Page 57 of Uprooted

Aro

“Where the fuck is she?” I bellow at Bri from across the mess hall. Every head in the room whips toward me. She’s sitting alone holding a coffee cup and slowly stands and starts walking towards me.

I need to find my mate, right now.

“I don’t know,” she says. She tamps down her hands and looks around the room to see who’s watching. Everyone else has gone back to what they were doing, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Elowen wasn’t in our room when I went to get her for dinner and she’s not with Bri.

“You tell me right now if she left the base.” My throat constricts.

“I don’t know where she is. I was also looking for her a while ago.” I can’t tell if Bri sounds concerned because of my reaction or for Elowen’s safety.

“Is she with Kiera?” I ask.

“How would I know?”

I level her with a look. If Elowen was planning something, Bri would definitely know about it.

“I haven’t seen either of them,” she says.

I stomp away before I say something I’ll regret later. My feet carry me to transpo and an empty charging deck. All I know is blood pounding in my ears and rage.

My surroundings blur. I hear a distant roar and feel a burn in my throat.

Metal buckles under my fists and I’m running through the field outside the base. I toss a porter aside like a child’s toy as I gain speed. It sails through the air and smashes into a tree, sending broken glass and splintered wood into the air.

Brush scrapes against my legs and snags on my ripped clothes. Sturdy branches bend and snap as I rush through them with unwavering focus. A sick satisfaction courses through my veins at the sight of the destruction in my wake.

I smash through trees and rocks trying to find her. I am so angry that they went through with this plan, after I specifically said no.

I stop in my tracks and take in a deep hard breath, searching for Elowen’s familiar smell. Real panic hits my veins when I don’t pick up her scent. I look for signs of Atorum instead. This can’t be happening. She has to be here somewhere.

1807 Incoming message from Elowen Carson

Elowen: I’m okay. Come back to the barracks when you’re ready.

Anger and relief slowly spread across me.

I look down at my unfamiliar hands. My shredded clothes hang loose from my body.

My breathing is loud and hoarse. I turn back to the base and retrace my path of destruction.

My oversized footprints deep in the dirt.

A crew is already repairing the gate I burst through in my rage to find my mate.

My nostrils flare when I pick up her scent.

She’s waiting for me in our room.

“Aro, just listen for a minute, please,” she says pacing back and forth.

Even though I shifted back, I can still feel the thrum of power through my body. “Explain,” I say and clench my jaw.

“You didn’t want me to be in danger. And I’ve been completely safe this whole time.”

“You tricked me into thinking you’d left.” I finished for her.

“I did. I wanted to know if you would shift by thinking I was in danger. That you could somehow figure out how to summon the change, from a perceived threat," she takes a step towards me. “I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t see any other way.” Another step closer.

Even though I am angry, each step she takes brings my heart rate down. My breathing slows and my head clears .

“Where’s Kiera? I’m going to kill her,” I say.

“Leave her out of it. This is between you and me,” she says another step closer, now standing within arm’s length. But I don’t reach out to her.

A breath rattles in my chest. “Are you afraid of me now?” I ask. I didn’t realize until now that I was worried that my battleform would change the way she looked at me.

“Never. I know you would never hurt me, in any form,” she says and moves closer, bringing her body up against mine. Showing me that she isn’t scared to be close to me.

“I never want to see fear in your eyes when you look at me.”

“You won’t,” she reassures me.

“Don’t do that again. We make these decisions together.”

“I have something important that you need to hear,” she says.

My jaw ticks, preparing to hear something I won’t like.

“Your battleform is really hot.” She puts my hands on her hips and arches against me. I can’t resist the urge to flex a little when she touches my arms. The look in her eyes melts away any lingering anger.

She pulls the torn shirt from my shoulders and lets it fall. She twists our bodies around and closes the door behind her without taking her eyes off me.

She pulls my loose-hanging pants down from my hips. My cock got hard the moment she looked at me with those eyes. I reach up and grab her thick hair in my fist and pull her head up to meet my gaze. Her soft gasp makes my cock twitch.

“You’re still in trouble,” I say against her lips before I roughly take her mouth with mine.

“I know,” she says and shudders against me when I drag my teeth down her throat. I pull at the snaps on her coveralls, exposing her soft creamy skin. I rip the two sides apart and her clothes fall into a pile at her feet.

“You owe me a new pair of coveralls,” she says and bites at my lower lip.

I rip away her underwear next. “And underwear!” she shrieks. “It’s hard to find clothes in my size.” I smack her ass with a loud crack. A red mark appears—and it’s fucked up how hard that makes me.

“You can borrow my shirts.” I sit on the edge of the bed and pull her down to straddle me. She arches her body, and I see stars .

“You don’t want me running around the base in just your shirt,” she says and grinds harder.

“Why are you still talking?” I ask before biting down softly on her nipple that she shoved in my face. She gasps. I chuckle at my ability to make her lose words.

I scoot us back and lay flat on my back. She shifts up and slowly lowers herself onto my dick. She is so wet I slide into her and sigh as she takes all of me. She whimpers softly when she reaches the bottom.

I grab her hips and lift her back up. She nearly comes off of me before I slam her back down. She meets every thrust. I could die a happy Tilak watching her bounce up and down on my cock. My fingers dent into her soft rounded hips when I lift her up.

Her head is thrown back, exposing her long neck. I reach up and grasp her throat gently, feeling the tight cords of her neck flex.

She leans forward and uses my chest for leverage. I reach down and position my thumb at her clit. Every time she drops down, she drags my thumb through her, pushing on that sensitive place. She speeds up. When she comes, she takes me with her.

Our legs are tangled together. Everything feels right in the world with her next to me.

“You make me feel like I’ve discovered something that I never knew existed,” I tell her. “And now that I know it…”

“There is no unknowing it,” she finishes for me.