The Sifting Read Online Free Page B

head back with a roar then lost himself. Growling with the insane heat, he jerked her on and off of him, watching her body slam against his.
    He fell forward, needing to feel her. His orgasm seemed to last five minutes, as though everything about her kept him suspended in ecstasy, the sound of her cries, the way her breasts felt and moved with his thrusts, the bucking of her hips as she rode him. He buried his mouth in her neck and sucked with a ferocious hunger as that vortex of ecstasy drowned him. The sound of his name among the senseless syllables of oblivion, marked him eternally. “Micah! Micah! Micah!” Like a mantra, he was all and everything, just as he craved to be. All his. He needed her to be all his .
    He kissed her at the very last and she devoured him back . When it was over, he laid on her, spent and breathless. The first thing he became aware of was how fucking good he felt inside. Following immediately on its heels came a crushing pressure that gripped his chest. He gasped for air.
    “Micah? Are you okay?”
    He shook his head on her shoulder a little. He was definitely not fucking okay. He was lost. Confused. And fulfilled.
    ****
    Sarah felt the heaviness in Micah’s spirit as though it were her own. “I love you,” she whispered as he rolled off of her and sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands.
    “There’s something you need to know Sarah.”
    Shit. She didn’t like that sound. It was the great confession she’d been looking for and didn’t care to hear it tied up. “Can you…untie me and we can talk?”
    “No.”
    Dread slowly filled her. This had been his plan. To get her where she was helpless. Dear God. She needed to keep her cool, continue the session. “I’m listening,” Sarah whispered, wanting to trace her fingers lightly over his scars.
    He sighed beneath a monumental weight and Sarah was glad to finally hear what exactly it was that produced his soul-requiring delusion.
    “I told you this is like my second home.”
    Sarah waited for more and he glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, I remember.”
    “It is my only home. My real home.” He turned away again.
    She narrowed her gaze. “O kay?”
    “I live here with my family. People…you wouldn’t exactly consider to be good given your beliefs. ”
    Sarah waited but Micah seemed hesitant to finish what obviously needed finishing. She finally prompted, her voice coming out frail sounding. “Who are you?”
    The silence that weighed in the air this time, preceded a darkness she didn’t or couldn’t fathom. “The Order of Thirteen Angels.”

Chapter F ive
     
    Dread slowly tightened her stomach at hearing the title. Not that she knew it, but it screamed official, real, and not at all delusional in the way she’d thought. Needed even. And others were involved, dear God, that meant…possible mass delusion. Not something one therapist could help.
    “Do I want to know …what that is, Micah?”
    He shook his head very slowly. “No, sweetheart. You don’t.” The utter dread in his beautiful voice ate a path straight through her. “What…what’s going on?” She didn’t know what to ask.
    “The Sifting,” he said, sounding sad. “ Every year, we perform the ancient ritual.”
    All of it was said in complete desolation and s adness, freaking Sarah out worse. He sounded like a horror movie, and she was in it, trapped. “What is…sifting?”
    “We select one person every year to sift. We offer them an opportunity to renounce god or we sift them until they do. ” He turned his head a little, giving barely a profile. “You were chosen Sarah.” The soft whisper tingled like metal spiders along her skin.
    Sarah yanked at her ties. “Untie me, Micah,” she gasped, her fear consuming her.
    “That is why you must renounce, Sarah.”
    “Micah…please…take me home, I don’t want to be here anymore.”
    He turned and faced her, his expression a mask of fury. “I can’t bring you back. You are entered into the