Chapter Nine
The water beat down in steady, rhythmic sheets, steam fogging the glass until the world narrowed to heat, sound, and thought.
Mara braced her hands against the tile, eyes closed, letting the spray hit her shoulders and trail down her spine. She was trying to rinse off the night—the violence, the fear, the moment she’d realized the Covenant wasn’t just something Luca belonged to.
It was something she’d stepped into.
And Luca—
That was the thought that caught her every time.
She was falling for him. Hard. Fast. Past the point of caution. Past the point of pretending she would recover if everything ended.
She barely registered the shift in the air behind her before two hands wrapped around her middle.
She squealed, half-laugh, half-gasp, as she was pulled back into a solid chest, wet skin to wet skin.
“Luca—”
He laughed softly against her ear. “Who else would it be?”
She turned in his arms, water sliding over both of them now, and his expression gentled the moment he saw her face—unguarded, open, still processing everything.
“Can I?” he asked quietly, reaching for the sponge.
The question landed heavier than it should have.
“Yes,” she said. “I want you to.”
He took his time.
The sponge moved slowly over her shoulders, down her arms, across her back. His touch was attentive, deliberate—not rushed, not greedy. Like he was learning her, not washing her. He lingered over her hips, her stomach, the curves of her body that felt suddenly more exposed under his careful hands.
They talked as he worked.
Small things at first—Dominic’s timing, Mateo’s habits, how Elias never said more than he had to, Rafael’s love of cooking, Kol’s talent with technology and the way they all worked together so seamlessly.
Then quieter truths. More personal things about each other. It was an intimate moment of discovery.
“What happens now?” she asked as he rinsed her side. “With me.”
“You’re already part of it,” he said. “You held your own and we will stand beside you for as long as you’ll let us.”
“And us?”
He met her eyes. “I’m not interested in anything temporary.”
By the time he finished washing her legs, her skin was buzzing, nerves alive in a way that had nothing to do with the heat of the water. He reached for her then, clearly intending to lift her out of the shower.
She stopped him with a hand to his jaw.
“My turn,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow, curious, amused.
She took the sponge from him and began to wash him in return, slower than necessary, learning the planes and lines of his body. When her hands reached lower, she let the sponge fall away and met his gaze as she sank down in front of him.
The air changed.
He inhaled sharply. “Mara—”
She smiled up at him, intent clear, choice unmistakable.
She gripped his cock with her left hand and gently handled his balls with her right. Then, closing her eyes to avoid getting sprayed in the eye by the water streaming down his body, she leaned in, and took him straight to the back of her throat.
Even over the sound of the shower, she heard his curse.
Wanting to ensure she heard everything, and really wanting to watch his reactions, she reached up with her right hand and shut off the water, then she opened her eyes and looked up at him as she got down to work.
The intense look on his face as he leaned into the wall of the shower, and looked down at her, had her own body releasing a flood of moisture between her legs. The man really was hot as hell.
Then she settled in to pleasure her man.
She used her hands, one at the base of his cock and one on his balls to drive his pleasure up.
She dragged her mouth up and over the mushroomed head of his cock, learning each and every ridge and line that adorned him, and flattened her tongue against the sensitive underside of his cock, as she sucked hard.
“Fuck! Christ, Mara,” Luca growled through clenched teeth, his hips rolling forward with enough force that she was thankful her hand was there to stop her from choking. “Fuck, sorry, baby, but this feels so fucking good.”
She winked at him as she started to twist her hand at the base of his cock and slide her mouth over him rhythmically, taking him deep, opening her throat to his cursed yelp, and swallowing around him, before pulling off to gulp in air, then diving in again.
She could tell he was fast approaching the point of no return by the way his thighs shook against her, and his balls tightened in her hand.
She was all intent on taking him over and swallowing what he had to give her, when he swore again, reached down and pulled her off him, sweeping her up into his arms in an impressive show of strength.
“Hey, I wasn’t finished,” she pouted as he stepped out of the shower.
“No, but I almost was, and way too fucking soon,” he said. “Bed. Now.”
They stumbled out together, water dripping, breath unsteady. He set her down to drag a towel quickly over the both of them, then started walking her backward toward the bedroom, devouring her mouth as they went.
****
Luca guided her backward until the edge of the bed caught behind her knees, guiding her down onto the bed, letting her shuffle back toward the headboard, and holding himself above her.
He didn’t rush. He watched her—watched the way her breath hadn’t settled yet, the way her eyes stayed on his like she was anchoring herself there.
“Don’t take your eyes from me,” he said quietly.
She nodded.
He dropped to his elbows, his hands framed her face, fingers burying themselves into the damp hair at her temples. “I’ve got you,” he told her. Not a promise for later. A statement for now.
Mara reached for him, but he caught her wrists and pinned them gently above her head, testing, asking without words.
“Yes,” she breathed.
That was all he needed.
He leaned in, kissing her slow and deep, setting the pace the way he set everything else—deliberate, controlled, sure. He pressed her down to the mattress, body covering hers, weight solid and grounding. The world narrowed again, not to steam this time, but to the steady heat between them.
“Tell me if you need me to stop,” he said against her mouth.
“I won’t,” she replied, voice steady. “I want this.”
He reached down to slide his hand down the outside of her leg, before pulling her knee up onto his waist, praising her when she mirrored that move with her opposite leg. His mouth dropped to her breast, swallowing the tip, and using his tongue to toy with the hard nipple at the center.
She cried out his name when he used his teeth on her nipple and thrust into her at the same time.
“Fuck, you are so tight,” Luca groaned against her skin. “This is not going to last long, guerriera. I am too fucking turned on.”
Mara rocked her hips against him. “Then take me fast, but you better get me there too, or there will be trouble.”
Luca laughed against her and said, “Deal,” before he took her mouth in the hottest open mouthed kiss she had ever experienced in her life and fucked her.
He did not take his time, he simply took her.
Slamming his hips into her and twisting his hips when he bottomed out in her, knowing that he would be rubbing her clit as he went.
Soon, he had her sobbing his name and grinding helplessly against him.
Sucking him had aroused her, and what he was doing to her now, was driving her crazy.
Without warning the orgasm crashed over her, and she ran her nails down his back as she screamed his name to the world.
He arched up off her, his hips slammed into hers and she felt his release deep within her as he roared his own climax at the same time.
They held in that moment for a long time, both of their releases refusing to let them go, and when it did, he collapsed onto her, giving her all his weight, which she was thankful for.
She had just come so hard she was sure if he didn’t ground her, she would have shattered and floated away.
Later, when the intensity softened and they lay tangled together in the quiet, Luca’s arm heavy across her waist, she traced idle patterns over his chest, and they talked quietly together.
“The Covenant,” she said softly. “What you all have ... it’s real.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It has to be, to do what we do.”
She turned her head to look at him. “I’m glad I’m here.”
His grip tightened slightly, a silent acknowledgment.
“So am I,” he said.
Outside, the night moved towards dawn.
Inside, Mara rested against the man she’d chosen, knowing that whatever came next—for her, for the women still missing, for the men bound by oath—it would be faced together.