“Not Lord Daemon, no,” Emily continued. “Daemon is missing, his power sustaining them withdrawn. The monsters make their own army now, with their own power—stolen from the flesh of the living.”
“How can Raine know all of this?” Tryton demanded once again.
“She just does, all right? And she says we must meet the Daemon threat head on. At the Gates to their own world. With the full force of our army.”
“And lose what warriors we have, on the promises given by a Shade that we wage an open war with our enemies?” Tryton scoffed. “No.”
“Yes.” Edge spoke and all eyes turned to him. “It makes sense. We’ve never attempted such a charge. The Horde would never suspect it.” His gaze moved to Emily’s, and though there was still anger within their depth, they also softened in hope at the prospect of victory in such a battle.
“Edge is right,” Grimm agreed. “And I trust to Raine in this.”
Tryton gritted his teeth. “Would you trust her with your life?”
“Yes,” Grimm answered without hesitation.
Tryton sighed, a long and weary sound. “I will confer with the Council. I cannot launch a strike without their full support.”
“I will go with you,” Obsidian said at once, rising from his seat. “I, too, have faith in the Shade’s plan.”
“So do I,” Steffy added.
“Me, too. Duh. She sure as hell seems to know a lot more than we do about all this crazy shit that’s been happening,” Cady quipped.
Everyone stood now and gathered to leave, Edge among them, though Tryton motioned him and Emily back. “You two have much to discuss. We will persuade the Council to see as we do in this matter.”
“So you support us then, Elder?” Emily asked, trying to ignore the nervous thrill of apprehension that swamped her at the idea of being with Edge alone so soon.
Tryton smiled. “I supported it from the beginning, of course. I was just testing you all with my show of hesitance, to make sure you knew for yourselves that this was the path we must take.”
The scary thing was, Emily didn’t know if he was joking or not.
The group left as silently as it had come, leaving her alone with a very angry, very volatile Edge. The silence stretched out, heavy and strained, between them. Emily was at a loss, not knowing what to say. She wanted him to forgive her…but she couldn’t apologize for what she’d done.
“I should beat you,” he said at last, heavily. His head and shoulders slumped.
She bristled. “I wouldn’t let you.”
“As if you could stop me,” he replied with heady challenge, head whipping back up to face her.
“I don’t want to fight with you, Edge.” She tried a different approach. “I know what I did was wrong. I know it scared you—”
“Scared? Me? Now why do you think I would be scared—you only died in my arms. What’s to be scared of about that?” he bit out.
Emily took a deep breath, when what she really wanted to do was snap back at him. But she was learning more and more about Edge, and it was clear to her by now that he used anger as a shield when his deeper emotions were too powerful for him to understand. “I know it scared you, because you love me,” she said softly.
Edge closed his eyes and turned away. “How could I love a woman who would put her life in danger, and use me as an instrument in the doing?”
She swallowed, his words cutting her deep. “I had to do it, Edge. For myself, for my sister. For the world. And for you.”
He turned back to her, eyes suspiciously damp. “For me? How can you think I would want you to take such a risk?”
“I know you wouldn’t, that’s why I took it upon myself. The choice was mine, and if I died you would have had a clear conscience.”
Edge pursed his lips and looked away. “I would have felt guilt. It would have killed me…had you not come back it would have killed me too.”
Swallowing, crying and unable to halt her tears, she reached out for him. “I had to do it. You and I could have never had a life together. My years are short to your kind—you said so yourself. I wanted a Shikar’s lifetime with you. I love you, Edge. I do.”
Edge pulled her tightly to him, fisting his hand in her hair, burying his face in it as he too began to weep. “I could have lost you. Damn you for a stubborn fool, but I could have lost you forever. What good would that have done either of us?” He pressed fervent kisses to her hair, her temples, her face.
“I’m sorry. For scaring you and for hurting you, I’m sorry. But I’m glad I did it,” she cried.
