Moody as a minotaur, p.24
Moody as a Minotaur, page 24
“No,” Levi said, stopping me before I could. “Let me.”
He leaned forward, then I swear to God he nibbled at the waistband with his lips. The heat of his breath mixed with the soft sucking of his mouth along my skin made me dizzy with want. I grabbed his shoulders to keep my balance. Finally, he captured the edge in his mouth and tugged it down with his teeth.
His cheek, bristly with his late-day scruff, scraped deliciously against my cock. He worked his way from one hip to the other and back again until my boxers finally slipped down my legs. Halle-fucking-lujah.
I moved to step toward the bed, but Levi grabbed my ass in his big hands and held me in place.
“Levi—” I grunted as Levi swallowed me down.
With the heat and the wetness and the suction, I swear to God I saw stars circling my head, like in those old cartoons. Beautiful white and blue stars. They swirled and pulsed around me like sparkly ribbons. They were stunning, but when Levi sucked hard and bobbed his head, I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the mind-numbing sensations rocketing through me. My toes curled. Fuck, I was already close.
“Levi.” I tapped his shoulder. “I’m gonna…”
Levi didn’t let up. With a grunt, I shot my release down his throat. He swallowed everything. I staggered, but Levi caught me. He guided me into his bed with a satisfied smile on his face.
“Christ, Levi,” I muttered. “If there was a gold medal for blow jobs, you’d win.” Then I frowned. “Except you can’t do that to anyone else.”
“Good to know.” Levi laughed, like really laughed. I don’t know if I’d ever heard him laugh so freely. Sure, we joked around all the time, but this was different.
He reached for the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out the lube.
“Condoms?” I asked.
Levi paused, still holding the lube. “Why? You aren’t going to get pregnant.”
“For STIs?”
“ST… What?”
“Sexually transmitted infections.”
Levi set the lube on the table and climbed into the bed. It jostled and I don’t know why, but that felt intimate for some reason. It’d been a long time since I’d felt a bed move when someone else climbed into it while I was naked and horny.
“You don’t have any?”
Levi shook his head as he stretched out beside me. “No. Healthy supes can’t get infections or diseases like that. But if you want to use a condom, we’ll wait to do more until we can buy some tomorrow.”
“Wow…” The idea of having immunity to infections like that was mind-boggling. I trusted he was telling me the truth. Levi would never lie to me about something that important. And it was like everything else I’d learned about supes in the last few days… wild and foreign and, yes, undeniably intriguing.
Levi had left a gap between us, leaving it up to me what happened next. I scooted closer until my chest was pressed to his and my leg was over his hips. His hard length pressed against my hip, reminding me he hadn’t found his own release yet.
“I’ve never gone without protection before,” I said.
“That’s fine. We can wait, like I said.” He brushed his fingertips along the side of my face. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
He’d said that before. I still didn’t believe him. Particularly not now when I knew my cheeks would be stained with a blotchy blush.
“I want you, Levi,” I said. “I want you inside me.”
Levi’s gaze snapped to mine. “You sure? Because—”
I pressed a finger to his swollen lips to stop him from talking. “I’m sure.”
Levi’s breath stuttered against my hand. Then he was kissing me and touching me and tasting me. And I was doing the same to him, eager to explore and learn every part of what made him moan and shudder and pant harder. I was drowning in pleasure when he rolled me to my back and grabbed the lube.
I expected him to move away from me, go sit beside my hips, or ask me to turn over and present my ass. He didn’t do any of that. He rose on one elbow, just enough to get the bottle of lube open and squirt some onto his free hand. He watched me as he trailed his slippery fingers between my legs until he found my entrance. I angled my hips to give him better access.
Once again, I was struck by the intimacy of this moment. I’ve never had a lover study me so closely. I was open with him like I’ve never been with anyone before. I let him see and hear it all. How my breath caught when he caressed my entrance. How I trembled when he pushed his finger inside for the first time. How I arched into his touch as I begged for more.
