by Lauren Dawes
“I don’t know how, but the stone’s essence was hidden all those years, too. It was only when the red-headed witch came into Wonderland to kill Baba Yaga that Avi was alerted to its presence once more.”
I rolled my eyes. Kseniya Chernov’s actions were like a gift that kept on giving.
“Do you have any more questions, Cat?” Astrid asked in a croon.
“Who did Avi give the stone to?”
“I told you, her lover.”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes, but who was it?”
The fae shook her head. “That, I don’t know. My sister and I have always had a strained relationship. Where most sisters loved, we found only hate. Where most sisters trusted and were happy for one another, we found only distrust and jealousy. It is the way of the fae.”
“It sounds dysfunctional to me.”
Behind me, Sawyer hissed in warning. Right, insulting the fae was a bad idea. I guessed I needed to wrap this thing up.
Sucking a breath deep into my lungs, I let it out through my mouth and said, “They’re all the questions I can think of right now.”
Astrid inclined her head slightly. “And so I have fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now, it’s your turn to fulfill yours.”
Fifteen
By the time we arrived home, I was exhausted. Not really a big surprise since I’d been running on adrenaline the entire time I’d been in Wonderland. But hey, at least I wasn’t fighting a wicked episode of fatigue. Sawyer had insisted I eat a candy bar on the way home in any case.
“Bed?” Sawyer asked from behind me. He sounded tired, and I spun to look at him. His eyes had dark crescents beneath them, his skin a little paler than normal.
“You need to feed.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
I let out a long breath. We’d spoken about this before Blaze had interrupted with his death. We’d agreed to just sex, no feelings. I could totally do that because it would help Sawyer since now he couldn’t actually feed properly off anyone else. I wasn’t a complete bitch. I wouldn’t deny my friend when he needed me, and my friend needed me now. As if a mental dam had broken with my decision, lust flooded my body so quickly, I whimpered a little at the sensation.
He took me by the waist and led me into his bedroom. At my quizzical look, he said, “This will help to keep you detached, if that’s what you want. Your bedroom is your sanctuary. You sleep there. It shouldn’t be the place where you… where we…”
“Have sex?” I asked helpfully.
“Yes.” He shut the door, even though nobody else would be coming in. He turned to face me, and his hot, hungry gaze stripped me bare.
“Just sex?” I asked.
“No feelings,” he said, but he bit the word out like it pained him.
As if that were a signal to our bodies, we both rushed into each other’s arms, our mouths colliding in a kiss that soon turned into something more. Sawyer ran his hands under my jacket, pushing it off my shoulders. I did the same for him, exposing the broad expanse of his chest.
Reaver had long ago disappeared, but we both had on our holsters with our Glocks still in place. I started to undo the Velcro straps across his chest, and he did the same to me.
When we’d both stripped each other’s holsters off, he said, “Just give me a minute.” Turning, he disappeared into his walk-in closet. I heard the tell-tale clank of the gun safe opening then a ruffling noise as he stowed our sidearms in there.
When he re-emerged, I joked, “Safety first.”
“Always,” he growled as he lunged for me, pressing me against the wall beside the door. His thick hard length prodded at my stomach, and I moaned as thoughts of what he’d feel like to be inside me again assaulted me. His mouth was on mine, claiming me in a kiss that made heat shoot through me. I clutched at his waist, dragging him closer—needing him closer.
“I need you so badly,” he said softly after breaking the kiss. He brought his hands to the hem of my shirt, pulling the fabric up off my body and dropping it to the floor. “Feeding on lust isn’t enough. Not being inside you is killing me.”
I wasn’t sure whether he was being facetious with that comment or not because from what he’d told me, he could literally die if he didn’t get inside me every day. I lifted my face to his, expecting him to kiss me once more, but his hooded eyes were on my breasts.
He fingered the fabric of my bra, a small smile on his lips. “Unicorns?” he asked.
I huffed. “My obsession with unicorns isn’t a news flash for you.”
