by R. A. Boyd
Behind the joy that seemed to surround her right now, he knew she was pissed at him right now. She had every right to be. Even though she’d promised him that she wouldn’t fly off and go after Samiyah, he kept treating her like a flight risk. It was wrong, and it was something that he had to deal with himself. It was Aiden’s insecurity that plagued him. He’d never had to worry about things like this before he met her.
In all his time on this earth, he’d loved and lost so many people. But Paige was something else. She meant more to him than the air he breathed, and he wanted to keep her safe. Safe from the world. Safe from their enemies. Safe from herself? That was a fucking cop out and he knew it. He had to fix this part of himself or she would pull away from him and take her trust with her.
She was stronger now, more sure of herself. He could see it in the way she walked and held people’s gazes when she spoke to them. Just a few days ago she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Now, here she was in the middle of their community. A private smile on her face as she looked to the sky and spoke words he couldn’t hear. Was she praying? Talking to herself? Either way, he was happy she seemed to be so content in this moment.
Standing in the middle of the street with her arms slightly raised to her sides, she looked like the perfect picture of a postcard inviting everyone to come along with her.
Her eyes cut to him as he tapped on the thick glass of his window to catch her attention. With one beautifully arched eyebrow raised, she pursed her lips and stared at him. Her entire body tensed.
“Fuck,” he murmured to the empty room. She was beyond pissed.
Inwardly, he thanked the Creator that she started walking toward their house and not away from it. She’d done that earlier that morning after they left the hall at breakfast, and she’d asked him not to follow her. He wanted to but was slowly learning that Paige was not the timid woman he’d first met a few days ago. The spell was slowly wearing off and she was becoming who she really was. The fire in her eyes, the fierceness in her tone, and her independent will made his dick hard.
He turned from the window and started down the steps. “You made your bed, asshole. Now get in that bastard and get what’s coming to you,” he murmured as the front door opened.
Paige came in and took off her shoes. He noticed that she didn’t like to wear shoes on the inside and took them off whenever she went into someone’s house. She even took them off at the community hall where they often gathered to eat together.
He rushed forward and helped her take off her coat. Silently, he hung it in the closet next to the front door and waited for her to talk. He would listen and agree to whatever she wanted. The look on her face let him know that this wasn’t going to be easy.
They stood like that for a few moments, the air pregnant with an uneasiness that made him shift from one foot to the other. She was smaller than him, but her emotions filled the room like an incense diffusing through the air. Quietly, he measured his words to earn her forgiveness.
“Paige, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t you dare,” she said as she put her hands on her wide hips and his dick thumped against his jeans.
Wide hips were always called child-bearing hips. Did she want a baby? Holy shit! Did he want a baby? He never thought of babies. It wasn’t something he never had to worry about. All the Ghost shifters were sterile until they found and claimed their mates.
Damn-it. Now his dick was rock hard at the thought of coming deep inside her womb to fill her with his seed.
“Why are you hard?” she murmured, pointing at his dick as it tried to break through his pants.
Aiden threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. You’re mad at me—”
“And that excites you?”
Shit. She was getting more and more upset with each word that shot out of his mouth.
“Yes. No. Please stop being upset with me.”
Paige took a steadying breath and moved her head from side to side as if loosening the tight muscles of her neck. “Aiden. You have to trust me. This won’t work if you don’t. I said I wouldn’t lie to you, and you said you would stop treating me like a child who can’t make her own decisions.” She raised her hand and brushed her fingers along his jaw. “You, us, this is the first thing that’s been mine in so long. Don’t put me down by not trusting me, because that’s what it feels like. Like I’m not worthy of your trust.”
He reached forward and grabbed one of her belt loops to pull her to him. He lifted her shirt slightly and caressed the soft skin at her waist with the tips of his fingers. Goosebumps sprang up along the soft patch of flesh. She shivered and a grin pulled at the corners of his lips. If he wasn’t careful he had the feeling she would punch him in his grinning mouth. “I know.”
She ran her hand over her face and up to her hair, fluffing the coily mass at the top. “We’re both learning. I’m different from the person you met a few days ago and as I grow into me I’ll probably change a little more. That has to be hard for you. You want to protect the me that ran away from you at the town hall shifter meeting. You want to protect the me that almost bled to death after you helped me take off that awful necklace. That’s what you want, and I get that. Stuff like this usually takes years to happen, but here I am doing it overnight.”
He pulled her closer to him, kissed her forehead, and smiled against her hairline. “I trust you. I’m just worried about everything when it comes to your safety. I wouldn’t dare tell you that I’ll try to get better with this overnight, but I will give it my all. I’ll do more than try.”
She softened against him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Since her face was on his chest, her words were fuzzy and he had to strain to make out what she was saying. “That’s all I want.” She pulled away and looked up into his face. “Thank you.” She chuckled and then punched his arm. “Why are you hard?”
He shook his head with a deliberate slowness so he could keep a straight face. “You’re in the room. I can’t help but have an erection.” He pulled her close again and rested his chin on the top of her head. “Want to go on a date later?”
She tensed in his arms and he thought he said something wrong.
