7. Kellan

Chapter seven

Kellan

The knife in my hand slices across the back of my arm in a single, clean cut. Pain flares briefly before it ebbs to a stubborn ache. My skin heals itself and then transforms to tight, golden scales. I pull out my phone and set the timer.

Last night was a shit show of epic proportions. If not for Jackson and Raegan, we would all be gone. The fact that I did fucking nothing during the entire fight has me pissed at myself. I’ve become too careless, thinking my fighting skills and regeneration meant I was guaranteed a win.

Thorne proved I still have plenty of weaknesses that can be exploited.

I’ve been wasting my latest years at the bottom of a bottle, being as reckless and dumb as I could be. I should have been training. Learning more about my gift.

Does the level of damage to me affect the strength or duration of the scales? Is there any way I can activate them without being injured first? Could I ever turn them all on at the start of a fight instead of a little at a time? Can I hold it for longer than an hour?

I don’t know any of that. I didn’t care before. We’d had no real fights in the last two years, and I’d gotten cocky. But fighting against the bottom of the GE hierarchy agents is nothing compared to the big leagues like Thorne. How many gifted agents does GE have at his level? Or higher?

“What are you doing out here?”

My heart stutters offbeat, and my cock thickens in my jeans at the sound of her voice. I’m a goner for this girl, and she still thinks she’s going to walk away from this city and us after we take down GE. I also know that she’s going to do whatever she wants, even if that means going off on her own if she finds herself not liking our plans.

I don’t know why she’s decided to stick with us since we all found out Vera’s alive. To keep an eye on Dane, maybe. Or she actually agreed with Aiden about us working together to get this done. Either way, she’s here for the thinnest of reasons that could snap at any time.

I can’t let that happen.

“Training.” I check the timer to see that I’m reaching the hour mark of this test. Since I’m sitting on a tree stump, I have to look up to see her face. She’s in jeans and a plain shirt like me, both of our tops hugging our upper halves like a second skin. Her long blonde hair is down and un-styled. I can tell because her waves are more haphazard, and there are random curls here and there. “You been looking for me, beautiful?” I tease with a drawl.

Raegan stares at my arm and then the timer. Her brows pinch as she tries to figure out what I’m doing. “You’re trying to time how long you can hold it?” she guesses, then crouches down into a squat to get a better look at my arm.

Her breath fans across my arm, and I’m gifted with the smell of vanilla now that she’s close enough. I’m tempted to grab her hair and wrap it around my fist. Give her something else to look at. My dick stirs at the thought, and words slip past my lips without a filter. “I can go as long as I need to, beautiful. Want to christen these woods with me?”

Her blue eyes flare at the suggestion, and I know she’s down for it as much as I am. Fuck. Yes.

I grab her by the neck, pulling her lips up to mine and then lifting her to straddle my hips. She grinds her pussy into me, and it feels so fucking good. We still have clothes between us, and I’m rock-hard. It’s all her. She’s an aphrodisiac all on her own. The fire in her big, bright eyes. The warm smell of vanilla. Her sharp tongue that can sound so sweet when it’s coaxed out of her right. The way her slight frame fits completely inside mine, which makes me want to wrap around her tight.

She tastes like strawberries today, and I’ve never been so starved for the fruit in my life. Raegan smacks my chest and pulls back. Her pupils are dilated, and she’s panting when she attempts to back out. “Is this all you think about? Sex? Everything just comes out dirty to you?”

I grin and smack her ass, then drag her hips over me again. Her eyes roll back into her head as she gasps with pleasure.

“Maybe I just have a sexy imagination.”

Raegan doesn’t have a chance to comment on that before I’m smashing my lips against hers again. I haven’t finished tasting her.

Her fingers dig into my hair and she yanks my hair tie free. My hair falls around her hand, and she grabs it like it’s a safety line.

“Crap. What about your training?” She breaks away again to look at my arm, but fuck that.

“We really need to work on your dirty talk, beautiful. Don’t worry, I’ll carry the ship for now. You just sing for me.”

