Chapter 14
The Deal is Done
“You should sleep,” I said as we made our way to Noctis.
We’d been on the road for hours, and all she’d done the whole time was look out the window from the front passenger seat.
Normally, I made my bounties sit in the back, but I wanted her close. I wanted to be able to reach out and touch her. Pretend she was my girlfriend, that we were just going on a fun road trip.
And that this wasn’t a death march.
“Tell me what you’re going to do once this job is over,” she said, ignoring my advice.
“Sage, we don’t have to…”
“I want to know.” She turned towards me with a sad smile on her face. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I’m just curious. That was always an ice breaker I liked to use with new people: ‘if you won the lottery, what would you do?’ It’s fun to answer, and says a lot about a person.”
“Losing you doesn’t feel like winning the lottery, though. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
She reached over and placed a hand on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. I placed mine on top of hers. “Humor me,” she said.
I loosed a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. I mean, first thing I’m going to do is quit. Even if I wasn’t getting enough to retire on, after today, I’m officially done with this life.”
“Hm,” she replied. “And then what?”
“And then, I’m going to renovate my place. I want to add some built-in bookshelves, modernize the kitchen, and get one of those big, fancy tubs with jets for my bathroom. Maybe even add a second story, I don’t know. Not that I need a lot of space. It’s just me, anyway.”
I felt her pulse quicken, could practically taste it in the air. I was becoming attuned to her mood and emotions.
“It might not always be just you, though, right? You might finally have time to find someone.”
I choked out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, right. Most women think demons make shitty boyfriends, and the kind of women who do want to date demons are usually turned off by the fact that I’d rather stay home on a Friday night than go out and party.
And, Sage, I think we can be honest with one another here… ”
She turned towards me, her eyes clear and pained.
“After meeting you, and now losing you… I don’t think I can ever imagine myself with anyone else. I can’t explain it, and I don’t know if you’re feeling this way, too, but it’s like… it’s like…”
“I know,” she said softly. “I understand.”
We didn’t speak for the next few hours, even eating our lunch from the roadside diner we stopped at in awkward silence.
What the fuck was I going to do? What could I do? I had no idea what exactly awaited Sage once we got to Noctis, but it obviously scared the shit out of her. And I was going against every instinct screaming at me to protect her by bringing her back to the Premier.
But with the alternative being my death, all I could do was keep driving.
The sky darkened as we got closer to Noctis, and Sage’s leg bounced nervously beside me.
“Can you pull over soon? I need to go to the bathroom.”
“We’re almost there. Maybe we shouldn’t take any unnecessary stops.” I wanted to savor every second I had left, to draw this out until the deadline, but it was just going to make it harder on both of us at the end.
“Please, Ronan. It’s necessary.”
The sound of my name from her lips was its own kind of magic, and I couldn’t resist whatever request came afterwards.
I saw a sign for a rest stop ahead in five miles, and pulled in there.
Thankfully, the parking lot was empty, and I stopped right in front of the restrooms. I turned off the engine, but she didn’t move.
“I thought you had to go?” I asked.
She slowly unbuckled her seat belt, but instead of opening the door, she slid her legs across the center console onto my lap, straddling me in the driver’s seat.
I stilled, afraid that if I touched her, my rut would kick back in. It hadn’t faded entirely, but hearing her ask me to stop when I’d caught her in the woods had worked better than any of the suppressants I’d taken so far.
“Sage, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said, even though it also felt like the best idea.
She placed her hands on my cheeks, tilting my face up to look at hers. “Please fuck me, Ronan. Before I have to go back to him. I… I just want to know what it feels like.”
My dick stood at attention, ready and raring to go, but my mind was a traitorous cock block, trying to think of any reason to stop this. “Want to know what sex feels like? You’re not a virgin, are you?”
“No,” she replied, getting exasperated. “I’m not a virgin, Ronan.” She slowly began to grind against me, and I swallowed back my groan.
“So… so what, you just want to try an alpha demon? Is that it?”
“For Hecara’s sake, Ronan,” she growled, her hands reaching up to grab my horns. “I don’t give a shit about your Magik, or your designation. This is about you. I want to fuck you. And if you don’t want me, tell me now before—”
My mouth crashed into hers and I yanked hard on the recline lever, taking her down with me as I fell back and gave us more room.
