I frowned. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but he was right. The pyrokinetic and telekinetic abilities swirling inside of me were very much my own beast.
“Thank you.” I finally gave in to the urge and turned to face him. I studied his face, taking in every detail. Emerald green eyes that shimmered with gold flecks when his beast was close to the surface, pale lashes so fair they were only visible up close, as I was now. He kept his white-blond hair military short, which emphasized the squareness of his strong jaw.
Declan was handsome in a domineering, self-assured, typical Alpha way.
He was also sexy as hell.
He placed a hand low on my hip, and I shivered when his calloused fingers gently brushed the bare skin beneath the hem of my cotton shirt.
I stared into his eyes and felt myself sinking into his golden-flecked gaze.
Between one second and the next, his lips were pressed firmly against mine.
I gasped, my mouth opening in surprise.
Declan took full advantage, and his tongue swept into my mouth, his hunger evident in each caress of his tongue.
I jerked back and stared up at him wide-eyed.
He grimaced, and a flash of worry washed over Declan’s face before he pulled me in close to his chest. I couldn’t see his expression anymore and had no idea what he was thinking or why he’d kissed me.
I brought a hand to my lips, realizing I wanted him to kiss me again.
I clenched my eyes shut and silently cursed.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
I snorted. “That’s a loaded question.”
Declan pulled back just far enough to look at me. He brushed his thumb along my lower lip.
Instinctively I snapped my teeth and bit the tip of his finger.
A rumble sounded deep in his chest, followed by a short laugh.
“What was that sound?” I asked. It’d been a mix between a purr and a growl, and something about it made heat pool in my core.
He grinned, and his voice lowered. “My beast likes that you’re willing to play.”
I lifted a brown. Play?
He leaned forward and nipped at my nose. The playful contact made me shiver, and I found Declan’s lips pressed against mine again, only this time, they were much more tentative. It was a gentle press of lips as he waited to see how I would respond.
I kissed him back, unable to fight the instinctive response, and speared my fingers into his hair. The strands were coarse and felt more like fur than normal hair.
I sucked on his lower lip and reveled in the moan it elicited from his throat.
It felt so good to be wanted and kissed with such desire.
Not needing any further encouragement, he deepened the kiss and slid his hand farther beneath my shirt and up my back. His palm was a hot brand against my bare skin, and thoughts of the last time I’d lain in bed with Declan rushed to the forefront of my mind.
Heat pooled between my legs. I clenched my thighs together as Declan’s hand abandoned my back to move lower. He cupped my rear, sending a fresh wave of heat through me.
God, I felt like a teenager with the way my body responded to him.
His hard length pressed against my abdomen.
I needed to stop this before it went too far.
It didn’t matter that my body wanted him. The sex would be good, sure. It’d probably be great. I had no doubt about that, but I didn’t want just sex with Declan.
At least, I didn’t think that was all I wanted.
I slowly pulled away from him and turned to my side. My body screamed with want, and I bit my cheek to keep from cursing aloud.
“Aria …” The question was evident in his voice.
I gulped. I wanted him to scold me. To tell me I was being childish or to get angry with me for turning away. I needed something to hold onto that would fuel my ability to push him away. Because if he kissed me again, I wouldn’t have the strength to stop him.
Declan swept my hair away from my neck and pressed a kiss to the sensitive skin between my neck and shoulder, purposely kissing the spot where he’d marked me when he claimed me as his mate.
He was unraveling my defenses.
Wordlessly, he trailed kisses along my neck and traced a heated path to my shoulder.
I groaned.
“I want you,” he said. His voice was thick with desire. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone.”
I closed my eyes and forced my voice to remain even. Come on, Aria. Get it together.
“I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d happily service your needs,” I said.
I was going to hell for this.
I waited for the anger to come. Declan wasn’t known for his even temper.
He was quiet. and I felt frustration echo through the bond.
Declan pressed his hand against my shoulder, and I allowed myself to be turned towards him. He propped himself up on his elbow and glowered down at me.
“Is that what you think this is? That all I want is to use you for my own pleasure?” Indignation filled his tone, and I suddenly felt like a complete jerk for provoking him.
I chewed on my lower lip as tears stung my eyes. God, what was wrong with me?
“It wouldn’t be the first time you tried to use me.” It hurt so much to say that.
Declan clenched his jaw so hard I thought he might break it, and I was sure he was going to storm out of my room and leave me to wallow in my own misery.
Watching him leave would hurt, but I’d be safe from wanting him.
Declan reached out, and his strong fingers stroked my cheek with infinite tenderness. “What I feel for you, it’s real. This—us—it’s real.”
I didn’t know what to say. I desperately wanted to believe him, but so much had happened. I didn’t know if I could forgive him, let alone trust him.
“If you need time, I’ll give it to you,” he said. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why? Why aren’t you angry? Why are you still trying to win me over?” I jerked out of bed and paced toward the window. I needed distance, space to think.
