Crimson Highlander (Onyx Assassins 2)

“More than the enemies we started as.”

I nodded. “If I could take back what I did all those years ago, the ideas I put into place, I would, Lachlan. I swear I would. I hate what I did, hate what my family does. But most of all, I hate the thought that my past could harm your future.” The idea of one of the weapons I helped spearhead killing him? God, my soul revolted and raged against the thought.

His silence ate up the space between us, and inwardly I recoiled.

When I couldn’t take another second, I slowly walked to where he sat, deep in thought, and dropped to my knees before him. His eyes found mine instantly.

“Do you hate me, Lachlan?” The question was a whisper. My heart aching for whatever he would say—he had every right to throw me from his room. To go straight to Alek and tell him what I’d kept from all of them for so long. Not out of trust issues, but out of undiluted fear.

He shifted forward, taking my face in his hands again. “I hate what happened to your mother. I hate what your father and the Sons did to you, to Daphne. I hate that the world we’re living in now is full of terrors and blood and bodies on both sides. I hate what you felt you had to do in your darkest moments of grief…” I closed my eyes, my heart sinking. “But no, Valor,” he continued. “I could never, not in this life or any other, hate you.”

A sob wrenched out of me as Lachlan pulled me into his lap, planting kissed where my tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’ve never cried in front of anyone like this,” I said the words through my tears.

“And you never have to,” he said, holding me out just enough to see his face. “You don’t have to hide from me, Valor.” He cupped my cheek, smoothing his thumb over my skin. “You can be the relentlessly sharp and strong Valor outside these walls, but here? With me? You can be exactly what you need to be.”

I blew out a breath, my entire body feeling tight and loose at the same time. The confession freed some of the coiling guilt and anxiety in my chest and paired with Lachlan’s words, my head practically spun.

I reached up, tracing my fingertip over the hard line of his jaw, over his bottom lip. A low growl rumbled from his chest, awakening every sleeping nerve in my body. “You too,” I said. “With me.”

He held my gaze, his eyes shuttering at the words between us. And as I stared into his eyes, I could see it…see everything. See the nights working side by side and the days sleeping together. I could see every passionate embrace, every laugh, every calm evening. All of it…a future. I could actually see one around all the agony and unknown of our current situation.

And the notion terrified me, taxed me with questions I didn’t and couldn’t have answers to. Namely my human lifespan and his very not human one.

I shoved every emotion storming me with unknowns down in a box.

“Tell me what you need,” he whispered, drawing me back to him.

“You,” I said. “Now.” I needed to get back to familiar ground—the place where Lachlan and I never had any doubts or questions or fears.

He growled as my fingers flew to his pants, unfastening them in a matter of seconds. I hopped off of him, shimming out of my clothes as he did the same. I pushed him back on the chair, and he smirked up at me as I straddled him.

I gasped at the hard length of him as it slid between my thighs.

“Fuck, Valor,” he hissed, nipping at my bottom lip. “You’re drenched for me.”

“Always for you,” I said against his mouth, slipping my tongue between his lips and tracing the edges of his teeth. He trembled beneath me, and I rocked my hips, teasing his cock as I slid over it without letting him in.

He skimmed his hands over my bare back, raising warm chills everywhere he touched. My heart ached from everything we’d talked about, and I couldn’t kiss him hard enough. Each time our mouths collided together, a bit of pain released from those dark spots in my heart.

And I needed more.

More of Lachlan.

More of this escape for both of us.

So I reached down between us and fisted his cock, situating him at my hot, aching core. I held his gaze, my breaths fast and tight between us, and I sank on top of him in one hard motion, taking him to the hilt so deep it hurt.

“Valor!” He hissed, and I dug my nails into his shoulders as I started to move on top of him.

“Damn,” I moaned at the way he filled me—too much and not enough at the same time. Never enough. I would never and could never get enough of him. “You feel…” I rolled my hips, lifting all the way up only to slam down on him again. My head fell back, a cry ripping from my lips.