Telling them so, telling Talon that, simply infuriated them. Each of them were now certain that King had to not only remain with them but fight with them, that by doing so would protect the woman they all cherished and would die for.
King couldn’t argue with it even if he wanted to. Not after whispering words to her he was sure would be his demise, words he knew right now she wasn’t ready to hear. Not after feeling the peace he felt after he said them, the rush, the clarity.
He didn’t empower Reveca. She didn’t empower him. They empowered each other. It was a balance that was set perfectly in place by a higher power that King would never understand.
The fact that each of them had come so far on their own, the victories they’d had, that was a testimony of the power they each held on their own. Together…well, together King couldn’t even imagine what they could accomplish. And to be honest, the victory was not where his mind was anyway. It was in knowing that she was going to be at his side, knowing stolen moments were something he could look forward to each day.
The timing of it all sucked. Made of one soul or not, Reveca was wounded now. She had some kind of love for Talon. There was no way she didn’t. They had far too much history together. They were bonded, and Talon ripped her heart out. In Talon’s own way he surely thought it was the best way, a swift death, the one all honorable warriors give, but it was too harsh for the shaky ground they were all standing on.
It had already hurt this family. Right now they needed her to tell them once more exactly what action to take. They needed a backup plan, then another one, and she was avoiding them.
King manifested in the bathroom in his room. He took a long hot shower, and deep in thought, he told himself once the Club got past this threat, once the dust settled he was going to let the part of him that was Kenson rise. He was going to steal moments with her. He was going to get her to fall in love with him again, make up for the lost time. He was going to live in the moment with her.
He’d still look forward. There was no way he couldn’t: the warrior in him wouldn’t allow it. He’d plot for a perfect siege of Revelin. Bargain his way out of any demise that would take Reveca’s life. He’d do all of that, but while he did he was going to live in the moment with her.
He’d dressed again and sat down to pull his shoes on when he saw the note on his bed, one that nearly blended in with his white sheets.
The two words: River bend took him back, way back. The same rush was in his gut today as it was then.
He knew exactly where she was. Earlier he had assumed she was just moving through her church as she always did when she needed to think.
He crumpled the note and leaned forward on his knees. Going to her, he could only imagine what would happen…and he didn’t think she was ready for it. He didn’t want to be revenge for her.
The debate went on and on in his mind, his gut telling him not to go, his heart not letting him stop.
He manifested near the river bend, stared at the dark water. He sensed her not far off, just like he had all those ages ago. He half expected to find her in the water, wearing nothing at all, waiting for him.
She wasn’t there, but he saw the petals. They were dancing on the wind, following a breeze into the woods, fireflies marking their path.
He was across the river in the next blink of his eye. But he kept his pace slow, enduring the internal war in his heart and in his gut. He told himself if they were at the house, anywhere in the Boneyard, this act would be the revenge he feared it was for her, but she had placed them back in time. She had hidden them in a world that was all their own.
The petals led him to a thick of moss, vines, and branches that had reached the ground. Each petal was slipping into a small opening.
He pulled in a deep breath then stepped in the cocoon she had made, hearing the branches fall together behind him.
She was there. The ground was covered, inches thick in every kind of petal one could imagine. They were still flowing in from the opening at the top, raining in on a whisper of a wind. The starlight was bathing them, adding a glow that the fireflies were dancing with.
She was in the center of all this beauty, wearing nothing at all. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was over her shoulders, shielding most of her, making her look like the goddess he was sure she was. The gray of her eyes was more like diamonds, as they stared forward at him. He could have sworn he saw her tremble ever so slightly, the way she did when she was a girl, when he’d find her somewhere waiting for him to pass. In her eyes he’d always see her fear and excitement, a dare she carried with her, one he drew out of her as he beckoned her closer each time they were near.
His entire body tensed; there was a burn in his chest telling him to claim what had always been his for the first time, to let himself indulge in the reward. It was stealing his breath, but from the outside he looked calm, distant, perhaps unapproachable.
Not daring to let his shoes shred the petals he slipped out of them as he crept closer to her.
When he was just a few feet away from her he began to circle her and let his eyes devour her as she bowed her head. As this beauty she created swayed all around her, petals were landing in her hair, against her flesh and sliding down nice and slow. He had so much envy for nature just then, how it was one with her, how it didn’t feel this distance he felt, this tension, her nerves, the doubt he felt lingering in the air.
Through all of those emotions he sensed want, too, hers and his. A desire that had been passed by, over and over. One that they each wanted to be perfect, to not be ripe with lust but rich with the emotion they both drew out of each other.
The time had never come for the pair of them. It likely never would, not when they lived on a battlefield, when they didn’t have a lifetime to hold one another but moments in-between the strife.
“What is this?” he asked against her neck as he passed by, seeing a tremble of hers wave over her body.
“A stolen moment,” she whispered. Reveca bit her lip and stared forward. She’d never felt more vulnerable in her entire life, more open, on display for him to take or leave. “This is our world. Nothing here but you and me. No end and no beginning.”
