21. Chapter 21
Carter
Her delicious screams were muffled in the pillow as she pushed her ass against me, meeting each of my thrusts, her legs shaking and barely supporting her anymore.
I slid one of my hands from where it had been holding her at the waist to grab a hold of her shoulder.
There. Perfect leverage to fuck her harder. Deeper.
For Heaven’s sake, I could stay inside her forever.
Her blonde hair was a mess, barely held together into her regular long braid, wild strands escaping and sticking to the sides of her face.
I groaned, feeling her clench around me. “That’s it, baby. Let it go. Come for me.”
She let out a broken cry and I was done for. I stilled, burying myself inside her to the hilt and watched as her whole body shuddered and lit up from my pleasure.
She was utterly perfect. Her body responded to mine like it’s been waiting for me all its life.
Mate. She was my mate. Was this how sex felt like for everyone? Or did mates share something special? Would I have known such agonizing pleasure with someone else?
I didn’t even care to find out.
I let myself fall on top of her, my chest moulding around her back perfectly, not bothering to pull out. Not yet.
“I don’t think I can ever stop,” I said, kissing her shoulder softly.
She turned her face to the side, just enough for me to see her eye. Her sad eye.
“It’ll pass,” she whispered, forcing a small smile.
I doubted it ever could. “Why would you think that?”
“I’m not saying you won’t want me anymore,” she corrected herself, turning to her side, pulling me to lie next to her.
My arm went to circle her waist, pulling us back against each other.
“I’m just saying, this—frenzy. It’ll pass.
As soon as your soul gets the memo that mine isn’t answering, you won’t feel the need to fuck me constantly. ”
“I’m pretty sure I’ll never get enough,” I said, nuzzling my face in her neck. Lola giggled, but it was only half-hearted. “And I’ve seen Dimitri with you,” I reminded. “It doesn’t look like his desire for you will dim anytime soon.”
“It’s nothing compared to what it used to be the first couple of weeks.”
Was it? “What changed?”
She shrugged, turning to face me. Her hands felt so soft as they cupped my face, her forehead meeting mine and nose brushing against my own.
“Something about my lack of soul. The frenzy is caused by the mate link trying to form. When your soul realizes mine is gone and it can’t bind itself to it, the desire dims a little. ”
A little was fine. It only meant that I’ll want to fuck her a couple of times a day instead of all hours of days and night.
I could live with that.
“And there will be a period of time where you’ll be inexplicably angry with me,” she continued, her voice lower. Defeated. “Right after your soul realizes the binding won’t happen.”
My arms tightened around her. Like I could somehow reassure her and myself that it wouldn’t happen.
That we’d already wasted too much time at each other’s throat and there was no way I’d let us go back to how it was before I pulled my own head out of my ass and stopped seeing her as the voices made her out to be.
“For how long?” I asked. It was no use trying to downplay it or pretend it would be different for us.
“It depends.” She kissed my lips softly, releasing a long, exhausted sigh. “Dimitri’s anger lasted for a long time. Sometimes I can still feel it, even though he buries it in the back of his mind. But he had a really good reason to be upset.”
I grunted in understanding. Everyone knew what it meant for a Nephilim to never bind his soul to his mate. It must have been a nightmare, for him to slowly lose parts of himself and his sanity and for her, to watch it happen, powerless.
But they had made it through. And from what I’ve seen, their love clearly overpowered his potential anger.
“We’ll make it work,” I said, kissing her back. “I mean, it can’t be worse than how we were just a couple of weeks ago, right?”
Lola smiled, nestling closer to me. She felt so small in my arms. So vulnerable.
My little devious mate.
The fucking headache I had as I was going through Arc’s tasks were ruining the great mood I’d been in the whole morning. Being gone for almost two weeks, work was piling up and his absence started to raise questions.
“At least it’s been a while since our people have been attacked,” Kai remarked, going over the reports Carrie had placed on the table.
