Chapter 47
S plitting up in a strange underground bunker run by graynites was probably a bad idea, but in that moment, I was ruled by my primal emotions, by the need to see my mate and hold him, my ear to his chest so I could listen to the steady beat of his heart.
Ignus instructed one of the guards, another halfblood graynite like him, to take the others to the residences where he claimed Adaline was waiting.
There was no prickle of unease, no scent of deception in his tone, but was that because I wanted to believe him?
Their hideout was an underground bunker all gray and beige walls and floors, bleak corridors that connected to create a complex maze.
I had no idea how Ignus navigated this place.
There were no landmarks—nothing to indicate where we were or where we were going, but he took each turn with confidence.
I lengthened my stride to keep up. “This place must be big to house graynites.”
“I suppose so.”
“How many graynites live here?”
“Enough.”
“You’re not giving much away.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I know.”
What if I’d walked right into some kind of elaborate trap?
No, he could have killed us while we were unconscious.
There was no need for spinning a story unless he was trying to trick us and get us on side…
The wrong side? Even if that was true, it hardly mattered if we went along with it and faked our belief in him.
If it got us out of here safe and sound, then so be it.
We would have died in the barren lands if not for his intervention, which made me wonder how long we’d been unconscious. Orix would be going nuts by now. The academy, the council, they’d all realize something had gone wrong.
“Relax,” Ignus said. “You’ve gone all tense and thoughtful. I don’t plan to hurt you. We’re on the same side. You’ll learn to trust me.”
“So why did you try to kidnap me when we first met?”
“ Kidnap is such a strong word. I’d call it extraction. Look, I was trying to save you from getting embroiled in whatever scheme the faction had set up.”
“You knew who I was, and who Romi was?”
“Yes.”
“You told me you could take me to him.”
“I did, and I could have…back then…” He stopped outside a door and turned to face me.
“I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve been forced to endure.
For all the uncertainty. I probably could have handled that first assignment better, but…
believe me, Cameron, you’re in the right place now.
We can keep you safe. You, Serath, and your friends. ”
My pulse jumped. “You want us to stay?”
He pressed his lips together. “If it were up to me, I’d make you stay, but the boss doesn’t believe in enforced alliances.
Once he’s spoken to you all, you can make up your minds about whether you stay or go.
” He pressed his palm to a panel by the door.
“In the meantime, how about some quality time with your mate.” The door beeped, and he pushed it open and stepped aside to let me in.
I probably should have checked to make sure Serath was indeed inside before barging in, but the tug inside my chest and the heat that followed told me he was close.
I stepped into the room furnished in soft beige and brown that housed a bed and a couple of sofas. Serath stood in the center of it, his hands fists at his sides and his face a mask of uncertainty and hope.
“Cameron…” His throat bobbed.
I made to cross the room, but Ignus grabbed my arm.
Serath growled low and menacing, and Ignus threw him a flat look.
“Calm down, big guy. I’m simply explaining the rules.”
Serath exhaled and pressed his lips together. “I can do that.”
“I’d feel better if I did it. Protocol and all.” Ignus released me and pointed at the ground where a yellow line bisected the room. “Your mate can’t cross that line. The bracelet we put on him stops him from doing so. It also stops him shifting.”
“What? Why? I thought you said he was clean. That the entity was gone?”
“I did, and as far as we know it is, but we need to run some more tests. Who knows what else the faction might have done to him?”
“He’s right,” Serath said. “It’s safer this way. If I start acting odd, you get across that line.” Then to Ignus, “And if you touch my mate again, I’ll tear off your hand, line or not.”
“Noted,” Ignus said with a concessionary smile. “Now, I shall leave you to it.” He stepped outside. “I’m sure you’re dying to be properly reunited. I’ll be back for you once the boss returns,” he said to me. “A few hours at least.” He winked. “Enjoy.”
He closed the door behind me, and I threw myself across the yellow line and into Serath’s arms.
He rained kisses on my face, finally finding my lips and lingering there. I sank into him, body melting against the hard planes of his torso, fingers sinking into his luscious locks. I kissed him until my lips were swollen and throbbing before coming up for air.
