Chapter 8

 

 

I’d fallen asleep surrounded by protective growls and hisses, violent bodies pressed in on either side of me and Dean’s arm thrown over Slasher’s body so he could touch me, too. It was kinda cute to wake up halfway through the night and see my Sexy Sir and my crazy vampire cuddled close together. Shame my phone was plugged in across the room, or I’d have snapped a memento to look at every time I got sad.

Or for mornings when I woke up gasping for breath, my temperature freezing and my heart beating impossibly fast in response to a dream. For example, right now.

Well, nightmare was a better word for it. I never forgot the shattering of Edison’s bones, never stopped hearing his shout as he fell, and now it was bleeding into my subconscious as I slept.

“Shh, little scorpion,” Hugh murmured in a deep rumble, his massive hand rubbing up and down my back. We were the only ones still in bed at this time—he refused to leave me even when Slasher went off to … slash people, I presumed. And feed. I’d tried to get him to feed from me, but I couldn’t afford to be weak with someone trying to kill me, and he stubbornly refused to—and I quote— drink my sour blueberry slurpee like she’s a cheap Capri Sun . [36]

“Shh,” Hugh soothed again, bundling me up in his vast heat as he wrapped his arms and legs all around me, fitting me to his barrel chest. Rightness made my bottom lip wobble, and I clung to him like koala to a bamboo tree [37] as my soul exhaled a long breath of relief. “What happened in your sleep, mate?”

I huffed against his shoulder, burrowing deeper into his strangely contrasting squishiness and hardness. “I dreamt of the last trial, when Edison fell,” I admitted softly.

When I’d thought his neck had snapped.

I flinched at the memory, and I knew Hugh felt it because he rumbled a low sound almost like a purr, stroking his big hand over my head and down my hair. My breath hitched.

“He’s okay,” he reminded me.

I knew that, they all told me that, but until I set eyes on him, I wouldn’t fully believe it. Unfortunately, setting eyes on him meant talking to him, and confronting everything he said that night.

And I was avoiding that like the plague. [38]

I was literally more scared to talk about my feelings, and how badly he’d hurt me, than I was scared of the whole country’s offering of assassins lining up to murder me.

“Tell me you slept better than me, big guy,” I murmured, stroking my hand up Hugh’s chest and peering up at my gentle giant stalker mate. He might have looked scary hot with his intense dark eyes and the way his brows slashed low over them, not to mention his intimidating quiet and the burn scars rippling down his face, neck, and chest that made him look even more of a badass. But Hugh Petrov was a giant marshmallow. My giant marshmallow.

“Like a baby,” he assured me, stroking my hair down my back. “Why do you growl, mate?”

I blinked, and realised I was growling, my chest vibrating with a deep, near-silent rumble. Naturally, his sensitive wolf ears picked up on it. I gave him a rueful smile. “I might be feeling a teensy bit possessive of you.”

His eyes went big and soft, and he hauled me higher up his body, one big hand cupping my ass as he stole a kiss from my lips. [39]

When the kiss turned heated as hell, my breath caught on a giggle as Hugh spun me under him. But then the laugh fell from my lips as his weight settled into all the best places on top of me, chest to chest, hip to hip, annoyingly boxer-clad dick to frustratingly pyjama-clad pussy. [40]

I wasted no time at all sinking my fingers into his long black hair, and gripping tight to bring him harder against me. My gentle giant let out a shuddery groan as he sucked on my tongue, reducing me to throbbing need. His hands slid under me to squeeze my backside, lifting my hips so when he rolled his, my eyes slammed shut and pleasure shot through my clit to every other part of me.

Hugh was definitely not shy, even with us only knowing each other a few days. But then again, he’d rubbed me over my jeans until I came in the middle of a forest so … I probably should have seen those signs earlier.

“You’re not just doing this to distract me from my nightmare, are you?” I asked, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip as his mouth moved down my neck, past Slasher’s claiming mark to my collarbone. His tongue darted out to taste my skin, the vest I slept in pushed down so he could kiss lower.

