Chapter 12
12
TLALLI
I t didn’t take long for Tlalli to find Cahuani. Dangerous as it was to seek him out in the open, she had been too impatient to try to contact him to set up a proper meeting, especially when she hadn’t bothered to retrieve her phone from under Elias’s mattress. She couldn’t really explain that particular choice, but she wasn’t about to try either. There were more pressing matters to tend to.
Cahuani stood at the very back of the large conservatory that branched off the main house staring out the window, his hat concealing half his face and his hands in his pockets. He wore a glen plaid suit stitched with lines of black, blue, and white. A blue tie tucked between a white dress shirt and a black vest completed the outfit, which was perfectly fitted to his form.
It was unfair how fucking good he looked at any given moment, how smooth he was without saying a word, how warm even from a distance. She watched with unwavering attention as his hands came out of his pockets, admired the stretch and curl of his thick fingers, the umber skin that encased them. How was it possible to make the simplest of movements so erotic?
He turned when he heard her shoes on the marble, raising his head and giving her a smile that made her belly twist into knots. She only realized that he could see her, that she had let him see her when still no one else could, in the moment before he brushed his thumb over her lip. The movement was so sly that she doubted anyone who might have entered would have caught it.
She wondered what else they could get away with.
Though before she could give in to her own recklessness and find out, his expression changed into one of concern. Always the responsible one.
“What are you doing here? Were you followed?”
He didn’t say it aloud, instead allowing her access to the words inside his mind. Oh, he really was trusting her now. She offered the same in return, letting him read her mind.
“Nope, the only one that can see me right now is you,” she returned, her lips pursed.
“Oh, really?”
“Mm-hmm. Don’t worry, Papa Bear. I know what I’m doin’.”
Although she wasn’t entirely sure she did.
He scanned her blatantly from head to toe, licking his lips before looking away. Yet somehow, she was the one left breathless.
“Did you speak to Elias?”
“I did. He’s prepared to make a move sooner if he has to, meaning he likely doesn’t know about the cloak on the chalice.”
He ran his fingers through his beard, his teeth sinking into his lip, and a chill ran down Tlalli’s spine. She had to fight to keep her head on her shoulders and out of the gutter. “And... Anthony?”
She ignored the pause in his words, instead trying to figure out how best to explain that particular situation to him. She had to tell him about Anthony’s call to Michael. Cahuani might not immediately report it to the Puri, given the danger that would put her in, though if that was the case, what was the point of telling him?
He was trusting her though, and omitting information was not a good way to honor that. She had to let him decide what he did with it.
“The tantrum didn’t last as long as it could’ve, but...” She sighed. “Look, I don’t know if it’s something to worry about or not, but Anthony was trying to call Michael just now in the lobby.”
At once, Cahuani straightened, narrowing his gaze, which pinned her in place.
“And I don’t know if it’s the first time,” she added softly.
“You think he wants to start something,” he said.
“Oh, I know he does, Papa Bear.” She didn’t miss the way his jaw clenched at the name she had been screaming only hours before, but she kept her focus this time. “And I can’t say there is anything he won’t do to get it.”
“And you’re sure Michael was in agreement with Elias’s plan?”
“I mean, that’s the plan he pitched to Elias and me when we went in.”
“And Anthony wasn’t there?”
She huffed. “Naw, but he rarely is. He’s like the younger sibling we’re forced to take everywhere even though he always swears he’s running the show.”
His lips twitched. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or concerned by that, so she sidestepped the thought altogether. She was just happy to see him amused.
“So it’s possible then that Michael had his own agenda all along.” He seemed to be speaking to himself more than her, so she said nothing. “I knew something wasn’t right. I knew it in my spirit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did Michael tell you why he wanted you to retrieve this item? Or even the amulet you took from my home?”
She opened her mouth but promptly paused mid-breath, realizing that... No. No, Michael hadn’t explained. He rarely explained anything anymore. They were at his disposal, puppets hanging from his strings, and Tlalli had stopped fighting that fact. What difference would the reason have made anyway? The job was the same, and that was all she cared about.
“Michael had to have known he didn’t have a chance of retrieving the chalice,” Cahuani said, taking her silence as confirmation. “Even if the other angels don’t know about the demons’ ability to locate items they share a creator with, Michael and the Dominion would at least have a hunch by now. How many times have they tried and failed to get to one of those items? It’s why you had to rob me in my home, because they tried to get the amulet before and failed.”
She tried not to wince at that, but she wasn’t sure if she was successful. He didn’t seem to notice either way. Cahuani had begun to pace a few steps in either direction, his fingers alternating between combing through his beard and fiddling with the buttons of his waistcoat. Then he began to crack his knuckles, and the familiar muttering under his breath followed soon after.
“Why did they leave you with the amulet?” she blurted out loud before she could stop herself, overwhelmed by the influx of questions flooding her mind and feeling guilty for his overstimulation. She gave him an apologetic look the moment she heard herself aloud, but he merely smiled.
