She doesn’t acknowledge Malice. Not when she meets up with Vyx and Quinn outside of Tower 77. Not when they bypass the line, get their first drinks, or disappear to do their first lines of Pixie Dust. Not when Aerin wipes her nose as she passes him, being painfully obvious about her drug use. Not after her second drink. Or her third. Or her second line of Pixie Dust.
She taunts him with her inattention. Malice barely refrains, his control a frayed string, ready to snap.
Through it all, Aerin feels his gaze, so palpable it’s like a touch, a caress against her skin. If she’s honest with herself, his gaze driveshera little crazy. Like an itch she can’t scratch, a chill she can’t shake. A weight against her body day in and day out. She can hardly bear it. Under the haze of the drugs and booze, it feels particularly heavy.
Or maybe it’s his annoyance making it heavier. He looms against a wall about twenty feet from her, arms folded over his chest, jaw clenched. Clearly, she’s under his skin. All those mornings he spent frustrated he hadn’t caught her on her nights out, and now that he’s here, he hates every second of it. Every second of Aerin being exactly what she claims to be, exactly what Novhelm thinks she is.
Though the booze, the drugs, and the dancing, is not enough. Aerin knows the thing that truly crawls under Malice’s skin, that constantly tests his carefully crafted control, is thatwant.
Aerin has caught a Tiger Shifter looking at her hungrily multiple times. He keeps his distance until Aerin beckons him with a finger. Sending a shit eating grin back to his friends, he puts down his drink before striding across the dance floor.
“Do you want to dance?” Aerin asks. Her words are more slurred than she’d like. Gods, the second line of Pixie Dust is hitting her hard.
“Fuck yes,” he replies, sliding in behind her. His hands find her hips. They are massive, matching his body. Tiger Shifters are both the largest and the rarest of the Big Cats. He stands a good three inches taller than Aerin, despite her heels.
When Aerin starts rubbing her ass against him, she lets her eyes find Malice’s again. When they lock, he goes stiff.
Aerin gives him one of those ‘I’m so fucked up’grins. She raises her hand, running her fingers through the Tiger’s hair.
“You feel so fucking good,” Aerin encourages him without breaking her gaze from Malice against the wall.
Malice’s wings twitch, a surefire sign that it’s working. The Tiger likes her praise; his lips find her bare shoulder, her neck. She watches Malice, whose fists open and close, open and close. Aerin turns, her mouth finding the Tiger’s and hepurrs. A part of Aerin is supremely disappointed that, if all goes to plan, she won’t actually get to fuck this Tiger tonight.
The Tiger’s hands find her ass as his tongue moves with hers. Aerin manages to turn them just enough that she can see Malice again. Fire blazes in his ice-cold eyes. She hums into the Tiger’s mouth, satisfied with how well this is working.
Pulling back, Aerin’s hands rest on the Tiger’s massive biceps, his grip tight on her waist.
“Want to find someplace quieter?” Aerin asks, with a coy smile.
The Tiger grins his shit eating grin again.
“Absolutely.”
Taking his hand, Aerin leads them off the dance floor towards the stairs for VIP. Malice shifts foot to foot, still clenching his hands open, closed, open, closed. His wings twitch. Aerin can tell he’s using every bit of that precious control to hold himself back from interfering.
So close to snapping.
Aerin winks at him as they pass, and she swears she sees murder in his eyes.
When they approach Marcus, Aerin winks at him too. “Sorry, bigger Cat in the club tonight,” Aerin coos, dragging the Tiger along.
Marcus blushes, which she finds adorable. “That’s alright, Princess. I’ll be here next time.”
The Tiger lets out a low growl of possession, but Aerin only laughs, squeezing his hand and pulling him up the stairs. The second the lock is flipped on the bathroom door, Aerin jumps into the Tiger’s arms. He catches her easily, slamming his mouth to hers.
“I want you to fuck me hard and fast. Make me feel it tomorrow,” Aerin says between kisses. He growls in response, his predatory possession kicking in. Shifters are always a little closer to their base instincts than Fae and Mer.
Aerin runs her nails down his neck. In response, he grips her harder, kissing her more aggressively. He moves to her chest, kissing and biting those swells she so carefully put on display.
“Bet you have a big cock to match that big body, don’t you?” Aerin coos, scratching his scalp. He places her on the counter and Aerin immediately lifts a heel up against his thigh, making him pause before he unbuttons his jeans. “Are you going to fuckme like I asked?” Aerin leans back on her hands, giving himfuck meeyes and afuck megrin.
“Yes, I’m going to make you scream so loud the whole club hears you,” he says back, his eyes glimmering with excitement.
“Good.” Aerin smiles, dropping her foot.
Aerin is focused on her plan, she is, but she drunkenly wonders if she can convince him to show her his claws. Cut off her panties with them. She wonders how big they are, wonders how big he is when he shifts. She’d bet he’s massive. Gods, any other night this would be an amazing lay.
As if on cue, the door handle to the private bathroom quite literally melts. Red hot and dripping onto the floor. As the door swings open, the Tiger growls, loud and harsh.
