Page 1 of Desiderium (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #2)

Aly

“Holy shit! Fuck me….” We’ve been at it for almost an hour. Sweat pours down the front of me. My chest, absolutely covered with the evidence of my extended exertion. Each breath is short, panting out of my lungs in my exhausted state. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.

“Give us one more, baby. I know you can do it.”

I huff out a breath at Jax. Of course, he’s not sweating buckets and feeling like a drowned cat.

It’s no damn fair that I end up looking like this and they all end up looking like…

well like that . A light, dewy, delicious sheen of sweat glistens on each of their shoulders and bare chests, showing the amount of effort they’re putting in but not at all reflecting what they’ve been putting my body through.

It's my fault, though. We decided to try something new today. Something that was originally my idea. Something we could all participate in. What can I say, group activities? They make me giddy .

Before the zombie apocalypse became real and no longer an imaginary world created solely for science fiction enthusiasts, I never thought I’d be shacking up with three hot-as-fuck guys at the same time.

All it took was one coincidental run in and an overdose on marshmallows paired with an underdose of hydration and boom !

Here I am, surrounded by sexy man meat every day of the week!

Yummy!!!!

Well... maybe not so yummy right now. At least not in my case, considering I’m dripping with sweat and breathing like an overweight elephant seal trying to drag itself up onto a beach.

I was eager and excited this morning when Jax proposed trying out my idea but I’m seriously regretting it right now. I was not prepared for the amount of physical endurance this was going to require.

I’m going to sleep for a week after this and none of you fuckers better wake me!... Unless it’s for cake… but besides that… death to any who so much as utters the words, ‘Time to get up.’

My vision goes in and out of focus as I get closer and closer to the end. Or my end. At this point, what’s the difference?

I’ve officially had enough. All three of them assured me, promised me, that after I get this last one out of me, I’m done. I’m almost there. So close I can feel it deep within me as my muscles all tense simultaneously for one last surge.

“Oh, you’re right there, sweetheart. Finish hard for us.

Fuck, you look so hot right now,” Hawk groans.

My sweet and gorgeous golden retriever of a man.

I could punch him right now. He’s been saying this same thing, edging me on for the past half an hour.

‘ Oh, you’re right there,’ or ‘You’re so close…

’ Gah! Every time I think I’m getting close to finishing, they change their minds, muttering some bullshit like, ‘Nah, she can hold out a little longer,’ or ‘She can still go a little more.’

I tell you what. I’m gonna take this foot and cram it so far up someone’s ass they’ll be eating rubber if they don’t let me finish soon. It’s starting to hurt. A girl can only take so much!

Seriously, what the hell did I do to deserve to be punished like this? Is it because I made a little fun at Jax for having an entire collection of fantasy romance novels tucked underneath the bed at the hideaway bungalow, you know, just in case?

But let’s be real here, I was totally joking at the time because those are absolutely emergency supplies.

Could it be because I make sure the last cookie is always mine?

Or maybe, it’s because I climbed on Cole’s back the other day and smacked him with a spatula on the ass yelling, “Giddy up, horsey!”?

It’s no fair, I tell you. I don’t care if I agreed to this nonsense, the terms and conditions were not explicitly stated in our verbal contract!

“ This. Is. Bullshit!” my inner voice accidentally yells with my outside voice. The guys hear it and each lift a questioning eyebrow at me.

Ah fuck nuggets.... I’m like ninety-two percent sure they’re going to make me keep going now just for bitching about it. Couldn’t keep my mouth shut and finish strong, could I? Son of a biscuit eater! I’m right there, too!

I’m so close, I can see the end. My legs shake in anticipation while my racing heart quivers in apprehension.

Will they let me finish? Will they let the torment continue to go on even more?

Oh, holy monkey tits, now I don’t even want to think about it.

I just want to feel the exquisite rush of finally finishing and then collapse in bed for a week.

After a shower, though… totally gross right now.

Cole, our resident Doc, darts in. Normally, I love his voice— deep, languid, sensual.

Not today, though. Today his voice is a booming thunderclap of terror sent to deliver shivers and nightmares to me ‘til the end of time. “Alright, hold up, now. If she has enough gusto to be a brat and talk back to us then I think she still has enough energy in her to go for another round. Let’s make sure she’s giving her all. I do love to watch her fight for it.”

FUCK MY LIFE!

Kill me… Kill me now. I can’t take it anymore. I let out the loudest groan ever and pin the evilest of eyes on Cole. I’m even tempted to let out a little growl aimed precisely in his direction. If he thinks he can get away with this, he has another thing coming to him. Vengeance will be mine!

“Nah, she’s had enough. Let’s finish this,” Jax, my savior, announces right before smacking my ass lightly. I could kiss him right now, but in my hazy state I’d probably pucker up and completely miss his entire face. I choose, instead, to file his newly earned brownie points away for later .

At last, I finally reach the culmination of this madness, the light at the end of the tunnel, the fucking finish line, and release the loudest groan I think I’ve ever released in my entire life.

Fuck me, I’m done…I am done. I can’t help it, my body crumbles down in a heap of sweat, tears and shaking limbs.

My legs seem to have taken on a mind of their own because no matter what I do, I can’t seem to keep them from convulsing.

I give up on trying to control my body and just accept that I’m a lost cause for at least the next twenty to thirty minutes, and any time after that is just looking iffy at this point.

These boys will be waiting on me hand and foot for the rest of the day if I have anything to say about it.

