Chapter 38 #2
“Well, you two know you’re welcome here any time you want,” Viking says, reaching into his pocket with his free hand.
He tosses something small to Dean unexpectedly, who barely manages to catch it in the poor lighting, letting out a disgruntled sigh at his biker buddy.
“Key to the place. Don’t fuckin’ lose it, asshole.
Mi casa es su casa.” Viking gestures toward the gathering by the river.
“Happy Beltane. Now, let’s get this celebration started. ”
The men are mostly lounging around the fire with their beers, kicked back in lawn chairs or on the two picnic tables on either side of the clearing, talking, laughing, but mostly watching the women dance around the fire.
They’re all wearing flower crowns, and the moment Cherry spots us, she grabs one from a basket and brings it to me.
Dean winks at Cherry in greeting, before I feel his hand brush the small of my back, moving over the curve of my waist. A slow, possessive touch that says without words, I belong to him.
He must have already spotted Legion somewhere…
I smile at Dean before he splits off to help Viking restock the coolers and greet his MC brothers.
Cherry places the flower crown made from daisies and other wildflowers on my head. “ She’s here ,” she whispers.
“I figured… I guess this means they’re serious.”
“For the moment, anyway.”
“Do we like her?”
Cherry shrugs. “She’s a little standoffish. I’m still deciding.”
I chuckle. “That’s what I told Dean.”
I watch Vanna dancing just beyond the reach of the flames, that sexy sundress flaring up whenever she spins, allowing the glow of the fire to kiss those thick, smooth thighs… Her laughter rings out like a song as she adjusts the flower crown in her hair.
I’m standing a few paces back, beer nearly forgotten in my hand, just admiring the way she moves with the kind of ease that makes the world slow down.
Goddamn.
There’s something ancient about her in the firelight. Something wild and pagan-esque, a Beltane goddess come to life. Everyone is watching the women dance, but my eyes are glued to the mystical creature I somehow managed to marry.
It isn’t long before something dark beneath the awe twists in my gut…
because I know he’s watching, too, somewhere in the shadows that he always seems to gravitate into…
always beyond the edge of light. Fuckin’ Legion …
the Demon who once wanted to burn the world down is probably staring at her the same way I am.
I hate that he gets to see her like this. Wild. Free. Herself.
She catches my eye and smiles, that little smirk that says she knows exactly what she’s doing to me.
“You really have to admire it.” Legion’s rough voice materializes from the darkness, and although I knew the demonic fuck was lurking somewhere, every muscle in my body tenses.
“What?” I spare him a disdainful glance where he stands, half-lit by the fire, half-consumed by shadow, and entirely pushing every one of my buttons as he stares at her like he’s got a right to. I grind my molars hard enough to feel it in my skull.
“The fire element… Purification. Transformation. The potential it holds for creation and destruction. The hypnotic effect fire holds over us… You know, fire gazing played a role in the evolution of the human mind’s cognitive abilities.”
“Yeah, I read that in National Geographic as a kid.”
“Not all elements are a match for fire.” He takes a slow swig of his beer, flicking the ash of his cigarette with his other hand. “And the more air it gets, the harder it is to control… Air feeds fire .”
I take a swig of my own beer, deciding whether or not to toss him in the river or the fire he fucking admires so much.
“Water, on the other hand…” he goes on, naturally .
“Well…that combination is a far more precarious pairing, don’t you think?
” He pulls a slow drag and exhales the smoke in my direction, the way he used to when we hated each other openly.
“Fire either evaporates water over time, or water drowns the fire out…”
I’m water.
He’s air.
And she’s the fire we’re both orbiting.
The urge to grab him and shove him into the blaze is beginning to feel more and more like poetic justice… Then again, the fucker probably crawled out of hell… It might be satisfying to drown him in my element.
I swallow the urge with another gulp of beer, and with a parting glare to convey this not too subtle conversation is over, I turn from him to approach Vanna. I don’t get far, though, when the woman Viking calls Val steps into my path.
“Dean… I need to speak with you,” she says. Something in her eyes makes me bite back the frustration already rising.
