Steaming Desire - Melissa Young

Chapter fourteen - Kiara

Unable to believe what my eyes showed me when I turned to the beautiful man and found him bloody, I ran to get supplies. His mouth was opened and angled in a position that looked all other than comfortable. I was well aware of who had done the damage, but I didn’t have time to yell at Knox before I had to help the man. Knox could wait.
   I ran back into the long room with a huge temper that clawed at my patience every second. In my hand I clutched a damp cloth, my other hand, in all conviction, rolled into itself. The thin layer of water on my hands itched my skin.
   Stomping along the hallway until I was met with another new sight. I groaned when my eyes focused on the man on the floor, Hunter of course, the new one couldn't have done enough to piss Knox off yet.
   Hunter’s arms were extended behind him, holding his upper body from falling backward, it would have been a relaxed position if it hadn’t been for the expression on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed low over his eyes and the usual calm aura over him was long but gone, suppressed to his anger. Knox stood over him with his legs spread wide in a powerful stance.
   I rolled my eyes, the masculine energy bouncing all the way to the deck. A new shock dawned on me when I became aware of the subject of Knox’s laser gaze. He and the newcomer seemed to be in a staring fight of life or death by the looks of it. I guess I was wrong, a human being could piss Knox off in a few minutes, that had to be some kind of record.
   "I can smell the testosterone from here, get off each other's backs for a second, would you?" Both men groaned, but didn’t stop their stupid little competition. I sighed and dropped the cloth to the floor while I stalked over to the cell. My cold fingers gripped the small piece of rope that had been tied around the new man’s hands.
   Quick to get back inside the cell with the rope stretched between my hands and shoes scraping against the floor when I launched forward. Tackling Knox from behind, my weight hit his unsuspecting frame, and he fell forward. I placed my legs on each side of his lower back and proceeded to bend his arms to my liking. He groaned when he realized what had happened.
   "What the hell are you doing, Kiara?" The sound was muffled by his turned neck. I ignored his question, along with his halfhearted attempts to get away from me. Binding his hands over his lower back and didn't stop until there was no way he could twist himself from them. "Let me go." I rolled my eyes and pressed an open palm between his shoulder blades. He groaned again and squirmed to get away from my touch. His back flexed, the big muscles moving with beautiful power under my palm.
   "Just shut up, Knox." I would have expected more of a fight from him, but was met with a pleasant surprise when it wasn’t difficult to get him on the floor.
   I got him over to a corner after a lot of struggling on my end. Neither Hunter nor the man made a move to help me, but it wasn’t until I turned back around from Knox that I understood why.
   The white haired man that I had already learned to like stood with his arms crossed over his chest and with a hard stare trained on me, an immediate understanding heated through my body at his stance and I knew that he didn't agree with my actions.
   I sighed a slow breath and instead turned my attention to the man on the bed, whose eyes were pried open to the absolute max. His jaw was on the floor, those gorgeous hands rolled around the edge of the uncomfortable bed he sat on. Looking like he wanted to help me, wanted to fight me and wanted to fuck me, all along with the hilarious shock written on his beautiful face.
   I stood up on stable legs, my palms brushing dust from my pants while also straightening out the small crevices in the fabric. I realized that I grew annoyed with Knox's sounds when he released another set of grunts followed by a stream of curses.
   "So great that I am the only one tied up, why aren’t you tying him up?" Knox's voice flared through the cell in sharp spikes when he saw that I wasn't making a lounge for anybody else in the room.
    "Because," I began my rant by turning my head to look at him over my shoulder, not bothering to turn around, "he has had a long enough day without being tied up a second time, you looked like the obvious problem." I shrugged my shoulders and took a step forward, ready to get on with the next task at hand, the busted man. But before I could help my patient, another soft whisper emerged into the air.
   "I am not the fucking problem." I shouldn’t enjoy his voice as much as I did, but I couldn’t help the way my nerves became numb when he spoke. I swallowed and contemplated my response to the hot man with the big mouth. Fuck it. The words took over my mind when I decided to be an asshole with good intentions and turned back to Knox.
   His face was a tight mask of anger masked with cocky , and smugness. I was shocked to find out that I could see right through it. But I could also see how it would be effective, I was just the wrong person to release it on.
   "If you utter another word, so help me, Knox, I am going to shatter every tooth in that pretty mouth of yours." His breath hitched, and he rolled his shoulders back as if he prepared for the inevitable fight.
