Chapter 20
Caiden
Eternity.
Death had given us a promise of the only thing we’d ever wanted.
All I wanted to do was close the distance between us so I could press my mouth to Soul’s.
Instead, I carefully took the collar from his hands and watched him bend down so I could fasten it back around his neck.
When he lifted his head, I couldn’t help myself—I leaned in, brushing my lips to his in a soft kiss that was all smile.
The sound of a throat clearing jerked my head up.
Gethin was standing with his arms crossed.
“As cute as you two are, if you’re finished making me solve everyone’s problems…
how do I get back to my graveyard? I actually have a body to bury.
You know…” He cut Soul a dirty look. “Some of us actually do our jobs.”
Death’s gaze turned to Gethin, and to his credit, he didn’t wilt under that stare. If it had been me, I would probably have fainted. “Hm, not quite yet, little assassin. I’ll have Soul’s brothers take you home, but before that… I have a job for you.”
Assassin? Judging from the way the bravado on Gethin’s face wavered before he firmly pulled it back into place, I had a feeling he wasn’t happy about whatever Death had in mind.
I didn’t know how to feel now that we weren’t running…
now that we didn’t have to worry about how to exist in a world together.
Soul and I stood in silence, hand in hand, watching as Death whispered something in Gethin’s ear before lifting his hand between them and pulling out a blade.
When he passed it to him and let out a low whistle, I watched in awe as three more hounds loped from the woods.
They were just as big as Soul had been, though I realized I would have recognized him out of them all. There was just something about him…
I did notice how they looked up at their brother, their heads cocking curiously… and I felt Soul let out a low rumble of delight at being home.
“I think they’re happy to see you,” I whispered.
The knowledge that I’d been able to give this to him…
that he could be here, where he belonged…
it was like sunlight on my skin. I felt him start to pull me forward as if he wanted us to join his pack, but before he had a chance, one of the hounds caught Gethin by the back of his shirt and they disappeared.
After that… I wasn’t sure what came next.
“Uh, where are we staying? Do you have like… a kennel or…” Before I could finish the question, Death gestured behind us. When I turned, my eyes widened.
Standing on the edge of the woods was a cabin that definitely hadn’t been there seconds before.
It was small… and wrapped all around it were the vines of the morning glories that had been following me everywhere I walked.
It was like he’d gathered them all up with a thought and built us a home from the petals.
When I started to ask him how he’d done it, Soul slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me against him, his fingers digging gently into my sides to quiet me.
Apparently, the last thing I needed to do was question a gift from Death.
It made sense.
I let him lead me there instead, though a part of me wanted to go back to the world of the living so we could find Gethin. I knew Soul wasn’t fond of him, but he’d saved us, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
I wanted to thank him.
But as Soul pulled me through the door of the little pale cabin and closed it behind him, pushing me gently against the wall and catching my mouth with his, all thoughts of anything else faded away.
“Soul?” I murmured his name against his lips, and instead of answering me, he leaned down, circling one arm beneath my hips and lifting me. When my back pressed against the wall and he filled the space between us, pinning me there with his body, I let out a low moan.
The relief pouring through me had started to give way to something else—maybe it was the way the adrenaline was fading… or the fact that it was finally settling in that I could have this. I could have him for eternity…
Even knowing that, it wasn’t enough. “Soul, please… I need… mmmf…” The low sound of pleasure that tore from my throat when he ground his hips forward and I felt him already getting hard was enough to let me know he was feeling the exact same thing I was.
We were together.
We could have this.
We could have each other.
“You’re mine, Caiden.” The declaration came out as he yanked my shirt over my head, tossing it to the ground.
“My soulmate. My home… These walls aren’t the place I want to stay, the place that holds my heart.
It isn’t the Lake, or my brothers… It’s you.
I love you.” He dipped his head, and I let out a cry as his teeth caught against that same place he’d bitten me before, harder this time—hard enough that I knew it would leave a mark.
“More,” I whimpered. I wanted it to scar.
I wanted to carry every part of him with me forever, his marks included.
When his teeth clamped down and my hips jerked, he pulled back long enough to unfasten my pants.
I was once more treated to how strong he was as he held me with one arm, his bicep bulging, while he used his free hand to strip me down.
I managed to wait until he was finished and he’d pinned me to the wall again before I yanked his tank top over his head and dropped it to join my clothes on the floor.
A little more squirming freed his cock from his pants, and by the time he pressed his mouth against mine, I was so hard I couldn’t think.
I couldn’t breathe.
Everything was Soul—the feel of his body against mine, the warmth of his kiss… and the knowledge that I could have this.
I could keep him.
“I love you,” I murmured, and the feel of that long tongue snaking past my lips and licking inside my mouth nearly made me lose it before we’d even gotten started. When he pulled back, I was breathless.
“Let me show you how much I love you.” Soul’s voice was gravel rumbling along the edges of my nerves, and when he dipped his head and lolled his tongue out, for a second I thought he was going to take me into his mouth again.
Instead, I watched as thick strings of saliva pooled along that muscle and then dribbled down.
It landed on his abs, slicking down his pelvis.
