Page 57 of Veradel
We’re both silent for a beat as his words settle heavily on my heart. If that’s what it takes then that’s what I’ll do, but the weight of it all, being the one who has success or failure resting on their shoulders… it’s a lot.
“I know what that feels like, to feel responsible for others’ well-being. To lead despite not asking to be a leader,” Lucan continues, dragging a pleased moan out of me as he works out the tension in the muscles framing myspine. His fingers move to my lower back, then hips—and when he hikes my dress up a few inches—my glutes.
I feel like a sculpture he’s molding out of clay, leaning heavily against the railing now. One where he occasionally presses his lips into my curves and hums against my skin.
And then murmuring, “If we fail, Saskia, then we fail. But it won’t mean that you didn’t try or that you don’t care. I’ve failed thousands of times. Trying to bring down the Wall, obviously, but also as the alpha. I’ve had to make hard decisions, ones that have helped us and ones that ultimately hurt us, even though there was no way of knowing at the time which. One thing I can guarantee is that not everyone will agree with you, but when you know that you’ve done everything in your power to do the right thing, then there’s nothing to worry about. And I’vealwaysdone what I think is best for us,collectively, just like I know you will.”
He pauses and crouches behind me. His hands drop to my thighs, massaging the tips of his fingers in slow circles along my hamstrings.
“Well,” he amends, “until you, that is.”
“Wha…”
Again, my words melt into a moan at his touch, louder this time, echoing into the night air. I freeze, suddenly self-conscious of the fact that we’re outside, and that anybody could be looking out their window to find me pressed against the railing with my straps pulled down and my dress hiked halfway up. I scan the streets nervously…
“What did I tell you?” Lucan asks me, rising back to his full height and twirling me around so that I’m facing him with my back to the railing. He puts a finger beneath my chin. “Lookup, little nightmare.”
I do, basking my sights in the blanket of stars once more. With my neck now fully exposed to him, Lucan’s lips find the skin just above my collarbone.
My mood shifts. Suddenly, the air turns sticky, like honey dripping from the sky. I want more than just a massage as his mouth trails along the curves of my breasts. But we’re still outside, still out in the open. Nobody else is out, but…
“Can you be quiet, baby?” he asks, a smirk lacing his tone.
This might be the biggest break-the-rules moment of my life, and my first instinct is to put my head down and say no, we can’t. But Lucan’s eyesturn molten as they grip mine, and I remind myself, just like he told me, that I’m not a Chosen One anymore—even if we’ve chosen each other.
So I glance over my shoulder one more time to make sure the streets are empty before I practically melt. “Yes, I can be quiet.”
She can’t be quiet.
That much is clear as soon as I spin Saskia around, pressing her stomach against the railing, and hike up the hem of her dress. She gasps into the night, and I’ve never felt so smug or proud of a sound in my entire life.
With her round, perky ass exposed, I run my palms over the curve of each smooth cheek before I crouch to my knees behind her and sink my canines into one.
She gasps even louder, then smothers her moan into the back of her hand.
Swiping my thumb between her legs, I swirl it against her clit in a tight circle, testing her.
Still moaning into her hand, Saska grips the edge of the railing with the other. Her knuckles turn white from the pressure.
The rest of her body, though, goes from hard clay to putty in my hands, just likeI wanted.
“That’s it,” I praise her, keeping my voice in a deep whisper. “Relax.”
I want to worship every inch of this body, study every curve and dip, catalogue every goosebump that I bring to the surface. And the Monster in me wants to destroy her.
Ravage her so that no male could ever get the scent of me off her.
She lets out a satisfied breath, her body responding to my touch with an arch of her hips, and it takes every ounce of restraint in me not to slam my cock into her here and now. But my goal isn’t to coax any screams from her lips tonight.
Despite my nature, tonight, I’m going to melt her into a puddle.
Under the stars that she never got to bask under until now.
Her perfect ass arches again, desperate for the friction. Chuckling, I oblige with two of my fingers. I fill her slowly, stretching her just enough, until the tight warmth has a string of curses falling quietly from my mouth as I watch them slide in easily up to my knuckles.
Saskia moans in response, so eager and wet for me.
My cock is equally as desperate. Straining against the zipper of my pants, I rub my hand over the bulge. It’s not enough to even take the edge off, but I like to torture myself just as much.