   I felt three pairs of eyes on me. The most noticeable was of course attached to the man in front of me, beautiful brown eyes drooled over every dip in my body while still holding an intense stare. His lips drew into a long grin with teeth before he parted them. I remembered how those plump lips had felt on my mouth and felt a sting of desire to have them back there. Lifting one eyebrow at him, I challenged his next move.
   "If you are about to speak, I suggest you choose your words very carefully," I threatened him. He swallowed but didn’t show any other signs of distress.
   "You think my mouth is pretty." My boot shot out and planted itself in the middle of his face. A sharp breath followed by a loud groan fell from his lips. I stood back up and watched my handiwork with judging eyes. I was careful not to use too much force, too scared of leaving any permanent marks to use any real power. But the moment I retreated my foot, I knew I had been too careful.
   A dark crimson colored his upper lip, with sharp drops landing on the floor in front of him. He gathered saliva in the back of his throat with a loud sound that made my top lip draw up in disgust. He spit out the dark red liquid beside his knee and leaned his head back against the metal behind him.
   "If I didn’t want to get in your pants, I would call you a bitch." I almost wanted to do it again just to show that I had the upper hand, but his statement had caught me off guard. If he wanted to get into my pants, that meant that I had something that he desired, something that I could hold against him and trade with. He closed his eyes and gathered another ball of spit behind his lips. I stood my ground when the liquid flew my way and almost landed in the front of my thigh. He kept his eyes closed, not bothering to look at me when I showed him my middle finger.
   "Asshole," I muttered under my breath while turning away from him. My eyes landed on the new man, still staring as if he just watched a ghost. I sighed and lifted my arm to pinch the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Able to feel more problems coming my way at a breakneck speed and the only thing I could do was go with it, at a loss for other solutions.
   I removed the wet cloth from the floor and twirled on my heel, marching straight back into the cell. Their eyes had been on me ever since I lashed out, observing from a distance, either too scared to say anything or at a loss for words. Either way, cowards.
   Standing in front of the man with my firm palms planted at the sides of my hip, I watched him. His gaze didn't waver for a single moment, even when I made my eyes thin slits, he still watched me with interested eyes.
   I observed his every move with intensity for a minute or so until I decided that I had tortured the poor bastard enough and gave him a small smile. He returned it with visible uncertainty before his eyes dropped to the cloth I clutched with all my might.
   He looked like he wanted to talk when he moved his opened mouth, but stopped without a sound.
   More like he wanted to take me over his knee.
   My breath hitched at my own filthy thoughts, but I couldn’t deny the truth in them. And as much as I wanted to push my own needs away, I couldn’t chase away my desires from myself anymore.
   Ever since the handsome man had stepped foot on this ship, I had been wet for him. I wanted him to fuck me, hard, deep and long. But I could stand those thoughts, the thoughts I couldn’t stand were the ones that forced Knox and Hunter into fantasies. My desire went deeper than only Hunter. Though it had been pleasant beyond imaginable to have Hunter make love to me, I couldn’t help but acknowledge the want for more.
   I was well aware that I acted like a spoiled brat, but I didn’t care, I wanted all of them. Wanted to feel their hands all over my body, fingers grazing my skin, palms spanking my ass, I wanted all of it.
   I swallowed and dropped my smile, it was impossible.
   "Mind if I help you?" I bit the inside of my lower lip to keep it from trembling, it was such a stupid reaction to an unimportant issue. My waterline stung when a small tear squeezed itself onto it and a hole opened in my chest.
   A hole that would gape empty for the rest of my life. I wanted these men to touch my body. I had never felt the way Hunter made me feel before, I had a feeling the other two also knew how to make me feel the exact same way, but I would never know. Forcing back the tears, not permitting them to fall, I wouldn’t let the men see me vulnerable.
   "Go ahead," his voice was deep when he spoke the words that went straight to my center. I clenched my thighs together, a pathetic attempt to quiver the fire that already burned between them. Tossing the cloth back and forth in my hands when I built a plan in my head.
   "Here." I held it out for the man to take. His fingers brushed with a light touch against mine when he took it from me, and small sparks of electricity traveled between us. I swallowed down a gasp, refusing to acknowledge the feeling that was still skidding over my skin in powerful waves. Pursing my lips and taking a step closer until my knees touched his. I bent at the hip to get closer to him as I brushed light fingers over his jaw, inspecting the damage. He didn’t give me an easy time when his jaw was clenched like iron while still being open. My eyes swept over every detail of his face with careful consideration. His chin was clean-shaven and smooth.
   Wonder how it would feel between my legs.
