Page 242 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Twenty-Two

Jacob

I ’m starting to realize that I have a love-hate relationship with watching Riva in action.

Nothing can compare to the fire that comes into her bright brown eyes when she focuses all her determination on a goal. She lights up with the energy that carries through every brisk movement, turning her seemingly delicate body into a force of nature.

It’s a hell of a lot better than the deflated hopelessness that’s come over her at the worst of times. Seeing that always makes me want to tear the rest of the world apart until I reach whatever’s hurting her.

But gearing up for a fight involves more than just determination and energy. As she stalks through her new hotel room, tension hardens the set of her shoulders and the curl of her fingers. Her eyes burn with worry as well as resolve.

This woman cares so much about so many people. I can’t complain about that, since I’m lucky enough to be one of those people.

But the stress of wanting to protect them all, save them all, digs into her with each passing minute when she hasn’t accomplished it yet.

Now, she spins on her heel toward the door with a swing of her braid. “I should check in with Rollick’s people again. Go over the plan one more time.”

That’ll just remind her of how much time we still have to wait before we can actually do anything. And how little we can be sure that what we’re going to do will work out all right.

I get up from the chair where I was studying a map of the city on my phone. “You just talked to them a half hour ago. They probably won’t like it if you act like you think they’re all idiots.”

The shadowkind seem to be a pretty sensitive bunch for beings that’ve existed for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Riva lets out a strangled sound that brings up both Dominic’s and Griffin’s heads where they’ve been sitting on the end of the bed, checking the latest news reports on the TV. “I don’t like just waiting around. Maybe I should confirm the shadowbloods’ location again.”

“You just did that fifteen minutes ago,” I remind her, as gently as I can while staying firm. “They’ve barely moved since they got to the city a few hours ago.”

Dominic nods. “They’ve never attacked before it started to get dark before. The hunters don’t even start patrolling until then.”

Riva sighs, but she knows he’s right. We figured out that the rogue shadowbloods were heading to St. Louis, presumably to target a vocal group of hunters who’ve made the news recently here, and made it to the city ourselves this morning.

But even after solidifying our plans for tonight, we’ve still got hours left before evening.

Despite that, Riva starts eyeing the door again as if she’s inventing other reasons to go stalking through the halls. An ache that’s both love and frustration reverberates through my chest.

She always takes so much onto her shoulders, as if it’s her job alone to conquer every evil in this world. To make sure the rest of us are where we need to be to help that happen.

She isn’t alone, though. She’s got all of us and the allies we’ve gathered. If we win, a lot of it will be thanks to her—but if we lose, there’s no way it’s her fault.

I know she trusts us to stand beside her and have her back. She just needs to get better at letting us take care of her as much as she watches out for us.

My mind trips back through time to a much more anguished moment when I came to her and she needed me. When I helped her shake all the guilt and worry that was gripping her.

Riva steps toward the door, and I move to intercept her. “Nope,” I say. “You’re staying right here. Sit down on the bed.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you giving orders now?”

I smile and wave my hand to usher her in the right direction. “Only because you obviously need them. You have no jobs to do right now. So I’m making it my job to protect you from stressing yourself out.”

Riva folds her arms over her chest with a defiant expression, although the gleam in her eyes looks more like a challenge than real irritation. “I don’t feel like sitting down.”

“You haven’t tried it yet.” I aim my gaze past her to the other two guys in the room, who are watching us in bemusement. “A little help, anyone?”

Dominic lets out a soft chuckle and gets to his feet. As he walks over to Riva, he unfurls his tentacles from their usual coiled position against his back.

He reaches out one tentacle and wraps it around Riva’s forearm before giving a little tug toward the bed.

She glowers at him next. “Ganging up on me now?”

The corner of his mouth quirks upward. “Only because you need it.”

“You definitely need it,” Griffin pitches in from where he’s swiveled around on the bed. “If you stay that tense all afternoon, you’ll be worn out before we even get started on the important stuff.”

Riva releases another little growl, but she lets Dominic pull her over to the bed. As she clambers on and settles cross-legged in the middle of the duvet, I climb after her.

I sink down right behind her and rest my hands on her back, just below her shoulders. Carefully, I extend my supernatural touch beneath her skin.

