Chapter 53
brYLEE
When Ridge carries me into my nesting room, I gasp.
He sets me down gently, but I keep a grip on his arm because I'm utterly and completely stunned.
The ceiling is the first thing that draws my eye because it's been painted with a beautiful mural of a starry night.
Inspired by Van Gogh, but at the same time, utterly its own creation, emanating an otherworldly energy.
Then there are white wooden arches spaced along the walls, with real rose vines twining up them from planters, pink and white silken petals in full bloom.
A new comforter is on the bed, white and fluffy as a cloud.
The entire space is serene and magical and so perfect that my throat threatens to close.
Another gift from them.
Tears threaten to turn me into a fountain, but before they can burst free, Kylian barges past Ridge and scoops me up.
He spins me in a circle that turns my budding cries into laughter, which makes a smile stretch across his handsome face. When he comes to a halt, his brows rise playfully.
Then, without warning, he throws me up into the air in an arc, and I land on the massive mattress with a bounce. He prowls forward, stripping off clothes with every step until he's naked, his pristine muscles patterned with tattoos a feast for my eyes.
His dark gaze burns through me as he states, "My little obsession, I had to smell that slick dripping from your pretty pussy the entire ride home."
He grabs my ankles and pulls them apart, setting one foot to rest on his shoulder while he undoes the strap of one heel and tosses it so carelessly over his shoulder that Luka has to dodge when he enters the room.
Kylian undoes my other shoe and drops it, and my breath catches because I expect him to swoop forward and kiss me.
But instead, he keeps me in that vulnerable position, my skirt flipped up sloppily around my waist, one foot up in his hands, leg extended, and the other splayed out on the mattress so that I'm lewdly splayed open.
He turns his head, and then he licks a long, hot line up my ankle while my other men watch, and my heat, like the wanton slut she is, perks at their attention.
At the way those other sets of eyes are fixated on me and the panties that Luka tugged back on for our walk here—panties that are growing damp again.
Kylian's hands glide over my foot and massage the arch, thumbs swooping in soothing circles as he plants kisses on my ankle, before he moves down to my calf, those fingers relaxing me while his tongue stirs up trouble, darting out to taste my skin when he reaches the underside of my knee.
A soft, tingling sensation shoots down my leg and makes my breath catch.
The flat of his tongue tickles as he laps up the soft skin of my inner thigh, and my mind melts like ice cream dropped from a cone directly onto a sizzling sidewalk. Sweet, hot, sloppy feelings collect in my core, and it pulses with need.
After he hooks my well-kissed leg over his shoulder, his warm breath glides across my panties, sweeping me into a brand-new frenzy.
The covers are clenched, violently choked beneath my fingertips, when his tongue laps a line up the gusset.
Panting, I let my head fall back, marveling at the brilliant sensation.
Kylian groans, and the sound vibrates through me, making the molten heat inside me writhe like the sun, flaring out. Tiny red specks dot my vision as he sets a more frantic pace, and my hips start to rise off the mattress.
My response drives him to increase his tempo. Quicker licks. Harder and more insistent, while one of his hands sneaks around and clutches my ass cheek, tugging lightly, showcasing how well he’s learned my body. And he’s no book learner. The man puts that knowledge to good use.
When my breathing shallows into frantic little pants, Kylian slides my panties to one side.
And then his tongue glides over me, spelling out his name along my pussy, one of his favorite things to do.
His scalding confidence mixes with the slick leaking from me, and the buttery glide drives me to madness, just as he knew it would.
I love it when my men claim me.
A keening hum emanates from me, and he licks again. He laps stripes up my seam as my leg hooked over his back curls in and the one on the mattress bends so that my foot can gain leverage. I arch my back, physically pleading for more pleasure, more intensity, more of him.
Kylian answers every one of my prayers when his finger traces a path behind his tongue. His mouth captures my clit, tugging as his finger dips carefully between my folds, gliding up and down.
A furor rips through me until I'm no longer skin and bones.
I'm mist and moonlight. I dissolve into pure pleasure that floats through the atmosphere, suspended above the world, drifting through the ether.
I'm just like the swirling stars painted on the ceiling, spinning out through space, burning and blissful.
When I sink back down into myself, I blink and see Kylian smirking at me, his lips still glossy with slick.