She leaned forward to keep her chest flush with mine, her tongue quickly darting into my mouth. I matched her energy but let her take the lead.
Her hips continued to grind on my lap, and I moved my hands up and down her thighs, my fingers grazing against the thin layer of underwear that was growing increasingly wetter by the second.
She moaned when my thumb gently brushed her clit, breaking the kiss and looking up, exposing the slim, marred column of her neck.
A wide, raised scar drew my attention, reminding me of the dream I’d had where she’d burned her skin. Had that been real?
I kissed the spot, and she shuddered above me, releasing the sweetest whimper I’d ever heard in my life.
My cock was really straining against my pants now, painfully so, and yet I wanted her to be the one to release me. She was calling the shots.
But I still needed this just as badly.
“Can I take your shirt off?” I asked, hating the barrier of fabric that was keeping me from feeling and looking at every perfect inch of her.
She grabbed the hem of the oversized tee and pulled it over her head, revealing more bite marks and a long surgical scar. I ran my tongue over it, holding her waist to keep her close.
Her hands roamed up and down my chest, fingers gripping the cotton of my own shirt, sliding their way underneath to touch my skin.
“You’re so warm,” she sighed with a smile.
My lips found their way back to her neck and I chuckled. “You know, you could just call me hot.”
She giggled, reaching behind her to unhook her bra. I immediately withdrew my attention from her neck and latched onto one of her hardened, pink nipples, sucking and grazing the skin with my teeth. I kneaded the other in my hand, loving the way it fit in my palm—not too big, not too small.
She took my chin and gently pried me away, taking my lips for another kiss.
I could feel her smile, feel her happiness, her arousal.
The perfume of it filled the small space of my car, and I wondered how I’d ever be able to sit in here again without thinking about her, without replaying this moment over and over again.
This was going to wreck me, but not fucking her would wreck me worse.
And I supposed she was feeling the same. Her hands finally wound their way down to the waist of my jeans, struggling with the button.
I lifted her slightly to give me a little room, then helped her finish the job, sliding them off my hips as far as I could. She immediately grabbed me through my underwear, and I hissed in pleasure.
“More,” I begged. “Please, touch me more.”
Supporting herself on her knees and with one hand now grabbing my horn to kiss me, the other reached between her legs and she continued stroking my dick, and I couldn’t keep my hips from starting to buck, to meet her tempo with a desperate one of my own.
She laughed against my lips at my eagerness, breaking the kiss to whisper in my ear, “I—”
A loud knock on the window had her screaming and me grabbing her tightly, covering her naked chest from view.
“Ronan! What the fuck? Get out here, now!”
Garrick stood outside my car, looking angrier than I’d ever seen him before. But not nearly as angry as I was.
He’d interrupted us. He’d scared Sage. What had he seen of her body?
I roared in frustration, helping her get her shirt back on and settled back in her seat before opening my door, pulling my pants back up as I stomped towards Garrick. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and growled in his face. “How dare you—”
He shoved me back, poking a finger in my chest. “No, how dare you? The first thing I told you when I hired you, the number one rule, was don’t get close to the bounties. That includes fucking them!”
I pushed his hand away. “You don’t understand. She’s not a thief. The Premier had her locked up for years, torturing her!”
Garrick snorted and rolled his eyes. “Oh, for Vorrak’s sake, quit thinking with your cock for a minute.
Of course she’d give you some sob story about how she was just a victim in all of this.
Every bounty is always lying and bargaining.
You know that! And now you’re ready to throw your life away for one night of witch omega cunt? ”
I growled, cocking back my fist. “Don’t you fucking talk about my—”
“Your what, Ronan? The only thing she is to you is your bounty. Face it.”
Fire grew in the pit of my chest, smoke rising from my pores. “She’s my—”
“Ronan!”
Sage’s voice, sweet and scared, quelled the heat, and I turned around. She slowly approached me, her arms wrapped around her stomach. “It’s fine. I’m not lying about the Premier, but he’s right. And your deal is running out.”