Ex Meridian (Prequel to the Black Ravens)

Ex

A current of intense need hit in the gut so hard he struggled not to double over. He gasped into Meridian’s mouth, his lips trembling.

Smoke smoldered in his partner’s onyx eyes, passion dominating his touch.

removed the single rose from between the candles. He didn’t smile, didn’t fall into Meridian’s arms. It wasn’t how they showed affection.

He pressed the silky petals to his nose and inhaled the sweet, earthy fragrance.

“A black rose…fitting for my raven.”

Their eyes met, a powerful energy rippling between them.

turned toward a sight that made unabashed evil thoughts pound against his temple.

Meridian removed his touch and allowed to feel the full force of the rage and fury taking over his mind. He reached inside his tactical vest and extracted his butterfly blade.

“Meridian.” ’s wrath burned in his throat, making his voice grittier and deeper than normal. “Your generosity overwhelms me, dark angel.”

stared hard at Caesar Grey, the founder and leader of the Grey Jade crime family, sitting hunched over in a high-backed chair with his wrists and ankles bound.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Xavier,” Meridian whispered.

froze.

His partner was a stoically serious man of few words and even less personality. So when Meridian did speak… reacted.

His fists shook with a warrior’s battle response.

The center of his world had done the impossible for him. Meridian had caught and gift-wrapped his current obsession for him to torture and kill…on Valentine’s Day.

Romantic motherfucker.

took deliberate steps across the dusty concrete floor, closing the distance while contemplating his most sinister forms of punishment.

The crime lord shook his head, his pupils blown wide at the site of ’s blade.

He didn’t stop until Caesar had to tilt his head back to look at him.

squatted to change the direction of his view, studying. He’d never had his enemy served up on a platter.

Meridian hadn’t beat him much, only primed him for his arrival.

Caesar mumbled some desperate nonsense behind the wads of duct tape over his mouth.

“Do you know how many families’ lives you’ve destroyed?” tilted his head, his voice void of all humanity and compassion. “Hmm, do you? How many innocent daughters and sons you’ve taken from their homes in the middle of the night like the fucking boogeyman.”

Caesar’s cheeks pumped in and out in an attempt to breathe through his panic. Or perhaps he was hyperventilating.

“I was never afraid of such things,” confessed, staring lovingly at his blade. “The boogeyman was afraid of me .”

snapped his hand out and sliced through the T-Rex duct tape over Caesar’s mouth, then ripped the rest of it away, taking pieces of beard and skin with it.

Caesar hollered in agony, the sounds of his pain and fear ricocheting off the steel walls.

“That’s right.” closed his eyes and sighed with relief. “I wanna hear your screams.”

“I’m begging you, don’t kill me. I can make you rich beyond imagination.”

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

“I’m about to show you the epitome of imagination.” raised one brow. “Because I know exactly how many lives you’ve sold that made you rich . Faces I’ll never be able to forget.”

Tears and snot ran down Caesar’s ugly face.

“Stop your bitch-ass crying. Have some pride…because there will be no mercy.”

“You didn’t have to kill my brother, man,” Caesar bawled, glaring at Meridian. “He was never a part of any of this.”

’s voice was calm. “Do not mourn your brother. You’ll be together real soon.”

turned his back on the pungent stench of urine and desperation.

Meridian sat at the table with one leg crossed, watching with a hard, sexy expression.

He didn’t stop advancing until he straddled Meridian’s lap.

He removed his gloves and tossed them on the table, then took Meridian’s wrists and removed his.

Those dark eyes held him, ruling his world. His partner’s silence and discipline made his dick jerk in his thick cargo pants.

He ran his fingertips under the silk lapels of Meridian’s midnight black jacket, then reached and lifted the covers from the plates, never breaking eye contact.

bit his bottom lip against the shards of desire piercing his armor.

An array of knives and torture instruments filled one plate and prefilled syringes crowded the other.

Meridian cupped his chin, making tremble from his dark touch.

“Have I pleased you, Xavier?”

That fucking voice.

“Greatly,” he rasped. “I’ve never had a valentine.”

Meridian’s chest vibrated under his palms, his irises hooded by thick, ink-black lashes. didn’t need to look into his partner’s eyes to fall into his abyss.

He ground his hips harder, making his sinful lover clutch them in response.

“Show me how much,” Meridian demanded.

There was but one man in the world who could tell him what to do…and continue to exist.

“Show me, dammit.” Meridian yanked him closer.

closed the last inch between them and pressed his lips to Meridian’s, his touch tender and appreciative.

Their gazes stayed locked as Meridian wove one hand beneath ’s vest and the other into his short hair. Meridian lowered his eyes, his hold almost painful.

“Sometimes, Xavier, you are too lethally beautiful to look at.”

lowered his chin and let Meridian caress his cheek.

“Marshall, I exist because you breathe.”

took his partner by the chin and lifted his head until those piercing eyes stared back at him, making his heart bang against his ribcage.

Meridian dragged his palm around ’s throat and controlled their movements, his stiffness digging into his ass. Meridian locked onto his mouth, sweeping his warm tongue inside.

was outside himself. Heat ignited between his thighs as Meridian thrust his hips to meet his.

This was not how they performed on a mission.

From the moment they’d stopped fighting their codependency, fighting their attraction to one another, and made love, they’d never allowed that part of them to interfere in the field.

But Meridian was giving him this rare, very special, one-time present to mix business with pleasure.

Meridian was able to manipulate ’s mind and body, somehow putting him in the mood to kill and get fucked hard at the same time.

sank into dangerous, never-trodden waters, exciting him like never before. Especially for a man who was supposed to have no feelings.

“My family was taken down by some goddamn fagg—”

Meridian snatched a Highlander throwing knife from the plate and hurled it across the room so fast the sleek metal whistled through the air. The precision of the aim sent the tip of the blade past Caesar’s lips and through his cheek, pinning one side of his face to the back of the chair.

A delicious shiver slithered down ’s spine. If he had blinked, he would’ve missed it.

Caesar’s gurgled holler was exquisite music to ’s ears.

He turned back to see Meridian staring at him, his black irises gleaming with pure evil, making ’s cock leak.

“Any man that dares insult you…will never speak again.”

“You got me all fucked up in the head right now,” breathed. “And you fucking know it.”

Meridian kissed the long battle scar on ’s cheek, his lips lingering there for a long moment before he murmured, “Go and enjoy your gift.”

picked up the brass knuckles, then the tooth extractor. He’d pull out whatever teeth he didn’t knock out with his fists. shrugged and then plucked a prefilled syringe of adrenaline.

He wanted to ensure his plaything didn’t pass out in the middle of his fun.