Page 69 of Graveyards & Greed

“I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time.” Sylvie gazed up at me with fathomless, dark brown eyes. Her desolation and anger made my heart squeeze, and I rubbed my chest as if trying to soothe an ache. And that’s when Iknew. I didn’t just care about Sylvie, I fucking loved this fiery, independent, protective, rare woman.

How had this happened? I carefully avoided anything faintly resembling commitment, and my history with women was carnal and transient. But Sylvie had gotten past my defenses and cynicism.

She gazed at me with glassy eyes. “Camilla wakes up screaming, reliving what happened to her. She’s not getting better, and the nightmares aren’t going away. He taunted us and boasted about what he did, then told me I’d be next. I thought about castrating him and sending him back to that fucking MC club with his balls stuffed in his mouth. But in the end, he needed to die.”

Her bravery and brazenness scared the shit out of me. “But you painted a bright red target right on your back.”

She started to stand. “You’re right,myback. This isn’t your fight.”

Fuck that. “Youare my fight, and I’m not leaving your side until this is resolved. I’m also officially bringing my partners in.”

She shook her head. “No. You don’t owe me anything, and your partners aren’t going to be happy getting dragged into my family’s mess.”

Crowding her, I knelt and took her hands in mine. "My partners will help protect you because you belong to me. They becamemyfamily when our own families shipped us off to that fucking academy and we tried to protect each other. They’re in this, just like I am.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and let out a sob, her body bucking against mine. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you.”

Pulling her closer, I drank in her warmth and held her tight. I was a bastard and would probably burn in Hell, but I wasn’t above using her protective streak if it meant I could protect her from herself.

“They beat us for fun. Tortured and whipped us, pissed on us. Boys disappeared. Those cells they kept us in…” My stomach tightened, remembering the vast fluctuations in temperature and the smell of our own excrement after so many days. "One night, after a particularly bad session, a few of us made a pact with each other, and since then we've done whatever it takes to keep that promise. Accumulating power, money, skills. All so we’d never be helpless again. I’m giving you that protection.”

“Drakos…” She stroked my face and watched me with murder and sorrow in her eyes. If only my own mother would’ve had a fraction of Sylvie’s fierce protective streak.

I squeezed her gently. “I'm telling you this because you're not just some woman I'm fucking. You’re thelastwoman I’ll be fucking. You're a part of us now, and I protect what’s mine.” I fisted her hair at the nape of her scalp and leaned in to murmur in her ear. “Even if it’s from yourself.”

A heavy silence fell, and the air around us thickened as her eyes searched mine. “Okay,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Why am I more scared of this than LeBaron and his men?”

My shoulders relaxed and my lips curled. “Because you have a warped sense of danger.”

She took a deep breath and shook herself a little. “If I’m yours, you’re mine too. But you don't get to make decisions for me, I’m not one of your brainless little fuck toys.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to be?” She smacked my arm, and I smiled. “Maybe you can start using that brilliant, scary mind of yours toavoidgetting hurt or killed, alright? And quit ditching Milo.”

“You’re a bossy asshole sometimes, Baphomet.”

God, that mouth and her dry, seductive tone slid through me. Picking her up, I put her on my lap and leaned in to nibble her neck. “Baphomet? A goat-headed devil god? You looked that one up, didn’t you?”

“It’s a good one. Admit it,” she shot back, arching her neck to give me better access. “If I’m yours, then you’re mine too.”

Heat and deep satisfaction rolled through me. “I am. But you need to trust me.”

“Trust,” she echoed softly. “Such a deceptively simple word.” Vulnerability shadowed her eyes.

I put both arms on the back of the couch, not wanting to crowd or spook her. “It is. We have the rest of the day before us. What would you like to do?”

Her eyelids slid to half-mast. “Oh, I don’t know. What wouldyoulike to do?”

“Suck and lick you. Bend you over the couch and fuck you hard. Play chess, complain about clients, and eat dinner together. Laugh and tease you, then fuck you all over again.”

She shifted restlessly on my lap and rubbed herself against my hard cock. “Can we start with that first and last part?”

I smiled wickedly. “Absolutely. Are you up for another game of strip chess?”

“Hmm, I have something else in mind.”

My body went tight as she slowly slid down until she knelt between my legs. “What’re you up to, naughty girl?” I asked softly.

“Taking what I want.” She ran her nails up my thighs, sending tingles shooting straight to my dick. Unzipping my pants, she gently pulled my hard length out and bent over to slide her tongue over my slit, keeping her eyes on mine. A little precum leaked out and she licked it up.

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