Once, in a vengeful moment it makes me queasy to remember, I used my power to test her muscles and joints for tracking devices in a purposefully painful way. Today I’m aiming for the opposite effect.

I keep the telekinetic pressure as light as a feather, no more than wisping over her muscles to identify which hold the most tension. Then I add it as a faint additional massage while I circle my thumbs against the tightened spots.

If you want to make up for how brutal you were before , Riva said to me once, why don’t you show me how gentle you can be now? And I’ve been following those instructions in every way I can for her, whenever I can, over and over since that first fragment of trust she offered me.

Our woman has been through so much—all the same horrors we experienced under the guardians’ and then Balthazar’s control, and the shit we threw at her when she came back to us on top of that. Any generosity we can give her, any way we can pamper her, she deserves in spades.

As I deepen the massage, Riva hums in a much more approving noise and lets herself lean into my touch. The sound and the whiff of her sweetly sharp scent shoot straight to my groin. Just like that, I’m half hard.

She can probably tell with her own supernatural senses how she’s affecting me, but she doesn’t shift her position. I ignore the clamor of my baser instincts and work my hands down her back through her thin cotton tee.

With a vaguely amused air that reminds me that Griffin is perfectly aware of my internal state too, my brother decides to get in on the action. He slides off Riva’s sneakers, slips her socks off in turn, and then applies his thumbs to the arch of one foot.

Her head tips back with a deeper hum that’s almost a purr. Desire crackles through my nerves, and half -hard is a thing of the past.

With a small smile playing on his lips, Dominic sets her other ankle on his thigh and gets to work himself. He lets one of his tentacles caress her calf while he rubs his thumbs into the tendons of her foot.

Riva licks her lips. The vibe in the room is definitely heating up, even if none of us is acting on that awareness yet.

A brief pang of guilt hits me—maybe we should find some way to call Andreas and Zian over.

Drey went off to his own room to meditate on the memories he could use to distract the shadowbloods in our ambush tonight, and Zee was going to do some sparring in wolf-man form with a couple of the shadowkind to figure out most effective uses of his increased strength.

But to reach out to them, we’d have to burst the bubble of peace we’ve already formed here. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with a few of us enjoying a somewhat more private interlude with our woman.

I hope to hell that I still get occasions when it’s just me and Riva, as much as I appreciate what the other guys can offer her.

As I reach the small of her back, she arches into my touch. I can’t resist leaning in to brush my lips against the crook of her neck.

Her gasp sends a giddy hitch through my pulse. I add a little teeth before murmuring, “I think we could take care of you even better than this.”

Riva turns her head to seek out my mouth, and that’s all the answer I need. I claim her lips while sliding my hand around and under her shirt.

My fingers stroke upward to the band of her bra. Through her warm skin, her heart thumps a heady rhythm against my palm.

Our shadows thrum in unison. I kiss her harder, pouring all the passion I have into the meeting of our lips.

When I ease back to tug her shirt right off, Griffin scoots over with a sly smile. The second her arms are free, he unclasps her bra.

Riva tugs my brother into a kiss and then reaches to help undress him. I catch her arm before it gets very far.

“Nope,” I say, nudging her down on her back. “You do so much for everyone. Let us do all the work for once. Just lie back and enjoy.”

She gives me a skeptical look, but Griffin is already peeling his own shirt off. As he tosses it aside, Dominic and I follow suit. Can’t leave her alone in her nakedness.

Dom teases both his hands and his tentacles farther up Riva’s legs over her cargo pants. He aims one of his quietly pensive smiles at her, but his hazel eyes shine with eagerness. “Would it be so bad to take for a little while instead of always trying to give?”

Riva lets out a faint huff, but she sinks down on the bed. “It’s more fun when you’re all enjoying yourselves too.”

Griffin laughs. “Oh, we’re already enjoying ourselves. You don’t have to worry about that, Moonbeam.”

My grin widens. “And we’re going to enjoy it even more when you’re writhing and moaning.”

A perfect flush colors Riva’s cheeks. She rests her hands on her abdomen just below her pert breasts as if she’s not totally sure where to put them.