Page 31

Raidon

R aidon needs to protect his Veronica. Because for the first time in his life, he feels something, something so profound and so deep it threatens to shatter the ground he stands upon. Something so raw and so passionate, it makes it hard for him to breathe, and breathing seems hard when he isn’t thinking about her.

Because for the first time in his life, he wants to please someone, to live for someone, to laugh for someone…be with someone.

He can’t be without her. But he might end up without her if Kael remains in the picture. And he can’t afford to lose her.

Sacrifices need to be made.

He needs to get rid of his twin brother. And he’s ready to go to any length to suck all the strength from Kael and silence his voice for good.

Even if it means sitting in the quaint office of a shrink at 12 noon.

“Before we start, I need you to know that you are safe here.” The woman sitting across from him says, her voice calm and clinical as she stares with understanding at Raidon’s whitening knuckles.

Her name, according to what Raidon found online, is Sasha Lachowksi. She’s in her early thirties, has a Siberian husky named Pluto, and a cat called Paris.

No matter how hard the woman tries to make Raidon feel comfortable, he can’t help it. He has had his hands clasped tightly over his knees since he came in, looking around like there are dangers lurking in the shadows, waiting to leap out and attack the moment he relaxes.

“And you don’t have to talk yet, either.” She watches him attentively, a warm smile touching the corners of her lips as she scribbles something into her notepad. “Let’s just start with your name.”

Raidon raises a brow. “My name?”

Sasha Lachowksi nods gently. “I know I have your name on my notepad right now. And I have spoken to you over the phone for the past twenty-four hours. Still, I want to hear you say your name.”

Raidon exhales sharply, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “Raidon Volkov.”

“Nice to meet you, Raidon,” she says with a smile that Raidon is starting to find irritating. He just wants to leave here already and go back to her.

“Before we start, I’m not really sure I believe in this,” he says. “I am here only because I’m desperate, ready to try out anything.”

“It’s okay.” She folds her hands on her notepad. “You don’t have to believe it yet.”

“God, what am I doing here?” Raidon murmurs under his breath, unease weaving into his bones as his eyes sweep across the pristine and clean office for the hundredth time.

Sasha tilts her head to the side. “Yes, Raidon, what are you doing here?”

Silence stretches across them at her question, the answer sitting heavily on his chest. He can’t seem to bring himself to utter the words, not to a strange woman at least.

“You can trust me, Raidon,” she persuades. “Tell me why you are here. That’s the only way I can help you.”

The silence stretches further between them. There is no way uttering the words sitting on his tongue won’t make him sound vulnerable. And he hates being vulnerable in front of strangers.

“I don’t want him to hurt her,” he says, his voice low as he takes in a shaky breath. “I don’t want him to touch her too...ever again.”

“Her?” Sasha leans forward in the chair she’s sitting on, her elbows propped on her lap as she flattens her intertwined fingers under her chin. “Is this her someone important to you? Do you care a lot about her?”

“If I don’t care, will I be sitting here?” His tone raises higher than he intends, but softness settles in his eyes almost immediately, and he sighs heavily. “She has met him. She doesn’t like him…hopefully. I don’t know if she’s afraid of him or intrigued. Either way, I don’t want them to ever meet again. If she does…” His fingers tremble on his lap, and he clenches them shut to control it.

“You think you’ll lose her because of him?” she asks softly. “And you don’t want to lose her, right? Not to him, at least.”

“I feel like I could die.”

Raidon doesn’t know why he is unashamed as he says it, that too in front of a woman he is meeting for the first time. He searches the room, as if he will find a clue to why he’s telling a total stranger his darkest fear. Must be something she put in the air, he thinks.

“Kael is unpredictable,” he muses, his eyes settling on Sasha again.

“Is that his name?” she asks. “The other part of you?”

“How generous,” Raidon scoffs. “He is not the other part of me. He is in his own league. I am basically just his clean up crew.”

“How long have you been living with Kael ?”