I lift us up, then do a controlled drop to my knees to place her on the ground beneath me. We’re deep in the woods from the firehouse with no other buildings or people around.

Raegan’s staring up at me with hooded eyes filled with lust and desire, her hair fanned out behind her mixed in the dirt and leaves. My heart misses a beat at the look she’s giving me. If I’d ever had any doubt before, it’s gone now. She wants me.

She looks so goddamn beautiful spread out before me with a look like that. My soul goes rabid at the sight of it. Mine. I’m never letting her fucking go. She’s mine. These looks are all mine. I’ll covet them and worship her like the fucking goddess she is of my soul.

I push her shirt up and tug her bra cups down so that they perfectly shelve her round tits on display for me. And then I ravish them. My tongue circles each nipple until they grow to pert points that I can’t help but suck and nibble on, eliciting a sharp gasp from Raegan. Smirking, I slide one hand between us, snapping her jeans open in a rough yank and slipping inside. Her panties are soaked for me.

A growl rumbles from my chest. I take her jeans and underwear in either hand, then strip them clean off of her and toss them somewhere behind me. My clothes drag against the dirt when I shift her thighs over my shoulders. I bite her inner thigh, claiming it and her with a mark that will stick around.

She’s writhing above me, moaning into the quiet morning air for all the woodland creatures to hear. We should be safe from the firehouse hearing us, but I’m in too deep to give a rat’s ass if they do. I’m not stopping even if a bear or cougar shows up. Her voice is like music to my ears, and I wonder what other sounds I can draw from her lips. Sounds I know I’ll replay in my head on repeat like my favorite song.

My tongue takes a long, firm lick of her arousal, and I groan at the sweetness of it. “You’re going to be the death of me, beautiful. A man could set up camp and feast on you for life with how good you taste.”

Her fingers grip the hair on my head and shove me back down. “Shut up and don’t stop,” she sasses, but it’s dripping with a need that tells me I’m still the one in control. I smile against her lower lips, my trimmed beard tickling against her, causing her thighs to clench around me.

I don’t have the patience to drag this out any longer, anyway. I’ve been starved for the taste of her again. I pleasure her with reckless abandon. No nice, gentle, or teasing strokes. This pussy is mine and has been waiting for me to devour it; I won’t make it wait any longer. My grip on her thighs is firm as she tries to wriggle away when the pressure becomes too much, but I hold her steady so she can’t run away. She’ll take the pleasure I’m giving her, and she’s going to love it .

Raegan’s hand is pulling my hair so tight that my scalp burns. She’s not trying to direct anything, though. She’s holding on for dear life while she makes all sorts of sounds that tell me I’m playing her body just right.

I dip my tongue inside her pussy. I can feel it trying to clench, but my tongue isn’t what it wants. I slide back up and then insert two fingers, pushing them in and out at a steady pace.

Her body arches like a bowstring and then snaps as her orgasm explodes from her. I hungrily devour her sweetness before it can fall to the dirt so it isn’t wasted. I shuck my clothing, then remove the rest of hers as well while she’s still coming down from her high, and then I line up and drive into her.

She cries out in pleasure, and my voice mixes with hers. My dick glides into her with ease, and it’s like her cunt is welcoming me home. I back out and take my time sliding back in. I want to feel every inch of her pussy, especially when it holds me tight and tries not to let me go. It’s pure fucking heaven, and there’s nothing I’ve done or felt in my life that will top this.

Street racing, fight clubs, drinking, and smoking. All distractions from what I was really looking for in this life.

Her.

The thought snaps the thread of control in me, and I move in earnest. I lift her ass while her legs balance over my shoulders as I take her at a completely new angle. She’s at my mercy with half her body airborne and in my grip, so she has to take every punishing stroke and thrust, as I angle myself deeper, like I’m trying to come out of her throat .

My own finish line creeps up, but I don’t want to go until I’ve felt her orgasm with me inside her. I pull out, then grab her hips and flip her to her front in one swift motion. Her back is covered in dirt and nature, and now I’ll get to rub her front side into it, too. Once again, I sheathe myself in her warm embrace.

