by AJ Merlin
That made me look away. I brought my hands up to soothe away goosebumps on my arms that had appeared at the sight of him while trying to think of how to answer him.
“I…you heard him,” I reminded the kitsune. “You heard what he said. About all of it.”
“I did,” Merric agreed.
“Then you know what he claimed. That someone was out there controlling him. Making him do it.”
Merric nodded conversationally. “Yeah, I caught that part too.”
I held his eyes, then looked away. “Forget it,” I mumbled, running my fingers through my messy hair for the tenth time this morning. “You don’t really understand–“
Merric caught me as I turned, crushing me against his chest and pressing his lips to mine. Caught off guard, I gasped, and he took advantage of my open mouth to let his tongue tangle with mine while his hand at my lower back gripped my shirt hard.
“You’re right,” he growled, nipping at my lip as he pulled away. “I don’t understand. I can try for you, George.” Our noses brushed as I refused to look away from his gorgeous golden eyes. “But I don’t.”
“I know,” I breathed, drawing my arms up and over his neck to pull him down to me. I thought he might protest. I thought he’d push me off and remind me not to touch him. But he let me hold him. “It’s okay. I’m not asking you to change for me.” I gave him a half-smile, relaying that it really was all right.
It was so strange. I’d never dreamed of being able to touch him like this, not even during the past week when I’d wanted to. But now it was happening, and I felt a connection between us that felt too solid to be my imagination.
“I eat what you’re afraid of happening,” Merric went on, drawing me backward across the room. “All of their pain and their fear. It makes me strong. He lifted a hand between us, his fingertips blackening, and drew it down my cheek.
His skin was like ice, making me shiver, but it was the allure of his touch that had me leaning forward.
Goddess, I wanted him.
“But nothing has happened in two weeks,” he continued. The cold magic faded from his fingers. “Two weeks. Your killer is gone. You stopped him from hurting anyone else on that rooftop.”
“We stopped him,” I amended. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
A flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes. “Yes you could’ve,” he denied. “You didn’t need me. I only made things–“
This time I was the one to kiss him. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to believe him, and I wanted him.
I was so tired of worrying about everyone and everything.
I just wanted my kitsune.
He pulled away first, eyes wide. I met his gaze challengingly, grabbing his hands that rested on my hips and pushing them lower so that they skimmed my thighs, just below my shorts.
“I want you,” I told him frankly. “And if you try another trick like what you did at the gala, I will use my cards to keep you here for a week.”
A very familiar smirk curled over his lips. He looked up at me, every bit the trickster I knew him to be. “Is that a threat, George?” He asked in a whisper.
“Absolutely.”
I couldn’t tell him, but him being here did more than just make me want to tackle him to the bed.
It made it just a little easier to breathe. It made the urge to call all of my contacts around the city itch just a little less.
His tails curled around me, pulling me out of my thoughts. One brushed my thighs, just under the curve of my ass where my shorts ended, and another wrapped around my waist.
“Consider me threatened,” he murmured, his hands running up my ribs and dragging my shirt with them.
Everywhere his fingers touched me tingled, and heat shot straight to my core.
I helped him with my shirt, tossing it to the other side of the room and hearing it slide down the door.
He glanced at it, as if remembering something. “Aveline?” The kitsune asked simply.
“Gone with her new boyfriend. We’re alone,” I said, grabbing for his hoodie.
He pulled it over his head, along with the t-shirt under it, and I rested my hands on his hips, marveling at the pale softness of his skin.
While the kitsune watched, I ran my hands up the planes of his body, stopping when I got to his collarbones. With a glance at his face, I dragged my nails lightly downward, eliciting a shiver I hadn’t been expecting.
Before I could do it again, however, he grabbed my hands, holding them up and baring his teeth in a soft growl.
“Fair’s fair,” he said, gesturing to my bra and releasing my hands.
“Fair’s not fair,” I chuckled, unclasping it and chucking it towards the door as well. “You got to do all the touching at the gala. I should get to do it now.”
“No.” His tails again circled my wrists, then drew them down and away from my body. I marveled at their strength and the way they felt like fur-coated iron against my skin.
“You could be like, a nine tailed lemur,” I pointed out with a giggle. “Your tails could let you swing from trees.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m going to let that go because I have better things to do than acknowledge it,” he informed me. “But you can expect me to remember it.”
