The fuck you are. Why the hell are you in my head? Where’s my Tirian?
She went to splutter a response, but a god almighty roar put paid to that. Her voice died and was replaced by a much more familiar one.
Interloper! my Tirian snapped. Trespasser!
And with that, it appeared she’d shoved the mysterious Branwen out of my head.
What the hell was that? I asked my beast.
Possession, she growled. Intrusion.
It seemed like she could only manage one-word answers, so that needed to be left for now, particularly as my head seemed to be my own. Which left the latent shock that had been held at bay by Branwen’s temptations.
“Um…I’m Bec,” I introduced myself belatedly.
As if we weren’t already acquainted. I mean, cock down throat wasn’t exactly a traditional greeting, but yeah. My eyes dropped down when Shade just stared back, probably wondering what crack I was on, but long slender fingers touched my chin, tipping it back up, forcing me to meet his eyes. He seemed to crave that, and something that I remembered came to me.
“I’m Shade,” he said in return.
“No, you’re not.”
His lips pursed, so full and soft looking, my mouth watered for a taste, then they smoothed out. He shook his head.
“My mum calls me Simon.”
“And what do you want me calling you?” I asked.
“Mine. I want you to call me mine.”
He stood straighter, facing me down, the room down, an almost rebellious look in his eyes as he waited for a reaction to that. He wanted to get closer, to reach for me, I could see that in the fine tremor in his body. He was so much taller than me, had a body packed with heavy muscle, but he shivered when I moved in closer, sliding my arms around his waist, his wrapping around me readily enough. When I put my ear to his chest, I heard the rapid beat of his heart, the hoarse rasp of his breath.
“Well, the first step towards that is getting to know each other. What name would you prefer I used?”
A hand went to my hair, stroking through, then pausing when I asked the question.
“Shade will do,” he replied, his voice magnified because I was this close now.
“So how the hell did you get in here, Shade?” Ethan asked. “The alpha residence has been locked down. No one’s supposed to be coming in or out.”
“I needed to see her, to feel her.”
I heard the fervour in his voice, a stranger’s voice, but when his arms tightened around me, I found I could only lean into the pressure. I wanted him to hold me tight, to press his body against mine, and when I tipped my head up, blindly offering my mouth to him, he blinked for just a second, those long fingers touching my lips, hissing when I parted them for him, my tongue flicking out to taste the tips. That was replaced by his lips all too soon, his mouth crushing down on mine in a messy, uneducated kiss.
So I slowed things down, pulling back, forcing him to wait before moving in again, kissing him slowly, deeply, and he proved to be an astute student. He followed my lead, sucking on my bottom lip, parting my mouth and then sliding his tongue inside until my fingers clamped down on him, my body grinding against his.
“That doesn’t really answer the question,” Ethan insisted, then looked around the room. “There’s something… You act like you know Shade or are drawn to him.”
“Like you are us,” Axel announced, his eyes sliding to Shaun, almost warily, but he needn’t have worried. Shaun moved closer, Shade’s arm tightening around me, like he was afraid I’d be pried free, but Shaun just shook his head.
“Is that true?”
That could have been an accusation, but it was deliberately voiced softly, gently.
“I…I’ve got some stuff to update you on, but yeah.” I looked back over my shoulder, saw Shade standing there, too stiff, too tense. “I saw you guys, all four of you. At least I think it was you. We’ve done this before. Like before, before.”
Shaun, Axel, even Shade, they nodded, but Ethan just frowned slightly.
“I saw rituals and a place where the floors were all mosaiced.”