Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Alaric

Ibarely get three steps back into the room when Ursa cuts through my plans for the rest of the night with a few short words. “Take Zurielle to the spare bedroom and get her situated.”

“The spare bedroom?” I stop short. “Why is she going there?”

“Because I want her to.”

I start to argue, but there’s no point. Ursa has given a command and I won’t change her mind, not when we’re apparently playing out a particular scene in her head. It was fun fucking Zuri. Really fun. But I want to be on my knees in front of Ursa on my first night free of the Underworld. More, the thought of wading through emotional conversations with Zuri sounds about as fun as throwing myself headfirst into a wood chipper.

Arguing won’t work, but maybe another tactic will.

“Ursa. Mistress.” I give her my best charming smile. “I thought I’d keep you company tonight.” I thought we’d talk, too. Maybe not tonight, but soon.

She rises slowly from the bed. Normal people would look awkward doing the same motions, but with Ursa it’s pure grace and deadly power. She smooths down her dress. “Alaric, you can go sleep in the spare bedroom with Zurielle, or you can go outside and sleep on the balcony like a disobedient pup. It’s your choice, lover.”

I clench my jaw even as part of me responds to the sweet poison of her words. Everything about this woman draws me in: her beauty, her power, her deceptively sweet meanness. Even now, the threat makes my body go tight.

But that desire will only last about five minutes in the cold night.

I finally nod. “I’ll take her now, Mistress.”

“Good boy. I knew you’d see things my way.” She crosses to me and presses a light kiss to my lips. “Start with aftercare. You may do anything she consents to—except fuck her pussy with your cock. Do you understand?”

I frown down at her. I don’t understand this. We were supposed to be the endgame, and now she’s essentially giving me to Zuri. Or giving Zuri to me, depending on how one looks at this. Either way, the equation doesn’t include Ursa, which is the one component I crave above all others.

I like Zuri. I do. But she’s so sweet, I feel like I’ll bruise her with a harsh word. She has her entire heart pinned to her chest, just ready to give it to the first person who offers her a tiny bit of kindness, fake or not. Being around her makes me feel guilty, and I fucking hate it.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I grind out.

Ursa doesn’t move, a deadly stillness stealing over her. “If you harm her, it will displease me.” If Zuri has a problem with us talking about her like she isn’t there, she doesn’t say a word from her spot on the bed. Ursa reaches up and gives my chin a light flick. “Go.” No negotiation. No bargaining. A simple command with the illusion of a choice.

There’s no point in arguing further. She’s not bluffing about making me sleep outside, which might amuse me in different circumstances. Not tonight. Not with everything riding so close to the surface.

I turn to Zuri. “Let’s go.”

She gives Ursa a wounded look but climbs off the bed on clearly shaking legs. I’m moving before I make a decision to do so, closing the distance between us and scooping her into my arms. If she takes a nose dive, it’ll just be more work for me to scrape her off the ground. Or that’s what I tell myself as I walk out of Ursa’s room and down the hall to the spare bedroom that’s been mine the few nights I’ve been able to slip my leash long enough to stay over.

I kick the door shut with my foot, which is right around the time Zuri seems to register that I’m carrying her. She squirms in my arms. “Put me down.”

“Can you stand without falling on your ass?”

She goes rigid. “I never knew you were such a dick.”

I set her carefully on her feet. “You never knew me.” I’m irritated at being banished from Ursa’s bedroom, at being forced into this conversation. The idea of revenge against Triton sounded like a good plan when she first proposed it to me. A way to bring that bastard down a few notches, even if ultimately we have no power in Olympus. It took some doing to be able to meet Zuri “by accident” when Triton would kill me before he’d let me touch one of his precious daughters, but it was all for the sake of revenge and freedom.

That plan feels so distant now with her standing in my room, naked and still flushed from our fucking. She seems to realize it at the same moment and moves to cover herself. “Turn around.”