   Pull yourself together.
   I swallowed and continued my scanning. A light purple bruise adorned his cheek and I sighed. Tipping my head to the side in order to inspect the mark more, a wide smirk spread across the man’s face the second I did so.
   "Such a beautiful mark he left." I couldn't comprehend the words at first. It sounded so odd on a stranger's tongue. Was he really calling something on my body beautiful? I allowed the subject of the matter to slip my mind. I didn’t have the time to scold Hunter for the hickey he left on me when I didn’t notice. But instead, I tilted my head further to the side.
   "Where?" I blushed when the pad of his pointer finger landed in the very middle of my neck. I sighed, it would be difficult to hide it from the Captain but with a few mind games, I could convince him that it was he that planted it there.
   "It really is pretty on your skin." My head snapped toward where Hunter stood, looking comfortable with his body leaned against the only wooden wall in the cell and his arms folded over his chest. I sighed when another ball of flames rolled over my clit, what was wrong with me?
   Ignoring his comment, I reached both my arms to the man, taking his open jaw in my clasp.
   "Breathe and relax, or I won't be able to do this." He drew in a sharp breath and caught my eyes with an intense stare. I looked into his deep brown eyes and almost drowned in the life that brewed under the surface. His jaw didn’t move under my hands, and I sighed.
   "I can't relax," the man told me when he noticed my distress. I rolled my eyes at the stupid statement, of course he could. l bit my lower lip, how could I make him sit back enough for me to help him?
   "I can knock him out cold, that is a hell of relaxing," Knox quipped from his corner. I had to resist the itch in my knuckles that begged to be connected with his jaw, and instead focused all my attention to the man.
   Taking another step forward with my leg high so that I was able to place my knee beside his thigh. He let out a silent gasp when I flung my other leg to him and sat down on his lap, my feet on either side of his hip, knees bent. My heart pounded in my chest when I leaned down to him, my lips only a breath away from his.
   "Kiss me." It wasn’t a question, I demanded his affection. A fire roared in his eyes at my words, and before I could comprehend the change of energies in the room, his lips pressed against mine. I forced my lips to sway in taunting motions against his daring mouth to produce a sense of calm strong enough to pull him with me. His breath swept over my cheek when he pressed his tongue against my closed mouth, but as I decided that I wanted to keep my tongue, I didn’t open for him. He groaned against my lips, greedy.
   I almost laughed, no other man than The Captain had touched me in the last six years, and now I had been touching two of them the same night. It was a ridiculous thought but at the same time, I didn’t regret it. I already felt possessive of them, like a magnitude that pulled me toward them. If I hadn’t been so swept up in the feeling, I would have thought I started going crazy.
   He closed his eyes and I did the same, melting into him, molding to his body. His hands pressed to my butt and swept slow circles over the globes. As much as I wanted to touch his body, feel his hard muscles under my palm and have him all over me, I had things to do.
   Jerking my right hand toward the left and the other way around at the same time. A loud click pushed against my lips when his jaw fell into place, and then another when he clenched his teeth the hardest he possibly could.
   I at least got to keep my tongue.
   He groaned and let my mouth go. I contemplated comforting him until I decided against it. I didn’t want to feel attached to these men, none of them were dedicated to be with me, I was The Captain’s.
   My blood shot through my veins at the rapid beats of my heart. His left hand moved from my ass, but he didn’t peel the other from its strong hold on me. Cupping his chin and opening his eyes, staring me down without mercy.
   His eyes pulsed with desire and anger.
   He looked like he wanted to kill me.
   He looked like he wanted to fuck me.
   I had to force away the guilt that tripped every nerve ending in my body. Narrowing his eyes, but to my surprise, they were not focused on me. He cast his vision over my shoulder, I assumed he looked at Knox. Clearing my throat and arching one eyebrow. He turned his gaze back to me, and I pried the cloth from his clenched fingers. I started to dab the piece of fabric over his bruised cheek. The blood was almost dry all the way through, so it took a few minutes to get it away while also being gentle. A thin cut hid under the layer of blood and I let it be since it wasn’t bleeding anymore.
   Moving my gaze to his brown eyes, couscous to be swept up in his intense presence again. When I looked at him, only to find his gaze fixated over my shoulder, I felt the Jamali inside me roar. I wanted his attention on me and only me. I wanted his mind to be occupied with pictures of me. Our minds tangled together in the way I thought they were.