Soul lifted one hand and ran his fingers through the mess, then wrapped that enormous hand around my cock and pressed forward.
My hand dropped to join his, barely managing to wrap around his shaft… but when our fingers met, I felt like I was going to shatter.
“You’re perfect, Caiden. Sweet little flower…
and you’re all mine. I love you.” Soul rolled his hips, thrusting against me, his cock slicked with his saliva and gliding perfectly in the circle of our joined fingers.
“I want to watch you shatter—I want to unmake you so I can put you back together. Fall apart for me, Caiden. Let me taste the way your soul belongs with mine.” He started to buck his hips in earnest, dipping his head forward to catch my mouth with his again.
My body was already trembling from the feel of him holding me, from the warmth of his tongue and his thick cock gliding against my own. The pressure of his fingers… the knowledge that we could have this every day…
Every day until there were no more stars in the sky… every day, even after that.
It would never be enough.
“Mmm… fuck, Soul. Please…” I rocked against him as best I could, my body writhing, chasing the edges of pleasure that were already so close to the surface.
His tongue lolled out, licking along my jaw, against the mark he’d left on my shoulder.
When he dropped his head and let more saliva drip from his mouth to fall over our hands, I cried out.
“Let go for me, Caiden. I need it. I need you… just you. All of you.” He dropped his head so his forehead pressed to mine. My entire world was swimming in the dark shine of his eyes, the warm heat of his breath, and one word that left me completely undone. “Please?”
I came with a shout, my body jerking. Soul’s arm under my ass was the only thing that kept me from falling to the ground.
There was a moment where I watched his eyes turn to pure fire—the crimson that glowed when he was in his hound form—as he watched my cock spill ropes of cum on his hand, on my waist…
and then he threw back his head and howled as he followed me.
His hips rocked, rutting against me, hard and fast. I didn’t try to fight it when his head fell to my shoulder and Soul set his teeth into that mark again.
I was caught in a loop of it—my pleasure and the feel of his cock pulsing, the heat of our cum painting my stomach and hands… and the feel of his teeth piercing my skin and letting me know that I was his.
That this was real.
That we really got to stay together.
Soul pulled back, his hips jerking in little aborted thrusts as he rocked us through the last vestiges of our pleasure before he finally brought his hand up.
I stared with wide eyes as he brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean—filthy.
My puppy was absolutely filthy, and I wasn’t even sure he knew it.
While I tried to catch my breath, Soul carried us across the small room.
Half the cabin seemed to be taken up by a bed, like Death was considerate enough to make sure Soul had the space he needed.
He threw me onto the mattress, but he was on me before I’d had a chance to bounce, wrapping his body around me.
He dropped between my legs, and I let out another low groan of pleasure as that tongue started to lap at the mess on my stomach.
Soul was meticulous as he licked me clean, his tongue running the line of my abs, my pelvis…
wrapping around my softening cock until I started to writhe.
When he rose up and pressed his mouth to mine, I could taste both of us in his kiss.
It was perfect—it was everything.
“I love you,” I said it again as soon as he pulled back. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to say it enough.
“I get to keep you,” he answered, breathless, like he couldn’t quite believe it.
“Forever. You get to keep me forever. Just yours.” My whole world felt like it was pure light. And then he pulled back with a soft pout.
“Liar.”
That brought me up short. “What?”
“I get to have you to myself for whatever a human’s lifespan is. Once your brother dies, he’s coming here to work as a Reaper.” Soul tilted his head, watching me carefully as he spelled out the gift he was giving me. “You’ll probably spend most of your time with him once he’s here.”
Cole…
“He’s going to be here?”
Soul nodded, and I realized as unsubtle as he usually was, the pout had been for show.
He was drinking down the way I could feel myself slowly falling into what he was saying.
“He made a deal with Death that he and Sephtis would return once his life was over, and he’d help reap souls.
A Reaper and Temperance. Odd twins, if you ask me. ”
“I…” My vision was suddenly swimming. The tears burning my eyes weren’t enough to stop me from seeing the broad smile that crossed Soul’s face, flashing those sharp teeth in the sweetest expression I’d ever seen.
You miss him. I understand. Don’t worry—a lifetime isn’t really that long.
Fate’s words rang in my ears…
“A lifetime isn’t really that long,” I echoed them, and Soul nodded.
“That’s right… so you’ll have to forgive me if I want to get my fill of you until then.
” He pushed me to the mattress, crawling so the weight of him blanketed me.
“Caiden… little flower…” The warmth of his tongue licked at the tears tracking down my cheek, and his expression was achingly sweet when he dropped his head and nuzzled my neck. “I love you. You deserve to be happy.”
“I am.” I nearly choked on the words. “Fuck, I’m so happy. I love you, Soul. I spent a lifetime not knowing that you were the only thing missing, and I want to spend an eternity knowing that you’re always going to be mine.”
Soul. My brother. I got to have it all.
He lifted his head, brushing his lips against mine as he spoke. “I’ve been yours since before I was made, since the moment I saw those flowers by the Lake. Forever.”
Forever.
I wasn’t even sure if that would be long enough.
Curious about Gethin? Find his story in Stolen Wings.