I run my hand possessively down her spine as if I can press the dirt more firmly into her skin as a form of marking her. Like Simba’s forehead is marked with some mud or coconut crap, I’ll claim her in the dirt of this earth. I grip her hips in each hand and step up to an unforgiving pace. “Touch yourself, beautiful.”

Raegan reaches between her legs and starts rubbing at her clit. I can feel her pussy pulse and clench around me, and I know she’s close. I grit my teeth to hold my own back, but it’s not easy. Then she screams, and I hear the flutter of wings flying off with surprise at the sound. Her body convulses around mine, squeezing me tight, and I can’t hold it anymore. My seed bursts out of me, and I pound it all into her as ecstasy surges through me.

I collapse over her back, holding myself up but resting against her while catching my breath. Neither of us says a word while our minds and bodies come crashing back down to earth and the physical world around us. I know exactly what she’ll do as soon as her brain kicks back online, though. She’ll run. Emotionally. Maybe even physically. She’ll run from this. From me.

I’ve learned that sex, she can do. She’s not shy or afraid of her body at all. It’s intimacy she fears.

It’s not something I have experience with either. But I want it. With her .

She’s the only partner for me. The only woman who I’d gladly give all my time and attention to. Hell, most of my shenanigans on the island were my attempts at impressing her. At stealing her focus away from the others and earning a smile that’s exclusively mine.

I gently pull myself free and fall back on my ass, knees up, uncaring that I’m butt-ass naked in the woods right now, sitting on leaves and twigs. Her body tenses almost as soon as I’m gone. As if losing contact with me is what triggers her brain to overpower her body so she can overthink everything.

“Here.” I grab my shirt and throw it in her face when she sits up. “You can use it to clean up if you want.”

She looks uncomfortable and avoids my eyes, so I take that moment to turn away from her and grab my clothes to put back on. When I glance back, she’s nowhere in sight. Did she run that quickly?

Raegan pops out from behind a bush, fully dressed, though her skin is still brown with dirt, and there are leaves tangled in her hair. She holds my shirt by a bit of the fabric pinched between her fingers and behind her.

“I used it. I’ll wash it before I give it back.”

Like I care about her cum. Doesn’t she remember how I was eating and raving about it? I study her for another second, and then realization clicks in. I grin at her embarrassment, and when she only looks more so at my grin, it widens until I’m sure all my teeth are showing. “Did you pee on it?”

“Gross! Stop making this weird! Of course, I didn’t. I just…used it to wipe myself…after. It’s a girl thing, alright? Just leave it alone, or I’ll never have sex with you again.” Her face is red as a strawberry, and it’s so fucking cute to see her like this that I want to poke her more. But there’s also no way I’m letting her think we aren’t doing that again. Because I’d really like this to be a regular thing.

Raegan looks in the direction of the firehouse and it’s like watching a rabbit tense in preparation to run for its life.

Distraction seems like the easiest way to keep my little bunny from running, so I look purposefully at my arm. The scales are long gone, as I knew they would be, but I sigh loud and clear to grab her attention.

It works like a charm, and she drops the shirt and steps closer to me so she can look at my arm, too. “How long did it last?”

“Probably just the hour, as usual. I don’t usually focus on it once it’s there, so it’s hard to say.” Her brow pinches with concern, and I gently flick her forehead to snap her out of it. “Whatever you’re thinking, beautiful, stop. I can just try again.”

“How long have you been trying to do this?”

“About two hours, although I really can’t count the last one since I wasn’t trying to keep it active,” I drawl with a smirk.

“Is this because of last night?” she presses, and I shrug. “Why? You’re already pretty invincible.”

My smile falls, and I rub at my beard. “It’s not enough. As you saw last night.”

Her blue eyes meet mine, and I see understanding there. We’re both not happy about what almost happened. Only difference is that I’ve made it my one goal in this life to protect my brothers, and now Raegan again .

It was all I wanted on the island after I found out my family had been killed. They’re the only family I have now.

