Chapter 29
The man stilled behind Soraya; his cock still buried deep inside her throbbing sex. Her legs shook as she felt her ears fill with pressure, their panting breaths becoming the only sound she could hear for a moment.
Raziel? Through her lust-soaked mind, Soraya recalled that it was the stranger’s name.
Regardless of his identity, Raziel’s sudden stillness with her next orgasm hanging by a thread, drew a frustrated whine from her lips.
His grip on her hips flexed, and she felt him twitch inside her, causing her inner walls to clench down around his hardness.
A thrill shot through her as his panting turned jagged.
She didn’t care that they’d been caught. The new stranger could watch for all she cared—though something nagged at the back of her mind, a faint recognition that she’d heard his voice before.
Arching her back, she rose onto her tiptoes and used the leverage of the wall in front of her to slowly inch off Raziel’s cock until she could feel the head nestled at her dripping entrance.
“Lestis,” Raziel panted, struggling to control his heavy breathing and failing. “Didn’t expect—” His words choked off suddenly as Soraya slammed her entire body backward onto his erection.
Stars burst behind her eyes as a powerful orgasm ripped up her spine.
His hips stuttered against her backside, and a weak curse escaped his lips, mingling with her moan of pleasure.
She imagined they were putting on quite a show for Lestis as she trembled on his cock, lewd noises spilling from her mouth.
But in the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care, her mind going blissfully blank and tingling with pleasure.
Before she could come down from her high, Raziel suddenly pulled out of her, causing her body to jerk.
He wrapped his muscled arm around her waist and lifted her up, tucking her into his left side and partially concealing her from Lestis.
The sound of a zipper registered faintly in her mind just as she felt her underwear and leggings being tugged up her thighs until they settled around her hips.
“Are you quite done?” Lestis’s bored tone pierced through her blissful haze. Something at the back of her mind glimmered with familiarity, but it was quickly overshadowed by the mortifying realization of what she had just done—in front of a stranger!
Soraya stood against Raziel’s heaving chest, letting her long hair obscure her face from this Lestis. She was too embarrassed to face this familiar stranger at the moment.
“Lestis—” Raz began, raspy voice low, but Lestis cut him off.
“You know, Raz, I find it quite the coincidence that I should find you getting your cock wet so soon after the attack on this city,” Lestis intoned.
“Then, there’s the assault at The Pearl, more people dead—and if I’m remembering correctly, you liked to satisfy your carnal desires as a reward for a job well done. I don’t suppose this female here is—”
A snarl ripped through the alley, making her freeze, and Raziel pressed her harder into him.
“Lestis, I think it would be a good idea for you to walk away right now before you jump to any more conclusions,” Raz hissed in warning.
The alleyway went deathly quiet. Soraya, feeling strangely caught in the middle of something that shouldn’t involve her, peered through her hair to get a good look at Lestis.
She was sure she recognized that slightly arrogant tone.
She saw Lestis standing at the entrance of the alley, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black pants. Lights attached to the buildings above illuminated half of his face, and though his stance appeared casual, Soraya could tell he was anything but relaxed as he stared Raziel down.
Her eyes roamed from his short black hair to the half of his face that was illuminated, and something inside her stirred with awareness.
She’d seen him before.
A soft gasp escaped her when she felt his gaze flash down to hers—his one visible eye glinting crimson red.
When their gazes locked, it was as if an electrical current shot through her, unlocking fractured memories of this man and the new restaurant downtown, The Drunken Duck.
He was the man from not three nights before. The one who had allowed her to eat off his plate before taking her to a backroom, and—Soraya scowled. It was the same arrogant prick who thought her a hooker.
Not only that—the parallels between her night with him and this night with Raz were a little too similar. Except Lestis had thought her a sex worker, despite them never having sex and… and here she was, fucking Raz, a stranger in an alley like some run-of-the-mill prostitute.
She couldn’t let him know it was her. Her pride hinged on it.
Lestis’s tone turned oddly lethal as he inquired, “Raziel, who is this female?”
“Leave her alone. I’m warning you, Lestis. She has nothing to do with this,” Raz said in an equally deadly tone.
