Hector
He sat up in bed, eyebrows furrowed, mouth pressed into a thin line as a thought occurred to him.
“What’s wrong?” Rachel blearily asked from next to him.
Hector couldn’t help but smile. He was getting used to going to sleep with Rachel and waking up next to her. It was relaxing and amazing in ways he couldn’t truly express to anyone who hadn’t experienced it before. Everything just felt right, even in subtle ways he’d never have expected to need until he’d met her.
They’d been sleeping together every night now for over a week, ever since he’d shown back up at her door unexpectedly and been dragged to one of her support groups. It wasn’t the only one he’d gone to, but for the most part he let Rachel go on her own. The women needed to have friends, and she didn’t need him intruding into every facet of her life, nor did he want to. He wanted his own space too, not always when he was at the embassy working.
Things hadn’t been going well there. Oh, the renovations themselves had been progressing along just fine, but it was his relationships with the others there that were heavily, heavily strained. Andrew had taken a hit by releasing him from house arrest, while Gray was caught between understanding Hector’s actions and his loyalty to Andrew. Martin, meanwhile, hadn’t spoken a single word to him since they’d fought, and all the other shifters there seemed to view him somewhere in between. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to be for him, so he spent as little time there as possible, showing up to work and leaving right after.
It hurt him, after how hard he’d worked to establish himself as one of the good guys, as someone the other shifters could trust if they ever needed help. Now they spoke in hushed tones when he was around, occasionally casting angry looks his way. Hector was feeling cut out, as if he’d been pushed out of the life he once knew and loved.
Hector didn’t blame them. He’d been on duty. It was his responsibility at that point to see to the safety of the others, and he’d failed. A complete and total failure. He’d left his post, and the fire had burned the embassy and taken the life of one of their own with it. It had come at such an inopportune time. A minute or two in either direction, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
“I just forgot something,” he replied to Rachel.
“What did you forget?” she asked, rolling over to face him, resting her head on one of his thick arms.
“I’ve been meaning to ask Andrew if he ever figured out how the fire started.”
“What do you mean?”
He smiled and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. Rachel was clearly still half-asleep, or even more than that.
“There wasn’t anything really flammable in the area where it started. So I want to know what caused it to go up just as I left the embassy.”
Rachel rubbed his chest. “Why? Do you think someone started it?”
Hector sat up straight. “I…no, I hadn’t thought that,” he said. “Not until you just mentioned it at least.”
Could someone have started the fire? He’d been operating under the assumption for so long that it had just been a horrific case of unfortunate timing. But there were a few things that would make more sense if it had been deliberately set.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked, her voice sounding stronger, more awake. She must have felt him stiffen at her question.
“I’m just trying to figure out if your idea that it was set has any merit.”
“I see.”
“I don’t get it though. Who would set fire to the embassy? And more importantly, why would they feel the need to do such a thing? It’s not like there’s been any major trouble between us and the residents lately. Things have actually been rather peaceful besides the odd drunken mistake.”
“I don’t know,” she agreed, still resting on his arm. “But it’s awfully coincidental that it went up in flames just as you walked outside.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean that someone had to set it,” he replied. “Besides, for that to happen, they’d have to know I wasn’t at my post. So you’re saying that someone arranged for the couple to be arguing outside, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to ignore it and that I would go outside to stop it?” He snorted. “Come on Rachel, that’s pretty extreme and you know it.”
“I’m not saying it isn’t. It seems way too crazy to be true. It’s likely that it was just bad timing. But I think you should figure out how the fire started for sure. Ask Andrew, get some answers at least. That way we can eliminate this crazy theory at least. Maybe it was old electrical that finally got overloaded with all the usage. From what I understand talking to locals, that place was abandoned for a long time before you all took it over.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good likelihood for certain. I’ll have to find out what the fire chief told Andrew.”
“Definitely,” she said, one hand dragging up along his bare chest, through the slight swirls of body hair that he had concentrated toward the center of it.
He shivered in response, loving her touch. “Are you trying to seduce me?” he rumbled into her ear, turning onto his side and sliding his upper leg between hers.
The covers slid down as he did, revealing that she wasn’t wearing any clothing. Hector dimly remembered her going to bed in some sort of shorts and tank top, which meant that at some point she’d divested herself of them all.
“Trying?” she asked innocently.
Hector grinned and rolled gently onto his back. Rachel got the hint and came with him, until she was straddling him. They were both naked, and he could feel his cock growing underneath her. Rachel placed both hands on his chest and lifted herself slightly, repositioning her body atop him. When she lowered herself again, he could feel his shaft positioned directly between her legs. Warmth slowly covered him as her hips started to move in a sensual back and forth manner, revealing to him just how aroused she was.
At one point he tucked his hips downward while Rachel came forward, and he slipped out from under her. On her backward stroke she couldn’t stop in time and the tip of him slid directly into her, lining up perfectly. They both gasped at the sudden change in sensation, but neither stopped. Rachel continued to move back and forth, while he lifted his hips to meet her, each time letting a little more of himself slide into her.
In short order she was taking him all, deep inside of her. The hands she’d rested on his chest were now curling up from the sensations she must be feeling, leaving deep welts in his skin. For his part Hector was alternating between caressing and spanking her, encouraging Rachel to move faster and faster against him.
He didn’t have much longer in him, overwhelmed by the physical sensations and the sight of her naked body grinding atop him. It was a beautiful sight: the swell of her stomach and the thickness of her body. The way her lips parted into a little O-shape as she slid backward to take him inside of her, or the way her eyes rolled up into her skull. It all added up to an overwhelming amount of sensory ecstasy that he just couldn’t take.
Moments later he groaned and shook underneath her, emptying himself inside of her with a few short spasms of his hips.
Rachel sighed in delight and licked her lips as she sat back against him while Hector just lay almost spread-eagled on the bed looking up at her.
“Yeah, trying,” he finally managed to say with a wink.
Rachel looked at him, then shifted her hips slightly while looking down at her side, then back at him. “I think I can say that I succeeded.”
He grinned. “I’m not so sure. We might have to do it again. You know, just in case it was an accident.”
His mate laughed and leaned down to kiss him.
They hadn’t discussed that part of their relationship since the first time it had come up, but that was perfectly okay with Hector. He knew what Rachel was to him, and all he had to do now was wait until she came to that conclusion herself. After all, what was a few more weeks or a month, when he got to spend it all with her anyway?
Though he had to admit, he would be glad when things could go back to normal and everyone could move on from the fire. He was looking forward to that so very much.