Chapter 42
Left behind
I didn’t dream at all, but when I wake up, I think of them, and I smile before I even open my eyes.
That smile dies when I see Jarek lying beside me, staring at me with an expression that can only be described as devastated.
I reach out my hand to him, but he rolls to his feet and rushes out of the temple before I can even think of something to say.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mordecai asks quietly.
I shove up on my knees and shrug.
Mordecai stands up fluidly and holds out a hand to me. My feelings are bruised, but his offer takes the sting out of Jarek’s actions. He pulls me up, and I find myself staggering into his chest, staring at the immense expanse, my fingers unconsciously stroking.
He traps my hand against his chest. “We can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
I snatch my hand back, my cheeks burning. Of course, it is.
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“Kaida, don’t be sorry—”
I shake my head; he reads me easily and cuts off his sentence.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks instead.
“Of course. If we do it quickly and quietly, we can get everyone out before anyone notices.” My words are stiff, but when I turn, there is Cadel. Huge, larger than life. A god. His eyes drop, sliding over my body before crawling back up.
He doesn’t need to say anything. I can feel it in the air. His scent hits me, and I whimper.
Mordecai snarls. “Not the time!”
I rip my gaze from Cadel and inhale deeply through my mouth, trying to calm down.
“We need to find the Resistance first,” I stutter out.
“Fresh air will help,” Mordecai mutters. “But let me handle finding the Resistance. We have our ways.”
I follow Cadel and Mordecai up to the street. Jarek is nowhere in sight. I scan our surroundings, then do it again. I shift on the spot, unsure what to do before Mordecai grabs my hand and tugs me away.
“He’ll come with us; he just needs a minute.”
Thunder booms, and the skies open, letting rain fall down in fat droplets that have us running for shelter.
“Are you ready? We’re going to have to run. We won’t have much time.”
I nod, watching the rain turn the world to a blurry grey.
Mordecai lifts a whistle and blows it three times, stops and repeats. He does it over and over until I hear something faint hidden under the sound of the rain.
“This way,” he says.
I bolt into the rain, running through the streets, staying on his heels.
The whistles continue sounding until we get to an intersection of roads. Three of the buildings have been flattened, and the fourth looks close to it.
Bear and Legion step out of it, but the whistle keeps moving away.
“You made it!” Bear says and hugs Mordecai.
I glare at him.
“Good to see you alive, Keres.”
I bare my teeth at him. “No thanks to you.”
He shrugs. “It would have been a grievous loss, but I weighed my decision, and I needed to save the people I was with.”
He’s full of crap. I know it, and he knows it, but I don’t say it.
“Keres found the way out, Bear.”
His eyes widen, and I smugly let that sink in. Yeah, you bastard, if I had died, you probably never would have found it, and you’d be just another dead alpha.
Legion clears his throat. “They’re ready. We can get about ninety percent of people out in the next twenty-four hours.”
They, the Resistance group of Mordecai, Legion, and Bear, exchange some silent looks and conversation made entirely of squints and lips movements. Legion, then Mordecai turn to Bear expectantly. He rubs his chin, looking into the distance. At last, he clicks his tongue and smiles.
“All right, let’s do it. Where are we going?” Bear asks with a wide smile. It takes ten years off him.
I still hate him.
Jarek is standing to the side, quiet, his face white, and not a smile to be seen. He looks deadly, like he’s going to rip throats out and just kill everyone.
I’m not scared of him at all. I finger my cape, tugging at the edges, while I watch him without obviously watching him.
“Take Legion back with you and prepare it. I will start sending people through,” Bear says and turns back the way he came. He lets out a long whistle and two short.
“Head to the spire in the uncharted part of the city. It’s almost right below it,” Mordecai says to Bear. “Look for the metal door carved with crescent moons.”
Bear’s eyes widen. “I never would have thought to look there.”
I have to bite back the urge to say something sarcastic; instead, I focus on Jarek, who is trying to slip away without being noticed. I circle the group, following him silently until we get around a corner.
I tag after him and grab his arm. He stops, and his shoulders droop.
“Kaida,” he whispers. “I’m not in the mood right now.”
“Why?” I ask. “What did I do wrong?”
He whirls, pulling me into the shadows of a building, his mouth finding mine almost desperately. He slides his hands over my hips, squeezing and kneading until I’m whimpering into his mouth, falling apart.
His tongue strokes across my lips, and I open for him, gasping as his tongue surges into my mouth.
