Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
Valentine’s Day
LORELEI
I don’t want to move.
“Good morning,” Phenex murmurs in my ear. His chest is pressed against my back, and my body is humming with happiness. “You have twenty minutes before you have to get moving.”
“I’m so comfortable and still sleepy,” I sigh.
Samael smirks as he lays next to me, playing with one of my curls.
“You’re cute when you’re like this,” he murmurs. “I actually slept a few hours. I rarely do, but my body has this wonderful way of resetting when I’m with you.”
“I’m glad,” I say. I can tell when he doesn’t sleep. It’s harder for me to close my eyes if he’s awake, but he’ll play with my hair and rub my head until I’m able to.
I love the way he loves me. I just haven’t been able to say it back. I don’t know why outside of the words terrifying me. There’s so many unknowns in the world, and I don’t want him to get hurt.
If I can’t find my last scent match, then I don’t think I’ll be able to bear being the reason I drag them down into a senseless sleep with me. I’m armed and dangerous with knowledge, most of it which feels heavy and upsetting.
“Deep breath for me,” Phenex murmurs against the shell of my ear. “No freaking out.”
“I think we should bond,” Samael says a moment later, making my eyes widen. “There are a few reasons for this. One is purely selfish. I want to be tied to you forever. I’ve also been doing some research, and I’ve read that if you’re bonded to several very strong monsters, it could increase your lifespan. It may be why the fortune teller was so adamant that you find your scent matches by your twenty-first birthday.”
He’s in the library almost as often as I am, researching ancient texts under the guise of a secret project. As a demon as old as he is, no one will question that.
“I’m enjoying the selfish reasons,” I tease him. The other half of his justification takes my breath away, and I can feel the hot prick of tears behind my eyes.
I don’t want to start the day with swollen buttholes for eyes, so I’m begging my tear ducts to chill out.
Samael’s fingers tangle in my hair as he kisses me, and Phenex’s hand moves between my legs to stroke my clit. Dark chuckles greet my whimper, and he sucks hard on the sensitive skin of my neck.
“What kind of monster would I be if I didn’t give my mate an orgasm before class on Valentine’s Day?” he asks.
I honestly thought they’d forgotten. I need to learn that they’re a lot more aware than I give them credit for.
My back bends as Phenex sinks two fingers deep inside my pussy, his thumb continuing his delicious torture as it rubs my clit. There’s nowhere for me to go to escape since I’m caught between them, and I really don’t want to either.
“Orgasms should always be on the table,” Samael murmurs, moving down to wrap his lips around my nipple and suck. He manages to use just enough teeth that I have to heed its danger. I force myself to stay still as I whimper and moan, and Phenex’s fingers begin to curl inside of me to hit my g-spot.
There’s something to be said about long fingers that can hit just the right spot.
“Agreed,” I whine, slicking all over Phenex’s fingers.
“Come for me so I can feed you,” he says with a smirk as he captures my lips.
Together, they push me over the edge, grinning as I come with a cry. Phenex pumps his fingers inside my cunt, dragging out my release before pulling them out and pushing them into his mouth to suck them clean. Shivering because I know he’s tasting me straight from the source, I gasp as Samael picks me up and strides toward the bathroom.
“While Phenex cooks you breakfast, I’ll enjoy my taste,” he says with a grin.
God, I really could get used to this.
My day is going incredibly well, right up until I walk into rehearsal. I can hear Professor Dalca tearing apart someone’s performance, asking them to stop and start again. Surprisingly, it’s one of his theater students who doesn’t seem bothered by it.
“Yes, sir,” he says. “From the top?”
“Let’s try it again when Terrence walks in on Lola cheating on him,” Professor Dalca says. “I need to hear the anger in your voice, alright?”
Still standing, he seems to glare at the student as he begins again, laser focused as he watches. Maybe that’s just his voice, but I’m unused to someone yelling at me like that. I cannot imagine having him as my professor.
Dropping my bag on a chair, I sit down as I wait for my turn. In the meantime, I begin studying my music, singing it in my head to make sure it’s memorized. Unfortunately, the way I hear it and the way Professor Dalca will want it sung are two different things.
The monster has a vision, and this musical is full of angst. There are also some very funny moments when a couple kisses, but almost knock each other out instead. It’s apparently a musical that Professor Dalca wrote, which means it’s a project that he has a large stake in.
I expect that seeing it come to life means that things have to be done to perfection. The creative process is just going to be painful for everyone involved, though.
“He’s one of the best professors I’ve ever had,” a girl says, leaning forward to speak to me. Dalca is working on another piece of the song with the student, and completely engrossed. “Are you a theater student?”
