Chapter 9 #4
Rin recalled faintly, mostly in that strange space just before awakening, when the mind was looser and dreams weren’t quite so far away, that Cyrus had loved to kiss her there.
Between her thighs. Now, when he tried to nip along the line of her stomach and inch her thighs open to force his shoulders between them, she snapped her legs closed.
Abashed. The incubus would merely brush his lips over her navel and whisper, I’ll make you break one day, doll.
Trust me, you’ll love the feel of my mouth on you.
Some evenings, Auren would step through the portal alone, and her cheeks would warm, knowing he’d be the one to stay with her.
He was always such a gentleman. The first few nights, he slept on the floor, but after she grew mad, hating the idea of him sleeping on the floor while she lay on the bed.
He moved to lie by her side—but never beneath the sheets, always on top, wanting to keep a barrier between them.
Rin never asked why. Was it her? Did he not…
like her? But no, she knew he did, saw it in his piercing eyes, when he’d study her when he thought she wasn’t aware.
Auren liked her. And Rin liked him. Butterflies flapped their wings in her stomach whenever he was near, and the thing between them was fragile and blooming, just like the weather as they drew closer to spring.
Rhyden did not stay with her often. But when he did?
It felt like being trapped in a burning building.
No escape, smoke in her lungs, and the fire that burned was the tense vampire as he leaned against the headboard, his red eyes never straying from her.
Juxtaposed to Auren, Rhyden was far from a gentleman.
He never relegated himself to the floor out of a sense of priority—no, the vampiric crime lord settled into her bed like he owned it.
He stared at her meager things scattered about the room with an appraising eye, as if he knew them already, but was only seeing them up close for the first time.
When Rhyden stepped through the portal, Rin’s shoulders always sagged with resignation: another night of little sleep.
Because she tossed and turned on the bed, trying to force her body to be as small as possible, not wanting to touch him at all.
She’d give him her back, tug the sheets up to her nose, and tuck her face into the blanketed darkness.
But she’d always awaken facing him, the sheets tangled around her legs, an arm thrown out toward him—and the worst of all was when her leg found a spot thrown over his.
Rin never spoke about that, but she saw the smugness in his gaze.
Auren also accompanied her on assignments, which was a good thing, because they grew more dangerous.
It was evident now that Sabine and Talor were trying to get rid of her.
She’d still not seen her adoptive parents, but she felt their presence in her every move, in the whispers throughout the Academy as she walked the halls.
The calls to the Hunter’s Hotline were growing worse. All those on Alpha Team were recruited to help. The Academy was a hub of activity. It was tireless, and Rin found herself wishing for it all to stop.
Her heart had been too calm—even with her increase in Rogue hunting.
And the strange phenomenon of the Rogues dying still occurred.
It always happened when Rin felt like she couldn’t fight another second, when her arms trembled from holding up her Echosword, or her aim with her Echogun was off from exhaustion.
She’d push forward, hunting the last of her assigned prey, Auren helping, only to find the Rogues dead.
Currently, Rin stood, her Hunter’s uniform soaked in Rogue blood. A small cut on her cheek marked where stray glass had nicked her skin when she’d fired at the circular maintenance-door window.
Her latest assignment had brought her and Auren deep underground, to a closed-off section of the sewer systems running beneath Solar City.
The air held a dank smell, and strands of her white hair had escaped from her ponytail, wavy with the humidity.
Water dripped from the exposed pipes running on the low ceilings.
The midlevel Rogue trilled as it lay in a puddle of its own blood in a pool of dirty water.
Its black, Soulless eyes blinked up at Rin as she aimed with one hand. Exhaling, she pulled the trigger. The bullet found home right in the Rogue’s eyes, sending blood and goop spraying out.
Rin lowered her gun and wiped her forearm over her face. Her legs were weak, muscles trembling.
"That was the final one, Hunter?" Auren asked from her side, wiping the bloodied end of his scythe on the bottom of his cloak.
Rin shivered as shadows coiled in the darkness of the tunnels. Her breath fogged out before her; though, it wasn’t cold any longer in Solar City. Just here, underground.
In her peripheral vision, she saw a dark blot undulate, but when she whipped her head toward it, it sank into nothing. "Yes," Rin said quietly, her voice echoing around them, "it was the last one. Our little helper didn’t choose to step in this time."
