Page 30 of Devour the Dark

Roc and I were never alike. He was always sharp glass to my tender flesh. I’m not sure if we’ll ever fit together in a way that isn’t bloody and confusing. And while his relationship with James can sometimes be just as troublesome, they seem to have an understanding between them. A closeness I may never cross. I am jealous of them. I can see the time they’ve had without me, all the minutes and days adding up to a sum I can never hope to match.

I hadn’t intended to have a serious conversation with him about anything. Not right now. Not while his monster wars with him. But the words spill out unbidden.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you…that if you love James more…if you would rather be with him than me then I will under?—”

His hands take control of my body—one half wrapped around my throat, the other pressing at my opposite hip—and then he bends down and kisses me.

It is not a chaste kiss, but neither is it sensual. The way his mouth teases at mine, it’s like another trick, like at any moment he could slip away.

Eyes closed, I lean into him, hungry for more of him, any amount he will give even if it breaks me.

His tongue meets me, a soft caress. Then he nips at my bottom lip and growls into my mouth.

“Shall I show you, Wendy Darling?”

“Is this what you came down here for?”

“I had no plan. No intentions.” His fingers trail down my cheek. His touch makes my insides quake.

“I don’t want your pity attention,” I tell him, but the words come out wanting. Threaded with desire.

“Let me show you how I feel about you, Wendy Darling.” His hand sinks to my thigh, then trails back up, slowly, achingly slowly, to the seam where my thigh meets my center.

I breathe out in a hiss.

“Just you and me,” he goes on, his fingers brushing against my pussy, then gone just as quickly. “If we’re to do this, the three of us, it must be explicitly clear that you both have me equally. I like to share. It’s my favorite thing in the world. I want the Captain’s cock in my mouth and my cock in your pussy and I want to hear you both moan as you come for me.” His touch trails up and up, thumb brushing over my peaked nipple. “I have no time for jealousy. And certainly notpity.”

He steps back, and the sudden absence of his body, and his touch, makes me pitch forward, my eyes popping open.

He’s leaning against the wall again, smiling at me with a flash of his sharp incisors. “Okay?”

I swallow again, my body aching for him, my breath short. “Okay.”

“Good.”

A mewling sounds from the floor.

It’s the kitten Roc seems to have acquired.

“Firecracker,” he says and scoops the cat into his arms. “I wondered where you ran off to.” He scratches the cat beneath the chin and the cat’s eyes slip closed, nuzzling into his touch. “Come, my Darling girl. I’m told we’re about to set sail and dinner will be served in an hour and ten. Which is just as well. I’m famished. And if I’m to pound that pussy later, I’ll need all the strength I can get.”

Firecracker in hand, he turns toward the upper decks, cooing to the cat as he goes.

We’ve beenat sea now just an hour and a half, and we’re all in the starboard side dining room. It’s hard to imagine that in just a few days, I’ve shed my crown, found myself with James and Roc, and on Neverland again, meeting my Darling descendant.

I watch Winnie across the dining table. She’s sitting between Vane and Asha, but her chair is inches closer to Vane. So close I imagine their knees are touching below the table. I’ve tried not to stare at them, but it’s hard not to be curious and maybe a little envious. There is an ease between them that is unfamiliar to me. When I was on Neverland, everything about Vane was coarse and sharp. He was more likely to scowl at me than offer a kind word so I kept my distance.

When I heard his brother was arriving at the treehouse, I thought surely he must be cut from the same cloth. I was determined to hate Roc immediately. I was determined to make myself small and invisible because two scowling, cleaving men with unknown power was more than I could bear.

But then Roc walked in the door and the energy changed. He was tall, black-haired, and handsome, but somehow his presence felt like warm sunlight on chilled skin.

He was jovial, funny, always up for a good time. I was drawn to him.

Looking back, I can see I was desperate not to feel so afraid on Neverland. I had been taken from my home, told I held the key to finding Pan’s shadow, of which I had no knowledge about. I couldn’t fix Pan’s plight and if I couldn’t fix it, then I was useless and if I was useless…what would he do with me?

With Roc, I felt protected. Safe. Maybe it was naive but I did.

And while we’re rebuilding on a shaky foundation, I still feel safe with him.

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