Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2)(38)

His hips rocked too, wedging his hardness against me. My eyes went wide when he started to press inside. My glyphs ghosted over me faster.

“Doan be scared, bébé,” he rasped with a brief kiss to my lips. “I’m goan to take care of you.” Staring down into my eyes, he began prodding deeper. “I’ve wanted you for so long.” And deeper. “My God, woman!” When he was all the way in, a strangled groan burst from his chest.

Pain. I just stifled a wince, far from enamored with this.

Voice gone hoarse, he said, “You’re mine now, Evangeline. No one else’s.”

He must be right—because Death’s presence had disappeared completely.

Jack held himself still, murmuring, “Doan hurt, doan hurt.”

“It’s getting better.”

“Ready for more?”

I nodded. Then regretted it. Pain.

Between gritted teeth, he said, “Evie, I got to touch you, got to kiss you. Or you woan like this.” A bead of sweat dropped from his forehead onto my neck, tickling its way down to my collarbone.

“O-okay.”

Still inside me, he raised himself up on his knees, his damp chest flexing. His hands covered me, cupped, kneaded, his thumbs rubbing. When I started arching my back for more, his body moved. And it was . . .

Rapture.

“Jack! Yes!”

In a strained tone, he said, “God almighty—I am home, Evangeline.” Another thrust had me soaring. “Finally found the place . . . I’m supposed to be.”

He leaned down, delivering scorching kisses up my neck and down to my breasts, bringing me closer and closer to a just-out-of-reach peak.

Each time he rocked over me, I sensed a barely harnessed aggression in him. Between panting breaths, I said, “Don’t hold back! You don’t have to with me.” I lightly grazed my nails over his back, spurring him until he was taking me with all his might—growling with need as I moaned.

Pleasure built and built . . . broke free . . . wicked bliss seized me, seized him.

As I cried out uncontrollably, he yelled, “à moi, Evangeline!” Mine.

“Yes, Jack, yes. . . .”

Then after-shudders. A final moan. A last groan.

As his weight sank heavily over me, I ran my hands up and down his back, wanting him to know how much I loved that.

How much I loved him.

He raised himself up on his forearms, cheeks flushed, lids heavy with satisfaction. “I knew it would be like this.” His voice was even more hoarse. “I knew from the first moment I saw you.” Stroking my hair, he started kissing my face, pressing his lips to my jaw, my forehead, the tip of my nose. “I am home, Evie Greene,” he repeated between kisses.

I never wanted him to stop. He’d been an amazing lover, but his afterplay? He was adoring.

“The first priest I find, I’m goan to marry you. I’m all in, peek?n.” His kisses grew more and more heated. Against my lips, he rasped, “How come I can’t ever get enough of you?”

Just as that rush returned and I knew we were about to get another round of this, I heard panting—comprehended that it wasn’t my own. I broke away. “Jack?”

We both turned to find a wolf nosing through the waterfall, its head halfway in. It blinked at us, then howled.

Not a second later, Lark called, “Hey, guys! You in there? I told the others I’d find you. We’re heading out. It won’t be long now.”

Jack rested his forehead against my own. “We’re goan to pick this up later.”

“Even more incentive to live through the night?” To Lark, I called, “Be right there.”

With one last lingering kiss, Jack helped me to my feet, collecting our clothes. As we dressed, I caught him grinning at me, knew I was giving him goofy smiles. I’d played my V card, and had zero regrets.

Hand in hand, I walked with Jack up to our pre-planned vantage point. Death’s presence was a memory. Good riddance. . . .

Jack squeezed my hand and gazed down at me. “à moi, Evangeline.”

I promised him: “Always.”





15

“So three Bagmen and a slaver go into a bar . . .” Finn began as the wails grew closer.

We were lying in wait on a cliff high above the chute. And we were invisible.

Selena whipped her head around, hissing, “Are you serious, Magician? They’re almost here.”

The horde was like one giant, wailing beast scrabbling up the mountain. Though the night was dark, we could see their creamy, pale eyes as if they glowed.

Selena and Jack aimed their bows. Matthew and Jack lay on either side of me, Finn beside Lark. She was spaced out, monitoring the approach of the cannibals through her falcon.

Her wolves crouched behind Finn’s illusion, ready to attack the horde from behind.

“What?” Finn whispered. “Just because we’re about to be swarmed by bloodthirsty zombies doesn’t mean we can’t have a laugh.”

Matthew made a eureka! hand gesture. “Zomedy!”

“Damn straight, Matto.” Finn always seemed a little surprised by how much he liked the boy.

I’d wanted to ask Matthew about my latest interaction with Death, but he’d seemed preoccupied before. Now it was too late.

When the horde began funneling into the chute like a rolling wave, doubt over my plan racked me. What if this didn’t work? Our sole escape hatch was that booby-trapped canyon. If the cannibals prevailed and pursued, we’d have to hit it faster than we’d ever imagined, at night, in the pouring rain. . . .