CHAPTER 23

Nika

The mercenary tookme by the face and practically devoured my mouth with a thunderous groan, two shades from drunk, though you'd never know it.

The second the oversized brute suggested we all have a "little drinking contest to take the edge off," I knew it was going to be our first and last mistake. But Lev cut in before I was given a chance to lay into the mercenary about how ridiculous the idea was. Not only were we on the run from his insanely evil and powerful brother, but I had questions I needed answered.

"You're on,"my friend had said, meeting Silas's challenge with a glance that told me Lev thought he could beat him.

He couldn't.

Like I said, Lev was terrible at reading a room—and definitely this vicious killer. What gave my friend the sort of confidence that he, a person who rarely drank, could somehow magically overcome someone who was twice his body size and had seen some shit, I'd never understand.

Silas was a beast in every version of the word, and even I knew better than to think I could win in a drinking contest against the bona fide alcoholic. I'd seen how many drinks Silas tossed back before I arrived at the pub. The poor waitresses couldn't keep up. Glasses collected faster than they could deliver them. At some point, bottles of liquor were left on the table, many of which were empty when I took my seat. So, I could almost guarantee the mercenary didn't get inebriated like the rest of us.

Yet, here he was, practically drunk anyway.

After Silas drank through several bottles of whiskey in one sitting, my theory was confirmed.

"Silas, hey—" I growled, eyeing the slumbering man on the couch nearby, covered in the blanket I laid over him after he passed out.

Poor thing had traveled for nearly three days to get here. Despite wanting to ask Lev all about what he'd read about me and my family, his hooded eyes and swaying body suggested my blue-haired friend was exhausted after likely traveling on pure adrenaline to get here. Much like I had that first week. Add alcohol to the mix, and he was slumped over and dead to the world within an hour.

Glaring, I pushed the handsy jerk by the shoulders, finally getting his attention. "Why'd you get him drunk when we're already out here on borrowed time, asshole?"

Mumbling something under his breath, the jerk worked my hips over the hard rise in his pants. My chest hitched, and I succumbed to pleasure for a second. The clearly voyeuristic side of me was clawing for the surface, turned on by the danger of being discovered, but I quickly denied that part of myself and rolled on top to straddle the asshole.

Planting my hands on his chest, I used magic to keep him locked to the mattress. His suffering groan told me Silas knew he'd been beaten, and I tried to keep the smile of victory from reaching my mouth.

"It's not fair..." the imprisoned oaf mumbled cutely, rubbing his hands along my sides, lifting my shirt each time before dragging it back down. "I don't like it."

I quirked an eyebrow. "What don't you like?"

His bewitching golden eyes flicked up to me. It took all of my willpower not to drop a kiss on that pouty mouth of his as he mumbled a little more to himself, petulant in a way I'd never seen a man his size. How could this all-powerful Fae go from lethal assassin to adorable pouty baby so easily? Maybe it was the alcohol, but it was still mind-boggling.

"You two—that adorable wanker over there and you, that's what. I don't like it. What you two have is bloody special. The way you smile at him, the way he looks at you, all bleeding night long...how am I supposed to compete with that?"

Surprised to hear it, I tilted my head to the side. "Why do you think you'd ever have to?"

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entirely taken with the man under me. I didn't want to be. It was stupid and quite possibly insane how quickly I got attached to someone I barely knew. Much less a paid killer. But something about Silas burrowed into my heart, and I couldn't imagine my life without him.

I could pretend all I wanted, but I never wanted to part with this man. I was glad it was him whom I discovered at that pub. Whom my friend trusted to guide me where I needed to go. Whom I trusted to be by my side after discovering the terrible power living inside of me. Whom I relied on to hold me when my world shattered and I lost one of the only people I still had left.

Sighing loudly, Silas flipped our positions. I was shocked to suddenly be on my back before I realized he'd moved. Fuck. It might be cute how pouty the silver-haired mercenary was, but in these moments, I realized how damn formidable an assassin he was as well.

Silas didn't gloat like the others. Sure, he was confident, but nothing he said or did ever alluded to the pure lethal quality of his skill. After watching him fight the Brotherhood, it wasn't a question anymore—this man was a deadly killer, one that was on par with my father. And while I might never openly admit it to him, I was glad Silas was on my side.

