38. Nora
38
Nora
M y heart hadn’t stopped its thunderous beat the entire way to the ledge between towns. I’d actually done it. I’d sent them a clear message: Mess with my people again, and suffer the consequences.
Evenita had led me to the moment I’d been dreaming of. It was apparent now that the stolen cargo and kidnappings were performed by the same group, unless multiple factions were using a ghost ship to transport their goods. Doubtful.
I lost all care that Evenita knew my intentions and secrets, especially since she was willing to help. In front of Chol, she expressed that she knew how important it was that my identity remained a secret. I was grateful to her for that, and now even more so for this. The joints between my knuckles still throbbed, but every swell of pain only served as evidence that we’d come this far. And I was proud of it.
By the time my legs carried me up the steep slope of the hillside, they burned, but it didn’t ease my adrenaline. No, my energy levels were still swirling, still rising. I’d brought us here in probably my fastest time yet, my body still thrumming. I reached the top of the ledge, jumping up and down and shaking out my wrists.
I blew out a large breath, making my mask round in front of me. “We found them. We actually confronted them,” I said in partial disbelief.
Chol finally slugged up the hillside with noticeably less energy. “We did.” He was satisfied too, I could hear it in his softened voice.
“Can you believe it? He tried to act all innocent. We broke him! He ended up confessing!” I continued my relentless jabbering now that we had the space and safety to do so. My feet carried me in small, repetitive circles.
“He did.” I could hear Chol’s smile under that mask.
He hadn’t hesitated for a moment as I’d raced from the shore. I’d never had someone have my back that way, unquestioning support. I guess I’d never needed anyone else to hold a sword to a man’s throat before. Gods, he’d done that for me. An unbreakable team, steadfast, together.
“Do you think you can look into the stolen weapons? Maybe find another lead as to who is taking them? And why?” I asked, a little too much excitement in my voice while still bouncing on the balls of my feet.
His gloved hands curved into fists beside him. “Trust me, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on it.”
“Chol,” I said, almost breathless.
“Yes?”
“We did that.” I had to say it, to hear it again, to solidify that it really happened.
“We did. You were amazing.”
The adoration in his voice was my undoing. A fire ignited low in my belly, and everything restrictive fell from me. His support, his praise, that body . I ran and jumped. He caught me in his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist at the same moment my arms slid behind his neck.
His hands gripped dangerously close to my ass, at my uppermost thighs. It sent electricity coursing through me at the proximity. I hesitated, staring down into his deep, darkened eyes, my breath heaving behind my mask.
He only stared up at me in return, no hint of shying away from my closeness. My gaze dropped to his mask, to where his lips rested behind it. I tried envisioning their shape, their color. Wondered what it would feel like to press them against mine. My body tilted closer to his.
He moved gracefully, effortlessly with me in his grasp, leading us into the trees. We didn’t need words. His intent was written across those eyes barely glistening from the moonlight. Twigs and brush snapped beneath his feet before we were consumed in even more darkness by the tree cover. He pinned my back to a tree, the uneven bark digging into my clothes.
He’d been silent until now, until he released a gruff breath that sent fire to my loins. With one hand still cupping my thigh, he brought up his other to pull down his mask. I couldn’t make out details, but my gaze targeted his now exposed mouth.
I think I whined, but it happened so fast. I pulled down my mask before bringing my lips crashing against his. He returned my kiss with feverish intensity, wasting no time slipping his fingers under my hood and gripping the hair at the back of my head. Anchoring me, because he wanted this just as badly as I did. My body heated, begged, screamed for more.
His tongue swiped along my bottom lip, a question that I was all too happy to answer. Slickness gathered between my thighs as I heartily accepted the request. When my tongue met his, the world melted away. They dueled with an intensity I’d never known with anyone else, like he was the oasis in the desert I’d been wandering for years.
Everything about tonight awakened a part of me I didn’t think I had access to, a wild place that lived inside, one that knew exactly what it wanted from the world and how to get it.
My hips rolled, and my arms pulled him in with all my strength. I was enraptured by the way his soft lips moved over mine, the way his tongue plundered, unrestrained in its access to me. His hips aligned perfectly at my center, and I released a small cry at the pressure, at the dominant way he moved to claim me.
“I want you,” I somehow managed to breathe out between our lust-filled frenzy.