“Maybe,” he replied, his tongue swirling down my chest. “I don’t like you upset,” he went on, his voice low and sexy, sharpened by his accent. Russian, I’d found out—my alpha stalker was Russian-Slovenian, and spoke three languages. He was a genius like that. “But I love making you come.”

Oh holy fuck. I shuddered, digging my fingers into his shoulder blades as his lips closed around my nipple, his hot mouth suctioning and sending sparks exploding all through me.

But… “I want you to touch me—because you want me,” I said, strained as he grazed my nipple with his teeth. Sharp wolfy teeth. When the hell had he partially shifted?

I went still at the feeling of claws against my backside, and wetness flooded my pussy.

At least until Hugh drew back, sitting between my legs and letting go of me.

I tried really hard to keep the sulky look off my face—and the terror that he’d pulled away because he didn’t actually want me. Edison’s rejection still cut deep, and the scars flared up whenever my mates showed any sign of hesitation.

“Little scorpion,” Hugh laughed, his forehead wrinkled with deep confusion. Hope rose at the use of his pet name for me, even if dread curdled in my belly. “I want you so much it hurts.”

“Oh,” I exhaled in a rush, a weight falling from my shoulders. “Thank kittens. But—you’re sure? You want me?”

I winced as his eyes darkened to near black, canines flashing as he glared. “I’ll kill witch if it makes you happy,” he swore, and I trembled as he bowed over me to lay a kiss over my fast-beating heart. As if he could hear it, as if he always listened for it. “It will make me happy. I want to hurt him for what he do to you.”

“Did to me,” I corrected, and then all my insides twisted up in dread and anticipation as I peered up at him, Hugh leaning over me all foreboding and dangerous. “You asked me to correct you if you ever—”

He cut me off with a kiss far deeper and fiercer than any of our earlier kisses, and I exhaled all my worries into his mouth. Gripping fistfuls of his hair, I arched up against him, lips and tongue and teeth colliding. I locked my legs around his waist, trapping him against my needy body and gasping at the erection that stabbed my hip.

“Um,” I rasped, short on breath as I broke our frantic kiss—but I refused to let go of him because he was my big guy and I was keeping him forever and ever. “Are you somehow keeping a baseball bat in your pants?”

Hugh laughed, a sudden roar that made my chest all light and bubbly. His eyes crinkled, his head thrown back, and the sound made me mushy and heartbroken at the same time. I’d thought all his previous laughs had been real ones, but hearing this one, I realised how restrained they were. Now, he let go and laughed his head off, and I fucking loved it.

“You’re flatter me,” he accused, light dancing in his eyes as he stared down at me, a massive grin on his scarred face.

Who was this carefree, smiling giant? I wanted to know him, to see him more. Wanted to know what had made him dark and haunted, too, so I could hunt it down and carve it to pieces.

“Flattering,” I replied, “and yep. Completely flattering you. But please tell me your dick really is that big, and I haven’t got my hopes up like a silly idiot.”

Hugh raised a dark eyebrow, something incredibly cocky in his expression that I felt super proud to have put there. “Do you want proof?”

“Proof is my new favourite thing,” I breathed, sitting up in a rush and staring at his pants like it was the best magic show I’d ever seen in my life. Or rather was about to see. “I love proof, maybe even more than doughnuts, but don’t tell them I told you that.”

He laughed again, another unrestrained sound that gave me a serious case of butterflies, especially when he caressed my jaw with his thumb. The touch disarmed me until I wasn’t a badass assassin, but just a girl who really, really, really liked a guy who happened to be her mate. A girl who really wanted to see his cock. [41]

“This is for you, little scorpion,” he said with a grin, and pulled a python out of his pants. Or a sea monster. A Chinese dragon. That leviathan thing from the Bible.

“Okay, I definitely picked the right nickname for you, big guy,” I said, staring at his cock. I’d honestly thought dicks this big were a myth. “Were you a pornstar in a former life? Because that’s the only place I’ve ever seen anything this massive.”

Damn, my Hugh was in proportion all over. How the hell was I supposed to fit that thing inside me?

