He kissed me, our lips crashing in need and desperation.
Fire consumed me, emotions surging through the gates now wide open between us. I became obsessed with the press of his lips against mine, his rough hand pulling me closer as he slowly inched his length inside of me.
I closed my eyes in anticipation.
He growled and I snapped them back open. Declan rolled his hips against me and a throaty moan escaped me. God he felt good. So good.
His hands roamed over my breasts, the rough calluses on his thumb causing gooseflesh to break out across my skin.
“Mine.”
It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. “Yes.”
He kissed me. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I licked and bit at it. My hands clenched in his hair and warmth suffused me as his thrusts picked up speed. He buried his face against my neck, the stubble on his jaw scraping against my skin.
Sensations spiraled through me. His hand reached between us, his thumb flicking my clit in a way that made my breath catch.
I rose my hips up to meet his thrusts, needing him more than I needed my next breath. My insides tightened. Close. I was so close.
Declan angled himself deeper, hitting a spot deep inside that sent me propelling off a cliff. I gasped and then his mouth was on mine, swallowing my moans, and suddenly my climax was building again.
This need between us was raw and terrifying in its intensity.
I threw my head back.
He thrusted harder as he claimed me.
“Mine,” he repeated.
“Yours.” I broke apart, my second climax sweeping through me in a whirlwind of pleasure, followed quickly by Declan’s release before he collapsed almost on top me.
We stayed that way for several moments, locked in an embrace as our breathing slowed and our hearts settled. My leg slid down his side and he shifted his weight off of me as he lay beside me and pulled me into his arms.
It was like every bit of doubt and fear had been wrung out of us. I lifted my head to meet his gaze and placed one hand on his cheek.
Declan’s hand came up to cup mine and he lifted it and pressed a kiss to my fingers.
“I love you.”
Butterflies danced in my stomach at the sound of those three little words.
“I—” I took a deep breath. “I love you too.”
“In this life,” he said.
“And in the next.”
12
A knock at our door had me pulling away as I retrieved one of Declan’s oversized shirts from his dresser drawer. He growled in appreciation as I shimmied into it and I hid my smirk as I tossed him a pair of pants. Tugging them on, he answered the door, shirtless and uncaring as I scanned the floor for my discarded underwear.
“What is it?” His tone wasn’t at all welcoming.
I wasn’t the only one who’d wanted some alone time.
Robert stood on the other side of the doorway. “I have news.”
Declan moved aside, making way for Robert to come into the room. Seeing me, he raised a brow but otherwise didn’t comment on my unruly state or the shredded underclothes littered across the floor. He was a shifter. If his eyes didn’t inform him what had happened here, his nose would. No need for me to spell it out.
“The boy caught a familiar scent on their hunt for the missing Harpy.”
“Whose?” I gave up my search—judging by the scraps of fabric, finding them would be a lost cause—and joined them by the fireplace.
Robert shook his head and ran a hand through his blonde hair, forcing the strands to stand on end. “He doesn’t know who the scent belongs to but he recognized it as belonging to someone from his time in captivity.”
My muscles locked up. If he recognized the scent from his time with the H.A.C., that meant one of my mother’s men took Melody. But what could they hope to gain by taking her?
I listened to the remainder of Robert’s explanation but he didn’t have much else to offer so while they went back and forth offering ideas and suggestions, I dialed Jason’s number, already kicking myself for not asking him to look into this sooner.
“Already missing our sessions?”
I snorted. “Definitely not.” My muscles hurt just thinking about it. “But I need your help.”
I walked to the opposite end of the room. “We have reason to believe Melody was taken by the H.A.C.. Can you look into it?”
There was a pause. “I’m not privy to most of what your mother does —” he began.
“I know. But she’s my friend. Will you try?”
He sighed. I knew I was putting him in a tough spot but it couldn’t be helped.
“I’ll see what I can do. But if I find your friend and I’m forced to act, we may need to push up our timeline.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “How many do you have?” The problem with pulling the remaining psykers out of the H.A.C. was that many were still loyal. My mother had managed to keep her experiments on her own people under wraps and most didn’t believe Jason when he told them what was happening right beneath their noses. He’d needed time to sway them to his side. To protect them. And if Melody was in fact taken by the H.A.C., his time was running out.
“Twenty-three for sure. Possibly another two or three, I’m not sure yet.”
I swore. That meant twenty-six, best case scenario. Twenty-six out of fifty-two. We’d be leaving too many behind. “Do what you can. We always knew you were working on borrowed time.”
He made