He stepped before her, his eyes met hers, met her soul. He moved his head slightly side-to-side. His lips parted, doubt in his stare. “I want to be your vengeance in the battles of life, Reveca, not your revenge in the battles of the heart.”
Reveca breathed in nice and slow. Knowing that, even if Talon had not done the unthinkable, she’d be here tonight. She was strong enough to let King go once more but she wasn’t strong enough to not let a night like this occur. If they were destined to live apart, fight apart, then at the very least they deserved this moment, deserved to know what they were fighting for, to feel it.
It would be what gave her strength in the ages to come. It would be a sacred memory that would give her hope in her darkest hours.
“I want you to hold me like it’s the last time…not the first. Hold me as if you will never touch me again.” She had no idea how her voice didn’t crack, how her eyes were dry. “Live in this moment with me, pretend that we were never apart, that we never will be. That there is no world outside of this deep connection we share. Steal this moment…surrender with me.”
King reached his fingertips for the crown of her head. Reveca breathed in, feeling how intense the vibration of him was. How now that the anger and the frustration was gone that it was all the more powerful.
She felt his fingertips ease down her face as if they were ingraining each feature to memory. They moved down her face, crossed her collarbones. Her chest was rising slow and steady. Her nipples were hard long before his touch brushed across them. And he moved even further down, gliding across her ribs, leading down to her navel, past her stomach, to that perfect v that would lead to the heat of her.
She felt his fingertip move over her hip, the warmth of him moving to her side, his touch gliding across her back, and then he was gone.
Reveca dropped her head, refused to open her eyes. Rejection—she felt it, the same way she felt long ago when he would come so close to making her his then drift back, always waiting, waiting for a moment that she knew would never come.
Then all at once she felt the fervor of him against her back, felt his bare chest against her flesh and the long hard length of him aligning with her spine. A gasp left her then, seconds before his hands slid around her hips with a gentle ease, before she felt his lips on her shoulder, slowly gliding toward her neck.
She let her head fall back and to the side, inviting him closer, leaning back into the hot vibrating energy he was. His touches were innocent, more so near silent brushes as his kiss kept the same rhythm. When his lips glided up her neck, her entire body quivered. Slowly his kiss ran along her jaw then he reached to turn her lips to his. This kiss was deep, a head spinning rush, one that had her turning in his arms. She reached for his shoulders and pulled him closer, letting her hands slide up and run through his dark hair, feeling the petals fall upon him and whisper by.
King’s hands pulled her closer, then slowly eased down her body, going so leisurely it was killing him, but he hadn’t waited this long for a fleeting moment. He wanted to relish her.
Carefully he lifted her in his arms, wrapping her legs around him. She rose in his embrace, letting her hair curtain around him as she controlled their kiss and rocked her body against his.
He lowered her to the bed of petals, stared down as her hair haloed around her. He didn’t close his eyes, break the deep stare they had until just before his lips touched hers. Until he felt the heat of her tongue move against his.
Carefully he broke away from her kiss and moved down her neck, his hands rushing to her chest and squeezing just so. Seconds later his lips found their way there, moving hot wet kisses over the lush curves of her chest, then her taut nipples. His hands slid farther down, his palms wide, wanting to touch every part of her body and leave his mark. He intended to ensure that every inch of her flesh felt this hum, that his claim was laid within her soul.
All at once, as his teeth teased her chest, his hand slipped between her legs. Gliding over the tight, hot, wet rose bud of nerves he slid down farther, daring to enter her only to move up again, to touch, caress that one tiny spot on her body that he knew was causing her hips to rock. Those tiny moans coming from her were a symphony to his soul.
His kiss moved lower and lower, so low that allowing his touch to bring her sweet torture was no longer an option. His kiss moved past her navel, leaving a sweet kiss there before moving farther down and kissing one hip. Then his lips were sliding to the other and carefully moving down her thigh.
Those little touches were causing her to writhe and were testing his willpower. His eyes, just barely open behind his thick lashes, took in the sight of her, the way the vibration of them had mesmerized the nature around them. The petals were no longer falling but suspended in the air, reflecting the light of the stars that he saw in her eyes.
Holding her stare, his kiss, his tongue fell between her wet, heated folds. Reveca’s eyes slammed shut and her back arched, but he was the one who moaned. The taste of her, the claim—he felt it bellow in his chest. She was on fire under his lips. It was nothing less than intoxicating. He kept to the slow sweet strides of his tongue as his arms hooked under her thighs and did their best to hold her in place.
The sounds she was making were driving him wild, and when she whispered his name, not King, but Kenson, he could have sworn his chest ripped open. His kiss left the heat of her and moved up her body as slowly as he could. As he kissed the flesh at her chest once more, his eyes opened and connected with hers.
The way he looked at her drove Reveca just as mad as his touch. This edge he had her lingering on would be the end of her. He looked at her like she was the world, like she was everything, the only thing that ever mattered.
