Page 48

The fingertips of his free hand trace up my thigh, leaving goosebumps in their wake. The rough pad of his thumb brushes over my clit. I gasp and buck against his touch. “Jace,” I breathe, the word half-plea, half-prayer.

“I love how you say my name,” he murmurs against my lips. “Say it again.”

“Jace,” I comply, the word breaking on a moan as his thumb circles exactly where I need him. I arch into him, feeling how his heart thunders in his chest.

He dents my hips with his fingertips and increase his thrusts to a pace so fast, my head falls back and a cry of pleasure erupts from my throat. This time, I don’t try to muffle the sound. I let the whole world, living and dead, hear what he’s doing to me .

“Fuck,” he breathes, his voice strained. “You feel incredible.”

I rock my hips and together we set a rhythm that has me clinging to his shoulders. Each thrust drives me higher, building a pressure that threatens to consume me. The pinball machine rattles and clangs with every movement, metal balls and gears shifting inside as a symphony dedicated to us.

He’s so busy fucking me, he doesn’t react when another rotter stumbles through the still-open door of the arcade and heads right for us.

This one wears the tattered remains of an arcade employee uniform.

I reach back for my knife. The rotter lets out a wet snarl and Jace bands one arm around my back, grabs his knife in the other, and pivots us to get closer to the rotter.

Once it’s within reach, I move faster and slam my knife through the eye socket first.

“Autumn,” Jace growls.

I grip his shoulders and cover his mouth with mine while I roll my hips, cutting off the chastising he was about to give me. He groans and falls to his knees.

“We’re in this together,” I whisper against his lips before crying out again when he thrusts deep inside of me.

“You don’t need to do anything other than focus on feeling good. Let me fuck you like I should have the day I met you.” His pace turns punishing.

I brace my palms on either side of his face and pull back enough to look at him. He’s fucking me too hard to think properly, and my panting makes it hard to get any words out.

Another rotter moans nearby, and his grip tightens around me. “Dammit, Autumn. Let me take care of it while I take care of you.”

I drop my mouth to the side of his neck and bite at the sensitive skin there before licking away the sting. His body shudders beneath me. “You saved my life, so let me repay the favor.” I raise my knife against, but he throws his first, and the rotter drops to the ground.

Jace falls forward but cushions the fall with one hand against the ground until I’m lying gently on my back before he continues to pound into me. “Saving your life isn’t a favor that needs repaying. Fucking come all over my dick and enjoy it.”

My hips roll in time with his and I squeeze his hips with my thighs. He moans and buries his face in my hair. My lips fall open in a moan when he reaches down and uses his thumb to rub circles around my clit. “Shit, Jace,” I pant. “You should enjoy it, too.”

I squeeze my thighs and roll us over so I’m on top.

I roll my hips, then regret the change in position when his thumb falls away.

His hands fall to my hips and he gazes up at me through heavily-lidded eyes.

“If you think I’m not enjoying fucking you, you’re insane. I could die a happy man right now.”

“Don’t joke about that.”

“Didn’t say it as a joke.”

I lean forward and cradle his head in my hands. Our thrusts turn slow and sensual, and I press my lips to his in a gentle kiss. Somewhere along the way, our fucking turned into making love.

His pace quickens, and I can feel myself getting close.

The tension coils tighter with each movement.

My leg shoots out and accidentally kicks over the pinball machine.

The internal mechanics create an almost musical clanging that grows louder as it tilts until it crashes to the ground.

Sensing my approaching release, his strokes becoming more deliberate, hitting exactly where I need him.

“Let go,” he urges. “I’ve got you.”

Another rotter slithers toward us, this one wearing a video game t-shirt with “GAME OVER” printed across the front. The irony isn’t lost on me. Jace moans. “Dammit, I lost my knife.”

Before he can reach for his gun, my hand shoots out and grabs it.

I aim. Jace’s thumb finds my clit again and I fire the shot, dropping the rotter before stars fill my vision and the purest cry of ecstasy when I shatter.

Pleasure crashes through me in waves and his name tears from my throat, loud enough to draw more rotters, but I’m beyond caring.

Jace follows moments later with his face buried against my throat. He sinks his teeth into my neck while his body shudders, which sends a whole new jolt of pleasure shooting through me.

