The Finisher (Dark Verse Book 4)
: Part 1 – Chapter 13

Zephyr

BEAR LOVED HER. THERE was no other explanation for the way he followed her on her tour, right behind her, sniffing her legs, giving her little licks, and wagging his tail giving her looks with his hopeful brown eyes that made her stop and give him head rubs. She was in love with him already.

Baron, on the other hand, couldn’t care less. He plopped down on what she understood was his perch on a windowsill and simply watched the view outside, completely unbothered by her or anyone else. Bandit was nowhere to be seen.

Leah started her tour right from the main door. “There are a total of four bedrooms in the house, beside the master. They’re all en-suites. This is just a living area but the dogs spend more time here than Alpha, mostly because they enjoy the view and the sun. The entire house is designed around this interior garden.”

Zephyr took in the garden in question, genuinely awed at the design. An amazing indoor garden surrounded a sunken living area. Comfortable-looking beige couches took up half the living space in a three-sided rectangle, a center table in the shape of a chopped wooden log seated upon an oriental rug. A large flat screen was mounted on the wall in front of the couch, the area semi-private due to the garden that surrounded it. Glass took up the wall on the left of the main door, and a set of wide, wooden, unconnected stairs went up to another level on the far right. Immediately in front of the door, two low steps led to the raised open kitchen and a wooden, rustic-looking dining table with six seats. Behind that, sliding doors opened onto another decked area, the pool from the front of the house wrapping around to the back. It was extraordinary.

“Wow,” she breathed, taking everything in, and heard Leah laugh.

“Yes, it takes some getting used to. But it is beautiful, no?”

“Oh yes,” she mumbled, rotating in her spot to not miss a single detail. “Were you here when this was built?”

“No,” Leah replied, leading her through the kitchen to the back deck. Surprisingly, there was another smaller structure at the back. A wooden bridge went from the upper half of the mansion to the upper half of the outhouse. On the ground, stone steps connected the back deck to the door.

“That is a guest house,” Leah informed her. “Usually, Alpha makes the guests stay at the hotel in the city, but sometimes important people want to visit here, and Alpha does not like strangers in his house. He blames it on the dogs.” The older woman gave her a grin. “Says they bite strangers. They go in that house happily then.”

Zephyr laughed. She could see him doing that to keep his space his own, threatening to sic his dogs on them.

The sound of running water was louder on the back deck. “Is there flowing water here?”

The other woman pointed to the side of the compound. “A little bit away, there’s a waterfall. You can see it from the master bedroom.”

Zephyr’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes, come I’ll show you.”

The woman took her on a tour of the kitchen first, showing her where everything was kept, explaining the routines as she went. The cook came early in the mornings, cooked for the day, and stored everything for whenever Alpha wanted to eat. He didn’t have any fixed meal time since he mostly worked and came home late, and everyone left the house in the evening since they knew he liked his quiet.

Leah took care of the house and fed the dogs on time. Alpha took them for a run in the morning, and if he was out of town, Leah’s husband took them.

There was a bedroom off the living room that Leah showed her. Alpha had turned it into a study. Another bedroom, smaller than the first, was next to it, clean but completely empty.

Zephyr wondered what it was like for him, having all this space and being alone with his dogs, coming home after a day to a solitary house. Maybe he liked that, but Zephyr couldn’t imagine what it must be like. She’d always come home to someone, her parents or Zen, and she hoped now to come home to him and the dogs.

Leah kept telling her everything as they went up the stairs. “This level has only two rooms. This is the master.” She opened a heavy, rustic wooden door to reveal a room big enough to fit her parent’s house.

The largest bed she’d ever seen dominated the left of the room, with a large carved headboard. It was a four-poster bed, pushed up against a plain white wall, netting folded back on top of its wooden frame. That bed could’ve fit four Alphas and still had space. She would drown in that bed. There was nothing much in the room though, which she found odd. The walls were barren, the space aside from the bed empty. It looked too clean.

Removing her eyes from it, she went to the sliding glass doors that opened into a covered balcony, a hammock hanging from the iron frame of the covering. From this side of the house, she could see a small waterfall in the distance between the thick green. It was absolutely magical.

“Your suite is through here,” Leah brought her back to the present, indicating a single connecting door opposite the bed. Zephyr went through and saw a much smaller room without a balcony, but a large window facing the waterfall view. Four of her boxes were already in place, and Bandit was sniffing around one of them.

