Page 42 of Anorthic Anarchy

Stuffing her bottom lip under her teeth, she chews on it before gracing me with those intoxicating eyes. “But you can start over.”

Desperation floods through me at her words. If only it were true. If I could be someone or somewhere new, then things would feel different. So I embrace it for a moment.

With that longing comes an urge for something more, and I grip her jaw with my fingers, tugging her face to mine and latching onto her precious lips. Honeyed words and a kind heart. Sucking it inside of me like my angel will protect me, save me. I need her to.

She climbs on top of me, never letting go of my mouth. Little nails dig into my neck, clinging to me with as much urgency as I grasp onto her. For once, it doesn’t feel like a manipulation or a tease. This is not a trick.

I want a wife.

Her tongue tastes like candy, even in the morning, though it’s mixed more with an essence of her. My breath probably has a flavor of death. Despite that, she melds against me, folding her tiny body into mine until I wrap myself around her. We make out like teenagers, my lips sucking down her neck as she pants tiny whimpers in my ear.

I don’t remember a time when I’ve ever felt like this. An urge to be inside someone and not just within her folds, but mixed with her blood. Integrated until there’s no separation between us. Perhaps it’s all the regret infecting my mind to pursue something I shouldn’t have. Especially with someone twenty years younger with no life experience.

It may also be envy of that, too.

Whatever it is makes my dick so hard, it may break in half. It pounds and jumps with every beat of my heart, yearning to be comforted by a tight embrace. If it could think, it would believe she, this angel on me, is the only one who can provide that.

One of my hands works its way down to the sheet, and as I lift it to stroke myself and Astrid situates her hips around mine, the door flings open.

“Sir, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but there’s an emergency.” Sev makes my heart race as the vision of my father standing therehits me. My lungs seize their duty for a long moment as Astrid massages my chest with her fingers.

“Fuck! What?” I sound angry, but I’m panicked. Trying to shake myself from those memories. Astrid stares at me with curiosity, and I squeeze my eyes shut to avoid her gaze.

“Amalthea has arrived with her men. She wishes entry to speak with us.”

I’ve prepared for this.

Despite that, the plan whirring through my mind, some level of panic tingles right beneath the surface of my skin.They can’t take her from me.

Her waist is so tiny when I pick her up off me and set her on the bed. “Do not move. Do you understand me, Astrid? Listen and tell me you understand that command.”

She bobs her head quickly, her eyes growing larger.

“Dilan will escort you to the tower. You are only to follow her. And remember what I taught you about the rifles.”

As I turn to grab my pants, she snatches my hand with her little fingers. “But what will you do? Where are you going?”

When I look back at her, such concern paints her face that I wonder… Does the girl care for me? She’s seldom addressed me properly since we’ve been together. None of that all matters now. Things have changed and maybe that’s some of the reason my pulse pounds more powerfully in my veins.

“I need to meet with these people. The bad people I told you about.” My hand slaps my forehead with frustration. “Fuck! I wish you were already pregnant.”

Sev dances from foot to foot, waiting for my instructions. “Prepare the tea for them, perhaps some bourbon and vodka. Bring them into the living room, and Falcon can watch from the wings. You and the other guards stay near the tower.”

“Sir? You don’t want us with you?”

“No.” I snap my fingers and point to the little girl clasping the sheet to her chest. “She’s more important.”

My feet almost slip in my hurry to get dressed. Aiming my voice at the door, I shout, “I’ll be down in ten. Have the tea service set up!”

As I slick back my hair and brush my teeth, Dilan’s perfume floods the room when she peeks around the corner. “I’ll take her to the tower.”

The toothbrush hangs from my mouth as I mumble around it. “Stay with her. If there’s danger, I’ll give the signal. We may need the extra guns here on the second floor.”

She nods once, and when I finish, storming through my bedroom, Dilan has one arm wrapped protectively around Astrid’s shoulders. The sight of them makes something in my chest loosen. I’m ready.

Despite the constriction in my throat, I stroll into the living room with a broad grin painted on my face. Three armed guards stand in front of the owl. Amalthea is unmasked, the eyes of Satan himself pouring from her orbital holes. The vision of her makes my blood heat to a boil.

“Welcome, welcome. So good to have you visit.” One of the guards sneers at my sarcasm. My hand shakes slightly with anger as I wave it toward the seats surrounding the fireplace. “Please, have a seat. Tea?”

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