Blood from Stone, chapter 20

Chapter 20

12.17.2021-12.19.2021

Fireworks. Lightning. Endless waves crashing against the midnight shore. Liliana was no stranger to getting off with a partner. But this… This flood of sensation that coursed through her entire body and obliterated all rational thought was something else entirely. Her literal scream of pleasure made the lights flicker, the gush of fluids as she came soaking Aubrey’s hand clear up to the wrist. Her entire body trembled, a whimper tearing from her lips as he gently withdrew his fingers from her dripping core.

His lips and tongue still pulled at the wound he’d created on her thigh, each draw feeling like it had a direct connection to her clit, the pulsating sensation almost too much for her to bear. He dragged the flat of his tongue across the twin punctures, she felt a mild tingling sensation that almost itched, and the wounds closed.

Relearning how to breathe, Liliana gazed at Aubrey in a combination of wonderment and confusion. “Did you just..?”

“Heal the wounds? Sort of.” He dragged her drenched black panties down her legs and tossed them to the floor with a satisfying squelch. He pinched her still swollen clit, lightly rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. “Our venom lulls the victim, and our saliva heals the wounds so they don’t keel over, then we can carry on without a trace.”

Liliana’s body felt heavy, hot. Her limbs felt sluggish, like her movement was impeded by water. Everything slowed, but somehow hyper focused at the same time. “No wonder people throw themselves at you all, when we’re out in public.” She murmured with a chuckle, her eyelids suddenly seeming to weigh a hundred pounds.

She heard him moving and the mattress next to her sank slightly, and he pulled her into his arms, pressing the now totally bare length of his body to the back of hers. He undid the clasps on her bra, slowly sliding the straps off her shoulders, his lips following its path with slow, sensual kisses. The bra became the final clothing casualty, getting lost somewhere when he flung it off the bed without bothering to look away from her.

He couldn’t have looked away from her if he tried. The way her pulse jumped in her throat, the way her long dark hair pooled behind her in such contrast to her olive skin. Her forehead scrunched up as he dragged his fingertips down her side to rest his hand on the curve of her hip. She squirmed under his caresses, pressing her ass back against the still hard curve of his cock.

Aubrey’s chuckle against her ear made her wild heartbeat stutter and race, a soft cry of longing his reward. “You’re tired, Lily.” He wasn’t asking.

“I am,” she murmured, reaching back and grabbing a handful of his firm ass and pressing him against her with so much pressure that air hissed between his teeth. “That just means I won’t be up to spar with you afterwards. I think I beat you up enough for tonight, anyway.”

His fingertips dug into her hip, and he pinched the skin on the back of her neck between his teeth. “There she is,” he said with a laugh. “There’s my bratty girl.” He lifted her leg just enough to slip his cock between her thighs, the velvet soft skin teasingly sliding against her slick nether lips.

Lily cursed softly, her breath hitching as the roll of his hips stroked the head of his cock against her already throbbing clit. His face was buried in her neck, taking advantage of his position behind her. Aubrey’s arm snaked around her, pinning her body against his as she writhed, not letting her wiggle away. Hard, relentless kisses wrung desperate cries from Liliana, her skin purpling from the pressure as he sucked at her skin.

“Not--!”

Aubrey hushed her and slid two wet fingers between her lips. “Not fair?” he said softly against her ear, sounding almost sympathetic. “Oh, Liliana… You don’t live to be this old by fighting fair.”

She licked and sucked at his fingers, wishing she had something more to fill her mouth with. “Don’t worry, Lily. There’ll be time to make use of that sassy mouth of yours later.” He drew his hips back, angling them to finally bury the tip of his thick cock inside of her. And only the tip.

She whined in protest and Aubrey let out an affected sigh. “So impatient,” he tutted. His words in her ear made her shudder, the dark tone dripping with indecent promises. “Who am I to deny a woman what she truly desires?”