“Sure, if we forget about what happened to Carter last night,” Ann mumbled, looking at the paper over his shoulders.
Kai rolled his eyes. “Vlad didn’t do it. He said it wasn’t him, and I trust him not to lie to me.”
“It’s not like you can read his mind,” I said.
“Come on, do you really think it’s him? I mean, I don’t, but if you’re one hundred percent sure, I’ll talk to him.”
I didn’t. The guy was shady as shit, but when I thought of last night, I kept seeing hazel eyes filled with golden flecks. Somehow, I knew the Warlock was behind it. But how? Why? And why couldn’t I remember anything?
“Never mind.” I sighed. “Let’s just get this meeting over with.”
Carrie looked at me with narrowed eyes as understanding passed through Jeremiah’s.
But I didn’t care.
Lola was up in the Archives. Alone. And I desperately wanted more of her and less of Arc’s fucking job.
“Here’s the list of guards that need to be off Monday for their chip replacement,” Ann said, giving a sheet to Carrie. “They might dissolve soon if we don’t remove and change them in the next ten days.”
“Noted, I’ll send them a notification so they can call you and book their appointment.”
“Where are we on the supply front?” Jeremiah asked, looking over another document. “It looks like the stores are running low on a few basic necessities.”
I looked at my own pile, sifting through different pages until I found the ones he had.
“We’ll need to make a trip soon,” I confirmed, looking over the inventories given by each restaurant and shop. “Might even take the opportunity to get other things that are not critically low yet. Aymeric will have a panic attack if he runs out of chocolate or sugar.”
Not to mention coffee. I’d hate to see Lola in withdrawal. Might fuel the anger she said would come next…
“And the farms?” Kai asked next.
“Harvests were good.” I nodded, looking at the numbers. “Still going on for some of the crops. Livestock is—well, chickens are good, but we might need to buy a few cows.”
Jeremiah let out an annoyed grunt, sliding his hand in his pocket as he stopped his casual pacing. “We’ll need the bigger trucks, then. The trip won’t be as discreet as usual.” He tilted his head at Kai. “Are your men still in Vegas?”
Kai nodded. “As far as I know. I’ll need to make a couple of phone calls to agree on a time and date, but there shouldn’t be any issues. We’ll send a bigger team to ensure everything runs smoothly.”
“A bigger team might attract attention,” Carrie pointed out. “Two Immortals per vehicle seems like a good option.”
Jeremiah scoffed. “Two won’t be enough if they run into some serious trouble.”
“Are you questioning the skills of my men?” Carrie retorted, her tone quiet but sharp. “A dozen Divines and Hellrisers will be plenty to counter any human attack.”
“Sure,” he answered with a sarcastic shrug. “But will they be enough against an Immortal one?”
And here it was. The first time one of us acknowledged what was really going on in the prison not that far away. The fact that our enemy might not have been human after all but could be coming from within.
“It never happened before,” Ann tried. “At least, not on one of those runs.”
“We must be prepared for any possibilities,” Jeremiah continued. “I say we send three of our own by vehicle to be safe.”
“Like six more will make a difference.” Carrie rolled her eyes before they exchanged murderous looks.
Ann met my gaze. Trouble in paradise? She hid her smile against Kai’s shoulder.
“Since we’re touching that subject, any updates on the…current situation?” Kai asked.
There was a long pause, everyone casting glances at the others. The atmosphere in Arc’s office was suddenly way colder, and I had to restrain my legs from shaking in anxiety.
I couldn’t tell them the things I’ve seen. Not yet. Something still felt off, especially since the attack I forgot about.
“Nothing more than what I told you last night,” Jeremiah said. “Scouts all came back unharmed, but the building looks like it’s more than just a prison. Lots of Hellrisers and humans…No clue as to where Dimitri and Arc are being kept.”
“You thought you could keep me in a cage? Keep me locked up for you to torture?”
