Chapter 57
I stared down at the bowl as I attacked the chocolate batter like a woman possessed. I could’ve just used the KitchenAid mixer, but I needed the burn of mixing by hand. I’d be lucky if the whisk didn’t break.
“What did that bowl ever do to you?”
Declan’s voice skated over my skin in a pleasant shiver.
“Is he okay?” I asked.
Colt had taken me home while the rest of the guys had dealt with whatever was happening with Trace. While the pain in my chest had eased, I could still sense that he wasn’t doing well.
Declan moved in next to me and dipped his finger into the chocolate cake batter, licking it clean. “Damn, that’s good.”
I set the bowl down and leaned a hip on the counter. “Dec…”
He sighed. “He’ll be fine. He just needs a little distance right now.”
“From me.”
It wasn’t a question, yet it held a million unknowns. I kept walking this line of wanting to know everything but not wanting to push. Trace and his issues. Declan and Ronan’s history. What happened to Colt’s father? Dash’s family.
Declan turned to face me. “What do you know about incubi?”
“Nothing. I didn’t grow up in this world. I feel like I’m fumbling around in the dark and everyone thinks I’m an idiot.”
He winced. “I’m sorry. None of us want to overwhelm you. We know it’s a lot to take in.”
“I want to know, to understand, even if I didn’t come into my own powers.” Saying it hurt. This thing I’d never known should be mine, but I felt the loss of it just the same.
Declan slid a hand under my hair and squeezed my neck. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. Because my not manifesting could end in disaster for all of us.
“We’re going to figure it out,” Declan promised. “We’ll find a way.”
“I hope you’re right.” And if he wasn’t, I’d leave. It didn’t matter how much it hurt. I would rip my own heart out if it meant keeping them safe.
Declan gave my neck one more squeeze and released me. “We told you incubi get their power from sexual contact. That they’ll die without it.”
I nodded, nausea sweeping through me. “I can’t imagine being forced into that.”
“It makes things complicated, that’s for sure. But it’s more than that.”
I studied Declan as he seemed to choose his words carefully.
“When an incubus is intimate in any way with someone, that contact has an addictive quality.”
My brows pulled together. “For him or the other person?”
“In most cases, just for the other person. If they get that hit too much, they can become addicted to it.”
A weight settled low in my belly. “And if they don’t get it?”
Declan met my gaze, uncertainty in his. “They go insane.”
My pulse thrummed in my neck. “Has Trace made someone go insane?”
Declan was quiet for a long moment. “Yes.”
That fluttering in my neck picked up speed. “Who?”
“I can’t, Leighton. It’s not my place. I’ve probably already told you too much, but I wanted you to understand. If I tell you more, it’ll break the trust I’m trying to build. These guys already don’t like me. That would make it so much worse.”
“It’s okay,” I hurried to say. I didn’t want to push Declan into anything that would hurt his relationship with his bond. But something didn’t make sense. “Today, Trace was in pain. I could feel it.”
Declan’s eyes widened. “You felt it?”
I nodded, rubbing at that spot along my sternum. “Right here. I don’t know how to describe it, but I knew it was coming from him. And he felt when I was panicking in the locker room.”
Declan cursed.
“What?” A little of that panic flared to life again.
“When an incubus meets his mate, every point of contact, physical or emotional, builds the imprinting process.”
“Imprinting?”
Declan traced the lines in the marble with his finger. “It’s the mating process. It brings the two of you closer until the bond is complete. But it can make incubi unstable while it’s taking place. Especially if there’s a lot of physical contact.”
And Trace had been holding me in his arms, caressing my scars. There’d been physical and emotional intimacy of sorts.
“And then it hurts him when there’s distance?” I asked.
“Exactly.”
“But he doesn’t want to be with me. Not really. He’s being forced into it.”
Declan let out a breath. “He wants it, but he’s scared.”
“Of what?”
“That he’ll hurt you.”
My stomach cramped. “He won’t.”
Declan pulled me against him, wrapping his arms around me. “That’s what I think, too. Mates shouldn’t have the ability to hurt one another when they’re in harmony.”
I didn’t miss the operative word there. Harmony. Getting to that place with Trace would take time. And I needed to be sure that the guys could anchor their powers some other way. Otherwise, I was going to have to leave.
Declan’s fingers skated along the ridges of my spine through my tank top. “You’re thinking pretty hard over there.”
I sighed. “Just trying to figure out how it’s all going to work out.”
Declan pulled back a fraction so he could see my face. “All we can focus on is the next step.”
“And what’s the next step right now?”
He grinned, sticking his finger in the cake batter. He painted the chocolate across my lips. “We make a cake.”
My tongue flicked out to catch the sweetness, and Declan’s finger darted inside. My reaction was total instinct. I sucked it clean.
Declan let out a groan as his hips pressed into me, his cock hardening. “Leighton…”
I released his finger, looking up into those silver-gray eyes. “Hmm?”
He dipped his finger back into the batter. “Such innocence on that face, but you’re a little minx.” He trailed chocolate across my collarbone and lapped it up with his tongue.
My mouth opened in a pant as my thighs clenched. “I didn’t do anything…”
Declan pulled down the strap of my tank top, his lips gliding over my skin. “I think you know exactly your effect on me. On all of us.”
I gasped as Declan tugged the other strap down, and my breasts popped free. “We’re in the kitchen,” I hissed.
He grinned at me as his thumb and forefinger found my nipple and rolled. “That’s part of the fun. Who’s home? Who could walk in at any time?”
Declan took another swipe of batter and painted it across my other nipple. “The perfect dessert.”
His head lowered, and he sucked me into his mouth. Sparks of pleasure zapped from nipple to clit.
“Dec,” I breathed.
He released me. “Love it when you call me that.”
Declan’s fingers snaked into the hem of my sweats, and he pulled them down. And then he was lifting me, setting me on the marble counter. The stone was freezing against my overheated skin, and I sucked in a breath as he parted my thighs, my sweats and panties falling to the floor.
Declan trailed a finger along my center. “So damn beautiful.”
My breath came in short pants.
He arched a brow. “Going to stay still and let me have my dessert?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes.”
Declan’s eyes melted into that silver I loved. “Good girl.”
He took a finger doused in batter and trailed it from my inner thigh to my core. As his lips closed around my skin, teasing and sucking, a whimper escaped my lips.
“No moving,” Declan growled.
My fingers curled around the counter, the edge of the marble biting into my palm. But that hint of pain was what I needed to keep still.
Declan’s tongue snaked out and flicked my clit.
I bit the inside of my lip to keep from crying out.
“The perfect salty and sweet,” he crooned.
“Please…”
“What do you need?” Declan asked, his voice husky.
“Release.”
I needed to let go of all the pressure that had built up over this day. To release it all.
Declan chuckled against my center, the vibrations nearly sending me over the edge. “I can do that.”
Two fingers slid inside me as his lips closed around my clit. Those digits curled and twisted in a staccato beat that had my thighs and inner walls trembling.
“Dec…” His name was a whispered prayer on my lips.
His fingers pressed hard on that spot inside me as he sucked my clit harder.
I shattered, my voice lifting on the air as Declan milked every wave of pleasure. Just as I thought we were done, another wave would build and crest. By the time they eased, my entire body was trembling.
Declan grinned up at me. “Feel better?”
“I don’t think I can feel anything at all right now.” I was human Jell-O.
He chuckled. “Let’s get you upstairs.” Then his devilish smile was back. “But I’m bringing the cake batter.”