Bite Me Harder (Guardians of the Deep 2)

Sylvia wasn’t strong enough to hold Penny back. If Penny hadn’t wanted to hurt her, Sylvia would have gotten her ass kicked.

Jagger and Rickshaw each grabbed one of Cobalt’s arms and pulled him away from Thane.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” Cobalt yelled.

Sylvia had never seen such raw, furious, animalistic behavior. As much as she felt for Thane and hoped he was okay, she was turned on by the look of rage on Cobalt’s face. Her chest pounded. Her fear had been replaced by an intense desire. She wanted him, wanted to have him between her legs, to make him direct some of that manliness at her.

What the fuck am I thinking? He’s terrifying. Oh, but he’s not. He’s hot. He’s so fucking hot. So brutal. So fucking sexy.

“I loved your brother,” Thane said as he spit a wad of blood into the sand. “Poet was a good man. I didn’t kill him.”

“Poet died saving me!” Penny yelled. “He saved me.”

Tears ran down Penny’s face and Sylvia hurt for her friend. Penny would have given her own life gladly to let Poet live. Sylvia had heard the story. She’d seen the pain on her friend’s face when she talked about how she’d called for help and how Poet had dove into the water to save her life. And how she’d circled the water, waiting for Poet to move, to show any form of life, but he’d been gone, and there had been nothing Penny could do.

Cobalt stopped struggling and looked at Penny. His ferocity dissipated and all that was left was a speechless, distraught man, confused and in pain. Sylvia wanted to go to him, to comfort him, to tell him everything would be okay, but she didn’t know him. She had no right to say a single word to the man. She hadn’t known Poet. Nothing she could say would mean anything.

But she didn’t care.

She let go of Penny’s arm and moved around the campfire. She walked over to where Jagger and Rickshaw were busy holding him back. They’d loosened their grips but were still keeping him in place. Everyone watched Sylvia move toward him and nobody said a word. It was total silence except for the ocean gently lapping at the shore.

Cobalt looked at her and even in the darkness, with only the moonlight and the slight glow from the campfire illuminating him, she thought she saw dampness in his eyes, where tears had settled at their corners but had refused to fall. As she stood in front of the giant, Jagger and Rickshaw looked at Thane, waiting for guidance. Sylvia looked his way too and saw him nod at the two men. They let go of Cobalt and he shook his arms loose.

Still nobody said a word.

Sylvia reached out and took Cobalt’s right hand. He allowed her to lift his fingers and intertwine hers through his. He had saved her and rushed into her life and had protected her. He’d cared about her when everyone else had been preoccupied. If not for him, she could be dead right now.

Cobalt’s heavy frame stood still, stuck to the beach at his feet, until Sylvia whispered, “Come on.”

She turned and walked ahead of him, her hand still in his, pulling his arm over her shoulder so that he was forced to follow her almost like a dog on a leash. The crackling of the fire and the ocean waves provided a soundtrack that seemed to be playing only for them as an instant connection formed inside her heart and she hoped might have wrapped around his as well. She led him away from the fire and farther down the beach where the crowd would be left in the distance.

Their voices grew farther and farther away. Penny was probably checking on Thane and they were all undoubtedly rehashing the fight and Evelyn’s return, but Sylvia concentrated only on providing whatever level of comfort she could to the man who’d saved her life. His pain was palpable, and his fury had only now begun to fizzle out as his footsteps thudded behind hers. It wasn’t until they’d reached the end of the beach, where the sand crept its way into thinning trees and on to denser forest, that she finally stopped and sat down.

“Sit with me,” she said.

She looked up at him and could barely see his face. It was so dark that all she could make out was his silhouette. His head, his arms, his legs, and as he turned slightly to the side, his cock. She gulped nervously, thinking that it was almost scary how big it was. Cautiously, like a fierce beast deciding to allow itself to be tamed, his knees bent, he put one hand down next to hers, and he lowered himself to the seated position.

“You saved me,” she said.

He didn’t respond. His gaze remained on the ocean. His home. Sylvia could only assume he felt more comfortable out there than on dry land.

“It’s okay to talk to me, you know,” she added.

He didn’t reply but pulled his knees up and folded his arms over them, keeping his eyes glued on the water. He seemed to be doing everything in his power not to look at her.

“I don’t want to keep you here if you’re uncomfortable,” she said. “You can go if you want.”

Silence. He wasn’t talking, but he didn’t get up to leave. That had to count for something.

“Poet?” she said. “I’ve heard a lot about him. Penny told me the story.”

More silence. Finally, he turned to look at her, and in the moonlight, she thought he didn’t look quite as menacing as he had earlier. She sensed a vulnerability in him. Having dated many men in her life, she’d learned that most of them had a soft spot for family. If it wasn’t mom, it was usually baby sister. In this guy’s case, it was baby brother. The way he looked at her told her he wanted, no, he needed to hear more.

“You know,” she said. “He was a hero. He fought that great white that was trying to kill Penny. He could have stayed on the boat, but he saw her being attacked and jumped in to save her.”

“A great white?” he said, his voice deep and low, but carrying enough rage with it that she nearly flinched. “A great white like me?”

He’s a great white. Holy shit.