How Thorne’s alive is still unbelievable to me, just as I’m sure it’s haunting Jack. I would have thought his entire eye would be gone from being stabbed, and yet there it was. Probably blind as a bat, but somehow intact.

It makes me wonder just who else we’re up against in this battle with GE. It’s not going to only be Thorne and some suits behind a desk. The possibilities of other gifts out there are endless.

“And that guy trained Jack?”

“Guess so. You should ask him, though. We didn’t get involved until the very end. The quick version is that he took Jack in as a sort of protégé after we got off the island.” She looks confused, and I realize she still doesn’t know anything about what we did after we escaped.

But I’m all in with her now, so I don’t see the harm in telling her any of it. Whether or not the others agree is a different story, but I’ll keep it summarized so they can fill in any details if they choose to. The stories involving Thorne aren’t really mine to tell.

“We didn’t stay together when our boat landed. Jackson and I each took off on our own, and only Dane and Aiden stuck together at first.”

Raegan’s face parts in shock. “Why not? After all you’d been through together…”

I laugh at that, and it’s a callous, rough sort that scratches my throat when it comes out. I still can’t believe how little she realizes she’s a part of us. Always has been and always will be. “I didn’t realize it then, but now that I’m looking back, I’m almost positive. It was because of you. We didn’t all agree on you, or in that you weren’t with us, and it divided us. But yeah.” I wave that story aside for another time, if ever. I’d rather not get too deep into what I’d stupidly done in that dark time she wasn’t in my life.

Raegan chews on her lip while trying to process all of that.

I yank the knife I’d used earlier free of the stump and slash a fresh wound on my arm. Her gaze jumps to it, and even though she knows I’ll heal, I can still read the worry in her eyes when she sees my blood.

“Will you train me?” she finally asks after my scales have come in, and I set a new timer.

I arch a brow. “With your gift?”

“No,” she hurriedly answers. “I need to learn how to fight better. I’ve been getting by with stealth and finding opportunities to my advantage, but once someone knows I’m there, and if they aren’t restrained, I’m at a disadvantage. I want to learn how to fight hand-to-hand and with a knife. Even if they’re bigger than me.”

“Hate to tell you this, but most people are bigger than you unless you’re fighting kids or that friend of yours.”

She gives me a playful smack, and I grin. “You know what I mean, you prick.”

“Why won’t you use your gift?” I ask, genuinely curious.

She frowns at the very idea of it. “It’s too dangerous for me to use when others are around. I don’t want to…you know, friendly fire.”

Is she thinking about Vera? I was shocked to hear that Vera had put her brother’s life at risk. I was less surprised to find out she’d slept with the enemy. She was clearly uninterested in her other classmates and spent all her extra time training. And yet, I overheard her teasing Raegan about kissing and taking the next step with the boys on more than one occasion. Where was she getting the experience from?

At the time, it had been a passing thought. I had no evidence or other reason to suspect it was true, so I’d dropped it.

Now, it seems like my instinct had been correct.

“That’s just practice.” I step in front of her so she has to tilt her face up to maintain eye contact with me and take her hands to place them against my chest. There’s a tattoo on one side that looks like an animal clawed at it and ripped the skin away to expose the muscle underneath. Then there are fake scales that trail up my shoulder and down my arm to tell a story about me.

She doesn’t react since we both know her gift isn’t active, but I like having her undivided attention like this. “You need to remember that your gift is a part of you. It’s not something made and attached to you. You were born with it. Like two arms and two legs. Stop hiding from it and being afraid. Learn it for yourself. Test its limits.”

Raegan pulls her hands away and tucks them under her arms. “It’s not another arm. It’s a weapon that I’ll only use when I have to,” she replies stubbornly.

I sigh. “Alright, I’ll train you to fight. We’ll do it every night after dark. So, if there’s anything you were planning on doing today, I’d hurry and get it done because as soon as the sun goes down, I’ll be hunting you down to start, no matter what you’re in the middle of.”

Her mouth parts at my taskmaster attitude, but little does she know how excited I am by the prospect of making her a badass. Grappling with her and potentially fucking during the session is not a bad idea. “Well? Go!” I turn her around and smack her on the ass to kick-start her. She jumps and looks at me with mock surprise and heat in her eyes.

