Skin Walkers: Angel Lost (11 page)

She closed her hand over his at her throat, relaxing back on the bed.  “I’m a Sentry, Commander.  I don’t expect gentle.”  She smiled beautifully at him, knowing her next words would send him over the edge. “If I wanted gentle I’d find a human male and let him…”  She gasped as he slid into her.

“No other male!” he grunted, before his lips found hers and he began to work.  Gods, she tasted like candy and felt like heaven, her pussy tightly gripped around him.  He’d thought about their first time, and the masquerade ball a thousand times, but memory didn’t do her justice.  She was glorious with her soft skin, warm flesh, and sexy keening noises as he stroked into her.  His lips left her mouth to trail to that spot just below her ear.  He remembered the spot, as if he’d buried a trove of treasure there.  It was a spot he’d never forget. He pressed a kiss to the spot, flicking his tongue against it, and Harlow threw her head back with a whimper.  He felt her pussy cream, and his balls drew up tight as his dick grew impossibly hard.  That was her spot.

He continued to lick and kiss, pulling the flesh into his mouth and sucking hard.  It’d leave a mark, and he liked the idea of that.

“Remy!” Harlow begged.

He knew what she wanted.  He wanted it too, and he was damn close.   He knew Harlow was barely hanging on as she bucked beneath him.  Yes, he had wanted to go slow, wanted to be gentle, but when her pussy began to flutter around him with her impending orgasm, there was no hope.  He wanted her soaring. 

Pulling his lips from her throat, Remy braced one hand beside her head, making space between their bodies so he could look at her.

Eyes glazed with lust, lips pink and swollen from his kisses, and breasts bouncing with his thrusts.  Her nipples brushed up against him, driving him insane. 

Harlow looked down between their bodies, watching him drive into her for one stroke, then two, and then her back arched, her body seizing as she screamed with the orgasm that blasted through her.  Her pussy clenched around him, gripping him tightly, and that was it for him as well.  He shot himself deep into her womb, continuing to thrust until every last drop of his seed filled her. Warmth filled his chest, and his gaze locked with hers.  She gasped a little sound, flattening a hand just above her breasts.  She’d felt it too.  The claiming was complete.  She was his!

Chapter 23

“She’s only going to be awake for a few, fleeting moments.  In that time, it is imperative that she gets nourishment, Monroe.”  Jenny’s concern was evident.  Shortly after Jenny had arrived and taken Eden’s vitals, Eden had passed out.  “She’s not a Walker, her body won’t handle this affliction like ours.”

Eden’s affliction was decidedly different than any Monroe or Jenny had ever seen.  Once she’d gone out, she’d been out for hours, only waking for a few minutes before going back out.  Once Jenny realized Monroe wouldn’t be taking his Angel to the infirmary for treatment she grew agitated, but eventually had Stoney take a blood sample to run tests.

“She’ll be able to eat?  To drink?” Monroe asked.  Skin Walkers were unable to keep down food or drink while afflicted, but Eden was fully human.

Jenny pursed her lips, slowly shaking her head.  “I’m thinking so, but I’m not one hundred percent on that.  This is…this is a case of first impressions.  I checked with Pyper at Apex.  She’s never heard of anything like this either.”

Monroe nodded curtly.  “Okay, feed her.  What else?”

Jenny stood straight, hands slamming onto her hips as she scowled up at him. “She should be in my infirmary!  I could keep a better eye on her there.”

“No,” he snarled.  “You’d poke and fucking prod her there.  Don’t think I don’t understand how fascinating this is to you, Jenny.  My Angel stays with me.”

Jenny growled her displeasure.  “Fine,” she snapped.  “She needs protein and high calorie smoothies instead of water.  We need to push as much nourishment as we can into these short windows of time.  Gods only know how long this will last.  I’m sending a nurse every single hour, Monroe, on that I won’t negotiate.  If she starts to decline, I’m moving her to the infirmary, and I don’t care what you say.  She’ll need an IV drip and a feeding tube.  But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Monroe snorted at Jenny’s attempt at authority.  Nothing happened at StoneCrow without his say so, and that went double when it came to his children and his Angel.  Still, Jenny was right in that, if Eden couldn’t stay awake long enough to eat and drink, he’d carry her to the infirmary himself.

