Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
GRANITE
I’d seen and done a lot of fucked up shit in life, and nothing ever surprised me. I was hardly ever caught off-guard. But right there, while buried balls deep inside the sweetest pussy I’d ever had, the words that came out of her mouth shocked the fuck out of me.
I pulled my dick out of her and winced, hating that I no longer had her heat wrapped around me. I stepped back, my cock half hard and my mind completely zoned.
“What did you say?”
Alyx turned around, not caring in the least that she was naked—that we were both naked. Her blue eyes had become steel, her cheeks no longer having a healthy pink glow. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I want you to kill them. I want you to make them pay for what they did to Neon.”
I bit the inside of my mouth, and my eyes narrowed as I tried to figure out how her switch got flipped from na?ve ballerina girl to vengeful vixen. I didn’t like it.
I grabbed my pants off the floor and started to pull them on. “Don’t go there, Alyx.”
“Go where?”
I zipped my pants. “Don’t go to that place where the only thing you care about is revenge.”
“It’s only right for them to pay for what they’ve done to her. So why not?”
“Because,” I snapped then clenched my jaw, pulling my lips in a straight line. “That’s where I am, and believe me, it’s no place for someone like you.”
She lifted a brow. “Someone like me?”
“Yeah, Alyx. Someone like you. Take it from someone who knows. Revenge has the power to eat you alive. It can make you all rotten inside.”
“That’s what she is, you know?”
I cut my gaze to her.
She rubbed her hands up and down her naked arms. “Rotten. That’s what Neon is now, on the inside. Rotten. Broken. Shattered.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek, and I wondered how many tears this woman had cried because of me—because of what I had done to her, ripping her away from her life and thrusting her into mine.
But even though she had cried countless tears, it wasn’t a weak woman standing in front of me now.
She was strong, resilient, and the fact that she was still fucking standing proved to me she was more than a petite, underweight ballerina girl.
She was mine. Her need for blood just solidified it.
I brushed my fingers through my thick curls and swiped a palm down my beard. “Say you’re mine.”
She crossed her arms. “Granite, that’s not what we’re talking about here.”
“Say it.”
She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, staring at me.
“Say it, Alyx. Say it right here, right now. Say you’re mine, and everything changes this very minute.”
“What do you mean?”
I stalked forward. “Say. It.”
For the longest time, she remained still, looking up at me, scrutinizing every contour of my face.
I could practically hear the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure me out.
But she’d be sadly disappointed once she realized I wasn’t the type of man who could be figured out or puzzled together.
A few seconds ago, she seemed so determined and strong, but with every step I took toward her, I could see in her eyes how her courage slowly waned.
I loved how I intimidated her, how easily I made her lose control.
Yesterday she hated me. Today she let me fuck her.
God, it thrilled me to the core, never quite knowing what to expect from her.
There was nothing as boring and tedious as a predictable woman. Alyx was everything but.
Still beautifully naked, Alyx stood frozen on the spot, and I reached out and eased the back of my hand down the side of her face. The bruise she had around her eye from the night we took her was gone. No one would ever touch her again or mar her flawless skin. Not while I was breathing.
I placed my thumb on her lip and dragged it down, her lips smacking together as my fingers traveled down her chin. “Say you’re mine, Alyx.”
Crystal blue irises stared up at me, filled with so many mixed emotions. Confusion. Attraction. Desire. Lust.
Her lips parted, and I already felt the buzz starting at the back of my neck, the anticipation of her saying the words I was dying to hear tingling down my spine. But then she closed her mouth, a hint of defiance flashing across her face.
I gripped her jaw, puckering up her pretty pink lips before claiming them with my own. This wasn’t a kiss. It wasn’t a display of affection or lust. It was an act of possession, of me taking ownership of her.
My tongue explored every inch of her mouth, and I drowned her soft moans by kissing her harder. I wanted to get drunk on her sweet taste, knowing it was probably the closest a motherfucker like me would ever get to heaven.
I wrapped an arm around her tiny waist, pulling her against me and casing her petite frame with my own. Feeling her tits against my naked chest made me want to feel the warmth of her pussy around my cock. But this moment was so much more than a fuck. It was about finally sealing our fates.