Pulling back, he looked deep into her eyes. “I’ll miss the blue. My Emily blue. But I’m so glad you’re all right. It’s worth the loss.”
Emily sniffed and smiled. “I’m glad. I’ll miss them too. But if I can do a fraction of the things you Shikars can do then I’ll be happy. And so long as I have you. Do I have you?”
“You do. You know it. From that first night in the alley, when you told me to freeze, I knew I was a goner. You should have too.”
“Kiss me. Kiss me until you love me as much as I love you,” she whispered even as his mouth descended on hers.
“It’s too late. It’s already too late,” he said over and over, with each kiss.
His mouth moved over her face, down to her throat and neck. Nuzzling her, kissing and nibbling her sensitive skin until she moaned. His hands pushed aside the robe she wore—his robe—which he’d given her to hide her nudity in front of Tryton. It fell away, exposing her fully to his gaze.
“I’ve wanted this so much for the past three days,” he breathed.
“Me too,” she admitted.
“Don’t ever keep yourself from me again.”
“I won’t, I swear it.”
The dark auburn of his hair glistened in the light as he bent his head to her breast. Emily saw her nipple disappear into the seam of his lips. He pulled her into his mouth, using his tongue and teeth to pull and twist delicately. It popped out, shining wet when he was through. “Like a peach,” he murmured before moving on to the other. “I have always loved peaches.”
Emily’s head fell back as he fed on her, mouth scorching her nipples and chest. His arm supported her around the waist, holding her up for his pleasure when she would have swooned backward in ecstasy.
“I was asleep the last time. I feel a mighty need to make up for that slight,” he promised darkly, claiming her mouth once again for a heady, soul-searching kiss.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and he quieted her with a finger to her lips.
“Let us speak of it no more.”
He bent down and hooked an arm beneath her knees. Swooping her up into his arms, he carried her—raining kisses upon her swollen lips with every step—into his bedroom. He deposited her gently onto the mattress, before pulling away. “Stay right there. I have a gift for you.”
He left the room but was back before she had a chance to miss him. He held out his hand, offering her the gift that waited within it.
“My goodness. It’s beautiful.” A tiny wooden charm hung suspended from a long, delicate crystal chain. It was a lifelike carving of two serpentine dragons entwined in a mating embrace that formed the shape of a heart. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she breathed.
Edge leaned forward and fastened the chain around her neck. “I made it while you were in seclusion. I missed you so, I wanted you to have a piece of me with you always.”
“Oh, baby.” She smiled around new tears. “You’re always with me wherever I go, even without this lovely gift. Thank you. I’ll never take it off,” she promised.
Then there was no more time for words between them. Within seconds Edge was as nude as she, and his body was hot and heavy atop hers. His hands and lips and hair were everywhere upon her, burning her, tickling her, making her moan and cry out. He paid special attention to the tender flesh behind her knees once he realized how erotic she found the attention. He licked and kissed her there, until she was keening and begging h
im for more. Always more.
And more he gave her until she could take no more.
The broad strength of his hands turned her over effortlessly in the bed. His mouth fell immediately upon her rump, savoring the plump womanly flesh of her there. He licked his finger and tenderly slipped it into her anus for a few precious minutes, as she’d done earlier with him and she cried out with the immense pleasure it gave her.
He crawled up over her. So big and so strong he dwarfed her. Raising her up with one hand, he guided his cock to her rear with the other. Wetting himself in the plentiful juices of her pussy, he moved into position and slipped delicately into the tight portal of her ass.
“Oh God,” she gasped in pleasure and in pain. But after an initial sting of discomfort the head of his cock slipped in and he rested there, heavy inside of her trembling body.
After letting her grow accustomed to the slight penetration, he moved deeper into her, slowly and gently until he was seated halfway inside her body. He growled and dug his fingers into the cheeks of her bottom. “You’re so fucking tight, love. I think I’m going to die right here.” He sounded as if it were the best idea he’d ever had.
