“It was extenuating circumstances!” Aerin all but shouts. Malice looks over at the Ursine doorman behind Aerin, but she doesn’t care. The door to the elevator opens and Malice quickly enters. Aerin follows, as she continues, “And, I didn’t actually lie to you at all. You have no right?—”
“I have no right?” Malice cuts her off, whipping to face her. “You lied to me,again. You told me there would be no more secrets, and then you deliberately attempted to fool me and put yourself in danger,again!” He crowds her, their bodies almost touching.
“Technically, I never promised anything,” Aerin rebuts hesitantly.
“Gods damn it, Aerin!” Malice shouts.
Aerin is silent, waiting for something, for anything. A hint of how to fix this. The elevator rises, their time running out.
“I can’t be who you want me to be,” Malice finally admits, “Not when you constantly feed me these half-truths. You hoard your secrets and your manipulations like they are the only thing that protects you.”
“They are the only thing that protects me!”
“I protect you!”
Malice’s nostrils flare as he breathes heavily, holding himself back. Tension intensifies in the small space. Aerin wants nothing more than for him to snap, for him to grab her and kiss her. For him todoanything. He seems to be thinking about it, his gaze on her mouth, eyes, then down to her mouth again, chest still heaving.
The elevator door slides open and the moment snaps. They both turn to the hall where the door to her apartment is ajar, shouting coming from inside. They exchange a glance before quickly moving down the hall.
“I swear if you ever touch me like that again I’ll—” Emrys’s voice is more vicious than Aerin has heard in a long time.
“I was acting in front of the King. You’re welcome, by the way. In case you forgot, he’d kill you if he knew the truth,” Khortland fires back, indifference in his tone.
“You guys please,” Reyna’s voice pleads.
Malice is through the door first, moving to Emrys’s side immediately.
“What happened?” Malice demands to Emrys.
“He treats me like a fucking object! I ought to bite his hand off next time!” Emrys shouts, lunging for Khortland. Malice stops the Wolf.
“That’s enough!” Aerin orders, slamming the front door shut behind her. “We’ve all had a long weekend. Just please…” She sighs. “I think everyone could use some time apart. Khortland, you and Reyna can have the room at the end of the hall.” Aerin gestures down the hall to her right.
The sound of the trash can lid closing snaps through the otherwise silent room. From her left Theoden Marrow, in all his glory, closes the space between them.
“It’s about damn time,” he says just before both of his hands find her face and pull her in for a kiss.
61
THEODEN
When Theoden kisses Aerin Tolvare for the first time in eight years he feels like a water-deprived fish finally returning to the sea. Like life is being breathed back into him, like for the first time in eight years he can take a whole breath.
Of course, that breath is rudely interrupted by the sounds of male posturing. Theo pulls his lips away from Aerin but doesn’t let her face go quite yet. Instead, he simply looks at her. The tension in her facial features tells him everything he needs to know.
Releasing her, he turns to face the room. The Dragon-Fae and the Wolf are the ones who growled. Theo grins, his full, mega-watt, smile.
“Emrys, Malice, you remember Theoden Marrow,” Aerin says as a means of introduction. Theo doesn’t care for it. There are much more pressing things, like getting his head between Aerin’s thighs as soon as possible.
Though, in the seven weeks since Aerin spoke to him at the party, Theo has done a bit of research. Malice, a Dragon-Fae from Iron Spine was assigned as Aerin’s personal guardthe weekend the contract voided. Since then, they’ve become inseparable. Theo theorized that Malice is one of Aerin’s bond-mates, considering anyone else would have been murdered and dumped in the sea before they were allowed to invade her privacy. Aerin has a low tolerance for such things.
Two days ago, Aerin was photographed in Zeneith where her Paramyr, Prince Khortland Hale, “gifted” her a Wolf. Theo immediately knew this Wolf to be Emrys. There is no other Wolf Aerin would risk herself for. Her third bond-mate.
Theo can admit he’s surprised both to find a Human in Aerin’s apartment, and that the Human kissed Khortland Hale upon his arrival. Theo’s surprised to see Khortland at all, considering the last he’d heard, the ice Fae did not want anything to do with his Paramyr. How, Theo has no idea.
The Wolf asks, “What is he doing here?”
At the same time, Malice grumbles something about the wards of the apartment.