Or maybe it had—and she just hadn’t seen it.
Whatever it was that was killing the Rogues for her… she wasn’t sure. But it reminded her of something. The shape of a hand, a form wavering in midair. Her shadow.
"You are growing stronger—you no longer need aid," said Auren. "Your training has paid off."
Swimming for a lower-impact means of hitting her rigorous training hours wasn’t the reason why she was growing stronger.
A shadow stretched over the dank, dark ground, twining around the tip of her mud-covered boot.
Instantly, she felt peace—and the same unease that burrowed beneath her breasts when she tried to remember her past lives.
The shadow’s touch was possessive, and she felt a warmth snake beneath the hem of her tight pants, brushing her bare flesh.
Rin held his eyes, staring at the Star carved onto his unnaturally beautiful face. "I’m stronger, or I am being helped in other ways."
"I’m bored," Cyrus sighed, rolling over on his stomach and propping his chin on his hands.
Rin looked over at him from the top of her phone.
She’d been scrolling through the news. Nothing good.
Increased Rogue sightings, weather-related phenomena, and accidents.
An upperlevel Rogue had somehow managed to escape a Nova Zone, rampaging through a city block.
The weather was growing warmer, breaking highs.
Rin currently wore thin sleep shorts, the ruffled lace high around her thighs as she sat with her legs crossed. Her even thinner pajama top dipped low over her breasts, and the fabric brushed over her pebbled nipples with her every breath.
"Then find something to do." She arched a brow.
Cyrus grinned lecherously, shifting forward until his chin knocked against her knee. His breath shivered over her bare legs, seeping into the space between her thighs.
"I could just… do you." His fingers walked over the softer flesh of her inner thigh.
Rin blushed, locking her phone and setting it beside her. She kept her voice low. Xara had told her she was going to stay up in the small living area and get some studying done. The other girl had been far too kind and welcoming upon Rin’s arrival, almost stifling.
Rin liked Xara. She had been a good friend, but with her current circumstances, Rin couldn’t afford friends. It was a weakness.
It wasn’t hard to push her away. Rin only had to revert to her normal, reticent self.
"You don’t look hungry, Cy," Rin teased, reaching forward to rub beneath his eyes. His complexion had returned to normal, and his red hair fell over his forehead in lush strands.
Cyrus coughed weakly, and she felt the sharper burst of his breath tickle her legs. "I’m so sick. I’m withering away. I think my need for you has forced me to eat my own pleasure. I’ll be a husk if you don’t let me have you, doll." He nipped at the skin of her thigh.
She squealed as he suddenly crawled onto her lap, forcing her back against the pillows with his weight. Even with her learned flexibility, her thighs strained uncomfortably, forced out and back as he settled atop them.
Rin blinked up at him. "Hi."
Cyrus ran the tip of his nose down the length of hers, stopping when his mouth brushed her lower lip. His breath warmed her flushed cheeks. "You always smell so good, like an aphrodisiac blended just for me."
She might as well resign herself to the fact that her cheeks would constantly be flushed in the presence of her incubus Soulbond.
She shifted, and the space between her thighs, high up inside her, twinged in soreness. She must’ve made a face, because Cyrus paused atop her, hands stilling where he ran his fingers over her cloth-covered breasts.
"Sore?" he purred, not at all ashamed.
Rin placed her hand on his wrist, holding him. "Yes. You’re insatiable. You don’t need me again."
Cyrus leaned down and licked over her collarbones, his chin dragging against the neckline of her top. She shivered, and she felt herself clench in need for him—again.
It was as though he’d not just had her only an hour before, when he’d purred in her ear a command to roll onto her stomach, then slipped down her thin sleep shorts, where they’d tangled around her legs.
He hadn’t even bothered removing her shirt—or his own clothes—as he’d tugged his cock free and pushed inside her.
The angle had made her head swim and her heart flutter.
She had been rendered breathless, speckles of darkness in her eyes.
But of course, she had said nothing of it.
When he forced her into a shattering climax, following with a deep, masculine groan, she’d brushed off her bone-deep trembling as aftershocks.
Rin only just felt strength return, and now he wanted her again?
She would always want him, but her body was a strange, listless thing—it could only be pushed so far.