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“Can I go now? My sex addiction needs an outlet.” I looked up at Darius like he was boring me and his jaw clenched. “You might wanna give Cal some notice if you’re planning on surprising him. Last I saw of him, he was heading back to his room with Milly Badgerville, it might be embarrassing for you if she’s still there,” Darius taunted as he stepped aside. I snorted dismissively. “Let’s hope you’re right and the three of us can have fun together.”
I held my Atlas up and took a selfie of me sitting on his bed before sending it to him. I knew that it would mean I lost the game, but I wanted him enough tonight not to care about being bitten.
Caleb caught my jaw in his rough palm and guided my mouth to his possessively. My heart pounded at the heat in that kiss as his body begged for me like I was aching for him.
“You always surprise me, Tory,” he breathed, turning me suddenly so that my back was to him and his arms wrapped around my waist, drawing me close. “I never know what to expect from you and it drives me fucking insane.”
Caleb’s other hand shifted beneath the fabric of my panties and he groaned with desire as he pushed a finger inside me, feeling just how much I wanted him.
“You wanna stay and watch Rambo with me?” he offered with a shy grin which was so unlike his usual cocky smirk that I couldn’t help but stare at it a little. “Yeah,” I replied, moving to lean against his pillows as his smile widened. “That actually sounds really... nice.”
My gaze narrowed on the huge mound of earth which contained Terra House. She was in there now with Caleb. I knew it. And the anger it lit in me wasn’t something I could put out easily.
And most of all I was sick of wanting her and hating her all at once.
And then I looked into her eyes and saw a moment of hurt there that had nothing to do with physical pain or humiliation but had everything to do with me and what I knew she had felt for me too. I felt like I’d just taken a knife to my own heart and carved a fissure right through it.
I ground my teeth, smoke pouring between them. I could fly to Terra House and dig him out of it if I had to. I’d carry him here in my claws and remind him that I was king of every beast in the land. Nobody fucking ignored me when I called. Caleb: I’m busy.
He wore a pair of sweatpants and a wrinkled t-shirt and just above the collar of it, a love bite showed against his skin. My gaze narrowed on it. Why hadn’t he just healed it away? Did he even know it was there? When had she given him that? Was it last night when she went to him? Had they even slept at all? Were they literally in the middle of it when we were trying to call him? Had she had her mouth on his neck just a few moments ago?
“You wanna explain what you’re going on about or just keep on ranting?” he asked. “Because from where I’m sitting, it just sounds like you’re jealous.” Seth sucked in a sharp breath and leaned back on the couch, pressing himself against Max like he was expecting a fight to break out at any second. I bit back the response I wanted to give Caleb as my gut lurched uncomfortably. That’s not the fucking point.
“It wasn’t exactly the most pressing thing on my mind. I was more interested in the fact that she was in my bed, not on figuring out how she got there,” Caleb quipped. “Seriously?” I snapped like he was an idiot. Three sets of eyes turned on me like I was the one asking a ridiculous question and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, okay if Roxy Vega showed up in my bed mysteriously and wanted to get in my pants then I probably wouldn’t have started asking many questions either. Dammit.
Fire simmered in my veins at that suggestion and for a fleeting moment I wanted to throw myself between him and Roxy to keep her safe from him.
Tory had been my only constant in life and no matter where we were or whatever happened to us, I knew I always had her.
You will be required to walk across a narrow bridge from one side of the arena to the other while casting a shape out of fire approximately ten inches in diameter.” “You can just cast my dick then, Tory!” Caleb cried out and she scowled at him. Darius shot him a glare that could have murdered a small village and all of their farm animals.
“I’m sorry,” I said to my sister, furious with myself. “Don’t be. I’d never leave you.” “I wouldn’t leave you either.”
Geraldine’s side of the crowd went crazy, but as I looked to the Heirs, I saw something in their eyes I never thought I’d seen in them before. Fear.
“So gather the other boys and get here as quick as you can. I take it Darius has stardust to hand?” “Of course he does,” I joked. “When do you ever see a Dragon without a pocket full of it?” Dad chuckled again. “I imagine Lionel would bathe in the stuff if it wouldn’t get lodged in his butt crack, just because he could.”
“I don’t think I can keep seeing Tory,” he said darkly, more than a little anger pouring from him. Darius sat up straighter in his chair, relief and excitement slipping from him. I caught his eye and he shrugged innocently, but not before I felt a touch of his lust too. Yeah, we need this girl gone before the two of them come to blows over her.
“What are you, a teenage girl?” I asked him, taking a pillow from the couch to toss at him. “Just find some other girl to screw.” “It won’t be the same,” Caleb growled, pulling the pillow over his face. “She’s so fucking hot. She keeps surprising me and it makes me so hard I can’t-” “Shut the fuck up about it,” Darius snapped, pushing himself out of his seat. “Keep screwing her or don’t. I don’t wanna fucking listen to any more talk about her or her goddamn sister.”
I pushed my tongue into my cheek. Yeah, disappointed enough to beat the shit out of his son no doubt. Darius had never told us what Lionel did to him, but we all knew.
Seth whimpered again. “I know, I know. But you look like you need one and I’m sleeping on my own. My pack should be huddled all around me but I’m in that bed with no one to snuggle and I need to snuggle!”
“Come and sleep here tonight,” I offered, needing to make him feel better. His pain hurt me too and I couldn’t just leave it alone. “You can be the big spoon.” “Really?” Seth asked excitedly, peering up at me like I’d just promised him the moon. “You promise?” “Fuck knows why, but yeah.” A smile tugged at my lips as I felt just how happy that made him and he swiped his tongue straight up my cheek.