“Now you make me blush,” he teased, pumping his magnificent cock in his fist and making me hot and cold all over. It wasn’t enough that it was huge, it had to be all pretty with veins that made my mouth water.

“And the prettiest dick award goes to…”

“Rebel,” he groaned, finally reaching his limit. “You’re…”

I grinned, stretching up on my knees to kiss his jaw, giving his rippling scars a little love.

“Ridiculous?” I supplied, darting out my tongue to taste his skin. He made a choked sound and squeezed the base of his cock as it throbbed. “Absurd? Bizarre? The funniest girl you’ve ever met?”

“All of them,” he agreed, his stomach hollowing as he took a sudden breath. Probably because I closed my hand around the head of his cock and squeezed. [42]

“Mmm,” I replied, sucking a spot on his jaw because I wanted to and who was going to stop me? Certainly not my gentle giant as his eyes slammed shut and he grabbed my waist, holding hard enough to bruise.

“Move your hand so I can play more,” I said, and he let go of his cock so fast I laughed.

“You’re still not scared of me,” he observed, a choked quality to his voice as he did his level best to keep his eyes open. But they squeezed shut again when I pumped my hand up and down his giant sea snake, twisting halfway to draw a strangled grunt from his chest.

That was fun; I did it again, and his hands tightened on my waist. I was definitely getting bruises, and I grinned, loving the idea of him marking me.

“Not scared at all,” I confirmed. “I love everything about you, even the scary bits. And don’t be scared to hurt me,” I added, remembering his confession beside the ravine—he was at Blake Hall because he hurt someone without meaning to. “I’m a lot stronger than I look. Don’t hold back, big guy.”

Hugh shuddered hard, his hips thrusting up into my hand. His balls looked so lonely, so I worked his cock with one hand and cupped them with another, squeezing experimentally.

“Fuck!” Hugh roared, and hauled me against his body, my bare chest smushed to his as his cock exploded with a crazy amount of cum. Honestly, I could have made a My Little Pony painting with how much cum came from his cock. [43]

He caught my hand as I moved it over him a few more times, a grunt deep in his throat followed by a rough blur of Russian that ended in my name.

“What did you just say?” I asked, eager to know.

He dragged his other hand through his hair, making it all rumpled and sexy. “You’ll kill me if you … keep going. There’s a word, but I forget it.”

“Continue?” I guessed, peering up at his adorable furrow of concentration. His eyes were still heavy lidded and glazed over, and I felt very happy with myself.

Those sleepy eyes sparked with life and fierce excitement at my reply, and he hauled me into a devouring kiss that made my head spin.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I breathed, cuddling into his bare chest and smiling when his arms wrapped around me, enclosing me in heat and muscle, not even caring that his cum got on me. It was suuuuuch a hard job having four mates. So difficult. Such a chore. “It worked, by the way. I’m not as freaked out by my nightmare.”

“I don’t even touch you yet,” he laughed, kissing the top of my head and letting me snuggle up.

“Where did these come from?” I asked, getting distracted by the scars that rippled all down his arm and chest to his upper thigh.

Hugh tensed, and I cursed myself for asking. But he just hugged me tighter to him, one of his hands fitting to the back of my head as he dipped his face, nestling my hair like it comforted him. “My people … gave me to the great fire.”

My hands stilled on his scars. “Your people, not your pack?”

Wolves grew up in packs, I knew that much. Some went solo when they were fully matured, like Dean, but pups always had a pack around them.

Hugh shook his dark head, holding me fiercely. “I was too big for a pack, too … too bad. They send me to the wastes when I was five.”

When he was five. Five . Murdery rage bubbled up in my stomach, but I held it back for his sake, cuddling him tighter.

“And the wastes … that was where these people gave you to the fire?”

I started to shake, all my terror at losing Edison rising again in fear of losing Hugh, even though this happened long before I met him, and he’d survived. Mate instincts didn’t need logic, clearly.

He nodded, not letting me pull back to see his face. “I’m gift for the fire god. Because I’m too big and they’re scared of me,” he explained, measuring each word. “I was too soft to fight back,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to hurt them.”

