The Council (Darkness #5)(6)

He climbed up my body, his lips brushing mine lightly. His eyes sparkled, deep and pure, filled with love and longing. “You were pushed to the side. We were both alone. We didn’t realize the other half of our being was out there somewhere, waiting to connect to the whole. Many people say they were meant to be. Most of them are lying. Fate designed us together, but more, we have accepted and cemented it.”

I deepened the kiss, tasting him. Feeling his body on top of mine. Feeling his thick manhood slowly moving on the outside of my slick sex.

“It’s a good thing we like each other, then,” I murmured against his lips. “Otherwise, this situation with Fate would be really awkward.”

He huffed out a laugh, his sweet breath dusting my face. “I love you, Sasha.”

“I love you, too.”

His tongue entered my mouth softly, almost playfully. He lifted his body just enough to line himself up, and ever so slowly he pushed in until he was fully sheathed inside of me. I sighed into his mouth, the feel of him a heaven so pure it didn’t feel real. He started slowly, fully leaving my body before coming back in, working at my already swollen and sensitive sex.

Before I knew it, I was rocking into that hard length, taking him all the way in. His body glistened over me, muscled and delicious. His fingers intertwined with mine, holding my hands above my head. Our lips locked, sensuous and needy.

The intense burning consumed me again, zinging through my body and tightening my core. He moaned into my mouth, squeezed by my insides. He strove harder then, the bed creaking under his rhythm. His hard thrusts, his strength, his love—before I could help myself, my body jolted out an orgasm. He deepened the kiss, still going, wanting more. Wanting to take me higher.

Immediately I started building again, wound so tight it was almost uncomfortable. Almost painful. So damn pleasurable. Harder he pushed, bearing down as my h*ps swung up. Our bodies slapped together. The bed groaned.

Another crescendo was upon me. His thrusts got harder. Wilder. The whole world condensed into a white-hot point of pleasure…

I screamed out the orgasm, flying apart. He shuddered over me, his hands gripping mine tight. Every point on my body was hyper-sensitive as shockwaves rolled through me. I let my muscles relax totally, now completely limp on the bed.

He was completely limp over me.

I would’ve said I loved him or maybe even good work. But I was too tired. Instead, I lay right where I was, closed my eyes, and hoped beyond hope that nothing in this world would tear us apart.

Chapter 3

The next evening I walked quietly up the hall next to Toa. Charles and Jonas walked closely behind. I’d only had four hours of sleep and was still travel-worn. My limbs ached and my head hurt. Regardless, I was being called on to face a test with a bunch of really old and highly experienced magical people. Toa wouldn’t comment on why they wanted to see me so quickly, but his clenched jaws and flaring nostrils indicated it was not only highly irregular, but also dangerously suspect.

“You need to relax,” Toa instructed in an eerily calm voice. “When you expect a test, you freeze up and overthink. This cuts down your working memory and you have a harder time pulling the correct answers out of your brain’s storage space.”

“You lecture like Toa, and you glide around like Toa, but this breezy thing is throwing me for a loop. Where’s the frustration? Or the panic?” I glanced at him sideways. “Am I speaking to your evil twin?”

“While I don’t love your sense of humor in these instances, it is less troublesome than your spells stemming from fear. So for that, I am thankful.”

“How do you listen to that guy?” Charles muttered.

I couldn’t help the chuckle.

Toa turned right at the end of the corridor into another long hallway. Charles’ hand on my back made sure I followed.

“This is the beginning,” Toa continued. “They will ensure you are actually a black level power. They need to check Dominicous’ and my findings.”

He turned left suddenly, nearly jostling me, taking us through an empty room. It was then something occurred to me. “Where is everybody?”

I thought back. From the second I stepped out of my room I hadn’t seen a soul. We’d gone through, what felt like, miles of hallway. We’d passed doorways leading to sitting rooms. One gave a quick glimpse of a piano and recreation area. They’d all been empty. What should’ve been high traffic time for this race of people was instead a ghost town.

Then I felt it. A presence. Something lingered on the walls and loomed around us. I felt eyes on me, the feeling clawing between my shoulder blades. Watching from some unseen place. Speculating. Analyzing.

I glanced up, almost certain I’d see bats on the ceiling. Maybe mice on the crown molding.

“Toa?” I ventured, my voice uncertain. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“They are listening. Waiting. Watching. They are hoping to gain the upper hand. They are wasting their time.”

We turned into a doorway and cut diagonally across a large room. Books lined the walls, and desks and couches loitered around the floor. Not one desk had a reading lamp, and the lights were so low the sharp edges of the desk were hazy in the darkness. Humans probably needed to walk with a flashlight if they wanted to read anything.

After another couple of turns, we stopped in front of a closed door. A blur of movement down the hall caught my eye, dragging my gaze right. A small slice of black melted into the wall at the very end, someone having just walked out of sight. Goosebumps spread across my arms at the unseen watcher, but that feeling of eyes on me was still there.