Page 4

ARIA

I perched on the edge of the bed and waited for Malik’s return. And waited. And waited.

One hour passed, then another. Before I knew it, the sky began to darken. Every time I heard footsteps on the other side of the locked door, I sat up a bit straighter, only to slouch again when the soft thuds faded down the hallway again.

Every so often, I stood from the mattress and paced the room, eyes peeled for any small detail that I might’ve missed before. There was nothing. Only the lifeless room that could’ve been mistaken for a hotel advertisement—impersonal and free from any heart.

I stood by the window, observing the entirety of the space and trying to imagine its potential.

If this was going to be my new home, I’d need to make some serious changes.

Add a picture frame and some color, at least. Hopefully my mate wouldn’t mind adding an assortment of blue pillows to his plain gray quilt.

Or yellow! Yellow was the happiest color, after all, and, based on first impressions, it seemed like Malik could use a bit of that in his life…

I blinked, putting a stop to my wandering mind.

I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. There was a very real chance that Malik had no intention of sharing this bedroom with me.

My stomach twisted to the point of pain. Sighing, I turned my attention back to the door and hugged my waist with both arms, as if that might mend the ache I felt in my core.

“Where are you?” I whispered to my absent mate.

Another hour passed. The clock read 6:30 PM, but it felt like the middle of the night. Exhaustion settled over my bones. I felt mentally and physically fatigued from the events of the day.

I’d started the day angry and nervous, fortifying myself to meet the alpha who’d conquered my beloved pack and forced my father to submit.

Then, I’d been hit by a serious case of emotional whiplash when Alpha Roman announced his intent to use my body for the sake of producing an heir, only for the largest, most fearsome looking male I’d ever seen to step forward and claim me as his own.

Not to mention, my own father had planned on using me as a bargaining chip with Alpha Roman.

That betrayal would take time to sort through…

Even now, conflicting sweeps of elation and fear and grief coursed through my body. It didn’t help that, with every moment that passed, a new worry chewed at my mind. What if Malik doesn’t want me? Will he even come back for me?

It was all so overwhelming. My head spun as I tried to process it all.

“Goddess, help me,” I groaned, collapsing back on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

I refused to accept rejection from my mate. Of course, the circumstances of our first meeting were awkward, and it didn’t help that we couldn’t effectively communicate. But surely he couldn’t give up on our fated bond after a measly fifteen minutes in my company?

Turning my head toward the door, I considered exiting the room. He’d locked the door from the outside, meaning I could still leave. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult to locate that hulking mountain-of-a-man inside this place?

I chewed on my inner cheek. No, this castle is freakin’ enormous. Not to mention it’s filled with dozens of equally enormous and intimidating shifters. I shivered and decided to stay in the room, like Malik’s note ordered.

But if I kept staring at the door, I would go insane. Even more, I felt pathetic—like a lost puppy waiting at the window for its owner to return.

No, that’s not me.

My mate wouldn’t reject me. I wouldn’t allow it.

Instead of sulking, it was time to make myself at home.

MALIK

Every fiber in my body itched to be reunited with my little dove.

I’d spent the better part of four fucking hours by my brother’s side, wasted discussing plans for his next campaign to expand his control over the region. He sensed my agitation, no doubt, and decided to keep the advisors gathered for an hour longer than usual.

I saw it in Roman’s eyes. That familiar glimmer of smug arrogance that always filled his eyes—our father’s eyes—when he wanted to make a show of his power. He asserted his authority when he felt threatened, as if he liked to remind me of who our father appointed as heir.

As if I could ever forget .

I knew he felt threatened today. When I marked my claim on little Aria and snatched her from beneath his nose. Although he’d been forced to submit to the laws of a fated mate bond, Roman wanted me to know that he would never bow to me.

I didn’t need the reminder. I simply needed to return to my mate.

With every moment spent away from the girl, my chest tightened with an innate, primal need to claim her. To protect what was mine.

By now, every soul in the Intonat Nocte Pack had undoubtedly heard about what transpired in the throne room.

Word traveled unfathomably fast among shifters who shared a mind-link.

Only a handful of my pack mates—friends that had known me since boyhood and were not afraid to approach—dared to congratulate me on my newfound status as a mated male.

Fated mates were a blessing from the Moon Goddess, and some shifters spent their entire lives searching for that bond. Mine had walked, unknowingly and unwittingly, right into mine.

For the first time in my life, the Moon Goddess had granted me something good.

