CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Myra
I turned to see Yael hovering in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest and a look of murder in his eyes.
“I don’t remember this part of the plan for the evening, little mermaid,” he said as he stepped into the room behind me.
Panic flooded my system and I tried to pull away from Dreven, but the second he caught my face in his hand, silently demanding my attention again, the presence of the voyeurist fae in the room faded, eclipsed entirely by my need.
I ground myself against Dreven’s arousal, moaning at the delicious friction it caused as he pulled my shirt down lower to nip my breasts.
All I wanted in that moment was for him to rip the fabric away.
“I did what you asked,” I said on a breathy exhale.
“And then some, by the look of it. Care to share what you learned in my absence?” he asked, and I growled in frustration at the distraction. “Or shall I wait for you to finish first?”
Even lost to the pulsating need coursing through me, I could hear the warning in his voice.
“He said Jemma came to him for something to take the edge off… something about evil,” I explained as my body thrummed with need. “She mentioned a debt she owed that would be paid off that night, but she had to see someone named Orion before that.”
“Interesting” he said as he stepped casually into the office. “Was that before or after you straddled him on his desk?”
“After,” I replied, gasping as Dreven’s hand hiked my skirt up over my hips.
“You’re welcome to stay and watch,” Dreven said, “but you need to shut the fuck up.”
“I don’t think I’ll do either,” Yael replied as he continued to approach us. “Is there anything else you learned this evening, other than how the incubus’ cock feels pressed between your legs?”
“He told me that no one has seen or heard from her since that night—”
“Enough talking!” Dreven’s booming voice echoed through the room as he fisted my thong in his hand and ripped it off.
When he reached for his zipper to free himself, vines wrapped around his torso and snapped him across the room into the imprisoning branches of a towering plant in the corner.
The moment our contact was broken, a wave of sex sobriety crashed into me, and I scrambled down from the desk, fumbling to fix my skirt.
“I think it’s time to go,” Yael said, grabbing my hand to pull me away.
“I’ll kill you for this,” Dreven yelled as he struggled against the thick vines holding him captive.
Yael stopped dead in his tracks and turned with eerie slowness to face the male threatening him with death.
“I welcome you to try. You’d fail, and start a war with the fae in the process, but I’d enjoy it.
And as grateful as I am for the information you’ve shared about my sister, let me be abundantly clear about one thing: if you come near Myra again, you’ll wish this night had never happened. I’ll make sure of it.”
Anger filled those icy blue eyes as a snarl filled his throat. “Get the fuck out of here.”
Yael smiled in response. “Gladly.” He pulled me behind him as he turned to leave, but I quickly slipped out of his grip and walked over to Dreven, who seethed with anger as I drew nearer. “Little mermaid…”
I ignored the warning in Yael’s tone and placed my hand on Dreven’s cheek.
“You will remember nothing about us being here, what happened, or what was said and done.” His eyes glazed over just before Yael grabbed my hand and hauled me out of there.
He wove his way through the building I could barely even remember navigating only minutes earlier and led the way out into the street.
By the time the cool night air blasted my face, I knew it was scarlet with embarrassment.
I’d never been more mortified in my life, which was interesting for more reasons than I cared to consider, not the least of which was why did I care what Yael had seen?
What he thought? But I did care—a lot—judging by the veil of shame wrapping itself around me.
“I’m curious, Myra… which part of ‘wait for me outside’ did you not understand, exactly?
Because I feel like that was a pretty clear directive, one even you should have been able to follow without incident.
Yet imagine my surprise when I arrived this evening to find you not only not waiting outside with your escort, but very much inside, with the target I explicitly told you not to be alone with nearly inside of you. ”
“I know,” I replied, my cheeks burning as they flooded with blood. “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”
His jaw flexed as he worked harder than I’d ever seen to contain his anger. “I told you he was dangerous—to not go near him without me.”
“I know!” I snapped back, letting anger overtake my shame. “What you didn’t bother to tell me was that he’s some kind of sex fae or incubus or whatever that was, which seems like pretty vital information, especially knowing I’d have to touch him for my power to work!”
“Which is exactly why you weren’t supposed to go near him unaccompanied!
Do you think I wanted to walk in and find you getting railed by someone that vile?
” He closed his eyes and inhaled hard in what appeared to be an attempt to get a handle on his rage, but they flew open wide when I stepped closer and poked my finger into his chest.
“I knew you wanted answers about your sister and I got you those!” I shouted back at him.
