Chapter 16
Ophelia lay against Gideon’s chest, pretending to sleep. Ever since she’d woken, that stupid vision had her anxiety on overdrive. After what she’d been privy to in the Inchisoare, she had zero doubt that meeting had been real.
Kremlyn was coming with the Crimson Guard, and Jena’s dad was helping them.
Ophelia blinked back tears. She knew it was stupid to lie here and not open her mouth about it, but number one, it was like three in the frickin’ morning, and two, she’d been positive that Gideon had abandoned her when he hadn’t been at her side earlier.
Yeah, so he’d said that he loved her and that he was staying in Havers, but how could anyone love what she’d become?
Especially after what she’d done to him.
Her recollection of what’d happened out in the woods was spotty, but she remembered enough to know that she’d fed on him.
The thought made her stomach churn. At the Citadel they reduced the normys that filled that role to livestock, referring to them as cows, chattel far beneath vampires.
Gideon was anything but, and to use him like that—Ghandi, what kind of a monster was she?
It would’ve served her right if he had abandoned her, but he hadn’t. He’d come back, and the last thing she wanted to do was anything to screw this up.
Could he really love her?
She snuggled closer, a hum running through her body, her fingers and toes prickling.
The sensation wasn’t exactly unwelcome, just strange.
So was the fact that the sheets weren’t making her skin crawl.
It wasn’t that she liked the feel of them, they were just…
tolerable. There was something about that hum…
She frowned, realizing that she’d stripped out of the pajamas someone had stuffed her into more out of habit than need.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d think whatever that was had short circuited her ick factor, but that wasn’t possible, was it?
Either way, it was a strange relief and just underscored how badly the Citadel had fucked her up.
Not being able to touch and be touched. She trailed her fingers along Gideon’s abs, craving the feel of him, starved for skin-on-skin contact.
Fuck it. Whatever this reprieve was, she wasn’t gonna waste it.
She held her breath, slowly sliding her hand beneath his waistband. He tensed, then bit back a low groan as her fingers brushed his swollen crown.
“Phe…?” he whispered hoarsely.
She nipped his earlobe trying to channel the Ophelia from before things went to shit. “Were you expecting someone else?” Ugh, she sounded more apologetic than flirty.
“No.” Gideon snorted, then groaned as she began to stroke his rigid length. It kicked against her palm, and her thighs clenched. “But I wasn’t expecting this either… May I touch you?”
She nodded against his throat, and he ran his hand over the curve of her shoulder to her breast, leaving goosebumps in his wake.
Ophelia arched, her nipple hardening against his palm, and he captured her mouth with his.
Softly, then more intent, his tongue skimming along her lips, begging for entrance— She pulled away, the intimacy of it throwing her, then tentatively kissed him back.
“We don’t have to do this,” he murmured, his forehead against hers.
“Shut up.” She scowled. “I want to.”
“Then I think it best if you take control,” he said, pulling off his shirt and settling onto his back with his hands behind his head. The way his muscles bulged wasn’t fair.
Her hand on him stilled. “What?”
“I don’t know what your limits are anymore, Phe.
I need you to show me what you want, because I don’t trust myself to not to push them beyond what you’re comfortable with.
For instance, there’s nothing I would love more than bending you over my knee for parading around town in practically nothing and smoking, then teasing you unmercifully until you begged for my cock.
I haven’t decided if I’d give it to you…
though it has been some time and filling every last one of your pretty little holes sounds quite appealing.
” He scratched his jaw. “Perhaps not here, though. I’d very much enjoy hearing you cry out, and no doubt one of those idiots would burst in here to rescue you. ”
Ophelia laughed. “They probably would.”
“Mmm. So be a good girl for me and take charge.”
She chewed her lip. Gideon never gave up control in any aspect of his life; not personally, not professionally, and certainly not in the bedroom. Her eyes narrowed. “Is this a trick?”
His brows knit. “No, poppet, this is about you taking back your pleasure so that the next time I have you in bed, I can worship you as you deserve.”
What the hell did she even say to that? Damn it. Nothing, and by the smirk on his face, he knew it. She scowled and busied herself pulling down his ridiculous pajama bottoms so she wouldn’t have to look at him.
Well, not his face at least.
