Chapter 30
Lola
Iwoke up with a gasp, sweaty, my core clenching with arousal.
What the fuck?
I blinked, trying to chase the remnant of the dream away. The way Carter, Dimitri, and Arc looked at me in the foggy room, dressed only in towels. The way Blake and some faceless guy with hazel and golden eyes took me under the shower stream…
I looked down at my crotch and frowned before pinching my eyes closed with a groan. “Didn’t you get enough?” I hissed.
I felt like I'd been hit by a train.
Two, big, sexy and sex-craved trains.
And yet, when I tried to climb them like the magnificent trees they were, Dimitri had restrained my arms behind my back and told me to sleep.
The effect they had on me was unbelievable.
I opened one eye, seeing the faint light seeping through the thick curtains, before grunting and trying to sit up.
I already felt sore from the frenzied sex I had with Carter two days ago…Now? Yeah, my legs felt like I ran a fucking marathon, and my pussy like I’ve been fucked by five men at once. Which didn’t happen, no matter what my dream was trying to make me believe.
The last decades without any of my mates around had left me out of practice. Plus, the fact that I reunited with Dimitri after so long and only started getting intimate with Carter meant all of our sex drives were off the fucking roof.
Carter slept peacefully on his back, his arm under the pillow I’d been sleeping on. Dimitri was—awake. And staring at me with a knowing smile.
“What did you dream about?” he asked in a soft, taunting whisper. “You kept rubbing yourself against me and making those adorably arousing sounds.”
I rolled my eyes and scooted away, trying to get off the bed.
“Hey, I’m not complaining,” he said, getting up behind me.
Dimitri’s arms snaked around my middle and pulled my back to his chest. He nuzzled his face in my neck, breathing me in. “You smell delicious,” he crooned.
“What do I smell like?”
He grazed his teeth over my skin. “Sex. And me. And a bit like the sleeping pigeon, but I guess it’s fine.” I gave a slap on his forearm and he muffled a laugh. “Are you sore?” he asked, his voice turning more tender.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Have I been too rough with you?”
Biting my lip, I shook my head. “Until recently, it’s been a while since I’ve been with…mates.”
Dimitri let out a soft humming sound before lifting me off the ground to carry me in his arms bridal style. I held back a yelp, worried that I might wake Carter up.
“Let’s get you into a bath,” he said, kissing my forehead. “I’ve been neglecting your aftercare. Won’t happen again.”
He walked around the bed and toward the open bathroom, closing the door with his foot behind us and turning on the soft light.
“Damn, feathers got himself the biggest bed and biggest bathroom of the house,” he mocked, staring at the sunken tub.
“The wings.” I rolled my eyes. “What a perfect excuse. You know I’ve never actually seen him with his wings out except during fits of anger or during sex? I’m pretty sure he lied just to get this magnificent tub.”
Dimitri strolled to the steps, stepping both of us in before placing my ass on one of the little built in seats and turning to fumble with the faucet.
“You call this a tub? Come on, this is basically a pool.”
The water started pouring and he stayed there for a few seconds, adjusting the temperature.
“Remember our first decade?” I asked, leaning back against the tile. “We were on the run, and were lucky to find a real bed to sleep at night.”
“I think that’s when I started to get back problems,” he taunted, smirking in my direction.
“Ha-ha. Very funny.”
“I know, I am.”
“What I was trying to say was—there was that one week. Where we found that strange cabin in the woods, near a waterfall.”
Dimitri frowned as he turned the faucet a bit more before giving a satisfied nod and coming to sit with me.
“Yeah, I remember the waterfall. It was hella cold, though.”
I rolled my eyes, nudging him with my shoulder. “It wasn’t that cold.”
“It was. You just don’t remember because it was a warm summer.”
“Whatever,” I groaned as he folded one of his legs in front of him, placing his arm on his knee to chuckle in his elbow. “I like to think about that time. Reminds me of when we snuck out into the cave back in my clan.”
