“Admit it.” Kas winked. “You’re aroused.”
I laughed. “Is it that obvious?”
I’m aroused by everything.
This house.
This life.
You.
“You’re flushed and your eyes haven’t risen above my waist.” He shifted his hips left and right, sending his cock swinging indecently. “You don’t have to just stare, you know. You can touch it.”
Oh, God.
My core clenched as my inhibitions faded, one shameless piece at a time.
I moved one step toward him.
His eyes flashed ebony. “That’s it. I won’t bite.” He bared his teeth. “Not as hard as Fang, anyway.”
My eyes traveled up from his cock, locking onto the healed puncture wounds on his arms. After Kas had chosen to sleep beside me, I’d been torn. A part of me was so glad he wanted to be close to me as much as I wanted to be close to him, but the other part of me was still wary.
I’d been strangled one too many times by him and I never wanted a repeat, but I also didn’t want him to be a pincushion for Fang’s teeth.
Turned out...my opinion hadn’t mattered.
Jareth wasn’t there to stop Kas from killing me, so Fang now had the honor. For the past six months, Kas hadn’t left my bed and he had the bite marks to prove it. His nightmares didn’t happen as often—most of them he just thrashed and mumbled, settling back into rest if I kept my distance and didn’t try to wake him. But those nights when his mind was working through a particularly bad memory...he’d sleep walk. Or at least, sleep attack.
I’d woken a few nights after that initial assurance that Fang would protect me with Kas snarling something sadistic in the dark. His eyes blank with horror. His body trembling with historical agony. I’d shot upright in bed and tried to run, but I’d been too slow.
His hands had reached for me. His fingers cruel and condemning, promising to bring me pain—to share the terror he was currently drowning in.
But that was as far as he got.
Fang immediately latched onto his forearm, his sharp white teeth vanishing into Kas’s arm without a second hesitation. He snarled and thrashed, attacking the very same man who’d saved him.
Kas’s eyes had flown wide, he’d yanked away from the dog, and comprehension shoved away his nightmare. Instead of shouting at Fang for making him bleed, he’d grabbed the dog in the biggest bear hug and laughed like a crazy person.
Tears had danced in his eyes as he kissed Fang on his snout, his head, his scruff. When he’d looked at me, the sheer relief and heart-clenching gratefulness on his face had undone me.
I’d burst into tears, crawling into his arms, sharing a three-way hug with my canine protector and the man who loved me but had just tried to hurt me.
We were a strange trio...but we worked.
Fang would continue to defend me in the night, but by day, he was the sweetest, kindest dog imaginable. He’d starred many times on my video channel but had permanent airtime on Kas’s.
We both couldn’t imagine our life without him.
“Come another few steps, Gem. You’re not nearly close enough.”
I stayed where I was, grinning. “I’m debating if I should wrap that picnic blanket around you before the neighbors see.”
“We don’t have neighbors. Or at least, not close ones anymore.”
“They’re still only a few acres away.”
“And we’re surrounded by trees that block every view of this place. That’s why we bought it. It’s our own private sanctuary without having to live deep in the national park...remember?”
I grew wet as Kas stepped toward me. “Remember what we did those few days camping when we went to get your Jeep?”
Did I remember?
Holy shit, I would never forget that weekend. Kas and I had traveled back to where it all began, hauling a spare battery, a newly minted car key, and a small backpack with snacks. We’d planned on staying the night in my Jeep before driving home the next day. However, we’d gotten...distracted.
I’d gone for a quick climb, still trying to find the boulder that didn’t seem to exist, only for Kas to strip me slowly afterward, guide me down to his river where we swam in the sun and padded naked with our hands linked to gaze upon the ruins of Fables.
Only the foundations remained, the walls, roof, and ivy were gone, the ritz and sinful glamour burned to dust.
We’d stood side by side, silent and deep in our own thoughts, for a very long time. We paid tribute to the kids who’d lost their innocence and their happiness. We cursed the monsters who had ruled this realm.
And, once the memories in Kas’s eyes had faded, we’d turned to each other with the same victorious drive to consummate our love, right on the ashes of a place where so much darkness had existed.
We’d had no shame as we let loose and forgot we were human. We thrust, we bit, we licked, we fucked, showing the ghosts of rapists and sick-sadists that we were free and they were not. We were happy, and they were dead.