33. Salem
Chapter thirty-three
Knox and I stay in bed. I lie against him as he listens, as I tell him everything. Opening up is something I never thought I would do with another person. There is something about him that makes me feel like I need to. The words flow easily off my tongue; I thought there would be hesitation, but there is none as I tell him things I thought would be difficult. I don’t know if it’s the mate bond that makes it so easy. Perhaps it’s the fact that a god pulled us both into a dream reality, and he didn’t run for the hills screaming. If anything, it seems like I had his attention.
Nothing is off the table as I talk about life in prison—everything from the experiments and fighting to how I found the imperfection in my cell, which led to 203, and how we kept each other going. Without 203, I wouldn’t be here. We spoke about me dying and coming back and about meeting Constantine. Knox only listens and asks follow-up questions before allowing me to continue with my story.
When it’s finished, we lie here looking at each other. He watches me while I watch him. Knox is handsome, yet not how I usually think of handsome. He looks dangerous. A wildness about him makes you almost question how unpredictable he might be. When I look at him, I see how he leans toward violence and anger. Yet, he asks intelligent questions, and his touch is delicate. His dark eyebrows highlight his dark red eyes, which seem to have a lighter ring of orange smoke clouding around his pupil. The dark beard that is neatly trimmed makes him look even more rugged and dangerous. My hands want to keep exploring him.
We lay in bed naked, and I feel exposed in a way that I never have felt before. It feels like he can see my soul. Yet, I feel at peace. He feels he will be my rock and protector and hold me together if I break. He will be my protector while I am vulnerable. I roll him onto his back before sitting up and leaning over him slightly. “How do you feel about all of this?” Part of me feels terrible because nobody would probably want to sign up for this.
The corner of his mouth turns upward slightly. “It’s a lot. I’m still trying to absorb everything.” His voice is deep yet smooth.
My bottom lip catches between my teeth. “I know.” My head shakes, and a mixture of anger and sadness forms inside. In what world did I deserve this man before me? “If not for those last experiments, maybe this could have been avoided. My beast wouldn’t have forced this upon you. You could live your life differently. Maybe with someone normal.”
Knox sits up, his body tensing, and shakes his head. He pulls me closer, and I straddle his lap, sitting chest to chest. His hand grips my neck and places my forehead against his. His eyes seem to have a fire in them as they look into mine. “Listen to me, mate. You were always supposed to be mine. Even if you didn’t have a creature inside, maybe she would have emerged after I bit and claimed you as mine.” I lick my lip at the mention of him biting me. He lets a deep rumble of a laugh out. “You like that, don’t you? Being mine?”
“Yes,” I say, almost breathless, as I feel him harden from underneath me. The feel of him makes me nearly moan, with the promise of pleasure on the horizon.
“Some people search their whole life and never find their mate. Never downplay what we are to each other. It’s special, just like you are. You survived when others would have given up. That even your death awoke something I thought was only a myth.”
He pulls my mouth to him, and I sink into the kiss, causing me to let out a moan. My moan allows his tongue to have access to my mouth, and he doesn’t disappoint as he owns the kiss. It might consume me, and I would gladly allow him to. He slides his hands down my back before cupping my ass. Adjusting me so he can run my pussy along his hardening length. His eyes become brighter as his beast sits close to the surface. “You’re mine. I’m yours. That’s all I need to know for my world to make sense.”
He kisses my neck before sucking where my neck meets my shoulders. “Right here.” His teeth tease me as he gently runs them over that spot. “This is where my mark will be. I want everyone to know you’re mine when they see you. There will be no questioning that you are mated and mine.” His palm smacks my ass, causing me to arch up against him. “My animal and I need to hear you say it. Acknowledge us to the universe as yours in both forms. Fae and beast, we are yours.”
I moan as he says the words that practically short-circuit my system. I am so wet right now that I should be embarrassed. However, all I feel is pride as my beast moves forward. My teeth ache as they sharpen. I kiss the left side of his neck, wanting my mark to be seen. Our mark needs to be out for everyone to see as well. Every part of me wants to possess him. “Yes, mate. You’re ours, and we belong to you.”
“Do you want me, mate? Tell me what you want.” He sounds like he is on the edge of losing control, which is precisely how I am feeling. I want that control that he holds onto to snap. My hands grip his shoulders, fingernails gripping into his flesh as I bite onto my bottom lip.
My hips rock against him once more. “I want every part of you. Can you feel how wet I am for you?” I move my hips backward, wanting to see me glisten on his cock. He is so hard under me, and I need to see his cock before I sink into it. Once the idea forms, it’s all I can think about. “I want your cock inside of me.” Moving back, I grasp his cock in my hand, causing him to suck in a breath. My hand runs down before back up his shaft and circles the head of his cock. I scoot back off of his lap before bending forward, sticking my ass up in the air as I lick the pre-cum off the top. A moan escapes as I move down his shaft, taking him as far as I can. There is still more to go, but I have to work up to it. Until then, I add my fist to stroke as I continue to suck him into my mouth. His cock is worth worshiping as I work him, and his hands in my hair give me all the courage to continue.
