The very second I’m free, I grab her. Just having her here, having my hands on her, helps a little bit. She’s solid and real and alive.
The whole time I was watching her be hurt by Julian, fighting him off, struggling to keep the upper hand and not let him get the better of her, all I could think about was how there was nothing I could do.
Just like with Jade.
I was stuck watching her, and my brain screamed at me to do something—anything—to make sure she didn’t die.
My wrists are scraped raw and bruised from how hard I fought against those chains, but none of that matters now. I barely feel the injuries Julian inflicted with River right here in my arms.
She grabs me back, running her hands over me, either checking to make sure I’m not more hurt than she can see or because she just wants to touch me.
Either is fine.
We grope each other, just for the sensation of touch, going from hugging to looking each other over.
River’s dark blue eyes are a little frantic as she searches my face. Worry burns in their depths, and I can imagine how much it hurt her when Julian made the video call to show them what he was doing to me. I never would’ve wanted her to see that, but that’s the kind of cold bastard Julian is.
Was.
Now he’s nothing but a pile of blood and bones on the floor.
“Fuck. I’m so glad you’re okay,” River breathes out. “God, I was so fucking—”
She breaks off, shaking her head, and when she looks up at me again, her eyes are shiny and glassy.
Instead of telling her that everything is okay, I lean down and kiss her. It makes more pain throb in my face from my split lip and the bruises on my cheek, but I don’t give a fuck. The kiss is tinged with coppery blood and the taste of River, and I bite at her lips like I’m trying to get the skin to split, trying to let her soul out so I can capture it.
I want every part of her. Every little thing I can get. I don’t want anything held back between us. That fear of losing her, of being unable to do anything but watch her die, turns every emotion trapped in my chest up to eleven. I kiss her like a starving man, like I’m drowning and I need to keep breathing her in to survive.
My hands roam over her body, finding bare skin through ripped patches of fabric and seeking out more. Everything in me calls me to keep going. To never stop.
Something has snapped inside me—the same kind of emotion I felt after she got taken and held captive by Julian, what feels like forever ago now. It’s a wild, unhinged need to make her mine so completely that nothing and no one can ever take her away.
There’s so much raw emotion, more than I’m used to, coursing through me. And instead of trying to hold back the tide of it, I just let it flow through me. I let it take over, allowing myself to run on instinct and pure need instead of trying to think my way through this.
River clings to me, and I turn our bodies so I can press her against the rough brick of the wall where I was being restrained before. My lips go from her mouth down to her neck, kissing and biting, licking and sucking at her skin.
She moans my name, clinging to my shirt, and I let out a ragged breath at the pure perfection of that sound.
I can already feel my cock thickening, growing hard and aching in my pants, and I grind against River, pressing my shaft between her legs.
She moans again, spreading her legs a bit, and I wedge my thigh between them, pressing it right where I know she wants it.
“Priest!” she gasps out, her eyes wild with desire. “Fuck.”
“Come on,” I mumble against her lips when I go back for another kiss. “Show me. Show me what you want.”
River grinds against my thigh, humping it with wild abandon. She doesn’t seem to care that we’re in this warehouse, and that there are bodies of people she and my brothers killed scattered around the space. Neither do I. All I can see or feel or think about is her.
Her, and the incredible heat as she grinds on my thigh, chasing more friction, more pleasure.
I kiss her deeply, thrusting my tongue into her mouth and seeking out the exquisite taste that’s all River. That indefinable, addictive flavor that I can never get enough of. I can feel how much she likes this, how wet she’s getting for me as she drags her pussy over my thigh, and I like that too.
But it’s not enough.
It will never be enough.
Desperately, I reach down between us and shove at my pants, undoing my fly and button to free my cock. My shaft is hard and leaking at the tip, aching to be inside her. It’s impossible to remember a time when I got this turned on this fast, but the circumstances are different here.
This is us being driven by a need to be together, to reaffirm that we’re alive and still breathing. And for once, I don’t hold myself back.
I shove her clothes out of the way, ripping through the fabric of her dress to make enough space for what I want. What we both need. I rip her panties off and lift her up, ignoring the screaming pain in my body as I drive into her with no hesitation.
River grunts deeply, almost as animalistic as I feel in this moment.
“Oh my god,” she gasps out. “Fuck!”
She holds on to me, her arms around my neck and her body braced between mine and the wall. Her legs go around my waist, and we’re locked together, body to body, with my cock so deep inside her it feels like I can feel every part of her.
It’s the first time I’ve ever been inside of her like this. The first time we’ve ever fucked. We’re both covered in smears of blood, most of it mine, but neither of us seems to care about that.
Her body is tight and wet and perfect, and it’s all I can focus on. The way it clings to me, the way it reacts every time I move.
“You feel so fucking good,” I grunt. “Better than I ever imagined.”
Her eyes are dark with lust, and she moans, grinding against me, trying to get me to move more.
“Please. Shit, Priest, please,” she pants, begging me with breathless, desperate words. “I need—more! Please.”
I draw out slowly, savoring the feel of her warm, wet walls trying to suck me back in. Then I snap my hips and drive back into her, fucking her hard. I haven’t done this in so long, but it’s hard to forget the rhythm of it. Especially when I’m being driven by my most base instincts, giving in to what my body wants and letting it take over.
I couldn’t stop if I wanted to at this point, and every thrust proves that.
I’m breathless and aching, my wounds bleeding harder from the exertion of what we’re doing, but that doesn’t matter.
River doesn’t seem to care either, clinging to me like nothing could pry her away. Her nails dig into my shoulders, and when she arches up to kiss me again, I can taste the blood in it.
That doesn’t stop us either. Nothing can stop us.
“Fuck,” I groan. “River. You’re so—”
My voice chokes off, and I thrust into her even harder, slamming her against the wall. I bite at her lower lip and then trail my mouth to her neck, biting there too.
“What?” she pants. “So what? Tell me.”