Page 155 of The Order

“Just a distraction,” I mock, throwing up my quotations. “Should I add 'tortured' under the list of labels you’ve forced on us?” I question, his mouth pulling into a drunken smirk.

“They didn’t mean anything to me, Forest. I needed something to dull the pain,” Fallan mutters, his hand grabbing my hip. “He thinks you're his,'' Fallan continues, his hand dipping beneath my shirt, exploring the warm skin underneath. “He thinks he can satisfy you,” he continues, my heart pounding as he backs me into the brick wall. “He thinks that you couldlovehim,” Fallan whispers, his lips pressed against the side of my face, his fingers moving farther up my body.

“I'm not entertaining any more stolen touches, only for you to just push me away,” I mutter, biting my cheek to avoid giving in to the pleasure the feeling of his hands on my skin is bringing me.

“Then tell me what you want, Little Dove.” His lips move from the side of my face to my front, his thumbs trailing along my upper rib cage, brushing against the lace overlay of my bra. “Do you want me to admit how much I crave you? How much I crave only you?” he questions, my breath shuddering, feeling his hands move closer to my breasts.

“You don't know what it’s like to hear you gasp every time I kiss your skin,” he starts, his lips finding the sensitive points on my neck. “You don't know what it's like to see your smile curve up for everyone but me and wonder why I can’t have it too,” he continues, my body aching to feel more of him. He has me sprawled against the wall, my body entirely controlled by his hand. “You don't know how much I wanted to hurt you to get back at your father for what he did to me, but then I realized who you were. That girl from the bonfire who made me smile for the first time in months,” he says, my legs aching as his hand finally finds my breast. He slips his thumb beneath the lace and gently passes over the tender skin of each nipple. I can’t hide the shake in my breath, biting my lip to stop myself from telling him to tear away everything I wear. “You were there during my test. We bled from the same blade and hid from the same monsters.'' My mind races to the moments we shared, even just as children.

“I could never forget that,” I whisper, my arms wrapping around his neck. “Even if they tried to make me,” I finish, my lip wobbly.

“Tell me to back away,” he starts, his hands grabbing the back of my thighs, pulling them up and around his waist. “Call me a pig,'' he continues, my thighs clenching tighter around his waist. “Call me every name you can think of,'' he pushes, his nose inches away from my own. “Be disgusted by me, please. Say anything so I won't do it.'' Our hearts race. “Tell me to stop.”

The connection between us buzzes. There are no more walls between us.

“Call me a privileged elite,” I whisper. “Tell me you hate my kind and loathe our existence.”

“I do loathe their existence,” he starts. “But not yours.”

My core heats each time my center brushes against him.

“I dream of your existence, Forest.” His voice is filled with longing. “You were my morning, noon, and night, and it all was ripped away in an instant. Now, I just want to fucking tear your clothes off in front of him and show him that you will never be his.”

“You don’t hate me?”

“Hate you?” he questions, his head shaking. “Forest, I’m inlovewith you,” he says, my heart bursting wide open as he says the words.

I slam my lips into his, finally giving in to this desire. His hands grab me harder, his teeth biting at my bottom lip before returning my kiss feverishly. My soft moans of pleasure are captured by his mouth. His arms are locked underneath me, seating me more fully against his cock. Running his tongue along my bottom lip, he slips it into my mouth, both of us fighting for some form of dominance. Grasping his curls, I deepen the kiss as I send him images of every way I want him to take me. He groans into the kiss, our marks burning with pleasure. I feel the cord of our connection snapping into place, solidifying in ways it hadn’t before.

Each of his thoughts has become my own; our souls no longer in two.

I finally break the kiss for air, feeling the rise and fall of his chest from heavy breathing. Both of us are a tangle of hunger and lust. Grasping his face, I run my thumbs along his cheeks, taking in his swollen lips and dilated pupils.

“It's not a one-sided feeling,” I whisper, his mouth curling into a grin.

“Tell me it's a bad idea to take you somewhere more private,” he says against my ear, his arms still wrapped around my body.

Never has the silence between us felt so right.

Chapter fifty

Forest

Hishandsbracethewall behind me. My back slams into his door, his lips exploring my own, barely letting either of us up for air. Keeping me wrapped around his waist, he fumbles with the locks on his door. I grow impatient, urging the slide of each lock forward with nothing more than a blink of my eyes. The energy, once a steady undercurrent between us, now surges like an unstoppable force, blazing through our veins like an inferno. I feel the firm flex of his muscles as he slams the door closed behind us, barely breaking contact. He moves us to the bed in the corner of the room, lowering me down gently until my back rests against the soft gray sheets.

As I move to yank up his shirt, he pushes my wrists back down, the bright gleam of his canines flashing as he gives me a devious smile that sends a thrilling shiver down my spine.

“You have no idea how tortured I’ve been by the thought of your touch. How tormented I’ve been knowing that I couldn’t have you like I want when I want.” He shifts to hold my wrists in one hand above my head, using his free one to grasp the bottom of my shirt. “You don’t get to touch me until I’ve gotten time to explore you,” he whispers, the heat between my legs nearly unbearable. Words are caught in my throat. The other part of me is silent, anticipating where this will lead. He presses his lips to mine again, touching my chin with his fingers, his eyes hungry with desire.

“Look at me,” he commands, my eyes snapping up to his.

Slowly, he moves down my body, stopping at the bottom of my shirt. He uses the hand still holding my wrists to pull me up, dropping them once I’m seated. His breathing is heavy as I watch him unlatch the buttons on my pants, jerking them down my legs towards the floor at his feet. He pauses, taking in the sight of my exposed body, his gaze feral as it sweeps across my black underwear. I clench my legs together, unable to hide the growing wetness between my legs. Kneeling at the end of the bed, he drags my thighs closer to him, his finger brushing over my mark. He trails kisses up my leg, running his tongue along my inner thigh. My arms struggle to support me as I watch him move closer to my core. Keeping eye contact with me, he uses his teeth to take the top of my underwear into his mouth, dragging the lace down my legs, exposing my sex to him.

“Perfect,” he whispers, bringing his fingers up to meet my warm center, the pleasure from his touch enough to make me implode. I bite back a moan as he reaches the aching bundle of nerves there.

“Let me hear it all,” he begs, as his fingers run gentle circles over my clit.

I feel my wetness coat his long fingers as he slips inside me, my back arching from the feeling.

---