“Too long.” His eyes drop to his trembling hand. “I can’t remember. Could be as far as the day I was born. But he was quiet most of the time. Was silent. Then all of a sudden, he was loud. Too, too loud.”

“When exactly did he start talking?” she asks and Raidon raises a questioning brow. “I mean, what significant event occurred right before you started hearing his voice?”

Raidon’s fingers fiddle with the ring on his thumb, a flood of memory overwhelming him. “Ma was gone, our house was gone, I was hungry, cold…” He takes a long pause. “...and all I had was little Aiko.”

Though Aiko is a rascal now, a lost cause who is no longer so little, his sister will always be little Aiko.

“Little Aiko?” Sasha asks, while the echo of her pen against her notepad rings in the air.

“What are you writing, by the way?” He raises a suspicious brow at her.

“Nothing that should alarm you, Raidon.” She smiles reassuringly. “I’m just documenting our session.”

Raidon nods, but he isn’t sure he is comfortable with her writing what he is saying. She said he was safe here, didn’t she? Isn’t documentation a bit implicative?

“Little Aiko,” she echoes. “Who is that?”

“My little sister.”

“Okay.” She nods, then scribbles again. “Can you tell me how old little Aiko was when your Ma left?”

“You can just call her Aiko.” His tone is clipped, a little tension in his jaws. Sasha seems to notice as a common look flashes in her sharp blue eyes that seem to soften around the edges.

“Sure, Aiko,” she corrects, the smile back on her lips. “How old was Aiko when your Ma left?”

“Seven months.”

Sasha waits a bit as if thinking of the next question to ask.

“So, Kael.” She scribbles down something again. “What do you think brings him out?”

“Fear, stress, anger?” His brows furrow in irritation. “He enjoys thriving on the things I normally don’t like.”

“Before you met her, have you ever wanted to get rid of Kael?” she asks.

“No.”

“What’s her name?”

“Veronica.”

“So you are trying to get rid of Kael for Veronica, correct?” She leans into her chair.

“I just want to protect her,” he confesses. I want to keep her to myself.

The image of Veronica flashes before his eyes, and a feeling of yearning settles deep in his chest. He flips his wrist, glancing at his watch. It’s a quarter past twelve. He wonders what she’s up to now. He can’t wait to see her again. He can’t wait to hold her. He can’t wait to kiss her.

He can’t wait to do whatever she wants with her.

There is a gentle thud when the therapist settles her pen and her notepad down on the coffee table. Raidon’s attention returns reluctantly to her.

“What if I told you getting rid of Kael won’t solve anything yet?”

Raidon’s jaw works, irritation licking at his chest.

“If I can’t get rid of him, what’s the point of coming here?”

“To understand Kael,” she says calmly. “Only then can you control if he stays or goes. Just understand him first. Why he is there and what he wants.”

Raidon leans into the chair. “I’m not sure if I should really trust you.”

“You don’t have to,” she says. “Just keep showing up for your sessions.”

But Raidon isn’t sure if he wants to go on with these so-called sessions. It all feels weird and daunting, and seems to be a long-term process. He wants something immediately, a quick snap to silence and dominate Kael. Time is running out. He can feel it. The next time he makes a mistake of losing control, Kael will take over. And he will never surrender again.

He needs to stop it before it happens. There has to be another way to get rid of Kael.

The moment Raidon pushes open his door, he catches it—her scent. It’s like a summer breeze tangled in a lavender field.

His pulse thrums, heat sparking in his chest.

She’s here.

Shutting the door behind him, he scans the room, eyes hungry, searching. The living room is empty, but the television hums with a Turkish TV series.

Then, his bedroom door creaks open and she steps out, her lips curling into a soft smile.

“Hey.” Her voice slides over him like silk. “You went out?”

“Yeah.” He walks further into the room, pulling his phone out of the pocket and tossing gently on the coffee table.

