In Death I Live by Lindsay Becs

DOMONIC

I’m bookingit as fast as I can back outside after I get the notification. River is hot on my heels, yelling at me to tell him what’s going on, but he already knows. He just doesn’t want to admit it.

We fucked up.

Stopping when I reach Cruz, who’s yelling curses and punching a tree, I gently put a hand on his shoulder. Reacting to what we just learned, he spins to face me, ready to throw a fist. “Calm the fuck down,” I tell him sternly. “You aren’t good to her or anyone else when you’re like this.”

His chest is rising and falling rapidly as he stares at me. Then, he turns to the side and pukes. Well, this isn’t good.

“Did you see anything? Shadows or any of his guys? Did you see them take her?” I fire off questions when he stands back up after puking his guts out on the forest floor.

“She was with you. I was talking to a small group of people and didn’t think anything of it when I saw her with you.” His words hit me straight in the gut because I ran off and told her to go to him before I actually saw her reach him.

“Fuck!” I yell, pulling at my hair. “That was almost ten minutes ago.”

“They could still be here,” River speaks up. He’s not completely wrong, but the likelihood that they wouldn’t take the opportunity to leave once they had her is hard to believe.

“Anyone seen Greyson?” I ask, wondering where his drunk ass is.

When we realize no one has seen him for a while, I call his cell. It goes straight to voice mail and does the next three times I try. River and Cruz both try too, none of the calls being answered.

Almost like a sign from God himself, a gun is fired. All of our heads snap up in the direction it came from, and in the next second, we’re all running toward the sound.

Stopping short, out of sight of the fight going on, I hold up a hand for the boys to stop. My eyes scan over the scene, trying to make a quick plan to get our girl back.

Zora is being held back by Shadows while another guy pummels Greyson. Grey must have found them and shot at Shadows, who is dripping blood like a faucet from his thigh onto the forest floor.

Bet Grey’s sobered up now.

“Riv, try to sneak up on Shadows to get him away from Zora. Cruz, I want you to wait. I’m going to try to get the big fucker off of Grey. You help whoever needs the assist first, got it?” They both agree in grunts. “No heroes here. We get our girl, get these motherfuckers bound and call in Swan to let him deal with them.” I let out a quick breath. “Let’s do this.” We pound knuckles as I say, “On the other side, boys.”

Then, right as we all take a step to help Greyson and Zora, she spins out of Shadows’s hold, the rope that was bound around her wrists falling to the ground as she pins a dagger to his throat.

“Let him go!” she yells through seething anger, loud enough for us to make out her words.

“Kale!” Shadows snaps. “Ease up.” The big guy doesn’t listen as he keeps assaulting our friend.

Zora pulls another dagger from her leg and throws with precision, the blade sinking into the big guy’s shoulder. Shock takes over his face when he feels the stab to his flesh. He turns, ready to go after her, but when he sees that Zora has his leader by the throat, he stands with a grunt. His eyes never leave Zora’s. The way they are locked in a death glare doesn’t sit well with me. It’s obvious they know each other.

“You’re going to regret this,” the big guy, Kale, says to her before spitting in her face and pulling the blade from his shoulder. He tosses it at her feet in disgust. Our girl is tough though. She doesn’t even flinch as his saliva hits her face, lines of it sliding down her skin like slugs.

With her blade still at Shadows’s throat, she shoves him into his muscle guy, who’s still bleeding out. “Get the fuck out of here,” she says with venom. “It’s over. You lost.”

Not taking the gift she’s handing him, Shadows takes a step to get back in front of her. Lifting her hand with the blade pointing directly at his eye, she cocks her head to the side in challenge to him to move closer. Her fire and fight has my cock stirring in my jeans, watching her own them in this moment, stealing their victory and making it her own.

“I haven’t lost shit.” Chest heaving with adrenaline, they stand there in a stare-off. Cruz makes a move to go in to help her, but I stop him with a hand on his chest. I need to see how this plays out, and what she’s going to do and say next is key.

Greyson lets out a groan of pain from the ground—the first sign that the meathead didn’t beat him to death—and it’s enough to break them from their battle of wills.

