Escaping Death

Kiss or Kill - Stella Cole

Dean

Not that I really ever doubted her, but I’m starting to believe that Solana was right when she told her dads that she didn’t need protecting. How many times in the last couple of weeks has she given us the slip? How many times has she not only finished our job but walked away from it without breaking a sweat?

Solana doesn’t give away much. Our conversation earlier at the bar is only further evidence that she’s isolated herself from the world both physically and emotionally. It’s been literally her against the world for so long that she’s in a perpetual state of fight or flight.

But she has walls built around her walls, and clearly Ace’s method of brute force is no match against her fortress. Every meal she allows me to make her and every time she relaxes into my bed I get a little bit further through her maze of walls.

I’m usually very good at holding back, very good at waiting. I dare say I enjoy the journey as much as the destination. But with her I’m growing more impatient than ever. Maybe it’s knowing that this job of protecting her has an expiration date, maybe it’s because every step forward is two backwards.

Whatever the cause may be, my self control evaporates when I see the way Solana handled Mitch. He was already dead when Tate pulled him off of her but I put a bullet through his skull just for good measure.

Gods, she’s a sight. She’s wearing nothing but strappy lingerie in sky high heels, her pale skin splattered with the blood of a monster she killed single handedly. She’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen and my stiffening cock straining against my pants agrees.

“Are you okay?” I hold her face in my hands, scanning her body for injuries I know aren’t there.

“I’m perfectly fine,” she beams at me and begins fussing with the now ruined dress she had been wearing. “You two really need to step up your game.”

She pecks me on the cheek before patting my face patronizingly and walking towards the door like she’s going to strut back through the club in nothing but a bra and blood.

My hand reaches out for her, grabbing onto her wrist and pulling her back against me.

Don’t kiss her, don’t kiss her, don’t —

My mouth rushes to connect with hers, fusing our lips together. So much for my self restraint.

Tate told me about her panic attack at Lobo, how she clung to him afterwards. I overheard Hunter telling a similar tale to Ace after he brought her to close with Reef. Solana might know how to block me out of her mind but it’s obvious she’s buried a violent past and has been running from it on her own ever since. Again — a perpetual state of fight or flight.

The more I’ve come to understand this the more I yearn to be the one that can make her feel safe long enough to peek over her walls and see her true brilliance.

Our kiss is not desperate or heated, it’s not full of lust and impatience. It’s slow and tender. I massage the back of her neck as my tongue sweeps against hers. She moans into my mouth and when I pull back I can see why. Tate is standing behind her, tonguing her neck. Now this is my idea of taking care of her.

“Shouldn’t you be with Ace right now?” Tate whispers darkly in her ear. “I’m salivating at the thought of watching Ace punish you this time.”

Solana scoffs, “after all this, you guys still don’t think I’m capable of handling myself? That I don’t need a babysitter?”

“We’ve always known you were capable, Solana. Has it ever occurred to you that some of us want to take care of you? That we want you to feel safe with us?” I lay my cards on the table.

“We’ll have to finish this conversation at home. The guards will be back soon.” Tate interjects.

“I can’t bring her back through the club looking like this.”

“She can shadow.”

“Let me rephrase. I can’t bring her to Ace looking like this.”

Tate nods his head silently, “there’s a private emergency exit around the corner. Fly her home, I’ll buy you some time with Ace.”

Instead of whisking her away like I want, I need to give her what she craves — a choice. “Is that okay, Sunshine? Will you let me bring you home?”

She studies my face, searching for the deceit she thinks is there. But when she finds none she finally nods and says, “okay.”

— — —

Solana

Dean is in a rush to get back to the house, so much so that he shifts and flies us home at nearly full speed.

Despite being safely inside the house, he continues to rush us upstairs and into the bathroom where he proceeds to prepare the shower presumably for me.

“I can handle the rest, Dean.” I say softly to him over the roar of the spray.

“I know you can. But I’d like to do this for you.”

“Why? Why is it so important that you take care of me?” Exasperation begins to heat my skin.

“Because,” Dean rakes his fingers through his short, light brown hair. If he expects me to be honest then he needs to be willing to do the same. “Because it’s what I’m good at. After our mom abandoned Tate and me it was up to me to take care of us. It makes me feel useful…it makes me feel needed.”

His admission stuns me. Words dry up in my throat, my heart constricts at the image of two fledgling boys abandoned and alone.

“Get in the shower, Sunshine.” Dean’s command is gentle but firm.

I step into the hot stream of water and slip off my undergarments from behind the shower curtain. I adjust the shower head setting to pulse and let it get to work on my neck and shoulders.