His thumb swept across my bottom lip before the other Fae dipped down, forcing his tongue past my lips. He kissed me until I could only respond by kissing him back. Then he thrust his hips into mine, the sensations making me roll my own in response.

I grabbed his hands still cradling my face, but Silas collected both in one hand and pinned them above my head. My chest rose and fell with effort, but my eyes strayed over to my friend still fast asleep on the couch. He hadn't moved, thank the gods, but my heart hammered with the thought that he might; that he could look over and find out exactly what was happening between Silas and me.

I swallowed, my breath hard to catch, but the other Fae took strong hold of my chin and forced our eyes to meet. "You might not get it, love, but we men...we're all animals. Every single one of us. We might pretend not to be, but at the end of the day, we're all fighting these urges—these animal instincts—these terrible desires living in our heads, in our bodies and everything we do."

I couldn't breathe anymore. He'd stolen the air from my lungs with that devilish gleam in his silver eyes.

"And every single one of these dangerous desires wants you, little bird. Any way I can have you, I will. I don't want the lad to see how beautiful you are under me, moaning, voice singing out how good I make you feel, but then this vicious darkness inside me wants that cute bastard to see it all so he knows just who I am to you and what I can do that he can't."

His thumb swept across my lips again, dipping into my mouth when I closed my eyes and tried desperately to catch my breath. But even with my eyes closed, I could feel that look of his in the darkness behind my eyelids; that possessive silver gaze would stay with me for the rest of my life, I was sure.

Had he always looked at me like this? Surely not, right?

But when I opened my eyes again, Silas's stare had only intensified, his luminous eyes transfixed to my wet lips. Our mouths met hotly, drawn to each other like we couldn't help ourselves. The mercenary groaned deep inside his chest and rocked his hips into mine with an urgency. I gasped into his mouth, but his tongue filled it, and my gasp quickly morphed into a wanting moan.

Pulling away, Silas licked his fingers until they were glistening wet and sunk them between my legs, under my thin leggings and underwear. I sucked in a greedy breath, the thickness of his fingers invading me the way they always did, knowing exactly what spots got the most cries of pleasure from my throat.

"I want him to deal with the same rubbish feelings I do when you're smiling at him, love. The same way I want Rilas to see, smell, and sense me all over you when that evil bastard shows his treacherous face again. Inside, outside, in the very marrow of your bones, I want them all to know just who you belong to."

I stifled another moan, twisting and trying to get away, but his pace was relentless. Silas never had mercy on me when it came to this. His thumb worked my clit, and the sensations collected inside my hips, threatening that all-consuming blissful end.

But I couldn't look away from the dangerous gleam of silver in Silas's eyes as he whispered, slamming his fingers into me over and over, finger-fucking me with my friend only feet away. "I want you to be mine, Nika. Oh aye, I don't think for a fucking second I deserve you, but I'm done watching you smile at any wanker who isn't me without giving that undeserving gobshite a front row seat to how you look when you're mine."

Is he...in love with me?

It didn't make sense. We hardly knew each other. Maybe the sex had gone to his head—or the danger—but this long-withstanding playboy Fae was centuries old. I definitely wasn't his first woman, so it didn't make sense to think he'd be quick to fall.

My chest constricted.

How did I feel about him, though? I couldn't figure it out. Why was my chest so warm? Why did his fingers feel better than before—the pleasure now beyond description, toeing the line between life and death? Why did it feel like my head was in the clouds and my thoughts hard to catch?

Silas's fingers curled, cutting my internal pondering short. His mouth ghosted across mine. "You've marked me, little rebel. That's just how it is now. Whatever the lad says tomorrow, you and I, we're both the Marked, the Scorned, the Foretold. I don't care if I'm the sorry sod who spends his life doing whatever he can to deserve you, you'll never be alone again."

Warmth I'd never experienced before hit my chest, squeezing so tight I worried I'd die from it. Then my head shot back, spine arching to nearly ninety degrees, voice smothered by his mouth, and I came so hard there were white spots behind my eyelids.

It wasn't the pleasure that sent me over the edge; it was Silas's heartfelt declaration. I hadn't realized I wanted to hear it, but his huskily delivered speech was what I'd been waiting for this entire time. For some reason, it felt like another piece of fate settling into place, setting into motion a cascading event I couldn't be sure was good or bad.