He drove his hips forward, burying himself inside of her to the hilt at the same time he sank his fangs into the meat of her shoulder. Liliana reached behind her and gripped a fistful of his hair, her entire body arching like she’d been electrocuted as his venom overtook her senses. Her walls clamped down on him like a vice, the climax crashing through her like waves of flame, razing everything in their wake save sensation.

His scorching wet lips and tongue drinking from her, the purr of satisfaction that rumbled against her skin as she inadvertently squeezed the hell out of his dick; his hand sliding down to wrap around her throat and pressing in just the right places, his fingertips pressing into the flesh of her thigh as he began to thrust inside of her. They could have been the only two people left in the Universe with how firmly he had her cemented in this very moment.

Nothing else mattered. Not her genetic origins, not the way she felt she was gradually falling for each of the Winterbournes in their own ways, not the fact that she was covered in more of his blood than she’d been in anyone’s in her entire life.

There was only her and Aubrey, and the places their bodies came together. The steady hammering of his heartbeat against her back, the warmth of his skin, the slow drag of his tongue moving up her neck, having had his fill of her blood. It tore a gasp from her lips when he rolled her over onto her stomach, strong and sure fingers gripping her hips and pulling her to her knees.

She tried to raise herself up on her elbows, but the heavy feeling of his hand splayed on her lower back pressed her down lower, exaggerating the curve of her spine. She turned her head to the side, her breathing erratic, eyelashes resting against her cheeks. There was a visible tremor in her thighs and Aubrey couldn’t resist a smirk as he caressed them with his big palms, the pressure somehow both soothing and invigorating.

Liliana licked her lips, trying to wet them enough to speak. It took her a few tries, her efforts further diminished by the agonizingly slow, wet drag of Aubrey moving the tip of his cock up and down the soaked length of her core. She finally managed to rasp out, “Don’t forget what you said about covering me with things…”

He closed his eyes with a deep, throaty groan that made her clench vainly on the aching emptiness inside of her. He eased back into her with unbearable slowness, gripping her hips tightly to keep her from swallowing his length quicker than he wanted her to. Seated fully inside of her, feeling bigger from this angle, he leaned forward, gripping a fistful of her hair and pulling her totally upright before him with it.

His lips caressed the shell of her ear, his fingertips trailing down the center of her chest and taut abdomen, gliding easily over olive skin that glistened with sweat. Fingers traveling further south, he pinched her sensitive clit as he drove upward into her tight little hole. His hips rolling in almost exactly the same way they had when they danced at the gala nearly caused her brain to short circuit, so she nearly missed his half-growled question. “Is that what you want, Lily? You don’t want me to feed this hungry little pussy?” Aubrey’s breath in her ear sounded shaky, like he was close to losing his tightly held control. “You want me to paint you as white as I painted you red, earlier?”

“Fuck…” Liliana moaned, her breath coming in desperate pants. “Please!”

He tugged her ear between his teeth, his heavy inhalation not lost on her. “You have such good manners when I’ve fucked all the rebellion out of this lewd fucking body of yours, Lily.”

He shoved her back to all fours, the hard crack of his hand coming down on her ass filling the air, a tingling heat radiating from where he struck her. She buried her fists in the blankets, knuckles turning white as he rode her hard, the string of noises bubbling from her lips involuntary.

“Uh-uh,” he ground out in between his own rumbling sounds of ecstasy. “Get that hand between your legs and rub that greedy clit for me. You’ve got one more before I get mine.” She complied without question, her fingers gliding easily through her own wetness as she rolled the pads of her fingertips against her most sensitive spot in the patterns that sent her over the edge the quickest. She may not have been able to speak, but she had every intention of dragging Aubrey screaming into the abyss of pleasure with her. His calm control be damned.