When Jenny left Monroe ordered food, then sat in the chair beside the bed, taking Eden’s hand in his as he waited.  And waited.

Hours later, her eyelashes finally fluttered and Eden moaned softly before the warm, chocolate pools of her eyes were revealed.  She blinked up in confusion and straight into Monroe’s concerned eyes.  He didn’t hesitate; he couldn’t. The last time she’d only been awake for a few minutes, and he’d failed to properly care for her.  He wouldn’t make the same mistake this time.

Sliding a hand beneath her shoulders, he ignored her groan as he eased her to a sitting position, propping pillows behind her back.  “You’re going to eat,” he commanded, before sitting on the side of the bed and lifting the plate waiting there. 

The scent of steak hit Eden, and her belly clenched with desperate hunger, so she didn’t argue or say a word as Monroe lifted a forkful of meat and pressed it to her lips. Opening her mouth, she took the bite and began to slowly chew.  A few bites in though, she realized it was too much effort. She whimpered and shook her head, leaning forward to spit the half chewed bite into Monroe’s upraised hand.

“What?  What is it?  Are you going to be sick?”  It was what happened when afflicted Walkers attempted to eat during the affliction.  Until the need for their mate was sated, no food or drink could be kept down.  Jenny had said she didn’t think that’d be the case with Eden, but she wasn’t sure.

“Too…too tired.”

When Eden lay back on the pillows, Monroe felt panic seize him.  She couldn’t go back to sleep, not yet!

“Can’t chew,” Eden muttered. As she lay back with her eyes closed, her labored breathing told Monroe she was still awake.

Without thought, Monroe shoved Eden’s half chewed bite of steak into his mouth, chewing as quickly as he could.  When it was tender enough, he pulled it from his mouth with his fingers and pushed it to Eden’s lips.  “Eat.” 

Eden didn’t open her eyes, but thankfully her lips parted and she took the bite into her mouth.  She chewed once, then twice, before her throat convulsed with a swallow and a satisfied smile claimed her lips.  “More,” she breathed, but Monroe was already pushing a second fully-chewed bite between her lips.

They carried on like this until half the steak was gone.  Eden’s eyes cracked open, turning to the nightstand and Monroe knew what she wanted.  Setting the plate of steak on her lap, he reached for the banana smoothie and held it to her lips, one hand cupping the back of her neck to assist her.  To his delight, she drank down half the smoothie before pulling back and licking her lips with a groaned, “Mmmmm.”  Settling back against the pillows, her drowsy eyes locked on his and she smiled, but her blinks became longer and longer until her eyes didn’t open again.  Her breathing steadied, and Monroe was willing to let her sleep, satisfied he’d gotten enough nourishment in her for the time being.  Staring at her, he smoothed a hand over her cheek before sighing heavily and standing, taking the plate from her lap and turning away.  He stilled at the sound of Eden’s sleep-heavy voice.  When her words registered, the plate he held clattered to the floor as he dropped to his knees, one hand clutching his chest. 

“Thank you, my Dominant.”

Dominant? 
Did she remember?!  Did his Eden finally fucking remember him?

Chapter 24

Monroe paced at the foot of the bed he and Eden had shared for so long.  His hair was disheveled, and the last time he’d been this exhausted was when he’d been experiencing the affliction for himself.  It couldn’t be helped.  There was no way in hell he was going to miss being present the next time Eden woke.  Her last words to him before she’d passed out had him hoping beyond hope that Jenny was right, that his halo, and their tie to each other, was healing his mate.

There was a quiet knock at the door.
“Enter”
he sent through the mist. True to her word, Jenny had someone coming every hour, but it wasn’t a nurse.  It was the Chief of Surgery herself, and Monroe knew why.  Eden’s affliction was too great a revelation, and too rare an occurrence, for Jenny to slough off on anyone else.

