Chapter Seven

Xavier

Xavier dressed as quickly as possible, having not even taken the time to fully dry off after his shower. The fear and uncertainty he saw in Madelyn’s eyes when she looked at him after he had killed that man bothered him, though he wasn’t sure why. He was used to people looking at him like that, mainly right before he killed them. However, he didn’t like the fact that his actions had done that to her, and his wolf was anxious to make sure that she was okay. After yanking on his boots, he snatched up a clean t-shirt, not bothering to put it on right away, as he stormed out the door.

It had taken him longer than he would have liked to move the body of Madelyn’s attacker into the trunk of his car, clean up the blood, and destroy all traces of them from the structure. It was almost midnight by the time he had finished, and he had debated on just going right to her place without cleaning himself off because he needed to see her that badly. Eventually, though, he decided against it as he didn’t want to risk making things worse for her by showing up still covered in blood. The relationship between them was tentative as it was.

This was not how he had expected the night to go at all. He had planned on making sure Madelyn got home okay after work and then playing with her a bit more. It had become a game, a routine, one that he had grown rather fond of and knew she had too, even if she still wouldn’t admit it. He wanted to feed off that, wanted to cultivate and grow it until the bond between them was unshakable and she wouldn’t be able to deny it anymore. Instead, the night had taken a dark and fatal turn, and he may have shattered every bit of progress they had made by giving her a glimpse of the monster he struggled with daily. He just hadn’t been able to help it.

When he had seen that man’s hands on her and realized that he was planning on killing her, his already fragile restraint had snapped in an instant. His only thought was to save her, to protect his mate, and he ended up killing the man in a fit of blind rage. He had torn the guy’s throat out with his teeth, right in front of her. Then, instead of reporting it like she had wanted to, he made her leave and cleaned up the mess himself, essentially making her an accessory to murder. That hadn’t been his intention, but it had been drilled into him to avoid the police as much as possible.

Ultimately, he was not doing a very good job when it came to convincing her that they belonged together, which was why he needed to check on her now. Not only did he need to make sure she was okay, but he needed the chance to explain.

Xavier had made it to Madelyn’s place in record time and, thankfully, without incident. It was a good thing, too, because the body in the trunk wouldn’t look very good if he had been pulled over. The plan was to get rid of it after checking on Madelyn because he knew where his priorities were. He wasn’t worried about blood or the smell because he had wrapped it in plastic sheeting, which he still conveniently had in his trunk.

Climbing out of the car, he let himself into her house with the key he had recently acquired. He then punched in the code to the alarm to disarm it and took a moment to listen to the sounds of the house. The washer was going in the laundry room, and Madelyn seemed to be upstairs in her bedroom. After everything that happened, and due to how late it was, he had expected her to be asleep by now. Instead, it sounded as though she were pacing and muttering to herself. It was a good thing he was there because he knew how to calm her down.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he headed in the direction of her bedroom. Because he had been there more than a few times over the last few weeks, he knew the place like the back of his hand. He spotted her the moment he stepped into the room and felt some of the tension leave his body like a physical weight had been lifted. Her hair was wet from the shower she had taken, and her skin was pink as if she had rubbed it raw, trying to rid herself of all the blood. The bloody clothes she had been wearing were gone now too and had been replaced by a baggy sweatshirt and sweats.

He always did prefer her like this; dressed comfortably and with no makeup. It showed who she really was, the face behind the mask, so to speak. However, the sight of the bruises beginning to form on her face and neck, along with the deep and jagged cut on her forehead, was like being doused in a bucket of ice water.

His jaw clenched as he took a moment to try to reign in his residual anger. It wasn’t her fault she was attacked, but if she hadn’t been so hell-bent on pushing him away, he could have prevented all of this.

“Madelyn,” he said softly. She spun on him, her eyes wide, but he continued to move toward her. “You okay?”

“No,” Madelyn laughed, though the sound was devoid of any humor at all. “I… I watched you kill a man, Xavier. You ripped his throat out with your fucking teeth! And your eyes…”

“I’m not going to apologize for what I did if that’s what you’re after,” he replied by way of response. “Because, as I told you, I would do it all over again.”

Madelyn scoffed. “Do you even care that you took a life?”

“No,” he stated with no hesitation. “He hurt you. And I’ve killed people for a lot less than that.”

The answer didn’t require much thought on his part because, in his mind, there had been no other decision to make. It wasn’t the first life he had taken, not by a long shot, and he doubted it would be his last. When it came down to a choice between her and anyone else, she was the one he was always going to choose. He would burn the whole fucking world down if it would keep her safe.

“Goddamn it, Xavier! I don’t belong to you!”