Still holding my wrists with two of his tails, he stepped forward to trail his fingertips up my bare sides again.
I shuddered.
He slid them back down, pushing my shorts down over my hips until they could fall to the floor so I could step out of them.
The air was cold on my skin, and I bit my lip at how vulnerable I felt with my wrists bound and my clothing gone.
Merric looked at me. Really looked at me, his gaze dragging up my body.
“I shouldn’t have let you leave that room at the gala,” he told me, reaching out and resting his hands on my hips.
I tried to move my hands, and he grinned. “Nah, ah–not yet, George. Not until I say so.”
One tail wrapped around my throat, the brush of fur sensual and luxurious.
His hands moved, though I couldn’t look down to see, and I held my breath as they ran up my thighs, then curved around to cup my breasts.
A low whine left my throat, and Merric’s smile widened.
His fingers found my nipples and he brushed over them lightly, teasing them to hard peaks.
“You could at least get naked,” I breathed, licking my suddenly dry lips. My thighs clenched, begging for his touch lower down. “Give me something to look at here, since I can’t touch.”
He chuckled. “All right,” he agreed, completely unexpectedly. His tails slid from my wrists, and finally from my neck.
I didn’t give him a chance to play any more tricks. Quickly I reached out, curling my fingers into the front of his jeans and jerking so hard that the button popped free.
“Just so we’re on the same page,” I smiled up at him, pushing his jeans down his thighs. His underwear came next, and his shoes, until at last he stood in front of me completely bare.
When he started to move, I beat him to it. I reached up with one arm around his shoulders, dragging him to me so I could catch his mouth in another kiss. His length brushed my thigh, prompting me to reach down and curl my fingers around him.
He gasped. There was no way for him to play it off, and I pushed him a few steps back until he was at the edge of my bed.
If I’d thought I’d push him down, however, I was sorely mistaken. The kitsune grabbed my hips, using his tails to help overbalance and push me onto the bed so that I landed gently on my back, arm still around his neck.
“Don’t be arrogant,” he breathed, sinking down between my thighs and pushing my knees upward until my feet rested flat on my bed.
My heart thudded in my chest, and I silently begged for him to do more than just look at me.
Merric obliged. He kissed me, mouth trailing down my jaw and nipping a line down to the hollow of my throat. The brush of his teeth made me shiver, just as the feeling of h
is fingers on my inner thighs made me whine.
“I need you,” I gasped, breathless at the sight of him kneeling between my knees.
“You want me,” he corrected, eyes flicking up to meet mine as if to see how I’d react.
I hooked a leg over his shoulder and grinned. “Need,” I argued.
Was that surprise in his eyes? Whatever it was, he hid it quickly by turning to nip at the inside of my knee, his hand gripping my leg as he bit down just hard enough for me to feel it.
I watched him–it was impossible not to, as he kissed his way along my inner thigh, until finally he leaned back just enough to blow lightly, teasingly, over my clit.
“Merric,” I whined, squirming on the bed and digging my heel into his shoulder.
“George,” he replied, his fingers brushing up and down my slit. “Say please.”
“Please.” I wasn’t too proud to say it. I’d say it more if it meant he would do something more than tease.
Goddess bless him, he did. He sank a finger into me, eliciting a gasp from me, and at my encouragement, added another one.
“So wet for me.” I couldn’t tell if he was trying to admonish me or just happy about the fact.
He sank his fingers deeper into me, his palm grinding against my clit. I bit my lip, hips arching off the bed while he fingered me.
Merric's free hand trailed up my thigh, gripping my hip as he curled his fingers inside me. I watched him through my lashes, teeth in my lower lips.
“I thought you wanted me on my knees for you,” I teased, resting my weight on my elbows so I could watch him more easily. “Remember that–“
He cut me off, lips slamming against mine and the hand on my thigh moving to grip the base of my throat.
“Don’t question my kindness unless you want me to stop,” he purred, then nipped at my lip when I started to answer. His grip around my neck tightened just slightly, mouth meeting mine again and forcefully urging my mouth open so he could coax my tongue against his.
The movement of his hand quickened, and Merric swallowed the sounds I made as my hips moved of their own accord to meet his hand.
Goddess, he felt so good. His fingers felt so good inside me.
“Fuck me, please,” I whined against his lips.
“Say it again,” he growled in reply with a light bite.
“Please. Merric, I will say anything you want to hear as long as you’re in me very soon.”
