Raine rattled off coordinates to Darwin, who lead-footed it through Omega under his direction. She took hairpin turns with the same precision she handled the Predator, cool under pressure.
“We can’t go back to Karesh.” I stuck my face between the two of them in the front seat. “It’s not any safer for Leon there than it was at the Amphitheater if someone’s already been picking off the infected.”
“I’ve got a place in mind.” Raine peered out his window, his weapon cocked and ready.
I sat back, rearranging Leon on my lap. Scoping out the back window, I noted a Cruiser tailing us, gaining on us. The crack of a rifle sounded before stone dust blew across the windshield, a bullet having narrowly missed our car.
Darwin cursed and swerved to the left, trying to shake the unwanted armed escort. Linc and I rolled down our windows and swiveled behind to take aim from either side of the vehicle. His Heck made sweet music with one of my Smith & Wesson 500s. With the accuracy of soldiers trained to dole out death, we took out the tires first. The best part was the fireworks when the engine block went up in flames and the vehicle crashed into the wall.
Darwin sped away from the explosion, and we calmly holstered our weapons.
Between me and Linc, seated on Cannon’s thighs, Nathaniel wryly commented, “I’m beginnin’ to get the feelin’ people don’t much like us around here.”
Leon made the first noise he had since we got in the car, a small chuckle.
“Maybe it’s a sign you should keep all your southern charm for me,” Cannon said, tightening his arms around his husband.
“I don’t think that’s ever been a problem, big man.”
Liz coughed, “Ass kisser.”
Nathaniel grinned, dimples digging into his cheeks. “Yep. In every single sense of the phrase, Lizbeth.”
I smoothed Leon’s hair back, hiding my smile at Liz’s crimson face with a kiss to his temple. The eight of us squished inside the stolen vehicle made for cozy quarters. I didn’t mind Leon sitting on my lap where he couldn’t get away, but I for one wasn’t ready to snuggle up to Cannon’s backside.
We didn’t encounter any more threats in the form of Corps troopers or assassins or whoever else had it in for us. Leon’s shaking body slowly stilled, his breaths evening out before sleep overtook him. In a couple hours, we passed through Omega and out the other side, across yet more barren desert, where nothing and no one resided. Darwin gunned it over high dunes that shined silver in the moonlight. On the other side of the sandy hills was a fantastical sight. The wide tires of the vehicle slipped and spun, but Darwin eased it down to an endless beach. She rolled to a stop just out of the crashing tide’s reach.
In his sleep, Leon’s arms had slid around me, his head resting under my chin. I woke him gently. “We’re here.”
His nose twitched and he rubbed a hand across his mouth before his eyelids fluttered open. His gaze was so sweet and dazed; I tried to forget the worry that hounded us, that time was running out.
“Where, here?” he asked.
“Haven’t got a goddamn clue. Take a look.” I nodded out the window.
His slumberous eyes widened as he took in the scene. We were all stunned to silence as we piled out of the vehicle, assaulted by the warm, salty air. I pulled Leon along with me, sniggering when he stumbled in the untouched white sand, his mouth agape. Not too far out in the surf, an island castle rose from a surrounding sandbar—stone blocks, turrets, and all. A slim causeway from shore to door was the only route to and fro.
“This is…” Nathaniel rubbed both hands across the shaved sides of his long hair.
“Wild,” Leon breathed.
“Fucking weird.” Cannon’s brow furrowed as he canvassed the area for imminent tangos or more sand dunes.
Liz started walking toward the nature-made jetty. “I think it’s romantic.”
Cannon did an about-face. “Did you hit your head or something?”
A smile tugged at my lips as I led Leon forward. An air of reluctance hung over him, but I wasn’t gonna let him get away with hanging back. It was clear his earlier anxiety had been replaced by a sense of wonder at this otherworldly place.
Waves lapped the sides of the rocky pier as we filed across. The castle was even more imposing up close, reaching high like the Beta Territory skyscrapers—except instead of glass and steel, this structure was built of rough-hewn stone and was utterly out of place in the blistering landscape.
“It’s not a mirage, I promise you,” Raine said, pushing open the massive timber doors. The rusty hinges let out a loud creak.
