I don’t mean to argue, but then I don’t mean to do a lot of things where this woman is concerned. “How can you say that? You run your own territory. You have to be hard in order to accomplish what you have.”
“Do I?” She tugs my hair until I look up at her. Gods, the way she looks at me. Like I’m a present wrapped up just for her. Like I truly am hers. “You haven’t been paying close enough attention.” She gives my hair one last tug and releases me. Ursa walks to the table and urges a still-dazed Alaric up. She kisses him, deep and thorough, and leans back. “You’re forgiven, lover. Don’t disappoint me again.”
“I won’t, Mistress.”
She helps him ease off the table, and I don’t miss the cruel little edge to her smile as he winces with each step. Ursa eases him down next to me and pulls another brightly colored blanket out from the basket next to the couch. She drapes it around Alaric’s shoulders. “Scoot.”
We instantly obey, parting like the Red Sea to allow her a spot between us. She settles down onto the couch in the vacated space and draws us back to her. Ursa tucks me under her arm and guides Alaric down to lay his head on her thigh.
I don’t mean to close my eyes, but the events of the last few days are catching up with me and Ursa feels so gloriously solid against my body. It might be because I can’t see her, but I hear her slow exhale as she relaxes against us. As if she’s setting down a burden she’s been carrying for a while.
She’s so strong all the time. Does she allow herself to lean on anyone? It’s not my right to ask—to demand that—not when I won’t be here after this week, but I hope she lets Alaric in, at least. I stroke her thigh in slow motions, giving comfort in the only way I think she’ll allow from me. A soft touch. A gentle slide of my skin against hers.
Ursa sifts her fingers through my hair slowly, soothingly. This whole moment settles something in my chest even more than the sex has. I’m enjoying my time with them. I don’t want it to stop. Any of it.
Time passes slowly, the strange cocktail of adrenaline and lust wearing off and leaving me aching and strangely sated. My ass still stings and my pussy is sore in a delicious kind of way, but it’s my soul that feels the most exhausted. The highs have been too high. The lows, too low. I don’t know which way is up any longer. I’m a deep sea diver that’s gotten confused and lost. I have a fifty-fifty chance of swimming for the surface. An equal chance to descend to depths I’ll never return from.
I should be more scared.
I know that, rationally. I am in the home of a territory leader in Carver City, one who’s already stated that she wants revenge against my father. Just because she’s kind to me doesn’t mean she won’t enjoy me for this week and then dump my body on his doorstep at the end of it. I know that, but I can’t get the fear to stick. There’s some bone-deep belief that Ursa won’t harm me, and I can’t seem to reason my way past it.
It’s too late, anyway. I’m here and I’ve agreed to uphold my part of the contract. If she’s going to turn on me at the end of it, if taking my virginity wasn’t enough to capture her revenge… There’s little I can do about it.
Or maybe that’s just what I tell myself so I don’t have to think about escaping. Maybe I’m just so weak that I am only too happy to cuddle up next to my father’s enemy because she showed me a little bit of kindness. Because she talks sweetly to me and touches me like I might be precious to her.
It’s a lie. It has to be.
I’ve already been sucked in once by Alaric. Surely I’m smart enough not to make the same mistake with Ursa?
The thought makes me open my eyes and sit up. I don’t look at her. I can’t, or I’ll be enraptured by her again and forget about the distance I desperately need to maintain. I clear my throat. “I, uh, I need a shower.”
“In a moment.” She takes my wrist in a gentle but immovable grip. “You tensed up, darling. Thinking dark thoughts?”
Again, honesty pours forth despite my best efforts. “Are you going to kill me and dump me on my father’s doorstep at the end of this?”
“What?” She sounds so genuinely shocked, I forget myself and look at her. She masks the shock quickly, but I know what I see. Ursa shakes her head. “What motivation could I possibly have to go through all this only to kill you?”