Page 56 of Awakened Gifts

“I love you,” I murmur against his lips, pulling him closer as he falls between my legs. “But there’s no way I can have any more sex right now.”

He laughs while shaking his head, and then his lips trail down my neck as he breathes me in.

“You’re mine. Completely now. How?” he asks, running his hands down my bare body, eliciting a shudder from me.

My body should not be reacting to his right now. I should be in a sex-induced coma by this point.

“I think it was my savage. She… I don’t know. I felt it the second you turned savage. My whole body reacted and became in tune with yours. But it’s real. We’re counters, Jase.” My voice breaks on the end as more tears fall from my eyes, and his lips crush mine once again.

“You two awake? And not savage?” Rex’s wary voice is like ice water being dunked on me.

Jase snickers into the crook of my neck, and then he raises up, groaning when he spots the remnants of our shredded clothing.

“Yeah. I’m sober and we’re awake,” Jase calls back, and he’s answered by a series of relieved, possibly over-exaggerated, exhales.

We’re surrounded by cold, steel walls with maps on every side, and the tiny bed we’ve thoroughly ravaged collapsed three days ago, which has left the mattress on the concrete floor—the cracked concrete floor.

“You coming up?” Simone asks, still maintaining a safe distance and letting her voice carry down the winding tunnel that leads to this underground bunker.

“Um… Yeah,” I say, trying to think of a way to make some form of clothing.

“Sheets,” Jase says, reading my mind—literally.

He hops up, and tosses me the rumpled sheet, and I snicker while wrapping it around me. He grabs the fitted sheet and ties it around his waist. I was barefoot to begin with, so no shoes are my only option. Jase, however, happens to have salvageable shoes. We look utterly ridiculous as we make our way out of the room and up the spiraled staircase.

My eyes squint against the intrusive sun that has avoided my eyes for so many days, and Jase’s arm slips around my waist. I’m still reeling and trying to digest this entire turn of events. We finally had something surprise us in a good way, but I feel as though it’s a fluke, and all I want to do is cling to it, keep it safe and protected so that we never lose it.

“We’re not losing it, baby,” Jase says close to my ear, pulling my back against his front while we continue making our way toward the others. “I want let it happen.”

I feel myself take the deepest breath I’ve had in ages just as we reach the assembled group of blushing soldiers. They all look away, and Jase snickers softly as they train their guns on the surrounding landscape.

Simone and the others aren’t blushing, but they are smiling. Kellan is draped around Simone like she’s a precious, priceless work of art, and she’s leaning into him like the weight of the world is off her shoulders. It’s almost enough to make me cry. He’s happy, and that guilt that has anchored me suddenly falls away.

Mom and Uncle Brazen are looking on with smiles of their own, and Rex and Mel are cuddled up on top of a car, holding each other as though they’re just as in love as they were in the beginning. All of this has been a strain on each and every person, but our union seems to have brought everyone the same peace it has brought us.

“So how did this happen?” Kellan asks, pulling Simone as close to him as he can get her.

“We don’t really know,” Jase says, shrugging as he checks my sheet to make sure nothing is showing that he doesn’t want revealed.

I giggle lightly when he groans, tugging the sheet tighter against my body. “This damn thing is almost transparent. We really need some clothes.”

Rex laughs while hopping off the car hood, and he grabs a bag from the back of the vehicle. There are tents being broken down and getting packed away, proving they really did set up camp to help keep us safe.

“How fragile do you think he is? He just came down from savage,” Mel says, coming closer to investigate her brother’s eyes.

“I’m more interested in what his savage was like. I’d love to study his savage blood,” Simone says, her need for scientific knowledge outweighing all else.

“Well, my savage is gone, so… maybe next time.” Jase’s smile can be felt, and I can’t help but grin.

We’ve feared him going savage and in search of his true counter. Now… It just feels too good to be true. My body is tight with dried blood, but for once, it isn’t because I was on the cusp of death. It’s because I’ve been thoroughly ravished for most of the week, and just the thought makes a scandalous grin appear on my face.

“I thought you said you couldn’t handle any more for a while,” Jase says close to my ears as everyone voices theories.

If we didn’t have a host of other things to worry about, I’d drink some blood and be ready to go.

He mutters something behind me, ending whatever it was in a groan of frustration, and I look behind me as he narrows his eyes playfully.

“We need a plan of action for Alice,” Kellan says reluctantly. “And it sure as hell doesn’t involve Aria going off on her own with her freaky disappearing trick.”

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