12. Chapter 12 - Layrin
Chapter 12
“ H ere is where you got this wrong.”
Closing my eyes for the barest of seconds, I soaked in his scent as Rion leaned forward from behind me. I was in fucking trouble.
It had been like this for the past week. We would come down here, and he would teach me something. I’d learned about the history and daily workings of Foedus, as well as the political climates they controlled around the world. Next week, we were going to work on some programs and systems.
Even with all that to occupy me, my mind kept drifting. Roux had awakened something inside of me. and I was finding it hard not to think about the boys. The tension between Rion and I was thick and heavy, making it distracting.
The looks across the room, the small touches along my spine, every movement of his body as he sat at his desk. It was getting worse with each day. The clean bergamot and lavender scent with just a pinch of citrus enveloped the space, capturing my full attention. I licked my lips and caught myself leaning toward him to get a stronger whiff.
I could hear Cin in the back of my head. Fuck him. Fuck his brains out and get him out of your system.
Shaking my head, I tried to ignore those thoughts, tried to remind myself why I was supposed to take it slow, keeping them at arm's length until I could work out my feeling, but my resolve was waning. I kept stealing glances at his ass every time I could. Something about those slacks he wore just made it look tight and tempting. Like I wanted to take a bite.
Today, I learned more about each of the families and studied pictures of them, including the children. They would all be at the gala, and that made me nervous. I was going to be hanging out with these people soon. These were the people that were going to be a part of my life for a very long time.
When I saw the Ricci family photos, I smiled. I already knew Cinzia, Elio, and Luca, but it was interesting to see their older siblings, Milo and Raz. Apparently, Raz had just graduated, while Milo had the year before. Rion grumbled about how the Ricci family had the most children out of the six major families and all of them were obnoxious.
I kept it to myself that I kind of liked the Riccis. They weren't as bad as the guys made them out to be. Sure, they had drugged me and kidnapped me, but… It was hard to be mad about all that when Cin had consistently helped me along the way. Also, I felt like they did a lot of things they didn't want to do because of their mother. Now, her , I had mixed feelings about.
“So, I’ll meet all of these people at the gala, right?” Looking over sheet after sheet of pictures and information, it all felt overwhelming.
“Yes, though it's more important that you know about the heads of each family. You can learn more about the rest of the families later if it's too hard.” His dismissive tone got on my nerves, and the pages crinkled in my hands as I gripped them tightly.
“I can get it.” My jaw was already sore from the strain, but I forced the words out through clenched teeth.
Like he was oblivious to my feelings, or maybe he just didn't care, he continued writing on the board. “Good. We need to move on.”
I didn’t know why it was at this point that my emotions ran wild. Frustration reared its ugly head. I was disappointed in myself and how long I was taking to retain this information. The worst of it was how extremely infuriated I was by his ability to work with me while acting like nothing fazed him, while I was having a hard time. Maybe all those glances and sexually charged touches were just in my head?
I thought back to the words he’d spoken weeks before, remembering the true joy on his face when I came back unharmed from the council meeting. All of that pointed toward his care for me. Hell, even before I got kidnapped, I had seen his drawer with all the videos, documents, and moments he kept about me. I would dare to say he had been infatuated with me, but lately, his attitude said the infatuation had passed.
If his feelings for me were so paltry, so easy to get over, why had he created a false scholarship to get me here? Why did he even start anything with me? “Maybe it was just a ‘love her and leave her’ thing. Prick.”
I realized too late that I had said that out loud. I snapped my mouth shut, biting on the inside of my cheek so hard that I tasted blood, praying he hadn’t heard it. As if I could ever be so lucky. When he paused, slowly turning around to glare at me, I knew my bad luck had won out yet again.
“Love her and leave her? Prick ? What kind of backward ass thoughts are running through your head?” His whole body moved with a stiffness that wasn't there before, and his twitching eye and strained smile showed that he was finally bothered by something.
I didn’t know if it was that stupid fake smile or the fact that he’d called my thoughts ‘backward ass,’ but my lips flew faster than my brain could think. “Yes, you!” I shot up, stomping around my table to get in his face. “You sit here and tell me all these nice things, try to gain my trust again, to make me feel something for you, just so you can manipulate me into doing what you want. You guys don’t love me. You just want to control me!” Crossing my arms and sticking my chin out, I dared him to say something different.
