Chapter Sixteen

Ashe refused to sleep out in the living room, but I gave her no choice. When I pushed her through the bedroom door and closed it in her face, the narrow-eyed look she gave me let me know we’d be picking the argument up in the morning. But at least she padded away instead of plopping down in front of the door.

Callan took off his T-shirt, leaving on the basketball shorts he put on after his shower, while I lost the harem pants. We slipped under the covers and my cheek was pressed against his bare chest, my hand drifting up and down his back.

“This looks like it’s magic-era style,” he said. His fingers were idly tracking the large floral tattoo that curled around my hip.

“It is,” I replied, enjoying the pulse of warmth from his touch. “They’re flowers Kinari grew in the greenhouse our father built for her behind our house. She hadn’t been pleased I’d plucked a few but was consoled when I showed her they’d been used as reference for the tattoo.”

“It’s beautiful,” he said, taking in the colors and details. “And this is Ashe, right?” He moved his hand to thumb the tattoo on my right forearm.

“Yeah, I got it after we bonded.” It was an elegant outline of Ashe done in a minimalist style.

“A warrior’s tat.” He now touched the small tattoo on my inner wrist of a stylized arrow. Around it a vine spiraled, graced with a few small flowers and leaves.

“It’s the crest of the Warrior Guild I joined. Havenrow. It was started by a Shaper and Tamer, which was why I chose it. Reminded me of myself and Kinari. There were about sixteen of us and we got the tattoo together. The one who squirmed the most had to buy everyone else a round at the pub.”

“So how much coin were you out that night?”

I made a face at him. “As if. It definitely hadn’t been me.”

He chuckled and shifted closer to me, putting his arm around me. The embrace of his arms…felt good. I released a soft sigh.

“Want to talk about any of the heavy stuff?” he asked.

“I was hoping I could forget for a while, but I can’t even pretend.”

“Looks like I’m not doing a good job of distracting you, ouch.”

“You are doing fine. How are those bumps and bruises?” I gently touched the largest of his bandages, which was on his upper left arm, covering part of his large, geometric tattoo. There was bruising around the bandages, as well as on the right side of his forehead.

“The pain meds from the hospital were good, but the balm you gave me is working wonders. I’m not exaggerating when I say the pain almost completely disappeared when I rubbed it on.”

I smiled. “It’s a healing balm Kinari taught me during the magic-era. Thankfully, a lot of the plants and herbs needed still exist.”

“So you aren’t just a weird plant lady?” he teased. Even my bedroom was clustered with plants. The large Monstera next to the bed loomed over us enough to throw leafy shadows against our skin.

“There’s a method to my plant obsession,” I said, chuckling. I was glad I’d still had balm left for Callan as well as my own road rash. Modern medicine was great, but I’d always be biased toward magic-era healing.

“I imagine healing balm was a staple in your weapons bag back then.” He brushed the hair off my forehead and traced the scars in my eyebrow. “So are these from this lifetime or the other?”

“Lifetime number one,” I replied. “But there’s no badass warrior story behind those scars. I was about thirteen, wandering the woods near our village, and tried to help a baby Humitsu that had fallen out of its nest. Let’s just say it didn’t appreciate my help.”

He grimaced. “Humitsu are the ones that look like demented crows with skin as hard as stone and claws straight out of a nightmare, right?”

“That’s them.”

His hand was drifting down the side of my body again, under the tank top, and I shivered in all the good ways, which didn’t escape his notice.

“I want to do more,” he said. “But I don’t want this to feel like a last ditch effort to go all out before…before the worst happens.”

“I know what you mean. This would be the part in the movie where we confessed our undying love for each other and had the best sex of our lives. Then one of us dies.”

“That’s pretty much the formula,” he said with a rueful laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, Penn, I want you. But I want all of you, and not just for tonight. More than anything, I want time to explore where this could go.” A spot of warmth blossomed inside me at those words.

“Time,” I said softly. “That’s literally what we are fighting for.”

“Yeah. And we need to win, because I don’t want this to end before it even begins.”

“I feel the same way. I wish I could shake this heavy feeling, this wave of doom I feel is barreling toward me. Last time I had no idea what I’d be in for when I went against my card reading. Now, I know exactly what will happen if that Chronsphere is used, and the idea of enduring that all over again…” I took a shuddering breath. I couldn’t bear the idea of sleeping for another two hundred and ninety-two years.

“It won’t happen,” he said, his grip on me tightening. The look in his eyes was intense, like he was ready to fight the shadows if they should suddenly come alive and try to take me. And with a Necromajin around, that wasn’t such a stretch.

“It’s heavy for all of us,” I said. “Look at what you’ve been through, look at what Toji and Gideon are going through right now. We’ve all been upended in some way and we don’t even have the time to grapple with all of it, try to process it and get our minds in a good place.”

“We’ll take a group vacation right after the Auraxa Reiv passes,” Callan said. “Someplace warm and tropical.”

I cracked a smile. “Optimism, I like it.”

His face softened as he looked at me, as though he was memorizing all the angles on my face. He bent his head and kissed me deeply, pulling me closer against him.

It was a slow, sensual kiss, his hand cradling the back of my head as his tongue teased mine. My body felt hotter than a Suniksu’s fire.

