The bedcovers were pulled up over my head, my breath creating a warm cocoon as I lay nestled on soft pillows. My groggy brain knew it wasn’t my bed, but it also knew that something bad had happened last night, and pushing down the covers to see where I was seemed pretty frightening.
There was a shower running somewhere. The sheets smelled freshly cleaned and were crisp, like hotel sheets. I wasn’t wearing my costume from the party, but an oversized sweater that smelled distinctly of smoke and citrus-y pine. Leon’s smell.
I pushed back the covers, blinking slowly. The curtains had been thrown back to a gray day over a sea of snow-dappled pine trees clustered around the roofs of a small town. The room was undoubtedly a master suite, and on an uppermost floor judging by the view. The bed was massive, the walls made of stained wood and the decor like the interior of a modern log cabin.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes before I noticed my glasses, and my knife, sitting on the bedside table. Suddenly, it all came back in a rush that twisted up my stomach — the roofie in my drink, Juniper and Zane, Kent, the Gollum in the woods. My body still thought there was danger, and I could vividly remember what it felt like when the Gollum touched me.
The mine…those cold, flooded tunnels…
I jumped as the bathroom door opened, and Leon sauntered out naked, water dripping down the inked artwork on his chest as he rubbed a towel over his hair. He spotted me awake, smirked, and paused with the towel around his shoulders.
“Finally awake,” he said. The mirror at his back gave a drool-worthy view of his tattooed back and his ass — men’s asses were too rarely given the appreciation they deserved. I just nodded, hoping that the blush creeping up my face wasn’t visible. Trying not to stare at the monster-dick between his legs was proving impossible, no matter how many times I’d seen it before.
“And how do you feel?” He came up to the edge of the bed. I wanted to lick the water off his chest.
“Like I haven’t eaten in five years,” I said, honestly. My stomach was about to ingest itself. Horrifying events probably should have killed my appetite, but I desperately wanted a big breakfast.
If Leon was part of that breakfast, even better.
“Good, I already ordered room service. Should be here shortly.” He tossed aside the towel and crawled up on the bed, and my heart stuttered. “You’re the first course, doll.”
My makeup from the previous night was likely smeared all over my face and I hadn’t brushed my teeth, but he genuinely didn’t care. He pushed me back on the pillows and shoved my over-sized shirt up, sucking first one nipple and then the other as he pressed my legs apart. “Don’t forget our deal,” he murmured, in-between lapping his tongue over my now-hard nipples. “I get to pierce these sweet little buds. Soon — today, in fact.”
I’d forgotten, but the moment he reminded me my head rushed with heat. He gripped my hips, tugging me into position so I was held up just slightly off the bed, my back arched, and began to eat me like it was his last fucking meal.
I gasped sharply, my clit swelling between the lapping of his tongue and suction of his mouth. My fingers tangled in his hair, gripping tightly as he forced a trembling moan out of me.
He chuckled, a brief break as my legs shook around his head. “Keep pulling my hair like that, baby girl. I like pain too.”
I liked that new pet name he had for me; it made my belly warm, but so did his admission. I tightened my grip on his hair, even though I doubted anything I did could truly hurt him. But as I tugged, he moaned against me. He lowered my hips, but only so he could free up a hand and press two fingers inside me as he continued to lick at my clit.
“Fuck, I’m gonna come…” Ecstasy was washing over me hard and fast, drowning me. He pumped his fingers faster, pressed my thigh down so my trembling legs couldn’t close, and swirled his tongue over me mercilessly until I gushed over his fingers, gasping as I soaked the sheets.
And he didn’t stop.
“Again, baby girl,” he growled, his fingers still working me, smiling sadistically as I wiggled beneath him, the stimulation almost too much, almost painful, but so damn good.
“I can’t…can’t!”
With one hand still fingering me, he gripped my throat with the other — not squeezing, just holding me pinned to the pillows — and said, “You can, and you will. You don’t have a choice.”
He was right. With his tongue and his fingers working their magic, my eyes rolled back in my head when I orgasmed again. I couldn’t even get my breath, let alone speak as he slowly raised his head and licked his fingers clean.
“Fucking delicious,” he murmured. “And just in time for the main course.”
There was a knock at the door as room service arrived, and I promptly hid my shaking form back under the covers as Leon answered the door with the towel around his waist. The waiter sounded particularly flustered as he asked if Leon would be needing anything else.
The overly-laden tray was left on the small table, and I ate as Leon dressed and lounged on the bed. He’d ordered just about everything on the breakfast menu, so I started with the eggs benedict and strawberry pancakes.
“Where are we?” I asked, in-between bites.
He shrugged. “Northeast of Abelaum. I just kept walking until I found a place to stop.”
I frowned. “Toss me my phone, would you?”
As I suspected, I had about a dozen missed calls from Inaya and frantic voicemails. Guilt gnawed at me, even though I hadn’t really had a choice but to leave her last night. It was nearly eleven in the morning, so I called her back.
“Holy fuck, Raelynn, I thought you’d gotten kidnapped!” I winced at her greeting. “Girl, where are you? I was about to file a missing person report —”
“I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m so sorry,” I said quickly. I glanced over at Leon, who narrowed his eyes in question. “I…I had to leave early last night. Someone, um…someone drugged my drink.”
There was a beat of total silence on the line. “Oh my God…oh my God, are you…?”
