Page 69 of The Crownless King
She greedily sucked on his tongue, holding him tight as his strokes became erratic. “Come for me, King.”
Levi cursed and gripped her waist tighter as he pumped into her until his body stiffened and he came. He shuddered with aftershocks as he buried his head in her neck.
“God damn, you take my breath away,” he drunkenly murmured.
Amaya slid her hand up his back and cupped his head, holding him tight to her. Emotion swamped her, heady and all-consuming. She knew the feeling tightening her chest but was almost afraid to acknowledge it.
Was she in love with Levi?
Chapter twenty -six
Levi shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes on the dark water of the Atlantic lapping at the shore. A few feet away were the busy docks of the Eastern harbor in Monterrey. It had taken them an hour by helicopter to get to the coastal town from Black Hollow, but he hoped the meeting he was waiting for would be worth it. His memories tried to drag him back to the nights he’d slaved away here while he and Sebastian had been trying to make a living.
It was at these same docks that he’d learned the importance of logistics and how to keep supplies moving throughout the South. It was one of the reasons Lucian hated him so. The border mage thought Levi beneath him since he’d started at these docks under his supervision. It galled Lucian that Levi had moved from unloading ships to owning them. He smiled to himself.
Fuck that border mage.
With this meeting, he hoped to do that and more.
A part of him reveled in the fact that he was about to have his current meeting on Lucian’s territory. The mage elder no longer showed his face at the docks, preferring to run his little kingdom from the capital city behind a desk. Levi knew firsthand that was the fastest way to lose control. People needed to see you, feel you, to know that fucking with you would always be a problem. Even at his trucking company, Levi made sure to show his face at least once a month.
His men were loyal, but all it took was once for a muthafucka to whisper the wrong shit in the wrong person’s ear.Like tonight. If Lucian had control of his men like he thought he did, Levi would’ve never been able to step foot in this harbor without the border mage knowing.
Especially to meet with another border mage.
The man of the hour pulled up in a matte black pickup truck, stopping about fifty yards from where Levi was standing. Both doors opened and two border mages stepped out of the truck, the male he was meeting with and another who Levi could only assume was his warden. The male was way over six feet tall, at least two inches taller than Levi’s six-foot three body. He had long dark locs that he had piled in a bun on top of his head. His warden’s locs were down loose around his shoulders, obscuring his face slightly. Both men were bulky and their power crackled around them.
“King Levi of the Bayi.” The mage he was set to meet broke the silence.
“Khalil,” he greeted. “I don’t know your warden’s name.”
“That’s a’ight.” Khalil’s voice was deep, his country twang very pronounced. “Bold to be meeting in Lucian’s backyard like this.”
“Fuck Lucian,” was Levi’s response to that.
The mage chuckled and nodded. Both men were of one accord. “My father said you had a proposition for us.”
“What would it take for your family to take over the border mage position on the Collective?”
Khalil tilted his head, surprise flashing across his face a moment before he suppressed it. “Proof that Lucian ain’t doing his job.”
Levi considered his next words. “Two nights ago, I was attacked by a group of Buru. They’ve been getting past the northern borders and it seems strange to me that your representative in the Collective don’t know shit about it.”
“You sure about that?”
“About him knowing, or about the fact that my men have seen an uptick in Buru activity?”
Khalil hummed but said nothing. The mage turned and faced the water, quiet for long moments. He turned back to Levi.
“My daddy won’t move without proof.”
“Fair. But again, I ask: can you think of any other reason the Buru are getting through these borders without help?”
“They ain’t getting through our shit,” Khalil assured him.
“And yet…”
Khalil sighed and turned to look at his warden. They shared an indecipherable look. Levi decided to push the needle just a bit more.
