Chapter 8
eight
MERRILY
I didn't stir until an alarm started blaring a few hours later.
Dare's alarm.
For his 4 AM shift at one of Kat's coffee shops.
"Fuck this," he mumbled. "I don't want a coffee shop nerd anymore."
"You do," I whispered back, stretching a tiny bit—and freezing when a pair of large arms tightened around me. Grayson's cock throbbed inside me, and my eyes flew open, making sure the blanket was still covering us completely.
It was.
And my shirt was still on, so it looked like we were just snuggling. That was good.
"I don't," Darius grumbled.
"You do," I said, forcing myself to act normal.
"I don't."
"You do."
"Do you always fight like this at four in the fucking morning?" Grayson asked into my hair.
"Only when your woman tries to make me work," Darius said, entirely unfazed by the demon who had snuck into his house in the middle of the night.
"You're the one who agreed to the job. I'm just trying to make you follow through," I reminded him.
"What's the job?" Grayson checked.
"Barista."
“I’d kill for a barista job," Grayson muttered. "Fighting has gotten really fucking old."
"Mer will end the fighting when she announces you as hers," Dare said, finally rolling off the couch and standing up. He stretched his arms and legs out. "She's not going to let you mate with a dragon shifter. You should send me their info, though."
"I thought you wanted Rae's," I grumbled.
"Rae doesn't do relationships of any kind, but I can send you Isa's," Grayson said.
"I also don't do relationships," Darius said. "Only bargains and casual sex with people I don't know."
Grayson made a noncommittal sound as Dare disappeared into his bedroom.
"This was a terrible idea," I hissed, starting to slide off his cock.
Grayson grabbed my hips, holding me in place as his erection hit that sensitive spot inside me just right. I sucked in a quick breath.
"We can't," I insisted.
"We can be quick."
"The second I hear him, you have to stop," I whispered.
It clearly hadn't taken much convincing to get me on board.
Grayson slipped his hand between my thighs and dragged his finger over my clit. I was already slick from our combined releases, and nearly climaxed from that touch alone.
He moved his hips just a little, and I had to clench my jaw to keep myself quiet as I came on his cock again.
Just like that.
"It's almost funny that you think you could leave me," he murmured into my hair, still playing with my clit slowly. "No one knows your body the way I do, and I'll kill anyone who tries to."
Grayson Darke was going to be the death of me.
"My magic would kill them first," I murmured back.
The demon king just chuckled.
Grayson's finger went still over my clit as Darius trudged into the kitchen.
My mate slowly moved his hand, resting his whole palm over my core. He probably had to part his fingers to hold me around his cock, since he was still buried inside me, but he didn't seem to care.
I heard Darius make a shot of espresso. It took a few painfully-long minutes.
Grayson's erection throbbed inside me a few times, driving me insane.
I needed more.
Darius finally tossed his coffee back without any sugar or milk... then walked back to the couch.
Shit.
"Are you driving alone?" I asked Darius, hoping my voice didn't strain.
I'd need to volunteer to go with him, if he was. That would be a serious challenge, given my current situation.
"Nah, Kat's on her way. I'm sure Callum's with her. I'll find someone to come home with me when I leave the coffee shop after my shift, and if I can't, I'm sure they're planning on babysitting me all day anyway."
As if right on cue, the front door opened loudly.
"I hope you're awake," Kat called out, just before they reached Dare's living room and saw all three of us.
Her nostrils flared, and my eyes widened slightly.
Oh, fuck.
She was a werewolf.
That came with enhanced senses, including her sense of smell.
I tensed, waiting for her to ask why the room smelled like sex, but she flashed a knowing look in my direction instead.
I relaxed immediately.
"Glad to see you outside of my house again, Darke," Callum drawled.
"If there's anything else you fuckers are hiding from me, you should tell me now to save us all the trouble of me breaking in again," Grayson drawled back.
"Any remaining secrets are Merrily's to tell." Callum pulled Kat a little closer, his hand already resting lightly on her hip.
"Ready?" she asked Darius.
"Nah. I changed my mind. I don't want to work in a coffee shop."
"We already posted the announcement that you're changing your ways and devoting your life to coffee. You're going. Come on," Kat waved him toward the door.
