Page 33 of Hellfire

We often listened to music together, her while studying, working out, or relaxing, and me while I cooked or chilled with her on the phone. It was our little moment of reflection on our day or task, something sacred between her and I that we religiously practiced, no matter what chaos raged in the world around us. We could drop the pretense, show our real selves, something I let few people see.

This was our first night semi-alone. Sure, we had moments on the phone together where Cole made himself scarce. Or times when she visited, and Talon took calls out in the shop while we got busy. I pushed aside the reminder that my sister brushed her teeth in the bathroom and prepared for bed. One day, Luna and I would have our moment. Until then, we’d take full advantage of our time together. Never a moment wasted.

She curled her fingers around my arm and pulled it down to rest it on her knee. Heat burned through her jeans into my palm, and my naga soaked up every degree, his blood warming from ice-cold to sun-baking.

I cut the overhead lights before we reclined on the sofa, the flicker of candles our only source of illumination, enough glow to catch my reflection on the screen of my phone. What used to mirror a monster now showed a lost boy finding his way. Content with the change in me, I set the device atop the sofa back, letting the tunes free.

“Do you ever feel like you just want to run away from everything?” She dragged her nails along my arm, and tingles scattered along the length of it. “All your responsibilities?”

One of our classic existential discussions we often got into, the two of us coming together with different world views that challenged the other.

I thought about her question and the implications. So much depended on her—the fate of the Guild, the emancipation of trapped slaves in the Brotherhood, the world, and to an extent that of the gantii realms, all bore down on her shoulders. Most people cracked and crumbled under such pressure. Not Luna. My admiration for her burden and the strength she called upon to face it grew a little more every day. She was made of better stuff than me. Luna was a true hero. I was the villain on the redemption arc, and it never would have been possible without her.

“Every day of my life.” I brushed hair from one shoulder across to the other to drop a kiss to her neck.

Luna chewed her lip. “I’m scared to discover the real me. Scared to find out how much more of a monster I am.”

Ground we’d been over once before. Why the hell was she bringing it up again? Because the Academy extracted an imprint of her mind and stored it in a map of light? My princess was born into the dark world without a choice like I was. Used and abused.

I ran my knuckle along the back of her neck. “I accepted who I am a long time ago. I can’t change what I’ve done. Hell, I can regret it, feel guilty for it, but there’s no point hating myself for it. We were born into a world with no choices and used for that old bastard’s pleasure to kill enemies and rivals. We aren’t the monsters in that respect.”

She tapped her fingers on my knees, contemplating my perspective.

I brushed down her nape to her shoulders, hoping to tease out her concerns, and throw them into the same fire as I did. “We were young and impressionable, love. We didn’t know any better. Now we do.”

“You’re right.” She slammed her palm on my leg like a judge declaring a verdict. “Wow. I’ve turned you into the voice of reason.”

“Careful throwing around those words, Princess.” I clasped the back of her neck, tilting her head sideways, feathering along her throat. “My heart is made of stone, not gold.”

Her laugh encouraged my naga to curl around her and rest his head on the crook of her shoulder. Hair curtained over her shoulder, a cloak of silky velvet. “I’d argue the opposite.”

“Yeah?” My kiss fanned along the skin on offer, inching along her shoulder, encouraging her to explain.

“You hide behind your cocky, dark, wild veneer.” Her fingers scaled along my jaw, up my cheek, over my ear, sinking into my hair. “But you’re every bit the savior.”

I sank my teeth into her, marking her, my naga wanting to go all the way. I flicked my tongue over the imprint, soothing her sting. “You better stop talking about me like that. It’s making me hot.”

Her laugh dipped into a husky note. The perfect note that said our party was just getting started. “How hot?”

I scrambled for my phone, my lips never leaving her neck, and I scrolled for a different playlist, something moody, seductive, and sexy for what I had planned. I found the perfect one and activated it. A slow tempo burgeoned from the speakers of my stereo system, transitioning into a decadent beat of drums, primal pluck of the guitar, and a rhythmic piano that urged me to sway against her back.

“This kind of hot.” I wrapped both arms around her middle.

She reached back to bristle my stubble. “I feel like I’m being undressed by the lyrics and tune.”

“That’s because you’re about to be,” I whispered in her ear.

My tongue ached to taste more of her soft skin, and I dropped my mouth to her neck. Her little hum vibrated up into my lips, and I opened my mouth, sucking on her delicate, milky flesh and flicking my tongue.

I’d battled monsters, madmen, and the servants of madmen, and emerged alive by the will of some higher power. But for all my smarts, magical ability, and plain stubbornness in the face of evil, I had no control over this moment. Certainly not enough to resist her. Not that I wanted to. I was no gentleman, my hero status debatable when I did what I had to in order to survive. Luna wasn’t necessary for my survival, but she was essential for my salvation.

She leaned her head back to take more of me. “Kiss me.” A soft request, not the demand of a princess. “I don’t get to kiss you often enough. Once a week is not enough.”

No, it wasn’t.

Gravity brought us together, a force so natural it couldn’t be resisted, and I lowered my lips to hers. A shared warmth spread between us as her mouth parted wider, accepting my tongue flicking with hers. I cupped the back of her head to keep her in place, a moment of spontaneous combustion neither of us could stop. Her fingers sank into my hair, needy push and pulls.

In response, I brushed her thigh, creeping my fingers up her zipper, unbuttoning her fly and dragging it down. “I’m going to make you feel so good, Princess. You’re going to forget everything but what I’m doing to you. Don’t think, just feel.”

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