Chapter 27 Sacrifice
SACRIFICE
ASH
Before Ezra could say anything, I’d cleared the living room and bolted up the stairs two at a time. I rounded the corner, pushed open her bedroom door, and stepped inside.
Empty.
Cyn and Zeke closed in behind me, forced awake by her scream.
“Where is she?” Zeke asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Rae? Where are you?” I stepped farther into the bedroom, and that’s when I saw her.
Sitting naked and dripping water all over the floor in the open doorway of her bathroom, she stared at me with wide eyes.
“Shit.” I looked away and herded Zeke and Cyn into the hall. “She’s fine.”
Cyn scowled. “Why’d she scream?”
“Don’t know, but she’s…”
“She’s what?” Zeke peered over my shoulder. “Is she hurt?”
“No. She’s… naked.”
Both of them looked at me in surprise, and I shrugged.
“I don’t have time for this,” Cyn mumbled, stalking back into the other bedroom, scratching his stomach over his shirt.
Zeke hesitated, his gaze darting from Rae’s bedroom to Cyn.
“She’ll be fine. I’ll check on her.”
He nodded, following Cyn into the room and closing the door. I didn’t know why they slept in so long, but it wasn’t for me to ask.
I entered Rae’s bedroom, stepping into view, keeping my back to her. “Are you okay?”
“Um. No?”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re gonna laugh at me,” she said, her voice small with embarrassment.
I softened my voice. “Promise I won’t.”
“There’s a palmetto bug in the shower. It flew at me, and I fell trying to get out.”
“A palmetto bug? I don’t think I’ve heard of those.”
“Ever hear of cockroaches?”
I nodded, though she couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I know those.”
“Palmetto bugs are really big cockroaches.” When I didn’t say anything, she rushed to add, “I don’t have a roach infestation or anything! I’m clean.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
“I am!”
“I believe you.”
I’d seen how tidily she kept her home. Even Zeke was influenced by her routine. I hoped when we returned to Elyrdin, he’d take those new habits with him. He wasn’t known for his organizational skills.
“Is it still in there?”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled.
“Do you want me to check?”
“Would you?”
“Of course.” I turned and held a hand in front of my eyes. “Covered up?”
“Um, hang on.”
She suddenly squealed, flapping her hand wildly, then tossed the towel and rushed out of the bathroom.
“What happened?”
“It was on the towel rack!”
I tried not to laugh—I really did.
“You’re an asshole!” She shoved me.
I doubled over, laughing until my lungs burned.
“You done yet?”
I drew a deep breath and straightened to my full height, looking down at her.
I’d seen her in a pair of panties before in dim lamplight, but never fully bared to me.
My gaze climbed her tanned legs, pausing at the ink on her thigh before moving higher.
I didn’t linger on the fine dusting of hair at the apex of her thighs.
Instead, my eyes traced the lines of her toned stomach to her full breasts, framed by wet waves cascading over her shoulders.
My gaze caught on the gleam of metal piercing both nipples.
When her arms came up to shield her breasts from my view, her hands gripping her biceps in a protective gesture, my head jerked up, and I met her vulnerable stare.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, ashamed of how long I leered at her like a pervert.
Her body was a work of art, but I had no right to it.
Turning from her, I marched into the bathroom, picked up the discarded towel from the floor, and shook it out. Seeing no bugs, I brought it back into the bedroom and extended it to her, keeping my eyes trained on the bedside lamp.
She pulled the towel out of my hand. After a minute, she said, “You can look now.”
I turned to find her staring at me in wonder, wrapped in the towel.
“You really wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”
My lips parted. “What? Why would I ever hurt you?”
She shook her head. “I’m still coming to terms with the whole ‘not all infernals are bad’ mentality.” She ran her hand over her bare arm.
“What made you say that?”
She looked up at me. “What?”
“Hurting you.”
“Oh. Because I was standing here naked, and the way you looked at me…”
“The way I looked at you?”
She bit the edge of her lower lip, glancing away. “Like you wanted me.” She scoffed. “It was a stupid thought. I’m sorry. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
I stepped forward and captured her chin with the side of my index finger and thumb, turning her face up.
Her breath hitched. “Don’t misunderstand me.
” I smoothed the pad of my thumb across her lower lip.
“If you think I don’t desire every inch of you, you’re mistaken.
” I lowered my hand. “But I have no right to look at you in such a vulnerable state when you haven’t invited it. ”
“Haven’t invited it?”