“Good,” he essentially growled, removing his hand from my hair and dropping it between us. In a show of skill like I’d never seen, he hooked my pants, dragging them under my ass. The air brushed along my bare cheeks, and I unhooked from his waist. He set me on the ground, retreating as if he thought I was pulling back.
My only response was dropping my pants and panties to my ankles before I kicked them to the side. He didn’t allow a heartbeat to pass before he was dropping his own. My breath hitched at the impressive length that speared toward me.
“Are you—”
I knew what he was about to ask. There wasn’t one part of me that didn’t want this. “Shut up.” At the same time I wrapped my fingers around the back of his neck to pull him close, I wrapped the palm around his cock and began caressing the shaft up and down with sensual slowness.
He attacked, his mouth diving over mine, stealing the breath from my lips. Our height difference was too great, so I jumped up again. He caught me, as if this was something we’d rehearsed a hundred times.
I could feel the slick, liquid desire pooling between my thighs. I was aching and wanting. Desperate to have him bury himself. His wet tip pressed against my core, and I gasped. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Are you sure you’re ready for me?” Not a question of reassurance. A bold, cocky statement that promised a big delivery. I could hear and feel the upturn of his lips against mine. Arrogant bastard, but fuck if it didn’t make me melt.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” I slid my hand over one of his that gripped my thigh, dragging it to that spot between my legs as I leaned against the tree for leverage.
“Fuck,” he groaned as his fingers slid over me with ease.
It was my turn to hold a cocky smirk, but it was short-lived as he plunged a finger inside. I cried out. It felt so good. He slid in and drew out, stroking inside with a pressure that made my eyes flutter. A soft moan floated past my lips, into the humid night air around us.
He took that as an invitation. On the next insert, he added another finger. My jaw dropped, a wistful exhale bleeding into the tiny space between our mouths. His forehead rested against mine, as if he wanted to look down and watch what he was doing to me. He left them in, curling and administering tiny strokes.
I tossed my head back, resting it against the bark.
“Ready for more?”
Before I could respond, a third finger plunged into me. The expanding pressure had me crying out, and I heard birds take flight from their nests. He gave a deep chested laugh that was more of a rumble, and I almost lost all the strength in my hands that dug into his firm shoulders.
“Ella,” he breathed, and I was almost ready to burst at the primal desire coating my name.
“Chol.” His name was a plea.
He withdrew, and I nearly whined in complaint before I felt him. He dragged his tip over my aching clit from top to bottom, nesting against that place that longed for him. My fingers tightened, clutching him for stability, for sanity, as he filled me inch by inch.
I sobbed with devastating satisfaction as he reached the hilt, giving me all of him. He grunted, feral and deep as he settled.
The world stopped existing. There were no houses lining the streets, no dangers lurking in the shadows, no responsibilities bearing down. Just him and me, entangled with each other, taking what we wanted from this life with no regrets.
Drawing on any strength I had, I clawed my way to him, peeling from the tree and kissing him hard. His tongue invaded at the same time he began rolling his hips, massaging into me with expert precision. I panted into his mouth with each perfect glide, my own hips bucking, urging him on. His fingers dug into my thighs, dimpling my skin to hold me up.
He pressed my back harder against the tree, using it as leverage to feed his thrusts at a faster pace. He didn’t just move in and out like mediocre lovers before. No, this was a movement crafted by the gods themselves. Tantalizing upward strokes and delicious curving descents.
It was building already, that feeling I had only been able to call upon in the confines of my own bed, with my own fingers. “Don’t stop,” I begged against his lips before taking his bottom one between my teeth.
“Never,” he promised, continuing to feed me those heavenly thrusts without breaking that delightful tempo.
The world blended into darkness, losing all form and shape. I didn’t want this to end. If the afterlife awarded the best things in life, this would be mine. Chol, the mystery man who’d fought me that first night, whose flirtatious words paved the way for this very moment, the one person in the world I could trust in a fight, a fight for the very thing we both cared most about.
Tingling warmth trickled into a coursing river, and nothing could stop it. It slammed into me with the force of a tidal wave, knocking my own name from memory. I may have screamed. May have ridden that internal explosion with a long, drawn-out moan.
He swore, low and vicious. Only once my own waves ebbed and eased did I gather enough wherewithal to feel him pulsing inside me. We settled, our chests heaving, spent breaths brushing against each other’s shadowed faces.
I made no effort to move, and neither did he. Instead, we savored the afterglow together. I found my hands making lazy, idle circles in his hair that’d fallen free from his hood at some point. It fell just to his shoulders. He peered up at me through what I assumed were heavy lids. I wondered what he would say, what our first words would be after this unexpected joining.