“How is she?” Jenny whispered.  “Has she woken since I last came?”

Monroe shook his head.  He’d told Jenny of Eden’s words, and now they both waited for a miracle.

“Well, don’t get your hopes up, Monroe.  It could have been a fluke.  Could have been…”

“Mmmm?” Eden moaned, as she stirred.

Monroe was at her side in a flash, lifting the plate of steamed fish he’d ordered brought up only minutes earlier.

Eden’s weary eyes blinked up.  “M-Monroe?”

He took the seat beside her.  “I’m here.”

Before he could lift food to her mouth, she closed her eyes tightly and asked, “My children.  I want to see the kids.”

His heart seized, but then he remembered he’d told her about them.  “They’re at Apex, Angel, remember?”

She kept her eyes closed as she lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, her face scrunching in confusion. “With Tyce?”

Monroe hadn’t told Eden of Tyce, but that didn’t mean someone else hadn’t.  The suspense was fucking killing him.  “Angel, they’re safe.  I made sure of it.”

“I want them here.  Now! 
Make
that happen.”

Monroe bristled, but it wasn’t in agitation at her command.  He was excited. His Angel was the only one who’d ever dared issue an order to him.

“It’ll be done,” he offered, hesitantly.

Eden kept her fingers pinched on the bridge of her nose, eyes still closed as she frowned.  “I need…I’m hungry.”

“I have food.”  He lifted a forkful of salmon to her lips, but her eyes finally opened and she pushed the fork away roughly.

“No.”  She turned her head to look at him with determined eyes.  “Not food.  I need
you
.”

Silence filled the room, and Monroe froze.  Behind him, Jenny asked, “Eden…are-are you back?”

A corner of Eden’s mouth ticked up.  She kept her eyes on Monroe as she ignored Jenny’s question. “A minute alone, Jen.  I need to be alone with my Dominant.”

Elation soared through Monroe and he asked hopefully, emotion clogging his throat, “Eden?”  But it didn’t sound like a question.  It sounded like he was demanding she give him what he wanted more than his next breath.  Confirmation that she was whole again.

She grinned, cupping his cheek.  “Yes, Daddy Warbucks.”  The nickname was one she’d given him when they’d first met, implying he was a rich, pompous ass.  She reserved the moniker for those rare instances when he refused to let her have her way. 

Monroe had never been so delighted to be insulted.  He shot to his feet, barking, “Jenny!  Get out!”

Eden smiled, but it didn’t hold.  She was sapped, and had an ache that only her mate could sate.  When Monroe locked the door behind Jenny and turned back to her he stood, body rigid, staring as if he expected her to change her mind, or as if he feared he’d misheard.

“Undress.”

It was the same command he’d given her when he’d been afflicted and about to claim her.  At the time, she’d contemplated running from him, but he’d threatened to chase her down and fuck her the first place she stopped.

Eyes suddenly fully black with the presence of his beasts, Monroe lifted his hands to undo his tie and rip it off.

“Slowly!” Eden smirked.  He’d demanded the same of her, and while need was pulsing through her like an open wound, she had never thought she’d get the chance to turn the tables on him like this.  Watching him make a show of unbuttoning his shirt with trembling fingers, emotion flooded her.  She did that.  She unnerved the most powerful Walker on the face of the earth.  The most powerful being any of them had ever met, and he was hers!

Tears blinded her, and Monroe’s fingers stilled in their task of peeling off his shirt.

“Eden?” 

She smiled, whispering a heartbreaking, “God, I missed you.”

And that was it.  Game over.  Monroe ripped his shirt off, dropping it to the floor as he stalked to the bed.  Once there, he grabbed Eden’s shoulders, pulling her to him and crushing his mouth to hers.

He wasn’t gentle, and she knew by the sound of the beasts rattling his chest that the ability was beyond him.  She loved him like this, barely in control. 

