Setting his hand over mine, he kisses along my neck. “My baby is strong. That ancient contagion doesn’t stand a chance.”

  His comment brings a smile to my face, but it quickly fades at the realization of what all of this has cost us. Our hive. Our family. “You told Tripp about Tinker and Ratchett?”

  “Yes.” He sighs and leaves a kiss to my shoulder. “It’s been a long time since I felt helpless like that. I remember when Tripp first found me, Tinker didn’t trust me. He and Ratchett would stand guard, watching me. Waiting for me to go ballistic, or something, and kill everyone.” He strokes a finger down my skin as he stares off. “They eventually got bored of watching me day in and day out, and we’d play cards, or dice. After a while, we became pretty close. All three of us. Always had each other’s backs when we’d go after Legion.”

  “I’m so sorry, Six.” Turning into his body, I wrap my arm across his stomach and tuck my head against his chest, closing my eyes to the tears. Though I didn’t know either of them very well, it just doesn’t seem right that ones so kind, so protective of those they cared about, suffered such a horrible fate. “They were good men. The best.”

  I can’t begin to imagine what Cali must be feeling, having to leave behind her friend in that place, as well. Perhaps, in time, we’ll find peace, but tonight, we mourn those who were stolen from us. “I know you’re going to tell me not to, but--”

  “Stop. Don’t even say it. They didn’t die because of you. They died because they made a choice to go down there. Nobody was forced.”

  “It better work. It better be what saves this baby. I can’t live with the alternative.”

  “You’re feeling good. That’s a start.” Hooking his finger beneath my chin, he stares down at me, his eyes roaming every part of my face before falling on my lips.

  “Do you want to kiss?” The question takes me back to the days he was mute and couldn’t tell me what he wanted. When he nods, I pull him to my lips, savoring the taste and feel of him. This moment that nearly slipped through my grasp. “When those gates shut, I didn’t think you were coming back to me,” I whisper against his mouth. “As crazy as this sounds, I wanted more than anything to be there with you. By your side. Even if those things tore us apart.”

  “You and I belong together, Wren. Not even hell can tear us apart.”

  “I love you.” Coarse stubble brushes beneath the back of my knuckles as I stroke his cheek. “Promise me, if this doesn’t work and I don’t make it through this pregnancy, you’ll be here for this baby.”

  “It’s going to work.”

  “But if it doesn’t.” I grip his jaw, staring up at him, unyielding in my request. “You will live for this baby.” It’s not a question, but a demand. He told me once, when he thought I was dead all those years ago, that he’d become reckless, uncaring about everything else, and self-destructive. “You promise me.”

  “I promise you.”

  With a nod, I nuzzle my face into his chest, wrapping my leg around him, needing nothing more than this. “Then, we wait.” The pain typically comes at night, and I suspect that if I wake in the morning, I can take some small measure of comfort in knowing our friends didn’t die in vain.

  Chapter 36

  Cali

  The stars in the sky twinkle, as I stare upward, wiping the tears from my cheeks. A perch up in the rocks, overlooking the camp, serves as a good place to think. Where I can be left alone without the distraction of all the others bustling with purpose down below. Here, there’s only the chirping of crickets and birds, and the soft rustling of wind through the trees.

  Valdys offered to help the medicine woman of the hive clean and stitch Atticus’s wounds. One had apparently become dangerously infected, accounting for a fever he’s had for a couple of days, and according to her, if he’d gone much longer, he probably wouldn’t have made it. Which would’ve left Valdys completely alone, trapped inside that hospital with all those mutations. A thought that now stirs more agony than before.

  Brandon opted to stay in Szolen, with his parents. Much as I tried to persuade him to come with us, as he’ll undoubtedly be branded a traitor, he refused. I fear for his choices, but ultimately, they’re his to make, not mine.

  The sound of footsteps alerts me to Valdys’s approach, and something warm moves through me as he takes a seat beside me on the soft-woven blanket one of the elder women gave to me when we returned. The scent of metal, and whatever soap he used when he showered back at Wren’s old house, waters my mouth, in spite of the sadness that lingers in my heart.

  Both he and Atticus cleaned up and found some clothes that, although a bit tight, allow him to blend like anyone else who wasn’t branded a slave as a young boy. If anyone else happened to look like a monstrous Alpha. Pants hug his meaty thighs, while a black T-shirt clings to his biceps and broad chest.

  When he leans in, kissing along the edge of my throat, the flutter in my belly is a reminder of how this man’s touch affects me.

  “Did you eat something?” I close my eyes, focusing on the feel of his lips dragging across my neck, the stubble of his face scratching the surface, his warm breath feathering my skin.

  “Yes. The older women insisted both of us eat three helpings of stew.” His comment brings a smile to my face, the first I’ve allowed in what seems like an eternity.

  A calm nestles inside my bones when his palm slides across my thigh, but at a flash of Cadmus’s face, I flinch at the guilt needling my stomach. Of course, Valdys senses this, and pulls away from me.

