Page 22 of Taking Jenny (Planet Orhon #4)

Mal

W hat. The. Fuck. Was. I. Thinking.

I was thinking about Tiger’s iron jaw, his piercing amber brown eyes, his gorgeous tail, his masculine beauty…

My dick. I was thinking with my dick.

I tried to shove the thought out of my head as I stormed down the dark, empty hallway, berating myself with every step. Stupid. Reckless. Undisciplined.

And yet, his kisses stole my breath away.

The truth hit me hard, and I had to stop, bracing a hand against the wall to catch myself. I inhaled deeply. Exhaled slower.

During that moment in the library, he’d seen me. Not as the executioner. Not the rake. Not the cold-blooded tool of Justice’s regime. Me . And I had suspected that he would, given the chance.

The day I saw them both at court, when Jenny had fought for him, Tiger had fought for her in a different way.

He had known she would be taken to task for kicking at the guards, so he bravely told her that getting his tail clipped would be alright, that he would be fine.

He banked on her human ignorance of Ladrian anatomy.

Tails were loaded with nerve endings, highly sensitive areas.

Some even used them during sex to bring a person to completion.

The idea of his tail being cut should have horrified him.

He should have tried to run away. But instead, he comforted her, in the face of his own excruciating pain.

Tiger wasn’t a fighter in the traditional sense, but he was braver than many I had known, and he saw what people needed in their hearts. His emotional intelligence was beyond his years. It certainly outpaced mine.

I understood why he had hated me. I was used to it, particularly from the unclassed. I was given a life they could never have. But even with those barriers in place, even with all the valid reasons he had to despise me…he still hadn’t been able to pull himself away from me.

There is something between us. And I owe it to us both to find out more.

I pushed off the wall and quietly walked toward their hallway. Every step toward his bedroom, my heartbeat quickened. Hope and lust made me dizzy. The lights were out at the bottom edge of both their bedroom doors. I cracked his open and his bed was empty.

He’s sleeping with her. Of course.

Gently, I turned the knob to her bedroom. No, only Jenny inside.

I frowned, sighed, and carefully closed her door.

“Have you—”

I jumped at Tiger’s voice behind me and glared at him. “You’ve startled me twice tonight. Have you any idea how rare that is? No one sneaks up on me.”

But his expression did not smooth, and he did not smile at me. Instead, he scowled. “Have you been sneaking around with Jenny?”

I realized how my actions might look to him, and tried to explain. “No, I was looking for you.”

His narrowed gaze flicked across my face. “I don’t believe you.”

“Well, I’m telling you the truth.”

He crossed his arms over his solid chest, biceps bulging beneath the thin shirt. “You don’t need to flirt with me to persuade me to help Jenny. I would do that anyway. Even if you two are sleeping together.”

“We’re not!” I snapped irritably. “Not yet, anyway—”

“Whatever you say, Malice .” His voice was coated in acid as he turned toward his room. “Goodnight.”

“I swear , I was only looking for you!”

He shrugged, and went to his room, slamming the door in my face behind him.

“Oh, the fuck you did!” I threw open his door, shoving it closed after me.

Tiger whipped around, startled that I had stormed into his bedroom. I saw it in his wide eyes and the way his shoulders braced.

“You take that shit back, Tiger,” I said in a low, heated voice, aggravated by this man for so many reasons. “Take it back right now !”

“I will not.” He folded his arms over his chest again, planting his feet like he was daring me to make a move.

“I came here for you !” I insisted. “I kissed you ! Not Jenny—”

“No, you just bit her.”

I closed my eyes, my hands clenching into fists at my side. When I felt as though I’d regained some of my composure, I looked at Tiger again. “Yes, I did. Because I couldn’t take having her so close to me and not at least tasting her. But I already told you, I like you both .”

Tiger scoffed. “How can I believe that?”

I groaned in frustration. “Because you can trust me.”

“I can’t—”

“You can!” I shouted.

“How can I trust the man who’s keeping us captive and keeping secrets from us, Mal?”

I jerked back, something inside of me cracking. He still didn’t see it. Still didn’t understand. The lust for him didn’t fade, but the hope? That shattered.

I thought he saw me. I guess I was wrong.

Very quietly, I explained. “If I had not brought you here, you and Jenny would be rotting in the royal prison right now. Mutilated. Tortured. Eventually, executed. If you want to leave, fine, go. You know where the doors are and I won’t stop you. But if you stay, it’s your choice.”