He watched her carefully, mercilessly pounding into her from behind, the wet sound of their flesh slapping together almost making him lose his composure. Her cheeks flushed, the tips of her ears reddened, and Liliana came with a cacophony of cries loud enough that she could have woken the dead. She practically strangled his cock with the force of her orgasm and he pulled out quickly, only needing to pump his fist up and down the slick skin a few times before he was spilling his seed all over her. Hot, ropy tendrils of white shot forth, striking her ass, back, and thighs while he fervently moaned her name like a prayer in between muttered curses.

Totally spent, Lily’s knees gave out and she sank into the utterly soaked comforter, chest heaving and lips dry as she fought to bring her heartbeat down from near cardiac arrest levels. Aubrey flopped down beside her, his hand resting on the small of her back as he pulled her close and peppered her face and neck with kisses.

“Your hand’s gonna—”

“Get all sticky? If you think I’m worried about that, at this point, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention.” He chuckled softly against her throat, sliding his palm up and down in the mess on her back to compound his point. “If you don’t need a cleaning crew with hazmat suits afterwards, are you really living?”

She cleared her throat, laughing softly. “Apparently not, until now.”

Aubrey rested his forehead against hers with a small smile. “Welcome to the dark side, Liliana. We have cookies.” She huffed, raising a hand to weakly slap his shoulder. He gave her a sudden deep, languorous kiss that set her heart racing. “I’ll go draw us a bath.” She nodded lightly, letting her eyelids shut as he climbed from the bed, giving her ass a congratulatory pat as he left.

The sound of water running was like music to her ears, but her muscles were so spent that she couldn’t even find the strength to raise herself up with her arms and roll onto her side. “Fuck it,” she mumbled to herself.

A few minutes later, Aubrey came back to collect her, unable to resist a tender smile as he saw that she’d already fallen asleep. He clicked his tongue softly, going and scooping her up in his arms and taking her into the bathroom. He stepped into the water, steam rolling off the surface as it parted for him. He gently roused her with insistent kisses, not wanting to startle her from her restful nap at the sudden feeling of being partly submerged in hot water.

She looked at him from under heavy lids, grey eyes barely visible under thick dark lashes. He carefully knelt down into the deep tub, moving so that her back rested fully against him. He wrapped an arm around her chest to keep her from falling forward or slipping under the water.

“Mm… I can swim, you know.”

Aubrey snorted. “You wouldn’t even be able to stand right now, much less swim. Stow your independent woman who don’t need no man nonsense and let me take care of you, Liliana.”

She cackled at his harsh words. “So much for fucking the rebellion right out of me, eh?”

His other hand disappeared beneath the water, and she felt a soft washcloth gently stroking over her aching sex. “If you’ve got the energy to be this sarcastic, I can take you again until you’re drooling and don’t remember your own name. I’m not above making a woman cry because she doesn’t think she can get off anymore, then proving her wrong.”

Lily winced. “Point taken.”

“Lean up a bit, so I can get your back cleaned off.” She did as best she could, the soft pine scent of the soap almost as soothing as the warm water. She opened her eyes, jumping at the sight of the water around them turned completely red.

Aubrey laughed a little, the stroke of his fingers down the backs of her arms giving her goosebumps. “Yeah… We’re gonna have to hop in the shower to rinse off. But for now, we’re cleaner than we were. Lean back and just relax with me for a few minutes, okay?” His voice was gentle, softer than she’d ever heard it.

She nodded, letting the tension leave her body as she rested against him, her head nestled into his shoulder and the curve of his neck. They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, his deep, steady breaths almost lulling her back to sleep. His arms and the water so warm around her…

A stray thought spiked through her brain like an ice pick, and her eyes darted open. “Aubrey?”

“Hmm?” His head was tilted back slightly, resting against the edge of the tub, his eyes shut.

“How did you know?”

“Know what, Lily?” His words were a soft rumble against her, and he reminded her of a tired lion in that moment.

“How did you know that biting me wouldn’t hurt me, this time?”

Blue eyes looked down into hers from inches away, the depth of unspoken emotion in them deep enough to drown in. “I honestly didn’t, although I had my suspicions. I’m all for pushing limits, as long as you give me the green light.”