“I’m just a stand in,” I whisper, not wanting to draw attention to myself.
“Professor Dalca should have been a theater director,” she explains. “He insists that he would rather help others achieve their dreams, because it’s what makes him happy. The larger picture is what allows him to feel successful.”
“Really?” I ask, forcing myself not to squeak. I didn’t really see him like that. I would have thought that he’d enjoy being in the limelight.
“Mmhmm,” she says. “I’m Rinalda by the way. Just know that his tone isn’t a direct reflection of his mood. He always sounds like a dick.”
My lips twitch in amusement as I nod, going back to reviewing my music.
“Miss Rose!” Professor Dalca yells. “It’s so nice to see that you’ve graced us with your presence. Please join us on stage.”
Holding back an annoyed sigh, I glance at Rinalda to see she has an odd look on her face.
“On second thought,” she mutters, “he may actually not like you.”
Fucking perfect. Standing, I walk up the stairs to the stage, armed with my music sheets.
“Do you know your music?” he asks, his hand motioning to the paper in my hand.
“I do,” I reply. “Consider these a security blanket in case I mess up.”
“I have no doubt that you’ll fuck this up. That’s the point of rehearsals,” Professor Dalca says with a snort. “Go place them on the table over there and let’s see how fucked we are.”
Lips pursed, I do as he demands before returning to the front of the stage.
“Let’s hear ‘A Little Mistake’ and Harry will sing with you,” Professor Dalca says.
Harry raises his brow because this is the first time we’re rehearsing this together, but nods regardless. I suppose there’s few monsters or humans who will deny the professor what he wants.
The pianist begins the introduction, and I listen, counting the notes in my head before I begin. I did some more internet stalking of my own on the professor recently, and found that he is typically in charge of the orchestra for a lot of the performances that occur around campus.
He is also very involved with the theater side of things, and always leads at least one musical production a year. It explains why I rarely saw him when I lived in the dorms.
Professor Dalca allows Harry and I to get one-third of the way through the song before stopping us. Many of the changes are on harmonizing, and we practice over and over until we hit it correctly. Harry grins at me as it happens, because it’s obvious when it rings true.
“Yes!” Dalca yells, motioning for us to continue. As we finish the song, he nods. “That’s it. Take a break and we’ll move on in five.”
Desperately needing water, I walk backstage to find the water cooler located there. Leaning over to fill a plastic cup, I feel the whoosh of air before my body jerks with pain and shocking pleasure too.
Something whipped my fucking clit! I’m dressed in a cute long sleeved red and black dress with thigh high suspender tights. However, I’m actually wearing a triple layer of panties today and I still felt the slap.
Spilling the water in the cup, I whip around, smoothing the back of my dress as I look to see who’s near me. My chest is heaving from shock and pain that’s becoming little shivers of pleasure. I’m so fucking confused about what’s happening to my body.
Did I like that? Fuck, who was it?
A few feet away, Professor Dalca is speaking with a group of students, his tail twitching behind him as if he’s agitated. In my experience, he’s always in that state. There are students all around me, but there’s no way to know who could have spanked my clit.
Hand shaking from adrenaline, I drink what’s left of my water in the cup, and then toss it in the garbage. Wanting to get away from the amount of people backstage, I begin to head back to the stage.
Typically, I wouldn’t like such a wide open space, but I think I prefer it to this.
It takes me a second to get myself under control, and then Professor Dalca is back, yelling at us to get into our spots. Allowing me to lose myself to the music is easy, but unfortunately, my clit still throbs. It’s such an odd feeling, not knowing who did this.
Should I be concerned? One of my scent matches is out there, somewhere, but I can’t smell anything other than the lightest scent of chicory in the room. I can’t tell where it’s coming from, yet instead of panic, I’m turned on.
I think I’m broken still from the orgasms this morning. Yes, multiple, since Samael gave me one in the shower as well.
Another grueling hour of rehearsals passes, with various people working on the scene. It’s really intense with multiple singers and dancers. The dancers are working off to the side as they practice, and I pretend they’re not there so I’m not distracted.
I’m beginning to lose my focus as I start to get tired. Ugh, I’m going to need to make myself a cup of coffee when I get home. I still have a shift at the club to survive.
“That’s it for this group, you’re dismissed!” Professor Dalca says. There’s another set of students that are coming into the theater, and they’re going to take our place.
The level of passion and stamina this teacher has is unbelievable.
Blowing out a breath, I start walking toward the stairs. Except, somehow, everyone went the opposite direction, and Professor Dalca’s heavy footsteps are behind me.
