Page 105 of Aftershock
My gaze snaps up to Fraser. His eyes open into slits. His jaw works as he tries to remove the duct tape. The screens on the monitors I keep muted react immediately, their lines quickening from the slow, steady pattern they held before.
I send her a,Brat. I’ll be there in thirty,and pocket my phone so I can deal with this fucker.
“Look who’s decided to join us.” My voice is low, same as always. Despite the room being soundproof, you never know who might be out there. A rare neighbor passing through might catch the faintest sound. Might press their ear to the door. Might alert the doorman. Or the authorities. “Just in time too.”
While I talk, Fraser does what dozens of other assholes have done before him. He thrashes. Wiggles. Tests his restraints.
“Mmm. Mmm.”
“What is this place?” I cock my head to the side. “Is that what you’re asking?”
“Mmm.” His eyebrows lower, brown eyes thundering. “Mmm!”
“This is where you die.” A full syringe waits on the table. I pick it up, tap it to clear the air, then press the plunger until a drop beads at the tip. “But not before you pay for what you’ve done. Starting tomorrow. You’ve takenup enough of my time for one day, and I’ve got much better things to do that don’t involve your ugly face.”
“Mmm!” The chair barely rattles. That’s how stable it is. “Mmm!”
“Thank you for your cooperation.” I shove his head to the side, exposing more of his neck, where I stick the needle. “I’d say I hope you have a pleasant stay, except…”
A growl rumbles through him. This fucker is a fighter.
Too bad it won’t help him.
“I really hope you don’t.”
One press, and the sedative is gone, disappearing into his body.
And…he’s out.
When I’moutside Lilith’s door, I text her so I don’t wake Hope by knocking.
It takes her less than a second to yank it open.
I’ll never get enough of this.
Of how her eyes glimmer when they land on me.
Of how natural it is for her to launch herself into my arms, letting me lift her off the floor and hold her close.
“Alaric.”
“Hey,” I say, my voice thick.
For hours, I managed to push the thought of missing her aside. I compartmentalized the ache, the need, the restless pull of her, because Fraser mattered. Steven mattered. The task mattered.
But now, when she looks up at me from beneath her lashes, with her body molding to mine like she’s always belonged there, all that control turns useless.
Guided by my most primal, possessive impulses, I lean in to kiss her. Our lips move together in a rhythm that belongs only to us. Feral, obsessive, and full of need.
Just until she moans into my mouth. Then I—the selfish bastard who can’t stand the thought of her neighbors hearing a sound that belongs to me and no one else—carry her inside, kicking the door shut before locking it behind us.
“Do all the men you date get that kind of welcome?” Smirking, I turn her earlier words back on her as I cross the living room.
“Notallmen, only those…” She makes an exaggerated show of sniffing my neck. “Yes, only those who smell as nice as you do.”
Once I close the door to her bedroom, I set Lilith down. She gasps when I spin her around to face the bed and order, “Hands on the bed. Cheek too.”
“So bossy.” It’s a tease. A breathless one that goes straight to my dick.
