25. 24

24

Serina

I woke with a looseness to me that I didn’t think I was capable of feeling. I quickly jumped in the shower to get cleaned up for the day when the smell of coffee wafted from downstairs. I dried off and got dressed.

While still drying my hair with the towel, I sauntered downstairs and quickly made myself a cup of coffee. Thorne wasn’t here. When I walked past his room, the door was open and the room was empty.

A noise clamored from the garage, and I stepped toward it.

I opened the door quietly and overheard Nox cursing as he tinkered with his car, which he only did when one of two things was happening.

One, the car had broken down.

Two, he was stressed about something and trying to distract himself.

I had noticed it after living here for a while. I wondered if it had to do with Bastian. He still hadn’t returned, and today would make six days since he had left me on the porch. Six days without a single update.

Worry bloomed in my gut all over again as I thought about what could be happening to him. Where he could have gone?

I cleared my throat and pushed the thoughts aside. Nox stilled, sliding out from underneath the car effortlessly, and something about it made him even more attractive. How the hell was that even possible?

He took off the greasy gloves he was wearing and ran his hand through his tousled hair, but he seemed stiff, more rigid, even for a Vampire. Nox had always been the more free-spirited one, but it appeared something was weighing on him.

“Are you alright?” I asked, rubbing my hands over my arms to combat the chill of the morning. A light snow had started as I looked over my shoulder out of the garage door.

“I’m perfect now that you’re here,” he said with a grin as he sauntered over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

Whatever weight had been on him, he either let it go or masked it really well. I wrapped my arms around him too, and he kissed the top of my head. Everything came so naturally with them.

“Where’s Thorne?” I asked, but he waved the question away.

“Oh, he’s out running some errands.”

“Do those errands involve killing?” I raised my brows.

“Maybe,” he replied with a smirk, and I smacked his chest.

“Why would you let him go alone? Why didn’t he ask me to go?’ I stammered, growing flustered.

“Serina, he’ll be fine. Besides, he wanted to let you sleep in after…” His eyes raked over me as if he was seeing every moment from last night replay in his mind. The fire in his gaze made heat instantly pull in my center from the intensity of his scrutiny.

He didn’t need to finish his sentence. I knew exactly where his mind had gone. He looked to my lips and then back to my eyes before he leaned in and kissed me.

Slow and languid, I melted right into him. He cupped my cheek with one hand as he deepened the kiss and pulled me closer into his chest with the other.

A whimper escaped me, and it was as if the sound had made him feral. He gripped my ass and hauled me against him, never breaking our kiss as he sat me on the hood of his car. The cold metal sent a shock to my system even through the black sweatpants I was wearing.

His hands moved up my shirt, pulling it off over my head before moving to my bra. My nipples were already hard and pebbled from the cold. His hot breath covered one before he sucked, and I lulled my head back from the feel of his mouth on my skin, my pussy already throbbing desperately for him.

“Fuck, Serina, you make me crazy,” he murmured against my skin, though it came out more like a raspy growl.

His fingers curled under the top of my pants, and I leaned back on the car to help him get them off, my body burning with the need of him contrasting with the cold of the car against my skin.

My breath skittered from both sensations as he pulled my pants and panties off in one quick motion before he undid his own pants and shucked them down his thighs, his cock hard and bobbing from the motion.

He moved then, yanking my hips almost completely off the hood, the motion reminding me of getting a fucking pap-smear teetering on the edge in front of the doctor’s face on the bed.

But instead of getting tortured, I was about to see stars .

He kissed my lips, my jaw, down my neck, each breast, taking his sweet time as goosebumps flushed my skin from the cold and anticipation of his touch.

“Nox,” I breathed just as he kissed the spot right above my pussy.

“Just a quick taste,” he murmured against my opening, and his hot breath made my cunt pulse with need.

His thick tongue swept through me, and I writhed off of the car, desperate for more. He placed a single hand over my abdomen, holding me in place, and a moan fell from my lips as he lapped at my clit.

He growled, and the sound reverberated through my entire body, causing me to move up the car a little to grab the top part of the hood, holding on so I could grind my hips up and against his face. I cried out from the building pressure inside me.

I was going to come apart. I felt like I was going to combust from the seams from the pleasure, and then he stopped. I whined; I was so close, and he took it from me.

He gripped onto my hips and dragged me back down the hood again. I huffed a moan of disappointment as he smiled at me with my wetness still gleaning across his chin.

“I want you to come on my cock, little monster,” he murmured in my ear as he leaned over me, and his cock was instantly nudging at my entrance.

He kissed me, swallowing my gasp as he thrust into me.

Our kiss was fast and passionate, his tongue still carrying the remnants of me as I sucked on it, making him growl.

He kept his thrusts at an even rhythm, building my climax to that same intensity as before.

“So,”—thrust—“Fucking,”—thrust—“Perfect,” he growled against my mouth as his paced quickened, and my body screwed taut like a spring about to release.

“Nox,” I cried out his name as I fell apart.

I came, and my body shuddered as my climax sparked through my veins, instantly making my limbs heavy with the weight of the euphoria.

Nox’s body went rigid as he gripped onto my thighs so hard, I was sure it would leave bruises from where his fingers dug into my skin. He slammed into me, our skin slapping with sweat regardless of the cold.

The veins in his hands going up his arms bulged as he thrusted into me all the way to the hilt, and his cock pulsed as hot come coated my insides and leaked from my pussy underneath me on to the car. He leaned over me and laid there with his head on my abdomen until our heaving breaths returned to normal.

