Page 49 of Lethal

His gaze becomes blank, finally dying. But I don’t get any of the high I normally do. There isn’t a single hint of satisfaction. I’m not even sure I can claim this as one of my kills. Fucking hell. Now it feels like I need to carry around a cactus so I can use it the next time I kill someone. This doesn’t count. I need a fucking redo.

Suddenly, the table flips over and Cole screams in a fit of rage. I stumble out of the way as he picks up the chair he was sitting on and slams it against the island counter. Wood fragments fly through the air and I turn my head to avoid getting hit in the face. I run my fingers through my hair, dislodging the bits.

His arm swipes the counter behind him, catching everything in its path and depositing it on the floor. Knives fly from the block that housed them on impact and skitter across the floor. Next, he pulls out the drawers, dumping them and tossing them across the room. Nothing is safe in his path of destruction.

This time I’m the one who’s frozen in place. I can’t do anything but watch Cole have a complete and total mental meltdown. The man who’s been nothing but calm control until this week. The mirror to my dead emotions. He’s the person who’s always understood the numbness of what life is for me. And can relate to how significant each instance of experiencing something outside of the constant baseline is.

Maybe Grayson’s humanity is affecting him, too. I’m not sure what’s caused the irregularity, but watching him break right now... I don’t know what to do, aside from letting him work through it. Watch and wait. That’s all I can do.

Jasper and Vander arrive partway through Cole’s breakdown. The moment they hit the doorway, they stumble to a stop with wide eyes, watching him carefully. They wait similar to me, standing there silently. They don’t cross the line into the room as if afraid of breaking some kind of invisible bubble, but there’s a question in their eyes. Last they knew, we found Brent. Now he’s dead and Cole is losing his shit.

As abruptly as it started, he stops. Standing in one spot with his head down and fists balled at his sides. His legs are spread and it all amounts to some kind of villain pose. Deep breaths saw in and out, his chest heaving as he actively works to calm himself.

“I’m so sorry,” I rasp out. “I did my best, Cole. There was no way for me to know he would do that.” The edge of the wooden table bites into my palms as I grip it.

His head slowly tilts up, the white of his eyes showing before his gaze locks on me. His gorgeous features twist in anger. Hate, death, and pain radiate from him, and it’s all pointed in my direction. His motions are exaggeratedly slow as he walks toward me. His fists open and close as if he’s trying to pump the anger out of them, but it doesn’t seem to work.

The moment he’s close enough, his hand snaps out and wraps around my throat, squeezing painfully. “What did you say?” he hisses. Jasper and Vander rush toward us, but Cole holds his free hand up to stop them. For some reason, beyond my comprehension, they actually stop in their tracks. I lick my lips, but the words die on the tip of my tongue. Cole doesn’t seem to like that one bit. “I. Asked. You. A. Question.”

“I did my best, Cole.” The words are hard to squeeze past the grip he has on my neck. They sound rough and wheezy. His torment grates against my nerves, threatening to rip me open. This is almost as bad as when I realized how much pain Grayson was in over his father. At least then I knew my comfort was welcomed. With the way Cole is staring at me, I can’t imagine him wanting my touch. “I’m fucking sorry,” I add with a croak.

“Why the fuck are you apologizing? You did exactly what I asked you to do. What I couldn’t do for myself.” His hand squeezes even tighter, cutting off my airway as he draws me closer. Our lips brush against each other in the softest of caresses, and if my breath wasn’t already cut off, it would catch in my throat. “You were there for me exactly when I needed you. I can’t thank you enough.”

His lips crash into mine, slanting his head before his tongue dives in. Desperation threatens to drown us. He’s transferred his anger from destruction to savage passion. He pushes his way between my legs, grabbing them in a bruising hold to wrap around his waist as he picks me up. My arms instinctively move behind his neck as I press myself against him.

My hands fumble with the straps of his holsters as he strides from the room. I barely have them undone when my back slams against the wall and his hands are working at tearing my protective gear off, along with everything else I’m wearing. His hips hold me in place until he needs to remove my pants. He practically drops me to the ground as his hands find the button and he rips them down my legs forcefully.

Both of us frantically reach for his pants and they only get lowered far enough to expose his cock before he’s picking me up once more. The moment his smooth skin comes in contact with mine, it’s like I can breathe again. But I’m still not close enough with him.

“I need your cock, Cole. I need you to fuck me until I can’t walk right, and your cum is dripping from me.” My words spur him on, his motions becoming more erratic as he grasps his cock and lines it up with my entrance. He doesn’t pause, in too much of a rush to sink balls deep, he shoves inside. The intrusion creates the perfect amount of pleasure and pain. “More, Cole. I need more.”

“I’ve got you, Luv. You’ll always have me.” He thrusts hard, using my shoulders as handles to help him slam me onto his cock. My arms cling to his back, holding him to me tightly, and our kisses have become vicious. Full of teeth and snarling bites.

We move together like a well-oiled machine, working together to reach a quick release. We’re perfectly in sync, and somehow that makes it feel like we’re closer than ever. I’m his calm, and he’s my perfect storm.

Each thrust has me closer to an orgasm, and when he slams me against the wall again, it gives him the leverage to pound into me that much harder. His nails rake over my skin before his hands grab my tits. He brutally pinches my nipples and when he bites my neck, I shatter around his cock. My entire body clenching him to me tighter.

His bite releases with a moan as he shoves into me one more time. His cock pulsing with each rope of cum he expels, Cole comes painting my walls with his release like I asked. He presses his forehead against my shoulder, both of us panting as we barely took any time to breathe while we chased the release.

“It’s not your fault, Raven. You got us some good information that we can use to find Becca.” He peppers a trail of kisses up my neck. “I can’t thank you enough for being here for me.”

“Always, Cole. We’re family.”

Chapter 23

Cole

We were so fucking close. I could have sworn this was the end of my search, that I would finally have my sister back. That her suffering would be over, and perhaps I’d find myself once more. Find the man who died when I gave up and convinced myself she wasn’t alive anymore.

That’s the thing about death, though. Once something dies, it’s gone forever. But perhaps the man I used to be wasn’t killed. The change was slow, like my emotions were dissolved bit by bit until they no longer existed. I thought I was a permanently changed man, but with Raven...

She’s become my dark angel. Killing some of the parasites that have been eating away at me. It’s the only explanation I can think of for why my obsession has transformed into something else that I can’t even find the words to describe to myself. Raven fills an emptiness inside me, and I’ve never felt more like a black hole than I do right now.

Her arms and legs squeeze me tighter to her, and her cunt clenches on my cock, trying to keep it inside her even as it softens. The hard peaks of her nipples scrape across my chest as I lean back, wanting to get a good look at her. I can’t believe she blamed herself for what happened. An incredible amount of anger coursed through me when she apologized.

I never felt like a lucky man until the day I found her.

She smiles as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Jasper got into my head,” I admit. She seems caught off guard and tilts her head, raising an eyebrow. My throat suddenly gets tight, like it’s trying to prevent the words from coming out. What if this fucks up our relationship?

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