He touched one of the little bows on the strap, then brushed the back of his fingers down over the cup, sending electricity sparking off my skin. “I like the bows.” Then he reached around and unhooked the clasp. I slid the straps down my arms but held the cups over my breasts.
“I need to see you, pussy cat.”
“You’ve seen me naked before,” I said.
He shook his head. “That was different. Now, I want to see you because you want me to see you.” He tugged at my hands, and I let my arms drop. He sucked in a hissed breath, and his eyes turned a darker shade of gray. He cupped one breast, then the other, running his thumb over my hardening nipples.
My God, everything about him electrified me.
I let my head fall back against the wall, and he took his invitation. Leaning down, he sucked one nipple into his mouth, then fondled the other with his free hand. I arched into his relentless, magic touch, telling him what I wanted.
His mouth.
My body.
All.
Night.
Long.
I ran my fingers through his dark hair, holding him in place as he suckled on me.
“I love the sounds you make, pussy cat.”
“Shh, no talking. Just…” I gasped when he bit down a little, then soothed away the sting with the swipe of his tongue. “Do that,” I finished on a moan.
And he did. He feasted on my breasts so long that by the time he lifted his head, I was a wet, panting mess. He purred in approval.
“Did you like that, pussy cat?” he asked in a slow, erotic drawl. “Did it make you wet?”
I nodded because I didn’t trust my voice. Finally, I said, “Why don’t you feel for yourself?”
His irises turned dark and stormy. I bit my bottom lip when he lowered himself to his knees in front of me, hooking his fingers into the waistband of my jeans. He slid them across my skin to the buttonhole, popping it free. Down went the zipper and I was so completely wrapped up in him, in what he was doing to me that I ached. I trembled. I wanted. Pulling the fabric down my legs, he helped me out of them, but stayed kneeling in front of me.
Slowly—torturously—he traced the tip of his finger over my pussy through the panel of my panties. I cried out at the pleasure of his touch, my whole body quivering.
“I can feel how wet you are. I can feel the heat coming from you.”
“Shut up and finger fuck me,” I commanded, wondering where in the hell that demand had come from. The only thing I could think to blame it on would be Sawyer’s influence, but my opal was quiet. Sooo, I guess that was on me.
With an impatient growl, he shoved my panties to the side and slid one finger, two fingers, into me and started to pump. A moan broke free of my throat as I gave in to the pleasure. Our eyes met, and I saw the look of concentration in his now-black eyes.
“I want to taste you,” he said in a low, guttural growl. “It’s been too long since I’ve had you on my tongue.”
“Do what you want with me.”
Reaching up, he ripped my panties in two, letting the scraps of material fall to the ground at my feet.
Before I could protest and tell him they were my favorite pair of unicorn underwear, he said, “I’ll get you some more.” Then he curled his fingers inside me, hitting my G-spot while he licked a path through my folds.
And holy-fucking-hell.
My back arched off the wall, thrusting my pussy into his mouth and making me
gasp. He lapped while finger fucking me. Until I was boneless. Until I knew that the only reason I was still on my feet was because of the wall at my back.
“Oh, God, Sawyer…” I moaned, but the rest of my words were ripped from me when a groan of absolute pleasure surfaced, my orgasm stealing coherent thought, and who the fuck cared for words right now. I came hard on his lips, his mouth, his chin. I came hard and even the wall couldn’t hold me up anymore.
I slid to the hardwood floor, Sawyer staying with me the whole time, his tongue still lapping, his fingers still pumping. When I was finally able to look up, Sawyer was staring at me hungrily from his crouch in front of me.
“Lose the clothes,” I told him.
He stood, stripped, and grabbed me by the ankle, pulling me away from the wall but not off the floor. He was covering me a moment later. His thick, hard erection lay hot against my hip, and as much as I wanted to take it into my mouth, I could sense Sawyer’s urgency because it was like my own blood was vibrating with his need.
“Fuck me, Sawyer.”
