Malice loses all sense of his self-control when faced with her rage.
“That is exactly what you did! You move me around your life like a fucking game piece,” Malice roars back. Aerin stomps forward, closing the space between them with fury in her eyes.
“And if I didn’t, you wouldn’t listen!” Aerin snaps back, shoving at his chest with only her physical strength. Malice hardly rocks back on his heels. “You are bullheaded! You are constantly questioning me!” She hits his chest with each insult.
“Someone has to!” Malice interrupts.
“Ugh!” Aerin screams in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air and storming away from him.
Malice follows after her, “You and all your secrets! You hoard them just like the Dragon! And then you manipulate everyone in your life to see only the things you want them to see. But I am here, Aerin! Right fucking here! And I see everything!”
Aerin spins around so abruptly Malice crashes into her. He catches her body against his and uses his wings to keep them both upright. Her chest heaves against his, her pulse pumping wildly. Her eyes flicker across his face, fight still burning through her.
“You ask me to trust you, but you don’t trust me. You don’t get to have it both ways. Either you’re my bonded-mate or my game piece. Which is it?” Aerin snarls.
Tightening his grip around her waist, Malice pulls her closer into him. A flush lines her cheekbones, her lips slightly parted as she breathes. The fight leaves him, his other hand pushing a strand of her hair from her face. She is beautiful in her rage.
“I am your bonded-mate,” Malice concedes softly, baring the truth he hates himself for. That despite it all, he cares for her. “But you have to let me all the way in.”
Aerin stills in his arms, her eyes searching his face for the lie.
“I have always kept my secrets, Malice,” a hint of vulnerability crosses her undeniably gorgeous face.
“I’m not asking you to divulge them all, but enough with the masks. Not with me. And not with Emrys. Not anymore.” Malice stays firm in his demands.
“Okay,” Aerin concedes softly.
Malice squeezes her waist and a smile blooms across her face in return.
“What is that?” he teases. Aerin schools her features immediately, but then she looks up at him through her lashes. He swears the world stops spinning when Aerin Tolvare looks at him likethat.
He kisses her. He can’t not kiss her.
Aerin gasps against his mouth before melting into him. Her mouth welcomes his tongue as Reikan chants,[Mine. Mine. Mine.]
She pulls back, a wry smile on her face. “Do you think Soren would be upset if we used his little cabin for a bit longer?”
Malice shakes his head no.
He doesn’t know how he went from carefully orchestrating a sexual encounter where he hardly touched Aerin, to chasing after her as she laughs and squeals through the woods. But hiscock is throbbing behind his pants, his headache is gone, and for once, Malice just doesn’t fucking question it.
46
AERIN
Bursting through the door of the cabin Aerin lets out a laugh, Malice hot on her heels. He captures her by the waist, pulling her into his body. His lips find her neck as he slams the door shut with his boot behind them. Aerin’s entire chest feels full, and she can’t stop laughing. As if her joy needs a way out of her body. As if nothing else in the world matters aside from this, from him.
Aerin turns in his arms, yanking off her top as she does. He groans, diving his head down to her chest and kissing down one breast and up the next. His hands skate over her sides, leaving trails of hot skin in their wake, as if every cell inside of her is lighting up with his touch. When his hands reach her chest, he palms each breast through her bra. Aerin grips his massive biceps, nails digging into his skin as he massages her, fingers deftly move over her nipples, pinching in sync.
“These are fucking perfect, you know that? You are fucking perfect,” Malice growls. In one sharp movement he tears her bra at the center, and Aerin laughs at the absurdity. Her laughs turn to moans when he captures a nipple in his mouth, his tongue swirling over the point and making her eyes roll back. Gods, shewants him. Every pull on her chest is like a bolt straight down to her core. Her panties already soaked through, her need rising.
She tears at his shirt, and Malice pulls away only enough for her to pull it off. When he’s free of it, his lips finally find hers. It’s unlike any of their previous kisses, not biting or sharp or furious. It’s tender, his lips moving softly as his tongue sweeps into her mouth, making her shiver.
Aerin holds his face in both her hands. She both wants this to last forever and for him to sink into her as soon as physically possible.
When Malice pulls back, their eyes connect. His reverence abates as his eyes travel down her bare chest. When he looks at her face again, all Aerin can see is lust.
Malice’s mouth crashes back into hers, ravaging her, leaving nothing unexplored. Ever the multitasker, he grips her thighs and hoists her into the air. Aerin squeals in delight against his mouth before moaning as she grinds her hips down against the hard bulge she now finds pressed against her core. She thinks she might get addicted to the groan that falls from Malice as she does.
