Full Color (ORCA #3)

Chapter 22

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

DIMITRI

“I’m going with you.”

Quin spun to face me, a stormy scowl on his face. “No, you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am. Athina is my sister.”

My mate rubbed a hand over his face and blew out a breath, then he closed the distance between us and put his hands on my shoulders, leaning his head close. “Dimitri, I barely got you out of there once. I can’t let you put yourself in danger by going back.”

“This time we’ll have backup.” I looked around him at his scary-as-hell older brother, his twin, and his twin’s mate. They were all stacked heavy with muscle, and in the few hours I’d spent with them, I’d learned Cal and Jack both had long kill lists from the military and as private contractors, and Nero had worked with their grandmother on some of the highest profile art heists in recent history.

And that was before I factored in Felix, who was bent over a laptop, hacking into all of Dasselaar’s security feeds again and setting up new loops.

They were a skilled set of men, and I knew they could keep me safe.

Quin closed his eyes. “Dimitri, please.”

I cupped his face in my hands, holding his head until he opened his eyes to look at me. “Quin, I have to do this. I have to.”

He sighed again, this time the sound was one of resignation rather than frustration. “Fine, but promise me you’ll do whatever they tell you to.”

“I will. I swear. I just have to know she’s okay.”

“I know.” He pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead, then lowered his hands from my shoulders and twined his fingers with mine before turning to face his brothers. “Dimitri is going and so am I. What do we have to do?”

For the next hour, we hashed out a plan. It was simple. Sneak into the estate the way Quin and I had escaped, split up into teams, search the estate, find Athina, and sneak out the way we’d come in.

Easy.

No problem.

As long as we didn’t run into any of Dasselaar’s goons, especially since I didn’t think Scar would be too happy to see us after Quin had slammed his head in the trunk of the car.

“Okay, I think we’re ready. Everybody get some sleep. We’re going in at first light.” Nero stood from where he’d been perched on the arm of an antique couch that didn’t look like it could hold his weight while he’d looked over his mate’s shoulder at the laptop screen. Felix followed him into their bedroom.

Cal and Jack slipped into their room as well, until it was just me and Quin left in the living room. I could tell from the tense lines of his body that he wasn’t happy about me going back to the estate, but I had no choice. He had to know that, and as his eyes connected with mine, I saw his understanding and his worry, and I loved him just a little more for it.

I held out my hand to him. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.” He took my offered hand and led me into the last bedroom and shut the door. Inside, there were two full beds.

“You can have your own space if you want it.” He gestured to the bed farthest from the door.

Before he even finished speaking, I was shaking my head. “I want to sleep with you.”

He smiled and nodded like my decision made him happy. “Okay.” For a long moment we just stared at each other, neither of us making a single move, then just like that night in my bedroom at Dasselaar’s estate, which felt like forever ago but had really only been a little over a day, I threw myself into his arms.

Quin caught me, our mouths connecting in a punishing kiss that was full of desire and want, and colored with a subtle hint of fear. I knew what we were going to do tomorrow was dangerous, and if Dasselaar got his hands on me again, I wasn’t going to make it out of the estate a second time, which meant I wanted this night with Quin, just in case it was my last. As my lips and tongue explored every inch of his, I prayed that one day we’d get to be together without the threat of being permanently separated looming over us.

For now, though, I would take everything I could get.

I clung to Quin like I would have clung to a thick branch in my chameleon form as he walked us into the bathroom and set me down on the edge of the counter while he reached into the shower and turned on the water. We were both still dressed in pieces of our tuxes from the gala since there had been no time to change, and Quin’s fingers made quick work of the buttons, his warm, callused hands separating the fabric and pushing it off my shoulders. He trailed soft kisses along my collarbones as my fingers worked the buttons of his shirt open until I could press my palms flat against the honey-bronze expanse of his chest. He breathed in a ragged breath when my fingers skated over his nipples, and I saw his cock jump behind his zipper.

Carefully, he lifted me down off the vanity and slid the black belt of my tux through the loops with a whispered whoosh that made goose bumps erupt over my skin and my nipples pebble. He lowered to his knees until he was at eye level with my navel, and he kissed along the dark trail of hair that disappeared under my waistband. At some point, he’d worked my pants open and shoved them down my legs, but I’d been so distracted by his gentle touches that I hadn’t even noticed until he tapped my ankle, encouraging me to lift it so he could remove my pants and underwear from around my feet.