“Thank you.” She gave the older housekeeper a smile as she left.

Dropping down on the small but comfortable bed, Zephyr let the entire house sink inside, realizing that though beautiful, there was absolutely nothing personal in his home. No pictures, no objects of his interest, nothing that screamed it was his. It almost looked like he’d had the compound made and forgotten what to do with his own house. And though beautiful, it was kind of tragic. Did he simply not know that there was more involved in making it a home, or did he not know how to make it one? Did he feel at home in this beautiful paradise he’d made or did he sleep restlessly? There were questions in her mind and sadness in her heart as she unpacked.

She spent the next few hours setting things, emptying her boxes and bags as they kept arriving, carried by two young men and Victor. Hector had probably gone with Alpha wherever they had gone.

Bear ran from door to box each time someone came in, excited about all the new stuff while Bandit sniffed everything she took out, his particular interest not in her socks but her underwear. She’d caught him trying to sneak off with her yellow lacy bra and tugged it back just in time, even though he kept his eyes fixated on that one.

The cook came around dusk and introduced herself as Nala, telling Zephyr she’d cook them a special dinner since it was her first night in their house, and left for the kitchen. By the time Zephyr was done unpacking and putting everything away, it was eight in the evening and she was both hungry and exhausted. She hadn’t been able to sleep properly since the courthouse wedding, and she could feel it catching up to her.

Bear sat in a corner of her room, napping, her one solid companion throughout the day.

Zephyr looked around her settled room, happy with the way she’d brought it to life temporarily, and decided to take a shower before going down to eat. She went to her lingerie drawer, took out her sexiest peach-colored semi-transparent baby doll, and laid it on the bed, along with her small vibrator. Stripping, she entered her smaller en suite with a shower cabin and washed off the tiredness of the day.

Sudden multiple barks from downstairs alerted her to her husband’s arrival.

Wrapping herself in a towel, her burgundy hair wet and shining, she entered her room, only to replace Alpha standing in the doorway of their connected rooms, his eye on the lingerie and toy on the bed.

She couldn’t have timed it more perfectly if she’d tried. He looked up, perusing her towel-clad body with heat in his golden gaze, such heart that she could feet it on her cool skin. Her nipples hardened. His eye stopped on them, lingering on the knot of her towel, and boy did she want it to drop.

She casually raised her hands to her hair, the towel hitching up her thighs, exposing them, lifting her breasts higher, and he noticed every bit of it, and from the very sizeable tent in his jeans, she’d say he liked it.

“Have you eaten?” she asked innocently, aware that he was stripping her naked in his mind.

“No,” he growled, his voice deeper with arousal. His hands fisted by his side, and he suddenly pivoted on his heels, stalking out of the doorway and into his shower, slamming the door behind him.

Satisfied with the reaction she’d incited, Zephyr changed into her baby-doll, loving the way it hugged and fell on her curves. She loved the way lingerie made her feel, confident and sexy and desirable, and this one, in particular, made her full boobs look incredible. Covering it up with a long silk robe, and tying it loosely so it could give a peek with movement, she went down the stairs to the kitchen.

Bear joined her, trotting on her heels. Baron raised his neck from the rug where he was now lying with Bandit dozing, gave her a hard look before going back to ignoring her.

The house was otherwise empty, doors locked, drapes drawn.

They were alone.

The sun had set a while ago, the house lighting up automatically around dusk. The view that had been incredible during the day was a bit scary at night because it was pitch black, and Zephyr had never been this close to the jungle and this far out of the city before. Her eyes saw absolutely nothing in the distance, even though she could hear the sounds of animals, the water, and the lack of civilization. In the distance on the far left, the lights of the city twinkled. It was freaky how he’d comfortably lived here alone for so long. She wouldn’t be able to last one night.

Knowing where everything in the kitchen was, thanks to Leah’s tour, Zephyr went about setting the table for two, taking the delicious-smelling carbonara and garlic bread Nala had cooked for them. She took out some red wine, poured them in two glasses to accompany the dinner along with two glasses of water, and lit up a candle in the middle.

Perfect.

Footsteps coming down made her turn to replace her husband, wearing loose gym shorts and a loose t-shirt, his hair wet and curling from the shower. He looked at the setup but didn’t comment on it, simply taking a seat where she indicated.

“It smells great, doesn’t it?” she broke the silence, serving them the food. “How long have you had Nala?”