I began to shiver, and he stood to his full height, pulling out of me and sliding his pants up quickly.

He moved at Vampire speeds, and I wasn’t sure where he had gone, but he was back in an instant, wrapping me up in the largest and softest blanket as he carried me inside and sat me on the couch.

“What are you doing?” I huffed a giggle, noticing the slight chatter of my teeth.

“Stay here. I’m going to run you a bath,” he said, kissing me on the cheek, and then he was gone.

I wrapped the blanket around me and waited a few moments until he returned, and he grabbed me in his arms. I couldn’t contain my laugh as he scooped me up like I weighed nothing and carried me to the bathroom. I let the blanket fall to the floor, and he set me down in the tub.

The water sloshed with the bubbles, making the scent of lavender waft around the room. I pulled my hair up into a bun quickly before it got wet and leaned back, soaking in the heat of the water with a pleased hum.

“Make another sound like that and I’m afraid I’ll have to join you,” Nox teased as he leaned against the counter eyeing me.

I ran my hands over the top of the bubbles as if giving him an invitation. He grinned but walked over with a shake of his head.

“Hmm.” He leaned down and kissed me. “I’ll have to miss this; I need to go make some lunch since you haven’t eaten. And since Thorne isn’t back, you’ll have to deal with my cooking.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s better than mine,” I jested, and he chuckled as he walked out of the bathroom to leave me to soak in the suds alone.

The sun came and went. Nox had made us sandwiches for lunch and then decided he’d order pizza delivery for dinner. It had been dark for a few hours now, and Thorne still wasn’t back yet. I was worried something had happened to him too.

“Where did he say he was going?” I asked Nox again, who was sitting next to me on the couch as if he wanted me to focus on anything but the fact that Thorne still hadn’t made it back.

“Out… he’s okay, Serina. I promise,” he dismissed me, tugging me into his chest with the arm he had draped around me on the couch.

I pulled back and got to my feet before starting for the stairs.

Nox was in front of me in an instant. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to find him,” I said plainly and pushed past him. I didn’t need to see his face to know he was wearing a scowl as he blew out a breath. I made it to the top of the stairs.

Nox stood there with his arm resting on the frame while I quickly changed into my normal hunting clothes.

He didn’t argue with me; he knew he would lose.

I sheathed my daggers on me, then my stakes, and grabbed my go bag, which had a little bit of everything in it because I never knew what I might face out there.

I walked out of the room, brushing past Nox as he stared daggers at me.

“Serina…” he trailed off.

“No. You can either come with me or don’t. I’m going,” I said over my shoulder as I walked down the stairs toward the front door.

“Serina, you’re—” Nox started but didn’t get to finish because when I opened the front door, Thorne was standing there as if he was about to walk in.

He seemed, off—distant. His normally kind eyes now carried a heavy sadness behind them that sent a pang of pain through my chest.

“Thorne…” I whispered as I reached for him, and it was as if my touch brought him out of whatever trance he was in. I gripped his hand and pulled him into the house for a hug.

He was freezing . I knew the cold didn’t bother them, but he was ice-cold, and I hated it in contrast to his typically warm touch.

Nox doesn’t say anything; they shared a look, and I felt like they both knew something that I didn’t, but I pushed that thought aside because Thorne seemed so out of it. His clothes were dirty, his knuckles bruised and bleeding as if he’d been fighting for hours. He looked so tired .

I pulled him along behind me like a puppy on a leash, and Nox just followed us with his gaze as Thorne and I went up the stairs.

“I’ll be in the garage if you need me,” Nox chimed, and without another word he left us. Thorne followed me easily as I opened the door to his room and pulled him inside.

“Thorne… what happened? Are you okay?” I pressed.

He nodded his head, letting me know he was fine before he cleared his throat.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” he said, and I nodded, both of us sharing an understanding. I didn’t know what to do, but as I looked around the room and then back over at him, I did the only thing I could think of.

Take care of him.

“Sit down,” I murmured as I head over to the bathroom and ran him a hot shower.

He followed me in there a few minutes later, and I helped him undress, admiring all the hard lines and taut muscles as I did. When the pleased sigh left him as he got under the searing hot water, I knew he had really needed it.

I got in the shower with him still fully clothed.

“Serina, you don’t—” he stammered.

“Shhh, I know, I want to,” I whispered before I turned him around and washed his back, then the rest of his body and his hair, before I moved to paying extra attention to his knuckles.

They were healing, but slowly. while he stood under the hot water, he watched me with eyes filled with so much emotion I had to swallow past the lump forming in my throat.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me under the stream with him in a hug so tight, I did the best I could to match his strength. It was one of those hugs that you could tell was needed. The ones you never wanted to end.

Eventually, he let go, kissing my lips softly before I stepped out of the shower to dry off and change.

I laid in his bed and waited for him with anticipation. When the water stopped, he dried off and walked over to the bed, still naked, and crawled into bed with me. He didn’t say anything; I sat up a little more in the bed and moved his head to lay on my chest as I ran my fingers through his silky, damp hair.

He wrapped his arms around me instinctively, and I stayed there. Long after his breaths were slow and even with sleep.

I never stopped moving my fingers through his hair until even my arm felt weighed down from how tired I had become. I held onto him, letting the worry that had been twisting inside all day ease away as I fell into a slumbering darkness.