Darker (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #6)(82)

I rode him with my focus on the finish line. The peak of climax loomed ever closer with each stroke. I savored the emotion-drenched energy surrounding Arys. These moments revealed the truth of things he might never say.

I swept my hair aside and bared my neck to him. He gazed at me with midnight blue eyes that were all wolf. It was eerie yet stunning.

Arys gently grasped the back of my neck and held firm. His bite was tender, delicate. The pain of fangs piercing my vein quickly gave way to joyous gratification. As my blood spilled, I plunged over the edge of ecstasy. I quivered atop my vampire, my inner muscles clenching him tight. In that brief moment of absolute rapture, I feared nothing. I felt vibrant, full of life. Being head over heels in love had a way of doing that. It was otherworldly.

The touch of his tongue against my wounded neck was warm and wet. My blood filled his mouth. He quickened our pace, driving fast and deep for those final few orgasmic thrusts.

It wasn’t quite possible to collapse together and enjoy the afterglow. The stairs weren’t afterglow friendly. So, I grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs to my bedroom.

After ensuring the heavy drapes covered every inch of the window, I crawled into bed to snuggle up with my vampire. We lay in the dark room, neither of us speaking for a long time. With my head on Arys’s chest, I leisurely stroked a hand through his ebony hair. He held me close, his silence speaking louder than words.

“Wanna tell me what that was all about earlier tonight?” He asked in a lazy drawl. “You hunted that guy like an animal. I can’t say it wasn’t sexy as hell, but it wasn’t quite your style.”

“No,” I agreed. “It was yours.”

I recounted for him the events of the past two nights. Everything from my visit to Lilah’s with Jez to discovering tonight that the demon bitch had my sister. He listened, attentive as I vented my anger with colorful words and curses. As I spoke, he dragged his fingertips up and down my back in a loving caress.

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but I’m going to Lilah’s with you.”

I sat up to look at him, and the blanket slipped to my waist. “Arys, no. She has Juliet. If I go in with too many people or appear as a threat, there’s no telling what Lilah will do. I can’t risk anything happening to my sister.”

I braced for the argument, certain it was coming, but Arys surprised me. He nodded and pulled me back down beside him.

“Fine,” he said. “We’ll do it your way, with a compromise. You go in without me but keep your mind open to me. If anything goes wrong, if it gets bad, I’m coming in.”

It took me a minute to respond. I was shocked that he hadn’t come back at me with a fight. It was a nice change, most likely a short-lived one as well. I’d enjoy it while I could.

“Alright. That works for me. But, follow my lead. No jumping the gun.” I fell quiet for a moment, deciding how much crap I wanted to dig up. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I had to ask. “The FPA killed Bianca. What did she tell you?”

Arys groaned and made a dramatic show of whining melodramatically in protest. “She didn’t tell me a damn thing other than that she’d been sent to seduce either me or Shaz in order to find out more about you and what goes on inside The Wicked Kiss.”

“Don’t withhold shit from me, Arys,” I warned. “Briggs said she gave you info that Shya wanted.”

“She told me about a scroll, some kind of spell or something. Shya needs it. The FPA is trying to find it before he does. That’s all she would say.” Arys stretched and rolled us over so I was flat on my back beneath him. “I considered killing her. I thought you might be pissed if I did, so I let her go.”

“After you kicked the shit out of her?” I stared up at him, worried that he would tell me something I didn’t want to hear.

Arys’s eyes glittered with the memory. He smirked before lowering his head to kiss my stomach. “I did what it took to make her talk. Don’t judge, Alexa. It’ll be you making that call one day.”

My mind raced, putting the pieces together. I assumed Shya needed the missing spell for Gabriel who would then use it, along with my death, to open the chamber from hell. It was likely that Lilah sought the spell as well. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be a problem much longer. I just needed to find the scroll before either Shya or the FPA did. Easy, right?

“I was hoping Bianca would know something we could use against Shya,” Arys explained. “She didn’t. But, she did confirm that the FPA doesn’t have the scroll. Neither does Shya. As long as we get it first, we own his ass. Until then, he keeps every other big ugly bad away from you. I think it’s as good a deal as we’re going to get.”

Arys shoved me back down beneath him. I pondered his logic, finding it sound. We didn’t have many options as far as Shya was concerned. I was too impatient to wait for Shya to make a move; we had to find that scroll before the demon did.

Arys descended between my legs, interrupting my thoughts. The touch of his tongue stole my breath and left me grasping for words.

“We should talk about this,” I said distractedly. “There’s so much to consider.”

“Not right now there isn’t. There is only you and me. Everything else waits until nightfall. So, I suggest you stop talking, unless you’re praising my wonderful performance.” With a sinful laugh, he gripped my hips, holding me beneath him while he worshipped my body.