Hell yes, this is going to be fun.

The firehouse is quiet when I finally call it quits on training. The building is huge, so it takes a lot to add noise to it, but it’s also a feeling that there’s not a lot of life or activity going on in here.

I stride into the large living area and find Dane taking a break from the kitchen backsplash tiles and tapping away on his laptop on the large sectional couch. He glances over at me, his eyes raking over my dirty state, but for once, he keeps his mouth shut about it.

“Where is everyone?”

“Jack’s still sleeping. Raegan left a while ago, and I think Aiden went after her.”

She left?

My hands clench open and shut at that bit of information, and Dane watches me with a look of disinterest, but it’s a show.

“Order pizza for lunch. I’m going to take a shower.”

“It’s closer to dinner now,” Dane argues, like it matters.

I just shrug and turn away to head for the common men’s bathroom and the showers. One of the downsides of this location is that the dorms are tiny-ass rooms with nothing more than a bed and a dresser. I feel like I’m almost the length of the room and might kick a hole in the wall in my sleep. The shared bathrooms aren’t great, either. At least Raegan knows she has one to herself. It’s been unspoken that we won’t use the women’s bathroom even if she isn’t in it.

Depending on how long we’ll be staying here, we’ll need to talk about knocking down some walls and adding more individual bathrooms. We don’t need ten bedrooms between the five of us.

I take longer in the shower than usual to make sure all the dirt and grime is washed away, pull on some sweats, and then fall unceremoniously onto the couch a few feet away from Dane. There are already pizza boxes stacked on the table, so I dip right in to grab a piece and take a bite.

“No bottle?” Dane questions with faux innocence.

I finish my fourth slice and wipe my hands on my sweatpants before turning on a video game and grabbing a controller off the table. “I don’t need it anymore.” I used it to numb the pain and the emptiness of my life without Raegan in it. But she’s here now. And I’ve found my purpose again.

Like I’d say any of that to him, though, with the chip on his shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon.

“Besides, I need to be fully alert for training Raegan tonight.” He swivels his head at that. “She asked me to help with her fighting skills. You should join us. We haven’t worked on that in a while, and I’m sure your technique has suffered.” I shoot him a grin. It’s a point I’ve made to him on numerous occasions, even when we were actively training. Everything starts off well and good, but as soon as something trips his temper, it’s like everything he’s learned goes out the window, and he just throws his fists around to win any fight.

Dane frowns at me but doesn’t rise to the bait and goes back to whatever hacking or research he’s been doing on his computer.

Huh.

“Something on your mind there, Rapunzel?” He’s too quiet. Something’s wrong.

“Do you actually care about Raegan again, or is she just your next fixation now that Aiden has put an end to street racing while we’re here?”

Now we’re getting somewhere. My eyes don’t leave the screen as I mow through a swarm of zombies. “I’ve always cared about her, just like you. She was never anything temporary, and that’s not what this is now. I’m done with all the distractions and bullshit I’d been doing before. I’m ready to take the fight to GE, but Thorne proved we all need more work before we can get there.”

“I may have cared about her once, but not anymore. She’s dead to me.” His voice is cold and hard. Even though I know he’s just having another temper tantrum, albeit a less in-your-face one, his words hit me like lightning.

I chuck the controller down, and Dane jerks his head around at the clatter. “That’s it. I’m sick of your fucking attitude. You heard her say it was an accident. She didn’t just wake up one day and decide to murder Vera. Stop acting like that’s what happened. And stop taking out all your pain and grief on her for your own fucking issues. She was sixteen when it happened. When we still didn’t really understand our gifts. We were dumb and didn’t push her more for answers back then, and she kept the reason to herself to protect your feelings.

“Your hatred of Raegan is a piss-poor excuse for avoiding what you’re really feeling, and you need to figure out a way to get over it. Because if I hear you talking about her like that again, I will beat the shit out of you.” With those words, I storm out of the room.