Chapter 3 #2
“And you believe Cole won’t?” I start biting at the skin around my thumb before I realise what I’m doing. “We’ll have to take it slow. If it doesn’t work out this time, I promised Cole we’d become the Praised again.”
“Saya,” he growls.
I close the gap between us, our noses touching, and whisper, “We can’t keep doing this. We’re getting weaker. I’m getting weaker. But if I can get us back into the praised room, I’ll be strong enough to give it another go in a year.”
“A fucking year? Saya, you won’t last another fucking month!” He cradles my face. Calloused thumbs trace delicate paths along my cheekbones. “My priority is to get you the hell out of here—even if you’re kicking, screaming, and hating me every step of the way.”
“And Cole,” I add.
He smiles. “And Cole.”
“Don’t lie to me, Jax. My bunk buddy before Emily told everyone he cared for my brother, only to treat him differently behind my back.
He thought I was asleep while he sat on my brother’s bed and told him he should die to make room for someone who could bleed.
” My eyes narrow, and I look at Jax with a deadly gaze when I say, “When Jamie went back to sleep, I pressed a pillow to his face and suffocated him. Manni held him down for me. In the morning, we told the Bleeder he wasn’t feeling well.
Since we were Praised, they believed us. ”
Jax’s expression doesn’t change, and he runs his thumb along my cheekbone. “You’re very protective, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Which brings me to this,” I continue. “If it comes down to saving my life or Cole’s, you save my brother. If you don’t, there will be no us.”
He leans in and kisses my forehead. “Alright. If I can’t save both of you, I’ll save Cole.”
“Good.”
With a deep sigh, Jax presses his erection against me and says, “You’re so fucking attractive when you’re firm with me.”
This man says the strangest things. There must be something wrong with him, but perhaps there is something wrong with us both, because I can’t hold in my smirk.
“You said the same thing after I slammed my tray into your face when we first met.”
“You definitely left an impression on me,” he says.
I brush my lips against his, teasing him enough that his hands begin to wander. I do enjoy when they roam. Between my legs, he rubs my soaked knickers.
A sharp breath escapes him when he realises how wet I am. Jax’s mouth moves with mine, and he slides my wet underwear to the side with practised fingers. He strokes my slit, sucking in a breath to hide his moan as his fingers slicken.
As our bodies entwine, my thoughts linger on the day we met. When every day is the same in Darkovish, the arrival of someone new was bound to turn heads.
He had arrived after we donated blood. Walked straight into the mess hall as if he had been there before, grabbed his meal, and then looked around for a place to sit.
Laura told everyone in earshot she wanted him. New faces always sparked a buzz of excitement, like they were shiny new toys.
“He’s a pretty boy,” Manni said as she cuddled up to Vinny. Her meal was gone, and her tanned skin looked a bit paler. She had donated double blood for Cole that day, even after I told her I’d do it.
“Kinda has that ‘clean cut’ vibe going for him,” Emily agreed as she turned back around in her seat. “He’s got nothing on Dan, though.”
Dan cleared his throat and his cheeks flushed a rosy red.
Yet, I was curious. It wasn’t every day we encountered someone who commanded attention. Someone who seemed like he could tell the moon to “fuck off” and it would listen. Or someone so attractive.
He strolled past the rows of tables, and Laura tried to wave him over.
But he didn’t stop. He continued past her table without so much as a glance in her direction.
Strangely, his attention was on us. Our group was the smallest, as so few bothered to befriend Cole, and I cared little for fake niceties.
Before we could introduce ourselves, he sat down and said, “Do any of you want to escape?”
I’d blinked, bewildered.
Manni and Vinny glanced at the nearby Bleeders, worried we had been overheard, and Emily choked on her dry bread.
He hadn’t looked like he was joking. There was determination in his eyes and a calm expression on his face. I found him interesting.
I found him curious.
“Escape this place? They’ve got it locked down so bloody tight not even a fart can get out,” Dan said.
He shrugged. “I’ll figure it out in a week.” He was cocky. Smug. Electric.
“A week?” Emily spluttered, gesturing to her injured ankle. “If there’s any running, we can’t go.”
Without batting an eyelid, he said, “Then we ditch her, and the rest of us go. No use bringing dead weight.”
He was fucking dangerous.
My fingers twitched, and before I knew what I was doing, I pushed out of my chair and whacked my tray against the side of his fucking face.
Jax apologised not long after that first encounter. He’d said sorry enough times for me to be here now with my mouth wrapped around his cock like he was my favourite popsicle. I try not to bite him, and though I have to be careful, I am aware enough of my fangs to keep them away from his skin.
“Fuck,” he moans at the suction sounds as I take him further in. “Deeper—yeah, like that, Saya. Keep going. Don’t—”
“Bro,” A voice cuts through our lust. Jax pulls the sheet down, and I breathe in air not filled with cock. “I enjoy free porn, but this corny shit in the lead-up makes me soft.”
Jax lets out a sharp sigh, snags the pillow from under his head, and hurls it onto the bunk below. “Shut the fuck up, Dan!”
I crawl up Jax’s body and try to kiss him, but he dodges my mouth and murmurs, “I’m nearly there. Just one more minute.”
The sheet slips back over my head, and I return to tasting all things Jax.