“A few years,” he replied, taking the dish with the bread and putting two slices on her plate before taking his. “She was the mother of one of the girls who’d worked with AV Security.”

That was her opening. “What does AV Security actually do? I know you give some kind of protection to people off the streets but how does that actually work?”

Alpha considered her, before tearing the bread. “AV gives security to sex workers mainly, but we also do extraction from places people don’t want to go.”

Zephyr leaned forward, interested. “Security to sex workers?”

He explained. “Sex workers are constantly in danger, from their pimps, their clients, anyone walking on the street.’ He paused, as though contemplating whether to tell her more, and then continued. ‘My mother was a sex worker, and I was the result of her rape. She also got beat up once, and I decided I wasn’t okay with any of that. I had a reputation on the streets. Gave my name to anyone who wanted the protection.”

She was surprised he’d spoken about his mother. She was also surprised at how kind the woman who’d been through what his mother had been through had been to a young girl like her. That alone made her remarkable. But she held off on commenting on it, sticking to the other side of the conversation.

“And they pay you for it?”

“I don’t ask for a payment, but most of them want to. I make enough with the fights.”

Zephyr took a bite of her pasta, groaning in delight at the sheer deliciousness, before asking. ‘How does the fight money work?’

‘People bet, I fight. I win, I get the money.’

He used words like they were going out of fashion. Zephyr shook her head. ‘And fighting made you enough to buy half the city?’

He chewed on his bite of pasta slowly, watching her. ‘I only fight big fights now. People bet in hundreds of thousands.’

She choked on her mouthful, her eyes widening. ‘Are you serious? They just throw that kind of money around?’

‘It’s a well-plotted bet usually,’ he shrugged.

Fascinating. Zephyr had never really given any thought to sex workers or fights, much less the entire industry, and now questions whirled in her head.

“What happened to the girl, Nala’s daughter?” Zephyr asked.

“She died.”

“I’m sorry.”

The dogs trotted to the table, quietly sitting on the side while their eyes stayed up on the food.

“And these three?” Zephyr smiled at the dogs, taking a bite of the bread. Damn, it was amazing. She made a sound out loud, and Alpha cleared his throat.

“I found them about four years ago,” he hesitated, contemplating something. “There had been an underground dogfight. I’d gone to meet an informant. These three—” he indicated the canines with his fork “—had been dumped in an alley. It was a cold night and they’d been crying, so I took them to my car just to warm them up. Couldn’t let them go after.”

She went soft. He was a protector, he always had been. That was one of the things she’d loved the most about him.

She extended her hand and touched his, her skin loving the sensation of his, and gave his fingers a squeeze. “You’re a good man.”

Alpha pulled his hand away. “Don’t look at me with those stars in your eyes, Zephyr. You’re fooling yourself if you think I’m anything but a beast under this skin.”

Zephyr raised her wine glass to him. “Then the world needs more beasts like you.”

His golden eye flared, the unscarred side of his mouth turning down at her defiance of his belief. His dark scruff caught her eye, and she wondered for the hundredth time how it would feel on her skin. Her breath caught, and she saw his fingers tighten over his fork.

“This feels like a date,” she breathed.

“It’s not a date.”

Stubborn man. She would break him yet.

“Whatever you say, sexy.”

He didn’t respond to that, just quietened down and quickly finished his food. He was up and clearing his dishes before she was done, rushing out of the room with a gruff ‘goodnight’ thrown her way, the dogs seeing him leave and settling down in the living room.

Zephyr sighed and finished eating, texting Zen about the day to keep herself from feeling alone. After she was done, she cleared up and walked up the stairs, the motion-sensor lights automatically dimming as she left.

His bedroom door was shut tight as she went to her room, the connecting door closed too.

Zephyr undid her robe and put it on the dresser, lowered the netting around the bed, and got in, staring at the ceiling fan slowly circulating the air in the room.

She picked up her vibrator from the side, her nipples tight in the cool air with arousal, and finally turned it on. The quiet buzz filled the room as she closed her eyes, sliding her hands under her panties, her wetness meeting her fingers.

She exhaled, palming her breast with one hand, remembering the way he’d pulled her hair back during their kiss. She let her mind drift to old times when he’d stared at her hotly with both his golden eyes on fire, when he’d kissed her softly, his mouth exploratory, his hands tender on her young breasts. She doubted he’d be tender now with the way he watched her. No, he’d pull her hair and smack her ass and impale her on his cock, whispering filthy things to her as she tried to fit him in.

