Hellfire (Nightfire Academy #4)

Chapter 12 - Gable

CHAPTER 12 - GABLE

I never thought this was possible. Happiness. Freedom. Redemption. A girlfriend… who just happened to be royalty. The start of a friendship with Talon. A place of my own. Profession of my choosing. Partnering with members of the Guild to take down my enemy and rescue my family. My sister safely with me and free of the torture, humiliation, and brainwashing.

I came from nothing. Was treated like nothing. Abused for my gifts. Tormented for my failures. Lived to tell the tale. Hardship that taught me an overtly healthy skepticism and realism. Points of view that Luna gave light to and changed to optimism and hope. Fucking hope . A word I never thought I’d used in a sentence, let alone give energy to.

Villains sometimes got the girl and their happy ending, though mine wouldn’t be complete until Camus was dead, the Brotherhood nothing but ash, and shifters like me free to live without the threat of the Guild making them extinct. Merry-fucking-Christmas to me!

Luna reclined on the sofa, resting between my legs, her back on my chest. I stroked her arm with my left hand and scrolled my phone with my other, searching for a suitable playlist, something soothing to send Mary to sleep so Luna and I didn’t have to worry about her. I needed a few moments to myself after the adjustment of accommodating her into my life.

We often listened to music together, her while studying, working out, or relaxing, and me while I cooked or chilled with her on the phone. It was our little moment of reflection on our day or task, something sacred between her and I that we religiously practiced, no matter what chaos raged in the world around us. We could drop the pretense, show our real selves, something I let few people see.

This was our first night semi-alone. Sure, we had moments on the phone together where Cole made himself scarce. Or times when she visited, and Talon took calls out in the shop while we got busy. I pushed aside the reminder that my sister brushed her teeth in the bathroom and prepared for bed. One day, Luna and I would have our moment. Until then, we’d take full advantage of our time together. Never a moment wasted.

She curled her fingers around my arm and pulled it down to rest it on her knee. Heat burned through her jeans into my palm, and my naga soaked up every degree, his blood warming from ice-cold to sun-baking.

I cut the overhead lights before we reclined on the sofa, the flicker of candles our only source of illumination, enough glow to catch my reflection on the screen of my phone. What used to mirror a monster now showed a lost boy finding his way. Content with the change in me, I set the device atop the sofa back, letting the tunes free.

“Do you ever feel like you just want to run away from everything?” She dragged her nails along my arm, and tingles scattered along the length of it. “All your responsibilities?”

One of our classic existential discussions we often got into, the two of us coming together with different world views that challenged the other.

I thought about her question and the implications. So much depended on her—the fate of the Guild, the emancipation of trapped slaves in the Brotherhood, the world, and to an extent that of the gantii realms, all bore down on her shoulders. Most people cracked and crumbled under such pressure. Not Luna. My admiration for her burden and the strength she called upon to face it grew a little more every day. She was made of better stuff than me. Luna was a true hero. I was the villain on the redemption arc, and it never would have been possible without her.

“Every day of my life.” I brushed hair from one shoulder across to the other to drop a kiss to her neck.

Luna chewed her lip. “I’m scared to discover the real me. Scared to find out how much more of a monster I am.”

Ground we’d been over once before. Why the hell was she bringing it up again? Because the Academy extracted an imprint of her mind and stored it in a map of light? My princess was born into the dark world without a choice like I was. Used and abused.

I ran my knuckle along the back of her neck. “I accepted who I am a long time ago. I can’t change what I’ve done. Hell, I can regret it, feel guilty for it, but there’s no point hating myself for it. We were born into a world with no choices and used for that old bastard’s pleasure to kill enemies and rivals. We aren’t the monsters in that respect.”

She tapped her fingers on my knees, contemplating my perspective.

I brushed down her nape to her shoulders, hoping to tease out her concerns, and throw them into the same fire as I did. “We were young and impressionable, love. We didn’t know any better. Now we do.”

“You’re right.” She slammed her palm on my leg like a judge declaring a verdict. “Wow. I’ve turned you into the voice of reason.”

“Careful throwing around those words, Princess.” I clasped the back of her neck, tilting her head sideways, feathering along her throat. “My heart is made of stone, not gold.”

Her laugh encouraged my naga to curl around her and rest his head on the crook of her shoulder. Hair curtained over her shoulder, a cloak of silky velvet. “I’d argue the opposite.”

“Yeah?” My kiss fanned along the skin on offer, inching along her shoulder, encouraging her to explain.

“You hide behind your cocky, dark, wild veneer.” Her fingers scaled along my jaw, up my cheek, over my ear, sinking into my hair. “But you’re every bit the savior.”

