Chapter Twenty-Six
Sage
Ifucked up. But I’d do it all over again to save Danika because being able to have this with her again is priceless.
“What do you think they’re going to do?” I slouch into the soft couch in Hack’s living room at the property in Georgia, pulling the blanket up around my chest.
“I mean, I don’t know the history of it all because, ya know, baby vamp, but I don’t think anyone has actually killed one of the Dei before.
” Danika grimaces and shrugs. “So I have no idea.” That part is a lie.
Her voice is slightly elevated, one of her main tells, but I’ll let her have it because the truth is something I am happy to push far from my mind—even though it seems to have set up camp right at the front.
“Do you wanna talk about what happened with you or watch a movie?” I feel like giving her options will make it easier to decline if that’s the route she chooses.
With her coffee cupped in her palms she takes a sip then sighs.
“Can we just do the movie?” Her face says she’s fine, but her eyes tell a whole other story.
“Absolutely. Genre?” I’m not going to push her to talk about anything she’s not ready for.
“Hmm…” She scrolls through the options on the streaming service on the TV, pausing on Vikings and looking to me for approval. “This?” It isn’t a movie, but if that’s what she wants, I’m here for it.
“Perfect. Means we’ll have to have more regular get-togethers to watch the whole series.” Grabbing the bowl of popcorn from the oak coffee table, I put it between us on the couch and take a handful.
“Before we rot our brains in front of the TV for the next few hours, I need to say this.” Looking at Danika, I make sure I have her full attention.
“When you’re ready to talk, I’m here. Whether it’s the middle of the night or the middle of the day.
Find me. If you need me to be silent, for hugs, or to bitch, literally anything…
find me. Okay?” I have to hold back my own emotion as I give her my little speech.
I don’t mean to make this all serious, but she needs a reminder and her happiness is important to me.
A deep swallow is followed by closed eyes and a slow nod as she sips her coffee. The grip she has on her cup is tight and I know she’s barely holding it together. Then she takes a steadying breath and her eyes settle on mine.
“I know, babe. And I er…” She clears her throat. “I wanted to say thank you for saving me, too, and for killing that bastard.” She pauses again and takes another deep breath. “I fucking love you.” Tears well in her eyes and mine are no better because they’re actually sliding down my cheeks now.
Unwrapping myself from the blanket, I get up, take the coffee cup from Danika’s hands to put on the coffee table, and squeeze the fuck out of her.
“I fucking love you too.”
She squeezes me back and, for a few moments, we just hold each other. I’ll hold her for as long as she wants because that’s what best friends do. Eventually, her arms loosen and she sniffs back, pulling away with a tear-filled smile.
“Okay, enough of that. Vikings.” She picks up the TV control and waves it in the air, effectively closing the subject for now.
That’s fine with me. I don’t particularly want to think about the fact that I’m probably going to die for real sometime in the near future.
Settling myself beneath the blanket on the couch, I glance over to my best friend.
She’s not okay, but maybe being with her brother will help.
In a few hours, he will be taking her to Velmore because he’s not convinced that the threat to Danika ended with Dei Rafi.
The Dei of Monsters is a potential threat because so many of her kyn have been involved in both Danika’s and my disappearances, but whether she’s been complicit like Rafi is yet to be determined.
A few hours later and I’m loving the show. It’s violent and brutal, and there was a moment where I wondered if Danika was okay with it, but she seems as into it as I am.
The Viking, Ragnar, has just taken the blame for killing a horrible fucking man, when in actual fact, it was his wife, Lagertha, who was responsible. It’s romantic in the best of ways and I wonder if this new world I’m in has altered my perception of all things.
I know we’re no longer alone when there’s a shift in the atmosphere. It’s not a bad shift, but it does mean the end of our girls’ night. Gotta say, it’s one of the most muted girls’ nights we’ve ever had, but sitting quietly together has been healing in a small way.
“Having fun?” Hack doesn’t waste time lifting me from the couch, then sits with me on his lap.
It feels natural to curl into him, his warmth addictive.
“Yup. We ran out of popcorn an hour ago, though. We need way more snacks next time.”