He releases a deep growl as I hit the back of my throat. “This isn’t where I want to cum. Not when I still want to know what you want, mate.”
When I pull back, I look up at him. His eyes are hooded. I love that I am the object of his desires. It’s making me feel powerful with how turned on he is by watching me worship his cock. “What do I want? I want to fuck you, bite you, claim you so the world knows you’re mine. Before biting you and drinking down your blood, that seems to sing to me like a siren’s call. Does that sound okay to you?” My eyebrow arches in almost a dare.
His hand spanks my ass before they grip me, flipping me onto my back. Knox’s powerful hands grip my legs, pulling them right where he wants them. He kisses one ankle and the other as he pulls them onto his shoulders. Knox’s eyes darken as he smirks down at me spread before him. His lips leave a trail of kisses down my thighs. He looks up into my eyes. They watch me as he lowers his mouth to my center. His tongue runs up my slit and circles my clit before pulling back and blowing cool air across my clit. “I want every piece of you that you offer me.” His eyes harden on me, and his jaw tightens. “Others will join, but I have doubts they will feel what I feel for you. I will show you everything about me is yours. My blood and body are both yours.” He bends back down before his mouth descends on me, using his tongue to fuck me. “Mmmm, Let’s get this pussy nice and wet for me to slide inside.” His voice is deep, and I can feel his words vibrate off as he fucks me with two of his fingers, curling them inside of me and hitting the spot that has my breath hitching. Running his tongue up and latching on to my clit, my thighs’ grip his head, and my fingers grasp him by his dark locks.
I feel as if I am short-circuiting from everything. My hips thrust further into his fingers, with his mouth along with his tongue, sucking and licking my clit. I come undone under his mouth, and my orgasm crashes down, having me almost speaking in tongues. He doesn’t stop until my pussy stops contracting against his fingers. Knox removes his fingers and brings them to his mouth, licking off my release. His hands reach under my back, supporting me as he drags me to the end of the bed. My legs are still over his shoulders as he runs the head of his cock up and down. He pushes the head inside, and he groans. “I want to watch as I feed this greedy pussy my cock, inch by inch. Because fuck, you feel good.” He bites his bottom lip as he pushes his length deeper inside. He pulls part of the way back before pushing back in. “This is the hottest thing I think I’ve ever seen. You take my cock so well.” His tongue reaches out and licks his lips. The man is a Hellhound, and his cock stretches me in the best way. “Damn.” His eyes look up at me with a slight alarm. “Being with your mate earns your dick a new accessory.”
“Did I put a ring on it or something?” Yeah, I am being a smartass, but how can he even think right now? My brain only wants him to fuck me, yet he continues to tease me a little at a time. I thrust my hips, trying to get more to slide in. He swats my ass.
“You will be a good girl and take what I give you. Trust me, it’s for your own good.” He is almost completely in when I feel something. The left side of his mouth quirks up along with his eyebrow. “You feel that baby?” I can only nod as something seems to almost grind against my clit. He isn’t entirely in as he pulls back and moves faster as he fucks me. “You want me to knot you, baby?”
“Yes, but first, fuck me,” I demand it because I want him so badly. There is an orgasm on the horizon, and I need it.
He swats my ass but continues to do as I ask of him. His cock curves perfectly, hitting the spot inside while tweaking my clit between his fingers. “You going to bite me when I knot you? Claiming me as yours?”
His words tease me and turn me on more than I already am. My teeth sharpen with the need to do exactly what he asks. The need to bite him is driving me insane, along with the promise of orgasms. His abs flex with his thrusts, and the knot at the end of his cock hits the spot that has me scrambling as it tries to sink inside. “Yes! Bite me.” I know he wants me to bite him, but I can’t even think.
“When I move, wrap your arms around me.” I nod to him, willing to do whatever he asks. He bends forward as he pulls me against his hips, his knot inflating more, locking us in place. I am acting out of instinct as my arms wrap around his neck, pulling my chest to rest against his chest with him as he thrusts inside. I come hard as I have never felt so full. Remembering my promise, I bite him. When I do, it feels like my orgasm intensifies. His blood sends me into overdrive. He spins, sitting down on the bed, holding me tight as I feel him empty himself inside of me.
As my teeth withdraw, he bites down on my neck, claiming me like he said he would. It feels like an invisible cord is linking us together. Holy fuck . I hear his voice enter my mind, and my eyes widen.
He smiles at me knowingly. “Pretty cool. Mates are rare, but I am excited that it works. However, you have to project something for the other person.”