I sank my teeth into her, marking her, my naga wanting to go all the way. I flicked my tongue over the imprint, soothing her sting. “You better stop talking about me like that. It’s making me hot.”

Her laugh dipped into a husky note. The perfect note that said our party was just getting started. “How hot?”

I scrambled for my phone, my lips never leaving her neck, and I scrolled for a different playlist, something moody, seductive, and sexy for what I had planned. I found the perfect one and activated it. A slow tempo burgeoned from the speakers of my stereo system, transitioning into a decadent beat of drums, primal pluck of the guitar, and a rhythmic piano that urged me to sway against her back.

“This kind of hot.” I wrapped both arms around her middle.

She reached back to bristle my stubble. “I feel like I’m being undressed by the lyrics and tune.”

“That’s because you’re about to be,” I whispered in her ear.

My tongue ached to taste more of her soft skin, and I dropped my mouth to her neck. Her little hum vibrated up into my lips, and I opened my mouth, sucking on her delicate, milky flesh and flicking my tongue.

I’d battled monsters, madmen, and the servants of madmen, and emerged alive by the will of some higher power. But for all my smarts, magical ability, and plain stubbornness in the face of evil, I had no control over this moment. Certainly not enough to resist her. Not that I wanted to. I was no gentleman, my hero status debatable when I did what I had to in order to survive. Luna wasn’t necessary for my survival, but she was essential for my salvation.

She leaned her head back to take more of me. “Kiss me.” A soft request, not the demand of a princess. “I don’t get to kiss you often enough. Once a week is not enough.”

No, it wasn’t.

Gravity brought us together, a force so natural it couldn’t be resisted, and I lowered my lips to hers. A shared warmth spread between us as her mouth parted wider, accepting my tongue flicking with hers. I cupped the back of her head to keep her in place, a moment of spontaneous combustion neither of us could stop. Her fingers sank into my hair, needy push and pulls.

In response, I brushed her thigh, creeping my fingers up her zipper, unbuttoning her fly and dragging it down. “I’m going to make you feel so good, Princess. You’re going to forget everything but what I’m doing to you. Don’t think, just feel.”

I sank my hand below the waist of her jeans, worming under her panties, sliding down her thatch of hair, one finger gliding through her wet heat. She rolled her hips, moving against me, and I gave her everything she needed. Her little whines of pleasure were almost too much for me, the ache in my groin painful, begging to be inside her. I increased my pace, and she gyrated into my fingers, chasing her release.

My fangs lengthened to ease the throb. “That’s it, Princess. Ride my finger.” I dragged the tip of my teeth along her skin, and she hissed. “Do you want my euphoric toxin?”

“Give it to me, please,” she whimpered, arching her shoulder up into my fang until it dimpled her skin, on the verge of piercing it. “I need to feel you inside me in all ways.”

Fucking sexy. She wanted my cock and my mind dipping into her at the same time. My balls hardened with a heaviness I wanted to unload into her.

I hissed and sank into her skin, injecting my toxin into her neck, feeling the heat of it sting her, swirl in her blood, and course through her body. The action brought her to an instant climax, and she shuddered in my arms. I lapped at the two tiny dots of blood on her skin, my saliva sealing the wound, locking my toxin in her. My mind connected to her body, and my pelvis kicked with the echo of her release.

Camus forced me to do this to multiple Brotherhood women to extract information, never with any feelings involved. An act so different with Luna, consensual, trusting, and erotic. I soared with her rush of hormones and pleasure.

“Get your clothes off, Princess.” I couldn’t wait and undid the buttons of her shirt, greedily peeling her clothing down her shoulder, kissing my way down her neck to her shoulder as I went.

She climbed out of my lap to shirk off her pants, but I was too impatient, stretching forward and yanking them down her legs. The look she gave me, a sultry smile over her shoulder, had my dick straining. Candlelight gave her pale body a soft glow, and I dragged my fingertips from her shoulders to her thighs, worshipping her as she leaned on me to climb out of her pants.

“So fucking perfect, Princess.” I kissed her ribs beneath her breasts, and she hugged my head and sighed.

“Stand up,” she commanded, releasing me.

My naga and I went to her, knowing what she wanted, her intent clear. She made quick work of freeing me from my shirt and jeans, tugging at my briefs like my dick was on fire and only she had the fire hose to put it out.

“Sit.” One shove at my chest was all she needed to get me on the sofa. “It’s my turn to make you feel good.”

I opened my mouth to protest, because it was my and my naga’s job to pleasure her. Her finger came to my lips, stopping me, and I sucked her into my mouth, making her eyelids flutter.