“I thought you didn’t like hugging,” he growled when he couldn’t take it anymore. Caleb laughed and I joined in as Darius finally stepped back. “Well maybe I just don’t like hugging you,” he teased, pulling a pouch of stardust from his pocket. A stab of hurt came from Seth and I frowned. “Don’t be a dick, Darius,” I snapped, squeezing Seth tighter. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Darius muttered. “Come here then, puppy.” Seth bounded out of the chair and leapt on Darius like he’d just declared his undying love for him instead of offering a consolation hug. He jumped into Darius’s arms and knocked him
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Seth and Cal were both grinning at their moms as they greeted them too but Darius and Orion only exchanged a curt greeting with Lionel.
“Well, it makes a change to see him turning that rage on someone who deserves it for once,” Orion muttered. “Kinda looked like he went easy on it to me,” Darius replied darkly.
We’d made it through every trial. And we were here to stay.
“One day I’m gonna make something of myself, you know? I won’t drive a tin can or ever have to answer to anyone again,” Diego said, a fire in his eyes.
I thought you were single, jerkface? “Blue,” Francesca decided. “My favourite colour.” He kissed her nose. Kissed her goddamn nose while saying how much he loved the colour blue. Why did that hurt so much?
real
He wanted Sofia and I wanted Orion. Might as well slap on a smile and pretend neither of us gave a shit.
The path cut directly to Orion and pain branded a permanent mark on my heart. He held Francesca against the side of the stand, one hand tangled in her hair, the other locked around her waist as he kissed her. She clung to his jacket, her fingers scraping across his beard as her tongue pushed into his mouth. Diego caught my arm and led me away, not even noticing Orion there. Because to him it meant nothing. It wasn’t the sky falling down, but to me it felt like every star in the heavens were descending and crashing into the earth around me.
“Come with me to the fair, Tory...please.” “Christ, you look like you’re gonna cry if I say no,” I teased. “Shut the fuck up and get in the car,” he replied with a smirk. “That’s more like it.” I let him walk me to the car and got in beneath the ridiculous door before Caleb shut it for me.
“You promised to punish me for that,” Caleb murmured eventually. “And maybe I did,” I whispered.
“You still wanna go to the fair?” Caleb asked, smiling darkly, riding the high of my power. “Yeah,” I replied with a small smile of my own. “I wanna go to the fucking fair.” Caleb leaned forward and kissed me hard. It was punishing, bruising, the taste of my blood coating his tongue and the feel of his skin making heat rise everywhere he touched me.
Diego moved to follow but a shadow bashed into him and I gasped in horror as Orion knocked him onto his ass and climbed into his place beside me. “I need my Source,” he barked at Diego as he scrambled upright.
“This has gone far enough,” he snarled, the ferocity in his tone making my heart beat out of rhythm. “You brought him here to piss me off.” My mouth opened as disbelief coursed through me. “You asked me to talk to him. And you’re not exactly here on your own, Professor,” I snapped. “Lance,” he demanded forcefully.
“I’m trying to get Diego Polaris’s saliva off of my girl,” he growled.
“Biggest fucking mistake of my life. I’d rather bleed than feel what I did when I saw his mouth on yours.” “So you kissed her to get back at me?” I bit at him, trying to mentally erase the image of his hands all over her like that. “Yes,” he said, drawing away a little, his brow furrowed.
“I thought you were different,” he said slowly. “But you’re just like your whore of a sister, pining after bastardos who treat you like dirt and who only give you a second look because you’d drop onto your knees for them any time they liked. Es patético.” He turned his back on me and walked away into the crowd, seeming to trample on my heart as he left. My lower lip quivered with rage and it took a long moment for me to pull myself back together. How dare he say that to me?
Darcy: Are you freaking crazy??? Lance: Yes. For you ;) Come with me.
“I’m sorry.” He pressed his hands either side of me on the car and my breathing hitched. “You smell like her,” I murmured. “Then make me smell like you,” he commanded and I caught his lapels, dragging him down to meet my mouth.
“Where’s Fran?” I asked lightly. He chuckled. “You know, she’d really kill you if she heard you calling her that.” I shrugged. She can try. “She got called into work. Apparently there was a Nymph sighting in east Tucana. The anonymous caller was very insistent,” he said, tilting his head innocently and my mouth fell open. “You didn’t?” “I did.” He barked a laugh.
“Technically you owed the apology to my sister,” I pointed out and he gave me an incredulous look. “By the stars, am I going to have to electrocute myself again for Tory Vega?”
A deep growl emanated from his throat as he found his way barred by my pantyhose. He ripped a hole in them between my thighs and I sucked in a breath of surprise. “Orion!” I laughed but my laughter turned into a moan as he found his way into my panties and pushed his fingers inside me. “You owe me a new pair,” I said breathlessly. “I’ll get you a whole new wardrobe if you make that noise again.”
He reached behind his seat and produced the crown he’d won at the fair, placing it on my head. I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt. “Better,” he said, his eyes becoming hooded as he rested his hands on my thighs and drew me closer. “If you go around placing crowns on my head, you’re going to be in trouble,” I teased and his mouth skewed. “Well let’s not tell anyone then,” he said, leaning in to kiss my neck.
“When we were in the battle and you were about to die, I felt compelled to save you. Like…if I didn’t a part of me would die too. And ever since then, that part of me is getting stronger like it’s become this tangible thing that lives in me. I’ve never been a jealous person before but when I see you with Francesca it’s like I turn into an animal with nothing but basic instincts.”
“Good, because I feel it too.”
Which didn’t make sense because I was goddamn hilarious and the sex was fucking mind blowing so what else did she even want?