“The meeting is tonight,” she mumbled. “I’m supposed to be dead later. By sunset, remember?”
Shit. She probably wanted to stay home and plot against her evil godfather. Did they have evil godfathers in fairytales?
“We don’t have to go,” he said, grabbing her by the hand and leading her to the kitchen. “We can stay home.”
Some unknown reaction passed through her eyes as she chewed on her lower lip. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to go out. I want us to go to the meeting so everyone can know you’ve found your mate, and then I want you to take me on a date.”
He could still feel the tension in her body, but he wouldn’t question her on it. She was trying to move on from what Samiyah had done, and he would do all he could to help. Even if it meant keeping his mouth shut and taking her where she wanted to go.
“Sounds like a plan.” Aiden ran his hands up and down her arms and breathed in the coconut scent of her hair. “Want something to eat? I’m going to make a sandwich.”
“Meh. I could eat.”
She followed him into the kitchen and headed straight for the breadbox. Riley had sent over some fresh baked rosemary bread and fruit pastries from her shop. Every time Paige went into the kitchen she warmed up and ate at least one of them.
“I’m going to have to learn to make this stuff,” Paige said as she grabbed the butter. “Shifter metabolism is the bee’s knees. I’m already a big girl but if I gained weight depending on how many carbs I ate I’d be on one of the tv shows trying to get help.”
Aiden snorted and took the lunch meat from the middle drawer in the refrigerator. “You’re not big. You’re healthy. I’ve never known peace and quiet like I do when you wrap those thighs around my head.”
She belted out a laugh and almost dropped her bread. “I’m afraid I�
�m going to smother you.” Paige laughed harder and starting coughing, choking on the rosemary bread she was about to chew. Not a fun way to go.
They joked back and forth as Aiden made their lunch. The weight of her anger had dissipated by the time they sat down. He was so happy to have moments like this with her. They talked as if all hell wasn’t threatening to burn down their home. One day, it wouldn’t be something they were trying to ignore. It would be a reality and they would be just like any other shifter clan or crew anywhere else.
Aiden ran his hand up and down her thigh as he ate, wanting to keep up the constant contact that brought him comfort. Most shifters thrived on touch but he’d never been one of them. Now with Paige by his side, all he wanted to do was touch her and be touched by her.
“How’d it go with Willow?” He put down his sandwich and started eating chips.
She took a sharp breath and cleared her throat, the uneasiness present in her posture. Aiden knew it wasn’t good news and tried to keep himself from sighing in anger. He wished he could make Samiyah suffer for every evil deed he’d committed.
“Well,” she said, resting her hand on top of his. “I won’t get my premonitions back. He used a stripping potion, and those are permanent. I kind of knew that.”
Fuck. Her words were even and there was no emotion attached to them. She was either used to it or trying like hell to pretend that she was. The missing grief made him hurt for her.
“I’m here if you want to talk. I know it won’t bring you comfort, but I understand how you feel.” He took a deep breath and told her things he had never shared with anyone outside of his brothers and sister. “We all thought life would end when we found out we were being cast out as angelic hosts. Who we were had been stripped from us. Even our humanity was taken when we were trapped in saber-tooth form. And you’d think that after we were made human again it would have eased something inside. It didn’t. Still another piece that was taken.” He shook his head and wrapped her fingers in his large hand. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
She sighed and stilled his hand as it massaged hers. “You’re going to have to stop apologizing for things that have nothing to do with you. It’s a habit. Why are you sorry?”
Because he couldn’t save her from this. Even though it happened years ago, years before they’d met, he still felt responsible. Almost as if he should have been the one to save her.
Paige snorted a laugh and bumped his shoulder with hers. “I’ll tell you something, and I hope you don’t hate me for it.”
“Never.”
“I’m not happy that all that happened to you, but don’t you see it?” She searched his eyes and he saw hope growing in them. “This makes us perfect for each other. You had everything taken from you. So did I. You, and your family, understand me in a way that no one else ever will. I can talk to you about this and never feel ashamed.”
“Why would you feel that way in the first place? What happened to you was nothing to be embarrassed about.”
She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I was utterly humiliated when I found out Sara knew what happened to me. I don’t know why. It just kind of slammed me in the chest when she looked at me like she was sorry for me.”
“Paige, don’t you know that everything you went through made you strong. Tell your story, own it. Don’t be afraid of it. It’s his shame for putting you through it.” He didn’t want her to run away from her past, but he understood why she wanted to. “Having everything taken away from us back then was a badge of disgrace. Every beast that laid eyes on us knew we were different and wrong, and all we wanted to do was hide. Hell, sometimes one of us would go out on our own to avoid seeing that shame mirrored in the eyes of our brethren. But we brought it on ourselves. You had nothing to do with what Samiyah did to you. You get that, right?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I do now. This is one of those things that will take time to recover from, but I have you. And my new clan. Thank you.”
“Will you marry me?” The words shot out before he had a chance to stop them. This wasn’t how he meant to do it.
