26. Twenty-Six
TWENTY-SIX
J ax
Harley hasn’t said a single word the entire drive back to campus. She didn’t even protest when I took the long way. Pulling the car out of gear, I set the emergency break.
She tries to get out of the car, unbuckling her seatbelt and in the process of throwing the door open. I reach over, stopping the door from opening and pulling it shut again.
“Jax, let me out of this car,” she bites out.
Hearing her call me anything but my first name grates on my skin. I can’t help the growl in my voice as I insist, “Don’t even start with that shit. We’re going to have a conversation.”
“I don’t want to have a conversation.”
“Do I look like I give a fuck?”
She pins me with an icy blue stare. “Look, this wouldn’t be the first time I walked away from a relationship. I’ve had a ridiculous number of people who claimed to be my friend one day, only to turn around and act like they never were the next. So just do that.”
“One dinner with my family and you’re ready to call it quits?” I snap.
“Have you ever heard about the segregation that happened in the early 1700s?” she asks bitterly.
The question stuns me as much as it confuses me. It has nothing to do with her trying to walk away from me right now. In a low voice, I demand, “What are you even talking about?”
“The segregation between two cities. Bridgedom and Kill Ridge. The two cities were created to separate the wealthy from the poor. I thought it was a legend. Then I stepped inside your childhood home and realized it wasn’t. When I said I don’t belong here, I didn’t just mean your house. I meant I don’t belong in this city. You are the rich, I am the poor.”
“Your family isn’t poor,” I say.
“To your standards, we are poor.”
“What would make you think any of that matters to me?” I hiss, growing more pissed off with each word that leaves her mouth.
“Fine. Do you want a better reason?” she asks, her tone frigid.
“Yeah, I do.”
“My parents hunt your kind for sport,” she hisses. “Is that a good enough reason for you, Jax?”
“I know,” I say, holding her stare.
I mask my surprise at how quickly she confirmed all the things my dad said to me tonight. I’m sure if I hadn’t had this exact conversation with him only hours ago, there’d be no stopping the reaction I had when he told me his suspicions about the Thomas’s all these years. I know that if anyone other than him had told me, I wouldn’t have believed it for even a second.
“You…what?”
Dragging a hand down my face, I admit, “I figured it out.”
“When?” she demands.
“When you were on the patio with my mom and my sister. After my dad suggested it, the pieces just kinda fell into place. The way you didn’t even bat an eye when I told you I was a wolf. How it didn’t shock you that all of the guys are wolves. It all made sense. It was the only explanation for…” I trail off, shaking my head before lifting my gaze back to hers.
“Explanation for what?” Harley breathes.
She no longer looks like she’s a breath away from bolting from my car. Sadness takes its place over the anger she was using as a mask. Her shoulders are slumped, eyes filled with…shame.
“I’ve been having a hard time controlling the urge to mark you,” I tell her truthfully. “Which makes sense because you have the blood of a hunter.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispers.
Wetting my lips, I murmur, “Your blood makes mine sing.”
She shakes her head back and forth. “That’s not possible.”
“Hunters have a different genetic makeup than the average human. During a full moon, when we’ve shifted, we can’t shift back. That’s when hunters will use themselves as bait. They’ll lure us with the scent of their blood and set traps to catch us before killing us. It’s why we never run in the same place twice. We often only run on wolf owned lands, but even that doesn’t guarantee our safety.”
Reaching over the center console, I unbuckle my seatbelt as I grab her by the nape of her neck. I pull her toward me, bringing us nose to nose. Her scent wraps around me like a warm blanket, anchoring me in the best possible way.
“You can get out of this car. You can walk inside your dorm. You can leave the school. You can run. But you can’t hide. Wherever you go, I’ll find you. I told you I have never claimed to be a good man. If you think there’s a way out of this, there isn’t. I will hunt you for the rest of my days, Harley Thomas.”
Wide blue eyes dart back and forth between mine. The scent of her arousal fills my nostrils as the erratic beat of her heart thrums in my ears. A flush fills her cheeks and her breath fans across my lips.
“That shouldn’t turn me on,” she whispers.
Snaking my fingers into her hair, I pull her head back until her face is pointed toward the ceiling of the car. I drag my mouth up the column of her throat, desperately wanting to sink my teeth into her carotid.
Brushing the shell of her ear with my lips, I murmur, “You crave the chase, doe eyes. It’s in your blood. You want me to hunt you and I would rather die than lose you.”
“This is not how I anticipated this going,” she breathes as I drag the pads of my fingers up the inside of her soft thigh.
“You thought I’d just let you walk away from me?” I growl, nipping her earlobe.
“Yes,” she says when I press my fingers against her clit.
The fabric of her underwear is soaked from my words alone. “Not a chance, doe eyes. Not a chance in fucking hell.”
I pull away from her and recline my seat as far back as it will go.
“What are you doing?” Harley asks breathlessly.
“I want you to slide those little lace nothings off and sit on my face,” I say roughly.
“Someone might see,” she protests.