A cold draft of air forces my eyes open to the image of Dean standing stark naked in the shower with me. He has two full sleeves painted on his arms and only one tattoo on his chest — the one identical to Tate’s.

He’s so much trimmer than I expected, each muscle of his core hard and defined. Right on down to his — don’t look at his dick, don’t look at his dick…

Holy Mother of all Gods.

“Is that… are you…” I’m gaping at his cock like I’ve never seen one before.

“Pierced?” His chest rumbles when he chuckles.

“Does it…hurt?” How did I end up here in the shower with Dean talking about his dick?

“Only when I’m this hard,” he smirks at me. “But tonight isn’t about me, I’m here to take care of you.”

Dean prevents me from speaking any further by pressing his lips to mine. He grabs a washcloth and deposits a generous amount of body wash into its center before working it into a lather with his hands. Starting with my shoulders, Dean glides the washcloth down my body.

By the time he passes over my breasts and begins trailing down my stomach, desire begins to coil tightly in my abdomen.

He washes the blood off of my legs and even kneels down to scrub it from my feet. It’s so intimate and erotic and even though he’s barely touched me I feel like I could combust into flames any second.

“Sunshine,” Dean’s voice is thick with desire, “you smell divine. Will you let me take care of you?”

I’m shamefully breathy when I respond. “I thought you already were?”

I feel his grin more than I see it. “I want to take care,” he pauses to kiss the top of my thigh, “of all of you.” His head is positioned at the apex of my thighs, his intentions are crystal clear but still he looks to me for permission.

Without thinking of the consequences I nod my head yes. Dean’s mouth instantly covers my sex in kisses, tonguing me and nipping at me every so often. He gently spreads my pussy’s lips to expose my swollen, needy bud before using only the tip of his tongue to tease me.

His lips seal around my clit, sucking it into his mouth and rapidly bringing me to the edge.

“Fuck, Dean. Right there.” I moan into the humid air around us. Dean repeats his delicious trick, flicking my bud with the tip of his tongue and then without warning latching onto me and sucking me past his teeth.

“Dean, fuck, I’m going to come.” Dean hums with satisfaction at my words, the vibration of his lips pushes me over the edge and I detonate on his tongue.

My high is short lived however. The shower curtain is ripped off the rod, revealing a burning Ace. I’m so glad Dean and I are fireproof, because if looks could kill then we’d both melt under Ace’s heat and be washed away down the shower drain.

The steam in the air evaporates from Ace’s volcanic heat turning the bathroom into a sauna while he wraps me in a dry towel. Ace growls at Dean so fiercely I swear I hear him whimper before the room around me disappears and I’m sucked into the void with Ace.

We land in the middle of what looks like an office, judging by the scent it’s Ace’s office but I don’t know where it is or why he needs one when the guys pretty much work from home.

Ace is fuming, flames are beginning to lick at his skin, illuminating all the ink on his arms and shoulders. His flames flare in coordination with his growling, reminding me that I have to contend with him and his wolf.

But he’s not the only one who’s mad. He doesn’t get to be possessive when he refuses to even acknowledge that we’re mates. Not even to discuss ignoring our ever growing bond, or to flat out reject each other so we can both move on like he wants.

“You going to tell me what the fuck your problem is?” I snarl.

He stops pacing and freezes in place, his back still towards me.

“You had simple fucking instructions, Solana. Walk in and walk the fuck out!” The walls shake from the intensity of his roar.

“You can pretend to be angry about me ‘disobeying orders’ but we both know you’re really just angry about being mates. So just reject me and let’s move on because I’m fucking tired of all the passive aggressive bullshit.” I shout at his back.

“You don’t know anything about me or what I want.” He says through gritted teeth, his alpha aura becoming more potent by the second.

“I know that you can’t stand me smelling like the guys which is pretty fucking ironic considering you come home stinking like whatever whores you’re playing with.” There’s a mounting pressure in my chest, my flames demanding release. But I’ve never known when to stop and right now is no exception.

“I know that one minute you look like you want to kill me and the next you look like you want to fuck me. So which is it? Let’s get this over with, kill me or fuck me.”

He whips around so fast that surprise barely has time to register in my eyes before his hand is around my throat and I’m backed up against the desk. He possesses my mouth with his. Licking, nipping, and tasting my lips. My mouth pops open when he tugs my head back by my hair and he dives into my mouth with his tongue, lapping along every corner, dominating my tongue with his silky soft one.

The way he’s kissing me now is like breathing fire. There’s a heat that fills my lungs, flames that move with a furious power, consuming everything in their path.