  “You’re thinking of him.”

  “Not in that way. I mean ... ” I lower my gaze from his, the shame of what I need to confess only adding to the ache twisting up my insides. “While you were … I had my …. I mean … I needed ...”

  “Cali,” he says, palming my cheek as he guides my eyes to his. “You don’t have to explain. You would’ve been in tremendous pain, if not for him.”

  “He wouldn’t do it the first time. He refused.” I shake my head, blinking back more tears. “It was Titus the first time. Then Cadmus. But he …. He was so messed up over it. I’ve never felt so awful in my whole life. Like I forced him to do something terrible.” I can’t help sniffling, recalling the moments I watched Cadmus break into tears after, and feeling like his tormentor.

  “If they wouldn’t have screwed with his head, you know he would’ve been the first to ease your pain without you having to ask. It wasn’t because you forced him, Cali. He did it because the thought of watching you go through that pain was worse than his fears.”
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br />   “He was such a smartass. A jerk. But he was good.” A sob cracks inside my chest, and as Valdys wraps his arms around me, I bury my face into his side, letting the agony wash over me. “He always called himself the bad guy, but he was good.”

  Valdys doesn’t say anything more, just tightens his hold on me, letting me cry over the loss of my friend. A man whose blood and pain I shared. One who saved my life more times than I can count. I cry for him in those final moments, when I couldn’t save him, too, until there’s nothing left in me.

  I lift my face to Valdys, whose eyes are also filled with tears, and a need takes over me. The weight of the world bears down on me, and all I want to do is fall into his arms and stay there where it’s weightless. Where he shares the burden of my misery and guilt. I want to crawl inside of him and bask in the safety of a place where this unforgiving world can’t touch me for a while.

  I climb over his legs, straddling them, and he sets his hands at my waist, pulling me closer, trapping me in his strong and protective arms. Our lips meld perfectly together, as he dips his tongue past my teeth, and I steal his breath with greed and ravenous hunger. As my body falls into his, he lies back against the rocks.

  The metallic taste of him fills my mouth, the memories of his touch flooding in from the fringes, and I dig my nails into his scalp, desperate, fearful that it’ll all slip away from me again. I want the heat of his skin to warm me, the strength in his hands to mold me into whatever he wants right now. The more he touches me, the more I crave him, the more reckless my heart becomes to the caution warring within me. Warning me of the pain that awaits in the possibility that I could lose this. I could lose him again.

  Pressure tugs at my chest, begging for one sip of air, and I break for only a moment, drawing in a breath, before my mouth yearns to be filled again. Fingers latch to my sides as Valdys seats me against his bulging erection and gasps against my lips.

  “Cali.” He groans and guides my hips, circling me against his groin.

  I push myself up, but he reaches out, grabbing the back of my neck.

  Brows tipped up, a look of panic swirls in his eyes as he stares up at me. “I can’t tell you how many dreams I’ve had. Just like this one. When I woke to the sounds of suffering and the howls of mutations. The endless darkness of that place.”

  In all my agony over Cadmus, I’d forgotten that Valdys has suffered, too.

  I run the pad of my finger over the scar across his lip, the one at his forehead, and down his nose. His eyes flutter shut, and he breathes hard through his nose, as though savoring the touch. Fingers tucked under the hem of his shirt, I slide the fabric upward, and he sits up, allowing me to yank it over his head. More scars mar his body, new ones I didn’t notice in the shower earlier, evidence of his survival in that place. Every fight for his life has been etched into his skin with horrific gore. Jagged, irregular lines pass beneath my fingertips, while I run my hands across his skin. If possible, more tears gather in my eyes at the sight of his ruined flesh.

  I lean forward and kiss them, every one of them, from his stomach that flinches beneath my lips, to his throat that hammers with his quickening pulse. I kiss the one at his forehead, and across his nose, pausing to notice his eyes rapt on my lips. Tracing my finger across the scar on his mouth, I lean forward to run my tongue across its rigid surface, and kiss it, also.

  His brows are furrowed, as always, knit with the austerity of a man who’s had to deny himself happiness and pleasure. One who undoubtedly waits for it to be torn away by nightmares.

  “I’m here, Valdys. I’ll never let you wake to that place alone again.”

  Eyes softening with what I surmise as awe, he stares up at me, stroking his hand down my hair. “I knew you were something special when I first met you, but I had no idea that you were an angel. That you would risk everything to find me.”

  “Because you would do the same for me.”

  He slides his hand to the back of my neck, and his face hardens. “There is nowhere I wouldn’t go, nothing I wouldn’t kill, to keep you at my side. Now and always.”