Soraya’s heart lurched. Luckily for her, they didn’t sound like friends. Unluckily for her, they sounded on the verge of violence, and she did not want to be standing between them when a fight broke out.
She sent up a quick prayer that they weren’t involved in a gang or, God forbid, the mafia.
It can’t get worse than this, Soraya thought to herself as she quickly tried to devise an exit plan.
“Love, are you alright?” Lestis asked, completely ignoring Raziel.
Startled, Soraya realized he was addressing her.
She couldn’t hide any longer. She was an adult, after all, and adults had to face their problems head-on.
She cleared her throat. “Lestis,” she acknowledged. “I didn’t think we’d see each other again.” She also couldn’t believe she had forgotten him, but she wished he’d stayed forgotten.
She wanted to die. She wished the floor would open up beneath her and swallow her whole.
Forcing herself to look at Lestis, she brushed her hair behind her ear and gave him a tight-lipped smile.
She was still pissed at him for thinking she was a sex worker, but in the end… could she really blame the guy?
Raziel’s body turned frigid behind her. “You know each other?”
Soraya answered “No,” while Lestis said “Yes.”
An awkward silence ensued before Soraya pushed out of Raz’s grip, the air pressure popping in her ears, and pulled herself to her full height.
“It was only for a couple of hours, nothing serious. I hardly consider that as knowing one another,” she said.
Just like how there was nothing serious between her and Raziel. She also debated whether or not she should tell them she’d forgotten about Lestis—not what they did together, but rather who Lestis was in general—but she knew that was childish, so she kept that bit of info to herself.
She was also unwilling to admit to herself that she may have gone overboard this last week with her sexual flings—mostly because she was having a hard time recalling the names of said sexual flings. And it wasn’t like she was going through dozens of men to warrant forgetting their names and faces.
She remembered their bodies, though. That had to count for something.
A breeze blew through the silent alleyway, and loose paper scraped across the stone floor. Raziel coughed, sounding oddly like he was trying to cover up a laugh.
Soraya swallowed, her eyes darting to Lestis as she sent him a pleading look, not to say anything. She could feel him watching her like a hawk, his shoulders rolling back as he remained quiet.
He couldn’t possibly be mad at me—he doesn’t even know me.
Soraya tried to recall more of that night to gauge his reaction properly.
She had eaten his food… he had taken her to the back room…
given her an outstanding wine and a delicious dessert.
Then, things had gotten hot and heavy for a moment, but before anything could progress, he was called away and promised to “compensate” her.
Since he was willing to pay her for her services, she assumed her meal was paid for and called it even.
She left the room and was headed for the front door when—
Her eyebrows furrowed as her memories turned hazy, and the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. She had encountered… Soraya shook her head. She had been staring out the windows and—nothing.
“Are you okay?” Raziel whispered in her ear as he bent down.
Soraya opened her mouth to respond, “I—”
A loud, treacherous screech cut her off abruptly, coming from above them. Before Soraya could understand what was happening, she was shoved to the cobblestone floor as the sound of shattering glass rained down all around her.
Soraya’s hands smarted as they slapped against the stone. She felt a sudden cold gust of air rush over her, followed by a sickening thud and a loud screech that rattled her brain.
Snapping her head up, she watched through a cloud of what appeared to be dust floating around her as a large frog-like creature barreled down the alleyway, coming from the direction Lestis had been in just a second before.
Panicked, she scrambled to her knees, trying to get out of the way, when the creature shrieked and burst into flames.
It staggered, its body crumpling to the ground as it writhed in pain.
Horrified, Soraya watched as the monster’s body began to disintegrate right before her eyes. Ash floated up from the spot where it fell, piece by piece, until its body disappeared entirely within seconds.
“Get up!”
Soraya was lifted and placed on her feet. She found herself staring at the two imposing figures of Raziel and Lestis, who were locked in a tense stare-down with one another. Before they could say another word, she decided she’d had enough.
Ripping herself free from the grip they both had on her forearms, she spun around and sprinted down the right side of the alley.
Adrenaline took over as she realized this wasn’t the first time she’d seen these monsters before.
All she could focus on was the single thought of getting to Jesmine and Ahvi as memories came flooding back to her.