I burst out laughing. “Zuri, there is nothing that you’re covering that I didn’t have my mouth all over back in Ursa’s room. No point in playing the coy virgin when you aren’t one anymore.”

I don’t even try to dodge her slap. The force of it turns my face to the side and sends pain blossoming over my cheek. It’s nothing more than I deserve for being such a goddamn bastard.

Zuri’s big eyes are furious and filled to the brim with hurt and betrayal. “Don’t act like you took something special from me. It’s just sex, Alaric. Whether it’s my first, hundredth, or thousandth time.” Her lower lip quivers, but she makes an obvious effort to still it. “And when this week is finished, I’m going to fuck as many people as it takes to forget all about you and Ursa.”

Jealousy sinks its barbs into me. It doesn’t matter that I have no right to it, that I want to get rid of her as much as she wants to be rid of me. I take a step forward, a part of me delighting when she stands her ground. She wouldn’t have done it a few months ago. I lean down. “That’s your mistake, Zuri. There is no one better than me and Ursa. You could fuck your way through Carver City, Olympus, and Sabine Valley, and you’d still feel the imprint of us on your skin.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.” She smooths her hair back, regaining her composure bit by bit despite the fact she’s still standing there completely naked. “I might not be experienced, but even I can tell that your technique could use some work.”

“You weren’t complaining when you were coming all over my cock.”

Her eyes flash. “Because Ursa was touching me.”

A perverse kind of joy fills me. She never would have gone toe to toe with me when she lived in her father’s house. A few days in Carver City and little Zuri thinks she can play with the big dogs. She might even be right.

That’s not going to stop me from putting her in her place right now, tonight. “Tell me your safe word.”

“We’re not doing this.”

I don’t back down. “Your safe word, Zuri.”

She stops short, finally registering that I’m not fucking around. “Hurricane.” A little meekness filters back into her tone, but nowhere near the sweet submission she gave Ursa. I take a step forward, and she stops me with her hand on my chest. “I hate you, Alaric. All the sex in the world isn’t going to cover up the fact that you lied to me and betrayed me and fully intend to ruin my life because of something that has nothing to do with me.”

“You’re right.” I enjoy her shock at my agreement. “But that doesn’t change a damn thing. I want you. So I’m going to take you. Again.”

“Better ask for permission first. You wouldn’t want to be banished to sleep on the balcony like a dog.” The venom in her tone only delights me more. She didn’t show Ursa a damn bit of this steel, but she’s giving it to me. It doesn’t matter that it’s because she loathes me. I like it. Fuck, it makes the sparks between us burn hotter.

I lean down until my lips nearly brush her ear. “There are a thousand things I could do to you tonight that don’t involve you on my cock.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Liar.” I skate my hand down the center of her chest, over her stomach, to cup her pussy. She hisses out a breath at the touch, and her hands come to rest on my biceps. I explore her gently, tauntingly. “You feel awful wet for someone not interested.”

“Maybe I’m thinking of her.”

Ursa is magic, and if it’s the magic that comes with sacrifice and shadows, it’s all the more addictive because of it. That said, I can’t stop the jealousy that makes me want to shove Zuri’s desire in her face and rub her nose in it. She might be caught in Ursa’s spell, but before she met the Sea Witch, Zuri was mine.

I crowd her back toward the bed. Where Ursa’s bedroom reminds me of the dark depths of the sea, this is a lighter room, leaning more toward grays and tonal blues that make me think of a storm coming in. It’s not here yet, but soon.

Or maybe the storm is inside me. Some days it feels that way, wind and rain and thunder violent enough to shake my very bones. It’s always been like this. Nothing is enough. There’s always something just beyond my reach that I want, regardless of whether I deserve it or not. The only time I don’t feel that devastating hunger is when I’m fucking, or when I’m kneeling at Ursa’s feet.

One of those options isn’t available to me tonight. The other will have to do.

I give Zuri’s pussy a light squeeze. “Get on the bed and spread your legs.”

