Page 23 of Malice: The Mate Games (Apocalypse #3)

Chapter

Seventeen

MALICE

I couldn’t get Merri off my mind. Not since I finally broke and fucked her like a man possessed.

I’ve been at least half-hard all day, every day.

Nothing eased the ache. Not plotting world domination.

Not working on the security of the estate.

Not running until my muscles throbbed and my brain was mostly quiet. Not even cold fucking showers.

I was so tired of cold showers.

Sweat coated my skin, soaking through my shirt and causing a chill to pass through me as I finished yet another punishing workout.

My shirt fell to the tile floor of my en suite bathroom with a disgusting plop.

I needed to wash the day off my body, and hopefully the water would take some of this infernal yearning down the drain with it.

I did not yearn .

Liar.

That crooning voice inside my head could fuck all the way off. A man was allowed to have his delusions. It’s called coping.

With a frustrated groan, I turned the cold water all the way up, ignoring the second knob completely.

There was only one way to deal with a mess like this.

And by mess, I meant my feelings—shudder—for Merri.

I had to purify myself. Trial by fire, but in this case, the purifying flames were actually icy rivulets.

Everything in my body protested the thought. It wanted nothing to do with standing in a frigid downpour. No matter what people claimed about the healing benefits. But it did serve to kill my erections—at least momentarily.

Seriously, was there anything worse than a cold shower?

I don’t know what the Vikings were smoking when they decided cold plunges were the wave of the future.

Pretty sure it was a practical joke, but everyone was too ashamed to admit how much they hated it, so voilà, history was rewritten, and it was instead considered rejuvenating, and into the icy depths the rest of them went forevermore.

Can you feel my eye roll? Seriously, I think one of my eyes is stuck. Utter shite, the lot of it.

Taking a few steady breaths in preparation, I steeled myself for the shock of the cold, then stepped under the spray.

“Bloody hell, this is a load of complete bollocks,” I gritted out as the water needled my chest and trickled down to my crotch.

Closing my eyes, I attempted to let the temperature do its worst, but instead I was greeted with vivid memories of Merri taking me into her body.

Why couldn’t I simply free myself of the sickness of wanting her?

That’s what this was. A virus that infected me and was ravaging my body, working its way to my heart.

If it reached that vital organ, I didn’t know what would happen.

I turned my back to the showerhead and braced both palms on the wall, hanging my head as I tried to will her from my thoughts. It didn’t work. I don’t know why I thought it would when nothing else did.

There was no purging myself of this... infestation.

“Damn you,” I growled, though whether the words were for Merri or the reappearance of this incessant fucking erection, I wasn’t sure.

Reaching between my legs, I palmed the swollen length and squeezed the base. What was I hoping for? Not the bolt of pleasure that raced up my spine. Nor the echo of Merri’s hitched breath when I filled her that first time.

I allowed my hand to shuttle along my cock, the soft scrape of my palm a sorry imitation of Merri’s warmth. But it didn’t seem to matter. All I wanted was more.

Me. The man who went centuries without sexual touch of any kind had been reduced to a wank in the shower, like some common dudebro. But perhaps the only way to purge myself of this affliction was to release the pent-up lust she caused.

“Physician, heal thyself,” I muttered, eyes squeezed shut as I envisioned Merri splayed out on my bed.

One palm still pressed to the tile, I worked my cock with abandon, giving myself over to the fantasy of the woman who’d stolen my self-control so effortlessly. It wouldn’t take long for me to reach my peak, not with how desperately I wanted her. No one had to know.

“Fuck,” I rasped, my balls tightening with my impending release. “Yes, Merri.”

Precum pulsed from my tip, and I was very nearly there, so ready to come my jaw ached from the clenching of my teeth and the tension in my neck and shoulders.

Just before the blissful climax took me to a brief oblivion, a phantom hook twisted inside my chest, effectively killing everything, including my erection.

Balls throbbing, I released my now flaccid cock and stood straight, alarm replacing my desire.

There was no way I could mistake the feeling for anything else. Especially not after experiencing it only a couple days prior.

The wards had been breached.

A-fucking-gain.

I cut off the water and grabbed a towel, drying myself as I moved into my room.