“Okay.” She steps closer, slow, the heat of her body wrapping around him before she even touches him. When her arms drape over his shoulders, fingertips playing at the nape of his neck, the heat inside him ignites.

“So, where did you go?” she asks, pressing into him, her breath brushing against his.

His cock hardens instantly. And it sounds ridiculous but it’s like something happened inside him the moment he had sex with her yesterday. Now he has become a man of little restraint around her. It’s as if his cock has put a mark on her, recognized her scent, her sultry voice. Maybe this is normal and he’s just inexperienced because he was a virgin just until yesterday. Maybe that’s how it happens. Maybe Kael experiences it too when he has sex with another blonde at their clubhouse.

Now just a glance of her, a memory of her eyes while he was buried deep inside her, the sounds she made as she unraveled beneath him yesterday, has him breaking apart.

“Somewhere.” He shrugs, his nose grazing hers.

Her brow arches. “You don’t wanna tell me?” Then a mischievous glint flashes through her pretty eyes. “It’s a woman isn’t it? I know it’s a woman. Her scent is all over you, soldier.”

His muscles lock. His grip tightening around her.

“It’s just work…stuff.”

“Oh, really?” She jumps into his arms without warning, yet he catches her effortlessly, her legs locking around his waist while a soft laugh flutters from her lips.

“Yes,” he murmurs against her lips, his forehead pressed against hers.

“Is she pretty?” she asks. “Hot?”

He exhales through his nose. “I don’t know, Veronica.” His voice is low, rough, his lips grazing hers again.

“I wasn’t really looking at her.” He lowers into the leather couch, with her still wrapped in his arms.

He wasn’t really looking at Sasha Lachowski, the shrink. If not that he has a photographic memory, he doubts he would have remembered what she was even wearing. He was focusing more on her voice than her body.

“Why?” She kisses his jawline tenderly, her hips moving slowly as she grinds against him, the friction sending a lightning bolt to his spine, his cock hardening impossibly.

“I wasn’t interested in her.”

She pulls his lips into hers, deep and insistent, as if tasting for a lie. He lets her. He gives her everything, gripping her tighter, pressing her closer, like maybe if he holds her hard enough, she won’t slip away into the hands of another man.

“Why?” She breathes into his mouth, voice breaking on a moan as she rocks against him again, and again, her heat seeping through his clothes.

His fingers bury in her wild fiery hair, tilting her head to claim her deeper, his tongue sliding against hers, drinking her in. And somewhere at the back of his mind, he wonders again how he knew how to do this so well when he was inexperienced until yesterday—kiss her like this, make her feel this way, control the pretty sound that breaks past her fucking lips because he’s making her feel so good.

“Why weren’t you interested in her, Snow white?” she breaks away from the kiss, her lips swollen, eyes shining with lust.

“She isn’t you,” he rasps. “I’m only interested in you.”

A small sound escapes her, pleased, breathless “Clever soldier. You get a pass.” Then she resumes grinding against him, the scent of her arousal thick in the air, mixing with the heady musk of him, of them.

His restraint shatters.

He wants her. No, he needs her. He needs her to need him, not Kael. Never Kael.

If she ever has to choose, he needs her to choose him, not Kael.

His hand slides down her top, tracing up her back, savoring the way her breath hitches, wondering if this was the same way Kael made her feel. He grips the fabric of her thin top and pulls, tossing it aside.

Her breasts spill into his awaiting palms, soft, warm, perfect.

His mouth is on hers in an instant, open-mouthed kisses trailing down her collarbone, then lower, his tongue flicking over the hardened peak of her nipple before he pulls it into his mouth, sucking, biting, her moans filling the room.

“Raidon,” she gasps, arching against him.

A low growl settles in his throat as he nips harder, his cock an iron rod straining against his pants, the friction nearly unbearable.

Then her fingers claw at his chest. “Wait.”

His body stalls, frustration licking through his veins. His grip tightens when she tries to pull away from his hold.

“Just…wait.”

His teeth grind as his arms reluctantly loosens around her, his breath ragged.

