him filling me with every thrust. Every so often, he’d pull me up higher, maximizing his depth. In those moments, he often hit a spot deep inside that made me see stars.
“Shit,” I moaned. “Shit!” Frantic and on the edge, I leaned forward over him, grasping the headboard in both hands. I floated on the edge of ecstasy, desperate for that release.
As if sensing my need, Orion grasped my hips, fingers digging into flesh as he hissed his arousal.
With his help, my hips worked in a frenzy on top of him until I finally went sailing over the crest of that wave. It crashed into me so fast, it consumed me whole. The sounds I made were guttural, pulled from my chest. As long as he was in me, I could not stop coming.
Orion tangled a hand in my hair and pulled my head back, kissing my throat and chest. He growled against my lips, his body tensing, and he pulsed inside me. We were one, locked together and the moment was so perfect.
I gasped. Every inch of my body trembled. My legs were weak, and I didn’t remember how long I rode him when I finally came down from the clouds. I moaned gently as I slowed down.
When he disentangled us at last, I sort of collapsed in the bed beside him on my stomach. “Holy fuck.”
Orion stretched out beside me like the god he was. His fingers, blessedly cool, traced a delicate pattern along my spine. He wasn’t flushed like I was, but I noticed with some gratification that he was sweating somehow. He had a look on his face that reminded me of a contented predator toying with his prey.
“You are unlike anyone else I’ve ever been with.” His fingers never stopped stroking down my back, luring me into a relaxed state. “I think that will do for now,” he said, his voice colored by a hint of smugness. “I must say, I’m blown away with your performance, darling. It’s an image that will never leave me.”
“Mm-hmm.” I was so worn out, half drunk on endorphins, that all the questions I still wanted to ask simply leaked from my brain. I let my face sink into the pillow. My eyelids wanted to drop closed and stay that way indefinitely. “Thanks.”
He leaned over and kissed the crown of my head. “Sweet dreams, Veronica. We’ll talk about the angel some other time.”
“Wait.” I shook my head, making a vain attempt to rouse myself. “No, we should discuss him now. That was part of the deal.”
In response, Orion kissed me once more. He eased me back down and massaged my scalp with his fingertips until I was back to teetering on the edge of oblivion. “Don’t worry about it for now,” he murmured. “I’m a man of my word. I won’t forget.”
That was the last thing I heard before sleep claimed me.
Upon waking, I found the bed beside me empty. No sign of the vampire clanmaster remained, other than the sexy musky smell of him in the sheets and the sweet ache between my legs.
“Ah, damn it.” I rolled onto my back and stared at the dark ceiling, hugging a pillow to my chest. I cursed myself for proposing such a deal in the first place. I knew the answer, though. His presence had unleashed something inside me, and I stupidly let myself follow my lust instead of my head. I’d let myself fall for a vampire and demon, and now they were both engraved on my thoughts. They were enemies, yet I craved them madly.
“What the hell am I doing?”
There was no answer, except for the faint whine of an eerie Alaskan wind on the other side of the window.
Chapter 24
Seth
I couldn’t tell exactly when it had happened, but at some point in the very recent past, my feelings about our little three-person enterprise had begun to change. Specifically, I wasn’t sure if Orion’s silver-tongued promises were worth the suffering anymore. To bite my tongue and hold my fists in the face of endless harassment from outsiders was bitter agony for me.
With every passing minute, the urge to unleash this pent-up anger mounted dangerously. It boiled just below the surface of my outward veneer of calm. At any moment, I felt I could snap and transform into the monster I wanted to be. The one with the freedom to rampage until I was spent and could be calm again.
It wasn’t often that my fights with Orion left me sour.