   But instead of lowering the shield that protected my wings from the outside world, I only clenched my teeth. None of the men in this room deserved to see what they were missing. And I shouldn’t even consider showing them, it was a secret in a mixed company. I hadn’t needed to keep my shield up at all times since half of the crew was Panots, but the humans were always terrified when I walked into a room with my wings spread, so I learned to keep them hidden without having to worry about them.
   I wasn’t even sure that I could get them out without a major effort after all these years. Not even bothering to scare them when they were making me angry, they had grown immune to the way I protected myself and would most timed double over in laughter when I spread my wings to look intimidating.
   But I had other reasons for keeping them hidden since the king had entered our boat. Every single person on this ship was scared of the consequences if we showed him too much of our world. We didn’t want it to lure out forgotten memories, not if those memories would tear him from us.
   I tapped at the side of his face to get his undivided attention. His eyes snapped to mine like a kid that had been caught doing something they shouldn’t.
   "What are you looking at?" I snickered, knowing what that voice did to men. A wide smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, and a dimple popped on his left cheek.
   "Just looking at the jealousy brewing in your boyfriend’s eyes," he chuckled. The sound going straight to my pussy in small but powerful strikes, what the hell was wrong with me? I took a deep breath through my nose, doing my best to do it without too much noise. Not letting him know the effect he had on me.
   The kiss continued to linger on my lips and I hated myself for it, but I wanted more. Wanted to kiss his soft lips forever, Hunter fucking me and Knox brushing soft strokes with his fingers over my back.
   I gulped. I couldn’t find it inside me to be embarrassed by the image in my brain. It had been my deepest desire for far too long. If I had to claw a hole in my chest and give them my heart, I would do it for that stupid picture that kept taking up all the space in my mind.
   "I am not jealous," Knox’s deep voice carried through the cell and I rolled my eyes, did he never learn? "I am just wondering why the fucker have put in more moves on her than I have and keeps getting away with it." Despite Knox’s protests, I could tell that he shot the dangers of jealousy over the newcomer only by the poison in his tone.
   "He is not my boyfriend," I groaned. Somebody had to earn a place like that and Knox Holloway had done nothing to deserve the role of my boyfriend, The Captain had, if he would just pull his head out of his ass and accept.
   Another smirk tugged at his mouth, and I clicked my tongue. I didn’t have any intention to scold him for his behavior, it was hell of hot.
   "What’s your name?" The thought hadn’t crossed my mind in a few minutes, but the question lingered in the back of my mind. I would have asked him a lot sooner if it hadn't been for the trauma we created for him today.
   It scraped my soul to see all those people drowning, but not as much as it should have. My brain had grown used to the deaths around me and wasn't near the type of pain I should feel for the innocent people on the ship.
   "My friends call me Blake, but you can just call me ‘mine’." He winked and gave me a soft smirk that melted my heart like butter.
   "Cheesy," I sighed and rolled my eyes. But I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face. It was a terrible line, but it made the encounter feel more relaxed. I didn’t want to think about the circumstance of him being on our ship, but his calm attitude toward me made me warm on the inside.
   "What are they going to do to me?" I almost broke down from the sorrow in his voice alone. I wanted to wrap my wings around him, protect him and never let go. It was an odd way to feel about somebody I had just met, and as much as I tried to understand it, I didn’t find an explanation.
   "I don’t know," I admitted, trying to keep my voice even. Considering how they treated the king of fucking Mailum, the most powerful kingdom in the world, I didn’t have high odds on Blake. If he got a cup of salt water every day, he should be grateful. I didn’t want to think about what they might do to him, but it didn’t look good.
   "All right." My smile dropped, did these men not have any will to live?
   "What do you mean ‘all right?’" I sighed, giving him the benefit of the doubt before I screamed in his face.
   "I don’t know what else to say, what else can I do?" I took a deep breath, trying to compose my anger. As usual, it didn’t work. Clenching my fist around the cloth, I considered punching him right where Knox had drawn out a target, just for good measure.
   "I am a crew member on this ship, if anybody in this room knows anything, it’s me. You should be holding me down and demanding information that I don’t have." I clenched my jaw, this wasn’t leading anywhere. Closing my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose with the tips of my fingers.
   Before I could do anything else, I flew back against the floor, my head bouncing. A searing pain shot up my skull from the place I had landed. I hissed against the impact, but couldn’t open my eyes. Trying to raise my arm to my head, but didn’t find the ability to move it.