He huffed a laugh. “You’re that desperate for me?” He breathed. “My fingers aren’t enough?”
I caught his jaw with my hand, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Everything about you is more than enough,” I breathed. “Anything you give me is enough, but I want to feel you inside me when I cum.”
The look of shock that crossed his features was very quickly replaced with desire. He pulled his fingers free, instead lightly gripping his length and lining himself up with my entrance.
When he sank into me, I didn’t try to hide my moan of appreciation. He felt so good, and his body was so hot against mine.
My eyes closed, head tipping back so I could appreciate him as he rocked his hips lightly, pushing deep inside of my body.
“Look at me,” the kitsune breathed, one hand on my hip again.
I opened my eyes, surprised to find his face so close as he leaned over me.
“I want you to look at me while I fuck you,” he went on. “I want to see you.”
His voice was quiet, but his tone was full of promise.
The nogitsune moved, pulling almost all the way out just to sink into me once more.
I gasped, one hand going around his neck to drag him just a little closer.
When I did, he rocked into me again, building into a languid rhythm that let me feel every inch of him as he moved.
When the hand on my hip moved to tease my clit, my muscles clenched around him, causing him to let out a soft noise of his own.
“Just like that,” I encouraged, refusing to let go of my grip on him. I wanted him here. Close enough that I could feel his breath against my lips and that I could read the myriad of expressions that flitted across his face. “Please, Merric. You feel so good–“
He surged forward to bite at my lower lip, his low growl reminding me he was anything but a tame lover.
Not that I ever wanted him to be.
Heat built in my body, making me more urgent as I met his thrusts with my hips, my grip on him unrelenting.
His fingers on my clit sped up, lips curving into a sly grin at my keen of surprise.
“Merric–“ I bit off my words, mouth open and panting. I could feel my release building, heat spreading from his touch.
I trembled all over, the feeling rising very quickly.
“Cum for me,” he breathed softly. “Just for me. I want to feel it, George.” He moved to nip at my throat, teeth finding my skin and biting down hard.
I lost it. Whether it was his teeth or the heady combination of him and his actions, I wasn’t sure, but my release rushed through me, causing me to cry out and tip my head back.
His teeth on my neck didn’t relent. Neither did his pace. I held him against me, not wanting him to stop or pull away.
It only took a few seconds for him to follow me over the proverbial cliff. He grabbed my hips, face lifting so he could crush our lips together as he thrust into me one more time.
He moaned, and I swallowed the sound greedily as he came in me, my legs wrapped around his waist to keep him just as he was.
At last, Merric pulled away slightly, mouth open and panting as his gaze found mine.
“You might be stuck with me now,” he whispered, one hand leaving my hip to trail down my face.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. It is you who is stuck with me,” I snickered in response.
Merric snorted, shaking his head at my teasing. I pressed my lips to his again, drawing him into a long, slow kiss.
As I came down from my excitement, however, the doubts seemed to creep right back in.
And all of them were accompanied by the necromancer’s drawn face.
“George?” Merric cupped my jaw. He searched my expression, and sighed. “I know you’re worried,” he said at last.
“What if someone is still out there, trying to do something worse?” I asked, voicing my fear for the first time. “And what if they come take revenge on us for what we did?”
Merric grinned, the look reminding me of when he’d killed Jameson in the warehouse. I couldn’t help the shiver that went through me, but the kitsune didn’t seem to mind it at all.
“Then we kill them,” he said simply. “Yuna, me, and the trio. I know you don’t like to draw first blood, but I promise you this, George.” His lips brushed mine affectionately.
“We aren’t afraid to kill for what’s ours.”
Thank you for Reading
I hope you enjoyed Bury Their Bones. It would mean so much to me if you could take a moment to review, because I would love to know how you felt about the story.
Would you like to keep up to date with new books, participate in games, and enter giveaways for books and swag? You can check out my Facebook group:
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Book Three, A Clever Sacrifice, will continue George’s story and be released in early summer 2021.
Acknowledgments
The book couldn’t have happened without my amazing team of Betas, my saintly editor, and my mom. Thank you guys for everything you do, and all the awful drafts you guys read for me. Really, you’re all saints. Especially you, Val. I’m so grateful for you working out problems with me in Crunch Time.
Thank you Hope for all the things you put up with. Including my bad time management and questionable ideas. Without you, I’m not sure how I’d get by.
you for reading books on Archive.