Without preamble, he lifted my hips and entered me in one hard thrust. I clutched at his shoulders, holding onto him tightly as he withdrew, then slammed in again.
“More,” I panted. Loving this connection to him. Loving this feeling. Honestly, as far as obligations go, letting a sex god fuck me every day wasn’t that much of a hardship. Sawyer and I were solid. He’d seen me at my worst. He’d seen me at my most vulnerable. He knew me like nobody else seemed to.
“Like that?” he asked on a panted breath, wrapping one of my legs around his waist then the other. I pressed my heels into his back, holding him in position.
“Harder, Sawyer. Fuck me until I see stars.”
Because here was the truth. I loved it when we were together like this. I enjoyed the way he let himself go, how he gave me everything. His brand of raw and dirty sex was just what I wanted, what I craved.
“Like that, like that, like that,” I began to chant as my second orgasm for the night crept up on me with all the finesse of a freight train. “Just like that, just like that, just like… that!” I came hard on one thrust, the orgasm like tripping a wire inside me because there was another one and another one. They barreled through me, pushing me to the edge of pleasure, balancing on the knife-edge of pain.
I knew Sawyer wouldn’t be coming anytime soon, so all I could do was hold on tight as those orgasms ebbed away and wait for the others to come. And there would be others because sex with an incubus was like signing up to get a tattoo. I needed that pleasure. I needed that sting of pain, and when it was all said and done, I knew I’d be lining up to get another one. And another. And another.
I blinked when Sawyer scooped me up into his strong arms and carried me to one of the armchairs facing that monster TV screen.
“Turn around,” he murmured, helping me get into position. I kneeled with my chest facing the back of the chair, my hands gripping the leather tightly. A small gasp escaped me when Sawyer dragged his fingers through my pussy, spreading around my arousal. I shivered at his touch, still sensitive from my previous releases.
“So wet for me,” he murmured, swatting me playfully on the ass. I sucked in a surprised gasp, but as the bite of the sting waned, heat flooded me. He ran his finger up the inside of my thigh. “Like that, do you?” he asked.
I wiggled my ass at him, asking for another.
With a low, pumping growl, he delivered another swat to my rear, soothing the sting away with his palm. It was so good, the sensation so intense that I dropped my head and bit into the leather to stop myself from begging him to do it again.
“Lift that beautiful ass higher for me.”
At his command, I did just that, offering myself to him. I was expecting his cock, but was pleasantly surprised by his tongue. He lapped at me, swallowing down my taste, then stood and ran the head of his cock through my folds. I moaned and arched into him, trying to commit the feeling to memory.
With one final swat on my ass, he entered me, the position making him plunge deep inside me. I bit back the scream of pleasure but couldn’t stop the feral moan. Sawyer was taking me, completely, and I loved every second of it. His pace before hadn’t been hurried at all, but now I felt it. His hips pistoned faster and faster, dragging another release from me.
“Fuck!” Sawyer barked. “You’re so slick. So hot. So fucking tight, Cat,” he breathed into my hair, running his free hand up to one of my breasts and cupping it before pinching my nipple. “I have to come inside you. Now.”
“Come inside me,” I replied, my face pressing into the couch. “Come inside me. Now.”
My words must’ve done the trick because suddenly his thrusts become more hurried, shorter, and then he was coming.
Filling me.
Claiming me.
Owning me.
One last orgasm rocketed through me, sending me into the stratosphere right along with him. He collapsed onto me, his heart pounding out a frantic rhythm against my back. His breathing was labored, but then again, so was mine, and when he finally pulled away, he planted a line of soft kisses down the vertebra of my spine.
“Thank you,” he murmured, sliding out of me and kissing me gently on the shoulder. “You don’t know what it means to me that you’re willing to do this.”
It took me a moment to collect myself before I could straighten too. His indifference was jarring, but this was what I wanted—no feelings. I unstuck myself from the leather, my body slick with sweat. Turning, I looked at him. The color was back in his cheeks, and his eyes were slowly turning back into that cool gray I liked so much.