“Yes,” I whispered, taking her hands in mine. “If you feel you need to hide yourself from my eyes, then I have no right to ask for more.”
She swallowed, and her fingers curled around my hands. “You want me though?”
She sounded so unsure it shook me.
What had this woman endured to feel unworthy of someone who didn’t intend to harm her? Her soft voice carried vulnerability and disbelief. I felt her insecurity through my very being. That she’d need to ask…
“If only you could feel what you do to me.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head.
“No, don’t do that,” she said, squeezing my hands. “Please?”
I pulled her to me, hugging her around the shoulders. When she gasped, I knew she felt my erection pressing against her. “Does that answer your question?”
She nodded against my chest, her hands gripping my T-shirt over my back.
“Are you afraid of me now?”
“No,” she whispered.
“I won’t hurt you. I want you, but I am capable of restraint.”
She released me, stepping back when I didn’t stop her. Her gaze trailed down until it stopped at the front of my jeans. My cock pulsed under her stare.
“I’ll let you get ready,” I said, knowing I needed to get out of the room before I went against my own words. Before I could move away, she took my arm. I looked down at her hand, then at her face in question.
She untucked her towel and let it fall to the floor, never breaking eye contact as she guided my hand to her breast.
When I massaged her soft skin, her heart pounded beneath my palm.
Her other hand dropped as I took both breasts in my hands, caressing them. She moaned when my thumbs traced her peaked nipples, grazing her piercings.
I lowered to the edge of the bed and pulled her in by the hips, holding her gaze captive as I leaned forward and dragged the flat of my tongue over her nipple.
When her head tipped back, I flicked the piercing with the tip of my tongue before pulling the tightened bud into my mouth, sucking at her sweet flesh.
“Ash,” she whispered, her hands coming up to tangle in my long hair.
I didn’t ignore her other breast, teasing her nipple with one hand while gripping her backside with the other.
Her scent permeated the air—a delicious fruity rose scent with an edge of something tart and savory beneath it. It took too long for my brain to realize I smelled her arousal.
I pulled away and looked up at her. I needed to know. I couldn’t keep my distance any longer.
Keeping one hand on her backside, I slid the other up the inside of her thigh until I neared my destination. When I met her eyes again, I swallowed hard as she nodded, widening her stance, granting me silent permission.
I slid my fingers through her damp heat; her scent thickened around me. When I pulled away, she made a sound of protest.
“Patience, beautiful.”
She gasped when I spun her around and lowered her to the bed, dropping to my knees on the floor.
I kissed along the soft skin of her inner thigh, working my way higher.
I gripped her hips, pulled her closer to my face at the edge of the bed, and lifted her thighs to my shoulders before burying my face into the heat between her legs, dragging my tongue from her entrance to her clit with one long swipe.
She bucked.
I pinned her belly with one hand and threaded my fingers through hers with the other.
Her flavor rivaled her scent in the room. Another mark in the growing confusion surrounding my connection to her.
The ability to scent a partner’s arousal was unique to a Nyrith bond. I didn’t believe humans could scent each other the same way. Was this another trick by whoever manipulated our meeting? I didn’t care. Not when I had Rae’s essence on my tongue.
She squirmed when I latched onto her clit. Her whimper when I released her hand and used my fingers to tease her entrance with agonizing slowness made my cock leak.
I lifted my head and waited for her to look at me. With her half-dried, tousled hair, she looked beautiful.
“Has another man touched you inside?”
Her eyes widened, and her cheeks darkened further. “Yes. Why are you asking that?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She laid her head back on the bed and laughed. “I told you I wasn’t inexperienced. I’ve had sex before. I’m not a virgin, Ash.”
I hated hearing about her intimacy with another man, but she was a grown woman. I didn’t expect her to think I hadn’t slept with a woman at twenty-six. Her shyness was deceptive, but I liked knowing I wouldn’t hurt her.
I returned to swirling my tongue around her clit and slid a finger inside her—then another when her back arched with a throaty moan.
I groaned against her when her inner muscles fluttered around my fingers.
“Ash, I’m gonna…”
I hummed against her center, allowing the sound to vibrate against her flesh. “Do it,” I growled. “Let me feel how you’ll squeeze me.”
When I latched onto her clit hard with a tight suction, curling my fingers inside her, she shattered, clawing the bedding. I licked her in slow, gentle motions as she came down from the high of her climax, until her hips stilled.
I tugged off my shirt and cloaked her body with mine.
Her hands mapped my chest and abs, and I closed my eyes, savoring her delicate touch. “What’s this?”