“Lorelei,” he growls, making me fucking whimper. God, I’m not supposed to do that in public.
Glancing over my shoulder as he pushes into my bubble of personal space with his hand on my waist, I twist so that my back hits the wall instead of my face,
Would pepper spraying my teacher be considered overkill?
He’s not doing anything, yet, just staring at me. The stairs are to my right, but they may as well be a million miles away as I’m pulled into his nearly black gaze.
“I see you moved out,” he murmurs. “Are you also responsible for Adares’ mental breakdown?”
“Do I look as if I could be responsible for that?” I ask, brow raised. Samael told me all about it, and then showed me the report that he’ll be kept for an indeterminate amount of time in the psychiatric ward. I think Adares deserved all of it. “I’m just a human.”
“Yeah, I have some doubts about the ‘just’ part. I don’t have the highest view of humans, but even I have to admit there’s something about you,” he says.
Something slides up my leg making me gasp as I look up at him.
“Are you touching me?” I ask, trying to sound aghast. Instead, my voice comes out breathy and surprised.
His thumb slides up my throat before his hand is holding my chin tightly.
“I am now,” he teases me. I can see every freckle on his face in the harsh spotlight next to us, yet we’re still drenched in the gloomy darkness outside of it. “Breaking monsters, causing obsession, what is it about you?”
God, that has to be his tail. Something lightly brushes my panty covered pussy underneath my dress, and I gasp in a breath. Fuck, is that chicory? It’s there and gone, and I can’t tell anymore.
My mind feels as if it’s melting and his forehead furrows as he drops his head to drag his nose up my throat.
“Please,” I gasp, unsure what I’m asking for.
“What’s wrong with your panties?” he asks. “I should just shred them and call it a day, huh?”
He’s unrelenting as he presses the flat side of the end of his tail over my sensitive bud. I shouldn’t be able to feel him so well through the layers I’m wearing. I’m scared I’m perfuming, fuck, I have to go.
My mind is racing, thoughts tumbling over each other in a chaotic state.
Is he capable of shredding my panties with his tail? Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You smell really good, and this is inappropriate, but I can’t fucking help it,” he groans, dragging his tongue over my skin.
My skin is covered in goosebumps, my body still primed after he slapped my clit. I’ve been in a state of arousal for the past hour. I shouldn’t come, in fact I begin trying to close my legs, but his giant hoof gets shoved between my feet.
“I don’t fucking think so,” he grunts, lifting a leg with a few fingers into the air so there’s no way for me to stop the rolling sensations of pleasure. “You’re going to come for me, aren’t you? I don’t care if you hate me for this, I can’t change what I need.”
“What do you need?” I whine, my eyelashes fluttering as I get closer. I can hear and feel my panties tearing, all three layers, and then his tail is vibrating as it presses flat against my pussy. “Ahhhh.”
“Shhh. Be a good girl and come quietly, or I’ll be forced to silence you,” he murmurs. “Three fucking pairs of panties. That seems a bit extreme. You smell like heaven. That’s it. You’re almost there. I want you to be as obsessed with me as I am with you.”
“But… Oh my God,” I whisper. Something inside of me desperately wants to be good for him. I don’t know why, but I do.
My eyes roll back as I come, slick pushing out of my pussy. I must be making a mess of his tail, and I don’t know how I’m going to make it home at this rate. I’ll probably have to call Samael to come get me.
Yet, for the moment, all I can think about is how good he smells, and I don’t know how I didn’t know he was my match before this. It’s not until I’m twitching against the wall, coming back to myself, that I remember that he fucking violated my space.
Before I can stop myself, I backhand him across the face.
“Lorelei!” Samael yells from the theater, and I smirk as I press against the wall and raise my leg on the ground to shove at Professor Dalca’s body.
He appears surprised as he releases me, and my legs drop to the ground.
“Never touch me again,” I hiss, fixing my dress.
Smirking, he lifts the tip of his tail to his mouth and sucks on it. I can see his fangs as they peek out as well. Sometimes, when he’s talking quickly, he’ll lisp a little, and I have to tell myself that it’s not cute. No, all of this is disturbing and disrespectful.
I hate it.
“You broke into my room. That’s why I moved out,” I spit out, tossing my hair over my shoulder. “You forced my hand.”
“I can’t wait to see what else you get mad about,” he says with a bark of laughter. “You’re stuck in this production because I want to see you more. Seems like you’re not going to get your way, Sweet Girl.”
Sucking on his tail one last time, he releases it and strides back on stage, despite his raging hard-on. The bastard doesn’t seem to care. Fuck my life.
