The Alpha Assassin novel Chapter 53

His eyes flashed black. The stagnant library air seemed to come to life around me, around us, as I stood there bare.

I didn’t have much to give, but I would start with myself. Even though it felt like a hollow comparison to what he might give me.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes,” I breathed. “Please.”

He stepped forward but was far enough away to take in every inch of me. His eyes roved over my body appreciatively.

He opened his mouth to say something. “I’m sure,” I added with finality.

Both sides of his lips tugged up.

He removed his swords from his back, undoing the straps around his front. Then, he unstrapped his scabbard from his side and placed them carefully with his swords on the chair. The fact that he trusted me enough to remove his weapons completely was huge.

He took off his shirt, and I bit my lip. I’d seen his body before, briefly. I didn’t focus on it or tried not to before, but now I could fully take in everything he was.

Goddess, he was breathtaking.

Every muscle of his carved and honed by years of practice. The scars that decorated his face and hands also ran down his chest, dancing with each of his heavy breaths. I noted the same mangled scar I had seen briefly before, and my eyes lingered on it, trying to make it out.

“A brand,” he noted, and my eyes snapped to his. “My teacher, my master,” he said; he spat the words out as if they were sour. “Me and my brothers, we were meant to be his possessions.” He glanced down at the scar. “We were just kids when we were indoctrinated into this program. It doesn’t look like much now, and besides…” His face was grim. “We weren’t as well trained yet. We fought the pain.”

I stepped toward him and put my hand over it, wishing I could take the painful memories from him and keep them with my own.

“You're the second person I had ever told that to,” he admitted.

I looked up at him, and the hurt was gone. “Oh?”

“Yes.” He nodded once. “The other was a Prince.”

I laughed, not expecting to. “Well, I’m in good company then,” I murmured.

He put his hand over mine, squeezing it, and then removed mine, taking a step back. He undid his belt. Sat and unlaced his boots and then pulled his pants down. I half-expected him to fold them, but thankfully, he just placed them on the chair. I tried to keep my smile away.

“What?” he asked.

I shook my head. “You’re just so… you.” His face fell. “It’s a good thing,” I added, and his half-smile returned, his eyes blackened as he stood before me. Without breaking eye contact, he tugged down his boxers, pushing them to the floor.

My mouth was dry when I saw what was in between his legs. Aksala purred in my mind. I wanted him so badly. It was all-consuming. I couldn’t remember wanting anything like this before. Nothing that didn’t have to do with revenge but pleasure. Something only for me.

So we stood there, looking at each other, two broken people with shattered pasts, choosing to be vulnerable, a choice neither of us willingly had chosen before this moment.

“Goddes, Simone,” Ezra rasped. “Beauty isn’t a word I can use to describe you anymore. There are no words.” He shook his head.

I wished I could say anything back, but the rush of emotions, real and raw and almost painful, grasped me.

“Ezra,” was all I could respond. Whatever was in my voice must have portrayed what I felt.

He opened his arms wide. “I am yours.”

I rushed toward him, encircling my hands around his neck, tangling in his hair, and greedily pulled him to me.

His soft lips met mine hungrily, and I sighed into his mouth and settled into the familiar dance that was his tongue on mine, his teeth grazing my bottom lip. I wished I could bottle this moment.

His hands finally encircled me, slowly, as if asking. They ran down my sides, and I shuddered at the contact. One tentatively wrapped around me and cupped my ass while the other reached higher, brushing the side of my breast.

I sighed, my head falling back, and his grip on my ass tightened, pulling me back flush against his hard chest, his dick pressed against my stomach. His fingers kept brushing closer to my nipple, and I fought to keep my focus on his lips. Once his thumb brushed over it, I breathed in sharply.

Ezra smiled against my lips.

The feel of him caressing me, playing with me, sent waves of pleasure that settled deep between my legs. The fact that it was him doing this, and he was enjoying it just as much as I was, was incredible.

I slowly loosened a fist from his hair and trailed it down his arm, enjoying the way his muscles felt and the way he tensed at my light touch.

Our lips were against each other’s, but neither of us was moving them. I trailed down his chest his abs, and he held his breath.

I smiled against his lips, but he gently tugged at my nipple, making me gasp.

Now… it was his turn.

I ran my fingers ever so lightly across his pelvis before I stepped back slightly and wrapped my hand around the base of his shaft.

Both of us inhaled. The feel of it was softer than I expected, and it sent fresh heat to my core.

I moved it slightly, testing, teasing, up and down. His hand fell slack against my breast.

“Is that okay?” I murmured, trying to search his face.

His mouth was parted, and his eyes shut. “Goddess, yes,” he breathed, and I kept going, watching him.

The fact that I could make him feel like this, undo him, was something else completely. I wanted him to feel the way he made me feel.

After a few long moments, his eyes snapped open, and they were pitch black.

“I can smell your arousal stronger now, Simone,” he rumbled. “Do you like touching me?”

I nodded, unable to push words from my dry mouth. I twisted my hand slightly, and he hissed, throwing his head back.

“Fuck, Simone… I need you.”

He held me even tighter against him until I stilled; the pleasure still remained where he was in me, but the burst of it steadied, and I could catch my breath.

“Simone,” he said into my chest, placing a kiss on each of my nipples. I sucked in, and he pulled back, searching my face.

He laid me back on the thick carpet beside the fire, my hair splayed out around me. I didn’t care how I looked.

For once, I wasn’t acting. It was just me, and I knew he would accept it.

“Simone,” he breathed; it sounded like a promise. A prayer.

He pushed my legs slightly apart and sunk back deep inside me.

I moaned, grabbing at the carpet and wriggling against the new, all-consuming sensation that was him.

He loomed over me, between my open legs. He looked like a dark angel hellbent on justice and sent to protect. Protect me.

He moved slowly, his eyes focused on me. His body rolled against mine, faster and harder, and it was delicious.

“I….” He thrust deep, panting.

“Am…” he groaned.

His hips dug deeper, and I cried out, grasping any part of him I could.

“Yours,” he promised and released himself inside me, pulsating.

He took deep, quick breaths and leaned over me. His sweat-stained forehead touched my own.

I smiled, even though a part of me I couldn’t identify wanted to cry.

I rushed his dark brown hair away from his face and behind his ear and took his scarred face in between my hands.

“I am yours,” I promised.

He smiled, the brightest I had seen from him, and fell beside me, pulling me over his chest, tucking me in against the fire that warmed my back.

I had so much I wanted to say, but nothing felt as momentous, as right, as binding as what we had just done.

I knew it wasn’t just sex, even though this was my first time.

It was something more. Something irrevocable.

My last thought died with the flicker of the fire.

I wished we could do this in a place of our own, far away from anyone we had to hide from.