“Oemis,” Axel said in a hushed tone.
“It’s where we think we all came from,” Shaun explained. “Where our Tirians came from, kinda like Atlantis.” I nodded, as that fitted with what I’d seen. “Jules calls it Wolflantis.” Shade’s hand slid over my arm, rubbing me soothingly when I tensed at the sound of her name. “Is that where the priestess thing comes from?”
“That’s more complex,” I said, then sighed. “I’m gonna have a shower, put some clothes on.” Shade’s grip tightened at that. “And Shade’s going to help me. We’ll sit down and have a chat about everything that’s happened and then sleep.” A wave of bone-deep weariness hit me. It had to be almost morning now, and this day had just gone on and on and on. I’d ridden the highs and the lows, but now I was just done, and somehow, Shade seemed to know that. He pressed his lips to the nape of my neck and then pushed me towards the en suite, even when the guys were about to protest. He shut the door with a firm snick and then removed what was left of his clothes.
This was why I was trashed. How the hell was a girl supposed to shut her eyes when all this damn hotness was on display? He looked shy momentarily, while I stared like a creeper, taking in all those long, lean muscles. I’d seen them flex and tense in my mind, but not here, not close enough to touch.
“You’re beat,” he said, moving past me and turning on the showerheads. Multiple, it appeared, as if in preparation for multiple people needing a wash.
“Yeah, but…”
“You’re dead on your feet.” His hand on my shoulder, steadying me, let me see just how wobbly I was. “C’mon, I’ll wash you.”
“I can wash my—”
He grabbed my hand and dragged me under the water, which was somehow the perfect temperature, picking up the soap and lathering it in his hands.
“This is the first time I’ve ever touched a woman I’m attracted to.” He said the words bluntly, but his eyes were on the soap, looking at the bubbles intently. “I…haven’t really touched anyone in a long time.”
“So you liked guys?” I asked carefully, but he shook his head.
“It’s not a big deal. Like, I know Axel by reputation…”
“Bit of a slut, is he?”
He snorted, then flicked black hair over his shoulders before shrugging.
“It’s just not my thing. I was…”
His hands went out, soapy and ready to wash me, but something held him back. I pulled that hand closer, putting it on my shoulder, and for a second, he just blinked. Then he nodded, smoothing it and the soap over my body.
What passed was a weirdly intimate moment with a stranger. He got himself acquainted with my body, with all of it, perhaps more thoroughly than any of the other guys, washing me carefully, neatly as a nurse, but this wasn’t a clinical
relationship. I heard the harsh rasp of his breath, because my lungs were doing the same, pumping harder, faster, in time with our hearts. When his hands moved down firmly, surely, cupping my breasts and washing the skin over and under them, forcing his hands to keep moving, I moved, grabbing the soap as I stepped back under the water, letting it all wash over me before starting on him.
“Has anyone touched you?” I asked him before I started. Initially, he just stared before shaking his head. “Never?”
He went to move back, frowning, his face closing down, but I caught him by the wrist.
“Shade, I ask and will keep asking out of respect. I don’t want to do anything you don’t want or aren’t ready for.”
“Ready?” This came out as a strangled sound. “Fuck, I’ve been ready for ages. I dreamed of you, saw you in Tirian form, pacing those streets. I knew you were coming, that’s why I shoved off anyone who actually fucking saw me. I caught your scent when you got to town, heard Shaun had this new girl that had gone into heat. I milled around his place, saw you through the glass door.”
He grabbed my hand and placed the soap against his chest, rubbing it over the muscles, forcing it lower and lower until I gave up all pretence, soaped up my hand, and wrapped it around his aching cock. He let out a long hiss in response.
“I saw you there, being pleasured by Shaun, caught every moan, every gasp, until I couldn’t fucking stand it anymore. I wanted to slam open that door and slam into you.”
At those words, I could see it, the moment recast and him doing exactly that as Shaun slid up my body, ready to take my…
“But I knew I couldn’t. So I took off, hightailing back to my place, the one I share with my flatmates, barely able to get inside my room before my cock was out.”
I swivelled my hand up and down, his hips moving with it.
“This is what I imagined, what I saw…”
That was barely more than a whisper as his body tightened, his cock throbbed, the only warning I got before he erupted all over the floor. And when the water washed it all away, soap, cum, dirt, whatever, I moved in, wrapping my arms around him until his breathing evened out again before I turned off the water and stepped out. I grabbed a towel for myself, drying myself off, and then handed one to him.
Now he was empty of cum and confessions, that haunted expression was back, partially stifled by the time we started to pull clothes on. That worried me, Branwen worried me, my recovered memory bullshit worried me, all of it, until I felt so weighed down, I found it hard to move. So Axel swept in.