“Lorelei!” Samael yells again, forcing me to race down the stairs.
Dammit, I need to get out of here. Samael already has my bag in his hand, and I grab his hand and tug him into motion.
“I’m here, sorry. Keep moving,” I whisper harshly.
Breathing in as he walks, his eyes widen. “We are not walking through campus like this. Take a left out the doors and I’ll take us home. What the fuck happened?” he asks.
As I follow his directions, his hands wrap around me and I answer him just before he mists away.
“Bast Dalca is my last scent match,” I whisper.
“ Fucker ,” I hear in my mind. Phenex was fully listening through the bond. The monster is full of tricks too.
They definitely keep things interesting.
PHENEX
While Lorelei is at work, I’m going through the items that Samael brought back from her dorm. She said that she didn’t know if she should keep any of it, because Dalca was very smug about his break-in.
Samael and Alecto sit across from each other as they pull things out of the wagon, putting them in the keep and wash pile or toss.
“Bast Dalca, huh?” Alecto asks, shaking his head as he gazes at the ziplocked bag with a sweater inside of it. “Where did you find this, Samael?”
“Her nest,” he grunts. “Fucker threw it on top of her blankets where she slept in the closet. I wonder how Lorelei hasn’t noticed his scent when she’s been around him more often.”
“My guess is scent blockers,” I reply. “If she smelled anything, it would be a hint of his scent and she might not have been able to figure out who it was coming from.”
“She seems to attract stalkers,” Alecto mutters. “Are we putting this in the ‘keep and don’t wash’ pile for her heat? I’m hoping he gets his head out of his ass by then, but it’s Bast fucking Dalca that we’re talking about.”
“He’d argue with a stone for the theatrical value of it,” I grunt with a smirk. “God, he’s really terrible. I can’t believe he made her come at the theater.”
“Fucker could get her killed,” Samael mutters. “Someone please tell me that I can give him the same treatment I gave Adares.”
“Probably not, but a monster can dream,” Alecto says with a grin. “Alright, did this lotion go bad? It’s not the right color.”
There’s a yellow film and it appears as if it’s separating as he holds up the glass bottle.
“Do you think he did something to it?” I ask, grimacing. “I hate her descenting lotion with a passion. It tastes awful.”
“You’re not supposed to eat it!” Alecto and Samael yell, shaking their heads as I roll my eyes.
“I don’t want to taste it on her skin. Ugh, I really need to know what’s wrong with this lotion,” I groan.
“I’ll take it to one of the research labs and do some tests,” Alecto says with a shrug. “I’m more than a pretty face.”
“I don’t know about pretty,” I tease him, picking up a fraying curtain. “She’s been getting by with so little for a long time, guys.”
“I’m going to gently break the death of Bertie to her tonight after work,” Samael says, wincing.
“I was going to pay for her repairs,” Alecto confesses. “The mechanic was horrified and said that the car was too far gone. She’s going to be really unhappy about that.”
“Which is why I’m going to also tell her that the car she’s been driving around is her Valentine’s Day present,” Samael says. “Is that too big of a present?”
Alecto glances over his shoulder at the roses he brought her, sighing. “I mean, it might be? Lorelei has gotten used to being alone and having to fend for herself,” he says. “I hope she accepts it.”
“Bertie is toast, and we can’t change that,” I say. “I know she gets attached to things. She’s driven a lot between the three universities she’s been at, plus driving to get here. That all takes a toll on a vehicle. This needs to be tossed.”
Handing the curtain over to Samael to throw away, I pick up what appears to be a pair of jeans. She packed quickly, and not all of her clothing made it over here. Tossing it in the wash pile, I keep going through things.
“She really didn’t want to go through this?” Alecto asks, picking up a metal buckle corset belt.
“Keep. Definitely keep. Even if she only wears it when riding my dick,” I say, staring at it.
Samael thumps me over the head with the jeans he has in his hand, making me chuckle.
“I don’t even know how you’d wear that thing in public,” I laugh. “She has her own style, that’s for damn sure.”
“It’s very confusing to look at,” Alecto agrees, creating another pile.
“To answer your question, she said she didn’t want to think about Bast pawing through her things,” I say. “I think Lorelei may be having conflicting feelings about him.”
“Well I don’t blame her on that,” Alecto says. “However, she once mentioned that if she’d really wanted to get me away from her, she had the tools to do it.”
“Her knife,” Samael grunts just as I mutter, “Pepper spray.”
Snorting, Alecto adds, “Well, I rest my case.”
He’s right, God only knows what our little omega must be thinking.