   I took in other parts of my body, scanning every piece to figure out what happened. Something was wrapped around my wrists, something warm. I groaned when my focus landed on my chest, a heavy presence laying over me. Cracking one eye open, I was met with beautiful brown eyes. My breath hitched when his hands tightened around my wrists. A warm pleasure flooded me from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. I pried my other eye open despite the painful protests that pulsed in my head. Staring into his eyes, I tried to find my voice in the blur that was my brain.
   "What are you doing?" He had me pinned against the wood, but despite the pain that shot through my head, I didn’t want him to move. Feeling at ease under him, like he could protect me. I shook the thought from my head, he didn’t have the capability to protect me. If anybody was being protected, it was him.
   But being pressed against his hard chest did things to my body. I felt the rigid muscles consuming mine when he propped himself up on his elbows over me. The smirk that tugged at his lips went straight to my core. Being this close to him forced my mind to filthy places, but I cut off my thoughts before they could take over.
   He rolled his tongue over his lower lip and dipped down to my ear, whispering into it. "Tell me where we are going," his slow demand in that deep, sexy voice made my nipples tingle. They stood out from the fabric of my shirt like hard peaks, demanding attention from the hot stranger. He shifted against me and brushed his chest muscles against the small mountains by accident, or perhaps it was a conscious action.
   It felt like I had a seizure with the amount of pleasure that shot through my body at once. I couldn't contain the moan that vibrated in the back of my mouth at his words.
   "What?" I couldn't comprehend the words that brushed with tentative strokes against my ear. He chuckled, the air in the sound tickling my neck, sensations dropping low on my stomach.
   "Where is this ship heading?" I groaned when I realized that he did what I wanted, but decided to play along. I arched my back, pressing my rock-hard nipples against his chest. Opening my mouth, I ran my tongue along the shell of his ear, making sure to breathe puffs of air over his light skin. Small bumps appeared under my touch and I knew I had him. Lifting my hips to his, where they hovered above mine, I met his cock and was pleased to find it hard as steel, perfect.
   He groaned and rubbed his hip against mine to get some tension out. I moaned, the sweet sound making his cock swell against my clit.
   "Answer the question, leathe miko." My teeth grazed the delicate skin of my lip when I tried to figure out what nickname he had given me. In an unexpected rush, he moaned and let my wrists go. Holding himself up on his elbows on either side of my face. I swallowed when his eyes focused back on me, a powerful magnetism in them. Shaking my head, I was determined to keep our secret information a secret for a while longer. Just in case they were planning on ratting me out. He sighed and lifted his body from mine. I missed his hard body in an instant, but wouldn’t tell him that if my life depended on it.
   He shuffled his feet toward the bed and sat down. A pounding headache sizzled up my neck, slithering past the vertebrae in my spine and to the back of my head. Remembering the reason for the pain and groaning, I raised my hand to cup the injury. I clenched my teeth and tried to forget about it.
   "Give me that." My voice came out like a quick breath when I opened my extended arm. He threw the rag across the cell and I caught it.
   I stood up on shaky legs, my head pounding with every step toward the man on the floor. Knox watched his hands as he cracked his knuckles with a fascination unlike anything I had seen before.
   For a millisecond he looked sad, but It disappeared the moment I started walking toward him and was instead replaced by a cocky grin. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes, he was a jerk, but he was my jerk. Sighing, I sat down beside his knees.
   "To what do I owe the pleasure?" His tone promised murder if I let him go, which I had no intention of doing. I bit the corner of my mouth and patted the fabric in my grasp over his upper lip.
   His brown eyes shone when they locked with mine, a promise that I didn’t understand. I dragged the cloth in circular motions, sure that there were no cuts there.
   "You can see this as a service in return," I muttered. "I don’t have to help you, but I still do. What does that make me, Knox?" His lips didn’t move. "Am I a good person or an idiot?" I knew the answer to my rhetorical question. I had been an idiot since the first time I spoke to them. But I had only been a complete idiot since I started taking a liking to them, mesmerized by the way they were. His tongue swept over his crimson colored lips, but it wasn’t long before he retreated it and scrunched his nose in disgust.
   "Gross," he groaned and spit on the other side of me. I couldn’t hold in the bubbling laughter that slipped my lips, it traveled through the room and bounced against the walls. The action made my head spin and my neck pound, but I couldn’t stop. My laughter continued to echo through the room until somebody cleared their throat. Snapping my head toward the sound, my laugh dying in the void. A shadow leaned against the cell.
   Fuck.

Thank you for reading yet another chapter. My ongoing gratitude is going to all of you who wait for another chapter, vote and comments on new updates. Love y'all.