TWENTY-ONE
When they got back to Temple, the crowd was no less subdued than it had been before. Sebastian immediately went off in search of Russell while Aspen went to find Rogan and Psyche, who were still trying to get the Lead Arrows to safety. Sebastian knocked on Russell’s door. Checking to verify he wasn’t there, Sebastian walked back down to the second floor, which is where all of the combat rooms were. It didn’t take much searching for him to find Russell, who was engaged in a spar with Glen.
Sebastian smiled as he entered the room. Russell and Glen were faced off in the middle of the floor, circling each other in concentration. There was no sound for several seconds as they weighed each other. Then Russell sprang forward, catching Glen with a strong left hook. Barely a second later, Russell’s foot swept under Glen’s throwing him to his back. Russell knelt over Glen, pressing a knife at his throat that seemed to materialize from nowhere.
Sebastian shook his head. “I keep running into you two like this.”
Russell glanced up and grinned. Glen made use of the distraction by sweeping his hand up, disabling Russell’s knife hand and rolling him over to switch positions. Glen now had the advantage and the knife. Glen grinned. Russell grunted. “Good.”
Sebastian walked to Glen. “You’re pretty strong for a mortal.”
Glen shrugged and got up, handing the knife back to Russell. He was breathing hard and a slick sheen of sweat glistened on his face. “I lived on the street for most of my life. Unfortunately, for many years my competition was bigger than me.”
“At least you’ve found a good place to channel your negative energy.”
Glen glanced at him in surprise. “How did you know?”
“That you feel like crap? You look terrible.”
Glen shook his head. “I can’t explain it. Everything seems so…dark.”
“Well, if Russell would stop playing around, we could get to work on it.” Sebastian reached into his jacket pocket and produced the hard drive and papers. “Someone trashed the apartment, including my computer.”
Russell stopped cleaning up the combat room to look at Sebastian. “When?”
“It looks like when you and I went to Seattle.”
“It was someone that knew you’d be gone.”
Sebastian nodded. “It looks that way. No forced entry other than to disable the security system. And they flew in. Third floor window was open.”
Glen glanced between the two men. “What does that mean?”
Russell exchanged a look with Sebastian before turning to Glen. “It means it’s an inside job.”
Glen whistled through his teeth. “Shit.”
Russell nodded. “You said it.” He turned to Sebastian. “Did you tell Mom yet?”
Sebastian shook his head. “No. I came straight to you to give you this so we can start getting the mortals back on the right page.”
Russell nodded. “And the passwords …? Oh, you wrote them here. Yeah, I should be able to do this. I’ll run by and tell mom too, before I start. She’ll be happy to know we can make some progress, though she’ll be pretty upset about the other business.”
All of them turned as Aspen entered the room. “Sebastian, we didn’t come back with that a moment too soon. Rogan told me there was just a school shooting in Lincoln Park.”
Sebastian turned to Russell. “The sooner the better.”
“I’ll see what I can get off of this.”
“Keep it secret,” Sebastian said. “We don’t know who we can trust outside of this room.”
Russell nodded as he left. Glen turned to leave. “I’m going to go find Alex.”
“Is she feeling better?” Sebastian asked.
“I think so. She said she was going to lay down for a nap.”
He left the room as Sebastian turned to Aspen. “What else did Rogan have to say?”
“Not much. He’s very distracted by the state of the Temples. I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“About what?”
“If the attack on your apartment happened while we were out, then Mars and Rogan are innocent. They were still in captivity at that time.”
Sebastian nodded. “I already knew Mars was innocent, seeing as how he’s just been kidnapped. It’s nice to eliminate Rogan from the list though. What about Elaine and Stephan?”
Aspen shook her head. “They were here, having a meeting with Psyche. They didn’t leave the Temple again until today.”
Sebastian sighed. “I hate to admit it could be one of the Golden Arrows.”
“I understand, but I don’t think it’s safe to trust anyone.”
“True enough. We know Russell is innocent, as he was with me. And Alex was dead. Sort of.”
“And Glen was with Alex.”
Sebastian sighed. “There are hundreds of Arrows, Lead and Gold. We can’t do it by process of elimination. We’re going to have to find Mars or Auster. Then we’ll find who is responsible.”
Aspen approached Sebastian, considering. “Do you think we can find him?”
Sebastian looked down at Aspen, who was suddenly much closer than he realized. He could see the depths of her gray eyes. His gut tightened, deliciously. It took a moment before he realized she was still waiting for an answer to her question. “Yeah…I mean, I don’t know.”
Aspen smiled and cocked her head to one side, completely aware of where his mind had gone. Ever since what had passed between them back at his apartment, she couldn’t get him out of her head. She could tell by looking at him now, he had been thinking of her too. She decided Sebastian was pretty cute when he was flustered. She touched his chest through his black t-shirt on the pretense of removing lint before softly dragging her fingernails across the fabric. She peeked up at Sebastian through her eyelashes and was pleased to see his jaw was clenched.
Sebastian was sure if she continued to touch him, he was going to explode. It was both a relief and a disappointment when she started backing slowly away, toward the door. He had a moment to feel really let down right before Aspen reached behind her back and engaged the lock on the door. Then something sizzled in his brain that made all logic impossible. Aspen smiled slowly and approached him, looking entirely too confident. He was a little irritated she looked so self-possessed while his system was going haywire, but damn! She was gorgeous, and she knew it.