“I own you, Zora. You will always belong to me, and you just handed Remi to me too.” A wicked smile breaks across his face. And that’s what has her flinching slightly. “You fucked up and picked the wrong side, glow worm.”

He turns to stomp off but winces when he remembers he was shot in the leg. Kale is on him, pulling him up to help him walk away before she can say or do anything else. Once their footfalls are out of earshot, we move to help them both.

Zora throws the knife in her hand, landing it in a tree as she screams out her frustration and falling to her knees. River and Cruz go straight to Grey to check out his injuries while I move slowly to comfort our girl.

River picks her up to carry her back to the cabin while I pick up Greyson. We all walk in somber silence, making our way through the forest, bypassing the crowd still partying around the dying fire.

Without words, I give River a look, telling him to take care of her while I tend to Greyson’s injuries. Cruz comes with me, not knowing how bad it is yet and if we’re going to need Doc.

After stripping him down to look him over, it’s clear he probably has a cracked rib or two and his face was beaten to a pulp, likely giving him a concussion. Cruz helps me clean him up before we wrap ice packs on his ribs and cover the cuts on his face in antibacterial ointment.

Handing him a couple of pain pills and a cup of water, he slowly swallows them down, his eyes not leaving mine. “Thanks.” Nodding at him, I take the cup back, setting it on the side table next to his bed. “I’m sorry I fucked up today,” he says after Cruz leaves to check on Zora and River.

“We aren’t doing this now,” I say flatly.

“You shouldn’t have needed to babysit me. Especially not today with everything at stake.”

I let out a frustrated breath. “You’re right. You fucked up. But you also probably saved her from being taken off the property before we got to them.” That’s the only saving grace he has that I didn’t finish the job that Kale started on him.

“I hate this place,” he says through gritted teeth.

Lying down next to him, I lace my fingers with his as I stare up at the ceiling. “I know you do.”

RIVER

She fellasleep in my arms almost an hour ago. Every few minutes, her body jerks or starts to tremble again, making it impossible to fall asleep myself when I know she’s reliving her nightmares over and over.

The bedroom door opens slightly, and Cruz tiptoes inside. “She asleep?”

“Almost as soon as she hit the bed after she showered.” Just then, she whimpers in her sleep. “She’s been battling in her sleep though,” I tell him as I hug her tighter into my body, willing her demons to leave her and let me take them for her instead.

Cruz runs a hand down his face. “I’m going to shower real quick.”

“Grey alright?” I ask as he strips out of his dirty clothes.

“He’ll be fine.” He says it harshly, and I know he’s pissed at Grey for not being clearheaded today as much as he’s pissed at himself for not seeing them take her.

He walks past the bed on his way to the bathroom. Gripping his wrist in my hand, I stop him. “She’s okay. She’s here.”

Looking over his shoulder at her sleeping form, I see his eyes start to shine with unshed tears. “But she almost wasn’t.”

Running my thumb over the inside of his wrist in an attempt to calm him, I say, “Let go of the guilt and anger. Shower and come to bed with us.”

Watching the turmoil inside him play out on his face for a long minute, he finally gives a slight nod. Once he shuts the door behind him, I turn back into Zora’s warm body snuggled up against my front.

It’s not more than a few minutes later that a knock sounds on the bedroom door. Cursing at whoever it is and praying it’s not Swan, I slide out of bed begrudgingly to open it. My brows rise to my hairline when I see Domonic there, looking almost as troubled as Cruz did moments ago.

“How is she?” he asks in a deep, low voice.

Pushing the door open wider so he can peer inside, his eyes find her sleeping in the middle of the large king-size bed. The sigh he lets out sounds like he just released enough tension to fuel a fight against Goliath himself.

“Go lie with her,” I tell him. He gives me a questioning look, but I just step aside to give him room to come into the bedroom. “I’m going to go check on Cruz. His emotions are all over the place tonight.”

A knowing look crosses his face as he squeezes my shoulder before making his way to the bed and sliding in behind Zora, taking the same position I just left with her. Once he’s settled, I step into the bathroom to find Cruz.

My heart sinks when I see him sitting in the middle of the shower with his knees pulled up to his chest, his head on top, shoulders shaking.