He straightened up, his eyes burning with something I couldn't put my finger on, but it caused my stomach to flip. Before me, his body began to tremble, and when a tight cackle left his mouth, the whole room felt like a tornado was about to be set off.
Oh shit, what did I do?
“Love?” His head tilted to the side as his eyes darkened on me. “This isn't love .” His short, clipped tone had my eyes widening, and I thought my heart was about to stop.
They didn’t love me?
He sauntered forward, his body moving with the grace of a cat and the raw power of a lion, until he pushed me, making me step back. I bumped into the table and barely managed to keep myself balanced.
“Love is about sacrifice, Layrin. It's a give and take between equal partners.” His hand rose, gently lifting a lock of my hair. “It's sweet and precious.” He closed his eyes, bending forward as he took a deep, loud inhale. He moaned before his eyes opened into slits, watching me like he wanted to devour me. “Love is nothing compared to how we feel about you.” A violent, malicious aura pulsed from him as he leaned into me, but somehow, I wasn’t afraid.
“We want to consume you, devour your soul, lay claim to every cell in this body.” With a feather-light touch, his fingers traveled down the column of my throat, and I gulped. “We want to chain you to us so that you can never leave.” His eyes took on a crazed look as he tilted his head down, resting his forehead on mine as he stared into my soul.
“We want to ravage every scrap of skin this body holds. We want to tap into your bloodstream, sink into your DNA, and completely possess you. We want to steal your light and give you our darkness. We want your mind to be only on us, just as much as you had taken over ours all those years ago. Love?” He let out a dark chuckle, and a brilliant green surfaced in his eyes. The conviction in his tone caused my heart to flash a warning sign in my head.
“You are the sun, the moon, and the air that we breathe. You are the goddess that controls our universe, a divine being with shiny sinful rays that us demons thirst to covet, and now we’re addicted. There’s no cure for what we feel for you. We need to have more. Have it all.” His hands roamed my body, just the lightest of touches, but the feel of him marking me seared my skin, branding me as his.
“No.” He chuckled, the sound inky and menacing. “Love doesn't begin to touch the pure unadulterated obsession we have for you.” He breathed me in deeply, like he was savoring every note.
“You're an obsession that will never stop. Your hold on us has only increased with time.” He slid his hands into my hair, cupping the back of my head, and his lips were a hair's breadth away from mine when he whispered, “You are our drug, our poison, our life-saving cure.” His hand tightened in my hair, his low, slow words a threat as well as a vow. “From this day forward, we will never be far from you, whether you like it or not.”
My lungs tightened, making it hard to breathe as our chests touched. My lips parted for only a second, but that was all it took for him to drive in and devour me in an all-consuming kiss. His hands gripped my body, one weaving its fingers through my hair to control my head as he pressed into me like he had been holding back a tidal wave. Unable to think straight, all I could feel was his other hand gripping my hips as he ground himself against me.
Why did he have this pull over me? He and his brothers planned to manipulate and lie to me, so why did his kiss feel… everlasting? Why did his hands warm my skin and excite me? I want him, all of him. All of them. I want their attention to never drift from me.
What the hell was I thinking? My shaky hands lifted to his chest, fingertips curled in preparation to shove him away. I needed to shove him away.
No. I need him closer. Tighter. I want their boundless need for me. I’ve finally found my persons, the ones who will never leave.
My hands suddenly relaxed, sliding up his chest to lazily curl around his neck. His lips broke away from mine, and I gasped for air. “Love her and leave her, what an absolutely ludicrous idea.” His words sounded more and more like a sweet threat.
He tipped my head backward, searching my face for something until his normally thin-lined mouth curled upward. What did he find? “I think this calls for a punishment, something that will show you how serious we are about you. How we crave you much more than you could ever imagine.”
“W-w-what about training?” I looked around, giving my half-hearted attempt to stay here and work a shot. Who knew what I’d do if he continued down this road. The new side of me that was seduced by their thirst for me was starting to win out against the logic I’d cultivated all my life.
His hand collared my neck, the tips of his fingers turning my head back to him. “That can wait. This is more important. You are always more important.” His words carefully crafted like they always were, but the tone behind them was deeper, more controlled.