Note to self: kill anyone who tried to hurt my gentle giant because he wouldn’t defend himself. I squeezed him tighter, trailing my fingers through his long hair, wishing I could take his pain into me. “So you were bigger than them and they decided to throw you into a fire?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll kill every single one of them,” I growled, so loud and deep that Hugh startled. And then he did that soft, rumbling purr thing, melting my body even if the rest of me was alert and razor-honed, planning a bloodbath.

“I don’t care about them now,” Hugh sighed, shifting his weight suddenly until I was flat on my back with him hovering over me. It was a relief to see his face again, even if there was so much pain etched into his harsh features. It was the surprise that really did me in, as if he wasn’t used to people being protective of him.

“You have friends, right?” I asked, badly needing to know. “You have people who watch your back and look out for you? Who care about you?

“Right?” I repeated when he stayed silent, a shadow chasing through his eyes to join the deeper, traumatic pain.

“They’re afraid of me,” Hugh said finally, lowering his forehead to mine. “They’re not brave like you.”

I snorted. “I’m not brave; you’re a big, cuddly marshmallow with a heart of goo.”

Hugh’s lips brushed my cheek, but I felt his tension in the way he held himself over me. “Goo is bad?”

“Nope, goo is good,” I disagreed, reaching up to hold his face so I could kiss him long and passionately, practically willing him to feel all the softness and affection in my soul. “My heart goes all goey for you, too.”

He blinked rapidly, his throat bobbing, and I was shocked to realise I’d made my big, scary stalker emotional.

“You have friends now,” I informed him, a shard of glass working its way into my heart like a splinter. “You’ve got me, and Dean, and Slasher, and probably Edison when I put on my big assassin pants and go talk to him. But don’t get your hopes up there, he’s practically feral. I’ll try to housetrain him if he behaves himself and doesn’t bite me again, but it’s hard to say.”

Hugh’s chest shook with silent laughter, a dark glimmer in his eyes now that suited him far more than torturous pain.

“I’ll hurt him if you want,” he offered, sounding way too eager. I filed that information away—he was a big softie until someone hurt the people he cared about, and then his darkness shone through. [44]

“Very tempting offer,” I murmured, curling a lock of shaggy dark hair around my finger. “But I’ll have to pass. He’s my mate, and I might be a complete moron, but I’m kind of attached to him.”

He nodded as if that made sense. “You do it yourself if you want to hurt him.”

“Exactly,” I agreed, beaming up at him. “You know me so well already.”

A blinding grin crossed Hugh’s scarred face, and my stomach fluttered as he bent to kiss me again, taking his time exploring my mouth until I was dazed and smug.

“Almost,” he said when he’d kissed away my last brain cell.

“Hmm?”

“I almost know you well,” he explained, brushing the tip of his nose along mine. Oh my kittens, was he giving me a nose kiss? That was the cutest thing EVER! I tried not to squeal and pinch his adorable cheeks. “You know my dark story now. But I don’t know yours.”

My stomach twisted into a painful pretzel, all my happiness evaporating. But he was right. So I forced an ironic smile and calmed myself by stroking his hair.

“I was perfectly sane until one night five years ago. I had a sister, Anarchy, who’s the best fucking person I’ve ever known. Seriously, no one else compares.”

“You loved her,” Hugh noted, his brow pinched and eyes sad like he was waiting for the tragic bits.

“I love her,” I corrected, the texture of his hair on my fingertips distracting me enough to go on. “I never stopped, and I never will. The pain hasn’t gone anywhere, so why should my love? Anyway, there was this night where she tried to break up with her asshole boyfriend and he didn’t take so well to that.”

Hugh surprised me by going deadly still above me, not even a growl in his throat. His silence was somehow more lethal than any rumble.

“She told me to hide under the bed,” I breathed, even my faint voice cracking.

Hugh’s arms slid underneath me, pressing me close to his chest so I could bury my face in his shoulder as I explained the rest:

Ana’s frantic voice trying to calm him, Kyle having fucking none of it, then her pleas, her silence, the rattle of his buckle, and the door slamming behind him when he left.