And I’d abandoned her in my damn bedroom.

I stalked the hallway of the second floor, spearing toward the door that I never visited more than once a month. Maybe less.

I already had the key in hand when I arrived at the door but paused at the threshold. Holding my breath, I listened for any sounds coming from within the room. Nothing.

My pulse quickened at the thought that Aria might not be inside when I open the door. Had someone taken her? Had she run away, desperate to escape a life shackled to me?

I turned the key and pushed into the room. Immediately, the delectable combination of honeysuckle and pear rolled over me, and my body relaxed. She was here .

Although darkness shrouded the room, my eyes adjusted quickly, and I found Aria curled up on the bed. She created a lump beneath the quilt, her small body occupying a mere portion of the huge mattress. Was she asleep? Without dinner?

I heard my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I took a step into the room, quietly closing the door behind me and locking it once more. I never utilized the lock before. I never cared enough about anything in my personal space.

Slowly, I walked closer to the unmoving shape. Soft, steady exhales told me that she was truly asleep, and I willed myself to memorize the rhythm of her breaths.

As I neared, her hair glimmered a shade lighter in the moonlight that pooled in from the open curtains. It illuminated her delicate features. I studied her from the foot of the bed, not daring to take a step closer for fear that she might wake up and find me staring at her.

She possessed a dainty nose with a round tip, dusted in light freckles. Her lashes were surprisingly dark given her blonde hair and light skin tone, resting peacefully on high cheekbones. In her sleep, her lips took on a pucker, leaving the smallest gap between each full petal.

Beautiful. My own mouth parted at the sight.

What had I done to deserve such pure, unadulterated beauty? Or, more likely, what had she done to be condemned to a creature like me?

I swallowed my awe but didn’t dare to look away. I half believed she would disappear if I took my eyes off of her for one second.

I could’ve stayed there all night, but Aria suddenly shifted in her sleep. A soft mewl escaped her lips as she readjusted her head on the pillow, and the gray quilt slipped off of her bare shoulder.

Bare shoulder .

Every muscle in my body tightened at the realization.

She’d taken off her blouse. A single nude strap graced her shoulder, and my eyes dipped to the small cleavage now on display.

Modest breasts pushed against the confines of her plain bra.

Perfect mounds that would be dwarfed by my hands, yet fit like puzzle pieces in my palms. Some shameful part of me wondered if her nipples held the same rosy hue as her lips…

Hells. Had she taken off her jeans, too?

My cock unwittingly twitched, and I ripped my eyes away from Aria before the crackling embers in my blood transformed into a wildfire.

Running a hand through my long, unkempt hair, I paced away from the bed and internally cursed.

I’d never invited a woman into my bed before. Had never wanted to welcome that sort of trust and intimacy into my life. But my little dove had invited herself, stripped down into near nothingness and fallen asleep. She placed a startling amount of trust in me. In my self-control.

I didn’t like it.

It was easier when others feared me. Fear was expected. Known. It allowed me to control and maintain a proper distance between myself and others in my life, even those that I considered myself closest with. I’d grown accustomed to being alone and preferred it that way.

But blind trust and acceptance… Those were foreign concepts in my life. And they promised a loss of control.

I rubbed at my forehead, fingers massaging the ruined scar tissue above my eyebrow, and cast one last look at my stunning mate. I’d be damned if I lost her, but I also felt the need to keep her an arms length away. For her sake and my own.

Aria Knox might’ve been my fated mate, but I wouldn’t be responsible for ruining her. I was a blight to her beauty.

And yet, after I headed into the en suite bathroom and took a shower, I climbed into bed beside her for the first time. She was turned away from me, and, damn it to hell, I hated the distance between our bodies.

With painstakingly slow movements, I scooted an inch closer to the center of the bed.

Then another, the mattress shifting beneath my immense weight.

Finally, I dared to extend my arm and wrap it around her waist, and heat flared where my forearm secured purchase against the soft swell of her lower belly.

Although I’d never done this with anyone before, I followed my body’s base instincts. I wanted to hold her close. Needed to hold her close.

So, I tugged her backwards and only stopped when her back pressed flush against my chest, her hips aligned with the curve of my pelvis. My cock, which I’d managed to tame during my time in the shower, pulsed with renewed desire as it nestled between the two globes of her ass.

Resisting the urge to grind against her, I ground my teeth instead and buried my head in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent deep into my lungs. I draped one leg over hers, fully entangling our forms, and finally felt close enough.

At long last, I closed my eyes.