I blinked, then his lips were back on mine, languidly tasting and teasing me with his tongue. Even with the change of pace, it felt like he was caressing pleasure out of me. The build-up was so slow and steady that I didn't notice how excited I’d gotten until I was choking myself against his hand, desperately trying to get closer. His body was steady as a rock, completely controlled.
“You like that, my Rin.”
I nodded, and he chuckled when my hands reached for more.
He grabbed my neck more forcefully, pushing me back until I hit the table, never taking his eyes off me. “I can show you so much more, Rin.” His body nestled between my thighs. “I can have you begging me for so much more.” He leaned forward, his lips whispering along the shell of my ear as his fingers added pressure to my neck. “So let go, Rin, and just feel. Respond. React. Lose yourself to my worship of you.”
A shiver worked its way down my back, but the war within me was being won by the side that craved their particular attention. I relaxed, letting him know I wasn’t going to fight him. In fact, I was going to do what he’d said. Licking my lips, I dared him. “Show me.”
With lightning fast reflexes, he snatched at something, a flash of silver all I saw as I inhaled. He raised a brow at me as he positioned his arm downward. I closed my eyes and gulped as the cool metal trailed up my thigh.
My pulse thumped harder, and I began to breathe out of my mouth as I concentrated on the cool razor-thin path he was blazing along my body. It inched higher and higher, my inhales and exhales became pants as my breathing got shallow. The idea of not knowing what was going to happen next was exhilarating.
I jerked when the metal lifted, almost moaning in sadness before something sharp swiped up my hip bone. Too late, my ears registered the sound of fabric being cut. A loud thud sounded, and I turned to look. A pair of sharp metal scissors stood up straight, the tips embedded into the wooden desk.
Circling around to ask him why he’d just ruined his desk, I was met with my shirtless dark knight. His eyes laced with unquenched hunger, he held my panties up to his face and took a long, deep whiff. My pulse skipped a beat. Where was my studious, rigid man? The one that stood before me now looked like he’d found an oasis in the desert.
He kept his eyes on me, his gaze drilling into me as he lifted each leg and put it over his shoulders. “Do you trust me, my paramour?”
“Yes and no,” I answered honestly, and he paused for a second before using two fingers to walk his way to my center. One finger swiped at my center, and I took a sharp inhale. Just his few touches had made my nerves going haywire.
He did it again, with two fingers this time, collecting my wetness. A soft moan escaped, and his head snapped back to me, his eyes watching me, caressing me in fascination. “Let’s change that answer, shall we?”
Before I could say a word, he knelt down, flattened his tongue, and took a long, skillful lick. Beneath his lashes, he watched me squirm, his infectious smile grew with every movement and each sound that slipped from my lips. His eyes never left me, catching my reactions as he tested out his skills.
My toes curled when he circled his lips around my clit and sucked as two fingers sunk into my pussy. “Oh god, Rion. Fuck.” His fingers went faster the more I talked.
“Yes. Yes, fuck .” My back bowed as he curled his fingers and hit that sensitive spot inside. My thighs began to shake, and my breathing became ragged. Biting my lip as he was working me up to go over into oblivion. His tongue flicked over my clit, switching from hard flicks to soft, languid ones.
Feeling my orgasm build, I panted his name. “Rion. Oh, Rion. Fuck. Rion.” The pleasure coursing through my body had me feeling almost high, and I dug my heels into his back to keep his face close.
I could’ve been embarrassed by the wet sounds he was causing, but the pleasure was so hot and fast I only wanted more. I was at the point that I really didn't care what was going on as long as he never stopped. I just wanted to come.
As soon as I felt his tongue mix with his fingers, making me wider and wetter, my orgasm knocked at the door. I just needed a little push to shove me into oblivion.
My eyes snapped open when a finger poked at my ass, and I looked down at him. His eyes were still on mine as I lifted up to my elbows. Before I could say anything, he raised his head and smiled, my juices running down his chin. “Hold on.” That was all the warning he gave before he dove into me like he was eating his last supper. It was all getting to be too much when he pushed that dripping wet digit past the ring of muscle.
His mouth went back to my clit while his fingers fucked both of my holes, and my head fell back as I screamed his name, coming all over his fingers.
He made sure to keep a steady pace even when my walls clenched around his digits, not wanting to let them go. His fingers fucked me through one more orgasm, and when I was starting to come down from that high, he licked and sucked at my already sensitive clit.