“Where’s Des?” Danika sits up and looks toward the back door. The Horsemen and Desdemon wandered outside ages ago to discuss whatever it is they’ve been discussing.
We could have been a part of their conversations, but in all honesty, we needed the time to do nothing. To let our brains switch off to the shit swirling around us. I know Hack will fill me in soon enough.
“Still outside with Slash. Something about you, actually.” His chest rumbles against my back as he speaks and Danika’s eyes widen.
“I think I’ve had enough of men deciding crap about me.
” She frowns and huffs. “Sage, babe, I think it’s time for me to go.
I’ll text you, though, and we need to see each other again in like, an hour, because I don’t think I like the fact that we don’t live together anymore.
” She stands at the same time as I wriggle myself free from Hack’s lap, and the hug is one of the best ever.
“We’ll be working together, though. That chain of Mystic T shops is happening as soon as I know I’m not going to be executed.” The optimism is strong, and I’m well aware that I’m also a little delusional, but Danika doesn’t need my shit on top of her own shit.
Hope is what we need.
“If Desdemon allows the Thirteen to do that to you, babe, I’ll kill him myself.” Kissing me on the cheek, Danika winks and saunters out of the glass door to the back yard.
“Is this Vikings?” Hack points to the paused TV screen.
“It is. Danika’s choice, but it’s pretty good. Have you seen it?” I crawl back into his lap and get myself comfortable, resting my head against his firm chest so I can hear his heartbeat.
“Never. Slash was friends with the real Ragnar Lodbrok, so he made us promise we’d never watch it.”
“Wow. Who else do you guys know?” I sit up and glare at him when he chuckles.
“It would be a shorter list to tell you who we don’t know, Satapti.” His mouth is saying casual conversation, but his eyes are eating me alive with how he’s looking at me.
“I have a better idea for a list.” Grinning, I sit up straight and tug at the base of his black T-shirt.
“You do, do you?” With a panty-melting smirk, he shifts slightly and raises his arms, allowing me to drag the fabric up his torso.
I don’t pull the T-shirt all the way off, doing my best to trap his wrists in the material. It wouldn’t take a lot for him to get out of it, but he obliges and keeps his arms raised above his head. The view from here is fucking spectacular.
“Mmmhmm.” I nod, my eyes grazing over the sculpted muscle on display.
“I don’t think you’ll find a list there, Satapti.” His chuckle makes his chest tense and makes me want to lick him all over.
“True.” Licking my lips, I make eye contact, his bright-green irises practically glowing with heat.
“The list is like a bucket list.” He tenses for a whole different reason this time, but I continue before he can interrupt.
“I know you guys have made this plan, but if it goes wrong, I need a backup. This is it. I need t—”
Hacks frees himself from the hold above his head, the T-shirt flung across the room and forgotten. He grips the back of my head, my hair entwined in his fingers, and brings his face close to mine.
“I won’t let you talk like that, Satapti.
It’s not happening. If you want to do it, we can make that list, but we will be ticking every fucking thing off it and adding more along the way.
It will be a life list, not a fucking bucket list. I did not spend the last two thousand years watching you die over and over again only to lose you now.
Understand?” His words are firm, but there’s a softness to the demand that makes me want to be as hopeful as he is.
It works, because yeah, he’s right. Our happiness has been ripped away from us so many times, we have well earned the reprieve.
Nodding, I decide that this, right here, is my focus. My chosen, my Hack. My Zelos Adofo, Conquest of The Four Horsemen. After everything he has been through, the lifetimes he has suffered…the lifetimes I have suffered, the Thirteen are just an obstacle.
“Well, that turned more serious than I intended.” I huff a laugh, hoping to lift the mood from grumbly Hack. Although…that could be fun.
Forfeiting my position on his lap, I run over to the back door, checking to make sure everyone has left already.
“What are you doing, Satapti?” Leaning forward on the couch, Hack rests his elbows on his knees and raises his chin.
“The moon is full, figured we’d go outside instead of trashing the living room.” Grinning widely, I slowly strip off the PJs I dressed in after my shower. I have no underwear on, so it doesn’t take long.