I told him about the paralysis eventually wearing off so I could crawl out from under the bed, seconds away from phoning an ambulance. But then I caught sight of the bloodied, naked mess he made of Ana, and everything shattered. My heart, my soul, my mind, and my sanity.

“Oh, little scorpion,” he breathed, scattering kisses across my cheeks as I cried and clung to him, my breathing wrecked and chest tight with pain. Hugh tucked my head to his chest and nuzzled my hair. “Now tell me something good. A memory you like.”

I blinked, not expecting that at all. But one rose easily. “One time, after watching The Princess Diaries, Ana and I dragged a mattress off my bed to one of the staircases in Falcon Manor. We rode that damn thing like a surfboard, over and over, until one of the security guards told us to pack it in or he was getting Aunt Denise. I ended up bruised all over, and Ana had a lump on her head where she smacked into the wall, but it was one of the best days we ever had,” I finished, raw and—lighter.

“Are you magic?” I asked with a raspy laugh. “How did that help?”

“Every time it hurts, remember something good,” he replied, not actually answering my question.

“How did you get so wise?” I laughed, crying at the same time. “My wise gentle giant marshmallow stalker. No, that’s far too long a pet name, it’s ridiculous.”

“Yes, that’s ridiculous,” he replied wryly, his hand flexing against my back. “Of all things you do, this is what you find strange.”

I pulled back to squint at him. “I’m sensing some snark from you right now, Hugh Petrov.” I grinned before he could look any more bashful and nervous. “I love it! More, please.”

His laugh was loud and startled, and I sighed dreamily at the sound.

At least until a second sigh—of irritation and dread—punched from my lungs. Because my heart was still tight and I was still nervy and traumatised. Not by Ana’s murder, [45] but by Edison’s fall.

And I knew what I had to do.

“Now, I know this is going to break your heart,” I said, giving Hugh a very serious look that made his lips twitch in amusement. Aw, he really did know me well. “But I’m going to have to cut our lazy morning short.”

“It’s afternoon,” he pointed out, more of that sass coming through.

“I know you had your heart set on eating my addictive, candy-flavoured pussy—”

“This isn’t ridiculous?” he huffed, his chest shaking with laughter and his deep eyes crinkled.

“But I need to go find Edison and let my bond know he’s safe. I’ll be back later.”

I kissed his square jaw, and then when that wasn’t nearly enough, I devoured his mouth with a demanding, dominating kiss that had him gasping. [46]

“Keep me and my sweet pussy in your thoughts.”

Hugh rolled off me and placed his hand on his heart in a solemn vow. “I will.”

I laughed, grinning wide as I kissed him one last time, quick and chaste this time, before I rolled out of bed and hunted down clothes. A shower could wait; the mate bond would probably kill me if it waited any longer. I reaaaally should have tracked Edison down before I went murdering with Dean last night, but cowardice had won out.

“You’re a little ridiculous, too,” I teased, stripping my pyjamas off and watching his eyes turn pure onyx as they poured down my body.

I took my sweet time pulling my jeans on, letting my boobs fly free to taunt Hugh as I wriggled my butt into black denim. I loved these jeans; they had rips on the thighs and spiky studs all the way down the outside seams of each leg.

“Rebel,” Hugh choked out.

“What?” I asked innocently. “Ohhhh, is it these?” I cupped my boobs, giving them a good jiggle and watching him pant. “Well, now you’ll think of these while I’m gone, too.” I winked and pulled on a lacy black bra and a pink vest with little daggers all over it.

“I’m hard again,” Hugh said like an accusation.

“Really?” I sauntered over to the bed and took firm hold of his cock, giving it a long, deep pump. “So you are, big guy.” I bent to give his enormous sea snake a goodbye kiss, and whispered, “You think of me, too.”

“Oh, it will,” Hugh laughed, strained—and lurched forward in outrage as I let go and sauntered out, grabbing my pink leather jacket off the hook before I shut the door behind myself.

My poor stalker baby.

I was a tad mean.

Just a tad.

But if this conversation with Edison went the way I expected, I’d need a very worked up and frustrated mate to fuck me into oblivion later.