The ceilings were high, the rooms cavernous. A combination of dust and sand tickled my nose as we made a pass-through from the bottom level to the top three stories. During the recon, nothing could be heard but quiet calls of “clear” echoing through the vast vault-like castle. We reconvened in the main room on the bottom floor.
“How the hell did this place come to be?” I asked Raine as he sat cross-legged on one of the cushions tossed across the floor.
“An environmental anomaly caused by the Purge. It seems this castle drifted across the oceans to settle here. Amazing that it survived the trials of earth-wide destruction, just like our ancestors.” He rolled a cigarette and lit it, his auburn hair glowing in the light. “Good thing for us, too. We’re always safe at sea.”
Leon lingered on the far side of the room, refusing to look at me.
“We should get some shut-eye,” I said.
Linc stood at attention, no doubt thinking what I was thinking. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Leon, possibly to throttle him. Linc probably wanted some alone time with his new wife, too.
“Just as long as we’re as far away from the Fuck Bunnies as possible,” Linc said.
Liz’s eyes danced. Cannon flushed to his hairline. Nathaniel took his brother in a tackle that landed them in a mass of limbs on the floor. He rolled off Linc, puffing his hair from his eyes.
“Someone has to stand guard while the others rest,” I said before anyone could retreat.
Nathaniel pointed at Cannon. “We got it covered.”
Cannon helped Nathaniel to his feet, grumbling about being volunteered as he none too gently brushed off his backside.
“C’mon, big man. We can have that second honeymoon later.”
Everyone else claimed rooms while Leon tried to skedaddle past me on the first landing. I hooked him around the waist. “Not so fast. You’re with me.”
He started cursing up a storm.
“Swear all you want, and don’t think I don’t know what you’re saying. You’re not leaving my side.” I barely concealed my fury about his asinine antics from earlier.
I marched him upstairs. I’d done my surveillance well, scoping out a room that not only had a lock but also an adjoining bathroom and—one odd miracle after another—warm running water. I assumed it was collected rainwater, heated by the sun somewhere in this whimsy of a castle. Inside the bedroom, I turned the lock behind me. Leon wrapped his arms around his body, looking down at the floor as he shuffled his feet.
“What’s wrong?”
Dropping his arms, he thrust his chin forward in challenge. “You’re pissed at me.”
More than pissed, I was troubled. He’d asked to be killed, for fuck’s sake. I forced myself to relax. The hot button I wanted to push tonight wasn’t his temper. I stripped off my shirt and tossed it on the bed. Just because I wanted to goad a reaction other than fear or despair out of him, I lifted my arms for an allover stretch, my back to him. Every muscle in my body flexed. I listened to Leon’s guttural response.
I closed the distance to him and brushed my hands down his arms to join my fingers with his. His gaze roved over my face—awed, worried, maybe wondering if I was gonna beat his ass for his brash Go ahead and kill me move. But I had better things to do with that incredible ass of his, and I couldn’t wait to show him. Once I rid him of that hideous fucking hair dye.
Then I was going to teach him a lesson about when to beg and why: only for me, to make him come.
The bathroom was little more than a small flagstone rectangle holding a commode, a sink, and a shower stall. I tugged Leon in after me, our chests brushing in the enclosed space. I divested him of his clothes. I loosened my trousers and let them drop to the floor, standing in full erect glory before him. The darkness of my body against the tan of his never ceased to make my heart pound, longing and lust uncoiling within me.
That damn tat on his groin, beside the sweet staff of his stiff cock, taunted me. My fingertips trailed over it. His skin dimpled and he braced a hand on my shoulder. I turned on the water and walked into the cubicle, beneath the spray. When I looked back, Leon’s gaze wandered over my body, stopping at my ass. I flexed the globes and groaned when he clasped me in a firm grip.
I dislodged his hands. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
We warriors always traveled with a light pack—ammo, socks, dried food. Tonight I made use of the sliver of soap I’d brought. Later I had plans for the lube. I stood Leon under the spray, washing his hair of the ugly black dye. I cleaned his entire body, stopping only to soap mine. When our chests met, they were slick with hot, sudsy water.