Then she sinks to her knees.

A flicker of realization sparks in his eyes, the fire burning hotter when her fingers ghost down his thighs, hovering over the straining bulge in his pants.

She hesitates, cheeks flushed as she works at his belt, the metallic click of buckle sending a thrill through him. The zipper follows, slow, deliberate.

She tugs at his pants and briefs, struggling for a moment before he lifts his hip, letting her pull them down to his knees.

A sharp breath hisses past her lips when his cock springs free, thick and curving, already leaking.

Her throat moves in a tight swallow, wide eyes flickering to his. Pride gleams in there. She did this. She made him this hard. This desperate.

“Just so you know,” she whispers, gathering her hair into a loose bun. “I’ve never done this before.”

His gaze sharpens. “Never?” For some reason, he’s excited. She has never gone on her knees for any man before. She didn’t go on her knees for Kael.

She did it for him. She’s on her knees for the first time, and it’s for him. Pride sparks in his chest, the thrill sending a jolt to his dick. A sense of power surging through him.

“Saw a video once.”

He quirks a brow. “A video?”

“I didn’t go there on purpose,” she says quickly, rolling her pretty eyes. “I was looking for a movie on a pirated website. And it just floated into the screen.”

A smirk tugs at his lips, but it vanishes the moment her warm hands wrap around his shaft.

A low groan vibrates through him. “And you watched it instead of clicking out?”

She shrugs. “For days just like this, obviously.”

The teasing words barely registers as her thumb begins to rub slow circles on his pulsating head, spreading his precum.

“Do you think it’ll fit?” she asks innocently, parting her lips as she brushes her tongue over the head.

Raidon curses under his breath, his jaw clenching. “Only one way to find out.”

Her lashes flutter and then she takes him in, lips stretching, tongues swirling, cheeks hollowing as she sucks.

A strangled sound tears from his throat. His fingers thread through her hair, gripping the back of her skull as his hips twitch, shoving his cock deeper into her mouth.

And she takes it, all of him. She fucking takes it, gagging, swallowing, her throat flexing around him.

“Veronica,” he nearly whimpers, chest heaving, his hip jerking against her.

She speeds up, her dark eyes locked on him, lips sliding over him, tongue teasing the sensitive ridge beneath the head.

His cock throbs violently, his body shaking, his eyes rolling in as a series of guttural sounds break past his parted lips.

He wants to stay here, buried in her mouth forever.

But he wants more.

He yanks at her head, a gasp leaving her lips. Before she can utter a word, he has pulled her onto his lap. She doesn’t hesitate as she raises her hip, shedding her plaid skirt and sinking down, taking him in the hilt in one slick, hot slide.

They both gasp, clutching at each other as air is knocked out of their lungs.

He buries his face into her neck, gripping her ass, thrusting harder and deeper, calling out her name just as she calls his, nails biting into her shoulder.

“God, you’re perfect, Veronica,” he groans, pressing her sweaty body harder against his as he slams into her tight hole with desperate, punishing thrusts, as if trying to carve his very name into her.

She’s shattering in his arms, her body locking, pussy clenching, the raw sound of his name slipping from her lips undoing him completely.

He slams into her, again and again, each thrust deeper than the last, his fingers digging into her trembling thighs as he comes inside her, heat surging, his vision going white.

A loud cry tears from her throat as she clenches around him a second later, exploding all over his cock.

She collapses against him, breathless, and so is he. Her arms tighten around his neck, her head burrowed between the crook of his neck, soft lips brushing the bold ink on his neck as she whispers, “Snow white?”

“Yes?” The pad of his thumb rubs soothing circles on her hip, his cock still throbbing inside her walls.

“I really, really like you a lot.” She places a soft kiss on his searing skin. “Like a lot.”

“Me too.”

His hold on her tightens as he presses her harder against his chest. Keeping her locked in his arms.

Maybe, just maybe, no other man can take her away from him after all. Not even Kael.