Fear snaked over my skin, wondering if this would alter our dynamic. I didn’t even know his situation. What if he was married? That thought sobered me as thoroughly as a stone bashed against my skull. I swallowed, bracing myself.
He didn’t use words to put my mind at ease, though. Instead, he brought his lips back to mine, doling out the softest kiss we’d yet to share, smooth and slow. Something of reverence.
I let my worries slip away, finding myself leaning into that sweet kiss, letting it tend to every part of my mind that prepared for injury. When we finally parted, all I could manage to say was, “That was…”
“I know,” his quiet astonishment matched mine. A hint of pride flickered within, hearing confirmation that he had been equally consumed by that burning flame of passion. I smiled, huffing a laugh onto his skin that was still so near to me. My hands traced over his cheeks, his jaw. My thumb swiped over his bottom lip before sinking another kiss into him. He hummed against it, and I couldn’t contain my smile.
“Can you grab my pants?” I asked with that wicked smile still plastered on my face.
“Of course, my lady .” He gently lowered me to the ground.
I laughed softly, the sound heating my heart. Before pulling up his own pants that had remained around his ankles, he swiped mine from the ground and gave them a violent shake to clear away any forest debris.
I found myself biting the side of my thumb, slowly twisting my body from side to side while I watched. He held my pants between us, but didn’t hand them over. “Let me,” he said. He bent down, sliding his hand down my calf until he reached my ankle.
My smile wasn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. I let out another quick laugh, and lifted my foot, leaning forward against his shoulder for support. Once my foot slipped through the pant leg, he moved to the other, still taking the time to caress my skin before reaching that ankle. I shifted, lifting that one next. “I’m fully capable of dressing myself, you know,” I teased.
Tenderly, he pulled up my bottoms until they grazed over my ass, finally resting at my hips. “Oh, I’m well aware of how capable you are.”
I released the most girlish shriek from how fast he wrapped his manly arm around my waist, forcing the front of me to mold against his firm chest and muscled abdomen, and drove a kiss so claiming that I couldn’t help but hum. When he pulled back, he finished, “But I can’t let you have all the fun.”
I found my hands splayed against his chest, over the thin layer of leather that made up his nighttime uniform. High quality indeed, especially compared to my own cotton garb. Not only did I find my hands there, I found myself not wanting to let go.
Reality crashed over me in that instant. I timidly let my hands slip from their spot, and I tore my gaze away. He sensed the shift and immediately bent down to cover himself at last.
Before he rose to his full height, I reached for his hood and gingerly pulled it further forward over his head. On his slow rise upward, he stopped and did the same for me. A silent message; we still had secrets to keep.
I pulled my mask back over my surely swollen lips, and he did the same.
“Meet me here tonight?” he said.
I smiled behind the black fabric. “Of course.”
The entire walk home, I floated, maneuvering the shadows and streets with carefree grace. Not from intentional stealth, but from the natural airiness that now buoyed me up.
Until I approached the looming house that reminded me of what awaited.
An apology I desperately needed to give.
Disregarding the fact that it was the early hours of the morning, I made my way to my sister’s room after checking all the doors were locked and changing into my nightgown, fighting the smile that still lingered from the best night of my life. It’d taken me until I got home to realize my panties had been left behind in that tiny forest. I’d had to bite my lip to stifle the laughter.
I didn’t knock, only slipped in silently, holding the door steady, making sure not to push it past the point where it would start creaking. Melody’s bed was nearest the door, and I padded across the wooden floorboards. Lifting the blanket, I poured myself between the sheets. This wasn’t the first time we shared a bed, though it had been years since the last.
When I knew I should have bumped into her, my feet and hands continued sliding. They reached the other side of the bed, and I sat upright with a jolt. She wasn’t here. Only Kenzie lay asleep in hers until I strode over and shoved her.
“W-what are you doing?!” she groggily snapped.
“Where’s Melody?” I asked, unable to hide the tremble in my voice.
“What?”
“Melody! Where is she?”
Kenzie sat upright, attempting to blink the sleep from her eyes. “I-I thought she was out with you?”
My stomach turned leaden, dropping all the way to the floor. “Did you see her at all after dinner?”
“No,” Kenzie said, a yawn cutting her response.
The world shifted beneath my feet.
She hadn’t made it home.