Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
“ETHEREAL” BY TXMY, FREYA RIDINGS
LUNA
After Thorn places a kiss on my lips and heads downstairs to make me porridge—the cheeky fucker—Blade and Chase help me out of the bed like I can’t possibly do it on my own.
“I can walk, you know? Been doing it my whole life actually,” I snap when Blade sweeps me up into his strong arms and heads towards my room.
“Don’t care,” he grunts out, and I see we’re back to his limited speech setting. Huffing, I rest my head on his pec, not willing to admit how tired I’m actually starting to feel and how nice it is to be cared for.
I guess there’s a kind of freedom in what they’re offering, aka to take control of things for me. There’s a lifting of the burden that I wasn’t even aware I was carrying. We enter my room, Chase in front of us, back in those damn sweatpants, and the guys head straight to my bathroom.
I watch as Chase walks up to the shower, reaching in and turning it on, testing the temperature and adjusting it until he seems satisfied.
It makes my chest ache, the care he takes over the simple task, and I find a lump forming in my throat as Blade sets me down, turning me in his arms, keeping his hands on my hips.
“While Blade helps you in the shower, I’m going to take a look at your meds, make sure they’re organized and devise a daily monitoring program, plus a list of non-negotiables for the staff,” Chase tells me softly, coming to stand in front of me and tucking a curl behind my ear.
“Non-negotiables?” I ask, my voice quiet, the noise of the shower a soothing backdrop.
“Mostly infection prevention. No fresh flowers or plants in the house at all, strict handwashing and food safety protocols. No raw foods. Fresh fruit must be thoroughly washed and peeled.” His green eyes trace my features, and for the first time, I notice the gold flecks in his irises that make them sparkle.
“Oh, and no sick visitors under any circumstances. Everyone will have their temperature checked before being allowed entry.”
“And the daily monitoring?” I question in a whisper, a little overwhelmed by the thought that he’s already given my care.
“Temperature checks, daily weight monitoring, fluid intake tracking, and medication adherence logs,” he answers, his fingers still playing with my hair, his eyes cataloguing every reaction on my face.
Whereas before it felt cold, assessing, and like he found me wanting, now I see the way he’s making notes for future reference.
To compare in meticulous detail to ensure my health has not deteriorated.
“Thank you, Chase,” I breathe out, my hands coming up and pressing against the skin of his chest. He’s so warm, so solid that I have to physically stop myself from curling into him.
“Thank you for letting me take care of you, Star,” he replies just as softly, dipping his head and brushing his lips lightly against mine.
A shuddering exhale falls between our mouths, and I don’t know who made it, but then the space between us disappears as he kisses me like I’m the answer to every question he’s ever had. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, desperate for everything he’s currently offering.
Thorn’s kiss was lightness personified, like what I imagine rolling around in a cloud would feel like. Giddy, silly, and so comforting you want to cry.
Chase’s kiss is entirely different. It’s calculated destruction.
It’s the precision of a scalpel, of a blade honed to deliver a blow that you don’t feel until your heart stops.
I lose myself in it, in the way his tongue caresses mine like no one ever has before.
Like I’m beyond precious to him. Like his life would be less if I weren’t there to kiss, to share it with.
And I don’t know how to process that. Well, my head doesn’t. My heart, my soul, tells me this is what we’ve survived this long for, to feel this.
The kiss slows, then stops, and I make a small whimper sound as he pulls away. His kiss-swollen lips lift in a smile that feels so rare it’s blinding, and the gold in his eyes burns so bright it almost hurts to look at.
“I’ll see you soon, Star,” he whispers, not moving for a moment, drinking me in with those gold-flecked eyes before he takes a reluctant step back, my arms falling to my sides, and then he turns and heads back into my bedroom.
“Shower, Goldilocks,” Blade orders, his words a whispered command in my ear that sends shivers over my naked body, because of course they didn’t let me get dressed before we left the den.
“Will you join me?” I ask softly, steam filling the room. A growl vibrates down my back from his chest.
“If I join you, I fuck you,” he states, his grip on my hips becoming punishing. I hope it bruises. I want his marks on my skin to remember him by every time I look in the mirror.
“I thought I agreed to let you all have me when and where you like?” I lick my dry lips, holding my breath as I wait for his answer.
His chest expands with his inhale, then his hands leave my hips before I feel him pushing down his sweatpants, his hot, hard cock practically slapping me on the ass as he frees it.
“Get in.” It’s a command said so low that I feel it more than hear it, and his hands land back on my hips as he all but pushes me the few steps into the shower.
A small sigh falls from my lips as the perfectly hot water hits my skin, easing my muscles, which I hadn’t even realized were tense.
An inked-up arm reaches in front of me, grabbing hold of my moonflower shower gel.
Keeping his body pressed against mine, Blade squeezes some in the palm of his hand.
Setting the shower gel back, I tremble with anticipation as he rubs both large palms together, lathering up until scented bubbles fill his hands.
With a care that belies his size and general grumpiness, he washes me, starting at my arms, working his way up them, massaging all the tension from my muscles. I squeal when he reaches my armpits.
“Ticklish, Princess?” he questions, his deep voice full of laughter as he moves his fingers again, and I giggle.
“I surrender!” I yelp, and he stops, bringing his lips right next to my ear, his front still pressed to my back.
“You already did, Goldilocks,” he purrs, sliding his hands from my armpits to my collarbone.
His fingers trail around my breasts, causing my breath to hitch and my nipples to pebble as he touches me slowly. A deep moan parts my lips, my head falling back onto his shoulder when he finally makes contact with my sensitive buds, teasing and pulling them.
“Could you come from nipple play alone, I wonder,” he muses, his lips trailing a path down the side of my neck.