As I tore my mouth from hers, I nipped at her bottom lip before looking her straight in the eye. “You need to say you’re mine.”
She licked her lip like she was savoring my taste, but she didn’t say a fucking word. My defiant ballerina girl.
I smirked, slightly amused by her clearly not willing to give me what I wanted…yet.
I wiped my lips with my thumb, still tasting her sweetness. “You’ll be glad to hear I’ve been spilling Python blood ever since we found Neon.”
Her eyes widened, but it wasn’t fear I saw swirling in those crystal blues. “Promise me you won’t stop until you’ve killed them all.”
My cock hardened by the stark contrast of her delicate, sweet voice murmuring such deadly words. “I swear to God.”
She pushed herself up on her toes in search of my lips, and I kissed her once more. Gently. Slowly.
I was about to rip my pants off and fuck her again when there was a knock at the door. Instantly, annoyance made me ball my fists.
“What?”
The door swung open, and I turned to find Ink standing in the doorway, eyes looking straight at Alyx. “Um…”
“Ink, you better stop looking at my woman if you want to keep your fucking eyeballs.”
“Oh, fuck. Yeah.” Ink turned around. “Dude, Trick just called. We got a situation.”
I tossed Alyx my shirt, which she quickly pulled on. “What situation?”
Ink rubbed the back of his neck and turned back to face me. “Yeah, we should probably talk in private.”
“Sure. Wait for me outside.”
Ink glanced over my shoulder at Alyx, and I scowled at him.
He shrugged as if to say, ‘what?’
I frowned. “I’ll cut out your eyeballs.”
“Fine. Just hurry the fuck up, would ya?”
Ink left, and I turned to face Alyx. “I’ll be back.”
She nodded, and I kissed her on her forehead before I left.
I closed the bedroom door behind me and turned to Ink. “What’s going on?”
Ink seemed restless. “Tanit got roughed up.”
“What?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, man. She’s fine. Just a few bruises. But Trick says she’s pretty shaken up.”
“Fuck!” I kicked at the fucking floor. “Pythons?”
Ink nodded, his entire face contorted with malice.
“Okay, get Onyx and Dutch. I’ll meet you guys upstairs.”
“Gotcha.”
Jesus. The Pythons seemed to have it in for our women.
First Neon, and now Tanit. Just showed these fuckers didn’t have a moral bone in their goddamn bodies.
We didn’t target women. We didn’t use them as pawns in our rival wars.
Women were off-limits. No matter what, you never fucked with women and children.
Goddammit.
I stepped inside the room, and Alyx was sitting on the bed, waiting for me.
“I have to go sort some shit out.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I made a meek attempt at looking calm. “Everything’s fine. Just something that needs taken care of ASAP.”
Alyx brushed her hair out of her face. “Does this something have to do with the Pythons?”
I studied her, contemplating how much she really needed to know about our business with the Pythons. “Yeah.” It was a simple answer, one I would not elaborate on.
She nodded and rubbed an arm across her shoulder. “Okay, well. You better go, then.”
“Alyx,” I tilted her face up to mine, “this conversation isn’t done yet.
I will make you say it.” I placed a gentle kiss at the corner of her mouth.
“Because you and I both know it’s the truth.
But I need to hear you say it. Soon.” It wasn’t a threat.
It was a vow, a promise, a fucking guarantee that I would not stop until she fucking admitted she was mine. All mine.
I took a step back and picked up my cut from the floor. “I won’t be locking the door again.”
Her eyes narrowed, seemingly confused. “You’re not?”
“You’re free to walk around down here.”
Her gaze cut to the ceiling then back down. “What do you mean, down here?”
“We’re at a safe house, and this is like an underground bunker. We needed to make sure you and Neon were safe.” I slipped my cut over my shoulder and walked to the door. “But just know the door leading out of here will be locked at all times. Not to keep you in. To keep the bad guys out.”
A hint of a smile tugged at the end of her mouth.
“Are you not one of the bad guys?”
I shot her a cocky grin. “My sweet ballerina girl, I’m far worse.”