Those dancing sparkling stars in white and blue shimmered around us again. I swore Levi saw them too, because he looked as wonderstruck as I felt. His Adam’s apple bobbed. Tears pooled in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I swore his body was shaking.
“Levi? Is something wrong?”
He shook his head and pulled back enough to look into my eyes.
“I never thought I’d respond to someone like this again in my life,” he whispered. He pressed his forehead to mine.
“What is it?”
“My magic. It’s how the Eternal Magic shows us we’re connected to someone on a deeper level. That she blesses us.”
“Like we’re fated mates?”
He shook his head. “Not exactly. At least not like with the other mates you’ve seen around town. I don’t think the Eternal Magic will bless us the same, but my magic is still responding to you. And that’s amazing. We’re chosen mates, but I think it might be more than that too.”
“Chosen mates,” I repeated with a grin. “I like the sound of that.”
“I…” Levi swallowed. “I was wrong to keep you at arm’s length for so long.”
“We’re together now.”
“Parker, I…” He swallowed. “I think I love you.”
I blinked, shocked by his admission.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say the words back. I just… I needed to tell you.”
“No, it’s not that,” I said quickly. “I love you too. I thought it’d take us a while longer to get to where we said it out loud, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel it, because I do. I love you, Levi. I’ve been waiting for you to acknowledge everything between us for a long time now. But I don’t want you to say this because of everything that’s happened.”
“I’m not. I… I think I’ve loved you for a long time. I was just too scared to admit it. This isn’t a trauma response, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m just finally able to voice what I’ve been feeling all along.”
Then we were kissing again as Levi continued to open me up.
“Now. I’m ready,” I urged when I didn’t think I could wait any longer.
“Do you want to ride me?” Levi asked.
“I want to be close to you. To feel your arms around me.”
Levi brushed his lips across mine again, turned me to my side. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight to his chest. This was what it was like to be cherished. I didn’t think I’d ever been treasured like this before.
I reached behind me for his still-hard length. I tried to guide him to my opening, but my hand was shaking too badly.
“Let me,” he whispered in my ear.
“Yes,” I whispered at the first brush of his cock against me. My eyes fluttered shut. “More.”
He pressed forward and my body opened to allow him in. The sting and the stretch were so fucking good. I felt him everywhere. In me. Around me. I never wanted to leave this moment. His arms cinched tight around my chest as he sank deeper into me. I grabbed his hand and entangled my fingers with his, holding on as our bodies joined. His scruff grazed my heated skin as he pressed his face into the crook of my neck. He groaned and the deep sound reverberated through his chest.
When his hips finally hit mine, he didn’t move for a long moment. I savored the feel of him, so deep inside me.
“I love you,” he whispered against my neck. We’d already exchanged those three precious words, but I loved hearing them again.
I’d dreamed of this moment for years, but now that I was living it, it was so much better than I could ever have imagined. Everything felt… perfect. Emotion overwhelmed me and tears gathered in my eyes.
“I love you too,” I rasped. “And I need you. Please…”
I rocked my hips back, tearing another moan from Levi. Then we started moving together. The rhythm was erratic, right from the beginning. We were already both taut with emotion and desire. Every glide of his cock in and out of me pushed me closer to release until I came with a shout. My body clenched around him, and he bucked harder. Once. Twice. Then he came too.
Levi stayed buried inside me long after we’d climaxed. Neither of us wanted to separate, despite being sweaty and messy. When I yawned for the fourth time, Levi pressed a kiss to the side of my neck and untangled our limbs. He slipped from the bed. I wanted to grab him and haul him back, but the need for sleep was making me sluggish.
A moment later, he returned with a warm, damp cloth. He wiped it over my heated face first. I waved my hand around to take it from him.
“Let me,” he murmured.