Emily moved tentatively beneath him and they both gasped in pleasure. His hand reached between their bodies and stroked the silky skin of her cunt, paying special attention to the lips and clitoris. She shuddered and took him more fully into herself as her body yawned in preparation for release. “Oh Edge, I’m coming,” she gasped in surprise and tormented delight.
Edge began slowly thrusting his fingers into her pussy, and his cock into her ass. He groaned raggedly in a language she should not have known, but did all the same, thanks to her newfound Shikar abilities. “You are so fucking sexy. Come for me baby, swallow me up.”
As if on cue, her body clamped down on his, causing them both to cry out. Emily’s cry turned into a scream as her body trembled and throbbed beneath his. He slid to the hilt inside of her. Three of his fingers filled her pussy to the knuckle, scraping her G-spot masterfully. She exploded, coming completely undone so that her orgasm poured over his hand and down between her legs.
The roar of a well-satisfied male sounded in her ear. Edge thrust hard and filled her with his ejaculate, his balls slapping her, his cock pulsing in the tight glove of her rear. Gasping, heart pounding loud enough for them both to hear, he collapsed upon her.
They rested, arms and legs entwined, until they at last found calm once more.
“I’ve only got one question.”
“What’s that?” His hand petted her from nape to rump, hypnotically.
“What the hell is the Mone?”
Edge laughed. “Mone as in the sex aid, Mone?” She nodded and he laughed again. “I will show you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Both Edge and the Mone filled her pussy full to bursting. The Mone was wonderful, Emily had to admit. The sex toy was made of a clear, flexible material not unlike plastic. It was about the diameter of a disposable ink pen and several feet long. One end was slipped into the woman’s anus or pussy; the other was a balloon that could be filled with warm water—as it was now—or some other liquid. The balloon was meant to be squeezed, so that as two lovers mated, the Mone gave tiny jettisons of liquid into the woman, easing the lovers’ way and massaging them both as they thrust in unison.
Edge had Emily lying on the rim of the sunken tub in his bathroom. His legs were in the water of the bathtub, but his body lie over hers, thrusting. Both his cock and the Mone reached deep within her, to the very heart of her, until they were as one.
Clutching him to her, Emily wrapped her legs around his pumping hips, drawing him ever closer. Her nails raked down his back, until he hissed and bucked harder into the cradle of her thighs. Her clit burned and swelled as he rubbed against it with each motion, and she cried out in short, panting sobs for more and more…and more.
But just before she found the release she so desperately craved, Edge pulled out of her and moved down into the tub so that his head was between her thighs. His mouth was almost cool on her after the intensity of their loving, but it was silky smooth and wet and she gasped at the shock of it.
His lips wrapped around her clit and suckled. The long length of his tongue rimmed her every nook and cranny, exploring every fold until she was glistening wet from her juices, the Mone’s, and his kiss. He delved deep into the core of her, sucking her nectar and coaxing forth more. Emily screamed and bowed up off the floor, knees spread wide as he rooted in her.
But just as before, when she was on the precipice of her climax, Edge pulled away. He climbed up over her body with a wicked smile and thrust deep, hard, into her.
“Time for your punishment, love.” He kissed her sweat-dampened brow with a kiss that was deceptively gentle after his words.
“What?” she squeaked.
He lifted his head back to look at her, rotating his hips against her, moving inside of her until she moaned. “You heard me,” he said once she’d quieted. “You need to be punished, if only a little, for the terror you caused me when you almost died.”
And he was as good as his word. Thrusting over and over inside of her, using his fingers to pluck first at her nipples then at her clit, he played her body until she was at the very edge of release.
Only to pull back and effectively halt her flight into that sweet oblivion.
Orgasm after orgasm he staved off, never allowing her to rest or to find surcease from the wicked claws of his erotic dominion. The Mone was soon removed, for it would have given her the relief she craved had he not. His mouth and tongue filled her. His fingers and cock stretched her. In a storm of passion she raged at him, begged him, pleaded and threatened…but he’d promised punishment and punishment is what he gave.
