HeroRising (19 page)

“Do I need to tie your hands again?” he teased as he rolled
her onto her back.

“No. I want to touch you.”

“You are.” He ground his cock into her belly. “And you feel
so good.”

She responded by scraping the edges of her teeth along his
shoulder. “I want more.”

“You’ll get it. When I say so.”

“You suck—”

“As you wish.” He took her pink nipple into his mouth,
lashing the tip with his tongue. He did love to deliberately misinterpret her
curses.

“Damn it, Bale.” She tugged at his hair. “I want you to
ravish me.”

“And I want to savor you.” He switched to the other breast.
“You will not deter me on this,
liera
. Do not fret. I will do everything
in my power to leave you satisfied.”

“You always do.” She sighed with contentment. “What does
liera
mean anyway?”

He froze with his mouth hovering over her skin then slowly
lifted up. With a shaky hand he brushed the strands of hair off her face so he
could look deep into her sparkling eyes. A lump formed in his throat but he
pressed on and confessed.

“Mine.”

Against his ribs he felt her heart start pounding as she
melted into the mattress. “Oh.”

Millimeter by millimeter he lowered his head until their
mouths pressed together in the gentlest of touches. The plump pillows of her
lips were satin-soft. The slight rasp of her tongue tangling with his he felt
down to his bones. Ari was a sweet and rich confection more decadent than any
found in the finest bakery. All her inner beauty was wrapped up in a savory
package he wanted to devour whole.

When the last of her resistance dissipated and the mellow pulse
of her desire engulfed him, Bale licked and nuzzled down the fine column of her
neck, continuing to the swell of her breasts, teasing the undersides with his
mouth. Every so often he’d look up to find Ari watching him with sex-drugged
eyes and he smiled against her skin. The slow curl of her answering smile
filled him with so much joy, he wanted to shout with the euphoria.

This lovely creature was truly his, and with each sigh and
low moan as his hands and mouth caressed her body, he sensed her submission
through his powers. Her thighs parted at the slight brush of his fingers.
Wherever he laid a palm, she’d press her flesh deeper into his hold, her body
flowing like warm water in his grasp.

“Bale. Please.” She pulled at his shoulders and wrapped her
legs around his waist. “I need you.”

He knew. More than she realized.

Ari placed herself entirely into his keeping with an open
heart, and the sensation empowered him at the same time it scared him to death.
Not even Natalia had placed such trust in him at the level he sensed from Ari.
What if he failed her? What if he couldn’t be what she needed? The last woman
to place such faith in him died. Dare he subject Ari to a similar fate?

“Please, Bale,” Ari pleaded with a deep groan, her nails
scoring lines up his back. Then she whispered in a voice so low, he barely
heard, “Please love me.”

Love.

Was she aware she had spoken such a powerful word? Was it
possible that she had developed such strong feelings for him already? Did he
even want her love?

Images of the last few years flitted through his mind. Long
nights spent alone, always on the move to the next location. Days of never
exchanging a single word, or a smile, or a glance with anyone. So much anger.
So much sadness. Compared to the brief time he’d spent with Ari, those memories
were as cold and heartwarming as a prison cell buried miles beneath the earth.
Such extended isolation destroyed the soul.

A connection to another. One person, just one, who cared
whether you lived or died, who thought of you, who missed you, who knew your
secrets and kept them safe. One person to trust. That was what had been missing
his entire life. That was what he wanted. And he wanted it with Ari. Was that
type of connection called love? Hell, he hadn’t a clue. He had thought he’d had
love all figured out, then learned the hard way how wrong he had been.

Perhaps Ari was right. Take each day as it came. Enjoy the
time they had and worry about the rest later. What was that phrase he had
heard? Do not go borrowing trouble. Ari wanted him to love her? Done.

He left the bed for only as long as it took to retrieve a
condom from the pocket of his jeans. As he knelt back onto the mattress, he
made a great show of leisurely rolling the rubber down his hard length,
reveling in the hot touch of her gaze as she watched his hand. For the first
time he appreciated his inability to filter out human emotion. The bright and
bold splashes coming from Ari were a drug, heightening all his senses while at
the same time distorting reality until all that mattered was getting inside her
heat and feeling her heartbeat.