My lower half jerked when he smacked his lips, my mind in la la land and my body lost in the aftershocks of my orgasm. I didn't realize what he was doing until I heard a squirt. I didn't need to wonder for long before he shoved something small, wet, and long up my ass.
“What the—” I made a move to get up, but he was right there, kissing me with that sinful mouth as he rubbed my clit. The fight was draining out of me by the second… until I felt a vibration thrumming in my ass.
His kiss grew fervent as the vibrations changed speeds. When he hit the fastest speed, my head fell back, and I cried out, “Not fair.”
He chuckled along my neck, kissing down to the valley between my breasts. “I told you this would be a punishment.”
I wasn’t sure what was so bad about this, but I didn't mind it as long as he was touching me. At least that was what I thought until he stood up, removing himself from me completely as he backed up a few steps.
It didn't take me long to get up and glare at him. “Get back over—”
“I think we need a few drinks. Don’t you?”
My mouth dropped open as I looked at my disheveled clothes, the tent in his pants and his oddly wide smile. What the fuck?
He stepped forward and gave me a peck on the cheek. “I don’t ever want you to think we will leave you again, so the punishment is to go like this to the coffee shop down the street and pick up something for us. I don't care what it is, just something, then come back here, and we can… finish. Does that sound fair?”
“No, it doesn't,” I immediately answered with my hands on my hips. He laughed, a full belly laugh, as he grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs, out the door, and into the garage. My whole body was still in shock over my orgasm, my release still dripping down my thighs.
He opened the door and motioned for me to get in. My numb, sex-addled brain got stuck, and I asked, “Do you have a napkin? I need to clean up.” I looked around for a second before I yelped as he lifted one leg and licked up my thigh, cleaning me up while also getting me going again.
Once he was finished, he stood up, my eyes half open before swaying towards him, about to tell him I’d learned my lesson and needed him to fuck me in this garage. He picked me up and put me in the car, turning it on for me. He turned the AC all the way up until my mind woke up, screeching that it was too cold.
He shut the door, grinning at me. “Remember, once you get back, we can finish. I’m counting on you.”
Something was up. Now that I was coming down from the high, that seemed even more obvious. “And you're going to let me go out alone?” I raised an eyebrow, and he waved his phone at me.
“You're never alone. Don’t worry. It will take five minutes. That's it. Then the punishment is over.”
I still wasn't working with all cylinders firing, but I knew how to drive like the back of my hand. When he opened the garage, I decided to make sure to hurry back, I was looking forward to “finishing” what we started.
When I glanced at him in the rearview mirror, he was already tapping away on his phone. I would bet a hundred bucks he was hacking into some satellites to keep an eye on me… and it felt good.
I felt safe.
I still couldn't believe I was doing this. Halfway down the road, I was this close to turning around and telling him to fuck off. How the hell had I gotten myself in this situation?
It had to be those intense eyes… or that steadfast devotion… or that fucking magical tongue of his. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had almost turned around when I saw the fucking coffee shop and realized that I wouldn’t mind getting myself a chai latte. Maybe a muffin? It was going on his damn black card, so I didn't care. Maybe I should buy everyone in the shop something?
Daydreaming about all the havoc I could cause, I parked the car. I smoothed down my skirt and adjusted my shirt, making sure I didn’t look like I’d just gotten fucked, then got out of the car.
Opening the door, I smiled at the earthy, bitter smell that could soothe any soul and got in line. It wasn't terribly long, but I still had to wait. I had taken out my phone, about to click on a game app when a familiar vibration came from behind.
Holy fuck! I’d forgotten about the vibrating ass dildo!
Now, his request made sense. This was revenge for my words, and Rion was the best at the slow and embarrassing kind of vengeance. Sure, I had put a dent in his chainmail, but this was crazy.
The vibrating stopped, and I almost blew out a sigh of relief. This line needed to go faster. Like now.
When I finally got to the counter, he had already turned it on three times, and I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. I was not about to moan out in the middle of a coffee shop.
Placing my order with the barista, I paid and went straight to the bathroom without giving the barista’s wanting eyes a second glance.
I was going to pull this damn thing out, and that was that.
Luck must’ve been on my side because I checked the two stalls in the bathroom and found them empty. Just as I turned around, the door opened, shut, and the lock was engaged. Why the fuck would someone lock it?
I ran out of the stall, right into Ravi’s waiting arms.