I didn’t have the energy to argue, so I grunted my agreement. He whispered hushed words of praise and affection as he cleaned my skin. My body tried to rally again, but it was a lost cause. If I’d had the least bit more energy, I would have insisted on another round or possibly suggested we relocate to the shower. But I was done. I couldn’t even open my eyes as he dragged the cloth over me.
When I was reasonably clean, Levi returned to the bathroom again. On his way back to bed, he turned off the lights and the fireplace, wrapping the world in darkness and quiet, like we were in our own little protected cocoon.
When Levi was beside me again, he drew me into his arms. He pressed kisses along my shoulder and neck. He dropped one behind my ear that made my breath catch again. I wiggled closer, and he tightened his arms to hold me close.
“Good night, Parker,” he whispered.
And I swear I’d never felt safer and more loved.
31
AN UNEXPECTED OFFER
LEVI
I didn’t know how to describe the feeling of walking into the Willow Lake Pub with Parker at my side. The room was the same. The people were the same. But everything had changed.
This feeling of same but completely foreign was becoming a standard thing for me lately.
I paused and scanned the pub to see if anyone else was experiencing the same thing, but no one seemed any different. Carter was standing by the pool table waiting for us. The balls were already racked and ready to go. Jake was behind the bar, laughing at something Sally said, while his mate Gage was watching him from a table on the other side of the room. Hayden and his mate Ryley were seated with Gage, and they were pointing at something on the set of architectural drawings they’d spread across the table. They seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around them, but I knew they weren’t. At least not Hayden. He was our alpha, and he was always in tune with the pack. Brodie was peering out the door to the kitchen, frowning. It didn’t take an expert in relationships to figure out the kid wasn’t happy to see Weston talking animatedly with Fin. The merman was a flirt, but I knew he hadn’t taken anyone home in months, despite what the rampant Willow Lake rumor mill might say. Jeremy was in a serious discussion with Paws, while his mate Adrian sipped on his beer and made heart eyes at Jeremy. Edith was another new addition to the crowd, but she already looked like she belonged at the table with Nelson, Isaac, and Teague. It might have something to do with the way Davina had her arm flung around Edith’s shoulders that cemented her place in the community.
While I’d been gawking, Parker had grabbed his pool cue. He had a quarter resting on his thumb when I got over there. “Heads or tails?”
“You know he always chooses tails,” Carter said.
“Oh my God. You do too! Is that a shifter thing? How did I not figure that out before now?”
He spun the coin into the air, and it landed on the floor. “Tails. Damn it.”
“Good,” Carter said. “I might win this game if I’m playing Levi.”
“Hey, asshole, I’m not that bad.”
Carter and Parker laughed.
Part way through the second game—where, yes, Parker was playing Carter, not me—Van came in. He cast his gaze around the room, and seeing us, came over. He never did that, which meant that every supe in the room now had eyes on us.
The tempo of my pulse quickened.
“Hey, Van,” I greeted him.
“You both doing okay?” he asked. “Everything good?”
“Uh, yeah? Is something going on?”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about him checking up on us. It’d been a long time since I’d had someone looking out for me. My mother was my family, but we rarely spoke. She didn’t even know about Parker yet. I’d tell her eventually, but I wasn’t ready for her to descend on Willow Lake yet, which I was sure she would do once she found out I had a mate. There was time for that later. Much later.
But I guess Willow Lake was like a family, too—one that was with you by choice. And there was that word again. Choice. Some days, that felt stronger than any other connection I’d had in my life.
Van nodded and waited for Gage, Nelson, and Hayden to join us before he spoke again. Everyone else listened from where they were seated.
“We’ve had an update on the hunters,” Van said.
I swallowed hard. Parker wrapped his arm around my lower back and looped his thumb into my belt.
“The hunters have cleared out,” he said. “There’s no sign of Tammy. The professor’s class has been canceled, which has pissed off both the university and the students, since everyone thinks he’s ghosted them. The people that Fin and the other supes identified as the hunter group are missing too. Their apartments are empty.”
Hayden swore. “So, we lost them.”