I couldn’t do that with him so close to me.
Declan stood from the bed and approached me slowly, his palms raised as if calming a wild animal.
“Aria, I love you. My beast loves you. I’m never going to stop trying.”
I wanted to scream and yell. It didn't make sense. He wasn't supposed to care this much. I was a merc. I had no family, unless you counted my psychotic mother and few friends. I wasn't worth the trouble, and I had a hell of a lot of baggage.
I suddenly realized that all this time, I’d been waiting for him to just give up.
I couldn’t come to terms with my feelings for him. I didn’t know what was real and what was brought on by the mate bond. I’d wanted him to just get tired of waiting. Tired of dealing with my bullshit and decide to move on. It would have made things so much easier.
What kind of person was I if I forgave him? If I set aside his betrayal and accepted him as my mate? Was I a complete idiot for even considering it?
I pulled at my hair. Why was this so hard?
Declan came closer and cupped my face in his palms. “What do I have to do to prove my feelings for you?”
7
Declan
I ran my thumb along her lower lip and groaned when her pink tongue peeked out to moisten her lips. She was killing me.
Her golden eyes were filled with so much turmoil. I wanted to ease her mind, to show her what we could be.
My beast was pacing inside of me. It wanted to taste and to touch. I had to fight against it. Aria wasn’t ready for all of me.
She was too scared of her feelings. She needed tame and gentle, not wild and rough. She needed time to realize that the bond was true.
Not today. I reminded my tiger.
“Look, I think—”
I placed a finger over her mouth to stop her. I knew what she was doing. It’d almost worked, but I cared
about this aggravating woman too damn much to let her push me away that easily.
“Open yourself to me,” I said.
Her brows furrowed in confusion.
“What?” She pulled away and folded her arms across her chest, her stance defensive. When would she realize she didn’t have to protect herself from me?
“Open yourself to the bond. Feel what I feel. If you open yourself and accept the bond, you won’t have any doubts about my feelings or intentions where you’re concerned.”
I wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d do it. Not now at least. But I needed to remind her that we were bound together. She was my mate. That wasn’t going to go away just because she tried pushing me.
As expected, Aria shook her head, her dark brown hair swirling around her face.
“No.” Her voice was firm, but I saw the doubt in her eyes. She was considering it.
I tilted her chin up and, before she could say anything else, kissed her again. Hell, I'd kiss her a hundred times and let her keep rejecting me if it got me even an inch closer to winning her heart.
What I hadn’t expected were her delicate fingers coming up to press against my chest as her body leaned forward into my kiss.
A growl of satisfaction worked its way up my throat. She wanted this, just as badly as I did. I deepened the kiss, and Aria responded, her mouth hot and demanding.
My beast wanted to devour her.
I fought to rein in my desire. I couldn’t rush this. Tame, gentle. I reminded myself.
I nibbled her lips and kissed my way down her neck. I pressed Aria back into the nearby wall and brought my hand up to cradle her breast.
She quivered beneath my touch.
I struggled not to rip her clothes from her body and lowered my free hand to the waistband of her pants.
Not yet.
Aria arched her body into mine, and I dragged my mouth back to hers.
“What are you doing to me?” she gasped between labored breaths.
“Loving you,” I said.
She whimpered when I moved in to kiss her again, plunging my tongue into her mouth and ravishing her lips.
Unable to hold back from touching her any longer, I slipped my hand beneath the waistband of her pants.
Aria was pure liquid heat. I growled in satisfaction at her responding moan and stroked her folds as she writhed against the wall.
“Ah, fuck, Aria. You’re so soft and wet. All for me …”
Aria’s hands gripped my biceps for support. I tore my lips away from hers long enough to stare down at her desire-laden face.
God, she was beautiful.
“Declan, we can’t —” To hell we couldn’t.
I kissed her again, hard and demanding as my fingers circled her clit.
She shivered against me and the lights above us suddenly shattered. She sucked in a breath and pulled away as shards of glass rained to the floor.
I didn’t care if she broke every fucking thing in this room. It wasn’t reason to stop. I caged her in with my arms and bent to meet her gaze.
“If you want me to stop, by everything that is holy, you’d better say so now, and I will. I’ll stop. But Aria, I’m about ready to strip you naked, so if that isn’t what you want …" God, I prayed that wasn't what she wanted.
Her gaze was unfocused, her throat working to swallow. I waited for her rejection. I expected it.
Instead, she leaned forward and bit my lip.
I was lost to her.
I swept her into my arms and carried her over to the bed. Glass shards crunched beneath my boots.
Laying her down, I made quick work of stripping her clothes and bared her to me.
“So fucking beautiful.” Her tan legs were toned, leading to wide hips and a narrow waist. Her breasts were perfect, her dusky nipples begging to be touched.
I pulled my shirt over my head and kicked off my boots and jeans before leaning forward to kiss my way up her body, stopping to worship each of her breasts before finding her lips.