If that little succubus stumbled her way through the wards again, I’d have her over my knee for punishment.

The sensation continued, though, over and over, that twisting warning going off like someone was ringing a bell.

Multiple warnings. Multiple breaches. Something was very wrong.

“Shit. Fuck.” I was only partially dry, which made pulling on my pants far more complicated than it should have been. Every second that slipped by felt like an eternity.

Christian burst into my room, healed but not quite back to peak strength. His face was pale, dark circles beneath his worried eyes. “Monsieur Laurent, there’s been a?—”

“I know!” I snapped, cutting him off so I could ask him the only thing that truly mattered. “Where’s Merri?”

“I am not sure. I have not seen her since she visited me this morning to check on me.”

Storming out of the room, I shouted down the staircase, “Chaos! Grimsby! Sinclair! Where is our succubus?”

Merri’s head poked out of her room. “What are you shouting about?”

Sweet merciful God.

I closed my eyes as relief nearly sent me to my knees. I rushed toward her, taking her into my arms and holding her tight. Not a second later, her finger dug into my belly, forcing me to pull back.

“This is nice and all, but what the hell is going on? You’re acting like I died.”

Gathering my composure, I cleared my throat. “Something triggered the wards again.”

“Well, it wasn’t me this time.”

“Obviously.” The relief that she was here, that I could touch her and know she was safe, was palpable.

Thundering footsteps called my attention to the staircase where Sin and Chaos were rushing to us. Grim manifested in a haze of shadows next to Merri as they reached us.

“What happened?” he asked, expression deadly.

“Merri, are you hurt?” Chaos all but shouted.

“Do I look hurt?” she sassed.

“You look perfect to me,” Sin offered with a smirk.

Knowing exactly where that was headed if I didn’t cut him off at the pass, I interjected, “The wards were breached. Multiple times, I think,” I added, absently rubbing at my chest where the phantom hook continued to twist.

My brothers and I shared a look, all of us thinking the same thing. Had he finally found us?

“Merri, you stay with Christian. Do not leave your room until one of us comes for you,” I snapped.

Her eyes narrowed. “No.”

Insolence looked good on her, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Merri,” Chaos growled while Grim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You’re not leaving me behind.”

“Absolutely not,” I insisted. “If it’s Lucifer, we’re not just going to hand you to him like some kind of prized mare. You’ll stay here, where it’s safe.”

Merri popped her hands on her hips, staring at me like I was too stupid for words.

“Oh yeah? And what happens when he just shows up here to abscond with me like some sort of Hades and Persephone reenactment come to life? What then, Mr. Horsemen? While the four of you are off who knows where unable to do a damn thing about it?”

“She has a point,” Sin conceded.

Chaos heaved a frustrated sigh. “As much as I hate to agree with him, she will be safer with the four of us to protect her.” He cut a glance at Christian, who was leaning against the wall as though winded from simply standing.

“What can he possibly do to keep her from harm? A strong breeze will knock him over.”

Grim didn’t say a word, and I knew he was silently considering every possible avenue.

He, perhaps even more than the rest of us, would rather eat nails than put Merri in harm’s way.

It would go against his every instinct to willingly thrust her headlong into danger.

The only way he’d agree to her coming with us was if he truly believed it to be the best option.

“Fuck,” I grunted as another twist in my chest set me further on edge. “There are more. We need to find them and put a stop to this.” For good measure, I turned to Christian and added, “And once we’ve secured the premises, you and I are going to have a little chat about how the hell this happened.”

Grim’s steely gaze met mine. “Fine. She comes with us, but she is never to be unprotected. Two of us at her front. Two at her back. Understood?”

The three of us nodded our agreement while Merri huffed and rolled her eyes.

“Like you could really keep me here against my will.”

Grim’s shadow swelled until a bigger-than-life-sized version loomed over her on the wall. “If you think we couldn’t, then you still have no fucking idea who we are, wildflower.”

“You heard him, guys,” Sin said, rubbing his hands together in anticipatory glee.

“Saddle up. It’s time for the four horsemen to ride.” When the only response was a series of groans from the rest of us, he looked around. “What? Was it something I said?”