"Fucking delicious," he mutters. "I need more."
And then he dives back down to lap lightly at me, his finger twisting, determined to work me up to another orgasm.
The bed dips next to us, and I glance over to see Colter nude and kneeling on the mattress, resembling a statue of Hercules—if the demigod had worn a skull mask. He's stroking his shaft, which is thick and long, already swollen red.
I reach for him, but he doesn't let me touch him. Instead, he stops jerking himself and leans down, one hand grabbing onto either side of my dress, triceps tightening. And then he rips it in half.
Gauzy, dreamy lust overtakes my mind as he frees me of the ripped garment and my bra. I limply submit to his manhandling with a punch-drunk smile because fucking hell, that was hot.
"Kiss me," I request.
He leans down, and his lips seal against mine as Kylian lets his tongue dive back inside.
Colter's kiss is warm and gentle, his lips brushing over my skin, his mask dragging along my cheek.
But something's wrong.
Intensity swells in my chest, but it's not the right kind. It whirls and twists like a tornado but turns dark and ominous. Tears bubble up even though both of my scent matches are being so utterly good to me.
Sadness slaps me hard, and I wrench away from Colter's kiss, an intense emotion swelling within me that even I don't understand.
Kylian pauses, head tilting as he lifts up and studies me, and the heel of my hand comes to my chest as I try to decipher the upheaval within.
In the distance, I can feel Luka and Ridge's eyes on me.
"Brylee?" Colter cups my cheek as if it's made of porcelain.
And I can see the concern in his gaze. Register it. But I can't see him.
The need to see him, all of him, is suddenly urgent. Undeniably important. Everything else is put on hold by this craving to kiss him. Not Colter with the mask. Not the Colter who hides.
My true mate.
But will he let me?
Is that too much to ask?
He hasn't taken that mask off with me the entire time I've known him. Not once. Not when we made love for the first time. Not when we came here. Never.
I was trying to wait until he offered, but the yearning to see him has transformed into a compulsion that spills through me with the force of a waterfall. It’s a barrier between us. A door. A wall. A mountain range.
And I want all barriers gone.
Need them gone.
The ache of separation wrenches through me, and it’s utterly terrifying. Because even though he’s right in front of me, my heart beats as if we’re separated by miles.
I reach toward his face, though I stop myself before I touch him, and my hand hovers in midair as my gaze flits back and forth between his eyes. "I want to see you. I'm sorry. But I need it."
The words come out apologetically, my lip trembling, my insecurity just as intense as my fixation because what if he says no?
What if my mate turns away?
Others have before.
It’s not inconceivable that he’d abandon me.
The blistering list of my own imperfections blazes through my head.
Colter stares at me for a long moment, and a terrified tear drips from my eye.
I pushed too hard. I've ruined this moment.
Ruined our future together because he'll never trust me again.
Out of the blue, I'm just demanding something because my hormones are raw and on edge.
Eight thousand worries crawl through me like insects, covering me in traumatic shivers. Eight thousand rejections.
But then Colter gives a single, solitary nod.
My lungs freeze, and I don't blink in case he changes his mind.
Slowly, he reaches up behind his head. A second later the mask falls away, and I see his face, full of pockmarks and raised lines, crisscrosses and rough patches of red skin on his cheeks. My poor alpha has been through hell and back.
Even though the sight is tragic, it brings a happy smile to my face. Because it’s him.
Really and truly him.
He’s showing me a part of himself that he won’t share with the world.
And that’s such a fucking gift.
Tears spill, and I put every ounce of gratitude I'm feeling into my tone when I say, "Thank you, love."
"It's not too…" He cuts off, hesitant to ask what I think of his face.
Fuck his face. I fucking love HIM.
"Kiss me," I order, grabbing at his forearm.
When he leans back down and seals his lips against mine, my heart leaps in a way it never has before.
His skin presses against mine as his hand wraps into my hair, twining through the strands, and I swear I can feel our souls fusing, feel that deep torment of self-loathing soothed by a connection so fiercely deep that nothing in the universe could rend it apart.
Our kissing grows deeper and more frantic as time goes on until Kylian's voice bursts through the bubble we're in.
"Now that the romance thing is all set, are we ready to get back to fucking?"