But I wasn't scared anymore.

I wasn't alone anymore.

Clinging to Silas, I rocked my hips to chase the fleeting after-sensations of an orgasm I'd never forget.

He hadn't even been inside me, but it felt like I'd never come harder in my life than I did after he vowed it was me and him and I'd never be alone again. I might not understand what I felt for him or what I wanted this thing between us to be, but at the very least, I knew without a doubt I never wanted to leave his side. Whatever happened after this, I could at least trust that he wouldn't leave either.

Silas didn't move away or stop, just removed his shirt and tossed it to the ground with a fleeting look at the couch. His hand sank into his hair as I tried to get my head clear enough to respond to him.

"It's bleeding frustrating. He's such a sweet lad. He's saved you in so many ways. He brought you to me, and here I am, taking what I haven't asked to have. Claiming what's not mine to claim. Forcing you out of petty fucking jealousy. I...I'm a right bastard, I am."

Confusion etched into my brow as Silas struggled to string together his speech. But even though he had me bound to the bed, coming off an orgasm and locked down by his weight, I'd never felt safer. I didn't once think he'd hurt or force me into anything I didn't want to do.

When I tugged my hands, the mercenary's eyes widened and he let go, the previous silver in his irises fading back to gold. He tried to move away, but I reached up to touch his face, the bubbling emotion in my chest something I still couldn't name. But maybe that was okay. Maybe it was okay not to name anything right now with my life still hanging in the balance.

"I think you underestimate how different you are, Silas. How no matter what you say, you choose to be different. You're not Rilas."

His chest visibly constricted at the mention of his brother, and he pulled away. Settling back on the balls of his feet, he brushed a hand through his hair again and stole another look at Lev on the couch. Silas exhaled a shaky breath before his lips tilted into a self-deprecating smile. "Aye, thanks for that, princess."

I didn't recognize the voice he was using. It was much smaller than the usually proud and full-bodied tone he was known for, and I didn't like it.

Crawling forward on my knees, I took strong hold of his face again like he had done to me earlier. "I might not know much about your past, and I sure as hell don't know anything about the future, but who you are to me is special, Silas."

My lips slid up, already annoyed that I sounded so damn sappy. But after the look he gave me, it was clear he needed to hear it. After another glance at Lev who was still dead to the world, I leaned up and kissed the big, adorable Fae in front of me.

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I pulled away and cocked an eyebrow at him. "You know, I hate that you're making me say this out loud, but I am yours. I mean, I don't do this with anyone else. I could've easily broken your arm so many times...so many fucking times I've lost count. But I didn't. I didn't fight you. I want this, too. I'd...like for you to be mine the same way you claim I'm yours."

As if stricken, the mercenary stared at me. "Am I really hearing this, little rebel? This isn't some kind of illusion created by that evil bastard out to overpower me? Because it's working. Fuck me, it's working like a bloody charm."

I couldn't suppress my smile anymore, half glaring and snickering at the same time. "Your fingers were just inside me while my best friend is asleep on the couch. I think that's as real as it gets, mercenary."

"Oh, fuck me, don't be cute and sexy right now, Nika. I'm barely holding it together as it is." Stealing a look at Lev, Silas licked his lips and slid his gaze down to my mouth. "But no takebacks. You can't blame alcohol. We both know you didn't drink any."

I bit my lip, trying and failing not to laugh. "Because one of us has to be fucking smart," I complained, whispering it angrily before giggling again.

Silas groaned as if the mere sound did terrible things to him. "Oi, you're not playing fair, love. You know I turn into a right blubbering muppet when you giggle like that. Have mercy."

"You and Lev already have so much in common. No wonder you both worship each other," I teased, tugging the brute down for another kiss.

Grumbling again, Silas pressed his mouth against mine, groaning like he was about to lose what little control he had left. Grabbing my ass, he rubbed our hips together after I wrapped my legs around his strong waist. "I know you mean well, love, but no more saying another man's name while you're with me. I might like the lad, but I'll find a box to put him into and bury him somewhere far away so I can keep you all to myself."

I opened my mouth, about to argue, but I was already pinned back to the bed with my lips being devoured like how this whole damn situation started out in the first place.