“You okay with this?” he double-checks.
I hesitate, but only for a split second before nodding.
He drags his teeth along his bottom lips then sucks his lip ring into his mouth. “What about Blaise?”
I have to really focus past the feel of Alex’s palms against my breasts to connect with what Blaise is doing.
He still has his hands down my panties, fingers resting there but not really touching. I want him to, so I arch upward, causing his hand to slip down further.
“Fucking hell,” Blaise curses, and then he slips a finger inside me.
I moan so loudly I swear the damn thunder gets smothered by it.
Alex curses a series of incoherent words then brushes his fingers across my nipples and gropes my breasts while Blaise starts finger fucking me. My back bows upward, and I writhe my hips in rhythm with Blaise’s fingers. It feels so good—
Jaxon suddenly appears above me, eyes dark and untamed as they lock with mine. And then he’s leaning in and sealing his lips to mine.
I kiss him, our tongues tangling, but then I begin to feast on the taste of him as explosions erupt inside me, and all I see are stars. So many damn stares I swear to God I must have learned how to fly or something.
And I want to stay there. Fly away into the light and never return.
Eventually, the feeling subsides as I return to reality. Blaise has slipped his fingers out of me, and Alex is wrapping a blanket around me. Jaxon, though, is nowhere to be seen.
“Where did Jaxon go?” I wonder through a yawn, my eyelids heavy.
“He needed to take a breather,” Alex mutters, stroking my head. “And you should get some rest.”
My head is in his lap, and Blaise is sitting in front of me … licking the taste of me off his fingers. When I see this, my eyes widen, and his lips kick up into a smirk.
“You taste fucking delicious,” he tells me. “Like spun sugar and sweetness.”
“That doesn’t sound like me at all,” I mumble through a yawn. “Why do I get so tired after feeding?”
Maybe they answer, but I don’t actually hear it as sleep pulls at me, begging me to succumb to it. I feel Alex shift and lay us down so he’s lying behind me with his arm resting over my waist.
“Sleep, little daredevil,” he whispers. “Maybe when you wake up, the storm will be over.”
“Maybe …” It’s the last word that leaves my lips before I give in to dreamland.
Chapter 16
Jaxon
I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin as I pace in front of the door that leads to the basement. Candles are around me, keeping the darkness away, but they can’t stop the dark memories from breaking through the surface and gulping for air. Except it’s my air they’re stealing.
“Jax.” Blaise enters the area with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. “You’re having another attack.”
It’s not a question. He knows where my mind is at. At least, he thinks he does.
He steps into the light, looking more content than he has in a while, probably from Hadley letting him touch her.
“What set it off?” he asks, propping his shoulder against the wall as he watches me pace. “Was it feeding her? Because you seemed fine the first time she did it … Although, you did get quiet, even for you.” A pucker forms at his brow. “Something happened, didn’t it?”
I clutch my head as panic soars through me. “At first, I didn’t know what it was—why I felt this strange anxiety brewing in me. It started when she first fed off of me, but I was able to settle it for the most part by drawing.” I throw him a look. “You know how that settles my mind.”
He carefully nods. “Do you need me to get you a sketchpad so you can draw right now?”
I halt in front of him, hugging my arms around myself. “I don’t think it’ll help this time … not with this.”
He presses his lips together, observing me with caution. “Is this because of all the touching that’s been going on? I know you have issues with that—and it’s understandable—so we may have to find some alternative to her feeding off of you.” He wavers. “Like maybe you guys can just touch mouths or something.”
My mind flashes back to when I let her feed off me the second time. I had instigated that after I couldn’t stand it anymore. Watching Blaise touch her like that while Alex caressed her breasts was turning me on so badly that I had to let her taste me. I’m not used to this feeling, these needs. I haven’t had them ever, but that’s mostly due to how much I’ve always loathed being touched.
“It’s not that,” I tell him quietly. “I mean, it was partly that at first, but what made me run down here was something Hadley said … something that I can’t shake.”
He pushes away from the wall. “What?”
I can feel the fear pulsating through my body as I prepare to speak about something I rarely even let myself think of. “Back when I was a prisoner, the creature who kept me used to keep me locked in a cage.”
“I thought you couldn’t remember much about that.”
“I can’t, but I can remember the cage … I can also remember the fire gusting through the forest when I escaped.” I swallow so loudly it can be heard over the storm. “I can also remember a girl with long, dark hair and green eyes.”
We stare at each other in silence, and I know what he’s thinking because it’s exactly where my mind is.
Before I ever went to the orphanage, I spent years as a prisoner to a creature I’ve never been able to identify because I have amnesia. I don’t know precisely what happened during my time with him. I just know I can barely stand being touched. I can also remember escaping from a fire with a girl who shares similarities with Hadley. But I never thought much about that until I heard her talk about her forgotten memories while the healer’s blood was restoring her.
“What the fuck is going on?” Blaise breathes out, shaking his head. “How can this be possible? How could she end up living right next-door to us and have a connection to your past?”
“I have no idea,” I whisper, my chest piercing. “But I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
“I don’t think so, either,” he agrees, adjusting one of the leather bands on his wrists. “But I have no idea what it could mean, either.”
“Me, neither.” My gaze skates to the basement door. “But I know a creature that might.”
Blaise casts a glance at the door then looks back at me. “More questions to add to our list then.”
I frantically shake my head. “I don’t want her to know about this yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because … I don’t want to have to explain my fucked-up past to her any time soon.”
A look of understanding crosses his face. “I know it’s hard to talk about, man, but eventually, you’ll have to tell her.”
“I know.” I uncross my arm, dig out the key in my pocket, and extend my hand toward the door. “But I’m not ready yet.”
He hurriedly places a hand on my arm. “You can’t question him until we get some truth serum.”