The grip of her sheath around his cock was just as tight as
ever but far more giving as he eased inside in a long, slow glide, an example
of how her body already accepted his possession. They moved as one as he thrust
and withdrew, her hips rising and falling in syncopation, prolonging the
friction. A low flame blazed down his spine and settled in his balls as the
pressure built, urging him to take her faster, harder, but he pushed the impulse
aside. He had already taken her hard and rough. Now was the time for gentle,
sweet. The intensity was still there. The same need to see her come undone and
follow her into the mindless oblivion of release pounded in his blood as
strongly as ever, but this was their time. Their time to forge that connection
he desperately wanted.

He hooked her legs over his arms and pushed as deep into her
core as possible. Her eyes widened and her fingers clutched his shoulders. “Oh,
Bale. Ah. God. That’s incredible.”

The squeeze of her cunt made his eyes roll back and he
fought to keep them open and focused on her flushed face. Tears of ecstasy made
the light-blue flecks in her irises shimmer and the swollen pout of her lips
formed a little heart as she panted and gasped beneath him. Oh, if only he
could pause this perfect moment of pure sensuality in time forever.

“Ari,” he groaned as her hands smoothed over the sweat-slick
skin of his back and sides. The bite of her nails digging into the muscles
wreaked havoc with his concentration. “Gods, woman. I’m trying to make this
last.”

“I don’t think I’ll survive.” Her head thrashed against the
pillow.

“Look at me, Ari.” It took a few moments for her feverish
gaze to meet his. “I’m right there with you. If only you knew how much of you I
can feel. Right now.” He punctuated his words with swivels of his hips and
erupted into her depths.

“Bale.” She arched her back and the black circles of her
pupils dilated a split second before her pussy clamped down around his cock.
Tremors rolled out from her core in long, undulating waves that lapped at his
body as if she were the ocean and he stood on shore. Like a riptide she sucked
him under to surf the rolling sea of their release before tossing him onto the
rocks when he had nothing left to give. Through it all, their gazes remained
locked, all her emotions flickering in those luminous eyes that held nothing
back.

“Ah, Ariel.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “Ariel.”

“I know.” A tear slipped down her cheek.

He rolled to his side and held her quaking body close and
savored the feeling of her in his arms. Before they were ready the real world
was going to barge in with guns blazing, as life was wont to do. Too few times
were there these moments of perfection. Each one needed to be cherished.

Def Leppard’s
Rocket
tore into the quiet with all of
the subtlety of a chainsaw cutting through a textbook.

Son of a bitch.

Bale cracked open an eye and glared at the cellphone that
pealed from the pocket of his jeans beside the bed.

Only four people knew his number, but only two ever called
with any regularity.

“I’m sorry, Ari. I must take this call.” He kissed her
shoulder and reached for the offending object. “Ya.”

“I apologize for disturbing you, Bale,” Lucian said. “You
are needed in my office. Immediately.”

“For what purpose?”

“As they say around here, the shit is a hitting the fan.
Come now.”

The Bale he had been a year prior would have told Lucian to
fuck off, followed with a right hook to the jaw, but the Bale he was now
understood his former commander wouldn’t have contacted him unless it was of
utmost urgency.

“I’m on my way.”

He quelled the urge to crush the phone and set it gently on
the side table.

“Ari, I am sorry.”

“I heard.” She hugged him from behind. The soft cushion of
her breasts against his back made him curse the intrusion all the more. “Is
there something wrong? You got so tense.”

“I do not know, but Lucian has called a meeting.” He reached
around and pinched her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I may be gone
all night.”

“I understand. Really, Bale. You don’t have to answer to
me.”

But he wanted to.

“Breakfast?” he offered. “I cannot cook, but I can bring
something.”

She smiled and kissed his lips. “Breakfast sounds nice.”

He risked Lucian’s ire by taking the time to kiss her properly
goodbye then dressed quickly.