Liliana frowned. “You had your suspicions?”

Aubrey gave her a soft smile, pressing a gentle kiss to the creased skin of her forehead. “You and I, prior to tonight, have gotten closer over the past few months, wouldn’t you say?” She nodded, her endorphin flooded brain not following where he was trying to lead her. “You even had a stray thought about it earlier. How you were falling for all of us, although in different ways and for different reasons.”

Her cheeks burned and her eyes cast downward, unable to find words to respond properly. He lifted her chin with firm fingertips, urging her to look up at him. “You not only accepted me, Lily. You love me. You may not have been able to put it into words in your brain yet, but you can feel it. Even before my venom overloaded your brain with happy chemicals, you could feel it.” He set his hand over her heart, and her pulse sped at his touch.

Her lower lip trembled and she squeezed her eyes shut, refusing the let the hot tears she felt behind her eyelids fall. “How is that possible, Aubrey? Isn’t it wrong to love more than one person? Isn’t it cheating?” Her voice cracked and she swallowed hard. “How can I not only be falling in love with all seven of you, but you actually all seem to be alright with it?”

Aubrey’s features softened and he brushed a strand of dark hair back from her face. “Liliana… if you had three children, would you love one of them more than the others, or would you have room in your heart to love them all equally?”

“I’d love them all the same. You don’t run out of love for your children, unless you’re a shitty parent.”

“Then why…” he posed quietly, “do people think that you can’t love more than one person romantically? Some people are only capable of loving one partner at once. And others have so much love to give, they can dish out more. I honestly think you’re the latter.” She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as she thought better of it.

He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly, the pads of his thumbs wiping away the tears that finally fell from her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with being polyamorous, Liliana. You love who you love, and no amount of monogamy programming will beat that out of you. As long as everybody goes into it knowing what’s happening, it’s not cheating. We’re all big boys. We can handle ourselves.”

Liliana sniffled lightly, exhaling heavily. “Every time I think I have it all figured out, life throws me the weirdest damned curveball.”

Aubrey kissed her again, his arms tightening around her. “You’re overthinking it, Lily. If you think my brothers and I didn’t already sit down and talk about our potential relationships with you, you’re mistaken.”

She scoffed. “And you’re telling me none of you are jealous, or possessive?”

Aubrey shrugged. “Possessive? No. You’re your own person. You’re not a pet or a piece of furniture. None of us own you. Jealous? In varying degrees, yes. But we deal with it like adults, not like teenagers in a soap opera.”

Lily shook her head. “With age comes wisdom, I suppose.”

“Damned straight. Respect your elders, young lady.”

Liliana chuckled. “Does this count as an age-gap romance, then?”

They both broke into fits of giggles, Aubrey leaning in and brushing his lips against hers. “Don’t get too cheeky, you little shit.”

She smirked, kissing him hard and trying to ignore the heavy sensation of aches beginning to make themselves known in her body. “Help me into the shower, old man. I honestly don’t think I can walk that far without something to lean on.”

He dragged the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, his gaze tracing its path. He stood, offering her a hand up. “You sure you don’t just want me to carry you?”

She got to her feet, trying to hide her wince as her weight settled on her legs. She wiggled her toes, rocking back on her heels to stretch out her calves. “Don’t get me wrong, I love feeling small like when you pick me up, but the less I move around, the stiffer I’m going to get.”

“Fair enough,” he said, holding his arm out for her to brace against, taking careful steps she could keep up with. She clung to his arm, forcing herself to walk and shake out the tension that tried to grab onto her muscles.

She listened to the tub draining for a moment before he turned on the shower, and she wondered how much of a pain in the ass it would be to clean in the morning. Under the spray of the shower, she let the worries flow down the drain with the remnants of their impassioned evening that still clung to her skin. Soapy washcloth in hand, she turned to face Aubrey, looking him over from head to toe appreciatively.

