The idiot seemed to shudder, face against her neck, lips almost on her skin, nose too close to her scent gland. And Rue froze as he inhaled and exhaled, leading to a quiver that rushed through her veins. His air tickled her nape, and she could barely stifle a feeble mewl as his thumbs rubbed circles into her belly.
What the fuck? Light travel was fast, should be fucking instantaneous. Kieran seemed to drag it on for a second too long, painting her in his scent that she could not smell with all the mint up her nose. And yet she felt like she could almost taste his sugar in the air. The heat of his mouth permeated her skin where it lingered, pressed soft and innocent at her shoulder, ingrained upon her flesh like a lovelorn mate.
His breathing was laboured, groin slotted against her ass, heavy and hard on her flesh. But he wasn't interested in humping her leg like an overgrown dog, nor was he here to milk her body with rough hands, steal her away into his light just for a grope. Kieran wanted the embrace, sank into it as if it affected him so greatly that he couldn't move.
A long-contented sigh escaped him, comfortable as he encompassed her in his arms, too eager for the moment.
Her heart flew, pleasure electric as it flooded her veins, sparked in her chest, burned in her lower belly. The thrum of his pulse was loud, growing only faster with their proximity, body warming into a fluster. And Rue hated that she loved it, sinking into his arms. She was far too needy for more, far too eager for contact. It felt like the most gargantuan of efforts for her to move, to break free.
But it was easy, too easy to mentally yank on it all, her chest warming with that fire, that control. That power. A spark and he gasped against her throat. A treacherous moan and they stumbled free onto the new planet. She peeled herself off him, his touch sticky for hers, stepping into the new terrain with a scowl.
The space was darkened by ash. Tents were raised among the debris of crumbling infrastructure, but it was the massive whorl in the centre that caught her eye, like a whirlpool of silk, like a strange nefarious cave. Nestled within that swaddle of threads, was what appeared to be a colony of stars, cut out from the air like a crack or a portal in the fabric of time. Dark ink was splattered to the ground, weeping from the crevice, rivulets streaming to squelch under her boot. Something inside her throbbed, twisting violently in her chest at the sight of it, and thundering hard in her head was its song.
A monster hive.
She'd read of it in books, but the words could not prepare her for the sheer power that it radiated, an energy that pulsed and itched all over her skin. She could see the corpses of the monsters now, a sea of shiny hard shells, locust-like soldiers piled before the space. Their blood stained the ground a ghastly obsidian.
The others were there waiting, dressed just as Kieran was, standing before the monstrosity that dwarfed them all. Halcyon stood with a sword stabbed into the earth, still wearing the goddamn mouth gag. Altair sat daintily on a rock, feathers fluttering, hands wiping blood from each strand. Valentino was kicking at stones, pacing the edge with a glare. Seraphim had his hands out, an orb floating in the air, fingers dancing, reading the future with closed eyes. And Dante was firing off commands at an army of troops that flanked the cave in a circle, guns in their hands ready to fire at monsters that burst from the sack.
Clearly, the monster hive was a bigger threat than she believed it to be.
They turned to look at her when she arrived, and she tried her best to knock down the anxiety that rose to her throat at the staring, a flush rising to her cheeks. Fuck, it was awkward as hell. And they were all gorgeous, power bubbling from the flex of their muscles, looking pretty in skin-tight armour that shouldn't look so good on them.
Levi startled her, hands moulded to her hips, his touch holding a growing tension that had her gaze darting up to him. His eyes were rimmed with fire. "Hey," he purred, releasing her before she could hit him, "so the idiot convinced you to come." The chuckle that escaped him was a delicious timbre, eyes darting to the Alpha behind her. "Did you kick him in the balls?" Her eyes darted back to Kieran, crumbling to his knees as if he were in pain, hunched over and shuddering on the ground, his ears and cheeks a bright ruby red. She remembered a languished moan, and Kieran looked up then with too sultry eyes, fully blown and fixated upon her.
"Maybe," she shrugged, trying to ignore the drag of his gaze, like bubbling syrupy molasses, like honey and tar. Fuck. She begged the Gods that Levi could not smell the slick puddling within her, but she was sure he could for his smirk only grew wider.
Levi barked out a laugh, brow raised. "You're always crippling someone, aren't you?"
Rue chaffed. "What are you talking about?"
"A couple of hours in and you've got Altair, Valentino and Kieran on their knees," Levi made a face and jerked a chin towards the group behind him. The eros was staring, gazes smouldering hot, lips rising into twin-like smirks. "You could try it on me."
"Try what?"
"Whatever has got them all flooding our bond with pleasure," Levi pressed a hand to his chest with a wicked smile. "I can almost taste the guidance. You're giving out freebies and I'm jealous as fuck." Fuck. She cursed. She'd forgotten that those little shits were connected. She craned her head back to Kieran, disgust on her face but pride roaring in her veins. His jaw was tight, lips pressed into a thin line as if struggling for control.
"Is he cumming his brains out just from handholding?"
"You just held his hand?" Levi laughed.
The helios snapped. "N-no," Kieran rose from the ground, stumbling over on shaky feet. "It's just been a while since I've had a passenger." Levi barked out another chuckle, and Kieran seemed to grow redder, hands slapping at his mate. "Fuck off, she's lying. I'm not like that—"
Rue opened her mouth to cut him off then, but Dante's voice echoed from behind her, vibrating through the air. Fabric was tossed her way, and she caught it, armour light in her hands. "Wear this, we're going in."
She turned to him and squinted. "Going where?"
"The hive."
Read ahead to Chapter 47 on
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