“We wouldn’t know about whoever the fuck this Orion person is or that Jemma went to pay off a debt that night if I hadn’t done the job you literally forced me to do, so don’t yell at me about how I got it done. I got you what you wanted, didn't I?”
His jaw flexed hard as he glared at me. “Yes… and nearly got yourself chlamydia from that slimy sack of shit in the process.”
“Are you serious right now?” I demanded, flinging my arms in the air out of exasperation with the whole bizarre scenario.
“Did you ever, even for a moment, consider that maybe I didn’t choose to defy you and go into Dreven’s without you?
That maybe, because I didn’t know what he was or could do, I let that walking orgasm get close enough to touch me when he came out to see me, and the second his fingers met my skin, I lost all awareness of the world around me?
Which could have been avoided if you’d just told me WHY I needed to not be alone with him in the first place!
But you didn’t, because why bother telling your little information diviner anything?
She’s just a means to an end. So no, Yael, I didn’t willfully defy your royal decree—I just fell victim to your secrecy. Feel better now?”
His body tensed at my words, but his expression gave nothing away. “Marginally.”
“Tell me something: why do you even care how I got your precious answers?” I asked.
“Because, let’s be real here, you don’t really give a shit about me, even if you’ve somehow convinced yourself you do.
All you care about is finding Jemma, which I get, I really do.
Family is important. But you don’t have to belittle and shame me after a situation that mortifying happens just because you’re pissed that I didn’t follow your order to the letter.
If you don’t like the fact that I nearly fucked that dickhead Dreven in the process of getting you what you want more than anything else in this world, then all I can say is get over it.
You may have locked me into this deal with you, but you don’t own me or my body. ”
“No, I don’t…” His stern gaze slowly ate through my anger armor as he stared at me, anger all his own lurking just beneath the surface.
“Nor do I want to. And while I’m not a female, I know what happens to those with little power that find themselves cast into the Playground, and I understand what your life here would have been like if it hadn’t been for Ravi.
” That eternal darkness swam through his harsh stare as he leaned in closer.
“From what I’ve heard, you narrowly escaped that fate.
So while finding my sister is my top priority, that doesn’t mean I would whore you out to secure her return, because I may be many things, but a predator is not one of them.
” The hostility in his expression morphed into something far more subtle and difficult to read, but those unmistakable shadows still swirled through his evergreen stare as he leveled his gaze with mine.
“As for your confusion regarding the compromising position I found you in with Dreven, allow me to make this abundantly clear: there will never be a scenario in which I want to walk in and find someone else wedged between your legs with your skirt hiked up around your hips and a look of ecstasy on your face. Never.” He pulled away and straightened his stance, smoothing the lapels of his coat.
“For how I reacted in the wake of that scene and how that made you feel… I apologize.”
Completely caught off guard, I found myself staring back at him in silence, unsure of what to say next.
Normally, when we’d fight and I couldn’t figure out my next move, I’d just flip him off and walk away.
But between the fierceness in his tone when he’d spoken about what he witnessed with Dreven, the apology that had followed that I couldn’t fully process, and the tight set of his features as he awaited my reaction, my hands and my feet were glued in place.
Something subtle yet profound shifted between us in that moment, and I knew deep inside that if I didn’t stand my ground and acknowledge it, we’d be back to square one yet again—and I was getting tired of that hostile territory.
“Glad to hear it,” I finally said, trying my hardest not to sound flippant about it because old habits.
Seeing the obvious strain in my expression, Yael smiled. “I can see that.”
“And I accept your apology.”
“Excellent; I believe they call this progress. Now, shall we head out together,” he said as his smile morphed into a shit-eating grin, “or would you prefer to go rogue again?”
“So close,” I sighed, turning to walk away, “you were so close to taking the win, but then you just had to open that pretty-boy mouth of yours and ruin it all.”
“My pretty-boy mouth?” he asked, amusement plain in his tone.
“I see you’ve lost the plot yet again—”
“Would you prefer something else came out of it instead—”
“Nothing would be great—”
“—or would you rather put something in it?”
Another flush rosied my cheeks against my will and I turned away, letting the wind blow my hair into my face to hide it. “Like my fist? Is that what you’re getting at?”
That fucking smile widened. “Not even close.”
“I have a fun idea,” I said, picking up my pace. “How about we try you shutting up for a bit and go from there, okay?”
“Now where’s the fun in that?”
His sultry laughter filled the night air as we headed down the street, and though I’d never admit as much to him, the sound of it was far more glorious than the silence I’d requested.