I blinked, my hand reaching my forehead as a sharp pain seized me.
Dark smoke. Sounds of things shattering and breaking. Screams of pain.
“Help us.”
Hazel and flecks of gold.
Did I witness something? Did the Warlock call me to show me what was happening?
“Carter.”
I lifted my eyes toward Kai. All four of them stared at me with various expressions on their faces.
“Sorry.”
“Are you alright?” Ann asked, straightening up and ready to stand. “Does your head hurt again?”
“No. No, I’m fine. I just—I just remembered something I need to do later.”
“I knew I should have told Lola to keep you on bed rest for the whole day,” she mumbled.
I pinched my lips, hoping the blush in my cheeks would stay unnoticed.
“Don’t you think Lola has enough on her plate to be stuck dealing with him all day?
” Kai taunted. “I mean, it’s a miracle they survived the night cooped up in the same house on their own.
Don’t force her to tend to him like he’s actually sick. ”
“Fuck off,” I gritted out, standing up from Arc’s desk and piling up the documents we’ve been working with. “Are we done here?”
“I guess,” Carrie said, jumping to her feet and giving a wide berth to Jeremiah standing next to her. “I’ll notify the guards about their chip replacement and make up the team for the upcoming Vegas expedition.”
“Three per vehicle,” Jeremiah reminded.
“Two,” she bit back, glaring at him. “As far as I know, you know nothing about safety issues. Go back to your office tasks and let me deal with my work.”
He left the office right after her, rolling his eyes as he walked over the threshold.
Ann and Kai exchanged a knowing look before chuckling and standing up to leave.
“He’s either going to have the best angry sex of his life tonight, or not get any for a few weeks,” Ann said.
“Probably the latter,” Kai added. “Carrie is pissed.”
His mate swatted at his arm. “You said you’d stop snooping into people’s minds.”
“It’s not my fault! She had zero control over her anger, it was like I was in this fight with them.”
“Kai…”
“He wants them to be official and she doesn’t,” the demon couldn’t help himself from explaining. “Did you know they’ve been seeing each other for years? But he wants kids, and she doesn’t.”
Ann stopped, and gaped at him. “Really?”
Kai nodded. “Yeah…She doesn’t want any.”
“Everyone know that angels and demons can’t—”
“They can,” Kai interrupted his mate. “Look at Arc. He exists. So it can happen.”
She shook her head. “Arc is, as much as I adore him, a fluke. It almost never happened again. And when it did, it resulted in a stillborn or a simple Nephilim.”
Kai’s eyes glinted with malice. “So it can happen. But Carrie is—”
They didn’t even reach the door when it burst open, an unmasked, wide-eyed Marcus standing under the frame and nearly tripping over his own too-fast steps.
“Dimitri is here,” he panted.
The room stilled, all amusement gone from Kai’s face.
“You thought you could keep me in a cage? Keep me locked up for you to torment?” his voice repeated in my mind.
He had escaped.
“Without Arc?” Kai asked, confused.
Marcus shook his head, his face grim.
Another long pause. The only sound filling the room was Marcus’ heavy breathing.
Dimitri had escaped. The crashing sounds, the screams…
He had escaped on his own and might have destroyed anything and anyone in his path, including Arc and Nomin.
Not that I could blame him, I would have gone insane in his situation, and going after my jailers would have been my first move.
“Go get—”
“Lola is already on her way there, if she didn’t reach him already,” he interrupted me. “I ran into her on my way here.”
How? Did she feel him? Was their bond that strong? Could I dare to hope we’d be this fusional someday?
Get a fucking grip, I cursed myself. Now was not the time to ponder things like this.
“He’ll need medical assistance,” Marcus continued.
“He’s a Nephilim,” Ann said, shaking her head in disbelief. “They might be Earthwalkers, but they're pretty much invincible.”
“He’s badly hurt, Ann. And I have no idea if all the blood covering him is his, but it’s mostly red.”