Page 16

MALIK

T ake me back to the cottage.

My blood roared. The adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins since the damned dinner party, born of anger and fear, pulsed anew.

Take me back to the cottage. It was a quiet, firm plea.

Need pooled behind those sky eyes, undoubtedly mirrored in my own gaze. My chest heaved, gulping to draw air into my burning lungs. I’d forgotten to breathe, too transfixed by the taste of my little dove.

I dipped my chin and stooped to scoop Aria into my arms, one slipping beneath her bent legs and the other cradling her back.

Her arms wrapped around my neck, the insides of her forearms grazing the scarred tissue at my throat, but I didn’t withdraw. The skin prickled at the unnatural sensation of another’s touch, but I took a steadying breath and focused on the warmth of her skin instead .

I carried her along the path, nerves and anticipation curling low in my abdomen with every step I took closer to our home.

I had no experience with… this. I’d never taken a female into my bed. I’d relieved myself with my fist, of course, but I didn’t know the first thing about pleasuring another. Apprehension licked down my spine at the prospect of disappointing my mate.

Of course, I’d never kissed anyone before, either, yet my body seemed to innately know what to do.

I studied Aria’s reactions, too. The little noises in her throat.

The way her lips parted and her fingers tightened on my shirt when I did something she enjoyed.

When the time came, I decided I would allow her reactions and instinct to guide me once again.

We arrived at the cottage a few minutes later. I gently placed Aria on her feet in the kitchen and took a small step backward.

Now, standing face to face with my little dove, I realized that the anger-fueled passion from minutes ago had settled, though insatiable lust still churned in my groin. I still wanted her, but my bravery dwindled with the rage.

She stared up at me expectantly, her fleshy bottom lip clasped between her teeth. Her skin was flushed, practically glowing in the light from the nearly full moon through the window. Goddess, she was perfect.

Suddenly, I felt terribly inadequate. I lowered my head, allowing my long hair to fall over the ruined side of my face, as if that might make her forget that I looked monstrous in comparison to her.

A frown formed on her forehead in response, and she took a small step forward. “Don’t hide from me, Malik. Please…”

The breath caught in my throat, and I froze.

She took another step closer, then another, until she stood directly in front of me. Our chests nearly brushed.

One of Aria’s hands landed on my chest, but the other found my unscarred cheek. She cupped the side of my face, fingers trailing over my scruff and stroking my jawline. Electricity sparked wherever her touch went.

“I think you’re beautiful,” she whispered, her voice filled with the reverence of an acolyte worshipping her god. “Every part of you. So, please, don’t hide from me.”

Then, she did it. The hand resting on my chest drifted upward. She moved with painstaking caution, giving me every opportunity to pull back as her fingers hovered centimeters away from my twisted scars.

“Do you want me to stop?”

My heart stopped. Alarm bells blared in my head. The voice in the back of my head, the one I’d relied on to survive for countless years, shouted at me to defend myself. But I didn’t. I steeled myself against the rising panic and shook my head.

No. I didn’t want her to stop.

Tears glistened across the surface of her eyes as I placed my trust in her delicate little fingers.

And when her fingertips brushed against my ruined flesh, there was no pain. No prickling. Only Aria’s soft touch and the warmth it left in its wake.

She traced the ridge that started at my eyebrow and followed it over my blind eye. I shuddered and surprised myself by pressing my cheek into her palm, as if I’d deprived myself of human contact for too long, and now I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Malik?”

I opened my eyes to find her smiling up at me, a single tear trailing down her rounded cheek, disappearing at the corner of her lips.

“Should we...” Splotches of color tainted her skin, and her confidence wavered, just for a moment. “Would you like to take me to the bedroom?”

My eyes widened, and I very nearly fell to my knees for love of this woman .

Still, she’d shown me that she valued communication, and there was one thing I needed Aria to know before we started down this path. I pulled away from her doting hands and found the notepad on the kitchen counter.

My handwriting appeared even messier than usual, the black ink smearing and bleeding through the paper as my fingers trembled.

More than once, I had to cross out my writing and start again.

Heat crept up my neck. Somehow, it felt more humiliating to write the words than it would to speak them out loud.

I don’t want to disappoint

I’m not experienced with

I’ve never done this before.

I handed the notepad to Aria and watched while she read the simple sentence like my life depended on it.

Her eyebrows rose, as if she was surprised by my admission. Then, a small smile pulled on her lips. Without hesitating, she took the pen and scrawled a reply.

I haven’t either. How about we start slow and learn together?

I looked up from the notepad, and our eyes locked. Palpable emotion passed between us, and I felt something I’d never experienced before. Safe.

I felt safe with Aria. Safe from judgment. Safe from hurt. Safe from myself.

I allowed the sensation to wash over me. I drank it in. Memorized it and ingrained it in my mind so as never to forget. So that the next time the darkness threatened to creep in, I’d remember it—remember her— and know that I would be okay.

ARIA

Without further hesitation, Malik set the notebook aside and took my hand.

My breaths came fast, never pulling enough air into my lungs, which only made my heartbeat escalate. He could undoubtedly hear it above our footsteps on the wooden floor, carrying us to the bedroom. But I wasn’t alone in my nerves. We were both novices when it came to this.

I’d been shocked when I first read Malik’s words, explaining that he’d never slept with another. But as soon as my initial surprise faded, joy took its place. Knowing that I’d be the only one to be with him in such an intimate way…

It meant more to me than he would ever know.

When we arrived, I kept our hands connected, robbing him of the opportunity to pull away. I perched on the edge of the mattress and urged him to sit down beside me. The bed dipped beneath his substantial weight.

Once again, we were left staring at one another with a strange mixture of hesitation and excitement sizzling between us.

