Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
NAV
Arena made a small choked sound, and I saw the fear in her gaze.
“You were bitten, Nav.”
She shuffled back a step. I moved quickly, darting out of the shower and picking her up so she wouldn’t do something foolish like run outside without clothes on. It was too cold for that.
“Yes, I was bitten, but I won’t turn stupid. I promise. Remember? I’m immune. You’re safe.” She shook in my arms. Was she cold, or was it all fear? I hoped it wasn’t fear.
“Count, Arena,” I said, turning toward the shower. “You will see.”
I held her under the warm water and listened to her stuttering words as she tried to count.
I corrected her a few times as she skipped numbers.
Her shaking grew more pronounced. She stopped counting entirely and started to sob.
I cradled her, kissing her tear trails, my heart breaking as I counted for her.
“That is fifteen minutes,” I said softly when I finished. “Do you want me to keep counting?”
Her breathing hitched as she pulled back to look at me. The torment in her gaze pierced me deeper than any bite ever had. She tugged at me, lifting herself in my arms so she could look over my shoulder. She stayed like that for several heartbeats, her breast temptingly close to my face.
When she eased down again, she looked calmer.
“Are you really immune?”
I nodded.
“You were telling the truth? About the scientists and sex making me immune too?
“Sex or drinking my seed,” I clarified, frowning. “I have never lied to you, Arena.”
She considered me for a long moment.
“You won’t share me?” she asked quietly.
“Never.”
“Put me down, Nav.”
I did. Reluctantly.
Her hands slid over my skin as she turned me. I shivered as she traced the bite, liking her touch too much and wanting to feel it everywhere.
“Turn around, Nav.”
As soon as I did, her hands closed over my length. I grunted in surprise then growled in appreciation as she slowly stroked me.
“Are you clean enough?” she asked.
My pulse sped as I understood what she was asking.
“Yes.”
“Good. Turn off the water. How much time do we have until Belak comes back?”
“Enough.” He knew not to look in the window and to knock softly now. He would not interrupt whatever Arena planned to do.
She took my hand and led me back to the bed. I liked the way she pushed me down and how she ran her hands over my chest as she straddled my legs. The hungry look in her eyes as she stared at my cock made my pulse pound in my ears.
Did she want to taste me again? I struggled to swallow…and keep still.
“It’s never not hard, is it?” she asked, trailing her cool fingers along my hot length.
“Not since I found you,” I said.
“And I’m the only one you’re going to let see it?”
I nodded.
“And touch it?”
Another emphatic nod.
“What if another woman offers to taste it? Will you let her?”
“No. My cock is yours.”
“Forever?”
I fisted my hands to keep from grabbing her.
“Forever,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t change her mind.
“Good.”
She wrapped her hands around me and leaned in.
I held my breath, watching her. Her tongue darted out, lapping at the bead of anticipation that had gathered. My gut clenched as she met my gaze and smiled softly. Her exhale teased me as her lips parted. I fisted my hands, desperate to feel her.
She looked down at my length.
Hungry. Ready. Willing.
Heart hammering, I watched the tip disappear into her mouth. Her sweet suction broke my control. I reached for her, smoothing back her hair and watching her swallow more of me. Her tongue teased the underside of the head, and I grunted, feeling the warning tingle.
“Arena.”
She touched my balls, her cool fingers finding the underside and stroking along the seam.
With a grunt, I clamped down on her hair and helplessly emptied myself into her mouth.
She made a distressed sound, and I tried to let go, but I couldn’t. The intensity of my release kept me locked in place and lasted a very long time. When I realized she was tapping my leg, I unfurled my fingers and sat up, pulling her into my lap.
“I’m sorry, Arena. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to—”
She covered my mouth. “Next time, I’m tying your hands.”
I nodded, relieved she was willing to do that again. “I will find some rope.”
She stopped me from setting her aside.
“Wait. Let me eat some real food first. You weren’t kidding about that being a lot.”
I snuggled her. “I have never lied to you.”
She nodded and rested her arms around me. I liked when she held me. I liked everything she did. Except for going outside to talk to the humans. That I never wanted her to do again.
As if she were reading my mind, she said, “I think I need to go to the docks to leave another note for my friends. I don’t want them to send anyone else.”