Unable to find release, her body became ultra sensitive to Edge’s every touch. To his every kiss. After three hours of torment, even his breath had the power to make her scream as it played over the wet, swollen flesh of her pussy. And still there was no quarter given.
The most surprising thing to her, at least it was before she lost most of her ability to think, was that Edge delayed his own orgasm as well. As if he was punishing himself as much as her. A lucky thing for him it was, though. It was the only thing about the whole affair that kept her from raging at him.
Edge produced devices he called nippers, which he fastened to her aching, pouting nipples. A long leather dildo, the exact shape and size as he—no doubt made from a mold of his cock—was well lubricated and slipped gently into her anus. Turning and laying over her, he buried his face into her pussy and simultaneously slipped his cock into her mouth.
The taste of her own pussy was sticky sweet on him as he slid down her throat. The smell of him was heady, like sandalwood and rainwater in her nostrils. She breathed him deep and suckled, desperate for any piece of him to tease and torment as he visited her exquisite punishment to every cell of her body.
He pulled away with a shout and a moan. “No more. I can take no more,” was his hoarse cry as he turned again and thrust, balls deep, into her cunt.
He thrust hard and deep, biting and sucking her breasts as she raked her nails down his shoulders and back. “I sought to punish you,” he said around a mouthful of swollen nipple, “but I fear I have suffered far more than you.”
The violent force of his thrusts had her body arching up off the floor. Water splashed everywhere. Their bodies slipped and slid in the puddles that surrounded them. And this time…oh this wondrous time…when she climbed that peak to blessed climax he let her fly and joined her.
Chapter Nineteen
“We ready this night for battle. Some of us—many of us—may not return. But fight we must and in this way, if we hope to gain any ground in the invasion our enemies have already begun. Fear not, for we are strong together. And though we may die, our fight will never have been in vain. Our legacy is the survival of our children. Of those who live on Earth, oblivious to the struggle, but endangered most grievously b
y the threat it poses should we lose. And of the warriors who will live to rejoice in victory when the fighting is done. We go now to war. Long live the Alliance!”
Tryton’s speech was met with the cheers of a hundred Shikar warriors. Emily felt Edge’s strong hand clasp hers warmly. “I love you,” she mouthed to him over the din.
He mouthed the words back with a wink and a smile.
Groups of Shikars gathered around a dozen or so Travelers. Emily, untrained as such, went with her group to Grimm, who waited in silence with his customary black cowl obscuring his features. Cinder smiled at her and teased, “Let’s hope this sister of yours knows what she’s talking about.”
Emily had no doubts. “She does.”
The Traveler nodded and took them to the Gates.
Once she’d regained her wits after the dizzying trip, Emily studied their surroundings with an eye for every possible detail. The air was indeed foul here, as Edge had warned her it would be. It smelled of brimstone and old death. Hot and sulfurous, every breath held the taint of the Daemons’ world.
If the Christians’ Hell were a physical place, it would undoubtedly look something like this.
The landscape was a study of black, crimson, and orange rock, of hills and crevices covered in naught but barren terrain. No living thing grew here; no vegetation could have survived the harsh environs. It was hot and sticky and there was no breeze to give relief.
Everything looked rough and sharp. Not even the rocks were smooth. Emily had once seen pictures of an angry and active volcano in Hawaii, and the rocks on the ground seemed eerily similar, pitted and brittle as they were. Needle-sharp stalagmites jutted out from the ground here and there, giving the earth its own unique set of dangerous looking teeth.
The sky was black; the clouds were low and heavy and tinged with red so that they looked full of blood. There was no sun. No celestial satellite to grace the sky. This place existed beyond Emily’s notion of space, of the universe. It was clear for all to see that this place existed somewhere else altogether. Someplace…other.
Razor's Edge Page 14