The more I revealed of him, the more I was overwhelmed by fear for his survival. My hands slowed, reaching down to his ass so I could pull him against me.
“I am mad at you.” I skimmed my hands up his back and cupped his face between my rough palms.
“It’s bad enough to die, but ’cause of what I’ve done, because Cutler’s out to get us, other people are gon’ get infected.” His large eyes blinked up at me. “I don’ want anyone else to die because of me.”
I returned my hands to his rear. I grasped him harder and he gasped loudly. “And what about me?”
He tried to back away. “You don’t want me!”
Pushing him against the slick wall, I punched beside his head with both fists. “Does this look like I don’t want you?” Our cocks strained together, mine butting against his. I wrapped my arms around him, whispering against his ear, “Does this feel like I don’t need you? More than I’ve ever needed anyone?”
He shook his head, a moan on his lips that I swooped down and swallowed on my tongue.
“Don’t you ever fucking ask for a bullet again.” I shuddered against Leon
I lifted my head, not caring if the water failed to hide my tears. Our kiss was a languid mesh of salty tongues, our touches so terribly tender it felt like my heart was beating in my hands, his for the taking.
“Cher.” His tongue traced the cords of my neck to my ear. He had no idea what that forgotten endearment meant to me. Another slip of tears welled in my eyes. “I don’t know what I mean to you no more.”
“Then let me show you.”
There were no towels when we stepped out of the shower. I licked the droplets from his body with the flat of my tongue, holding him still when he quivered and groaned. In the bedroom, I shook out the blankets to get rid of the dust and quickly remade the bed. I laid Leon in the middle of it.
I lit a candle and placed a tube of lube and a condom from my ever-ready pack beside him, making sure he knew my intentions. He spread his legs to invite me on top of him. The sunny warmth of his body was the antidote to all the darkness in me, all the despair that had sucked me into a black hole for so long I’d forgotten about loving and touching and living.
With death and disaster so close, I needed to show Leon I was worth living for. That he was worth all my care, all my attention, and he could have what he wanted, if he still wanted me.
Leon looked like a tiger as I moved over him. His hands cruised into my short hair, scraping my skull. I lowered myself on top of him, crying out when his hard cock aligned with mine. We were both slick and ready, hard and wanting, but I wanted more. I wanted all of him. I wanted inside of him.
I kissed him for a long time, fucking my tongue into his mouth where he licked it like he had my cock the other night. Our wet lips audibly parted. “I’m gonna love you so good, Leon.”
He moaned, tossing his damp hair about.
This time I didn’t go for his beautiful shaft. I was after his glorious ass. I flipped him over and laid him spread-eagle. Leon immediately lifted up, presenting himself.
I spread his cheeks wide and slapped the perfect rounds of flesh. “No one’s ever gonna have this sweet ass again but me. Got it, baby?” I shoved aside the constant worry he might’ve been raped at Taft’s hands. I’d stop everything if Leon showed the slightest discomfort about what I was doing.
“Yes!” Leon’s voice was muffled in the mattress.
Goddamn if his ass wasn’t the hottest thing I’d ever seen. My tongue skipped down the length of his spine while I dangled one finger over his little hole. I kissed the top of his cleft. I tongued the tight crease, roaming to nip and slap and massage his peach-like ass on every pass closer to his pucker. His cheeks were so muscular I needed both hands to spread them fully apart so I could get my face right in there where I wanted it.
His ring expanded when I breathed on it. His groan reverberated when I moved back up to tease the dimples above his ass. I took a side trip to his balls, sucking the pink orbs into my mouth and running figure eights around them. When he humped back against my face, I lashed my tongue from his perineum to the pretty pistil-like opening and speared deep inside.
“Ohhh!” Bracing even wider on his knees, Leon wiggled his butt in front of me.
“Nice. So beautiful.” I spanked both sides with soft slaps, leaving a pink mark on his flesh.
Diving into his taut divide, I ate his ass, loudly slurping. I loved his taste, his wanton reactions, his wild writhing. I licked, bit, lightly chewed his crinkled tissue until it swelled and expanded. I bet his cock was leaking precome like mine, but I wasn’t going to touch either of us, not yet. My finger ringed his moist entrance, and Leon begged for more.
