Page 111 of The Order

“Forest, you have to stop,” he mutters, his forehead pressed to mine. “If I allow myself what I want, he will know I had you. One moment of weakness is all it would take,” he continues, passing his finger over my lips. “One moment, and I wouldn’t stop. I’d fulfill every fantasy I’ve had of us,” he finishes, my mind now filled with sinful thoughts.

“Don’t push me away,” I whisper, feeling my hand placed on his own. The warmth in my stomach grows the longer he hovers over me. “Besides, there are other things you can do that don't leave a mark,” I whisper, feeling his hands brush along my lower stomach, teasing the waistline of my pants.

“Tell me to stop,” he says, as his fingers move lower toward my center.

“I can't,” I mutter, pressing my nose to his own, feeling his hand plunge completely below my waistline now. I draw in a deep breath as his hand passes over my underwear. My legs shake as his fingers explore the top of the material, gliding across my warmth. He draws in a deep breath as he caresses the fabric above my center, finding my core wet from desire for him. I let out a shaky moan, unable to contain the sheer amount of pleasure I was lost to.

His eyes watch me, the look of lust abruptly falling away.

“Stop tempting me with a quick pity fuck,” he growls, moving his hand away. The connection between us snaps.

“You're nothing but an Untouchable girl looking for validation,” he spits.

My heart wrenches, his words like a dagger being pressed into my chest.

“I don’t need you,” he finishes, the dagger now plunged into my heart completely, no longer able to be pulled free.

“And I never will.”

Chapter thirty-six

Forest

Myhandspresstohis chest, ready to force him away. Instantly, I feel the adrenaline in both of our bodies spike, pulling us free from our dispute. We both turn around, content to avoid unspoken words on the topic of what’s going on between us.

He grabs me tighter, both of us looking to the door. Hearing their loud thoughts consume my mind, my heart races in a much different way than it had been moments ago. Fallan clutches his temple, my thoughts filled with voices that aren’t mine. I lean my head into his chest, feeling his hands cup my head, rubbing his thumbs along the sides of my face.

“Who is that?’ I question silently, hearing the pain shroud my voice.

“There's Officials nearby…. I can't block you from my mind right now. We're too… close,” he whispers. “Focus on my heartbeat. Listen to their voices,” he continues, easing me as the voices become clearer. I stay straddled on his lap in a seated position, one of his arms wrapped around me.

“You can hear people's thoughts?” I question quietly, my mind racing to every single thought of him I’ve had.

“Among other things, although you've been a pain in the ass to navigate," he whispers, both of us still as the men's voices finally become close enough to hear completely.

“Shifter residue,”one of the men says, sounding almost thrilled to find his discovery. I can sense his partner's presence, both men observing the soot of the creature with differing reactions.

“Shifters don’t just spontaneously combust. Someone must have gotten a swipe at it.”the other man mutters.

Glass breaks as one of the men swings at a hallway light, angrily blowing off steam.

“What’s your issue?”one of the men questions the other, disgusted by the feeling of the ash on his fingers.

“My 'issue’, moron, is someone in this sector killed a Shifter and lived. Now, they walk around here knowing that the creatures exist and have breached the ward. The Commander will not be pleased knowing something like that slipped past us during our run of this shithole part of town,”the older of the two men say.

A jolt of power comes to life inside of me, faint whispers of something new creeping into the darker spaces of my mind. I feel something urging me to go out there and paint the ground with their blood.

“Easy there,” Fallan whispers, his breath brushing the side of my neck.

“I might struggle to read your thoughts, but I can feel your emotions. Now that your chip is gone, the more time that passes and the longer you spend around me, the more power that little scar on your torso gives you.” He keeps his eyes on the door. “Breathe,” he commands, slowly drawing in air, making me follow along with him.

“Start pounding on doors. I doubt they could have gotten too far. The only people we saw enter or leave were those two women,”one of the men says, my heart racing once I remembered I wasn’t alone on my walk into the building.

I drag myself off of Fallan, listening to the noise of the two Officials beginning their search. I can tell they are going unit to unit, feverishly knocking on doors before busting them wide open with no regard for any of the tenants inside. I hear women scream as the men yell for Unfortunate’s to get out of their way. Fallan quickly checks the locks on his door, tucking away anything that might look suspicious, including our blades that we’d tossed onto his coffee table. I move to the kitchen, grabbing the bloodied rags and pushing them down into the lowest part of his clothes hamper. Dragging the chair from the middle of the room, I put it back under the table, keeping the curtains drawn. We quickly scan the rest of the area.

His small fireplace crackles and cast shadows across the floor, keeping the space warm as we exchange looks. I try to find my words, hearing yet another person yell out in pain. Their thoughts of feeling the prod on their skin consume my mind.

“I hope you're prepared to break a few necks,”it taunts, my eyes panning to the glass of my framed drawing Fallan had placed on the side table earlier.

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