Page 72 of Calico Descending

“You had a sibling.”

At his nod, I tug the line through each side of the wound, drawing the edges together as I go.

“A younger sister. Serena.” He glances down at the wound. “She knew how to sew, too.”

“What happened to her?”

“The raid. That was before they took the women and girls. I was eight when I saw my mother and sister shot in the head.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine what such a thing would ...” But I can. I can because I saw my own sister shot dead by the guards.

“They rounded up my father, my older brother, and me. When we arrived, they separated us into groups. My father told me not to be frightened. That they were only men, like us.” His eye twitches at that, and I close the last of his wound, giving a gentle tug to seal it. “They were nothing like us.” He stares off, as if he’s reliving the moment. “That was the last I saw of my father and my brother.”

“Do you know if they lived?”

Lips pressed together, he shakes his head. “I got word they’d been sent to the pathogen labs.” From what I understand, some of the subjects were taken to pathogen labs and injected with various strains of the Dredge, along with other infectious organisms to test the competitive nature of the disease. The ones sent there never lasted long. “They tell us to fear the Ragers. The disease. But at least the Ragers don’t hide what they really are.”

Setting my hand to his cheek, I lean forward and kiss him, letting my silent apology settle across his lips. His hand slips along my back as he pulls me onto his lap and holds me there.

“When I realized they’d taken you, when I thought about what they’d do to you in that camp, I wanted to burn this whole fucking desert to ashes.”

I run my thumb over his furrowed brow and kiss his forehead. “I knew you’d come for me. I knew you’d find me.”

“I’ll always come for you, Calithea. I’ll never leave you.” He pulls me in tighter, and I press my lips to his once more. Pressure against my cheek breaks the kiss, as he holds my face, his eyes turned away from mine. “Did they ...”

“They tried. They almost did.” I crane my head back toward the truck, where Cadmus remains trapped inside one of the cages. “He saved us.”

On a long exhale, he strokes his thumb over the vein in my neck and pulls me in for another kiss. One so fervent with passion, it’d buckle my knees if I weren’t already sitting. When he pulls away, he licks his lips and plants another kiss at my jawline. “What I wouldn’t do for you. There is no hell I wouldn’t walk through to get to you.”

“And I’d do the same for you.” It’s true, I’d face the gravest consequence for him. “It’s why I couldn’t let you stay in that cell one minute longer.”

Eyes softening, he strokes my jawline and smiles when he kisses me again. He lifts the sleeping bag, allowing me to settle inside, and climbs in after me. The feel of his body against mine, the muscles drawing me closer, the heat blazing off him, eases the tension that’s been running through me since Roz woke me earlier in the evening.

Roz. The thought of her leaves an ache in my heart.

Warm, calloused hands drag over my skin, and I lift my head toward Titus, see the easy rise and fall of his chest, his mouth slightly gaping.

Even with his friend having dozed off, likely oblivious to the two of us, Valdys doesn’t go anywhere near the place that throbs for his touch. Perhaps he thinks he’s giving me time, space to deal with what happened, but I need this closeness from him. I need his hands to erase the feel of that marauder’s on me. I want his breath on my neck, and his body pressed against mine, so that I might fall asleep with those thoughts in my head, instead of imagining what could’ve happened if Cadmus hadn’t stopped it.

With his chest pressed tight against my back, I take his hand beneath the covers and guide it over my hip. At his hesitation, I turn my head to the side and whisper, “Please, Valdys.”

Tucking his head against the back of my neck, he snakes his hand down inside my pants, stirring my body to life as he glides his finger along the seam of my bare sex. His body shudders against mine, and he kisses my shoulder as he dips his finger up inside of me.

I close my eyes and surrender to his ministrations, taking in the feel of his massive arm crossed over me, his big protective body shrinking me beside him. In the safety of his embrace, I breathe easy, and open myself to him like a desert flower touched by the first rays of morning light. Writhing and breathing, I reach back, take hold of his swollen cock, and squeeze as I run my hand up and down his thick shaft. Abandoning the strokes, I tuck my fingers into the waistband of my pants and slide them down to mid-thigh, then reach for his cock once more. Back arched against him, I line his tip to my entrance, and allow him to push up inside of me.

On a gasp, I turn my face into his bicep beneath my head and bite down, as he slides all the way to the hilt. The pressure inside of me fills my belly, and I let out a grunt through my nose, teeth still lodged in his flesh to keep from crying out. When he withdraws, I release him, and reach back to grip his nape, as he enters me again. Fingers still dancing over my sensitive flesh, he sets his lips to my neck and I rest the back of my palm on his outstretched hand that he curls over my knuckles, threading our fingers together. In slow and lazy strokes, he drives in and out of me, stirring the wetness that dribbles down my thighs.

“Valdys,” I whisper. “I don’t want this to end. I don’t ever want this to end.”

He lifts his head and kisses the edge of my neck, never once breaking rhythm as his tongue drags across my jawline.

I open my eyes to see Titus, staring at us from across the fire, both lonliness and longing swirling in his gaze, before he turns away.

An inexplicable sadness settles inside my chest, but I push those thoughts away for the exquisite pleasure humming through my veins.

Even if I wanted to, I can’t stop now, as Valdys hastens his pace, drawing his arm up over my body to my throat. Thighs slamming into mine, he squeezes my neck, scraping his teeth over my jaw as his muscles tense against me. Grunting and groaning, I can feel him stretching me, and I surrender to the sensations building inside of me. The tension in my muscles that quiver and tremble with the promise of what’s to come.

Small pants of breath escape me, as I close my eyes, tipping my head back. His grip grows tighter, squeezing just enough to make me dizzy. Until at last, the wave of heat crashes over me, pulsing inside of me, as it shoots through my veins, leaving tingles in its wake. I clamp my mouth to keep from crying out, the trapped breath shuddering through my nose. Our slick bodies glide against one another, as I feel his warmth filly my belly. The wall of muscle caging me in vibrates with tension, and he lets out a quiet sound of satisfaction, before he stills. Lying against each other, we breathe in sync, and he slides his hand down to my stomach, holding me against him, as he stirs the last of his erection inside of me. Instead of pulling out, he stays there, curling his fingers tighter into mine.

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