BEFORE THE FALL - A Dark Breed Novella Page 0,20

his tongue. He trailed his lips over her belly.

“Zach,” she panted his name as she reached for him. She rocked her hips against him. “Please, Zach. Now.”

He wanted to love her as thoroughly as she’d loved him, but he couldn’t deny her the release she begged for. He gripped her hips and buried himself inside her before she could utter a single protest.

Her sigh warmed his lips. Her nails raked his back. All he could think of was her name and the way it felt when his mind spoke it to his soul. He moved in a rhythm that was both intense and slow, thrusting with each buck of her hips only to ease back out torturously slowly. Burying his face against the pulse at her neck, he breathed in the scent of her, the scent of them together, so perfectly fit and wet and hot.

“Faster,” she breathed against his ear.

Zach obeyed. She cried out, gripped his hips as her legs wound more tightly around him.

When she came, her scream made his ears ring, but the fact that it was his name she called out eased the pain. He slowed, this time diving so deeply he could barely breathe. Shanna gripped his shoulders, her teeth sinking into his lower lip as once again, she called out his name.

He came with a rush he hadn’t felt in years. He collapsed on top of her, his body spent yet still ready for another round.

“You all right?” he whispered, rising onto his elbows so she could breathe more easily.

“Don’t move.” She kissed his nose, smiling the first real smile he’d seen in hours. “Just . . . stay. A minute more.”

No problemo. He wasn’t any more eager to separate than she was. It felt amazing, being nestled so deeply inside her. Still hard as steel yet satisfied.

Not having had sex since they’d broken up, Shanna was tender in places she’d nearly forgotten she possessed. Still, no amount of swollenness was going to push her to request he exit her body any time soon. It felt too right, holding him there. With all the craziness going on around them, this, of all things, felt normal. Perfect.

Yet, still temporary.

Even if she could imagine herself as part of this cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs world he lived in, which she couldn’t, if she told him right here and now that she was still in love with him, that she wanted to marry him and have his babies, he’d think she was out of her mind. He wouldn’t necessarily run—Zach had never had a problem with commitment. But he did have a problem with trust. In particular, trusting Shanna. She’d already broken that precious gift once. She didn’t think she had it in her to ask him to give it to her again.

But what if she could find a place within his world, protecting people as she’d always done, the same way he did?

Was she really cut out for more of the shit that had been chasing her all night?

She loved him. That much she knew. But the question was: did she love him enough to change her entire life and belief system for him? And if she did, would he even want her to do so, after the way she’d walked out on him?

If only God—or the gods . . . she wasn’t even sure about that part of her life anymore—could show her some proof that this was the course her life was meant to take . . .

But judging by the screams in the distance, the gods had more important things to take care of than offering people signs. She was going to have to figure this one out on her own.

Chapter Eleven

11:51 p.m.

9 minutes before the fall . . .

It felt like only minutes from the time Shanna allowed herself to close her eyes to the moment the sound of ripping whistles woke her. She was hesitant to pull herself out of the cozy contentment of lying in Zach’s arms, but she pried open her eyes, immediately regretting the decision as she caught a glimpse of raining fire, visible through the loopholes in the Ravelin’s walls.

“Wake up!” She reached over to shake Zach, but he was already struggling to pull on his jeans. She felt around the dark quarters for her own clothes.

As she dressed, she scooted her body around so she could see out the partially open door where Zach stood, watching in frozen fascination as the midnight sky lit up with bright orange fire and