Anarchy, p.14
Anarchy, page 14
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, my body taut. I could pinpoint the sensation rushing through me this time, only because there was nothing else it could be.
Desire. Need.
Would having him between my legs banish some of the tension that had been constant while around their heavy scents?
He must think so.
He touched me before I could start to panic. His tongue, heated and probing, slipped through my folds to taste me.
My toes curled. The sensation was foreign but also… nice. Nothing life-shatteringly spectacular, but enough to make me wonder if this was maybe only the beginning. Would there be more?
He licked and kissed at me, gently sucking. Vandle was moaning more than me as he got situated down there, seeming to love the taste of my slick.
That switched quickly when he sucked harder at a spot that sent a jolt of pleasure through me.
I cried out, back arching from the bed and eyes flying open. Wrapping my arms around myself, hands still tucked into the sweater sleeves, I stared down at him. His eyes met mine, and there was self-satisfaction shining in them.
“What was that?” I asked, breathing heavily.
He did it again, and I contained myself a bit more that time. “That’s what I think you need to be a bit less anxious in here. Do you still trust me?”
That time, I did nod without hesitation. “Yes.”
He pressed a kiss to my inner thigh, then attached his lips back to that one spot that made me feel so much more than any other.
I clenched my hands into fists, breaths ragged as he gave me more and more pleasure using only his mouth. It felt like there was a goal, somewhere he was taking me, but when I thought about it, it only felt farther off.
So I did my best to relax into the feelings and not worry about destinations or anything silly like that.
Vandle made my back arch and my body writhe against him, and he did it so gently I never realized how close I was to the peak that I couldn’t crest.
At least, not until he demanded it of me.
“Come for me, Crescent.” There was the bite of the dark bond in his words, the command holding me in its tight grip.
I didn’t know how to follow the instructions, but my body did—and I didn’t want to resist, so that must be good enough.
When he brought his mouth back to me, my lips parted on a choked cry as the pleasure multiplied a thousandfold. It crashed over me in waves, sending my body into overdrive. For a few tense seconds I couldn’t think or process, and I could only move in the way it demanded me to.
Writhing and trembling and shaking as the world became something different around me.
Being touched felt this good?
When I’d spent so many heats in pain…?
If I’d known, I might have worked harder to be one of the worthy ones who got to have a pack.
I was barely breathing when the door to the bathroom was hauled open, bright fluorescent light spilling into the shadowed corner of my nest. Phantom stood backlit, taking a few steps out into the room before stopping short.
“Oh,” he said. “I heard her shout—thought she might be hurt.”
I flushed as he stared at me, fighting to close my legs but only managing to squeeze Vandle’s head a bit. “Sorry, um—”
“Don’t apologize,” Vandle said. “Tell me how you feel.”
My attention swung back to him. How I feel? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to know that. It was… amazing. And now…
I blinked down at him as I realized. “It’s… gone,” I said. “I was feeling all cooped up and anxious before, but now it’s gone.”
Vandle grinned. “Good girl.”
He let me swing my legs off his shoulders, planting my feet on the ground. I sat up on the edge of the bed and rested my hands on my thighs.
Phantom watched every movement, disappointment crossing his expression when he couldn’t see my centre anymore. He hadn’t come further into the room, but also hadn’t retreated back into the steamy, bright bathroom.
“She wants to go to the cafeteria,” Vandle said.
“I don’t know if I need to anymore,” I mumbled.
I’d been trying to escape the feelings, but apparently all I’d needed was that—not a dangerous trip out of their wing. I didn’t want to inconvenience them more when I was already feeling better.
The Sisters had only ever talked about what we would do to please our alphas. But Vandle was satisfied through the bond, so that was good.
It had just been overly focused on… well, me.
“It’s probably better to keep her in here until we go for our appeal,” Phantom said.
Vandle looked like he half agreed, but shook his head. “Can’t keep her locked in here the whole time. When the Emerald pack go to eat, we should go with them. Safety in numbers.”
Phantom’s jaw clenched. I didn’t like that tense, worried look on his face, and pushed to my feet. Crossing the small room, I grabbed his hand.
He glanced down at it, eyebrows drawn together, and I almost lost my nerve and dropped it. Then he hauled me to his side, huddling me under his arm. “What do you want, Little Omega?” he asked.
“I don’t need to leave,” I promised. “We can stay here all the time and maybe Vandle can just… do that again, if I get antsy.”
His growl made me startle. “Next time is my turn.”
“Oh. You don’t have to—”
“It’s my turn next. I can make you come just as well as he can.”
My face flamed and I turned to hide it against his side.
He wanted to?
They would be taking turns? What was so special about it? I felt more like a burden than anything else…
Phantom held me close, his hand caressing my back as I clung to him. “We’ll go out later if you’re settled for now. There are protein bars if you need a snack before dinner.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I snuck a peek at Vandle and caught his pleased smirk. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, cleaning it of my slick.
