The Dravens really love their books.
Gabe tugs me over to the loveseat, which is the size of a double bed really, and covered in European cushions, and when he sits on it, I glance around the space a little more. It’s too open, more open than what I was hoping for, and my bond starts getting pissy in my chest all over again.
I make an unhappy sound in the back of my throat, and Gabe grins lazily at me, even if it feels a little forced, and says, “There’s not a lot of options here, Bond. I’m working with what we have.”
When my eyes flash back to black, the grins falters and he gulps, but I move to tug his shirt back over his head and shove him down on the chair. I want to strip and press our bodies together. Hell, what I really want to do is fuck him against the wall until his scent is all over me and his cum drips down my legs in the most brutal and obvious branding, but my senses are still too aware of all of the extra bodies in the house and the giant opening to this little alcove he’s brought me to.
I don’t want anyone to see what’s mine.
So instead, I curl up on his chest, pressing my ear against the steady beat of his heart, and burrow into his warmth. He moves slowly to wrap his arms around me and hold me, as though he’s worried he’ll trigger some animalistic response from me that loses him a limb. My bond enjoys that sort of respect from him.
The fact that he’s so sure of how dangerous I really am is comforting somehow.
I huff, frustrated at the layers still between us, and lean back to pull the sweater off of myself. Gabe swallows roughly, color bright and high on his cheeks as he sees me bare to the waist, but he doesn’t attempt to stop me. When I press myself in tight against him again, he grabs the sweater and covers my back up. Another point in his favor. My bond likes him coveting me just as hard as I covet him.
“Can you change back? If I promise not to move away or cover either of us up? Gryph’s going to kill me if he sees you like this again,” Gabe mutters, and I wrestle my bond back into the background of my mind again.
He takes a deep breath when he feels my bond ease away, his hand rubbing down my spine in one long stroke that almost has me melting all over him. Weeks of sitting in a Resistance camp has every inch of my body tense and sore.
“Ugh, I probably smell. How can you stand me being this close to you right now?” I mumble, and he shrugs.
“Maybe if I shifted you’d be bad, but the need to have you here is greater than your stink so far. Besides, keeping your bond happy is more important than a bit of dirt and sweat.”
He chuckles quietly at me grumbling under my breath, but when I attempt to pull away, he just tightens his arms and gets back to stroking my spine until I turn into putty right there on top of him. I might be desperate for a shower and a proper sleep in a comfortable bed, but this little moment between us? It feels like pure magic, and I know the moment my bond starts pulling from his energy.
“You’re glowing again. Shit, I think I am too.”
My eyes feel as though they weigh about a million pounds as I murmur, my voice slurring with fatigue, “Sorry about that. I think I’m stealing your energy.”
His answer comes through to my brain like a dream, whispered but still meaningful. “Take it. Take whatever you want, just don’t fucking leave me again.”
I startle awake to two very terse Bonds speaking over each other at us both some unknown amount of time later.
“What the hell is going on?”
“You’re in the open. Where the fuck is her shirt?”
Gabe’s chest moves underneath me like he’s motioning with his arm, but my eyes stay glued shut. I’m tired, too tired to deal with any of them, and he’s so warm and comfortable.
He whispers, “Her bond came out again. I did whatever I had to, just like we all agreed, to stop her from a full-blown reign of bond terror on everyone in the house who isn’t her Bond. She’s still healing, maybe, or—is this nesting? Or something like it? She needs skin and scent, and her bond does not want to be argued with.”
It’s quiet for a moment, and then Gryphon says, “Good work. Everyone else has left now, and it’s only a skeleton staff on, so we can get her upstairs without bumping into anyone.”
I hear movement again and then Gabe says, “If you’re going to take her, you need to get your shirt off. She’s not interested in clothes right now.”
Smart boy, I definitely do want skin.
Horny, tantrum-throwing bond. I huff a little, and Gabe stiffens again like he’s afraid my bond is about to wreck their shit, and his hand strokes down my spine again. He’s very good at this whole calming, petting thing he has going on for me right now. I could honestly start purring.