Page 92 of Cursed Lifeline

Esme frowns and shakes her head, still disagreeing with her friend’s choices, when Alfred says, “It’s not up to you.” All our attention snaps his way. He nods toward Silas. “It’s up to him.”

Silas stands quietly in the corner assessing the situation. Always the man of few words, all of our gazes fixate on him like we’re a kingdom awaiting their king’s decree. I, for once, am just happy it’s not Esme’s life we’re talking about possibly sacrificing. Even though I’d kill to protect Celeste as well, knowing Esme is not walking into the ring of fire puts my heart slightly at ease.

“Silas is your watcher,” Alfred says, breaking the silence. “You were assigned to him by the council. If anything happens to you, he answers for it.”

Silas’s gaze flickers to Esme. Then to Celeste. He looks at the women with respect, love, and silent devotion for what they represent to all of us.

They’re our weaknesses and, in turn, also our strengths.

After a moment, Silas eyes Talon. My brother gives him a nod. Curiously, I study the two men as the watcher steps forward, and we await his verdict.

“Since day one, I’ve trained her to be a secret weapon,” he sighs. “This seems fitting.”

Celeste smiles. Esme softly cries. Evangeline looks on, stunned.

The rest of us, all five men in the room except Silas, collectively stand and take a protective step forward toward our women, knowing we stand to lose one of them. As Esme turns and casts a worried look my way, I hold my breath and send up a silent prayer for Celeste, thankful that, for once, it doesn’t look like it’ll be mine.

Thirty Two

Felix

song: Lady, touch yourself | Nikki Idol

One by one,my brothers, the watchers, Evangeline and Celeste, somberly file out of the study. As the door closes on creaky hinges, I step toward Esme and quickly back her up against the nearest wall.

I lost her once.

I won’t lose her again.

Her eyes fill with heated rage as she places her palms against my chest in defense, obviously still angry about whatever was in that letter. She opens her mouth to speak and tries to put distance between us, but if the distance she has planned causes her to be erased from my world again, I’ll be damned if I give her even an inch.

Harshly grasping her wrists, I force her hands above her head. She arches her back, pressing her mouth-watering tits into me. Releasing a carnal growl, my desire to remind her of what’s at stake grows into indecent needs we’ve denied ourselves for far too long.

She’s smart and stays quiet, knowing anything she says I’ll have a rebuttal to. After a tense moment, instead of fighting with words, she chooses to go to war with me a different way and taunts me with a roll of her hips against my groin.

If we’re teetering on the edge of losing everything again, there’s a lesson only I can teach her. And there is no time like the present for her to learn.

Leaning closer, I growl, “You’re playing with danger you haven’t been trained against yet.”

“Is that so,” she taunts, grinding her pelvis against my hard length. I suck in a sharp breath. “Which danger do you speak of? The perilous mission to break the curse, or the fact that your body trembles with the same need that’s desperately coursing through mine?”

My palms begin to shake. Dropping one to her throat, I tighten my grip when she attempts to roll her hips against mine a second time. Pinning her against the wall, caging her in, and pressing my firm body fiercely against her soft one to stop her tempting caress, I growl, “Giving into my craving for you would surely ruin both of us, doll.”

Dropping my hold on her wrists, I keep a tight grip on her throat and trail my free hand between us. Her tight dress creates an obstacle, but I manage to raise it up her thighs gently. Her eyes smile as she opens her legs, and my ?ngertips graze lightly across her bare core.

“Esme,” I groan, quickly pressing two fingers deep inside her. She attempts to suck in a breath from the sudden, sharp intrusion, but I tighten my grip around her throat and deny her. A beautiful crimson color graces her cheeks as she struggles to draw in the air she desperately needs.

Fingering her pussy, I growl, “Is this for me?”

Staring into my eager eyes, her wetness pools as her body tells me she loves the deprivation of one sense to intensify another. Her hips buck, her face turns a breathtaking shade of red as I pleasure her the way she craves. Just before she crashes over the edge, I loosen my grip on her throat and remove my fingers. She sucks in a sharp gasp. I wait until her breathing has slowed and then thrust a finger back inside her.

She purrs as I begin to stroke her slowly. Her inner walls throb and tighten from my skilled caress. She’s so eager, so responsive, so close to climax it’s concerning.

Pulling her from the wall, I back her slowly across the room. She grips the lapels of my suit and eagerly matches my hungry steps. We trip in the middle of the private space and almost topple to the floor. Thankfully, I right us just in time because if I lay with Esme now, there would be no holding back. I’d claim her before she took her next breath.

Pushing her on top of my desk, I instruct, “Sit.”

Her thighs thump against the thick mahogany wood. She smiles and gracefully places her luscious backside on the desk.

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