26. Lilith
LILITH
Familiar sounds surround me as my sneakers pad against the hospital’s linoleum floors.
People move from one place to another, gurneys roll past, monitors beep steadily in the background.
And rising above it all is the thundering of my pulse. It roars between my ears, growing louder with every step that brings me closer to Alaric.
After the cryptic text he sent me this morning, who could blame me?
Alaric: Morning. Something came up, and I won’t be there to walk you to work. Meet me in OR5 an hour before your shift instead.
A million questions rose to the surface when I read it the first five times. What came up? What’s wrong with either his home or mine?
But since I trust him, I didn’t ask any of them, just sent him an, Are you okay?
His answer flashed on my screen a moment later.
Alaric: Yes, there’s nothing to worry about. Our privacy included. That OR is being renovated.
So here I am, in my work clothes, minus the apron I left in the cafeteria with my bag, about to meet him and talk or do…
Something.
That’s the last thought I have before awareness floods through me, pulling me into the present moment.
The hair at the back of my neck stands on end. A rope cinches around my lungs, pulling tight.
Alaric is here.
My soul recognizes his, even though I can’t see him. I don’t even hear his footsteps behind me.
That’s how unique Alaric’s presence is.
His needs are just as potent, and they aren’t sweet.
If he wanted to have a conversation, he would’ve fallen into step with me by now. Held my hand. Kissed my forehead and wished me good morning.
Instead, he’s being a predator.
Something happened to him while we were apart. Something that made him miss me. Want me.
Need me.
I can’t complain about that.
Anticipation courses through my veins. Arousal wets my panties. My hands twitch at my sides, aching to touch him.
The sign for Operating Room 5—Out of Service comes into view a few moments later.
Three doors to my right, and I’m there.
Just then, two nurses rush toward me, then disappear behind my back. A doctor in a white coat sweeps past from behind me, already moving ahead down the hall.
Thanks to my cafeteria badge and uniform, no one bats an eye or stops to ask what I’m doing here.
Or maybe it’s because of the shadow at my back.
Doesn’t matter one way or the other because…I made it.
My fingers tremble as I press OR5’s door handle and—
Oh, no. It won’t budge.
“Let me.”
Alaric.
My eyes snap up and to the side, and I have to bite back a gasp at the sight of him.
His disheveled hair and thicker stubble would make any other man seem tired or plain messy.
Not my man, with his gaze as sharp and alive as ever. It rakes over my body, hot and greedy, as if he’s memorizing every inch. As if he’s imagining what I look like naked.
My heart pounds against my rib cage, wanting to break free and reach out to him.
But then he covers my hand with his, and an electric shock jolts up my arm.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it—how all it takes is one simple touch for my brain to short-circuit around him.
If not for the beep of the keycard once Alaric swipes his ID badge, I probably would’ve kept staring at him for the rest of my life.
“After you.”
Nodding obediently, I slip inside.
The smell of dust and paint stings my nose as I take in the stripped-down room and the clear plastic sheeting draped over abandoned carts.
Only for a moment.
In the next, Alaric closes the door behind us and flips on the light.
He steps in front of me, standing so close that our chests almost touch.
I can’t bring myself to speak as I stare up at him. He looks every bit as lethal as he is devastating, even in scrubs with a stethoscope resting around his neck.
“God, I’ve missed you.” He curls his long fingers around my throat.
His large body presses me against the nearest wall, the intensity of the simple act waking even the most dormant parts of me.
“You have?” I ask, my voice breathless.
His cock throbs against my belly, his jaw ticking.
“Yeah.” He leans in, his breath hot on my lips, mingling with mine.
Then he seals our lips together in something that’s supposed to be a kiss, but it really isn’t.
It’s a claim.
He’s ruthless as he forces my lips open. Demanding in the way his tongue searches and rubs along mine. He tilts my head to the side, growling before he starts licking and tasting more of me.
In these moments when he steals my breath away, he’s not my doctor or my lover. He isn’t a murderer, either.
He’s a savage, one who’s determined to ruin me for all other men.
I need him just as much, my pussy clenching as he grinds into me. We’re close, breathing each other’s air, taking and giving with abandon, but it’s not enough.
A thrumming ache spreads through me, making me thread my hands in Alaric’s hair and yank on it. Hard.
“Fuck, Lilith.” His teeth sink into my bottom lip, soft then merciless.
The mixture of pleasure and pain turns me into a feral woman. I gasp, moan, and growl into his mouth. My back pushes off the wall, every pore in my body begging for more of Alaric.