Her words reignited his fury and angered the beast inside of him. He still hadn’t regained complete control of his monster after letting him free earlier, and he growled as he suddenly snatched a handful of her hair. Not hard enough to hurt her, just enough to pull her to him and lift her gaze to his own.

“You can say that as many times as you want if it will make you feel better,” he told her, his voice low and strained as she struggled against him. “But that doesn’t make it true. You are mine, little dove. I have already proven that I will kill to protect you, and you’d best believe that I would die to protect you too. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on you. I know I don’t deserve you. I’m not a good man by any means. I’ve killed more people than I can count and tortured even more than that. My soul, and my heart, are black, and I am so far beyond broken that it makes what I did tonight look like child’s play. And yet, Fate still brought me you. You may not believe me right now, but you will eventually. I’m not going anywhere, Madelyn, so get fucking used to it.”

For several moments, the two of them stood in the middle of Madelyn’s room, just glaring at each other. His shoulders heaved with every breath, and the muscles in his jaw ticked as he ground his teeth together. He was fighting like hell to regain some sense of himself again after his admission. This was the turning point in the relationship between the two of them, and arguing was not going to solve anything, nor was it going to help the situation. Madelyn wasn’t in her right mind at the moment, and she needed him to be her rock, even if she refused to say so.

All of a sudden, her palm collided with the side of his face, the slap echoing through the room as the sting blossomed across his cheek. But then, before he could register what had happened, her lips crashed against his, and her hands gripped the front of his shirt, holding him to her.

For the first time in a very long time, Xavier had been taken by surprise. With as often and as hard as she fought the bond between them, he hadn’t expected her to be the one to make the first move. He figured it was probably her conflicting emotions, along with the shock and adrenaline, that was screwing with her rational thinking. It was preventing her from being able to fight the bond between them, and the only thing her mind was telling her to do was to give in to it. And he was inclined to let her.

If he were a good man, he would stop this, if only to keep her from regretting it later. But he had already stated that he wasn’t a good man, and his wolf was tired of being denied. Once they did this, there was no going back, and that was exactly what he wanted.

A smirk spread across his lips at the thought as his fingers tightened in the strands of her hair. His cock throbbed painfully and hardened beneath the constricting material of his jeans as he pulled her flush against his body.

He teased the seam of her lips with his tongue until she opened for him, and then his tongue dove into her mouth as if of its own accord. Out of all the women he’d been with before, none of them had felt as heavenly as this. It was better than anything he could have ever possibly imagined, and he had only kissed her.

The kiss deepened, becoming more frantic and demanding. Though, whether it was on her part or his, he didn’t know. Nor did he care.

Nipping at her bottom lip with his sharp teeth, eliciting a gasp from Madelyn, he released her hair and then literally tore the sweatshirt from her body, hating how many layers stood between them. He hadn’t realized that she wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath it though, which meant that she was now bare to him from the waist up. Whatever control he thought he had regained was gone just as quickly. There was no way this was going to be anything but hard and rough, but it was clear that was what they both needed.

Without giving her a chance to react, he dipped his head and took one dusky pink nipple into his mouth while pinching and rolling the other between his fingers. Madelyn moaned, her back arching, as her fingers dove into his hair. When he flicked his tongue against the tight peak, her nails scraped against his scalp. The fact that she was so receptive to him only further solidified that they were meant to be.

While this was far more than he had expected to happen when he came to check on her, he needed more. He needed to be closer to her, to feel her. All of her. He needed to bury himself so deep inside of her that she forgot every horrid thing that happened tonight.

Gripping her ass in the palms of his hands, he lifted her off the floor. Her legs wrapped around his hips as he carried her to the bed and laid her on it. As he righted himself, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her sweats and yanked them off before pulling his own shirt over his head. He tossed them both to the ground somewhere over by the closet.

Madelyn took in the sight that was his chest and abs before he settled himself in between her legs, using his broad shoulders to push her thighs apart. His gaze never left hers as he licked along her pussy, the taste of her exploding on his tongue and making him groan. She was already drenched for him, and he had just gotten started. Her eyes fluttered as her head flopped back onto the pillows, and he smirked before doing it again.

No matter how many times she tried to push him away, she wanted this. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He knew that for a fact now, and that knowledge spurred him into action as he went to town.

Sucking her clit into his mouth, he pushed a finger inside of her at the same time. Madelyn moaned, and her hips left the mattress. He placed his free hand on her lower abdomen to hold her down, flicking his tongue relentlessly against the small bundle of nerves while simultaneously adding a second finger. She was tighter than he realized she would be, which meant that he was going to have to stretch her out a bit if she had any chance of taking his cock. While he enjoyed a bit of pain, he didn’t want to break her.

“Oh, fuck,” Madelyn moaned, her back arching as she tweaked her nipples between her own fingers. “Harder, Xavier.”