She took a moment to soak in the sight of him totally bare, glistening under the spray of water, monochrome tattoos and his untouched brand new skin standing out in stark contrast to each other. She wiggled her fingers at him, and he offered her the arm she’d flayed without hesitation. Lily gently rubbed the washcloth over his hypersensitive skin, almost unable to believe it had actually happened.

“You can talk about taking care of me all you want, but I’m the one who actually hurt you. All you did was make me cum until I felt my IQ drop.”

With a purely masculine chuckle, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in against the solidly muscled front of his body. “So… round two?” Lily’s eyes became as big as saucers, and he kissed her forehead with a laugh so pure it rang through the air like a bell. “I’m kidding, Lily. That was a look of genuine fear in your eyes, for a second.”

She thumped her forehead against his chest. “Asshole,” she muttered playfully.

“And besides,” he gently held her back at arm’s length, looking down into her eyes. “I may have been the one who experienced the physical pain, but you’ve never done something as extreme as the blood play before we even got into it, have you?” She swallowed hard, shaking her head. “Things like that can linger, no matter how into it you were in the moment. If anything ever feels off, or wrong, or you just straight up decide you’re not into it anymore… I don’t care if we’re right in the middle of something. You always have the agency to say no. Okay? Promise me you won’t be afraid to let me know. Just because I can read your mind doesn’t mean I want to be digging around in there all the time, when a simple word from you will get the message across.”

She nodded, his serious tone sobering and reassuring. “Thank you, Aubrey. I promise.”

He shut the water off and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “Good. Because I fucking love you, Liliana. I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you, or overstepped your boundaries.”

He handed her a fluffy grey towel and they both dried off, her heart feeling light and butterflies in her stomach from his confession. She wrapped the towel around her body, tucking the end in between her breasts. “You wanna come crash in my room? It’d be silly to lay back down in here after we just got clean.”

Aubrey smirked, tying the towel around his waist. “I’ve got no problem going to your room, but you might want to go inspect the carnage here before you make that decision.”

She tilted her head slightly, opening the bathroom door and staring in wonderment at the pristine vision before her. Any evidence of the livestream was gone. Everything in the room was spotless and back in its place. There was even a clean set of pajamas from her room stacked in a neat pile on the end of the bed.

“What fucking sorcery is this?!”

Aubrey snickered. “Not sorcery, hun. Just money doing what money does.”

She swallowed hard, cheeks burning with embarrassment. “I hope you give the servants here one hell of a holiday bonus…”

He smirked. “They’re compensated extremely well for everything they put up with.” He settled his hand on the small of her back. “Did you still want to head to your room? I’m fine with that, if you’d be more comfortable there.”

Liliana nodded. “I haven’t woken up in my own bed in a while. It’d be a nice change.”

“Sure. We’ll get changed and head down that way.”

A few minutes later, they’d travelled down to her room. She grabbed a bottle of water for both of them, finishing hers off in several long swallows. After practically inhaling a protein bar and chugging half of another bottle of water, Lily popped in the bathroom to brush her teeth before crawling into bed next to Aubrey.

She was surprised to see he was on the side of the bed she didn’t normally sleep on. “How did you know which side was mine?”

“Aside from the fact that your scent is way stronger on one side? This side of the bed looks like it hasn’t been touched the entire time you’ve been here. And your charger is over there, so…” he finished with a shrug.

“Makes sense. Excellent deduction, Watson.” She snuggled against his bare chest, letting out a surprised squeak when his arm tightened around her and gave her a squeeze.

“Please. Do I look like sidekick material to you?”

Liliana laughed, wrapping her leg around his and reaching behind her to hit the light. “You’ve definitely got main character energy with all those tattoos, old man.”

“Fuckin’ right, I do. Now get some sleep, whippersnapper.”

“Yeah, yeah…” She covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. “Sweet dreams, Aubrey.”

“Sweet dreams, Lily.” As she drifted off to the sound of Aubrey’s strong heartbeat, her own heart had never felt so full.