“I’m okay, I promise. I’m sorry I didn’t call you or anything, I was just —”
“Don’t apologize, oh God, I’m just glad you’re okay!” The relief in her voice made me feel even guiltier. I wasn’t exactly lying, but I couldn’t tell her the whole truth. “Do you need me to bring you anything?”
“That’s okay, I’m good. Can you just take care of Cheesecake for a few days? I’ll come pick him up soon, I promise.”
“Of course!” The sound of Cheesecake’s little meow in the background made my heart hurt. “He can stay with Auntie Inaya as long as he needs to.” Another pause. “Do you…do you know who drugged you? Did they try anything? I’ll kick their fucking ass, Rae.”
I took a deep breath. “The only person to hand me a drink was Jeremiah. It didn’t leave my hand all night.” I couldn’t tell her the whole truth, but I wasn’t about to pretend she could trust the Hadleighs.
More silence. Anxiety twisted my stomach. Please believe me, Inaya, please. It wasn’t a blatant accusation, but my point was clear. I knew they were her friends, but she didn’t know them. She didn’t know what they were capable of.
“Then he’s not coming near us again,” she said, and I wished I could reach through the phone and hug her. “Fuck him. Do you want me to tell Victoria?”
“No,” I said. “No, I…I don’t know if she’ll…if she’ll believe…”
“Fuck her too if she doesn’t!” She sighed heavily, her mama bear slowly calming. “But I get it. I get it. This will stay between us unless you’re ready to tell anyone else. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
We chatted for a few more minutes before I hung up. The relief of having Inaya know that Jeremiah couldn’t be trusted — even if she only knew a small part of why — lifted a massive weight off my back. I ate a little more enthusiastically once I was off the phone, shoveling forkfuls of crispy hash browns into my mouth.
Finally satiated, I hobbled back to the bed, crawled up onto the mattress, and pressed myself against Leon’s bare chest. With my face buried against him, I let myself melt into his heat for a moment before I said, “What are we going to do?”
We. I wouldn’t have even dared to think of it a few days ago. Even now, with him having snatched me away and hidden me…somewhere…I still felt a pang of anxiety to dare say we. What even were we in all this? Just a possessive protector and his pet? Friends or…or lovers?
A summoner and her demon?
“I can tell you what I’m going to do, and what you’re going to do,” he said, his arm around my shoulders so I was held against him. “I’m going to keep you safe. And you’re going to listen to me, so that I can protect you properly.”
I raised my head, grinning mischievously. “I’ll listen. Doesn’t mean I’ll obey.”
He snorted, squeezing my arm. “Henceforth, the consequences for endangering your life will be severe, Rae. Think twice before you decide to be a brat.”
“Henceforth?” I giggled. “Your 17th century came out there a bit.”
“Back in my day…” He put on a gravelly old man voice, and easily rolled me onto my back, following after me so that he straddled me as I lay there. “Humans had a much more proper fear of demons than to be teasing them, baby girl.” He snapped his teeth, all sharp and wicked, and said softly. “Still feel like teasing?”
The playfulness in his eyes made my heart skip. I traced my fingers along his chest, finding the smooth pale lines of his scars and following them. Torture scars, battle scars, stories of pain that lingered on this absurdly strong, immortal body. He watched my fingers move, suddenly still as stone, and I wondered if it was because he was trying not to flinch away, like he had the first time I’d touched him gently.
“Are we safe here?” I whispered. Strong as he was, I didn’t want to see him fight again. I didn’t want to see him have to turn into an animal to survive or to ensure I survived.
“For now. We’ll stay here for a while…then move on if the Hadleighs or any of the beasts get wind of where you are.”
“I can’t hide forever.”
“I know. And you won’t. Just until it’s safe.”
“I know there are other Gollums, besides the one last night.” I gulped. “I saw them.”
He frowned. “When?”
“When you were gone.”
His frown intensified, and he stood up from the bed. I sat up, hands knotting nervously in the blankets as he picked up a black long-sleeved shirt from the floor and pulled it on. “You should get dressed,” he said. “There’s some clothes in the bags near the door. I need to do some scouting today, make sure no one’s on our trail. And I need you occupied while I’m gone so you don’t go wandering off.”
I was about to remind him that I wasn’t a puppy who would go running off without a leash, but stopped myself before I lied. I was a wanderer, and he was absolutely right to worry what I’d do if I got bored. I worried what I’d do if I was bored. The plastic bags near the door had an assortment of clothing in them, mostly in black, brown, and dark blue.
“How do you know my size?” I said, holding up a long blue plaid skirt to my waist in front of the mirror. “And my style…this is cute…”
“I’ve been observing you for months,” he said, lacing up his boots. “How could I not know those things?”
He’d even gotten the right size in a pair of chunky boots. With a black turtleneck and gray denim jacket atop the skirt, I turned away from the mirror and found him watching me, hands stuffed into the pockets of his joggers.
My ex had once said that my style was like, “if Janis Joplin had a lovechild with Sisters of Mercy.” It was more weird than sexy, which wasn’t something I thought about most of the time — except when a supernaturally sexy demon was staring me down like he was considering eating me again.
“Why are you blushing?” He took my face in his hands, which made my blush far worse, considering I couldn’t look away from him. “I thought I’d fucked all the shame out of you already?” He kissed my forehead, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Apparently I need to corrupt you a bit more, baby girl.”