Her gaze went to his thick cock as it sprang free and she wet her lips, sweat beading her hairline.
She tossed the bottoms to the floor and stared at him for a breath.
Ghandi, the moonlight made him look like he was carved in alabaster, a more perfect version of anything the Greeks ever came up with.
Ophelia settled beside him and trailed her fingers up his corded thigh, following the dips and valleys of muscle to his hip bone and the sinewy triangle at his lower abdomen.
Her hand hovered above his length, and his hips rose in anticipation. A smile ghosted across her lips. She lightly drew a line from base to tip, pre-cum pulsing from his slit. She swirled it around his fat crown, then brought her thumb to her mouth, glancing at him from below her lashes.
“Brat.” He hissed through his gritted teeth, his hands behind him, gripping the headboard’s rails. The heat in his eyes stoked the smoldering fire at her core. “You have no idea how badly I’d like to bury myself in your throat right now.”
She shivered, straddling him, and pretty sure she’d just discovered one of those limits he was talking about. “Aww. Poor baby. Too bad I’m in charge.”
He chuckled darkly. “For now. Enjoy it while you can, poppet, because I’m certainly going to enjoy you later.”
“Mmm.” Ophelia crept up his body, rising to brush her breasts against his face. He groaned. “How about you enjoy me now instead?”
Gideon’s eyes glimmered in the moonlight, and Ophelia’s pulse raced as she spread her thighs before him, setting her knees beside his ears.
He raised his head to snuff at her, the animalistic instinct catching her breath.
His chest rumbled with pleasure, and his eyes flicked up to hers. “May I use my hands?”
Ophelia wet her lips. “Not yet.”
“Then let’s give you something else to rest upon, shall we?
” he said, his horns sprouting from his head and curving down along his jaw, under her thighs.
Their flared tips forced her legs wider.
“When you start to shake, I want it to be for the right reasons.” He ran the flat of his tongue up the seam of her cleft, then delved between her folds to the sensitive pearl at its peak.
Ophelia gasped, pleasure coursing through her, her body softening and opening for him.
Oh God…this is what it’s supposed to feel like…
She fisted his hair with one hand, and the other slapping onto the headboard.
Gideon drew her flesh into his mouth suckling, then sweeping into her.
Her hips began to move against him of their own accord, her nipples drawing into tight, turgid points.
The headboard creaked as he gripped it tighter, groaning and feasting upon her. A tight heat coiled in her core, begging to be released. So long. It has been so long… Ophelia’s thighs quivered, her breath speeding as her body raced to the finish line. “Deo…oh God…yes…”
He growled, thrusting his tongue into her, his nose rubbing against her clit.
That delicious pressure grew, warmth blooming, and her head growing light.
She tore at his hair, arching her back as she came, pleasure searing through her, and violet light flaring across her vision.
Her thighs spasmed around him, a wash of passion soaking his stubble and dripping from his chin as he grinned.
“Mmm. Good girl,” he rumbled, gently lapping up her release.
Holy hell, that hadn’t taken long. Ophelia collapsed against the headboard, her breasts heaving.
Gideon slowly resorbed his horns, and she tottered to the side, landing on a pillow.
She pulled another pillow into her lap as her head tipped back against the wall.
What it was supposed to be like. Dear God, what had she just done? Tears pricked at her eyes.
Gideon pushed up to sit. “Are you all right?”
“No.” She tightened her lips and shook her head, wiping a hand over her cheeks. Dread churned in her stomach. “I-I shouldn’t have done that. Shouldn’t have let myself feel how it should be.” It would make what was coming that much worse.
He dragged a hand through his hair, confusion and anger etched across his features. “What are you talking about?”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “During my bloodlust I had a vision. Kremlyn will be here with his Crimson Guard tomorrow. They know about us, about you. Jena’s dad is going to open the way for them.” She turned away from him, her face crumpling.
“Good. Let them come and have done with this,” he spat.
She paled. “You can’t mean that.”
“There’s no stopping what’s coming, Phe.” Gideon sighed, drawing her into his arms. He kissed the crown of her head. “And it’s progressed well beyond the point of niceties. Wheels are in motion. We either follow suit or become crushed beneath them.”
“There’s no time.” She shook her head. “Kremlyn—he said he’d have me collected by moonrise.”