Page 53 of Shadows and Flames
But he was done engaging with me. It wasn’t enough to overpower me, but my frustration had me relenting to the shove he gave.
“Stay away from me.”
And I watched him go, my cousin and the Shadows’ assertions at war with the drive within me to keep one of our own from being murdered. We were different races, but there was more that connected us than separated us. How could we let him walk into destruction in this way?
While I stood, fighting with myself, pleasured moans reached my ears from below. The scent of freshly shed blood tickled my senses.
“Fuck,” I growled under my breath as I ran down the steps, away from the good sense thatIwas rejecting. And into a trap.
Chapter Twenty
MELINE
Ipanted over Elián, hands splayed across his tattooed chest.
Little half-moons were already dug into his skin, reddened from the force with which I held onto him.
His breaths were just as ragged, blustering against the tender skin on my throat. “Come for me, Meline,” he demanded.
As if I had a choice. Even on his back, El commanded my body, gripping my hips to hold them immobile while he fucked up into me.
I curled over him and dug my fingers to find purchase on his shoulders. The fabric I’d long ago pushed to the side tangled alongside his hair within my grip. Our clothing shuddered as we joined quickly in our bed, taking this precious moment alone.
Days at sea, tensions rising until it was uncomfortable at night to even traverse the decks beyond our cabins. We’d seen little to none of the stubborn Vyrkos and had been keeping in close proximity to my cousin and Elián’s Shadow brother.
So much so that we’d tumbled into the cabin whilst Tomás was retrieving food for us and Tana was bathing. Finally, a moment alone.
I clung to the mountainous swells of Elián’s shoulders and dropped my forehead to his. Our lips and tongues touched in something more passionate and desperate to be called a kiss.
My brow scrunched, and I caught his lip between my teeth as he took my cries for encouragement, pummeling me in just that spot that sent me over the edge. The warm and deep taste of his blood sent me even higher as I clenched around him, pushing him to euphoria with me.
Elián’s cock twitched and released inside of me, and I shook in his hold, in his arms. And in the face of my desperation, he cherished me, kissing lazily while we came back down.
“I think I tangled up your hair,” I breathed.
He grunted, but not with a note of upset or offense. I was learning the different versions of his laconic communication—there was not much to do but sit ready and talk to each other—and I took this one to mean he didn’t give a shit about the state of his hair.
I twirled some strands, skin slipping along the black silk. There was enough to wrap in my fist. Doing just that, I tugged gently. “Next time, I’ll use this like reins while I ride you.”
There. That got him chuckling, though it was a silent, chest-shaking gesture. My dress covered most of my body and where we were still joined, but El’s lazy pets felt as nice as if we’d been naked. “You can try.”
Something told me that it would incite another battle for dominance. That part of our dynamic was ever-present, even with this ‘justbeing’that El had gone on about. I’d have to admit, I was being lulled more and more into giving in. How could I not when it brought us this?
“Well, I don’t have any hair for you to pull anymore.”
El leaned back into the mattress, appraising me with that brow raised and his persimmon gaze dancing. “I do not need your hair.”
Heat flashed inside of me, particularly in one area of my body, and by the darkening of his gaze, El felt it too.
I was robbed of finding out what he could possibly use instead by an impatient huff on the door. “Please make yourselves decent so that we can all eat.”
If I hadn’t been watching El’s face, I wouldn’t have seen the petulant eye roll. Snickering, I slowly crawled off of him, trying my best to keep my thighs closed.
He was having none of that, though, and his firm hand on my hip kept me on the mattress while he got up instead. The knob on the door twitched while he walked toward one of his packs, and he nearly hissed, lip curling to show his fangs. “Donotopen the door until we tell you.”
Before I could add my own quip, Elián returned with a cloth, busied himself beneath my skirt, and wiped away his spend so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable. Blinking back tears, I snagged him ‘round the back of his head where his hair was a tangled mess. I pressed up into a kiss, grabbing his face with both of my gloveless hands and treating his lips as tenderly as he met all of me.
“Considering your stupid plan to stay together is keeping me from warming the captain’s bed, I’m not inclined to be forgiving of you having all of the fun. You reserved the bigger cabin, so it’s really all your fault,” Tomás groused through the door, to which of us, I wasn’t sure.