That’s exactly what he gives me by thrusting his hips forward and pinning me right where I belong. Between him and the wall.
“The things one night away from you does to me. It’s fucked up.” His lips trail lower, leaving a hot path along my jaw. “You turn me into a beast.”—kiss—“Can’t take my hands off you, and I haven’t even said good morning.”
“Why would I need a good morning?” It’s barely a whisper with how firm his grip is on my throat. “When I can have this?”
“You…” Not his cock, not even his dirty words, compare to his mouth. When he presses it to the spot right under my ear, I feel like I’m about to burst. “You’re a bad girl, little devil.”
He squeezes my throat a little tighter.
“A trusting one too.”
“I trust you.” If I didn’t, I never would have allowed myself to fall for a killer. “So much. Do what you want with me.”
“You don’t even know what it is.” His teeth tease my earlobe. Though it should be impossible at this point, the light touch sends more heat between my thighs. “And you agree? Just like that?”
“Yes.” I’d put my life in his hands a million times if he asked. I’m safe with him. “Please.”
He tears his lips away from me, his gaze wild as he stares me down.
“What if this is what I want?” His hand applies even more pressure on either side of my neck. “What if I demand the air you breathe?”
“Take…” The lack of oxygen and the black dots swimming at the edges of my vision mean nothing to me. He won’t kill me. He knows what he’s doing, and that’s possessing me. “It.”
“Why?” His fingers ease around my throat for a moment. Then they close again. “Why would you trust me?”
There are things I could say to him right now. Lots of things.
Like how I have faith my hero will never let me down.
How I believe him when he says he loves me.
How I think—no, know—he has the biggest heart in the whole wide world.
But why talk when I can show him?
He draws his head back just in time for me to look at him while I slip my hand under his scrubs. Down his boxers.
And wrap my fingers around his thick, throbbing cock.
“Oh, fuck.” Alaric thrusts into my hand.
By pumping his dick, matching the rhythm of his hips, I tell him I’m not scared of him. That he can be his ruthless, unhinged self around me, and I will trust him anyway.
The low growls and the relentless pace of his hips are wild and perfect. He’s riled up. A beautiful beast.
“Lilith, you—”
“What?” I breathe out.
“You make me crazy.”
His fingers loosen around me, giving me air right before I pass out.
This is why I put my life in his hands. Why I trust him, no matter what.
As hard and turned on as he is, Alaric is always considerate of me.
“The things I want to do to you.” The blue of his irises has been pushed out, his eyes almost black with desire. “They go against everything I believe in.”
“What things?” Ignoring the darkness bleeding from him, I stroke him faster, from root to tip. I trace the underside of his head the way he likes, then go back to pumping him. “Tell me.”
“Owning you doesn’t begin to cover it. If I could—fuck—I’d imprint myself on every part of you.
” Both pride and arousal spread like wildfire across my skin when I feel precum wetting his tip.
When he groans as I rub it over the swollen crown.
“I’d have you walking around with my cum on your tits.
Bite marks on your shoulders. Between your thighs. ”
“I want that.” I hope like hell he hears me. That he understands that I don’t simply love his deviant thoughts. That I love and accept everything about him. “Besides, if you were the bad person you think you are, you wouldn’t have become a doctor. You wouldn’t have saved my life.”
“Any…” His eyebrows shoot down. Lips parting, a hushed moan slips past them when I circle his wet opening with my thumb. “Any doctor could’ve done that.”
“Not like you did.” The feel of his hand working my jeans open is dizzying. “You waited for me to wake up.” Despite my growing need, tears brim in my eyes. “You reassured me Mom wouldn’t come back. That night, bruised and in pain, I took my first breath in a long time. All thanks to you.”
“Lilith.” The sound he makes in the back of his throat is one of anguish. “Goddamn you.”
When he delves in to kiss me, he steals my sanity. His kiss is as rough as his touch when he rubs my clit beneath my panties. He does everything he can to get me off, as if my pleasure is crucial for his survival.
I ache for him to feel just as good, so I jerk him faster while pulling his pants and boxers down, then cupping his balls with my other hand. It’s the first time I dare to do that, and this beast of a man rewards me by biting my lip so hard it feels like he’s saying yes, please, more.
That silent plea gets me so wet. Because it’s me, no one else, who can stoke such a wildfire in him.
When he pulls his lips away, I almost scream.
“I need…” he starts, his chest expanding with every labored breath.