Sliding open the French door, I step out into the cool night air, thankful for my new goddessness because the frost on the back porch says it’s colder than I thought. It’s a fantastic perk, opens up so many opportunities for naked fun…
The central lake, surrounded by the four properties of the Horsemen, is huge, but there’s a large field of grass between the house and the water and I run out to the middle. Before I get there, I’m ripped into Hack’s arms from around my waist and held suspended.
“You look fucking glorious beneath the moonlight, Satapti.” His lips press against my eagerly waiting ones and I open up for him, our tongues sliding together in a dance only we know.
The firmness of his dick nestled between my ass cheeks as I wrap my legs around his waist lets me know that he’s naked too, and I smile into our kiss, playfully nipping at his tongue as I writhe against him.
With my hands on his shoulders, I attempt to push him down. I use a little too much of my extra strength and the thud as he hits the earth is a lot rougher than I intended.
“Shit, sorry!”
He’s now flat on his back with me straddling his waist and I raise my hands up to my mouth.
“I’m a demon, Satapti, I can take the pain with the pleasure.” His palms are on my hips, his fingertips digging in, and I wish I healed like a human again because those bruises would be the best kind of memory.
Giving in to my earlier thoughts, I dip my head and lick him. He is mine, after all.
Dragging my tongue from the line of hair close to his pelvis, I work my way up, around his navel, and over the delicious dips of his abs.
When I get to his chest, I lick across to his nipple and bite down.
It isn’t enough to hurt him—too much—but with it positioned between my teeth, I flick my tongue over it before sucking away the pain.
His hands are in my hair, massaging my scalp with a firm pressure, and I moan at the way it relaxes me.
Changing tactics, I bite my way back down his body, trailing my nails across his skin and pausing when his cock falls between my breasts. I push them together, trapping him, then begin moving up and down.
The noises he makes are addictive, and he glances down at me through his lashes, the grip he has on my hair becoming firmer. The bite of pain at the nape of my neck only spurs me on. Moving down, his cock is freed, ready for my mouth.
Licking from his base to the tip, I suck him as far down as I can and grasp his balls in my palm.
He hits the back of my throat as I bob my head, my eyes water but it’s all worth it for the sounds coming from him and the way his chest rises and falls…
the way his fingers twist in my hair. It’s all making my pussy slick and ready for him.
“I’m not coming before you.”
I squeal as he pulls me up his body by the top of my neck and attacks my lips with his own, giggling when he flips us so he’s now on top of me. He cages me in, kissing every inch of my face, dragging his lips down to my neck and behind my ear.
He then flips me again, so I’m on my front, and presses his fingers into my hair before bringing his hand into a fist and pulling me up to my hands and knees.
With his other hand sliding around my body to squeeze my breast and pinch my nipple, he thrusts into me from behind, making me cry out at the sudden pressure.
Filling me completely, he then drags his cock so just the tip is still inside me before pushing back in with a grunt of pleasure.
His hand moves from my breast around to my hip and his fingertips dig deep as he pistons in and out.
The pressure from his palm at the back of my head, his fingers in my flesh, and his huge dick, are all consuming.
My whole body vibrates, my muscles tensing, and I can’t control the screams and moans escaping my throat.
I cry out into the night sky, throwing my head back as my body trembles and my orgasm travels through every one of my nerve endings.
Suddenly, the grass is greener, the moon brighter, and Hack's animalistic yell as his own ecstasy takes over him makes me come all over again.
I don't understand it, before Hack, no one was able to get me off, not even myself.
Now, all Hack needs to do is look at me and I'm primed.
“Can we spend all night out here?” I collapse onto my front and Hack falls beside me, kissing the side of my neck and inhaling my scent.
“We can do anything you want, Satapti.” His breath tickles my ear.
“I want to live.” The thought slips out, a little too raw for the moment, but it’s out there now.
“Satapti, I’m going to spend the rest of tonight fucking you, then in the morning, we will deal with the shit the Moirai have dropped us in. Okay?”
Nodding, I smile up at him as he leans over me.
“I love you, Zelos.”
“I love you too, my tribrid beauty.”