Chapter Twenty
Ella
“Welcome back.”
Zarik's voice sounded far away. I sat up in bed and looked around. I was a little groggy and amazingly enough, still tired. I felt like I could lay down and go back to sleep. But as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched, I began to grow warmer inside. An energy took over my body and as I woke up, I began to feel better. In fact, I started to feel good. Really good.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked.
“Two days,” I said. “I was worried.”
“Two days?”
Zarik nodded. “You were stung by one of the Chokan,” he explained. “The venom was strong and I feared that I was going to lose you. But I got you here in time.”
“How did you stop the venom from killing me?”
“Blood,” he said. “My blood.”
“You fed me blood?”
He shrugged. “It healed you.”
“It did,” she said. “In fact, I can't remember ever feeling better.”
I saw something in his face. He was troubled. I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. My memory of the other night was scattered and faded, but I remembered being taken captive by the Scales. And I knew they'd roughed me up pretty good. Obviously, Zarik had rescued me, though I knew none of the details. But beyond that, I didn't recall much. So, I had no idea what had happened.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
I braced myself, fearing what he was about to say and not knowing why. And as he told me everything that had happened – from him calling Jacob, to Jacob's sacrifice at the end – I listened with my stomach clenching into a tight knot. A tear raced down my cheek and I felt an all too familiar hole opening up within me.
“He wanted you to know that he was sorry,” Zarik said. “For everything. And that he loved you. He made me swear to tell you that.”
Zarik pulled me into a tight embrace and let me cry into his shoulder. He simply stroked my hair and said nothing. His presence was comforting. Reassuring.
Eventually, I pulled back and looked up at him. He gave me a gentle smile and squeezed my hand. I nodded to myself and knew that despite the pain of loss I was feeling, that everything was going to be okay.
“He died the way he wanted to die,” I said. “He went out with a warrior's death.”
Zarik nodded. “His was a good death,” he said. “An honorable death.”
The grief in my heart was sharp, and the loss I felt was deep. I was surrounded by death and doled it out most every night on my own. It seemed that my whole existence was wrapped up in death. And in that moment, I wanted to embrace the energy of life.
I leaned forward and kissed Zarik, taking him by surprise. He pulled back and looked at me, not understanding.
“I need to feel life,” I said. “I need this.”
He seemed to understand and he pulled me close, kissing me deeply. As our kisses grew more passionate and intense, our hands roamed and explored one another's bodies. Zarik's body was so warm and so alive with energy, with life, that it was intoxicating to me. The energy he exuded filled me and renewed me.
I pulled his shirt over his head and kissed his chest. He gasped as I bit and sucked on his nipples. I slid the tip of my tongue up his chest and kissed him deeply again. His hands were in my hair, gently pulling it as we kissed.
Sliding my hand down his body, I grabbed hold of him, stroking and squeezing him through his jeans. Unbuttoning his jeans, I slid my hand down inside of his boxers and took him in my hand. He moaned softly as I squeezed him hard and began stroking him up and down.
I got him out of his pants completely and climbed into his lap, straddling him. Neither of us spoke – there didn't seem to be any words required in that moment. I took hold of him again and guided him to my opening as a warm and welcome heat flooded the center of me.
Putting the tip of him inside of me, I lowered myself, moaning as I slid down the length of him, inch by wonderful inch. When he was sheathed inside of me fully, I moaned and began to rock my hips back and forth, sliding myself up and down on him.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to move faster, grinding myself harder upon him. Zarik looked into my eyes, moaning as I rode him. He kissed me, his hands cupping and squeezing my ass as I continued to thrust myself up and down on him, nice and hard.
Zarik's mouth was on my breasts, licking and sucking at my hard nipples. I moaned and softly called his name. He moved his hips upward, driving himself even deeper inside of me. I gasped and dug my nails into the flesh of his shoulders, reveling in the sensations that were coursing through my body.
There was a look of absolute need in his eyes as he stood up and put me back down on the bed. Zarik moved me so that I was on all fours. Stepping up behind me, he planted a line of gentle kisses down my back and then thrust himself into me hard and without warning. My eyes grew wide and I gasped as he filled me up.
He grabbed hold of my hips and began to move his hips, thrusting himself into me again and again, deep and fast.
“Zarik,” I moaned. “Oh yes, baby. God yes.”
I felt him take hold of my hair, pulling my head back as he pounded himself into me. I was so warm and wet, he plunged himself into me with ease.
“Ella,” he moaned.
Heat and the energy of life radiated off his body, soaking into mine. I reveled in how electric my body felt with him inside of me, enjoying each and every sensation that coursed through me. Zarik's breathing was growing hoarse and labored. I felt his body tense and knew that he was getting close.
Zarik slowed his pace, but drove himself as deep as he could inside of me. He was filling me up completely and I felt a heat and tightness quickly growing in the center of me. When he thrust himself into me, the dam holding my orgasm back broke and I was flooded with sensations. I cried out as my body shook, wave after wave of orgasm tore through me. It was glorious.
I fell forward onto my stomach, my whole body seeming to spasm and shake. As my orgasm eventually subsided, I turned and looked at Jacob over my shoulder and smiled.
“It's your turn,” I said, my voice suddenly husky. “I want you to feel good too.”
I got off the bed and dropped to my knees before him. Leaning forward, I took him into my mouth. He moaned as my tongue slid up and down on him. And he called my name when I wrapped my hand around him and started to stroke.
I licked and sucked on him at the same time I was stroking him hard and fast. He pumped his hips, a look of pure lust in his eyes, and thrust himself into my mouth again and again. I tightened my mouth around him, sucking on him good and hard, and tightened my grip around his base until I was holding him good and tight.
“Ella,” he called. “Oh God, Ella.
I stroked as I sucked and felt his body growing rigid. A moment later, he cried my name and I felt his body start to shake. My mouth was suddenly filled with his warm, wet seed. I looked up at him, giving him my best salacious expression as he filled up my mouth.
I swallowed it all down and licked my lips as he took a step backward, looking almost dizzy. But then he smiled at me and pulled me to my feet. He laid down next to me on the bed and wrapped his body up with mine. I looked at him and smiled.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“For what?”
“I needed the affirmation of life today,” I said. “I needed to be reminded of what we were fighting for.”
Zarik leaned forward and kissed me. Satisfied and content, we both drifted off to sleep.