Dimitri’s eyes met mine and held. “See, that was warm water.” I swat at his arm and he didn’t hold his playful laugh, the sound warming something inside my chest. “But yeah, I see what you mean.
There weren't really any tubs or showers back then. We considered ourselves lucky to find a freezing stream to fill buckets. That week had been nice.”
He paused, looking at the pouring water with nostalgic eyes. But he quickly blinked, gaze back to being playful. “Plus, unlike the little cave, I got to actually fuck you behind that waterfall.”
I didn’t even have the time to properly gasp before his mouth was on mine.
Not urgent. Not claiming. Not devouring.
It was soft. Tender. Filled with affection and love.
And I couldn’t help but melt against him, my hands finding his shoulder and the back of his neck, caressing the soft strands of hair at his nape, and sliding to the perfect but scarred skin of his chest, where the mark of his promise to me lay.
Dimitri brought my body closer to straddle his thighs and pulled his head back just enough for our noses to touch, sliding against each other affectionately. A soft smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“I missed you, zhizn moya,” he said, fingers tracing slow patterns on my naked back. “During the decades we’ve been apart. During the trip I made right after we found each other again. During the days in that prison…I never stop missing you.”
A stuttering breath came out of my mouth, fanning over his lips. “I missed you too.” I paused, searching his eyes. He still looked tired. “What happened, Dimitri?”
He turned his head to the side, avoiding my gaze, his eyes haunted. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He slid us lower into the tub and leaned over my shoulder to turn off the tap and grab a soap, sinking it into the water before rubbing my shoulders.
I waited. Waited for him to talk, to say anything. “You’re gonna have to talk about it at some point.”
“The only thing I can say is that I don’t want you there.”
My arms tensed under the water, hands freezing over his chest. He noticed and let out a sigh as he grabbed one of my hands to lather the soap along my arm.
“Look, there are thousands of prisoners, and about as many guards.”
“You know that with the amount of power you guys gave me, I could influence all of their emotions and turn them into whimpering, scared babies with just a look, right?”
One of his hands slipped behind my neck and forced me to look at him, bringing my face closer.
“Do you know what I’ll do if something happens to you?” he asked coldly. “Don’t you remember the three times I got you out of really dangerous situations?”
My throat bobbed.
“People die. Cities turn to dust. Do you want your mate to end up buried beneath tons of rubble, never to be found again?”
My jaw dropped. It was the first time he acknowledged that Arc was indeed still in there.
“Don’t. Go. There.”
I didn’t push further, but my head fell between us in defeat. Arc was still there. Possibly hurt. If it took almost two weeks for Dimitri to get out, the people running that place must have been insanely powerful.
Dimitri sighed. “Give me a few days. I’ll figure something out. But please. Please, don’t go.”
I looked into his eyes. His worried, terrified eyes. What was he scared of? Was it what was in there? The idea of me getting in danger? Or even just to go back?
He didn’t scare easily…And the thought made me uneasy.
“So…Tell me about you and angry bird. How did that happen?” he asked, changing the subject and placing my ass back on the little seat to lift my leg and rub at the aching muscles.
I leaned back with a moan, my back resting against the tiled side of the tub.
“I’m not even sure,” I answered. “Something kinda snapped, and after a week of avoiding each other we were dry humping in the kitchen.”
Dimitri let out a chuckle. “Do you think that kitchen makes people horny?”
“I don’t think the kitchen is the issue,” I mused.
“True.”
He tilted his chin to the delicate chain hanging from my neck. “Have you told him yet?”
I shook my head, exhaling a shaky breath but enjoying the massage of my calf. “No, I haven’t.”
“With what happened yesterday, don’t you think you should?”
“I don’t owe anyone anything,” I said, suddenly defensive. “Blake is—I’ll never see him again. It’s not worth talking about him with the others.”
Dimitri shrugged. “They’ll start wondering where and who your two last mates are. It’d be good to at least inform them that the group will never be complete.”
Damn him, but he was right. It was just cruel to let them hope for a fully binded group when they already had to deal with the fact that I had no soul for them to bind to.
“Fine,” I conceded. “I’ll tell him. Soon.”