“Relax, baby,” I shushed, my soft words at odds with the loud spank I unleashed against his flank.
“Uh, uh!”
“I’m gonna be here a long time.”
He reached a hand back to drag my face closer. “Oh yeah! Get in dere, beb.”
I ate the holy hell out of his ass, stopping only to catch my breath, wipe my mouth, and start again. His loud vocals spurred me on from gentle teasing to full-fledged feasting on his divine cherry. “You’ve got no idea how long I’ve waited to be in here.”
My jaw pressed against his scrotum. I tongued inside, curling and flicking. My fingers opened him, too, until I was kissing, biting, eating. “So fucking tight. How long’s it been?”
Leon’s long, guttural groan finally formed breathless words. “A long time. Since before I had a hankerin’ for Cannon, far as I can remember.”
A pure shot of jealousy possessed me. I growled and nailed his prostate with a finger. “You still hot for him?”
“Non! Oh fuck, Darke…fuck me…”
“Not yet.” I maneuvered beneath him and went for his cock. Levering his length toward my mouth, I said, “And I said I don’t fuck. I make love.” I took him straight down my throat, caressing him with my tongue.
Leon’s shouts echoed off the stone walls. His firm thickness filled my mouth as his thighs quivered on either side of my head. I grunted around him, tempted to stroke myself, but one touch and my dick would shoot off. Pressing on his clenched abs, I pushed him from my mouth. He gasped and trembled. His back arched in the most beautiful form I’d ever seen. He glowed with a light sheen of perspiration and was flushed with lust.
I craved him like nothing else.
I rolled Leon to his back. His sumptuous lips were too much to resist. I kissed his mouth, his neck, his jaw, where a light sprinkling of stubble rasped my lips. As I reared up between his legs, the tendons on my thighs were tight and my cock was a darker shade than the rest of my skin, the flesh stretched taut and shiny. It reached beyond my belly, its girth wider than ever before.
“Holy hell. That’s goin’ in me?” His voice cracked. With his hands cupping my shoulders, he bent up to capture one of my nipples between his moist, pink lips. His movement brought the head of my cock into contact with his pucker.
My eyes slammed shut, and I held his head against me. “I can come all over you instead.”
He pulled back and grabbed the lube. “Like hell you will.”
Leon held himself up and open, his cock pulsing against his stomach, a pool of clear release sticking to his skin. His bud mesmerized me. He poured lube over my fingers and into my palm, his eyes never leaving the big black staff throbbing from between my thighs. I slowly glided my fingers up and down my shaft, tempting him. His fingers came forward to teasingly polish the broad cap of my cock, gathering the slick from my fingertips to use on his own. I breathed fast and shallow, on the verge of coming from that light touch alone. I let him work on my dick while I joined three wet fingers to slowly plunge them inside of him.
With a moan, he looked down his body. My first knuckles breached him. His pelvis tilted farther up, aiding my ingress.
“Look at that, boy.” My balls churned, and I needed to take my place inside him.
When I said boy, Leon’s gaze flipped to mine. He liked it at times like this because he knew he was mine and I’d take care of him in all ways. His arousal saturated my mind, pulled my features tight, and made my muscles strain.
All three of my fingers deep inside him, I wiggled and pumped slowly. His hips swiveled, always chasing my retreating fingers. The cover was in disarray because of his writhing. When I started banging harder and faster, spreading out my fingers, Leon went wild. He shouted and scratched and bit at my neck and arms.
“You ready for my cock?” I asked, rolling the condom down my throbbing shaft.
“Oui. Yes, yes!”
“Leon, love.”
His dazed, hungry eyes found mine.
“I need to know you want this.” The head of my cock was primed at his tender opening. My arms shook. My abdomen tightened. “I need to know you want me.”
“Feels like I’ve always wanted you, cher.” His hands smoothed my cheeks, then joined at the back of my neck.