He is the fire. And I’m ignited in his flames.

I throw my arms around his neck pulling him towards me even more, our bodies pressed flush against one another from the hips up.

His hunger doesn’t abate, he thrusts his tongue into my mouth again and again like he’s trying to devour me. He grabs my hips roughly and lifts me onto his desk, never taking his lips off of mine.

His knees nudge mine apart making space for him to position himself between my legs. My towel has ridden up to my hips exposing my slick heat to his unmistakable bulge. The sound of him groaning as he ruts against me is my undoing.

He tugs down the towel while I’m all thumbs trying to undo his shirt buttons, our mouths sealed together permanently. I give up, opting instead to just rip the fabric from his body, and I’m rewarded with his broad, inked chest.

I break away from his mouth and dive towards his chest, kissing and tonguing the lines of his tattoos while I work on his belt and button on his jeans.

He palms my left breast in his large, calloused hand, eliciting a hiss from me when he sucks my nipple between his teeth.

“Ace,” I moan involuntarily.

“Look at me, Solana,” his eyes burn into mine but like Icarus I can’t turn away, I’m drawn closer and closer fully aware that I’ll be burned by the end.

The hand that had been massaging my breast descends down my side, along my hip, and across my thigh until I feel his fingertips running along my soaked entrance.

He forces another long, desperate moan from me as he slowly slips two thick fingers into my core.

“You think it’s been easy for me, Solana?” He says, sliding his fingers slowly out of my heat only to push them back in just as agonizingly slowly.

“You think I enjoy fighting against my instincts every minute of every day while I watch my pack mates, my brothers, put their hands and lips on what’s meant to be mine?”

He presses his thumb to my clit, rubbing circles around my nub while he increases the pace of his fingers thrusting in and out of me.

I’m all sensation, every time I try to think of a response my thoughts evaporate beneath the pleasure building in my core. My eyelids begin to droop wanting to close and focus only on his touch.

“Eyes on me, Solana,” he commands me again with a snarl and my eyes snap back open, my release painfully imminent. He’s relentless now, rubbing against that sensitive spot on my pussy’s front wall and circling my clit.

“Fuck, Ace, please,” I don’t even know what I’m asking for. I’m a slave to the electricity of his touch, the need for release is all consuming.

“That’s it, baby, let go. Come for me, come for your mate.”

I fall over the edge, stars exploding behind my eyes as my orgasm rips through me under his skilled hand. But it’s not enough, my body wants more, demands more. The proximity to my mate has been escalating my desire day by day, coiling my need tightly in my core. His hands have offered me brief respite from the ceaseless heat within me, but I need him.

“Inside me, I need you inside me.” I paw at his boxers, pulling them down over his hips and past his muscular ass allowing his length to spring free. He’s long and thick, precum dripping from his cock’s slit already. I thumb a bead of it off his tip and suck it into my mouth, moaning at the taste of his salty essence.

I maintain my grip on him, teasing his tip by running it along my slick center before I finally position him at my entrance. My breathing becomes erratic as the anticipation of feeling him fill me increases.

He doesn’t make me suffer long, he grips my hips tightly beneath his calloused, inked hands and thrusts all the way into me straight down to the hilt.

He pulls back slowly to his tip, eyes on mine the entire time, and then he thrusts into me again making me scream out his name.

“I hate and I love how much my pack mates covet you. I hate and I love watching lust swirl in their eyes watching you around the house because you’re mine. You belong to me. It brings me untold satisfaction knowing that I have the only right to claim you.”

His hands are on my hips and he’s thrusting into me in short, quick pumps. I’m arched off the desk just enough that my clit rubs against his mound every time he slams into me.

“I love your scent, I love your smile and your laugh, I love how it feels to finally be inside you.”

He continues his pace, the force of his thrusts making my tits bounce wildly against his chest and my sensitive nipples graze against the smattering of hair on his chest only adding to the intensity of sensations that are overwhelming me.

His chest begins to rumble as he moans and groans along with me, the only sounds in the room are of our animalistic noises, his hips slapping against my thighs, and my slick on his cock as he slides out and back in.

His mouth crashes down onto mine swallowing my cries as I once again fall over the edge, only this time he falls with me. His cock swells inside my pussy as he paints my walls with his hot, creamy release.

He holds me there for a few minutes riding out the aftershocks of our pleasure, our kisses slowing down from starving animals to passionate lovers.

When the spasms of my pussy finish milking his cock he drops his forehead to mine and whispers against my lips, “I hate that I can’t keep you.”