50. Barrett
BARRETT
I may have use of your services in the future.
Hades’ words lingered in the back of my mind as I sat at Semele’s bar.
Hades had insisted we stay a few more days to indulge in the hospitalities of his palace and city after our meeting.
I barely remembered half the festivities for how messed up I’d been.
We’d partied endlessly, lost ourselves in the revelry until we’d passed out.
At some point, it had become difficult to even look at a female, let alone touch them, no matter how beautiful and tempting.
All I could see was her the moment our clothes came off—the look of hurt on her face, or the look of cold resentment she’d given me when I’d last seen her.
.. So, I drank until I couldn’t see straight, smoked until I couldn’t feel every inch of my body—of the agonizing desire for something I couldn’t have welling in my chest. Perhaps a part of me wanted to stay, wanted to return to it, the endless numbness where I couldn’t think of Thalia or Micah.
I wasn’t sure how the fuck we were going to find this stolen object, but I couldn’t find the energy to focus on it.
I’d only been in the Mortalrealm for a few hours and had so far avoided seeing Damien, eager to drown out the thoughts that intensified the moment I’d stepped across the veil.
The mating bond had grown demanding for Thalia’s presence, for her attention. ..for her forgiveness.
It took everything in me not to throw myself at her feet.
Something tugged deep in my chest as I glanced over my shoulder at the mass of bodies moving in time to the pumping music, the beat pounding its way into my system. The bodies blurred together as they swayed and ground against one another.
My chest ached, the longing for Thalia near unbearable from the days I’d been away to the point where it was driving me insane.
I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t focus on the conversations Vincent tried to hold.
He’d been trying to cut me off for the last hour, going on about how much of a mess I looked.
I couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop myself from knocking back another glass.
“Sorry?” I muttered, glancing at him when he waved his hand in front of my face.
He let out a sigh. “You’ve gotta get a hold of yourself, get this self-loathing and punishment under control. How bad are you gonna get before you start taking better care of yourself?”
I dragged a heavy hit from my rolled Brierleaf, the high already swimming through my system like a siren’s song, lulling me into a haze I never wanted to be free of. I never wanted to rise above the surface and... feel .
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Micah and Thalia where they danced amidst the crowd. Her head was tilted back against Micah’s shoulder as she ground her ass against him, her hips swaying to the beat of the music as his fingers dug into them.
She looked equally as drunk as I felt, her cheeks flushed. Micah brushed his lips to her neck as they moved together, and Gods, I couldn’t take my eyes off them. His eyes lifted to mine, and for a moment, I wondered if I was hallucinating when he nodded to me to come.
I hesitated, Vincent’s voice melting into the sea of noises around me.
“Barrett?”
“I’ll be right back,” I said, setting the glass on the edge of the bar top and tamping out the embers on my roll. He lurched forward to catch it before it tipped over.
Each step felt too fast and yet too slow, my body not moving fast enough to bring me closer to her, and yet at the same time, I wasn’t ready to face her, wasn’t ready to face the possibility of rejection if she decided to cast me to the side. I deserved as much.
My surroundings blurred into nothing as I drew closer to them, everything else around us falling away until we were all that remained, all that mattered.
Thalia’s eyes found me, and the stormy gray dulled with a sort of sadness that demanded every fiber of my being do anything and everything to right the wrong.
I stood there frozen, and the words spilled from my lips. “I’m so sorry...”
She blinked as if her mind couldn’t wholly latch onto the words I said.
My heart hammered in my chest, pushing the alcohol through my system harder, the haze coaxing anything and everything from my lips. I wanted to tell her everything, tell her how I felt, tell her my wishes.
Tell her what she was to me. “I...”
Her hand rose, her fingers pressing to my lips. “We both...said things we shouldn’t have.”
Thalia’s hand tentatively reached out to mine but halted before she could take hold of me. Something fractured deep within me, the flames dousing at the fear of her rejection, of her once again ignoring what I hoped she felt.
What the fuck was I doing?
Micah brushed his lips along the shell of her ear, his eyes sliding to me as she drew her hand back to her chest. She twisted around to look at him, and he lifted his hand to cup her cheek before pressing a tender kiss to her lips.
She looked between us and, for a moment, I wondered if I was imagining at the look of longing in her eyes.
Micah reached out to grab my wrist, pulling me closer until Thalia was sandwiched between us, her back to my chest, ass pressed firmly against me.
I resisted the urge to slide my hands up her thighs, but then Micah took my hands and placed them on her hips, and my heart threatened to sputter out.
The air rushed from Thalia’s lungs, her lips parting as Micah pressed her tighter between us, her body fitting so perfectly against ours.
The flames swayed beneath my skin like a beast relishing in affection—relishing in the feel of her skin against mine.