My hard cock jutted out from my body, and Quin teased over the shaft with the same soft, reverent kisses he’d bestowed on the rest of my skin. The featherlight caresses of his lips were maddening even as I got drunk on them, my knees going weak as he stood and stepped back just enough to remove his pants.

We stood there, both naked, studying each other as though we’d never get the chance to do it again as the bathroom filled with steam. I noticed small imperfections in his skin that I’d left out of my drawings because I hadn’t known they were there. Each freckle and small scar made him that much more real. He was no longer that stranger on the pages of my sketchbook, but a real live man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Tentatively, my fingers connected the constellations of small freckles on his chest and traced the handful of scars along his sides, a longer one along his left hip, almost hidden in the vee of muscle at the bottom of his abs.

Quin shuddered as my fingers touched the silvery skin. “Appendix when I was twelve.” He captured my questing fingers before I could respond and tugged me into the shower where he pushed me under the hot spray.

My muscles relaxed as the water sluiced over my skin, and I melted into Quin’s touch as he washed my hair with shampoo that smelled like him. I returned the favor, switching places with him so he could rinse his hair. For a second, he turned his back to me, and when he pivoted again, I was on my knees, my mouth a breath away from his cock.

“Dimitri—” he started, but I cut him off.

“You got to taste me last time. It’s my turn.”

His growl reverberated off the tiles, muted by the running water as my lips closed around the head of his cock. I reveled in the heavy weight of him against my tongue and lapped at the salty precum that slipped from his slit. Rolling his balls in my palm, I let my fingers find the spot where I could massage his prostate from the outside and smiled around his length when I felt him tremble.

“Dimitri. God, your mouth.” His hips stuttered forward, his cock brushing the back of my throat, and I swallowed around him, loving the possessive and primitive sounds that spilled from him. His hands tangled in my hair, and he used his grip to hold me still for a minute, my lips pressed tight against his body before he gently encouraged me to pull off and lifted me to my feet. “You were going to make me come.”

I licked the taste of him from my lips. “That was kind of the point.”

“I want to come inside you. Will you let me?”

“Yes. Fuck yes.”

He reached outside the shower, a blast of cool air making me shiver until the door swung closed again. Quin had a little bottle clutched in his hand, and I knew this had been his plan all along.

“Turn around and bend over. Put your hands on the tiles.”

His demand was no more than a whisper, but I immediately complied, presenting myself to him like I couldn’t wait to feel him inside me.

Because I couldn’t.

I needed it.

Craved it.

Slick fingers circled my hole and pressed inside. Quin’s gentleness from earlier had vanished, replaced by possessive need as he worked me open with two fingers. I loved the stretch and burn and after so long without feeling someone else’s touch, my body responded eagerly.

Or maybe that was just because it was Quin, my fated mate, who was touching me.

In minutes, I was rocking back against his hand, desperate for more, and Quin was quick to comply with my body’s demands. His fingers were replaced by the thick head of his cock, and he slid home on the first thrust, impaling me on his length. The primal sound he made as my body engulfed him went straight to my core, making my balls tingle and wrapping around my heart.

Like this, there was no doubt Quin was mine, and I was his.

One of Quin’s strong arms wrapped around my torso, hauling me up until my back was against his chest. In this position, Quin was so deep inside me he barely needed to move, pegging the spot that made my knees weak with every tiny thrust. His hand wrapped around my cock, and I looked down to watch as he jerked me with just the right amount of pressure, twisting his palm over the head on every stroke.

His mouth found the spot on my shoulder I wanted him to bite, and his teeth closed over the flesh in a teasing approximation of the real thing. A whimper shimmied its way up my chest, and Quin whispered a single word against the spot.

“Soon.”

Then his mouth closed on the tendon again, and I came, my cock jerking in his grasp as I felt the hot rush of his cum deep inside me. Quin held me in his embrace until my body stopped shaking with aftershocks and his cock softened and slipped from my body. He washed his cum away and wordlessly cleaned the rest of my body, his gentle touches and caresses returning.

I loved the fact that Quin was tender and sweet yet primal and possessive, and as I fell asleep, warm and safe in his arms, I dreamed of getting to experience all the different aspects of him for the rest of my life.