But, fuck me, even as she tries to argue against it, she starts to slide her lace thong down her thighs. It wouldn’t matter if anyone saw. The moment they looked at the car and the license plate, they’d pass by without a second glance.
The legend Harley talked about was entirely true. But little does she know that I own this city and everyone in it. With a snap of my fingers, I could change the social status of anyone here.
Harley places her hand on the head rest just above my head. Before she swings her leg over the center console, I notice her slipping the fabric of her thong around the gearshift. Her knees land on either side of my hips, and in one swift movement, I lift her and settle her over my face.
With her knees on my shoulders, she stares down at me. Slowly, I drag the fabric of her dress up her thighs. Goosebumps erupt across her smooth skin with each inch my palms slide closer.
“Say my name, Davidson,” I whisper before dropping a kiss to the inside of her thigh.
“Zayden.”
“That’s my good fucking girl. Now, sit on my fucking face and don’t you dare take your eyes off of me.”
Harley releases a staggering breath before lowering herself onto my face. I swipe my tongue through her slit, groaning at the taste of her. I circle her clit and suck it between my lips the way I know drives her mad.
I slide my left hand beneath my chin and slide two fingers inside of her. Harley gasps at the unexpected intrusion and then quietly moans as I stroke that spot that stokes a fire within her soul. Flattening my tongue, I drag my tongue ring over her clit until she’s grinding her cunt onto my face.
It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever fucking seen in my entire life. With my free hand, I pop open the button on my jeans and lower my zipper. Feeling for the gearshift, when my fingers brush the damp lace, I pull them off. With her underwear in my palm, I pull my cock free and wrap my hand around it.
The friction from the lace has me closer to the edge than I’d like to admit. With my eyes locked on Harley’s, I watch as she comes undone. Her walls pulse around my fingers, and with several fast strokes I follow right behind her.
Harley shudders, her breath coming out in fast bursts of air. “That was…” I drag my teeth over her sensitive clit, “Fuck, do that again.”
With a grin, I do as she says, grazing her with my teeth. Her thighs quake as she thrusts her fingers into my hair. I rub the tips of my fingers against her inner wall, massaging her g-spot and dragging my teeth across her clit again.
“Give me one more, pretty girl. Come for me again.”
“Zayden,” she breathes. I scrape my teeth over her again. “God, I’m so close.”
I drag them over her once, twice, and a third time before she comes undone all over again. She tilts her head back and opens her mouth in a silent scream.
“One of these days, I’m going to bury my cock in this tight little pussy, and when I do, your screams will echo off the walls.”
Harley presses up on her knees, and as she does, I drag my teeth along her inner thigh. She smells like fucking heaven and tastes like the sweetest sin. It takes every ounce of control I have not to sink my teeth into her flesh.
I tuck myself back into my briefs while she slowly moves back down my body. Part of me expects her to throw open the driver door and bolt into her dorm. So when she curls up in my lap and drops her head to my chest, a contented breath passes my lips. Wrapping my arms around her, I bury my face into her hair. I want nothing more than to drown in the scent of her.
“How is this supposed to work?” she whispers.
I lick my lips, still tasting her orgasm on my tongue and say, “You don’t have to worry about that. All that matters is you’re mine. I’ll take care of the rest.”
A disbelieving laugh bubbles from her mouth. “How do you plan to do that, Zayden?”
By killing anyone who stands in the way of me having you . “Do you have to go back to the dorm tonight?”
She places her chin into my chest and stares up at me. I soak it in, committing the picture of her to memory. There’s no doubt in my mind that I would burn cities to the ground just to have her. In the back of my mind, I’ve known that from the very first second I saw her.
“You want me to stay with you?” Harley asks, her words almost too soft to hear.
Instead of answering her, I reach up and brush her hair back from her face. In the silence, the beat of her heart thrums in my ears. I want to feel that beat echo through my veins in a way that drives me to the point of madness.
“I need to run in to grab clothes,” she murmurs.
The corner of my mouth lifts. “What if I don’t want you to wear clothes?”
Harley raises a single brow. “I also have dinner with my parents tomorrow.”
“I’ll go with you,” I clip.
Shaking her head, she sighs and says, “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not ready for that.”
Grinding my teeth together, I flick my gaze to the ceiling of the car. I know I can’t force her to do anything. Especially when it comes to her parents. Regardless, it feels wrong letting her go alone.
“Hey,” Harley breathes.
Forcing my eyes back to hers, I mutter, “I don’t like how they treat you.”
With a small smile, she says, “I’ve been dealing with them for a very long time. I think I can handle doing it alone for just a little while longer.”
I take a deep breath and try to calm the nerves running rampant in my body. “Fine. But I have one condition.”
“Oh, a condition?” she teases gently.
“It’s a minor one, but yes.”
“Please enlighten me.” Her lips curve up in a smile.
“I want to see this nightcap. I have to determine whether or not it needs to be replaced with a red one,” I say firmly.
Harley rolls her eyes. “Whatever you say, hockey jockey.”