I would never hear the word ‘snack’ the same way ever again.
18
SIN
Karma and I left the cell completely alone in the morning—when it came to leverage on the Redgraves, we couldn’t even trust the Emerald pack not to turn on us.
The key to the contraband room was my biggest piece of leverage—a secret I would have left the Emerald pack with if not for its ability to save Crescent.
I didn’t keep it in our cell because that was asking for trouble. Besides, there were thousands of nooks and crannies in this stone prison. Tons of junk rooms and empty rooms full of trash that not even the most desperate prisoner would want anymore. Cells with leaks that alphas would only use if Anarchy was at full capacity—which it never was.
But now I needed to pick it up from its hiding place.
A spot I never checked on, because checking on it would be riskier than leaving it the fuck alone.
If it was gone… Well, we were screwed.
It should be there, though. I’d hidden it well.
I kept close to Karma. Stalking the halls as a duo was a risk even if no one wanted to kill us, but it was practically begging for death as Anarchy target number one.
But bringing Crescent would have made us too conspicuous, and we sure as fuck weren’t leaving her alone with anyone else.
I always kept my gun on me, but today I was far more aware of the cool metal that I was keeping tucked against my waist right now. I usually kept it here, or in my ankle holster, but it was always on me.
Hopefully I wouldn’t need it. Most of the alphas here knew I had it now, but the feral ones—all they saw was prey wandering these halls with only one alpha at his side for protection.
We walked quickly, but tried to look leisurely at the same time. No one passed us in the hall, but you never knew who could be watching from their cell.
I was about to steer us down a side hallway to avoid going out into the main square when footsteps padded closer.
I listened intently.
One set of footsteps. They sounded uneven, as if the person had a limp, but not urgent or shuffling, like some of the truly feral alphas that skulked down lonely hallways.
And it was only one person.
Someone confident enough to walk around alone… That was a very limited subset of people. None of whom we wanted to see right now.
Fuck me.
Karma stepped in front of me, puffing out his chest and letting his aura out a little in threat.
When the person turned the corner, he relaxed.
Huh?
Ozias strode down the wide hallway toward us, his hands stuffed into his pockets. I noticed he was limping. I grabbed Karma’s arm and tried to steer him away from his rut fight rival, but he shook me off.
Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a bottle of pills and tossed them to Ozias when he got close. Ozias caught it midair, giving it a quick shake and then popping the top to check the inside.
“Better not have kept any for yourself,” he commented.
I expected Karma to prickle and maybe lunge for the bastard, but he only scoffed. “When I got ‘em, that’s what was in there. Haven’t touched it.”
Ozias put the bottle in his pocket, the bulge of it barely visible in his oversized sweats. “Deal’s done, then.” He gave me a once over glance, then scanned Karma the same way. “Good luck out there. You’ll need it.”
As Karma’s growl echoed down the hall, Ozias veered off into a side hallway with a final, faint smirk.
I stepped into my packmate’s path to stop him from going after him and herded him forward. We had to get the key, preferably before we ran into someone who wanted us dead.
“The fuck was that about?” I asked.
I took us down a side hallway and the walls closed in, becoming narrow enough that Karma and I couldn’t walk side-by-side anymore.
He fell into step behind me, grumbling. “Ran into him last night in the cafeteria. Figured we didn’t need the pills, so I traded.”
“For what?”
Ozias wouldn’t be a bad person to have on our side. His aura was one of the most formidable here. But Karma wasn’t a good enough negotiator to con anyone into trading protection for painkillers. Even I would struggle to do that.
“Coloured pencils and a sketchbook.”
I looked over my shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“I wanted something I could give Crescent. I’m drawing for her.”
Okay, that was admittedly sweet.
I might have to up my game on what I was giving Crescent, because Karma was an amazing artist. Our cell was testament to that. Every once in a while one of the packs would trade something high value for Karma to paint a mural for them—but only the dweller packs could afford a luxury like art, so it didn’t happen often.
He didn’t give any more details as we walked, weaving through the side hallways that connected the wings. I felt his tension in the bond; in the crackling electricity of his aura in the air.
The sooner we got the key back to our cell, the better.
I drew to a stop in front of a rusty metal door. Its worn sign said ‘BOILER ROOM,’ but it hadn’t been that in a long time. This would have been a boiler room from a time before Anarchy was this big, before it took up the entire floor beneath the Cimmerian Vaults.
It had a different meaning to me, though.
Nightmare, and beginning.
Glancing both ways down the hall, I confirmed it was only me and Karma. Then I turned the rusted doorknob and let the door screech open.
“It would’ve been so much easier if you’d kept this thing in our fucking cell,” Karma muttered.
I didn’t grace that with a response.
He waited outside the door while I slipped into the room.
