Chapter 18 #2
His body pressed flush against mine, hard muscle trapping me against the refrigerator while his hands tangled in my hair, but he wasn’t pulling away. He was dragging me closer.
I growled against his throat in frustration.
It’s Via, I wanted to scream at him, but that would require me giving up some of the battle ground, and I wasn't there yet.
His breathing came rough and uneven against my ear.
“You need to feed, wildcat?” His hands flexed hard against my hips. “You want more?”
Every muscle in his body tightened beneath my grip before his voice dropped lower.
“Take it, Via.” A shudder rolled through him. “It’s yours.”
Via. He called me Via.
The sound cracked through the red haze clouding my head, and my grip loosened slightly. I pulled back from his throat just enough to see his face.
His jaw was clenched tight. Eyes blown, looking both intoxicated and excited all at once. Like he was barely holding onto himself.
He let go of my hair, and for one sharp second, we both exhaled. A single breath of clarity before the world blurred and I was laying on top of the counter.
The cold marble pressed against my back while Calix yanked my sleep shorts down my legs in one brutal motion.
The next thing I knew, his mouth was on me, and the monster inside me purred.
Pleasure slammed through me so hard my head tipped back against the cabinets. My fingers flew into his hair, tugging, while helpless sounds spilled out of me with every tug of his lips pulling on my clit.
The wet sounds alone nearly killed me. All I could do was shake while wave after wave tore through me. Then his voice vibrated against me.
“Now it’s my turn to feed.”
I couldn’t answer. Could barely think. Then something sharper pricked against the most sensitive bundle of nerves.
Bliss swept through me like venom in the bloodstream, lighting my whole body on fire. I yanked his hair hard enough to force a groan out of him as the tug caused the fang to pull at my clit harder.
Stars burst behind my eyes as I screamed out his name.
“Cal!”
My voice broke apart completely.
“Oh fuck, Cal, yes—”
Crack.
Before I could ask what the sound was, Calix vanished.
One second, his mouth was on me, his hands gripping the counter, and the next, there was nothing but empty air and the lingering heat of him against my skin.
I pushed myself upright on the counter, eyes darting wildly around the kitchen even though I already knew he was gone.
Gone. After giving me the most mind-numbing orgasm of my entire life.
A shaky laugh almost escaped me as I ran my hand over my face. What the fuck!? If this was what Lark had been talking about all this time, then maybe I really had been stupid for avoiding supes.
“Let me help you.”
I spun toward the voice. Rack stood a few feet away, shirtless, sweatpants hanging low on his hips, his expression unreadable in the dim kitchen light.
“Rack, I—”
He lifted a hand before I could continue. The movement wasn’t sharp or angry. It was just enough to stop me from babbling out words that I didn't know would hurt or help the situation.
He crossed the kitchen slowly, like he was approaching something fragile. His hands settled carefully on my waist before he lifted me down from the counter.
The second my feet touched the floor, I finally saw the damage around us. My mouth fell open.
Two deep handprints cratered the marble where Calix had gripped the counter hard enough to break it.
Dust and chunks of stone littered the floor beneath them.
Blood streaked across the tile in smeared handprints, crimson footprints that danced along the white surface, and the refrigerator had a massive dent that was shaped suspiciously like a body had slammed into it at high speed.
The kitchen looked catastrophic. Like someone had survived a violent attack and this was the crime scene left behind.
“Oh god…”
The words tumbled out weakly while my gaze bounced from one disaster to the next.
“I’m so sorry.” My fingers curled against my stomach. “I’ll pay for this somehow, I swear.”
Rack looked around once before his eyes came back to me, then he smiled. A small, soft smile, like the shattered marble wasn’t what mattered.
“Are you okay?”
The question hit harder than it should have. Heat rushed into my cheeks, and I quickly looked away.
“Yes,” I muttered. Still staring at the floor, I grabbed my shorts and shoved them back on, officially embarrassed with myself.
“I’m fine. I just…” I swallowed hard, looking around again. “Got hungry?”
He nodded slowly, like he understood far more than I wanted him to, but how could he?
How could he understand what it felt like to lose control like that? To feel something inside me claw its way to the surface and take whatever it wanted?
I glanced back at him, opened my mouth, then shut it again. Everything that felt like the right thing to say just fell flat. I wanted to tell him it didn’t mean anything, but that would’ve been a lie because it was now very clear to me that I wanted them both.
Maybe the greedy monster inside me pushed me to it, but I couldn’t blame everything on her anymore.
“Do you want Calix?”
My head snapped up so fast my neck hurt, but he didn’t look angry. Didn’t look accusing. He just stood there, waiting for my answer.
Those dark amethyst eyes stayed locked on mine, steady and impossible to avoid. I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't want to speak the truth out loud, so all I did was nod.
Then panic struck, so I rushed out, “But I want you too.”
The silence afterward nearly killed me. Words started spilling out before I could stop them.
“I’m sorry, Rack. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.
” My hands twisted together harder and harder.
“I know this is insane. I know it doesn’t make sense, but every time I try not to feel it, it just gets worse.
It’s like that hunger inside me keeps dragging me toward both of you, and I don’t know how to stop it. ”
My voice cracked.
“I don’t know what to do.”
Tears blurred the room before I realized I was crying.
“Tell me what to do, Rack.” The words broke apart as they left me. “Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll—”
His arms wrapped around me before I could finish. The force of it stole the rest of the words from my mouth. and he held me tightly against his chest while I shook apart in his arms.
“It’s going to be okay.”
The kiss he pressed into my hair made my chest ache, but I melted against him instantly. He wouldn’t kiss me like that if he hated me… right?
“We’ll figure it out,” he murmured against my temple. “All three of us. We’ll make it work.”
His hand slowly slid up and down my back while my breathing finally started to calm.
“But for tonight,” he continued gently, “let’s get you to bed.”
I nodded weakly against his chest.
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to FangTech. Show you around. You’d like that, right?”
Another nod. The panic kept draining out of me the longer he held me. His voice reached into the worst parts of me and quieted them.
We stayed there for several long moments before he finally scooped me up into his arms.
I didn’t even protest.
My head dropped against his shoulder while he carried me upstairs, kissing the wet tracks on my cheeks every few steps and whispering the same thing over and over.
“It’s okay.”
“I’ve got you.”
“You’re okay.”
By the time my head touched the pillow, exhaustion swallowed me whole.
The last thing I felt before sleep dragged me under was Rack brushing my hair back from my face like I was something precious.