“No problem. Glad to help.” I glanced down at my naked body, then wrapped my arm around my breasts, suddenly self-conscious. “Ahh, I think I’ll just go and take a shower and get to bed,” I said. “We have the Christmas party tonight, after all.”
“Cat?” Sawyer asked, standing there naked in all his delectable glory. “Are we still good?”
I smiled. “Absolutely.” I studied him for a beat, knowing I was going to throw my no feelings rule right out the window. Because when I was with him, I was all in.
And that terrified the pants off me.
Sixteen
That evening, Sawyer and I stepped into The Palatial’s grand ballroom for the Buxton Police Department Christmas party. The ballroom matched everything else about the hotel. It was an homage to the 1920s style, decorated in the classic art deco pairing of gold and black. From the thick, patterned carpet to the gold-leaf walls, it was like walking onto the set of Great Gatsby, minus the murder-in-the-pool scene.
In the center was a crystal chandelier that must’ve been at least five feet long and three feet wide. It sparkled and shimmered above everyone, casting rainbow prisms across the coffered ceiling. Round tables were spaced evenly around the floor, each topped with a black and dark blue foil spray to represent the Force.
An eighteen-foot-by-fifteen-foot dance floor took up the real estate in the middle.
By my guess, there had to be about a hundred people already there, but Buxton PD was big, so maybe only half of the department had arrived. I scanned the room, looking for a friendly face from PIG.
And there was a phrase I never thought I’d say.
“We’re on table nine,” Sawyer said from behind me. I turned to find him looking at a seating chart by the door that I’d completely missed.
“You’re kidding, right? They always put the mutants on table nine.”
He raised his brows in question.
“Never mind,” I huffed.
Pop culture was wasted on supernaturals.
“Did I tell you, you look positively delectable tonight,” he said, walking toward me slowly. He ran a finger down my arm, and I shivered. “You should wear more dresses.”
“Shh,” I replied. “I’m already uncomfortable. Adding compliments will only make it worse.” I was wearing an art-deco-inspired little number on account of this Christmas party. I had no idea who had p
lanned this little soiree, but would it have killed them to make it ugly Christmas sweater themed? I had plenty of them, especially since I spent almost my entire last paycheck on Christmas paraphernalia.
His hand came to rest on my lower back, so hot through the sheer fabric that it was like a brand. This was as close to me as he could get in a room surrounded by our peers. “Positively delectable,” he repeated, his eyes swimming with heated shadows.
My gaze darted around to see if anyone was watching. “We shouldn’t be this close,” I breathed. “Someone might see us.”
“I don’t care. I hope they do.”
Lust flooded my body. Desire just steam-rolled its way through me. It didn’t help that Sawyer was also looking amazing in a tux, but somehow, I managed to step away.
“I think if we were in a relationship… a serious, committed relationship… then it wouldn’t matter, but our arrangement is just about sex, right? I mean, that’s what we agreed to.” I hoped if I said the words enough that I would start believing them.
Sawyer’s eyes were still heated as he stared at me, burning with hunger and darkening by the second.
“Do you need to feed again?” I thought the sex we’d had early this morning would’ve been enough to keep him sated.
He nodded, inching a little closer to whisper in my ear, “Yes. I can’t wait to come inside you again.”
I blinked at his dirty words, wanting that too, wanting to get lost in him. “You’re insatiable,” I chided.
He gave me a grin. “Only for you, pussy cat.”
“There you guys are!” someone called, and I turned to see Brax with his arm wrapped around the waist of a petite, dark-haired woman. They approached us with easy smiles. “Sawyer, Cat, let me introduce my mate to you. This is Andrea.” Leaning forward, Brax pressed his lips to her cheek, making her blush.
I immediately liked her. Sticking out my hand, I said, “Andrea, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”
The other woman stretched out her hand and shook mine. “Nice to meet you, too,” she replied. “Brax told me all about you, how you joined PIG even though you’re human.”