Page 60 of Crucible
I don’t give her a chance to lie to me again.
She’s ours, and there’s nothing she can do about it. The thought sends a thrill from my fingers and up my arms and neck until it fills my head with euphoria.
Unwilling to repeat the same argument, I distract her with kisses instead. My lips are firm against hers but not demanding. I wait her out to see if she responds—to see how long it takes her to stop pretending she doesn’t want my touch.
The answer—not that fucking long.
All that fuss, and I don’t even have to make her kiss me back. Her eyes are closed so she doesn’t see me open mine to peer smugly over her shoulder at Khalil.
He rolls his eyes and looks away.
My way got her pliant, but maybe Seth and Khalil were on to something.
Nice makes herwant it.
Aurelia even opens that mouth of hers when I ask, and nothing but sweet comes out when she moans and claws to get closer to me.
“Do you want a repeat of your first night?” I ask between kisses.
A terrified shudder rips through her, but she doesn’t stop kissing me, doesn’t stop feeding me her tongue. I swear to God she even clings to me like I’ll protect her…fromme. “No.”
“No?” I break the kiss to stare down at her with my fingers tightening around her hair. “Then you better get started on dinner. You’ve got one hour to have something edible on that table, Aurelia. I’m not fucking around.”
SETH | EKEZ
“Fuck,” Thorin gripes under his breath so that Aurelia won’t hear. “She’s an even worse cook than Khalil.”
Khalil sucks his teeth at the jab. “Man, fuck you.” He makes a face like he’s chewing glass as he tries to stomach the slop Aurelia served us for dinner.
I can’t even begin to tell you what it is.
It’s bad.
Like eating animal dung would be better bad.
Me? I find ithilarious.
Aurelia literally made Thorin eat his words by serving up the worst dish known to man. I don’t know what it is, but I wouldn’t feed it to my dogs if I had some. I inhale it anyway to keep from laughing at these two miserable fucks.
And because Zeke will wake up soon.
I’ll need my strength to keep him suppressed for a little while longer. He won’t like what we’re doing to Aurelia. He’ll try to come to her rescue, and while I’m happy to cheer and encourage her rebellion, I can’t help but want to steal a piece of her for myself—to take with me when I sleep. It could be years before Zeke loses his shit enough to let me take over.
His time out here in the wilds, away from people who can hurt him, has been good for him.
The more he heals, the less he needs me.
The more I…fade.
Thorin’s gagging interrupts my depressing thoughts. “I can’t do it. This shit is worse than the slop they served us in DFAC.”
“There’s a fifty percent chance I’m going to wake up with food poisoning,” Khalil complains.
“I’ve got a hundred percent chance of dying if I eat another bite of this.” Thorin pushes his plate away.
Aurelia notices and abandons her sorry attempt at cleaning the kitchen to walk over. “Problem, fellas?”
“No problem,” Thorin lies easily. “Thanks for dinner. That was…something.”