“It turned out that—I had been set up on both sides.”
“Wait, what?” She gaped at him. “What do you... Do you mean the Puri set you up?”
“Well, not entirely on purpose, but... they had a hunch that the Dominion was attempting to recover artifacts made in Hell. They weren’t sure why, as the objects’ powers cannot be wielded by the angels, not even the Dominion, but they had to know for certain. I learned after that they’d started entrusting the items to witches throughout this realm to learn not only if the angels were looking for them but if they could actually find them.”
“And we did.”
He nodded. “But they didn’t expect—” He paused a moment, seeming to change his mind about what he wanted to say. “Well, a heist. Nor did they expect Anthony to betray us, which was really the main factor, no offense.”
“None taken, trust me.”
“But that was why it was so easy to make amends with them. I still... have my guilt over losing the amulet, but I know they still trust me, and that’s been enough.”
“So why would the Dominion be going after these artifacts if they can’t use them?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “No idea. We have gone over every possibility, but we’ve come up short.”
“You think Michael would let Anthony start a war here? In a mortal’s mansion?”
He barked a laugh, and the sound was both damning and distracting. “If you’re asking me, we might be in bigger trouble than I thought, princess.”
She pouted at him. “Well, it isn’t like they tell me much anyway. Anthony is definitely farther up Michael’s ass than I’ve ever been, though, so if you think he’s here on a completely separate mission, I’m not gonna be the one to tell you otherwise.”
Panic scraped along the inner lining of her belly, but she stifled it the moment she recognized it. She was not about to lose her head. This had always been inevitable. The Dominion had been yearning for a war, and they were stooping to the lowest-possible level to get it. Maybe that had been Anthony’s purpose all along: to be the trap they would set for Cahuani, making Cahuani either have to kill his son or sacrifice himself to Anthony’s cause. She could not bring herself to ask Cahuani which he would choose.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked silently, stilling herself.
“I’ll talk to Acheron and Xaphan as soon as I leave here,” he replied. “We’ll grab the chalice just before the viewing. We have a replica that will pass well enough until it gets back Upstairs.”
“I doubt Anthony will care if he’s here to start a fight.”
“We have to anticipate that, but we cannot act on that hunch. We cannot be the ones to start a conflict. We have to treat this as a routine recovery mission.”
“. . . So you’re not gonna tell the Puri about Anthony calling Michael?” She had to ask.
“And have Michael and the Dominion figure out you’ve turned on them before I can get you out of here? Not a chance, princess. I made a promise, and I’m going to keep it.”
“Even if it starts a war?”
“If it isn’t this, it’ll be something else. You and I both know that.”
Indeed, they did.
“Look, we just do what we came here to do, all right?” he said aloud and yet just above a whisper, his hand taking hers gently and pulling her closer to him. “My priority is to get you out of here.”
“And the cup or whatever?”
“That’ll be Acheron’s priority.”
She smiled up at him, although his eyes remained on their conjoined hands, his thumb running across her knuckles repeatedly. All he’d been through, and he was still soft. Even to her. Even to someone who didn’t deserve it.
“I suppose you should get back,” he said. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he sounded just as disappointed as she felt at the idea. “Make sure Anthony stays out of trouble for a bit longer.”
“What’s the rush?” She moved to stand in front of him. They could afford a few more minutes. If they were right, this was all going to end the same way whether they spent a little more time together or not. “We still have a few hours to kill before things get tricky.”
“Yeah, but I have to find Acheron and let him know the move. Then I got?—”
“Just give me like ten minutes, hmm?” She ran a hand down his torso to his belt.
“Now, you know we don’t have time for that, princess.”
“Didn’t you miss me?”
“That’s irrelevant at the moment.”
“Is it? I don’t think so.” She committed to moving now, circling around to his back. “Just act natural for me, Papa Bear, I promise to make you feel real good.” She leaned closer to his ear. “Real fast.”
He clenched his jaw as she unbuckled his belt and slipped her hand inside his trousers to palm the growing bulge within. Her slender fingers pressed and squeezed, kneading and massaging him through his underwear. Soon, his cock was hard and he was putty in her hands.
“You’re not being a very good girl,” he breathed out, his eyes fixed beyond the window as he braced a hand against the glass. “And we had an agreement.”
“Oh no. Does that mean more punishment, Papa Bear?” She moaned.
He chuckled, although the sound turned into a hiss when she at last moved her hand to the interior of his boxers and wrapped it around the base of his shaft. After carefully folding it upward, she began to stroke.
He glanced over his shoulder, not at her but toward the door to see if anyone was approaching. She didn’t worry too much. The entrance itself was obscured by furnishings and foliage, so they had more than enough privacy. But she knew him well enough to know that he hated any kind of attention, and so she didn’t drag it out as long as she’d have liked to.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, his fingers curling against the window and his breath fogging up the glass when he leaned his head closer. “Tlalli...”
“Yes, Papa Bear?” She sped up.
“Punishment does not even begin to encompass what you have waiting for you upstairs when the day is done.”