It was excruciating to go so slowly with him, but I wouldn’t force him. I wouldn’t rush him. Little by little, I entered Leon. He stretched around the crown of my cock until he accepted me inside that first ring of muscle. I gripped the base of my shaft, so close to exploding I had to lock down on all my muscles and shut my eyes from the sight of him taking me in.
I curled forward around him, breathing in his heady scent. His palms smoothed down my back, and I felt him moving his hips, loosening slightly, wanting me.
Inhaling deeply, I looped my arms around him. “Just a little more, angel.”
“Why do you call me dat?”
I turned my head for a kiss. “Because you are mine, my saving grace.”
Leon sucked in a breath and moaned. His passage relented, his legs locked around my waist, hands clasping my shoulders.
I rose up on my arms and grunted, “You’re also a dirty, hot fuck.” I thrust all the way inside him.
The tight intensity was almost too much to bear. Being inside Leon, finally, for the first time, I couldn’t move for fear of coming. I watched him frown, his mouth fallen open. Kissing and licking and nipping all along his throat, I stroked my hands down his sides to his hips, around to his pert round ass.
He relaxed with a gasp.
I drew out a bit, massaging more oil along my cock.
“Oh…oh…m’dieu…” he stuttered when I slowly pressed deep again.
The heat coming off his skin was no match for the inferno of his channel that wrapped around me so closely, stars burst into my vision. I stilled inside, desperate to hang on to my control. Leon started to groan and beg. I looked down to see my thick black cock stretching his pale pink hole to the max and Leon loving every minute of it.
“Do it. Fuck me. Have me. Make me yours.” His harsh words ran like fingertips up my spine and down to my balls.
I withdrew at a treacherously slow pace and slid back inside with another languid thrust.
He grasped my neck, biting my shoulder hard. “Merde! Fuck me! I need you!”
That was it. I took a giant breath and drew out only to slam inside, knocking the next words from Leon’s gasping lips. “Like that?”
He clung to me, his eyes hazy and gold-ringed with wide circles of dilated black. “Yes. Yes! Lose it. I need you to lose it in me.”
I roared, shedding my tightly strung control. I hadn’t let anyone inside emotionally or physically since Wilde and Tam. Now I nailed Leon so deeply he clawed my back, his cock jerking between our slapping bellies. The savage consummation of six months of flirtation and play, of loss and powerlessness made me snap. I took what Leon had offered in the early-winter months over and over again. I took him hard and fast despite my need to make love to him. I couldn’t contain myself. I wouldn’t lose him.
I pulled out, gasping for air. My chest heaved. Leon’s cheeks were red, his neck covered in love bites. His shaft leaped up. I slapped a broad hand down on his upturned ass and slapped my dick across it. He was so tight, so taut, my cock bounced off him.
“Put me inside,” I bit out.
Sure hands and long fingers guided me to his passage. Once he had me snug against him, he lifted his ass, taking me in.
My breath fell from my lips with a gasp. “That’s right, sexy boy. Fuck my cock.”
He whimpered. His hands pulled me forward until I tunneled deep inside. Then I wrapped one hand around both his wrists. Raising them above his head, I started slamming. “You still wanna forget?”
“No.” He mewled at the sensation of my cock pounding inside of him.
“That’s right. No more running. No more forgetting. No more flirting with anyone else.”
I wrapped a hand around his shaft, using quick squeezes just under the ridge of his head. He came quickly, screaming my name, spurting across both our chests and spurring me on.
I sucked my come-covered fingers into my mouth and then slanted my lips over his. “And no goddamn dying on me.”
The constrictions of his throbbing passage shredded the last of my control. I came with rapid bursts, overflowing the condom until it leaked out in a sexy, sordid mess. My world went white-hot, my hearing filled with the sounds of his deep-voiced moans and my yells.
I fell to my back, bringing Leon across me in a tangle of arms and legs and labored breaths. I filled my hands with his hair, dropping a kiss to his forehead. “You okay?”
“You din’t break me, if dat’s what you’re askin’.”
I kissed the willful smirk off his lips, content when he curled against me. “No one should ever break you, angel.”
His hands drifted up and down my back and sides and I stretched into his caress. My shaft rose again, prodding his thigh. He grasped it in a fist that couldn’t completely close around the girth.