Her heartbeat picked up at the fantasy, her fingers penetrating her shallowly as she placed her vibrator on her clit, a quiet moan escaping her mouth as the device shot the pleasure through her.

She kept her eyes closed, stuck in the fantasy, remembering the words he’d threatened her with at his office, her mind making it more profane. He’d hold her hair in a ponytail, pulling her head back until he could kiss her upside, thrusting into her so deep the motion would push her up the bed, her sensitive nipples scraping over the sheets, but his hold on her hair would keep her in place.

Oh god.

She tried to push deeper with her fingers, her hands making a wet, filthy noise as she fucked herself, imagining it was him as she drenched the sheets with arousal, pressing the vibrator harder on her clit as pleasure zinged through her body, on the precipice of an orgasm but not quite there yet.

A noise from her side suddenly had her eyes flying open, her heart pounding as she watched the shirtless mass of a man lean over her with one hand by her head, his golden eye focused on her like a hawk about to swoop down on his feast.

She hovered on the edge of the orgasm, knowing she needed more, needed him, and she had no shame in asking him for it. “Please,” she begged, her body writhing on the bed.

“Give me a taste,” he commanded, and she brought her hand to his mouth, touching his scar, coating his lips in her essence before his mouth sucked her fingers in, in a deep pull that she could feel in her nipples, in her stomach, in her core as her walls clenched emptily around nothing. He swirled his tongue around her fingers, his eyes hot, and she felt the motion on her clit where the vibrator was pressed.

“Oh god,” she moaned, biting her lips.

His hand, his large, scarred, rough hand, went straight between her legs, his fingers not exploring, not teasing, but penetrating her, going so deep she felt herself squeeze him as he stretched her with two thick digits.

She started to remove the vibrator but he growled. “Keep the toy there.”

Her breath caught at the command, her breasts heaving as he fucked her with his fingers, hard and fast and deep, imitating what his cock would do, and she bent her legs, spreading her thighs wider, her heels digging into the bed as an unknown pleasure began to build up. Between her vibrator rubbing over her clit and his fingers penetrating deep, she was rushing towards an explosion that would splinter and shatter her to pieces. There was understated confidence with the way he handled her body, confidence her lizard brain appreciated because that’s all he rendered her to, a basic, primitive instinct to mate.

His motion was vigorous as he loomed over her, his fingers scissoring through her pussy walls roughly, with such disregard it was insanely arousing.

And then he shifted the angle of his wrist, curving his fingers upward, replaceing the spot inside her that had her screaming, her neck tightening as molten fire seared through her veins, burning through her in pleasure so intense her thighs started to jerk, her head digging into the pillow, he back arching as she came, dots behind the blacks of her eyes, her walls clenching around his merciless fingers that stayed inside her feeling each contraction.

“You remove your toy, I’ll remove my fingers.”

The threat had her gripping her vibrator harder, her other hand replaceing his chest and digging into his skin, the vibrations on her clit combined with his relentless fingers making her body have one orgasm after the other, the endless cycle making her scream and cry and whimper as her body wrung out every last drop of pleasure it could, her heart beating so rapidly she thought it would explode out of her chest.

The sensory overload went on for minutes, for hours, for days, she didn’t know. She lost track of every thought, everything, and became nothing but sensation, too much sensation, so much more than she could take, but he didn’t stop, kept fucking her with his fingers and kept the vibrator pressed to her clit with his thumb as her hand started to fall, keeping her floating in a space where the pleasure became too much, too intense, too unbearable.

She possibly passed out.

She didn’t know.

When consciousness slowly drifted back, her body was lax, unmoving, heavy, and the hand holding the vibrator had fallen to the side, small pulses of pleasure still weaving through her muscles as her heart slowly came back to its regular pace, still tripping every alternate beat at his proximity.

She opened her eyes to see him watching her, the line of his jaw tense, the heat in his eyes so palpable her pussy gave an exhausted flutter, making her realize his fingers were still inside her.

She didn’t know what had just happened.

Holy shit.

He pulled his digits out of her sore pussy and straightened. Zephyr saw the bulge in his shorts but was too exhausted to move, much less do anything about it. She watched as he turned and went to his room, closing the door behind her, leaving her alone on sheets he’d made her drench.