Page 97 of The Last Lost Girl

My brows kiss. “Why, what?” I rasp.

“Why did you just spread your pretty legs for me, Precious?”

My eyes flutter closed at the word, at him grinding into my core, delicious and deep.

“Maybe I did it for me,” I tell him.

His lips quirk. And then his hook rakes everything off the top of his desk. Papers. Maps. His ink pot and quill go flying as Hudson’s composure snaps.

His hand snakes up my spine until his fingers anchor in my hair. He tugs me into the place he wants as I arch to feel more of him.

More.

I don’t realize I said it out loud until he growls and finally, finally claims my mouth. My tongue. He bites my lower lip and stretches it taut before releasing it. He kisses his way down my neck to the hollow of my throat, then kisses my breast and grabs the taut peak waiting for him with his teeth through the rough fabric of his shirt.

I gasp. Whimper. Rake my nails through his hair. Claw his back and lock my ankles around his waist, moving against his length and making him growl.

I tear at the laces on his pants, stop to rip the shirt from his back, tossing it… somewhere, and return to his pants again.

He distracts me by stroking me through my shorts, then slipping this thumb inside them to feel how slick and ready I am for him. How much I want this. A curse tears from his lips and then he’s kissing me again, pressing me back onto the desk, tearing at my clothes.

And that’s when the doors to Hook’s quarters burst open. Wide-eyed, we leap apart as my sister flies into the room with the help of shadowed wings. Her feet hit the floor and her eyes swirl, darkness eating light.

“Belle!” I breathe, my heart racing in terror until she speaks words only a sister would say.

“Hook is an ally, Ava, but he is not someone my sister should be fucking.”

thirty-one

I ignore her outburst and cross the room to square off with her, going straight for her jugular. “What right do you have to lecture me?” For a fraction of a second, my powerful sister looks scared. I wonder what’s running through her mind. “And what else are you hiding from me?”

“Why would you ask me such a question?”

I don’t miss the slight tremble in her voice. “I had a rather insightful dream last night,” I reply drily.

Her mouth opens and closes again. Belle looks away for a moment, her eyes landing on the doors behind her. I cannot let her flee just because she’s uncomfortable, so I fling a hand toward the exit.

“Before you fly off again, we need more of the healing golden salve, Belle.” My demand infuriates her. I see it in the flare of her eyes. But if she doesn’t want me to accuse her of abandoning me – the very thing she’s always sworn she would never do – she needs to explain where she went and why she had to go. Keeping me in the dark is going to get me killed.

Her anger fades to wariness, and her chin dips slightly. “What kind of dream?”

“The salve.” I try to refocus her.

Belle wrings her hands, squeezing tendrils of shadow from them. They dissipate like fog, but the very air around her darkens. “I can’t make it right now. Like this. If I did, the shadows would taint it.” Quietly, she adds, “I would rather see someone die than see what this darkness would do to them. And if we diminish any or all the shadows, people might not be able to cross the barrier.”

Hudson sits against his desk where I was just perched. His hook digs into the wood, grating it.

“Where did you go?” I ask.

She pinches her lips.

“When are you going to divide and return the shadows? What are you waiting for? The people they belong to need them, and we need you. I…” I press my eyes tightly closed. “I need you, Belle.” I straighten my clothes – Hook’s clothes – and inch closer to her.

“What kind of dream did you have, Ava?” Her voice sharpens as she shifts the focus away from her and directly on me.

But I’m not finished. I want an answer. I want to go home, and I want her to be rid of this dark, terrible burden. “When?” I yell, watching my sister flinch. I’ve had enough. Enough stalling. Enough excuses. “When, Belle?”

Her eyes narrow. Not in challenge, but in question.

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