“Merde. So big. I can’t believe you put dis all the way inside me.”
His words and his touches turned me on until my legs tensed and released fitfully. I lowered my mouth to kiss along the tops of his shoulders from one side to the other.
My voice dropped to a deep tone. “That cock you’re stroking wants to be inside you again.”
He abruptly stopped, pulling his hand back as if my shaft burned him. “I think my ass needs to recover first.”
I chuckled into his hair, teasing out the soft lobe of his ear with my tongue.
Leon leaned on to an elbow. “How well did I know you before?”
Laughing with a deep rumble, I skimmed my palms over his rear. “Not this well.”
“We never made love?”
“Leon, you’d remember if we had, if nothing else.”
He grinned. “I can believe dat.” Then his smile disappeared. “What about your past?”
“There was nothing before you.” I lay back and shut my eyes.
“Dat ain’t true. I know dat ain’t true, Darke.”
“Sometimes I wish there was nothing before you.” If I opened myself up to him, I risked more than just loving and losing him. I would feel him, his emotions, even more intensely the tighter we were bound.
“Your maman, your dad…please, beb. Let me in.” He knocked a fist against my chest. I opened my eyes to see his, shadowed and serious.
“What do you want to know?”
“Just about every’ting.”
“That’s sure asking a lot, sweet baby.” I dragged him across me, watching a blush spread across his face. “My mother was a blues singer, famous in her time. It turned out to be her downfall. It got her noticed by the Company, and nothing good ever comes of that.”
Leon snorted. “Don’t I know it.”
“Music and arts were immediately outlawed when the Company came into power. They could’ve imprisoned her or worse, so at first, when they made her perform in their clubs, she counted herself lucky.” I rode my thumb across his pouty bottom lip. “Skin color caused race wars in Old History. Now the new government came along and claimed their way was better, more egalitarian, if you can frigging believe that.” I gave a dry huff of laughter. “They might not have discriminated based on race, but they sure as fuck tyrannize in every other sense, don’t they? All they did was trade one oppression for a host of others.”
“What was her name?”
“Soleil.”
Leon popped up. “But dat’s French!” He frowned. “For sun, and she named you Darke?”
“It was about the nature of things.” Lacing my fingers through his, I watched the play of our skin. “Light and dark. Like you and me.”
“And what was your papa called?”
“Reginald.”
He spluttered a laugh. “Well, I’m glad you aren’t Reggie Junior. Darke suits you.” He kissed my knuckles.
It did, except when I was with Leon, like this.
“What happened in the Company clubs? When did she meet your papa?”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were curious.” I pressed our joined hands to my chest. “Her freedom was stolen from her. She was their caged bird with her brilliant voice, their pet, made to perform. Song kept her alive, and occasionally she was accompanied by my father. He was one of her fellow musicians. A saxophonist, very talented. His emotions were vibrant and colorful, lighting up her gray world the few times they performed together. She felt emotions from others, you see. It was part of what made her music soulful.”
“She what now?”
“She was an empath.” I’d never told Leon about this unusual trait I’d inherited from her. I decided to give him honesty, in one form or another tonight. My voice lowered when I said, “Like me.”
He sprung up like a jack-in-the-box toy. “You what?”
“I can sense the emotions of people I’m closely connected to.”
He sat across from me on the bed. “Okay. Dat’s not creepy at all.”
My cheeks grew hot as he sat there, staring at me. “Go on. Ask it.”
He clapped his hands, more lively than I’d seen him in a long time. And I was just so happy to be there for his entertainment. “Can you feel what I’m feelin’ now?”
“Amused.” I raised an eyebrow.
Closing his eyes, he was quiet for a moment. Then he stared at me with a serious look. “And now?”
I rolled my eyes, indulging him a second time. “Trying to be solemn. Still amused.”
His lips quirked in delight before he frowned hard. “Now?”
Laughing, I pulled him back into my embrace. “You know you can’t change your moods just because you want to, baby. You’re still highly amused.”
“I get the feelin’ I won’t be laughin’ in a few minutes.”
I shook my head. “No. They fell in love, the chanteuse and the saxophonist. With all musical practices illegal outside the government’s sanctions, they had to stay as performing monkeys to remain alive.”
