“No.” I scrunched up my face as I answered, “I mean, titles are so 90s, let’s not label this. I needed dick; you got laid. It’s a win for both of us. Take it, Knox. You don’t like me. I don’t like you, but our bodies like each other, and that works for me.” He glared angrily, and I tilted my head. “I guess if you want to consider it something, it’s more like a fuck and duck. I fucked you, now I’m ducking out of here.” He frowned, obviously not getting the terrible reference. “You know, I came in, rode your dick, now I’m ducking out after since I got my fill. Yeah, I may be waddling a little because it was some seriously good dick, and now I’m sore—look like a duck waddling home.” At his narrowed gaze and sinful smile, which revealed a dimple in one cheek, I gave up explaining and shrugged. “Catch you later, because I might feel cute and need some of that good dick again.” I blew him a kiss, turning on my heel to find Greer and Brander standing by the door. “Dude, cologne! You stink like death! How are you supposed to catch the ladies if you smell like a corpse?” I messed up his hair and smiled as he watched me with a stoic face.
“I am dead, or more to the point, undead. And don’t touch me, peasant.”
“You don’t smell undead to me. You smell dead-dead. You want pussy, you need to smell good enough to eat, and right now you smell like the dead ass meat Knox dropped into my cell, which I hope wasn’t related to you, because that could be awkward. Brander!” I lifted on my tiptoes, kissing his cheek before I walked out the door, smiling at the sun as I moved toward the house. Twirling as the sun heated my flesh, closing my eyes, letting it warm my face.
I paused, twirling, staring at the glass on the ground as it crunched beneath my feet, then peered up at the house and flinched. Ouch, that was going to cost him a pretty penny to replace all those windows. I watched him walk out on the veranda with his men who observed my dancing as I made my way through the gate and down the block.
I opened the door to my house, and everyone turned, looking at me strangely. I smiled brightly, like a fucking idiot.
“You have major fuck-me hair,” Sabine pointed out. “Are you okay? The last time you woke up with him, you weren’t.”
“I’m great! I just rocked his fucking world, and then I walked out, leaving his mouth wide open. That’s a win, or at least I’m taking it as one.”
“Good God, happy Aria is almost as bad as stoic Aria. I’m kind of afraid here, you guys,” Tamryn laughed, standing to fix my hair.
“Stop that, I like my hair after riding Knox.” I stopped cold as Luna stepped into my path.
“I’m so sorry, Aria.”
“I imagine so,” I stated, watching her carefully as my body tensed and braced for a fight.
“Brander explained that I was in shock, and my body was septic. I had a fever that I knew wasn’t right, but I didn’t let anyone get close enough to check it. My wolf was in control, and she was in grief as well, which is a terrible combination. I wanted to go with my children.”
“That’s unacceptable.”
“I know, I should never have attacked you.”
“No, Luna. You don’t get to leave us, ever. We’re in this together. You’re my sister, and I love you even if you tried to murder me.”
“I love you too,” she said, hugging me tightly as a sob rocked through her body.
“We will be okay,” I promised. “Everything is going to be okay now. We have each other, and that is all we need.”
Chapter 47
Knox
Aria was the lace.
The creature was the leather.
Together, they were everything soft and erotic and needy as fuck.
They were polar fucking opposites that I could not wait to see melded together. Aria fought me, the creature ignited beneath me. I fucking growled, and she roared. It was supposed to be easy: deflower the little witch, fuck her out of my system, and be done with her for good. Not fucking happening. She looked at me, and shit got messy. Those beautiful, expressive eyes tore me apart, and the fire within them heated me, unlike any woman in the last thousand years had ever hoped to achieve. And that alone pissed me off.
She’d come alive on my cock, burning with a flame that danced right in tune to her pleasure. Aria was a beast in the sheets, spreading her body for me and demanding I fuck her harder, faster—and fuck if I didn’t listen. It should have been fucking simple, fuck her, and toss her out. Instead, she rocked my world and shook shit up. She fucking purred, and I melted, needing to answer her call.
No one had ever fucking purred for me, but she had. Fuck if I didn’t crave to hear it every time I walked into a room, only to remember she wasn’t mine and couldn’t be. Fuck Aria out of my system? It couldn’t be done. It was, however, a challenge I was willing to accept.
Instead, I was an addict, and she was my drug. Her eyes revealed more than just a soul, and I wanted to explore the workings of her mind. Aria was brilliant and beautiful. She was a rare combination of woman, one I wanted to get lost within.
I’d watched her moving through my library, exploring parts of it that a lesser being would have passed over, but not Aria. She’d touched every part of it that I’d been in love with, as if she sensed it was part of my soul, exposed and opened for her fingers to trace over.
It wasn’t just about fucking her anymore. It was more; it was deeper. I wanted to take her apart and see what made her mind work. I wanted to show her my realm just to watch her pretty eyes ignite with wonder, just like she had when she came undone on my cock for the first time.
Those pretty eyes had grown wide with amazement, her body trembling uncontrollably as I added width and length until I’d filled every inch of that tight, delicious cunt. Her head had dropped back, and her cries had awoken something within me that I’d never thought could be awoken. It had pissed me off and excited me. Those muscles had clamped around me, sucking me off as she cried my name like I was some god she worshipped, and fuck if I didn’t crave more.
Aria fought me, but she gave as good as she got. I pissed her off, shoving her away the moment I’d felt my heart begin to flutter in sync with hers. I’d wanted to curl her sleek, tight body against mine and cradle her, holding her close as the sweat dried, and our bodies cooled. Even worse than that, I’d craved her the moment after I’d left her body. I’d pushed her away, needing to hurt her because it had hurt me. That need to comfort, the need to pull the little bitch against me, and take her again was a betrayal to my dead mate.
I’d never felt that way with my mate, and that had ripped open wounds. Aria had torn them wide open and poked at them without even trying. I’d wanted her to hate me so she stayed away, but the moment I couldn’t reach her when she’d locked herself in that house, I’d wanted in. I’d sat with the Hecate matriarch trying to flirt my way in, but Aria wasn’t available. I could smell her within the house, knew my scent was the only one on her, and yet I couldn’t see her and that pissed me off. She vanished into her room and was unreachable. Un-fucking-acceptable.
I’d wanted her to hate me because hate was easier to deal with. Fucking was an emotionless act, one that I did well and often. I hadn’t fucked Aria. I’d gone slowly, teaching her what it meant to be with me as she rode my cock until my balls had ached, and then she’d taken control, shocking the hell out of me.