She reached her hands for his face then let them glide down to his shoulders and then to his chest. So much raw power, and a strength that was deeper than the flesh. She never let his stare go as she reached for him, let her hand slide down his thick hard length then up again. The hiss that left his lips, how he rocked into her hand, made her feel invincible, made her feel if she could tame this power she could do anything.
She moved her legs around him, held his eyes as she guided him in, guided him home. The second they were flesh to flesh, heat to heat, Reveca sucked in a harsh breath feeling a vibration deeper than she ever had before. It was consuming her, robbing her of all her senses, so much so that even though she could have sworn she heard him whisper something, she couldn’t focus on it. All she felt was his thrust, how deep it was, how full it made her feel. A moan that was more like a gasp left her as she rocked her body with his.
The power was instantly addictive. She wanted more, she wanted him deeper, and with a squeeze of her legs she rolled him to his back, never losing their connection, their bond. Looking down at him, at those eyes, every ridged muscle of his chest robbed what little breath she had left.
His hands moved across her body, making her feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. Then without warning he rocked his hips up, hard and fast and hitting every sensation she could ever want him to deep inside of her. She groaned, even let a smile come to her face.
Seeing it seemed to make the glint in his eyes all the more hungry. Once again he rocked up, deep and hard, he even let his own hint of a smile come up as she let her head fall back and she braced her hands on his chest, waiting for the next thrust. When it came she was sure she wasn’t going to last much longer. The build, the rush of energy in her core had lingered on the edge for so long that it nearly hurt.
With his next thrust he rose and wrapped his arms around her then slid them up her back and hooked them around her shoulders. The very next time he thrust he pulled her down. They both let out a moan, feeling that hum between them pass a new level of vibration.
The very next thrust was when Reveca came undone, when everything exploded around her. His release came seconds after, she was sure of it. The way his arms tightened around her, the way his thrusts slowed, how slick and hot they were as they moved together.
She wasn’t there though, at least not all the way. Something else was happening. It was a wave. It started at the crown of her head and slowly slid down her body, around their bodies which were now one. The rich energy stopped time. It was a moment when they were both everything and nothing, one with the universe that bore them, bathed in the exaltation and the rush that had pulled them together from the first instant they saw each other until now.
No experience in all of her experiences could ever compare to feeling him deep inside, falling down her erotic rush, and being bathed in an unexplainable power, one that only they shared.
Nice and slow is how they emerged from the rush. She moved her hands through his hair as she felt him kiss her chest. She sighed when his lips rose to her neck, and she looked down to meet his lips, carefully let her lips dance with his.
His arms braced around her body then laid her down carefully. The divide of them—feeling him slip out of her, it was cold, something she didn’t want to happen. She wanted those last moments to last forever.
King let a smile come to his kiss just before he broke away from her lips.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he took a petal that had rested on her neck and vigilantly guided it as he slid the silk of it over her body, every single part of her that he’d kissed, devoured, just moments before.
He was far from done with seducing her this night. He was going to hold her in every way he could imagine, and this night would only be the first. There was no way for him to have her this way and ever stand aside and watch her with another. She was his, and he was never going to let her go—not again, not ever.
She possessed him. Not some sovereign God of emotion. It was always her. That’s why he’d never gripped the life of sin that stole him, why it was easy to break away. It was b
ecause the power never owned him, not the way she did.
Feeling the rush, right as they were one, the supremacy, it was more powerful than anything he’d felt before. There was not a doubt in his mind of that fact.
They should have never waited so long to understand this. He knew that now.
A million stolen moments—he could promise her as much. The end was unknown, but no soul knows their end. No matter what theirs was, they would be side by side.
By the time the petal moved up her body once more, when his eyes connected with hers he saw tears there. She was full of grief and pain. It wasn’t regret, but all the same seeing her in any pain was more than he could bear.
His hand reached for her face, and his eyes questioned what he saw, what he felt.
Reveca hesitated, then let her fingertips reach for his face. She smiled slightly as they traced his eyes and lips. Then she leaned up. To say the words was agony. They felt like knives sliding up her throat. She felt so sick, so broken.
“Lay low,” she whispered finally as she took his lips.
She felt the spell, the one that had absorbed into her body earlier that day slide out then surrounded him.
His kiss was strong and powerful. She moved with him, laying him on his back once more, and she kept kissing him until she felt his lips go languid.
Tears rained down from her eyes just then. Her trembling lips didn’t leave his at first. She wanted to feel him against her, breathe him in. She wanted to reach back and clench every moment they shared, live in them forever.
When she rose, her tears had soaked his face. His eyes were closed gently, his breaths steady. Godly, that’s how he looked lying under those stars with the petals all around him, with this glow that was beneath the flesh of the pair of them.
She wanted the entire night with him, wanted to feel his touch over and over but she knew that if she didn’t say it then, didn’t end it then, that she’d never let him go. She’d surrender to her heart, tell the universe to go to hell and hide away with him.