I had never had a kiss that made me ache like this. I felt like I was starving and Callan was the only one who could give me the sustenance I needed.

With my body pressed against his, I could feel how much he wanted me. We broke apart and things were a tad breathier than they’d been before.

“How am I supposed to sleep now?” he said with a throaty laugh that made my body tighten.

“Hmm…” I sucked his bottom lip, and was rewarded with a soft moan. “What I want to do right now has very little to do with sleep…”

His breath caught, his grip on me tightened. He made a sound in his throat as his eyes raked my face, his desire bare for me to see. “Birth control?” he asked, voice soft. I nodded, giving him a slow smile. “I want you.” His voice was low and heavy now.

I trailed my hand down his abs, past the band of his boxers.

I looked into his eyes and the desire I saw there sent a thrill through me. That same desire was echoed in the way it felt like all the nerves in my body were networks of live wire, sending jolts through me that stole my breath. I took him in my hand and lightly stroked him, causing him to close his eyes and moan. The anticipation was climbing to a crescendo.

“I’m yours.” I didn’t need to say anything more.

Callan claimed my mouth with his own, and this time the kiss was more demanding. He kissed me like it might be the last time.

He gripped my hips and turned me fully onto my back. Before I knew it he was straddling my waist, my arms pinned next to my head, our fingers entwined. He bent down and kissed me again, then moved his lips to my neck.

I arched my head back as he pulled at my skin, giving me little nips. The musky scent of his body enveloped me, his breath a cool tease against my feverish skin. I could never have imagined that being touched by Callan in the most intimate ways would have this effect on me. The feeling of wanting him was almost overwhelming.

I thrust my hips against him, demanding he give me what I wanted, but he chuckled at my impatience before skimming his hands down to the hem of my tank top and swiftly pulling it off.

Once that barrier was gone, he moved farther down, sucking one nipple while his hand played with the other. He snaked a hand down my body, sliding into my undies and between my legs. When he felt how wet I was, he groaned, the erection I felt pressed against my leg growing harder.

His tongue played at my breast for a while more, then he kissed his way down the length of my body. I lost myself to the feel of his hands and mouth on me as the panties came off, his mouth soon doing things that made me arch my back and tangle my hand in his hair.

I panted as I moved my body in rhythm with him, riding his mouth while he explored me with his lips and tongue, sucking and probing, making me feel like I was being driven mad.

He moved back up my body and kissed me, his mouth slick, but I didn’t care. I kissed him hungrily. He laughed against my lips as I fumbled with the band of his boxers, then did what I wanted and got rid of them. He pressed his body against mine.

“Please…” I had my hand wrapped around him again. He was long and thick, and I wanted all of it.

Callan nuzzled my neck. “Only because you said please.” He slid inside me slowly, just a couple inches, then pulled out. I made an unhappy sound, which made him chuckle again.

Oh, he was going to pay for teasing me.

He claimed my breast with his mouth again and slid inside me, still slowly, but this time he didn’t pull out. I moaned as he got to the spot that literally made my toes curl. I shifted my hips, moving with him as he started to find a rhythm.

He lifted his head and looked at me, brushing my tousled hair off my forehead, curling his fingers in the strands as he moved inside me and I matched him.

“God, you feel so…” he finished the sentence with a moan, and I used the moment to push him onto his back and straddle his waist.

I moved off him, which brought sounds of protest, but I smiled as I lowered my body until I was positioned to take him into my mouth. Then there was no more protesting.

I worked my mouth down the length of his shaft, skimming with my teeth without any pressure. As I sucked up and down, I used my tongue to dance circles around him, licking at his head when I came all the way up. After some time I lifted off, holding him, so damn slick, in my hand as I positioned myself back on top of him and guided him inside me again.

Callan gripped my hips, and this time when he thrust, there was no gentle exploration. There was nothing but urgency, something tethering on the edge of madness as I rode him. I allowed him to take control again so I could feel the weight of him on top of me, pulling him into wild kisses as our bodies slid against each other, hot, feverish, the air humid like we were on a jungle floor.

I came, waves of pleasure pulsing through me. I tightened my legs around him, holding him as he continued to pump, his breath hot against my neck as his body shuddered and he came as well, moaning against my neck. I wrapped my arms around his sweat-slicked body, taking pleasure in his release and the way he clutched me to him as he orgasmed.

Callan raised his head and stared at me, panting slightly. The intimate look in his eyes, the feeling of protectiveness I felt from him, was something I’d never experienced before.

He kissed me long and deep, rolling onto his side and pulling me into his arms.

Our legs tangled together, the sheets entwined around us, and all I wanted was to stay here, feeling protected and wanted.

This felt right, not because it was possibly almost the end of the world and we wanted to take as much pleasure as we could from each other before that, but because I was beginning to realize that Callan fit me in a way no one ever had before.

“Penn…” My name was a whisper, a caress across my cheek.

I gently pulled at his bottom lip, then moved back as I looked into his eyes, trailing my fingers through his hair. His face was intense as we stared at each other.

I felt more exposed and vulnerable than I had ever felt in the arms of a man before.

The way we’d just made love, the way he held me now, the way I knew without him having to say it how much he cared about me was an exhilarating and frightening feeling.

But I wanted it. And so much more.

I looked into his eyes and knew that for this, for something I could claim as mine, I would fight a horde of Majimorta.