“Did they get married?”
“They couldn’t. It wasn’t allowed. They weren’t even supposed to have sex. This time it wasn’t about race but about simple control of Company commodities. They didn’t want their assets distracted by anything other than providing entertainment to the patrons.”
Leon stiffened in my arms. “They survived through all dat hell and the Company couldn’t let them be together?”
“They didn’t survive enough, though. Not enough.” I tried not to let the story burn me, but it wasn’t just a story. It was my past, how I came to be. “When it was discovered she was pregnant, they tried to escape. My mom knew they’d take the baby from her; they couldn’t let an infant interfere with her performances. With the help of some underground Freelanders, she made it out. My father was shot in the back because at the last minute he wouldn’t run. He had to make sure she had the best chance. That meant serving himself up.”
I cried as I hadn’t before because I’d trained myself to grieve in silence. Being with Leon made my emotions claw at the surface, dragged them from the darkness.
Leon’s fingers tenderly took away the tears. “But your mom’s not at the commune.”
“No. She never fully recovered from my father’s death. She died when I was eleven.” I pressed my mouth to his in a gentle kiss. “They say she died of a broken heart.”
I captured him in a deeper kiss, giving him my desire and need. Like my mom, I thought I’d die when Tam and Wilde did, only to discover my heart beat more proudly than ever with Leon in my arms. But their ghosts still stood between us.
When he drew back, his lips were slick, his eyes hooded. “Eden and Hills raised you?”
“No one raised me, angel.” Before falling in love with Tam and Wilde, I’d become unreachable, pushed into isolation from the boundless feelings pressing in on me from all around. “I’m untamed.” Especially with Leon, when I felt the uncontrollable urge to have him again and again.
He felt the press of my erection rising from my groin. His eyes twinkled. “Somethin’s not tamed, dat’s for sure.”
We kissed and caressed slowly, kindling the fires that would ignite again if I didn’t let him fall asleep. His heavy eyelids finally started to drift down when he broke our lingering kiss.
“Did I know all this before?”
“No, angel.” I pulled him deeper into the blankets.
“Why do you keep callin’ me dat?” he asked for a second time that night.
“Because you give my heart flight.”
* * *
When I woke, it was to the arousing feeling of Leon’s lithe body molded against mine. His hot erection was a brand against my hip. I slipped my hand beneath the blanket and ran my fingertips up and down the pulsing shaft, knowing I’d make good use of his ass again if I didn’t get out of bed soon.
I left him sleeping and quickly washed and dressed. Arrested by the sight of him burrowed under the covers, one arm beneath his head, I walked out the door before temptation made me lose all my gentlemanly restraint.
I wondered if Cannon had slept at all when I found him in the large room downstairs, fully alert. He seemed to thrive off tense situations.
We pooled our meager rations, and I set some aside for Leon.
“How’s Leon?” he asked.
“Better.” I kept my face clean of all emotion.
“Fucked it out of him, did you?”
I stared right through Cannon.
“Hey, you don’t need to talk. I heard it all. Don’t know why we get dubbed the Fuck Bunnies what with the noises you got out of Leon last night.”
“I don’t kiss and tell, no matter what you think you heard.”
“No. You just screw in front of the whole commune.” He looked instantly regretful. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to bring up—”
I waved his apology away. “That won’t be happening with Leon.”
Both his eyebrows lifted. I was saved from any more interrogation when Nathaniel entered the room.
He settled beside Cannon, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Where’s Raine?”
“He left real early to retrieve our shit and get Farrow and Sebastian.” Cannon fed a bite of dried fruit and grain to his partner. “And he for damn sure better stock up on some provisions, because any more of this trail-mix bullshit and my stomach’s gonna gnaw a hole clean through to my spine.”
A sudden sound interrupted us from outside the mammoth door. A possible intruder. We three took careful aim, arranging ourselves around the room to hit the target from all sides.
Raine strolled into the keep. Alone. He kicked the door shut behind him, seemingly unperturbed by having several weapons pointed at him. “Well, folks, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” He shook a small leather bag in his otherwise empty hands.