Her eyes went wide and her lips formed a perfect ‘o’ as she looked at him. Within less than a few seconds her expressions changed from that of happiness to excitement to confusion. “I— why do you smell like regret?” she asked, pulling away from him. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she let out a small sound of panic. “You didn’t mean to ask, did you?”
No, he hadn’t. Not like this. One of his eyes pinched closed as he cursed himself. “I did, but I didn’t. Fuck. I wanted it to be memorable. Not with us sitting at the table eating cold cuts, chips, and drinking iced tea.”
A giggle bubbled up through her and sounded like bells. Her eyes glistened with building tears. She was beautiful like this. “I don’t care how you do it. Do you not want me to answer you?”
Want her to answer? He needed her to tell him right now. “Do you want to think about it first?”
“No, no, no. I already know the answer.”
He hoped to the Creator that ‘No, no, no’ wasn’t her answer. “Is that your answer?” She didn’t want him. He’d mistrusted her so much that she didn’t want him.
With a weird frown on her face, she shook her head and blew out a raspberry. “No. That’s not my answer, you goob. Yes! That’s my answer!”
She launched herself out of the seat next to him and threw her arms around his face. Aiden was pretty sure she was aiming for his neck, but he started to back up so he could pull her out of her chair and she missed. By some force, he lost his footing and went tumbling to the floor. His momentum dragged her forward as she fell on top of him, but he wrapped his arms around her to keep her from hitting her head on the counter behind them.
He could feel the huge shit eating grin on his face as she showered kisses on his lips and cheeks, and all he could feel and breathe and taste was his mate. He had already claimed her, but he wanted Paige in every way he could have her. Shifter law, human law, all of it. The thought of asking Willow to do a hand tying ceremony had even crossed his mind.
Her tears finally spilled over as she looked down at him. “I love you, Aiden.”
“I love you too,” he said, loving the feel of her soft hair against his face as it dangled down. “I don’t have a ring yet.”
She shook her head. He knew what she was about to say. “I don’t need a ring. I have you. I have your mark just like you have mine.”
Reaching up to quiet her silly words, he pressed his lips to hers and gave her a slow, sipping kiss that drew a needy moan from her. This was life. He felt helpless here beneath her, knowing that he couldn’t control what was coming for them, but being with her made it worth it.
He angled his head and deepened their kiss. She opened for him and brushed her tongue against his. A soft rumble vibrated in his chest. His beast was just as happy as he was. Her normal scent of coconut and vanilla changed to lush grass and autumn winds as it moved over a crisp landscape. And arousal. Gripping her hair in his hand, he pulled her as close as he could and plunged his tongue deep into her mouth. If his head were between her legs he would be doing the same to her beautiful, tight pussy.
She ground her hips against his and didn’t hesitate when he turned them over so that she lay beneath him on the floor. He nestled himself between her legs and then moved his torso away from hers to pull his shirt over his head. She sat forward and took off her shirt and bra, but before she could lie back down he took his large shirt and tried his best to position it beneath her so that she wouldn’t be shocked when her warm, soft skin touched the cold floor.
He undressed her the rest of the way, and then took off his clothes. He didn’t want to take her on the hardwood floor, but every time he tried to move them she would do something to make him want her even more. A bite of his lip, the tease of teeth on his ear. She rubbed her pebbled nipples onto his chest and groaned from the friction.
His cock brushed her already saturated entranc
e and she shivered, the delicious tremor bringing goosebumps along her skin. He kissed her collar bone and up the length of her neck as his fingers traced a line from the bend of her hip to the rounded globe of her ass. His mate was sexy as hell, and the thought of sinking his cock into her heated pussy made his entire body one large nerve. Every kiss, every touch, every bit of attention she lavished on him was heaven.
A rumbled throbbed in his chest and a whimper escaped her mouth.
“I like it when you growl,” she said, her voice a whispered song in the air. “The feel is wonderful against my chest. And I really like it when you do it when you taste me.”
He smiled and started to lower himself to make her come with his mouth, but she reached down and grabbed his cock, placing it at her entrance.
“I want you inside me. Now,” she sighed, and her breath against his lips was a balm that healed parts of him he’d forgotten were broken.
She was riled up, and listening to her tell him what she wanted was an aphrodisiac to him. He would do whatever she said, whenever she said it. She rolled her hips and the tip of his cock pressed through her slick folds.
Aiden eased his hips away and teased her. “How are you always so fucking wet for me,” he said as his cock slid between her wet folds.
“Well, you are in the room.” There was a playful smile on her lips. “Aiden, please.”
Her heated gaze made him forget he wanted to have her on the verge of orgasm before he took her. Surging forward, he buried himself deep inside her until his hips rested against hers. She hissed and arched her back off the floor as he stretched her, filled her. She wrapped her legs around him and dug the heels of her feet into his ass. He stayed deep inside, relishing her tight heat as the walls of her pussy contracted around him.
An erotic flood pulsated through him. Aiden pumped his hips, his mouth covering hers to swallow every cry of pleasure he could pull from her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but his control began to dissolve as she raised her hips and ground her cunt against him to seek her own pleasure. He was willing to give it completely. She didn’t have to do anything but exist and he would do everything he could to please her.