Thalia turned her head as we moved in sync, and she lifted her hand to brush her fingertips against my neck before pulling me closer to her.
Micah dragged drunken kisses along her neck, guiding her hips to the beat of the music as we danced, our bodies molding together in perfect, sinful harmony.
The flames swelled, desiring more, to feel her skin, taste her lips, feel her naked body move against mine...
Micah met my heated gaze, his eyes drunk with desire before they slid back to Thalia, whose eyes were closed as she lost herself between us. He took her hand and nodded to me as he started through the crowd to the exit.
I drew a deep breath, her scent of black spruce, of wildwoods that could never be tamed, too much to resist. I wanted to drown myself in her scent, cover myself in it until no other could deny that she was mine and I was hers .
The thought made me hesitate as I found Micah, and he seemed to catch wind of it. A corner of his lip kicked up in a half smile, and he nodded before Thalia met my gaze as well, her hand reaching out to take mine.
And I caved as she dragged me out into the night air.
The walk from Stokers to Micah and Thalia’s house was a blur of stolen kisses and touches: Thalia pressing Micah against the wall as she kissed him while I pressed against her back, lips burning trails of kisses along her shoulder, her neck; Micah’s hands roaming up the back of her shirt as he bit down on her throat while she moaned, head tilting back as her eyes locked with mine, fingers digging into my arms as she pulled me closer.
Fuck, the sight of her bending for him was delicious.
The door creaked open as we entered Micah and Thalia’s home, the darkness welcoming us.
Micah kicked the door shut impatiently as Thalia and I stumbled to a stop, one of her hands locked with Micah’s, the other entwined with mine.
He crashed into her, his lips capturing hers as he pulled her tighter against him, and he backed her up to me, her ass pressing against the swell of my hard cock.
She arched her back, pressing herself tighter against me, silently begging me to touch her more, and I obliged.
I couldn’t resist her demands if I wanted to.
My hands snaked around her waist, fingers dipping beneath the hem of her shirt as I brushed my lips against her neck, dragging drunken kisses up along her skin before nipping at the shell of her ear.
Her body tensed, thighs pressing tighter together, and I slid my knee between them, forcing them apart as Micah’s hand slipped lower.
She whimpered as Micah ran his finger back and forth along her center, his knuckle running against the top of my thigh, and I spread her legs further, encouraging him, wanting to feel her shiver and quake as he drew forth her pleasure.
Her scent flooded the room, the sweetness of her arousal filling my nose, and my mouth watered at the thought of how wet she was, how she soaked her lace underwear.
He trailed kisses down her opposite collarbone and pulled his hand away from her just as she began to pant and moan.
She slumped against me, chest heaving, heated breaths bursting from her swollen, parted lips.
Micah’s hands worked in tandem with mine to lift her shirt, revealing her creamy skin, her black lace bra. I wanted to see more of her, wanted to lose myself in exploring and marveling at every inch of her body, inside and out.
She twisted around to me before pressing tender, hesitant kisses to my lips.
Gods, she tasted heavenly. Micah trailed kisses from the back of her neck down her spine, and her lips parted against mine on a silent moan, lower and lower until he reached around and began undoing her jeans to work them down her hips.
I cupped her cheeks, pulling her back to me as Micah worked her jeans off, and she broke our kiss to turn to him, her hands reaching for the button of his shirt as she pulled him in for a kiss.
He growled against her lips as she undid his shirt and slid her hands up against his exposed chest, dragging her fingers up to his shoulders to ultimately push it off his shoulders, and he let it slide to the floor.
The flames writhed and slammed against the confinement of my body, hungry to taste her skin, to burn away every scrap of clothing separating us.
Her hands slid from Micah’s chest, and I nudged her to the side, guiding her to the wall as Micah and I came together, shoulders brushing as we cornered her.
Her attention split between us, one hand ensnaring in Micah’s hair to pull him in to kiss her while her other hand slid up my t-shirt, pushing it up.
I helped her in lifting it over my head, giving her all the access to my body she wanted.
I’d let her touch and taste every inch she desired, give in to whatever she wished of me, drag out her pleasure and leave her wanting more. And Gods, I’d give her more if it was what she wanted.
Micah kissed her with a hunger I’d never seen in him, and it sparked something within me, a hunger I had been ignoring for centuries.
Thalia’s pale lashes lifted a fraction, her stormy eyes drifting to me, and Micah released her lips, dropping his face to the crook of her neck to bite down on her throat.
A moan broke free of her, and her fingers tangled in my hair as she pulled me in for a kiss.
I devoured her, her taste everything I ever wanted, everything I needed.
The hunger and desire swelled to an undeniable need that demanded I bend to its will, that I give in and savor her for what she was.
My mate.
Mine.