I gasp when he sucks, the sensation rushing straight to my core as he keeps up his assault on my nipples, like he has a point to prove. He nibbles and sucks at the skin of my neck, whispering the filthiest things in between each brush of his lips, each swipe of his tongue.
“You’re my special, good girl, aren’t you, Princess? So ready and ripe for your brother to ruin. So desperate for my cock that you’ll come just from this, won’t you, baby?”
“Fuck—Yes!” I gasp, hardly registering what I’m saying as my climax hits me from out of nowhere, ruining me just like he promised. I really do seem to have a step-sibling kink, and right now, I don’t give a shit.
He keeps playing with my breasts, sucking my neck until I come down from my orgasm, panting and hardly able to stand on my own.
“Good fucking girl,” he whispers, planting a soft kiss on my cheek as he encourages me to straighten up so he can keep washing me.
“Aren’t you—” I stop, a blush stealing over my cheeks before the words can leave my mouth.
“Going to fuck you now?” he asks, grabbing the shower gel and adding more to his hands. “No. I think your poor abused pussy needs some recovery time, Princess.” He chuckles when my lips form into a pout.
Narrowing my eyes, I grab the bottle out of his hand before he can put it back.
“But your dick doesn’t need any more recovery time, does it, brother?” I ask in a salty tone, squirting some of the liquid in my hand, then placing the bottle back on the shelf and spinning to face him.
“Goldi—” he doesn’t get to finish as I wrap my hand around his hard length. “Fuck…”
My breath stutters at the same time his does.
Watching his eyelashes flutter and his jaw clench is some kind of turn-on.
I lick my lips as I dart my gaze down to my hand, which looks so fucking small wrapped around his massive dick.
How the fuck I managed to get that inside me, I’ll never know, but I’m enraptured as I glide my hand up and down his shaft, his abs clenching with each move.
“Does that feel good, big brother?” I ask, and a deep growl rumbles from his chest, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“Naughty. Fucking. Goldilocks,” he pants, and I look back up at his face, his eyes hooded as he watches me pleasure him.
“Will you come all over me, Blade? Will you rub it into my skin like you just did with the shower gel?” I don’t know where the words are coming from, but I’m suddenly desperate for him to do just that. Mark my skin with his release.
“Fuuuuck,” he groans, his head dropping back on his shoulders as his dick gets even harder. My core pulses with heat, even as it stings from our activities earlier.
“Please, Blade, brother. I need you all over me. Marking me as yours,” I beg, almost ready to come again from watching this giant of a man come undone at my touch.
It appears he agrees, because with the deepest, manliest groan I’ve ever heard, his entire body tenses, his dick pulsing as it jerks and spasms in my hand.
White cum, hotter than the water cascading down behind me, shoots out of his tip, landing on my skin, and I swear I have a mini orgasm at the feel of it.
“Shit, Princess,” he rasps, his large palm coming up and sliding over his cum as more spills from him, rubbing it into my skin. He massages it in, like he wants it to go deep into my epidermis, to become a part of me.
I moan and pant, but don’t stop pumping him until every last drop is wrung from him and covering my body. We’re both panting by the time my hand falls from him, our chests heaving as he uses his free hand to tip up my chin so that I’m staring into his mesmerizing, dark green eyes.
He doesn’t speak, doesn’t utter a word, just drops his lips over mine to steal my very soul.
Blade’s kiss is savage destruction, bulldozing through any wall, any boundary I might have, and demanding it all.
I can’t breathe, can’t think, and can only submit to him, knowing that he’ll catch me when I fall.
My skin tingles all over when his lips finally release me, my eyelids fluttering as my body sags. Strong arms wrap around me, Blade pulling me into his body, and I lay my ear against his chest, letting his steady heartbeat ground me.
“How can we go from what we were to this?” I ask, my voice little more than a breath, but his chest hitches in acknowledgement of my words.
“I will spend the rest of my life making amends for the way I treated you, Goldilocks,” he rumbles, and I pull back, just enough so I can look into those eyes again. The skin around them is tight, a haunted look in them telling me just how remorseful he is.
“The rest of your life?” My heartbeat thrashes inside my chest, his words layered with a meaning that feels life-altering.
His palm comes up, cupping my cheek and pulling my face up as he dips his head down until our foreheads are touching. My eyes close, and I let myself feel his warmth, his closeness.
“The rest of our lives, which will be long, Princess,” he whispers, and that fucking lump is back, choking me as I try to swallow past it. “For now, let me start by finishing taking care of you, and then we can feed you.”
“Okay,” I whisper, not knowing what else to say.
This is crazy. It’s far too soon for him to be making statements like that… and for me to accept them. Never mind the practicalities of our parents—who are fucking married—finding out about this new turn in our relationship. Then there’s the question of how much time I really have left.
With a shuddering breath, I let all of that go for now, his lips brushing against mine before he steps away, and I blink my eyes open to find him once again with soapy hands.
Blade washes me like I might break, taking exquisite care to dance his strong fingers across every inch of my skin until I’m tingling once more. He shuts the shower off once he’s finished, getting out and wrapping a towel around his waist before he encases me in a huge, fluffy pink towel.
Once he’s satisfied that I’m dry, he takes me back into my room, sitting me down in front of my dressing table and picking up my brush.
My breath catches as he carefully brushes my damp hair, placing a kiss on the top of my head before he helps me up once more and takes me to the bed, where a man’s T-shirt waits, along with some soft socks.
“No underwear, shorts, or pj bottoms?” I ask, one brow raised.
“No.” His answer is short and to the point, and I giggle, earning a lip twitch that is almost a smile. I’ll take it.