Saying nothing, Aspen approached Sebastian, who was still on the training mat. She lifted herself up on her toes very slowly, licking her lips with her eyes on his. Sebastian saw the flare of confidence in her eyes. She was way too cocky about this. Just as she was only a breath away from touching his lips with hers, Sebastian shocked her by kicking her feet out from under her. She went down on her back on the mat, shock crossing over her face momentarily before delight set in. Sebastian’s body fell on top of her as she landed. He fisted her hair in his hand, pinning her head back. She gasped in a breath to recover from the fall before Sebastian reached down with his free hand and unceremoniously ripped open her suit jacket. Black buttons flew across the floor as her white shirt was exposed, minus one button. Sebastian grinned, saucily. “Oh, I remember that now. Was that only this morning?”
Aspen chuckled, looking into Sebastian’s eyes from her position on the floor. His leg was in between hers, positioning his body over hers on the mat. His eyes traveled down her torso, hesitating at the place where her white button up shirt was working itself free of her waistband. His hesitation was all she needed.
Aspen thrust her elbow into the crook of Sebastian’s arm, making him fall as she hooked her leg around his knee. Using his momentum, she thrust her weight against his, she rolled him and positioned herself on his chest, pinning him beneath her. Sebastian’s head bounced off of the mat while his body responded violently to the weight of her on his chest. He wanted to reach, touch, tear, conquer, but her legs pinned his arms to his sides. Had she been a normal woman, he would have been able to toss her off to get the upper hand. Aspen, however, was as muscled as he. Her legs held his arms expertly, leaving her hands free to brush over his face. She slipped her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, her fingers plunging into the curly masses, which were fanned across the mat. She lowered her face until it was buried in his long tresses. She turned her face slowly until her nose was pressed against the back of his neck. Inhaling, she sighed.
Sebastian’s heart rate skyrocketed at the purring sounds coming from Aspen. He felt her tongue marking a trail that started at the hairline on his neck and went down to his Adam’s apple. When her teeth pressed in the meaty part of his neck muscles, his body tightened visibly. He felt his groin harden and strain against his pants. Fire shot through his body as he struggled to get free. If he didn’t have his hands on her, he was going to go mad.
Aspen, however, only tightened her grip on his arms with her legs. She pulled back from his neck, her full, plump lips curving into a smile as she looked at him, chuckling. She lowered her lashes to look at his mouth. In spite of herself, her throat dried up. Jupiter, was there ever a more perfect mouth on a man? His face was rough with the need to shave, but his mouth looked as soft as a dream. She lowered her mouth and raised her eyes to Sebastian’s as she closed her lips on his.
Sebastian couldn’t help it. The moment her lips landed on his, it was like fire through his body. He was gasoline. She just lit the match. The ferocity of his response caught her off guard. His lips clamped on to hers, his tongue shooting into her mouth to claim, plunder, take. Aspen groaned deeply, and her legs relaxed enough for Sebastian’s arms to yank her compact, hard body to his chest. He thrusted one hand into her hair to pull her mouth chastely against his own. His tongue darted against hers, licking her greedily.
Aspen’s stomach jittered and lightning coursed through her body, sending a shocking jolt of excitement between her legs. Sebastian rolled, pulling her arms above her head to stretch her out beneath him. She arched greedily as he rubbed his aching groin against hers. He groaned deeply. She responded by wrapping her legs around his waist and pressing herself against him. Sebastian reached down and ripped her shirt open, revealing a lacy white bra underneath. He barely saw it as he yanked the scrap of fabric down to lick her breast, nibbling her flesh.
Aspen suddenly felt caged in, and she moaned as she ripped the remainder of the shirt and bra from her body. She cried out as Sebastian clenched one hand in her hair while running his other hand over her crotch, rubbing against her. Her hands flew to his shirt, tearing it from his skin. She could feel her nails scratch over his back, but neither of them could care less. The heat between them was blocking out the whole world, and neither one of them could see anything but each other. When Sebastian licked his way from Aspen’s breast to her neck, she growled and slithered down under him until she could reach his pants. She clawed them from his hips, and he sprang out of them, hot and pulsing. She moaned deeply as she lapped him up. Sebastian rolled to his side, blind with lust, as she continued to take him all in her mouth. Wet and hot, she slurped him in as he groaned and clutched his hands into her hair. Her hands massaged his thighs, and Sebastian pulled her up to him, kicking off his remaining clothing before hurling himself into removing her pants. He licked as soon as he could reach her, causing Aspen to cry out and arch against him. She was deliciously hot and wet and sweet. Yanking her clothing off, he sank his fingers into her as she clawed at the mat on the floor.
He simply couldn’t take it anymore. Climbing over her, he licked and lapped his way to her mouth, where they drank greedily of each other. Aspen looked into his eyes, which were clouded with passion, begging. “Please, please, please…”
Sebastian wrapped his arms around Aspen as he thrust himself into her in total abandon. The cry of satisfaction that rang out came from both of them. They kissed wildly, holding each other as they rocked. Sebastian never remembered feeling so fulfilled and energized in his life. Every movement was like Zen. Aspen’s hands massaged his back as Sebastian arched into her, watching as her eyes glazed and her breath hitched. She was, without question, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Racing to the end, they took until they were spent, sighing contently in each other’s arms in the light of the setting sun. They fell asleep, intertwined on the mat, oblivious to everything in the world but each other.