“The SC made a mistake. They didn’t send in teams quickly enough,” Gage agreed.
“Do you think they disbanded?” Parker asked.
Van’s gaze flitted to Gage, Hayden, Nelson, and then to me before returning to Parker. “Probably not. They probably relocated. It’s impossible to know how far they’ve gone.”
“So, it isn’t safe.” Parker pressed against me.
“It is as safe as it ever was,” Van said with a sigh. “They haven’t come back, and from what Levi overheard, we don’t think Tammy suspects there are any supes here. She planned to use the lie to convince you two to join their ranks, but that’s it. There’s no reason for the hunters to return to Willow Lake. The professor and Kyle are the only hunters who figured out Levi was a supe, and they are both in SC custody.”
Even as I sought to reassure Parker, my skin itched with the need to move, retreat, and regroup. But that would be the wrong thing to do. If we were on our own, the two of us against the world, we’d be vulnerable. We were both safer in Willow Lake than anywhere else. Particularly since the Eternal Magic herself seemed to have a soft spot for the place.
“Van’s right,” Gage said. “And without that amulet, they can’t identify other supes. Not easily, anyway.”
Parker flattened his lips in a firm line like he was biting back more questions. After all, he knew as well as I did that no one had answers. It was frustrating as fuck, but there wasn’t much we could do about that.
“Do we know why they came to Willow Lake? Did something draw them here?” Levi asked.
“I’ve talked to the SC team in charge of the case. From what that professor and Kyle revealed during interrogation,” Gage said, “it was chance that brought them. Parker had talked to Edith about something weird happening here. She talked to Fin, because she wanted Fin to borrow some of their equipment. So then he approached Tammy.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry.” Parker wiped his hand over his face. “If I hadn’t said anything to Nana…”
“It isn’t your fault. Hunters hunt. It’s what they do,” Hayden said. The wolf shifter’s hand twitched at his side, and I knew he was itching to wrap it around the back of Parker’s neck like he did with the rest of his pack members. It was what he did to calm us. As alpha of our pack, to which Parker was now a member whether he realized that or not, Hayden would always want to help, soothe, and protect him.
“If anyone dropped the ball, it’s the SC,” Gage said. “A hunter group should never have grown to that size without them knowing about it. If they’d grown any larger, they’d have rolled over the region like a swarm of locusts. But this exposed them before they had their army in place. We’ve slowed them down for the moment.”
That was a sobering thought.
Nelson cleared his throat and tightened his hands into fists. “I’ll keep an eye out for them. They didn’t see me there, so if I cross paths with them again, they won’t recognize me.”
“How would you cross paths with them?” Parker asked.
Nelson’s eyes snapped to Parker, but he didn’t answer.
“I’ll explain later,” I said. I doubted Nelson would want everyone to talk about how he hadn’t found the missing unicorn or the shady places he had to visit in his quest.
Parker didn’t look satisfied, probably irritated at having more secrets to unravel, but he nodded. Besides, it was probably best not to push the shadow jumper right now. From the dark crescents under his eyes to the jittery way he’d downed his coffee—and, seriously, who went to a pub to drink coffee at this time of night—it was easy to see the guy had shit on his mind. I couldn’t imagine the stress he was under, trying to find a missing unicorn.
At what point did someone admit defeat and give up the search when they knew another person was in danger? Could anyone ever walk away from that?
“Anything else?” Hayden asked.
Van shook his head. “Nope. I’m going to get myself a drink now.”
Everyone except Teague dispersed. Most of them returned to their seats or went to the bar for another drink. Nelson left the pub completely.
Once we were alone, Teague’s gaze flitted back and forth between Parker and me. I’d seen him look at us like that a few days ago, but I didn’t know why. He was a death mage, and although I’d met a few of his kind over my long life, I didn’t know much about them. They were a secretive bunch. So, his interest in us was unsettling. Did he see our deaths? Were we doomed already?
