Page 121 of The Vigilant

Her eyes went wide, the cerulean blue glittering like a high-noon sky dusted with stars, and then her teeth bared.

My heart pumped with the force of a freight train, knowing she would fight me—knowing she had to before she’d let herself go. My cock throbbed painfully in my jeans, impossibly hard from the moment I pulled her into my arms.

I never believed it when they said your life flashes before your eyes in a near-death moment. I’d survived plenty of those moments to know it was a lie. There was no life. Only adrenaline and action and disbelief.

Until earlier tonight.

It wasn’t my near-death moment, but Sutton’s, when Kang aimed the gun at her, that sent my life spinning like a reel through my mind. Not the past, but the future. My future life with her. I saw it all. Every single day. Waking up with her in my arms. Fighting with her. Cooking for her. Going to bed with my cock buried inside her. I saw the wedding. I saw the kids. I sawthe long life that neither of us thought we’d ever have…until each other.

And now, every breath was one more reminder of how close I’d come to losing that.

And now I needed to fuck her. Claim her. Make her realize that her life wasn’t her own anymore; it was tied to mine.

Because I was in love with her.

“Fight me, little wasp, if that’s what you really want,” I said low, feeling her throat bob under my palm and the pull of her breath.

She was never fighting me. Sutton was always fighting herself. Her guilt and obligation to her friend…and her fear of trusting anyone with her vulnerability. Life had taught her to fight with claws and teeth before letting anyone close, and I would always fight for that honor.

Sutton let out a cry and knocked my arm to the side, sweeping her leg behind mine and forcing me down onto my knees. My arm shot out and snaked around her waist, tossing her onto the bed like she weighed nothing.

She bounced on the mattress but steadied herself quickly on her hands. Her eyes flashed, and she quickly scrambled for her next attack.

She was good. Quick. She made me anticipate a hand or a fist to come flying at me, and as soon as I prepared for it, it was her leg that kicked out.

“I have to go,” she said, landing a blow straight to my chest.

I grunted, but the pain only sharpened my senses. My hand flung out, locking around her ankle before she could pull it back, and hauling her to the edge of the bed. She raised her other leg to kick me back, but I gripped her knee and wrenched her leg to the side.

“No, you don’t, Sutton,” I said, standing between her spread legs, her torso heaving as she sat tall.

She pulled one of her knives from where it held her hair, brandishing it between us. “Let me go.”

Her tone was all bark and no bite. The bite was in her blown-out pupils, the hard peaks of her tits, and the heady scent of her desire.

I held her stare, slowly sliding my hand from her knee up her inner thigh. Higher until she trembled. Until I felt the traces of wetness as I got close to her sex.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” I asked huskily, and she stiffened just before I ran my knuckles along the seam of her pussy. “Because these lips are telling a different story.”

I stroked the wet fabric of her thong, feeling how she started to crumble to the touch. I bit back a groan as I hooked my fingers and pulled her underwear to the side.

“No,” she hissed and pushed herself closer, her knife poised under my chin.

My jaw locked, and I leaned into the blade as I pushed my middle finger inside her, feeling her breath break on its way through her lips.

“Fuck, you’re so wet for me.” She was soaked. Her body greedily took one finger and then two, angling into my hand as I stroked along her front wall. “That’s it, little wasp,” I praised. “Let Daddy take care of you.”

It grew harder to breathe when she looked like this. One part of her holding a knife to my neck, another grinding into my fingers. She was afraid to want what she needed, and I’d risk everything for the moment when she finally capitulated.

She couldn’t stop her small whimper as I pushed my thumb into her clit, demanding pleasure from the swollen bud.

“Please, Daddy,” she begged, her hips jerking against me.

“Please what?” I growled, feeling the blade nick my throat as I finger fucked her, the sounds of her wet pussy driving me wild.

“Let me go,” she murmured without any strength behind the words.

I chuckled. “Never.” I breathed raggedly and rubbed her clit hard. “You’re mine, little wasp.”

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