He nuzzled my throat, inhaling me. “You smell so good.” His voice was a delicious abrasion against my sensitized skin. I rubbed against him, gasping as sharp shocks of pleasure tightened my nipples. “We should talk…”
He nipped my earlobe, then kissed the spot beneath, sending a shiver down my neck. “Yes. We should.”
I found his lips again, sucking on the full bottom one before losing myself in my hunger for his mouth.
He lifted me up and carried me to his bed, where I was enveloped in his scent.
He hovered over me, eyes dark with desire and a tumult of emotions that echoed the swell and ebb of sensations inside me.
“I’ve dreamed about this moment so many times,” he said. “Being alone like this with you, with no fear, no barriers. Being able to be here with you…to feel this with you…it makes everything worthwhile.”
Everything he’d been through…the pain and goodness knows what else. Things his mind had forgotten to protect him from. Things that had happened to him while he protected his soul in the tethered place.
My stomach hollowed. We were alone. We were together.
But at what price? “Serath…” I reached up to run my fingers along his jaw.
“We don’t have to do this right now. There’s time.
” My beast pushed beneath my skin, begging for his touch, begging us to claim what we’d denied ourselves for too long, but I pushed her down. “We should talk. Really. Just talk.”
He sighed and closed his eyes. “What if I don’t want to talk? What if I simply want to feel?” He ran his hand down my body, starting at my collarbones and ending at my pubic bone. Heat bloomed in the wake of his touch, and my body arched beneath it.
“Fuck…”
“Yes, Cameron. I want to. I really fucking want to.” He reached over his shoulder and yanked off his shirt.
My breath snagged in my throat, my hot gaze feasting on the wide muscled expanse of his chest and every plane and ridge of his cobbled abdomen and thick muscular waist, then lower to his Adonis belt, partially visible above his waistband.
I flexed my fingers, clutching at the sheets to stop myself from touching him, because if I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop, and I needed this moment to take him in, to simply drink in every inch of the body I’d craved for too long.
He stepped away from the bed and hooked a thumb into the waistband of his trousers, slowly drawing them down.
I’d seen him before, taken him in my mouth and savored him, but the memory was nothing compared to the reality before me.
He was huge, ridged, perfect, and my body reacted, softening and tensing in all the right places while the pulse between my thighs deepened with need.
“Now you,” he said.
I licked my lips, and he tracked the motion, a low purr vibrating his chest. It deepened as I pulled off my shirt and shucked off my pants, eagerly and nowhere near as sexily as he had.
My pulse raced, my heart beating so fast that all I could hear was the whoosh of blood in my head. Each breath felt like a chore without his mouth on mine. I needed him, skin on skin. I needed to feel him all over me. But he continued to worship me with his gaze.
I reached for him. “Serath.”
He let loose a ragged exhale. “You’re so fucking beautiful. And you’re mine.” The bed dipped as he climbed up, body eclipsing mine. My stomach dipped beneath the raw power he exuded, knowing he belonged to me.
That this…I ran my hands up his biceps, reveling in the sensation of taut, slightly silken skin against my palms. His muscles jumped beneath my touch, flexing as I gripped and dug my fingers in.
This was mine. I gripped his nape with both hands, offering him my mouth, which he claimed without hesitation.
Our bodies settled, coming together as they were meant to, fitting perfectly against each other, skin to skin, igniting a fresh heat inside the pit of my belly that connected to my core.
He fit between my thighs, his arousal thick and heavy against me as I coated him in my need.
His growl of pleasure vibrated through me, and he broke the kiss, pulling away enough to make eye contact and hold me there, trapped in his pale blue gaze as he reached down between us to touch me.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” His tone was thick and deep. “I need you to be ready.”
But I could barely focus on what he was saying, my body focused on the spiral of sensation he was creating between my thighs, on the stretch and invasion of each digit as he thrust into me, curling his fingers up to reach the spot that had my hips bucking up to meet his hand over and over.
“Fuck…”
“Yes.” He gripped my jaw and claimed my mouth, swallowing my cries of release, a wave that seemed to keep hitting, getting higher each time.
He replaced his fingers with his cock, the pressure bigger, the stretch a burn. I cried out, eyes burning, tears leaking down the sides of my face as he entered me.
“Tell me if it hurts,” he said thickly. “Just…tell me to stop,” he panted.