Stepping in, I sit behind him, pulling his back against my chest. A cry rings out around us in the echoing tiled shower. One of my arms bands around his waist, and the other holds his head to my chest, my lips pressing to his temple as I rock with him. “I got you,” I whisper to him.

After a few minutes, he turns his head to look back at me. “Please,” he begs, and I know what he wants. Needs.

Gripping his chin in my hand, I tip his head back more to take his mouth with mine. Kissing Cruz is like dying and being shocked back to life. He elicits something inside you when his lips and tongue tease and kiss with yours. It’s an out-of-body experience that only the lucky are privy to.

His arm reaches up, his fingers going into my hair to hold me closer to him. My hand on his stomach soon feels his growing erection, and I reach down to tug on him a few times until he’s hard and heavy in my hand.

“What do you need, baby?” I ask, wanting to give him what he needs to get past this day. He answers me with his eyes boring into mine while his other hand reaches back to cup my balls before sliding up my own thick cock.

On the floor of the shower, we pump each other slow and fast in tandem until the water starts to run cold. Reaching back, I turn off the water and stand, pulling him with me. Wrapping a towel around his shoulders, I push him to lean back against a wall and drop to my knees.

He runs his hands into my wet hair, making drops of water cascade down my body in a feeling of both hot and cold. My eyes stay on his as I suck one of his balls into my mouth and pump his cock with my fist, earning me a loud, cursed moan from him. With a grin, I lick my way from his balls up to the tip of his cock, tasting his pre-cum that’s already there.

His musky taste is my own personal aphrodisiac, and my eyes roll back in my head when I wrap my lips around him and grip my own hard cock to stave off my impending release.

I let him fuck my mouth and throat, and when he lets up, I suck on the fat head of his dick until he’s cursing again and filling my mouth with his release. Pulling off of him, I stand, and he kneels as I bend to spit his cum from my mouth down onto my cock in his face.

Like a starved man, he licks it up as he blows me quick and fast. It’s dirty and messy and everything we are together. It takes all but mere minutes before I lose it. My head falls back, and I grunt his name as he keeps sucking me through my orgasm. He’s careful to lick every ounce of our pleasure from my body as I come down.

He presses a soft kiss to my thigh before leaning his head there. “Thank you.”

Running my hand through his hair this time, I grin down at him. “I thought I told you to stop thanking me for helping you nut.”

He chuckles softly, looking up at me, still on his knees. “I’d be lost without you, Riv.”

“Likewise, asshole.” I wink. “Let’s get some sleep.” Then I pause. “If Dom hasn’t fallen asleep in our bed, that is,” I add.

“The fuck?” he asks as he stands and pulls on a pair of boxers he brought in with him.

“He came to check on her. I told him to lie with her while I checked on you.” I shrug and reach for my toothbrush.

Pulling open the door, two sets of eyes find ours, and I feel heat fill my cheeks. “Busted,” Cruz says, making Zora and Domonic snicker.

“Not like you two were quiet,” she says. “You could wake the dead and turn them on with the sounds you make together.”

“Like that, did you, baby girl?” Cruz asks in a light tone as he climbs into bed and kisses her.

“I’ll let you all get some sleep,” Dom says, moving to leave.

“Stay,” I tell him. He lifts a brow at me, making me roll my eyes. “The bed is huge. We can all stay in here together tonight. I think it’s safe to say we all want to be where angel is. Stay,” I say again.

He slides over to make more room for all of us to fit. Zora is at his front with Cruz on the other side of her and me behind Cruz. We’re all silent for a while, but it’s obvious we’re still awake.

“Is Greyson going to be okay?” Zora asks before adding, “He saved me tonight.”

“Yeah,” Cruz tells her. “He’s going to be fine.”

“He’ll have a hell of a headache in the morning, but he’s pretty hardheaded. If anything, the other guy broke his hand on his hard head. It takes a lot to take that fucker out,” Dom attempts to joke in a very un-Domonic way.

Zora chuckles softly, but it soon dies out when she says, “Kale fucking deserves that and a whole lot more.”

We all somehow get closer together, holding each other in any way we can in a web of tangled limbs. Eventually, we all miraculously fall asleep.