All the equipment was still in here, stripped bare of anything useful to prisoners. There were large pipes attached to the walls, ceiling, and floor, rusted and scratched. Dented and bent in places.
In the far corner, I crouched down to undo one of the connections and remove a stretch of pipe. Then I grabbed a piece of rebar from the floor and shoved it down until it reached a corner section, waiting for the clinking of the key against it.
My heart raced as the rebar only clanked against the pipe, its tone completely different than the high-pitched clink of keys.
I readjusted my grip, breathing heavily as my chest tightened.
No, they couldn’t be—
The rebar clinked against something.
I didn’t dare to relax until I’d worked the keyring back up the section of piping and fished it out with my fingers.
The key was bronze and triangular with a little metal ring attached. The teeth of it were worn-down and rounded, but it would still open the lock it was meant for with a bit of wiggling.
I put it in my pocket and set everything right before heading back out to Karma.
Now all we had to do was figure out how to prove to Dominic that I had the key without actually giving it to him.
And there was only one way I could see to do that:
Steal from the heavily-guarded contraband room.
19
KARMA
The room smelled like Crescent’s sweet slick when we got back.
And so did Vandle.
Bastard.
What had he done with her?
With jealousy raising its ugly head, I glared, narrowly resisting the urge to wrap my hand around his throat and squeeze until he went feral again. He spared me a smirk. Asshole.
Crescent lay curled in her nest, hiding herself in the dim corner, but when I got close she didn’t stop me. Her wide, golden eyes peered out, and I climbed into the bed beside her.
“What did you do while we were gone?” I asked, purely to watch the pink spread over her cheeks.
She squeezed her thighs together, mouth opening and closing without a sound coming out.
I pulled one of the blankets up over my legs, leaning in and brushing my lips across her cheek. “Don’t worry, I already know.”
I pulled away just as quickly, because that was a bit of a lie.
Something had happened to leave her embarrassed, since velvet rose and cocoa was thick in the air of the small room. Vandle was involved, based on his smirk, but what they’d done precisely was a mystery.
One I was eager to explore on my own, by tasting the salt of her skin, and sweetness of her slick.
But I needed to be a bit more stable. Or her, more experienced. So for now, I’d claim some cuddles, thank you very much.
As I tried to settle in beside her, trying not to fuck with her pillow placement too much, something in my pocket poked against my skin.
Sketchbook.
Coloured pencils.
It was barely finished, but Vandle had already given her a gift. The gift of… well… oral, maybe? A good finger bang? Either way, he was ahead of me and I hated that.
I needed to give her a gift too, ready or not.
Flipping to the first page of the old, worn sketchbook, I ripped out the colourful artwork and held it out to her.
“What…” She trailed off as her gaze focused on the art, and a second later one small hand had unearthed itself from the blankets and snatched the paper from me.
It was a landscape. One of the few memories I had from outside—as hazy as it was.
The sky was done in shades of orange and red, a sunset over a dark mountain. In the foreground there was a grey barn and a field dotted with cows and sheep.
It felt like an important place.
Somewhere I wanted to share with her, even though I couldn’t say I quite remembered what was special about it.
“Did you draw this?” she asked.
Her fingers traced the horizon.
“Yeah.”
“It’s beautiful. You’re really talented.”
She tried to give it back, but I shook my head. “For you.”
Her teeth nibbled her bottom lip. I don’t think she believed that it was really for her, but I ripped out another page and handed it over.
This one, a portrait of her, was one I’d done while she slept last night. She looked delicate and peaceful with her hair splayed out around her. She snatched it from me with a little squeak.
“W-why did you draw me?”
Because then, I’ll always remember how important you are to me.
No matter how many times I lose everything, memories of my childhood, life, or pack, there’s one thing that I can always remember. I know my artwork, through everything. Know what I’ve drawn—even if I don’t know why I’ve drawn it, or what it is.
And knowing I spent time drawing her, that should be proof that she mattered.
“Because you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Keep that one too.”
I would have plenty of time to draw more of her, from every angle, every strand of her gorgeous moonlight hair. Those ones I’ll keep for myself.
I leaned in to brush my lips across her forehead, and Crescent pushed her head into the touch like an eager kitten.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and something about her fragile tone urged me to open up, just a little bit more.
“If I ever forget you, show me those drawings. Then I’ll know you’re special.”
A little furrow appeared between her eyebrows. “Forget me? Why would you forget?”
That, I wasn’t going to explain. “I probably won’t,” I lied. “But, just in case.”
“Well…” she frowned. “If you might forget, why don’t you keep this one with you?”
I looked at the portrait, thinking of the other I carried with me.
“It’s for you, Moonlight.”
“I want it in my nest when we get out of here. So you have to keep it so you remember me until then.”
I smiled, looking back down at it. “Deal.”
“I want this one, though.” She clutched the sunset to her chest. Her body leaned forward, silently begging for another forehead kiss, and I was happy to oblige.