I grunted, not letting her go. She didn’t try to leave either. She rested her head on my chest, over my thundering heart.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said after several moments of silence. “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”
She might not know, but I did. She would return to her friends, leaving me forever.
“Nothing will happen to me,” I said, standing.
She cuddled in my arms as I carried her down the hall and grinned at me as I knelt at her feet to help dress her, kissing her skin before I covered it. She played with the tip of my ear, which made me wish for her mouth again.
After she finished eating, I took her outside. She glanced toward the fence, but quickly looked away from the new pile I’d made.
“I will move them when Belak returns,” I promised.
She nodded and tucked her face against my chest as I ran with her toward the other end of the street. The small gasp that escaped her when I jumped over the fence teased my cock.
We didn’t see any infected until we reached Main Street. Several were wandering by the building with the bedrooms. I jumped onto the store’s roof across the street.
“Stay here.” I kissed her forehead. “Cover your eyes.”
“Okay. No more bites. And try not to get gooey.”
I grunted in acknowledgment and jumped down. As I removed their heads, I heard the faint sound of an engine. It wasn’t coming from the south like the previous days but from the north. From the water.
Fear pooled low in my gut as I finished off the last infected and tossed its head aside.
If Arena saw her friends, would she want to leave with them?
I glanced at her. She was standing on the roof where I’d left her.
She wasn’t covering her eyes, but watching me.
When she noticed my attention, she smiled and waved.
My chest tightened. I didn’t want her to leave.
I wanted her to stay. To love me as I loved her.
With a sprinting start, I ran up the side of the building and joined her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “You look worried.”
“I hear an engine.”
She turned toward the south.
“Are they really that stupid to come back? I would have thought the conk on the head would have knocked some sense into him.”
“Not them. It’s your friends. If you want to go to them, I will take you to the dock,” I said, unable to keep what I was feeling from my voice.
She turned to look at me, her gaze seeing everything. My reluctance. My desperation. I couldn’t hide it anymore.
Her lips curved in a soft smile. The same kind she gave me after she came on my tongue.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she asked.
I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms, caging her…keeping her where she belonged. Against me. With me.
“Never. I want to keep you forever.”
Her hands moved over my back.
“I know. And I’m willing to stay with you. But I need to talk to them. They need to know what happened so they can protect themselves.” She looked up at me. “But I want to talk to them alone, Nav. Please. And I need you to promise you won’t make them stay.”
Even now, after showing her how much I wanted her, she worried I wanted another female? My chest filled with pride. My female was jealous. She wanted me. Finally.
“Even if they chose to stay, I would never look at them like I look at you. You are mine, Arena, and I am yours.” I smoothed back the hair that the wind was blowing into her face. “If you do not wish for them to see me, we should hurry.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck.
I jumped off the building with her. The soft squeal she let out was too similar to the ones she made earlier for me to react.
Running became more uncomfortable, and I had to adjust myself once I put her down at the end of the dock.
She didn’t notice. She was shielding her eyes and looking for the boat that she could now hear, too.
“I’ll wait at the end of the road to ensure no infected come,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
“Thank you.”
I grunted and left her near the pile of supplies Belak and I had left for her friends last night.
The engine grew louder as I stood near the building’s long grass, considering the infected bodies I would need to remove later.
Along with the ones by the house. It was good that it wasn’t warmer here or the air would reek of death.
If Arena wanted to stay, Belak and I should start clearing the houses—there were many of them—before the weather warmed further.
The engine quieted.
Worried, I glanced over my shoulder. Arena was waving excitedly, a smile on her face. It relieved me. It meant she knew the people in the boat. I glanced at them. Four humans. All female.
I frowned. Where were the traffickers? Had the females escaped?
One of the females cried out softly as she jumped off the boat and onto the dock, running for Arena, who caught her in a hug.
“You are a sight for sore eyes,” another said as she jumped off the boat with a rope to tie it to the dock.
“Can’t breathe, Lettie,” Arena said, patting the back of the one hugging her.
I knew that wasn’t true since she could speak, but still scowled at the female clinging to her.
“I was so scared something happened to you,” the female said, crying softly.
My gaze shifted to the street, but I wasn’t too concerned about any infected hearing them now that the engine was silent. Infected couldn’t hear as well as I could.
As I kept watch, I continued to listen to Arena as she reunited with her friends.