“Lie back.” Her eyes glittered with devotion as I obeyed, and she spread my legs, crouched in front of me, and took my erection in hand, giving me one pump of warning before she descended on me, almost to my base.

“Princess,” I moaned, clasping the back of her head, my hand sinking and scaling with every suck of her mouth. My other hand stroked along her back. “It’s never felt this good before.”

I felt completely safe with her. Safe that she wouldn’t abuse my trust. Wouldn’t abuse my body.

She hummed as she worked me with her mouth, the vibration heightening my pleasure. Her enjoyment in giving back to me was a heady rush in my veins. She delighted at every spasm of my cock, each roll of my hips, my fingers tightening on the back of her head, the control she had over me.

Between the pleasure of her sucking noises, her mouth and tongue caressing my shaft, I didn’t last long, releasing into her throat. She smiled and licked up the residual mess. My mind swirled in a haze of euphoria, hers and mine. She loved to please me, loved the way my body responded to her, loved the way I whispered her name, the respectful way I held onto her head and back.

I reached forward, wrapping my arm around her, pulling her onto my lap, and she wrapped her legs around me. My drug pulsed in her system, giving her pleasure even when I didn’t touch her.

“I want to try something different, tonight,” I said, nuzzling her neck.

Two things. The first a new tool of pleasure that I proposed to her when her men weren’t present to object. I wanted to ravish her, to sate my body’s craving for all things Luna.

“What is it?” Her palm ran the length of my torso, chest to stomach, and I loved the feel of her softness. The toxin blew her pupils wide, a ball of hazel, flecked with gold and blue.

“It’s called a hand necklace.” I showed her the concept, locking my hand on her throat, running my finger along her jaw. “I stay like that while we fuck because a princess deserves a necklace, and I don’t have any jewels.”

Her lips curled into the sultriest of smiles, and I traced her lips with my thumb, mapping them out. I pulled her down for a kiss, and my tongue probed her harder, more desperate than before, needing to taste every inch of her.

“Or if you want me to take your pleasure up a notch, I can cut off your air to heighten your orgasm. I won’t let you go unconscious. Will you let me?”

She gripped my wrist and squeezed. “I trust you.”

Those three words were enough to get me hard again. “Shifters can’t get STIs, and I want to fuck you without a condom tonight. Feel all of you.”

She brushed her hand along the sides of my face, her eyes reflecting absolute faith that I wouldn’t abuse my request. “Do it.”

“Lean up on your knees, love.” I tapped her on the ass, and she went.

Her heat spiked my own, and there was no way I could hold back. She moaned as I wrapped my fingers around her throat and kissed her, testing her level of comfort. Eyes falling closed, she sighed, her body melting, surrendering as I tightened my grip and plunged into her.

“Touch yourself, Princess, because my hands are busy.” I showed her why, my free hand coming to rest on her ass to guide her up and down my cock. I could have used my naga clit sucker on her, but I wanted to watch her do this for me.

Her finger speared between our bodies, landing on her clit, her wrist sliding urgently against my stomach. With a soft groan, she arched her back, letting me get a deeper angle, and giving me prime view of my cock driving into her, and her finger treating her nub. A gorgeous fucking perspective my clit sucker would deprive me of had I used it.

“That’s it, Princess.” I arced up into her pussy, squeezing her neck, her body going lax as she allowed me to control her pleasure. “Let me give you something new.”

Our mouths slid together, and she moaned so long and hard that it vibrated through my body, and I practically came from the sweet symphony of the sound. I was delirious from our entwined ecstasy, two escaped serpents, two snakes entwined in mating. She took handfuls of my hair, urging me on, whimpering, taking the strokes of my cock, squeezing my shoulder tightly. Her thighs tightened around me to lock me in her snug pussy. Every feeling she’d been struggling with, the doubt, the disappointment, and frustration faded.

By her urging, my hand squeezed to the point of pain if it wasn’t for my toxin relaxing her. She gasped for air, but that didn’t stop her motion atop me. Soon, the two of us became the song in our bodies, and I pumped harder into her as she thrust herself against me, increasing the tempo between us. When the crescendo hit, my hand snapped off her throat, and landed on her shoulder, pulling her deeper onto my cock. I felt her pleasure crash, carrying me with her, and she whined into my neck to soften the sound.

Our descent was a sweet bliss of cuddling, kisses, the heat between us dulling but not dying. I pressed my forehead to the side of her head, breathing in her apple and caramel scent mixed with her release. This woman purged me of the dark forces that had haunted me all my life and left me reborn.