“It’s so crazy. Until a few months ago, I never thought I would need to know anything about shifters.” I lean up and kiss him before pulling away and laughing.
“I know so much about shifters, especially rare ones. Let me teach you about being a shifter and how good we can be together.”
“You knew I was a Midnight Beast. Do you have information about my beast?”
“I know some. I love information and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of others. Been collecting information about you before I met you.”
I roll my eyes at him and groan. “Don’t believe everything they say about me.”
He grabs me by my chin and looks at me. “You are my mate. Even if everything they say about you is true, it doesn’t matter. Let them talk. You and I are against the world if we need it to be. Fuck them, they don’t matter.” He wraps his arms around my back, pulling me closer to him. I feel tiny in his arms and love the fact that I am currently straddling him as we are locked together.
“Are you trying to sweet talk me into getting me into bed? I say your chances are pretty good.” I laugh as he slightly lifts my hips and shoves me back down. However, my laughter stops when I feel the room go slightly cold before a stumble of movement. I don’t have time to react other than grip Knox tighter to me.
“What the fuck? I am sorry.” Constantine appears and covers his eyes. “Your shadows reached out, and I’ve been on high alert. For fuck’s sake, put some clothes on.” He turns around, not to look our way.
Knox reacts while I feel dumbfounded. He leans back, grabbing a blanket on the bed, throwing it around my shoulders before tucking it around him. “It’s safe to turn around, but I’m stuck at the moment. For the record, this wasn’t how I wanted to meet my mate’s father.”
“Mate? I guess that means I don’t have to make some weird, threatening move here...” His eyebrow quirks up at me as he pauses and looks at my face. “…unless that’s something you want me to do?” He motions with his pointer fingers between the two of us. “I’m new at this dad thing.”
“No, he is good. But maybe we can have a knocking policy in the future?” This isn’t the first time I have suggested this. Maybe this time, he will listen. I wrinkle my nose, feeling odd about being knotted to my mate when your dad converses with you. “Also, I told my shadows 24 hours. Has it already been 24?”
“Someone gave Ember your bag. She called me, and we panicked because, well, let’s admit it: it’s fucking you. There is usually always something happening.” He throws his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t think you were going to be shacked up with…” He pauses and tilts his head at us. “…what are you? I am trying not to breathe to smell my daughter’s sex air, or else I would know. Not shaming you for fucking in your fuck shack; I fully support you. No details, please.”
The door opens, and Ember stands there, holding my bag of books. Her hardened face softens when she sees me safely inside. Then her eyes widened on Knox before giving me a smirk. “Oh fuck! Wow! You move fast.”
I groan, and my cheeks redden with embarrassment. My forehead leans on Knox instinctually. I close my eyes and inhale his scent, letting it calm me. This is a new feeling of wanting to lean on someone, and I’m not exactly loving the feeling. Things like this take time, and I feel we are in overdrive because of how fast this is going. When I look back to Ember, I still roll my eyes, trying to be the normal Salem and not this mated version of myself. When I think I finally have a grip on myself, I change again. “Yes, please come in and join in this weirdness. Because why not?” I groan, and my cheeks redden with embarrassment. “Knox, this is my best friend, Ember. Ember, this is Knox.” I want to say he is my mate, but the word feels weird still in my mouth.
There is no use denying my need for him, so I give in and bury my face in Knox’s chest. This whole thing is embarrassing, probably mostly because of my dad having a conversation with me while Knox’s cock is still inside of me. Constantine is incredible, but there are some things I don’t think he needs to see. Then Ember is staring at me in awe and disbelief. “ I am so sorry this is happening currently. He is trying his best, and I didn’t want him to ever see someone balls deep inside me.” I tell Knox, using our new link to each other. His beast growls inside my head, probably not liking that I referred to him as someone.
“Hellhound, you can call me Knox.” He smirks at me before winking, steadying himself. The man has charisma, remains in control, and has a level of confidence that doesn’t waver. This helps with knot shrinkage.
Constantine claps his hands together. “Alright, Hellhound is going on the family tree. I am going to go.” He points to me and then the door. “Let me know when you want to do the dream thing. Ember, trust me when I say this. Come back later.”
He shoos Ember out the door. Her hand shoots out and grabs the door frame, peaking over the side of the door as he continues to push her outwards. “Call me because I need details!” Her hand goes off the door, and I hear her griping at Constantine. “Fine, I am going, Shadow Daddy, ugh.”
The door closes, and I cannot hear anything else. I want to tell Constantine about the dream thing, but I want Knox’s dick to not be inside of me for that conversation. I think we will both be more comfortable with that conversation then. Both Knox’s and I’s bodies relax against each other. I lean into him and close my eyes, listening to his heartbeat. At that exact time, Knox’s knot deflates, and cum leaks down between us.
“Very happy that it seems to have waited until after your father left.” I cannot help the laugh that escapes, and I agree with that.