Ari followed him to the door. Wrapped in the sheet, she made
it all too tempting to say, “Fuck it,” and pull her back into bed.

“Be careful,” she said. “With whatever it is you have to do.
Stay safe.”

“I will.” He cupped her cheek. “You stay safe too.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m going to pass out as soon as the
door closes.” She winked.

After another quick kiss, he was in the hall and Ari was on
the other side of the closed door. Physically they were separated, yet he felt
her take up residence in his hearts. For the first time in a long while he
prayed to the Gods for his safe return.

* * * * *

“Come in,” Lucian’s deep voice ordered from behind the door
before Bale lifted his hand to knock.

The general stood before his desk with his arms crossed in a
deceptively casual pose as he leaned against the dark wood.

Bale closed the door then stood at attention with shoulders
back and spine straight and waited. Nothing was said for several minutes as the
men eyed each other—the general clearly expecting answers to unasked questions,
and the solider not willing to incriminate himself.

Lucian arched a dark brow and tapped his long forefinger on
the newspaper laying on the desk by his hip. “Did you read the paper today?”

“No sir.”

“Here. Have a look.” He stepped to the side and gestured
with a grand sweep of his arm.

With one eye on Lucian, he crossed to the desk then glanced
down at the paper. In bold ink the headline screamed,
The Claymore Strikes
Again
. He did a double take as he saw the black-and-white photos of a
hooded man gripping a large sword. Although the face was concealed, Bale knew
it was him in the photo.

Even more damning, Lucian knew it as well. “What do you have
to say?”

He shrugged. “The Claymore? Isn’t that a long broadsword
used in medieval Scotland? That’s not what I use at all.”

“Bale—”

“I understand,” he interrupted as Lucian’s face turned red
and his chest rose as he gathered steam. “This is not good.”

“Oh, we’ve only begun to breach not good.” He turned the computer
monitor to face them. “This man was at the club this evening asking questions
about a sword-carrying vigilante.”

On the screen was footage captured from the club’s
surveillance cameras of a dark-haired man dressed rather plainly in a blazer
and jeans. By the set of his shoulders and the way his eyes constantly scanned
the area, Bale could tell he had some sort of military training.

“Who is he?”

“Police Captain Marco DeWinter. He’s been tasked with
apprehending, well, you. He’s also a former coworker of Brett’s from when she
was on the force. And DeWinter and his team were the men who helped retrieve
Fiona when she was kidnapped by that crime lord.”

“Meaning I can’t hurt him.”

“Meaning,” Lucian frowned and shook his head, “he’s met the
Chameleon. Meaning, he knows there is at least one person on this planet who
has extraordinary powers so it would be safe for him to assume there may be
more. Meaning he now suspects that one of our family members is, or knows who,
this Claymore is.”

“Then I will take extra care to not be discovered.”

“You still have a lot to learn about this world, Bale.”
Lucian sighed then sat behind his desk and furiously began to type on the
keyboard. “Now that you have a moniker, you have an official fan club. Postings
of your exploits are cropping up across all of the social media sites. Anyone
with a camera is a potential threat to exposing your identity and broadcasting
your face to the world. It’s not about being careful around DeWinter or the
police. You, as the Claymore, cannot be seen by anyone.”

“Why not? The Chameleon is seen all over Cedar.”

“Cedar is not the city, as you might have noticed. Most of
the citizens there want to protect the Chameleon, while here you may be a hero
one day and villain the next. And the Chameleon leaves police work to the
police. At times I think you like to rub their failures in their face.”

His spine straightened with indignation and he sputtered, “I
take no pride when they fail, for it means someone needlessly suffered.”

“Nonetheless, you have to do more than lie low.” He drew in
a deep breath through his nose and Bale felt as if the hammer were about to be
dropped. “I’m sorry, Bale. You have to stop fighting crime.”

Red filled his vision. He slapped his hands on the desk in a
burst of anger that cracked the legs and shouted, “Who are you to tell me what
I can and cannot do? You are not my superior.”