I stepped toward the door, my hand on the doorknob as I glanced back at him. “Just understand this. If you leave, it will be like I said before. You will both be hunted down, for as long as it takes. I hope you make the right choice and stay so I can at least try and save you both.”

“Why are you trying to help us, Malice?” he asked, his voice softer and calmer now, the anger gone. “The real reason.”

“I don’t owe you my reasoning.” I inclined my head. “Goodnight, Tiger.”

“You don’t owe me anything at all,” he said, his brows furrowed. “That’s why I’m so confused by you.”

My hand fell away from the door, and something in me split open again.

But not in pain. In surrender. The mask I’d always worn fell, and I stood before Tiger, bare in a way I rarely allowed myself to be.

Not physically. I’d never minded being naked.

But this? This was emotional madness. Vulnerability in its purest sense.

“I owe you everything , Tiger,” I said, letting my walls slip even further.

He stared at me, our gazes locked. “I don’t understand.”

I took a breath, but there was not enough air in the room for what I had to say to him. I tried anyway.

“The moment I saw you and Jenny, I was as much your captive as you were the court’s. When I saw the fire in her eyes, the strength and bravery in yours…I lost everything I thought I understood about my life. I lost all right to privacy. All right to solitude when it came to you two.”

I stepped closer to him. The words spilled from me before I could contain them, each one slicing me open a little more.

“The life I knew before you and Jenny, it was beige. A mundane wasteland with no true purpose. I meant nothing, to anyone. And then you two came, and suddenly everything had color. And meaning . I’ve felt more alive in the past few days than I ever have.

I can’t think about a single thing without wondering how you’d react. Or how Jenny would challenge it.”

My voice cracked on her name, but I steadied myself as I continued.

“I shouldn’t feel this way, yet I do. It’s irrational and impulsive.

But logic has nothing to do with my feelings toward you and Jenny.

I will do everything in my power to keep you both safe for as long as I can.

That is my purpose, whether you believe it or not.

But don’t pretend that you’re my captives for one more second because I am yours Tiger.

And Jenny’s. I have been from the first moment I saw you both, which is why I brought you two here, because I couldn’t bear the thought of either of you being executed. ”

His arms unfolded back to his sides, and his chest rose and fell like he’d been holding his breath the entire time. Then, he stepped forward until our bodies nearly touched, his eyes taking every detail of my face, as if he were searching for the lie in my words, but found none.

I stood still as his hands lifted to my face. I didn’t know what he would do—strike, strangle me, turn me away—but instead, he kissed me. Soft. Searching. Testing this delicate thing between us. I’d never enjoyed this human custom of kissing before, but Tiger changed all that.

My heart stuttered and then roared to life. I flattened a palm on his chest and slid it up to his shoulder, giving him the chance to pull away. He didn’t. Instead, his hand moved to the back of my neck, pulling me closer, tongue slipping between my lips with aching precision.

I groaned against his lips, a helpless sound full of desire and need. His fingers pressed against my scalp, grounding me in the sensation of him.

When he pulled back, the wave of loss hit me so hard I had to steady myself. But Tiger didn’t look angry. He looked bewildered and stunned, like he couldn’t believe he’d kissed me like that.

His free hand drifted to my hip, the other curling from the back of my head to my throat.

Not squeezing, but not gentle, either. He pushed me back, until my spine hit the wall and I let out a grunt from the force of it.

The illusion of softness vanished, and when he kissed me again, it was ravenous. Brutal and rough.

Our tongues clashed, teeth scraping. We groaned into each other’s mouths like we were devouring something sacred. His hands found my ass and pulled me even closer, our cocks grinding through the fabric between us.

His lust-filled moan was my undoing. I bit the side of his neck in response, hard enough to make him growl. He tasted manly, salty, intoxicating .

My hand found the thick ridge of his cock through the soft pajama material.

Gods, he was hard, and huge. I cupped him, stroked him, and he moaned again, his hips rocking forward into my palm.

I moved against him, needing space to touch him properly, but he pinned me to the wall and caught my wrists, pressing them above my head, pinning me there with his body.

I let him. We both knew I could easily break free, but I didn’t. Because in that moment, I belonged to him.

He kissed down my neck, his mouth dragging hot and wet over the sensitive skin just beneath my ear. I moaned shamelessly.