I want nothing more than to reach Vanna in this moment, but out of respect for Viking, my best friend, my brother, and everything we’ve been through together, I force myself to pause and listen to what she has to say.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help with Jagger… I’m not proud of that time in my life…
We were never anything real to each other.
I only ever knew his road name,” she says, before glancing somewhere behind me.
Disdain eclipses her apologetic expression.
“I can’t imagine having to look at that monster every day. ”
“Did he do something to you?”
“No,” she shakes her head slowly. “Not to me… For whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you avoid this.”
“No worries, doll. What’s done is done. We know you would have given us a name if you could have.
If it makes you feel better, the former Knights we were able to track down and reach out to basically told us to go to hell.
” I wasn’t surprised by the lack of cooperation.
They not only blame me for Legion, but for the rift years ago with Shane.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I say, nodding at my wife.
“Does she know?” Val asks, sparing Vanna a glance. I instinctively know what she’s referring to.
“No. She doesn’t. And I’d like to keep it that way,” I say, firmly.
Her eyes lift to meet mine, a flicker of defiance in them. “You don’t think she has a right to know?”
“It’s not like that.”
“What is it like, then?”
“Her knowing only benefits him in the end. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to my wife.”
Frustration renewed to near max capacity, I brush past her and continue toward Vanna.
She stops dancing when she sees me coming, her laughter fading like she can already feel the anger rolling off of me.
I don’t say anything. I just reach for her hand and tug her away with me, ignoring the way the other women raise their eyebrows and knowingly smirk.
I lead my wife into the dark, away from him, toward the dock a few yards away.
“Dean?” she says softly as we walk out onto it. I turn to face her and back her up against one of the posts strung with mini lanterns, casting a barely-there glow.
I cage her with my body, hands sliding low around her hips, my forehead pressing to hers. I need her close. I need to feel her heartbeat hammering against my own. I need to remind myself, and her, exactly who we are.
“You’re mine,” I say, voice rough against her ear. “Don’t ever forget it.”
Her hands curl into my shirt, pulling me closer, and she kisses me as if she knows he said something…
I press her harder against the pole, parting her thighs with my leg as my hands slide back down to grip the curve of her hips, dragging her into me.
Her heat against my denim-clad thigh stirs my cock, and a low growl rumbles up my throat.
I kiss her harder, one hand slipping down to cup the back of her thigh, lifting her leg to hook it around my waist.
Without hesitation, she moves against me, grinding slow and needy.
My other hand gathers the fabric of her sundress, bunching it up in my fist. If I lift it just a little bit higher, I can have her right here, right now, against this damn post, under the stars and his watchful, covetous gaze, I’m sure.
In this heated moment, I don’t care if he’s watching. I need to claim her. To remind her. To remind him. To remind myself, she’s mine.
She whimpers into my mouth, hips tilting, eager, and I almost lose it, but her hands slide up my body to my face, cupping my stubbled jaw. “Dean,” she whispers against my lips, breathless but steady. “Baby, not here.”
I let her leg slide down, my hands falling away from her. But she keeps her hands on me as if she knows I need the anchor. As if she wants me to know she’s not pulling away because she doesn’t want me.
“We’ll go home soon,” she murmurs, brushing her nose playfully against mine. “We’ll have the house to ourselves, and you can show me then.”
I swallow hard and press my forehead to hers again, regaining my control. “Alright.”
She smiles and kisses me, gentle this time. “We have one ritual to complete before we get to this one .”
“A sacrifice?” I joke. “ I have someone in mind.”
She giggles. “ No… We have to jump over the fire.”
I glance past her, back at the flames still roaring high, sending sparks into the dark sky like they’ll reach the stars. “Ummm…well…”
“ When it dies down a bit ,” she adds with a hint of laughter.
I spot Legion’s dark form lingering near the outer perimeter of the orange glow. Watching. Fuck him. Let him keep watching all the ways she belongs to me.
Y ou know you’re hurting when it doesn’t get your dick hard anymore…
It just churns a pain in your chest where once all you felt was a hollow chill…
He knew I was watching them. Watching his hands roam her body, possessive and reverent…
It’s funny to think back on a time I would have gutted her like a doe, ripped her insides out right in front of his face, just to break him as thoroughly as possible.
Now, I dream of experiencing her insides in a completely different way…