She glares like she might challenge me, but I keep stroking her until that delicate little whimper slips free. No matter what Zuri thinks of me, she’s getting a taste of what true pleasure at another’s hands—at my hands—can feel like. She’s got a bit of a little slut in her, because she shoves off my chest and climbs onto the bed and does as I command, spreading her legs. “I’m going to think of her.”

Her words spur me forward, following her onto the mattress and gripping her thighs, spreading her wider yet. “No, you’re not.”

Zuri lifts her arms over her head, baring her body to me completely. Does she understand how sexy she looks right now? How sweet this tiny vulnerability is? It means she trusts me, at least a little, no matter how much she hates me at the moment. No matter how hedonistic she’s turning out to be, Zuri isn’t a complete fool. She wouldn’t put herself in danger for the sake of orgasms.

Except that’s exactly what she’s doing right now.

I coast my hands up her thighs until my thumbs brush her pussy. I part her. “You’re a silly girl for agreeing to this. You came to this penthouse and we can do anything we want to you. I can do anything I want to you.”

“I have my safe word.”

“Mmm.” I brush her clit. “And you’re trusting us to respect it. Some would say that just proves what a fool you are.”

She props herself up on her elbows and gives me a long look. “Do you know that Hades is the one who will enforce the contract?”

That makes sense. I can see where she’s going with this, but I’m too stubborn to admit it. “Is that supposed to mean something?”

“If the deal isn’t honored, it will be a violation of the contract both Ursa and I signed.” Her eyes are a little hazy with pleasure from my touching her, but her voice is clear. “The penalty for breaking the contract is harsh, Alaric. If Hades turns against Ursa, there’s a good chance the rest of the territory leaders will as well, if only to stay on his good side. So, you see, I am protected. You’d know that if you read a contract in your life instead of jumping into deals recklessly.”

I should stop this, should slow us down. She just had sex for the first time in a situation that is hardly ideal for emotional stability. But, damn it, I can’t help stepping to the line she’s drawn in the sand. “Now we’re going to throw stones, Zuri? Don’t act like you had a plan when you came here.” I press two fingers into her.

She makes that delicious whimpering sound, but she’s still glaring at me. “You don’t get to be mad. You got what you wanted. So climb down off that high horse, Alaric. It’s not a good look for you.”

I shift forward, bracing myself over her shoulder with my free hand as I continue the slow fucking with my fingers. “You like the way I look.”

“A pretty face…” Her breath gets a little choppy. “It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t know you. I thought I did, but I was wrong.” Abruptly, she shoves at my chest. “I can’t do this. Not like this.”

“Zuri—”

“Hurricane.”

The word falls between us like the calm before a storm. I stare down at her, my exhale damn near a gasp. When did I start breathing hard? “You just safed out.”

Zuri inches away from me slowly, like she’s not sure I’ll really stop. That, more than anything, sends reality slamming into me. I told her I could do anything to her, and now she’s not sure what to believe. I am an unbelievable asshole.

I move back, giving her space. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. Stop lying to me.” She only stops putting distance between us when her back presses to the headboard. “Please leave.”

“Zuri—”

“You don’t get to call me that anymore! Only my friends call me that.” A tear trails down her pretty face, that single piece of evidence of her hurt striking me more than her slap did earlier. “Please leave.”

She won’t accept aftercare from me, and I have no one to blame but myself. Ursa paved the way for us to figure out shit out. Except… Maybe she knew it would end like this, a chasm opening up between us that is destined never to be crossed. Ursa doesn’t like loose ends, and my conflicted feelings for Zuri are exactly that. It would be just like her to ensure that there’s nothing left unsaid between us, no matter how venomous the words.

That blasted guilt pricks me again, except it doesn’t feel like a vague pain. It feels like it has me by the throat. I swallow hard, but it does nothing to dispel the sensation of having my airway closed off. I always fuck up the things that matter. I just didn’t realize Zuri might number among them until this moment.

And now it’s too late.