Xavier groaned, his dick throbbing so hard it felt like it was going to explode. Her pussy began to clench around his fingers, and he knew that she was already close. He moved his fingers faster, harder, knowing exactly what spots he needed to hit to bring her to the release she so desperately craved. His tongue continued its assault on her clit, alternating between flicking and sucking, as her moans increased and her legs began to shake. Just before her orgasm crested, he nipped at her clit with his teeth.

Madelyn screamed as she came, her pussy clenching tightly around his fingers as he continued to thrust them into her, helping her to ride it out. He watched with rapt attention as her body writhed on the bed, and he loved every second of it. He loved knowing that he was the one that made her feel that good.

Without slowing his fingers, he sat back on his knees and unbuckled his pants with his free hand. If he didn’t get inside of her soon, he was going to lose it.

When he finally freed himself, he removed his fingers, making Madelyn whimper. She went to instinctively close her legs, but he pried them back open and settled his hips between them. He kissed her, the head of his pierced cock lining up with her perfectly. Madelyn bit his lip hard, making him growl as he lifted his head to meet her eyes. She licked her lips and gave him a single nod, which was all the confirmation he needed. Her hands gripped his shoulders as he slammed into her in a single thrust.

Madelyn let out a strangled cry, her nails piercing his skin at the sudden invasion. He had felt the stretch and resistance as he entered her, and he tried to blink away the stars that had dotted his vision. She was so tight, so warm, and so wet that he almost came right then and there. It didn’t matter how vivid his imagination had been when he jacked off, thinking of Madelyn, over the last couple of weeks. Nothing compared to the real thing, and he knew then that he would never get enough of her.

Without giving her any time to adjust, he pulled his hips back and slammed into her again and again, setting a rough and demanding pace. She cried out, her nails leaving thin pink lines down his back, but she was also moving her hips in time with his and meeting him thrust for thrust. He had dreamed of this moment since the first night he saw her, and now that it was here, he couldn’t control himself. Not that Madelyn seemed to be complaining.

The emotions that had accumulated from the events of the night seemed to be leading their actions, and the rougher he was with her, the more it seemed to turn her on. When he tweaked her nipple sharply, her pussy clenched around him as she bit into his shoulder. He moved his lips to the side of her neck and sucked a bit of skin into his mouth, no doubt leaving a mark, and he reveled in the way she moaned in response. The bites and scratches she was leaving on him as well were wounds that he would wear with pride. She could mark him all she wanted because he planned on doing the same soon enough.

His hips slammed into hers hard enough to bruise, and her pussy gripped his cock in all the right places. He lifted his head and looked down at where their bodies were joined, not breaking his rhythm. The sight had him growling deep in appreciation.

“Jesus, fuck,” he groaned, moving his hand down between them to circle her clit with his thumb. “Look how good you take me, little dove. This pussy was made just for me, wasn’t it?”

Instead of responding, Madelyn wrapped her legs around his waist, allowing him to go deeper, which he took as answer enough. He gripped her jaw with his hand and kissed her again as he picked up the pace. Her headboard banged against the wall, chipping off both paint and plaster, and the lamp on the nightstand shook violently, but he didn’t care. Nothing else mattered but them and the way their bodies seemed to fit together so perfectly.

Already, he could feel the tingle at the base of his spine, the tightening of his balls as they slapped against her. His cock swelled with every thrust, but he held off the oncoming orgasm, wanting the two of them to cum together.

Xavier sat back on his legs again, one hand gripping her hip, his fingers digging into her soft and delicate flesh, while he circled her clit with the other. Her walls clenched around him tightly as her heels dug into his back.

“That’s it, little dove. Cum for me,” he demanded through clenched teeth, his fingers pinching her clit hard. “Cum on my cock.”

Madelyn gripped the comforter, a strangled scream on her lips, as she came around him at his demand. Her walls clamped down on him like a vice grip, and after slamming into her three more times, he came with a roar. His cock pulsated with every wave of release, his whole body tense as he filled her with thick ropes of his cum. His eyes blazed, and his canines elongated in his mouth with the need to mark her, but he wasn’t going to do that right now. Not yet.

After they both came down from their intense orgasms, Xavier leaned over her and pressed his lips against hers before he rolled off of her and onto his side. Shifting the blankets on the bed to cover them both, he gathered her into his arms and tucked her head beneath his chin.

He smiled to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. He had been wrong when he had assumed that what happened earlier tonight had damaged the progress they had made. The fact that she had let him fuck her had proven that. While he wanted to stay the night, he knew she wouldn’t like that come morning. So, he would stay until she fell asleep, and that would have to be enough. She was going to need time to reflect on what they did tonight, and he would give her that because it wouldn’t be long now before she gave in to him completely.