Risa
––––––––
“That godsdamned, motherfucking, cocksucker!” Stryker shouts, slapping a palm against the wall, returning to his pacing. “No, cocks are fantastic, he doesn’t deserve those. That, that-”
“Sound it out,” Mason drawls while picking at his nails, stretched out on the floor of our empty living room.
“Okra sucker!” Stryker finally settles on, and a surprised laugh slips out of my mouth that turns semi-hysterical.
I don’t fault him for a minute; it’s the snottiest vegetable and absolutely vile. Still, it makes him sound like he’s spouting playground insults, and after as emotionally exhausting as today’s already been, it’s the final straw that pushes me over the edge.
“I think you broke her,” Bane comments with a small smile, walking into the room and sliding down the wall to sit beside me. Plucking me off of the ground, he pulls me onto his lap while I try to catch my breath, abs hurting from laughing so hard.
“So what next?”
There’s no point rehashing everything and getting upset all over again. Best choice is to keep moving forward, and eventually, we’ll be able to look back on this time of our lives as an inconvenient blip. I’ll at least admit to myself though, that it went far better than I expected. I thought Blake would make me look crazy. Instead, not only did all of them see what an absolute douchebag he is, they got recorded evidence of it.
Bane nuzzles the side of my throat. “Thatcher says we can expect the restraining order within the next few days.”
“And if he breaks it?” Craning my head to the side, I give him better access and an open invitation. “Can’t murder him if he’s in jail.”
A pained groan vibrates against my flesh as he kisses my neck that has me grinding my ass against him. “I knew the moment we found you that you’d be trouble, but I didn’t think you’d try to kill me.” His tongue flicks across my heated skin and my eyes flutter shut, holding my breath as I wait for the brief pinch of pain to come.
“How so?” I breathlessly chuckle.
His teeth gently rake over the side of my neck, working a path down to the junction of my shoulder. “I’ve got a theory that you’ve found a new way to slay a shifter beyond taking our hearts and heads.” At my hum, he continues, “I think you’ve unlocked a level of pleasure so intense that we’ll simply drop dead. We reach the highest point of our lives and there’s nowhere else to go but down from there.”
I snort, opening my eyes and turning to face him. “That was next level corny. It actually put Stryker’s flattery to shame.”
“Hey,” the man in question protests, coming to stretch out on his stomach and rest his chin on his folded arms next to my thigh, blinking up at me. “I thought you liked effusive praise and flattery?”
My broad grin hurts my cheeks. “Not saying I don’t, but I never know how to react to it. ‘Thanks’ or ‘you too,’ seems woefully lame.”
Nipping at my thigh, he waggles his eyebrows at me. “All you need to do is take it. Besides, your reactions are cute. Did you know that we’re drawn to body heat? So every time you blush, you’re practically jerking us off.”
My laugh turns into a moan as Bane strikes in my distraction, his mouth working against my flesh to get my blood flowing. One of his hands tightens on my stomach, holding me against him, and the other cradles the side of my head, threading his fingers through my hair. Breath turning ragged as heat floods my system, only his grip on my hair keeps my squirming in check, shifting my thighs together as need slams into me hard.
“Fuck, I’m pretty sure if you suck hard enough, you could get me off like this,” I pant, clutching his thigh.
Resting his forehead against mine while he asks Bane, “Am I crazy, or does her blood smell different to you guys, too?” He strokes a thumb over my cheek. “You feeling alright, love?”
I manage a needy whimper before closing the distance between us, kissing him. He meets every swipe of my tongue with a roll of his own, but ultimately pulls back. Gently tapping my cheek, Stryker tries to get my attention back on him and not the outline of Bane’s rigid cock pressing against my ass.
When I don’t respond, lost in the moment, he turns his focus onto Bane, forcing him to come up for air. “Hey.” Snapping his fingers in front of his face, it takes a second for Bane to shake it off.
“Shit.” Carefully, Bane passes me over to Stryker. “I don’t know what’s changed in the last week, but her blood’s definitely more potent. I feel like I could sprint a mile and then some; she’s like liquid cocaine.”
Straddling Stryker’s lap, I rock against him, arms looped behind his neck. “Maybe you guys have just conditioned me to know biting leads to orgasms.”
Dipping his head, he swipes his tongue over the puncture marks. When he meets my gaze, his pupils contract to mere slits, the emerald brightening until it’s nearly yellow. “Or maybe someone slipped you something.”
Frowning, Mason comes over, crouching beside us. Looking at Stryker, he furrows his brow before gently tilting my head to the unbitten side. He runs his nose along my skin, ensuring that he doesn’t touch my blood so at least one of us keeps their wits about them.
“I don’t think so. Only place we’ve gone today was the ex-hole’s apartment, and she didn’t drink anything; wasn’t ever alone either. We didn’t even eat out today, so I can’t imagine she was exposed to anything unless it was airborne,” he rationalizes, licking his lips and clearing his throat. “But while it seems more potent, it also smells like-“ he takes a second to mull over the right way to phrase it “-us?” Turning to the others in confusion, he adds, “Am I crazy, or if you drop your guard, does she register more like a shifter than before?”
Bane strokes a hand over my spine soothingly. “You’re right. There’s still something off, but she’s less notablyother.Back when we were shopping, she was clearly not human, but not like us either.”
Stryker grips my hips, pulling me closer. “It took her seven times longer than most people to wake up, and she’s gotacceleratedhealing instead of shifter level healing. So it makes sense that it would take longer for her to catch up on this front as well. Give it another week and she’ll likely appear as a full-blown shifter.” He grins, kissing me. “Which makes it ten times easier when we’re finished here. We can hide you in plain sight.”