I settled myself between her thighs. She was wet against my throbbing cock, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to plunge into her in one powerful thrust.
Slow. Tame.
I fondled her bare breast and rolled one taut nipple between my thumb and forefinger as I kissed her mouth. She writhed beneath me, each shift of her body rubbing my cock harder against her slick heat.
And then her fucking phone rang.
I groaned. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Aria started to sit forward, some of the passion now leaving her eyes.
“Ignore it,” I growled. I pressed my body against hers.
Later I would find out who it was and kill the bastard for interrupting us.
Aria bit her lip and looked like she was going to get up to retrieve her phone when it suddenly stopped ringing.
Thank God.
I leaned forward to kiss her and just as my lips brushed hers, the damn thing went off again.
Aria pushed away from me and stood from the bed. I swore and pulled at the short strands of my hair.
Was I ever going to catch a break here?
She pulled the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her body before carefully avoiding the glass to retrieve her phone from her discarded jeans.
“Hello?”
8
Aria
“Hello darling, how are you feeling?” Ice flooded my veins, taking away any remnants of Declan’s passion with it.
“Aria, what’s wrong?” Declan said. I turned away from him unable to answer..
“Are you doing alright?” the voice on the other end of the line said.
“What do you want?” I hissed. Declan came up beside me. His eyes focused in concentration.
“I wanted to check in on you. That’s what any loving mother would do.”
“You’re not a loving mother. You’re a monster, so I’ll repeat my question, what do you want?”
I heard Declan swear behind me and listened as my mother heaved an exaggerated sigh.
“My dear, I understand that you’re upset. We didn’t part on the best of terms, but I’d like to fix that. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. I—
Before I could think about it, I hung up the phone. It took less than five seconds for it to start buzzing in my hand, flashing the same number she had just called me from.
Dammit, I should have listened to Declan and just ignored my phone.
I stared down at it.
“Are you going to answer it?” He sounded uncertain if that would be a good idea.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the ringing stopped, but my ease was short lived. Not only did the ringing begin, immediately, the phone suddenly cracked in my hand.
Something about the broken fragments fascinated me. I tilted my head to the side and stared at it as it cracked again, this time shattering the glass on its face.
“Aria, are you okay?” Declan sounded worried.
With little more than a thought, the phone in my hand caught fire, and I watched in abject fascination as it slowly melted into a puddle of plastic goo that slipped through my fingers and fell onto the carpeted floor beside my feet.
Something about it felt liberating. “I’m great,” I told him as the last bit slipped from my palm and my flames receded. “Couldn’t be better.”
Declan looked at the pile of melted plastic and then to me. “Come on.”
He pulled on his jeans, not bothering to put on his shirt, and headed for the door.
“Where are we going?” I scrambled to throw my clothes back on while maintaining some semblance of modesty. It was a lot harder than you’d think, but I managed to hold the sheet to my chest by tucking it beneath my chin as I shimmied into my jeans. I turned my back toward Declan in order to put on my shirt and rolled my eyes when he growled.
“Why are you hiding yourself from me?” He had his arms folded across his bare chest, hi
s muscles flexed and glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.
“I’m not hiding,” I snapped. Okay, maybe I was hiding a little but the haze of desire was gone and the thought of standing naked for Declan’s scrutiny make my palms sweat. “You still haven’t answered my question. Where are we going?” I tried not to eye Declan’s still hard erection beneath his jeans.
“The gym. You look like you need to punch something.” He turned away and walked out the door, but I still heard him mumble under his breath, “Hell, I know I do.”
***
Sweat streamed down my face, and every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop the torture.
For once, Declan wasn’t pulling his punches.
“Again—” he growled.
I stared at him from across the mats, my chest heaving with each breath.
How the hell was he still standing?
Declan hadn’t bothered changing before we came down to the basement gym located within the Compound.
His jeans hung low on his hips. His bare chest glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.
God, he looked good.
I shoved at the tendrils of hair that had escaped my braid. He looked like sex on a stick, and I was a hot mess—my hair plastered to my face, cotton shirt soaked through with sweat and clinging to my body like a second skin. I knew without needing a mirror that my face was flushed and red as a beet.
“Come on, Aria. Are you tired already?” he taunted me.
Not a bit.
I bounced on the balls of my feet before lunging and almost landing a punch to his stomach, but he shifted at the last possible second. My fist barely glanced his hip.
Before I could recover, Declan was on me. He grabbed me under my arms and, as if I were a doll, threw me over his shoulder and onto the mat.
The air whooshed out of my lungs as my back hit the mat with a smack.
I groaned and rolled to my side.
“You suck,” I told him.
“If that’s all you’ve got, you’re definitely tired.”
I flipped him the bird and slowly climbed back to my feet.
Declan looked at his non-existent watch. “Any day now.”
Branded by Fire: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Series (Blood & Magic Book 4) Page 5