This wasn’t like the movies or the romance novels that I’d devoured throughout my adolescence.

We weren’t clawing at each other’s clothes with a sweeping soundtrack orchestrating every choreographed move.

This was real. It was new and thrilling and awkward, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Sensing that he might need a little prompting, I cleared my throat and rotated my shoulders, giving Malik my back. “Help me unzip?”

I stared at a spot on the floor, though every fiber in my body honed in on the sound of Malik shifting behind me. Slowly, his fingers found the zipper at the back of my dress. With more gentleness than a man of his size seemed capable of, he tugged the zipper down.

The fabric loosened, one strap falling away from my shoulder. The other followed a second later, leaving the bodice in a puddle of fabric at my waist. My nipples hardened at the sudden exposure, and goosebumps peppered my skin.

Swallowing, I turned to face Malik once again. His eyes were wide. His pupil dilated as he stared at my bare breasts.

I knew he’d seen countless naked women before, just as I’d seen naked men. Nudity was commonplace in a pack of shifters. But this was different. My body sang under his scrutiny. Pure, unadulterated lust clouded Malik’s gaze, and it made me bold.

“You can touch me,” I whispered, rolling my shoulders back to accentuate the modest globes on my chest.

Malik’s breathing hitched, but, like a man under a spell, he lifted a hand to one of my breasts and cupped it. Heat seeped into me where our skin touched, and my breasts grew heavy and aching in an instant. A deep throb pulsed between my legs.

Soon, his other hand fit overtop the other side of my chest, his callouses scraping the sensitive skin as he squeezed each mound. The sensation shot straight to my sex.

Malik’s lips parted, his tongue darting out to wet their surface. One of his thumbs circled my nipple, then he pinched the sensitive bud and I gasped.

He pulled back like I’d burned him, concern etched across his features. His brows pulled together in a silent question.

Embarrassment flamed my cheeks, and I shook my head with a small laugh. “I’m sorry. It felt good. ”

Too good. In fact, ‘good’ didn’t even begin to cover it.

One corner of Malik’s mouth curled into a smile, and he circled my nipple again. The rosy peak pebbled in response to his touch, and I bit the inside of my cheek as a rivulet of electricity trickled all the way to the base of my spine.

A sudden need to feel more than just his hands on my breasts gripped me, and the words spilled from my mouth before I could stop them. I didn’t know where my sudden confidence blossomed from.

“You can kiss me there, too.”

His eyes flared, and I saw the moment his own confidence overcame his doubts. Something in my beautiful, broken mate shifted, as if he’d simply been waiting for my permission, and he nudged me backward on the bed, laying me on the mattress and climbing over my body.

He pinned me beneath him, and his mouth found my breasts. I gasped as his tongue tested and tasted one nipple, then the next. His lips latched over the painfully taut nub, hot and wet, and my legs spread of their own accord.

Malik settled into the crevice that I created for him, his lower abdomen pressed against the hollow between my legs. I couldn’t help it when my hips thrust upward into him, chasing relief for the tightness building within.

He withdrew from my breasts just long enough to look up at me, his eyes dark and wild, and I knew some combination of ecstasy and agony was written across my features. Like he knew exactly what I needed, he shifted his weight forward and brought his mouth to mine, simultaneously aligning our hips.

His erection pressed into me, hard and thick through the fabric of his jeans and my flimsy dress. I wiggled my hips until the long rod parted my lower lips, and then I thrust my hips against him again .

He slid against my sex, and the rub of his jeans felt like heaven against the nub at the apex of my thighs.

This time, Malik puffed a harsh gasp into my mouth, and I swallowed it down. If his vocal cords weren’t ruined, I guessed the exhalation might’ve sounded like a moan, and I smiled at that knowledge.

He pulled away from our kiss, one elbow braced beside my head to allow him to hover above me, and watched me with hesitation in his gaze. He rolled his hips into me once, and flames leapt from my aching center.

“Yes,” I begged, wiggling beneath him to seek that illusive friction. “Yes, just like that.”

With my confirmation, Malik resumed our kiss. He rolled his hips in time with the thrust of his tongue into my mouth. Whether he realized it or not, his erection rubbed tantalizing circles around my clitoris, and pleasure skittered through my body.

Soft, breathy moans and whimpers slipped from my throat, and he adjusted his movements according to my reactions, like he intimately knew just what I needed. The knowledge that only he could elicit such a response from my body sent another great wave of arousal straight to my core.

My clit began to tingle and swell with warmth, and my entire being tightened and tightened and?—

“Oh!” I cried, breaking free from his mouth as release barreled through me.

My back arched off the bed, causing my stiff nipples to rub against his chest. Bolts of arousal shot straight to my core, extending my orgasm, as Malik’s thrusts turned erratic and rough.

Soft bursts of air came from his mouth, and he shuddered. His movements became sloppy, until he went still above me and his breathing turned ragged. When I opened my eyes, it was to find Malik already staring down at me, awe scribbled over his handsome features.

I was faintly aware of a warm wetness between my legs, where our still-clothed bodies ground tight against one another’s. Malik stiffened.

His brow furrowed, and he shifted away from me, but not before I felt a new sort of hardness at the seam of his jeans. As if the blood coursing through his anatomy did not ease with his release, but instead increased—tenfold.

Splotches of color covered his cheeks, and he pushed away from the mattress, spinning away from me as if to preserve his modesty. After what we just did, I couldn’t understand why.

“Malik?” I panted his name and propped myself onto an elbow, still coming down from my high.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he kept his back to me and retreated into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a resounding thud and leaving me alone.

Alone, half-dressed, and sated, yet more confused than ever.