Darius sighed. "You're all pains in my ass."
"At least we haven't let you die yet," Callum remarked. "Let's go."
Darius saluted me and Grayson. "Stay as long as you want. I can sleep at one of my other places if you want to keep this one."
"I have to get back home in a few hours, but thanks," Grayson said.
Kat winked at me and mouthed, "Have fun," before she and the guys strode out.
The front door closed and locked behind them.
I let out a long breath. "That was way too close."
"You're fucking drenched, Mer. You loved it."
A little thrill raced over my shoulders. "Maybe a little."
Grayson ground his palm slowly over my clit, and I bit back a groan.
With one motion, he rolled me on top of him. My lips parted as his cock filled me deeper and harder.
He tugged my shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor, then grabbed my hips. He rocked them once, then again, hitting my g-spot just right. I came hard, and fast.
“Seal the bond with me,” he said, while I sat panting, impaled on his throbbing erection. He hadn’t gotten off with me. Not yet.
"You know it’s scary for me, right? Sealing a bond? Making this permanent?"
"You know it terrifies me that you didn't tell me what we were, right?" he countered. "I could’ve lost my fucking soulmate without even realizing it. I deserved to know."
My throat swelled.
The confession was almost painful, but I finally forced the words out. "You did."
"Why didn't you tell me? No bullshit. No half-truths. No hiding. Not anymore."
"Fated mates have power over each other. I've seen what it can cost a fae, having a mate. I knew if you were aware, you'd either force yourself into my life or find someone else to mate with to free yourself from the connection. I wasn't willing to accept either option."
"What can it cost you?"
"I don't talk about that."
"It seems like there are a lot of things you don't talk about, Merrily. Your secrecy hasn't worked out for either of us. I don't think it's going to start working now."
The words felt like a blow... but he wasn't wrong.
I considered it.
Telling him that piece of my truth, or keeping it to myself.
I didn't owe him anything. Not really. But keeping secrets from him hadn't exactly done anything good for me so far.
Ultimately, given everything between us, he did deserve to know. I could admit that, even if I didn't want to.
"No one knows this. Not even my family. You can't tell anyone," I whispered.
I slid off his erection, and he let me go. When I eased myself to a sitting position beside him, still tangled up in the blanket, he sat up beside me.
We were no longer touching.
We were no longer connected at all. Not physically, at least.
My overwhelm came rushing back in, but I knew that wasn't his fault, or even because of my own emotions. It was just my magic.
"I won’t.” He took my hand.
I closed my eyes as his touch erased the flow of my magic again.
Was I really going to let him in to that extent?
I didn't really want to, but it felt... important.
If anyone was going to know, it should probably be him.
"My mother met her fated mate when I was seven.
Up to that point, it had just been the two of us.
She had wanted a child her whole life, for hundreds of years, and she never told my biological father that I existed.
We were best friends. I looked just like her.
She didn't care that my power was death, and she knew how to walk away from me before my magic could take her life.
It was dangerous for her, but she didn't care.
She loved me too much to worry," I said.
I had Grayson's full attention. He didn't look away. I felt his gaze on my face.
"Everything changed when she met him. Her mate.
He hated me. Some of it was probably fear, given my power, but it showed as hate.
She stopped defending me. She stopped spending time with me.
He became everything to her, and I was an annoyance.
" I released Grayson's hand and wrapped my arms around my middle. He set his palm on my thigh.
"If I didn't cook for myself, I starved, and I couldn't cook without ending up crying on the floor with a blanket wrapped around me.
I was even more overstimulated, as a kid.
If I didn't teach myself, I didn't learn, and I couldn't touch the books long enough to teach myself.
If I got in their way, he hurt me, and she let him.
Afterward, she would fill the bath so I could scrub the blood off my skin, and she would tell me to listen better so he would stop. "
The growl that escaped the man beside me could be described perfectly by the words I'd applied to him when talking to Liv not too long ago.
Practically feral.
It sent goosebumps over my skin. The delicious kind of goosebumps.
My throat was swollen. I was supposed to be telling the neutral version of this story, but I was failing. There was no neutrality in those memories, despite their age. There had only ever been pain, and I hadn't ever managed to work through it.