Dimitri and I both went quiet after this. Him, carefully lathering soap on every inch of my body. Me, happy to let him do so, enjoying the feel of his hand on my sore muscles.
Things had been hectic since we found each other again, and Dimitri was usually big on after care. Cuddling me, cleaning and washing me. Whispering soft praises in my ear as he did all of that, especially when he was being a little rough.
My core clenched and I bit my lip, trying to ignore the butterfly taking flight in my lower stomach and the delicious shiver climbing up my spine.
Roughly-losing-control Dimitri was my favorite, almost on the same level with the soft-love-making one. I couldn’t count the number of times we had to stop whatever we were doing for an intense quick fuck because he made the mistake to kiss me a little too hard or whisper something dirty in my ear.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now, you need to stop,” he said darkly.
I avoided his gaze, biting my lips in embarrassment. “I’m not thinking about anything.”
“Tell that to my cock. I can sense your arousal, zhizn moya. If feathers feels it too, you’re in for more than what happened last night.”
Hell yeah. I did want that…
“Take that look off your face. I’m in no condition to go easy on your ass.”
I bit my lip harder, clenching my thighs together.
“Stop being a brat,” he growled, squeezing my ankles. “Tell me about that little love bite on your neck instead.”
“Nothing much to say about it.” I rolled my eyes, ready to pout at his dismissal. “Turns out my blood quiets the voices of Carter’s Fallen curse. Think that’s a mate thing?”
Dimitri seemed to ponder it for a moment before he shook his head.
“Nah. I think it’s an Astral thing.”
“Why do you think that?”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Because for whatever mate's ability to exist or settle, the bond needs to be fully formed. Which isn’t the case with you and any of your mates.”
I frowned, confused. “How do you even know anything about mate stuff?”
He grinned. “Because I read, zhizn moya. And I happen to have an unconventional soulless mate. So I did lots of research about the whole binding mess and mates over the long life I’ve lived.”
“What makes you think it’s the Astral blood then? I’m not an Astral anymore, I’m—”
“A demon, I know,” he interrupted. “But even without your soul, your blood still has…let’s say it retains your heritage. You’ll always have a bit of stars in the darkness.”
I glared at him. “Okay, you poet.”
He gave me a knowing look. “Stop making fun of me, or you’ll get spanked.”
I snorted, wiggling my eyebrows and my toes in front of his face.
“You’re right. You’d like that too much…” he said, smirking playfully. “What I’m trying to say is, your blood does help with the madness too. I can feel it quieting every time I bite you. So, I’m not surprised it does something for Carter’s curse as well.”
I let out a long, satisfied sigh as his fingers moved to the underside of my foot. “Great. I’m like a medicine bag.”
Dimitri tickled me and I shrieked, trying to pull my foot back. “You’re way more than that,” he crooned. “You’re also a Hell of a good time in the sheets.”
He laughed as I splashed water at his face, letting go of my leg to push himself toward me under the water, sliding his hips between my legs and catching my wrists in his giant hands.
“And the most perfect thing to ever walk this damned earth,” he whispered, brushing his smiling lips against mine.
“Nice save, you jerk.”
He tilted his head to the side, studying my face like he was committing it to his memory.
“You know I love you. That I’d scorch the world for you.” I paused at his soft tone, my eyes drifting between his swirling red ones. “That nothing matters for me in a universe you’re not in.”
I let out an uncomfortable laugh. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because sometimes, I feel like you don’t realize the extent of what my feelings for you mean. Of what I’d do to ensure your safety.”
The vulnerability in his eyes made my heart flutter. “I know,” I whispered. “And I love you too. More than I can ever truly express.”
“I want you to promise me something,” he said and waited for me to nod. “That whatever happens, you’ll never forget that you’re my entire life. Zhizn moya. And that if I ever have to choose between saving any part of you or the rest of the world…It’ll all go up in flames.”
I smiled, brushing a soft kiss over his lips.
“You know I always liked the fire anyway,” I answered. “So I’ll light up the matches.”