She pressed her thighs together. They were already slick with want, and each time he pulsed in her hand only added to that.
“Mm, I’m sure it doesn’t,” she said. “But that’s for later. For now, I’m in control.”
She kissed his neck, then ran her tongue along the skin behind his ear before moving back down toward his shoulder. Her free hand ran up his stomach to his chest and felt the way it rose and fell more rapidly by the second. He was close. She could feel it.
... But she never got him to climax.
Without warning, Cahuani gripped the hand in his pants, pulled it out, and used it to drag her in front of him so that she faced the window. Then he pinned her there. Her squeak of surprise was muffled by Cahuani’s rough hand against her mouth as he yanked her dress up and her panties down.
Before her head could stop spinning, he was buried inside her, thrusting upward with enough force to push her onto her tiptoes. She screamed hard into his hand until she couldn’t scream anymore, her eyes rolling back in her head and her lungs frozen in place. He was already moving, picking up speed with each thrust, and giving her everything she needed and then some.
She couldn’t even begin to imagine the image they created at the moment, what someone would stumble upon if they wandered back here, but he no longer seemed too concerned, so she damn sure wasn’t gonna be either. She would take her licks as he saw fit. Wherever and whenever he saw fit.
The hand not muffling her mouth dipped between her thighs, and fingers found her clit with such adept accuracy that her knees buckled without a shred of resistance. He held her upright just long enough to shove her over the edge.
She slapped a hand against the glass, crying out as her legs trembled beneath her. Then he picked her up off the ground fully, leaving her weightless and floating into oblivion.
Until she was crumpling to her knees on the floor.
“Turn around,” he said roughly.
But he didn’t wait for her to obey. With his hand at the back of her neck, he guided her to face him until his throbbing cock was mere inches from her face. Her arousal encased his shaft, and she shuddered again, the aftershocks making her dizzy.
“Come on, princess,” he growled. He no longer sounded like himself. Or rather, he sounded more like himself than ever before. Right now, she could hear the beast beneath his skin, and she yearned to draw it out. “Open your mouth.”
She was helpless to deny it, all but unhinging her jaw to take him. He did not wait, jamming his cock down her throat and following up with short thrusts that had her clawing at his thighs but refusing to tap out. His hand was the only thing keeping her head from slamming into the wall, but he guarded it with unyielding devotion despite how hard he was fucking her face.
At one point, he pulled out far enough for her to inhale, and she used the split second to reorient herself. When he pushed back in, she swallowed hard, and her throat expanded just as his other hand came down to grip it. He pumped vigorously, his grunts growing wilder by the moment despite his best attempts to muffle them, and she savored every sound. Her pussy was still spasming, her fingers aching to graze her sensitive clit.
Though before she could, his hips were flush against her face, his back rigid, and his dick swelling in her throat. He leaned his forearm against the window, then bit into it to smother the roar that left him as he came. She sucked him deeper still, reveling in every ounce of energy leaving his body and entering hers. She pressed her tongue against his balls before she slowly pulled off and away. He shuddered as her mouth detached entirely with a pop.
Again, he recovered before she anticipated, dragging her up to her feet and pressing her into the window with both his hands on her hips and his mouth on hers. She groaned against him, aching in every place he was not touching, winding her fingers in his curls.
“Mm,” she sighed when he finally pulled away. “Am I still in trouble, Papa Bear?”
“I guess you’ll find out tonight,” was his only response.
She pouted, but he merely smoothed down her braids before fixing his state of dress. Once he finished, she ran her hand over his trousers to iron out the wrinkles with a touch of her magic, and he gave her another kiss on the cheek in thanks. The warmth that radiated from the spot made her weak.
“What’s your next move?” he asked silently after they had fully disengaged from each other, lest they lose another hour in this conservatory.
“I’ll have to be civil with Anthony, at least for a bit,” she returned. “It’s the best way to keep tabs on him. It’s easier to keep him in the dark if I’m close... but I’ll still be able to talk to you now, right?”
She tried not to sound desperate or worried, but the thought of losing this newfound connection made her feel... out of sorts. It was harder to go back into the lion’s den when she had something worth ditching it for out here. Even if she would only have it for a little while.
“Of course,” he said, his eyes softening. “You need me, you reach out, all right? I’m gonna go find Acheron and Xaphan. I’ll keep you updated.”
She nodded and pressed one more kiss to his lips, a kiss that was far too soft for her liking and far too short to sate her. She began to turn away when he grabbed her hand.
“And Tlalli?”
“Hmm?”
She looked over her shoulder at him, only to find him biting his lip. She shivered.
“Think carefully about what you’re wearing tonight,” he said, the words snaking from her head down to her belly. “The moment the viewing is over, I’m coming to find you, so whatever is keeping you from me is likely to get torn up.”
Oh, this was gonna be a long afternoon.
“Yes, Papa Bear,” she said, offering one last smile before she forced herself to leave, fighting every urge to turn back.