One hand comes up to cradle the back of my head, holding us together.
He tastes of spice and heat; the faint hint of roses gets stronger.
I lean up into him, arching my back so I’m pressed more fully against him.
“I love you, too,” Jarek whispers. “So much that I loved you when I didn’t know that you existed.”
I kiss his jaw, nipping the skin. He spins me around, pulling my cape off and dropping it on the floor. He pulls down my pants and runs his hand between my thighs, pressing where I ache.
“You’re soaked, Omega,” he murmurs and bites the back of my neck. I freeze, shivering and arching my neck to give him more space.
His teeth don’t sink deep, he lets go and then moves to my shoulder and sucks hard. I come up on my toes, his fingers bite into my hip while the others slide inside me. Curling inside me before he pulls them out and presses them back in again.
“I don’t want to lose you anymore,” he whispers. “I don’t want…I just want to be with you.”
It’s the most desperate wish I’ve ever heard.
He sobs, and my head clears, the arousal vanishing like I’ve been doused in water as I realise just how upset he is. I reach for his hand on my hip and pull it up under my top, pressing it over my heart.
“I’m here. I’m alive. We’re together.”
He doesn’t respond to me.
“Can you feel me breathing?” I whisper. “Can you feel my heart pounding? It’s beating for you.”
“Kaida?”
I try to turn, but he tightens his hold on me, slipping his fingers out.
He turns me but lifts me up, pressing me against a wall.
I stare at him as I lean forward really slowly and kiss him.
I try to show him how much he means to me, how much I care.
I put everything into that kiss. But most of all, I try to soothe the pain that is burning my alpha alive.
“Make love to me, Alpha,” I whisper against his mouth.
“Show me what it can be like between us. Just you and me. Right now. Because I am alive, and so are you, and we’re going to survive.
Feel me. Feel how much I want you. How I would do anything for you.
You have become something so important to me, and I can’t imagine life without you.
So, make me yours. Put your mark on me, and if we have to go, let's burn together.”
“Kaida,” he hums my name out in a soft exhale, then closes the distance.
Our kiss is as soft as the warmth of fire. A tear runs down his cheek, and I pull away to lick it from his skin. I kiss him harder, running my fingers through his hair and down his back.
All around us, all I can hear is the drumming of rain. Our alphas are close; I can feel them. I trust them to protect us. Trust? That’s new for me, but before I can delve into this discovery, I shove it aside. Jarek needs me.
Jarek’s body is different from Cadel’s. Jarek has scars and freckles. He’s got bronzed muscles that flex and ripple under my fingers. I trail soft kisses over his face, gently brushing my thumb over his auburn lashes and kissing the dimple on his cheek.
“I want forever with you, Alpha,” I whisper.
He lets out a moan and reaches between us, brushing his fingers over my clit. I cry out, but he just presses his mouth to my throat and keeps stroking in the slowest, most tender caress.
“I want that, too,” he admits. “I want it so bad, more than anything I’ve ever wanted.”
“Please, knot me, Alpha.”
“Are you sure?”
Am I sure? Yes. About this if nothing else.
“Yes.”
He pulls his fingers from me and reaches for his pants, pushing them down and pulling out his cock. It’s hot and pulses when he presses it against my entrance.
Instead of impaling me on it, he kisses me again, licking across my shoulder and nibbling at my earlobe as he just gently thrusts, rubbing at that sensitive spot until I’m whimpering.
His touch is gentle and almost reverent. I feel important and like I’m something special, like I’m worth everything to this alpha. A giddy joy spreads through me, chased by a recklessness and a feeling that we are untouchable.
He loves me.
I claw at his shoulders, tilting my face up so that I can kiss him. Roses and candles. It’s all I can smell, but he’s huge and strong. His muscles are hard, and my alpha, this alpha is my perfect match.
And I’m burning for him.
He presses the head of his cock against my entrance harder and more insistently.
“Do it,” I say and bite his shoulder.
His plunge inside me is slow and controlled, filling me up. As he bottoms out, he stills and just stands there, supporting my weight as he kisses me until I forget everything but the feel of him. I get lost in his kisses, ignoring the burn on my lips.
At last, he moves, slowly and steadily. Like he’s savouring every moment.
“You are so tight,” he whispers. “So perfect. Look how you take all of me, Omega.”
I moan, and his arms tighten around me, dragging me closer to him. I match his movements and claw at him as the heat inside me builds.
“Alpha, so good, please,” I pant.