I bury my fingers in his tangled hair. “Don’t do that when I’m holding a gun. I could have shot you.”

He inhales deeply and presses his lips against my throat. “You couldn’t hurt me, just like I could never hurt you. I trust you more than I trust myself.”

I push back enough to look into his eyes, and I mean, I look deep into his eyes. What I see there makes me feel invincible. He doesn’t know it yet, but he has a piece of my heart I never thought I would give away. I kiss him softly, savoring the moment.

More rotter moans sound nearby, and Jace tightens his hold around me. “We’re attracting company.”

I smile at him, brushing my thumbs across his lower lip, my anger now spent and replaced with something softer but no less intense. “Ready for round two?”

Before he can respond, footsteps crunch over gravel, and I look up to see Mars and Caspian with mixed expressions on their faces.

Luna trots beside them, her muzzle now stained with blood that isn’t hers.

My body still hums from the aftershocks, which only grows more when I see the desire in the pitch black and pale blue eyes of Mars and Caspian.

Mars lifts an eyebrow and his gaze moves from us, to the pinball machine, fallen rotters, then back to us. “Looks like you found a way to pass the time. Now I regret following those fuckers instead of joining the party here.”

I try to push myself off Jace, but his hands slam down on my hips with a growl and he holds me in place, not ready to slide out of me.

Mars doesn’t break eye contact when he answers, and I can already feel my body heating up again.

Jace raises his exclamation point brow, but I keep my focus on Mars while he talks.

“We followed the bastards who torched the car. Found their hideout. Came back here in case you two wanted to have some fun…”

“Fuck,” Jace says. His hands fall away from my hips and he slides out of me.

Caspian holds out a hand to help me to my feet and steadies me on my shaking legs. He places a soft kiss on my lips before gathering my clothes. “Ready to finish this?”

I’m filled with renewed purpose when I wrap my fingers around the handle of my knife and grin up at Caspian. “More than ready.”

The fire is low since we stopped feeding it. There’s no need to.

I sit cross-legged beside Jace with our small first aid kit open between us. The burns on his skin from pulling me out of the car are angry and red, and the cuts on his hands and elbow still look raw. He winces when I apply antibiotic ointment to the worst of the burns.

“Hold still. It’s your turn to be the patient,” I tell him while dabbing the medicine as gently as I can.

His lips quirk into a half-smile. “Is this payback for when I wrapped your wrist?”

I glance down at my wrist, now almost fully healed from when we first met. “Maybe. Though I was a much better patient. I didn’t whine nearly as much.”

“Bullshit,” he says, but there’s no heat behind it. His eyes don’t leave my face as I work.

“These could’ve been worse.” I wrap gauze around his forearm and secure it in place with the little metal clip. “You’re lucky.”

“I got what mattered,” he replies, and the impact of his words makes my hands pause for a moment.

Luna lies nearby, watching us with attentive eyes.

Her head rests on her paws, but her ears are alert.

She took a well-deserved nap when we got back to camp to gather supplies.

Mars told me about how he had to play tug-o-war with a rotter leg with her because he and Caspian didn’t want her bringing it back to camp because of the smell. I’m glad they won.

Weapons are laid out on various rusted crates beside us including knives, guns, spare clips, and a surprising array of items we scavenged from inside the arcade.

Who would have thought a place meant for recreational entertainment would yield such an arsenal?

Among them include security batons from the staff room, heavy metal coin dispensers that make excellent bludgeons which I already got to test out on a rotter in a superhero shirt, and even a few sharp-edged metal stars from some ninja game Caspian has been practicing throwing at rotters.

He’s not too bad, and hits his target about twenty-five percent of the time.

The most valuable find, I think, was the maintenance room.

Old cleaning chemicals, bottles of acetone for removing sticker residue, piles of rags, and boxes of matches meant for the arcade’s birthday parties.

No candles, fireworks, or grenades were found, but I can improvise with these.

I had rubbed my palms together when I found them, already calculating the explosive potential.

My Molotov cocktails will get a nice upgrade .

I finish wrapping Jace’s wounds and pack up the first aid kit. “Try not to pop those stitches,” I say, echoing the words he once said to me, even though he doesn’t have any stitches.

He answers with a smirk. “With you as my nurse, I won’t make any promises.”