  Lips bruising mine with his fervency, he runs his hand up my thigh, drawing me back on top of him, and rolls the two of us over, until I’m lying on my back, the cool flat rock pressing against my spine. He looks down my body, slipping his hand beneath my shirt, where he rubs his palm across my belly, before his hand snakes down inside my pants. When his finger meets my wet seam, I tip my head, eyes rolled back, and feel his stubble graze my throat. Teeth find my collarbone, as he pushes his finger up inside of me, and I bite my lip, writhing with pleasure.

  Every stroke and caress holds the passion of a reverent man, a strong and virile Alpha powerful enough to crush bones with his bare hands. And yet, he touches me as if I’m made of glass, fragile enough to break with the tiniest pressure.

  Skin hot with a rush of blood, I still just long enough to see him yank my shirt up, exposing my breast, which he sucks into his mouth. I scrape my nails across his scalp, while his teeth pull at my nipple, and I arch into him, wanting to cry with the torment.

  “Oh, Valdys, I’ve missed you.”

  Pants slip down my thighs, as he tears them away. In the pause that follows, I open my eyes to see him remove his own pants, revealing the body of a god. Chiseled and hardened, he looks like a warrior standing before me. A map of veins pulses blood through the straining erection that sticks up from his thighs, thick and hard, brimming with the promise of pain and long-awaited release. The lust and longing burning in his eyes, as he stares down at me, stroking himself, casts a shiver down my spine. He falls to his knees, and my body is lifted from the rock. Once again, I’m straddling him, as he eases back and settles me onto his groin, my knees hardly touching the ground over his hulking body. Hands squeezing the back of my thighs, he licks his lips and stares back at me, the fascination in his eyes mirroring my own. He breathes hard through his nose, brows tipped up, as if looking at me is a torment in itself.

  Coarse stubble tickles my skin when he buries his face between my breasts, pausing to drag his tongue over each nipple. Hand to my nape, he pulls me in for a kiss. “I wanted to take my time. To savor this moment. But I’ve waited for you for too long. I’ve been starving for you,” he says in a ragged voice against my lips.

  “I’m yours to take. However you want.”

  Strong palms prodding the back of my thighs, he urges me higher, up his body, until I’m on my knees straddling his face. Wet lips latch to my flesh, and the chasing suction pulls at my core, my hips thrusting involuntarily toward the source of my torment. I open my mouth to moan but breath hitches in my chest as my mouth gapes for a sip of air. Threading my fingers through his hair, I stare down at him, hands curled into fists, and rock my hips against his unforgiving tongue.

  “I’ve forgotten how sweet you taste.” His deep and guttural voice rumbles against my flesh. He glides his lips along my seam, and my hips buck forward, my slick folds captured in his greedy mouth.

  “Oh, God, Valdys!”

  The need building inside of me swells with every long and slippery drag of his tongue, until I can’t stand it anymore. I want to take him into my body and feel his pain and suffering burrow deep within me. I want to let it writhe in my belly, snake behind my ribs to squeeze my heart and awaken what’s been dead for too long.

  Sliding back down his body, I lift myself just high enough to impale myself on his cock. I lower myself down, arms wrapped tight around his shoulders like hot steel beneath my palms. A gasp slips past my lips.

  He shudders a breath, his strong hand gripping tight around my waist, and his lips curve into a slight smile. Eyes locked on mine, he holds me still, while circling his hips forward, stirring his cock as he seats himself deep inside of me. The stretch of his girth adds a twinge of pain, abated only when he withdraws. Then, once again, his hips jut forward, creating a smooth glide as my arousal wets his shaft. With every thrust, his breathing hastens, jaw ticcing with a downward curve of his lips.
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  “What is it?” I ask, running my fingers down his sweat-slick temple. “What’s wrong?”

  The intensity of his stare sharpens with a shaky blast of air through his nose. His body tautens, trembling, eyes wide and unfocused. A sharp yank of my arms, and his solid chest smashes against my cheek, as he imprisons me in his unyielding embrace. The incessant pounding of his heart matches the unsteady breath that falls against the top of my head.

  “Valdys?” Lying against him, I take in the jerky flex of his muscles, and his grip tightens around me, banishing the air from my lungs. “Valdys, I can’t breathe.”

  A groan rumbles in his chest, but his hold loosens just enough to push up, where I can see his eyes screwed up, face turned away from mine.

  Tracing my finger down his cheek, I guide him back to me, and press my lips to his. The rigidity in his muscles softens as he seems to calm.

  “When I look at you,” he says against my mouth. “All I see are those things swiping you up. Stealing you away from me.”

  The hard planes of his bunched shoulders slip beneath my palms as I massage him, urging him to relax, until his breathing slows, and his grip eases where he holds my thighs.

  “Open your eyes,” I whisper. “I’m right here.”

  His lids blink open, the lucidity slowly returning to his gaze. “So many nights I dreamed of you on top of me like this,” he says, while he lazily resumes his thrusts in and out of me. “Your beautiful face staring down at me.” Palm cupping my face, his brow twitches as if the memory brings him anguish. “The only reason I’d wake was in the hope I’d see you again.”