She smiled as she felt his incisors elongate in his mouth, as they’d done so many other times when he’d lost control.  She licked one and then the other causing Monroe to groan into her mouth.

When they’d first gotten together, he’d been concerned that she would fear him, and his inability to control himself and the animals housed within his soul.  It’d been the opposite.  Nothing turned her on more than pushing him to the very edges of his control.

“Pants off,” she demanded against his lips.

Monroe pulled back and reached down, fisting the material of his dress slacks and jerking hard, the muscles of his arms and chest bunching and flexing as he kicked out of the remnants.

Eden tried to sit up to get out of her clothes, but didn’t have the strength.  “I…I can’t,” she whispered.  “You have to help.”

Where seconds earlier his hands had been vicious, now they were nothing but tender as they ghosted over Eden’s body, slipping her arms from her sleeves, peeling her panties down her legs.  Once they were both naked, Monroe climbed onto the bed with her, settling himself between her legs, arching back to look at her. 

They stared at each other in silence for long moments before Eden lifted a hand to curl around the back of his neck, as he had once done when he’d finally asked her to be his.

Swallowing, a tear slipped free as she asked, “Monroe StoneCrow, will you do me the immense honor of becoming my Angel until my life on this earth ends?”

He smiled, tenderness filling his dark eyes, and she wondered if he even remembered her response to him so long ago. But when he finally spoke, his voice was rough with emotion.  Elation soared as he confirmed, just as she had on the day they’d first mated,  “Until the end.”

Then he was pushing into her, consummating his vow, reclaiming her.

He couldn’t hold her tight enough, pull her close enough, bury himself deep enough.  As his hips worked, a constant, deep growl rippled up from his chest and filled the room with an animalistic rattle.  His teeth clamped on her shoulder, not hard, but just enough, and just because.  Because
this
Eden knew that every time he was buried balls deep inside her, his beasts were so damn close to the surface he actually had to fight to keep them from surging forth.  He felt his incisors elongate as they always did, pressing into Eden’s flesh.  They didn’t puncture, just pushed in far enough to evoke that feminine moan she always gave, followed by a breathy sigh that told him she enjoyed this side of him.  She liked his inner beasts.  It was confirmed when her pussy contracted on him.  She was close, and so was he.  He continued to buck into her as one hand clamped on the globe of her ass. 

“Eden,” he pulled back to snarl in warning.  He wasn’t going to last, and from the way she mewled and clung to him, she wasn’t going to either. 

Eden arched her back, pressing her hips to his before throwing herself forward.  She breathed at his neck, “
Mine
,” and when her teeth locked into his shoulder, she moaned into the bite as her body seized. 

The bite sent Monroe slamming over the edge.  He knew what it meant, what she’d been trying to convey.  He was hers, just as she was his.  His body convulsed as he shot his seed into her, and he continued to move, drawing out her orgasm as he emptied himself.

After long minutes, he pulled her tight to him, kissing her forehead, then her eyes, then her nose and cheeks, before finally claiming her lips for several moments before easing back.  “How can I love someone this much?  I never imagined this level of adoration was possible.”

She sighed contentedly against his chest.  “I know the feeling.”   

He grinned, shaking his head.  “Doubtful.  I missed you so damn much, Angel.  Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

Her arms squeezed him to her, and he felt moisture on his chest before he heard her sniffle.  “Thank you for waiting, for finding me, for refusing to lose me.”

“There is nothing I fear in this world, Eden StoneCrow.  No man, no beast, no demon, no God.  No beings we can see, no beings we can’t.  But.” He shuddered.  “I was so afraid you’d never come back to me.  I was broken.  Pieces of me were being stripped away, but you came back and made me whole again.  You put my heart back together.”

She lifted her watery eyes to look at him, love filling her gaze. “I promise that, no matter what, I’ll never stop looking for you.  Not ever.”

He smoothed his fingers over her forehead as he studied her face.  “And I promise I’ll always find you.”