“Three miles in fifty-three minutes. Not too shabby for a first time. I’m proud of you, doll.

I bet we can get your mile time down to twelve minutes in no time.

Before you know it, you’ll be running circles around us all,” Jax says to my prone and half-dead corpse after checking his watch.

The bastard is still jogging in place as if he’s perfectly able to go again already.

The only place he should be jogging to is the bathroom to run my janky ass a shower or the kitchen to make me a well-earned pastry.

And that bitch better have chocolate running in rivers through it!

“Damn Straight!”

Sadie, Jax’s German Shepard, trots her happy little butt over to me.

Apparently, she loved our little run today and can’t wait for the next time we do this.

I can’t say I’m as eager as she is to continue this charade of turning me into a long-distance runner.

Little legs were not meant for distance.

I’m at an evolutionary disadvantage here, people!

She must take pity on me as I slowly melt into the pavement because she decides to lay down near my shoulder and gives me a few puppy kisses all over my face.

After a few minutes, Hawk leans down to offer me a hand. I grab for it, but make absolutely no effort to try and lift my tuckered ass off the ground. Gravity has claimed me, so the ground is where I’m meant to remain.

“Fuck, guys, I think we really did her in this time.” Hawk looks to the guys quickly before returning his gaze back to my pitiful form.

“And to think, we were gonna pamper the shit outta you and give you a fuck ton of orgasms just to show how proud we all are of you… but it looks like you’re just too tired…

” He looks down at me, offering a wince and a smirk.

Fucking hell, that’s just not fair!

“Ok Ok Ok! I’m getting up, but I’m holding you to the praise and pampering.

I deserve that shit after what you guys just put me through!

” I point my finger at each of them in turn, raising my eyebrows so they know how serious I’m being.

You don’t make me do that and deprive me of orgasms. That’s just cruel and unnecessary punishment.

Each of the guys’ mouths slowly turn up into seductive smirks.

Their sinful gazes make a direct flight to my lady bits, causing them to quiver in anticipation.

These guys are sexy as hell and know what they’re doing.

I can only imagine what they’ve come up with for later.

Foursome? Me and two guys while the other watches?

Me and one guy while the other two finally act on their passive bicurious tendencies?

The last thought makes my core clench with unbridled need.

Yeah… that’s hot… wait … I was mad… or upset or … something…. What was it again?

“Let’s get you undressed and into the shower, beautiful.” Cole takes me by the other hand and pulls me up with Hawk. When I’m finally upright and on my feet, he bends down and lifts me bridal style, carrying me the rest of the way into the cabin.

My hero...

We ended our run just in front of Jax’s cabin, his hideaway, but my feet and legs are officially spent. The little ride Cole offers is practically an act of mercy, one which I’m happy to accept.

While I’m being carried like a princess, Hawk runs ahead of us and opens the door to let us all in. Jax is the last one to come through the door, with Sadie on his heels, and runs right for the bathroom. Just before Cole and I enter, I hear the woosh of the water coming on.

You would think that with the coming of the apocalypse, certain luxuries would no longer exist. In most places, that would be an accurate assessment. But Jax? Jax had other ideas for how to live out his last days.

Self-sufficiency was the best way to describe his old estate.

Wind power, solar power and even generators kept everything there running smoothly.

After not even a day of living here , we soon found out that he fitted the cabin with almost the same technology.

Unfortunately, the solar panels were shattered to pieces by the storm from hell this past winter.

Luckily, Jax found a new generator afterwards and hooked it into the mainframe, so the water is nice and toasty, the steam already filling the small room.

Cole sets me down on the toilet seat cover and kneels in front of me on the tiled floor.

Grabbing my ankle, he gently lifts one foot, then the next, slowly pulling off my newly borrowed sneakers—thank you absent friendly neighborhood jogger who used to live up the road.

My socks are next, followed by my pants and undies.

I might be a sweaty, unathletic mess, but one look at Cole and you can see he doesn’t give a shit about any of that.

The fire in his eyes and the hunger behind them make butterflies dance in my belly.

The confidence these men have instilled and driven into me, day in and day out, comes to the forefront of my brain and, suddenly, I have much more energy than I did mere seconds ago from his look alone.

He sees the lust in my eyes but instead of acting on it as abruptly as I wish he would, he just smirks again, stands up and grasps my hand, pulling me up with him.

He reaches for the hem of my t-shirt and slowly lifts it over my head.

His fingertips skim my skin as he does so, making my flesh pebble in anticipation.

His fingers return to remove the last layer of stubborn fabric binding my chest and obstructing his view, but I save him the task of wrestling with my sports bra.

Let’s face it, those things are constricting as fuck and difficult for even me to take off.

After my bra battle is over, Cole leads me by the hand into the shower and under the warm water. He takes a second to disrobe himself and joins me under the spray, the distance between us only inches and closing .

“Turn around, beautiful,” he whispers, lifting and turning his finger in a circle.

I do as he says while switching our positions so that the water is at his back now.

I still get a trickle of the warmth, here and there, but I don’t miss it too much, because Cole’s heat replaces the water’s.

His hands glide up my arms, past my shoulders and into my hair, lathering the strands with shampoo and massaging my scalp in just such a way that a soft moan escapes the confines of my throat.

Cole leans forward, his mouth right next to my ear. “You did such a good job today. I love it when you submit to us. Trust us to take care of you and to know your limits. I think that deserves a reward, don’t you?”

Hell-to-the-fuck-yes, it does!