Page 16 of Stars in Aura

Neither of them spoke.

A heartbeat. Two.

He dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

She lifted one corner of her lips with a crooked smile.

He clenched his jaw to stop from reaching for her chin and ravishing that mouth.

They stood in charged silence, the air crackling like an electric storm, until the lift hissed open again.

In walked Dr. Elias Rhoane, a cardiologist Ki’Remi had once worked with.

The intruder didn’t even glance at Ki’Remi.

His focus was all on the woman he found inside.

‘Issa!’ The doctor’s voice was all smooth familiarity.

Ki’Remi canted his gaze to the doors, but his ears were on fire.

Before he could even process the irrational surge of irritation burning through his chest, Rhoane attempted to wrap his arms around Issa from behind.

The cardiologist’s mitts splayed across her mid-spine as he attempted a lingering hug.

Oh, hell no.

Ki’Remi’s vision went dark at the edges.

He’d no reason to care. He was a man of logic. He didn’t do jealousy.

Yet, at that moment, a primal, savage part of him, one that he had long kept in check, wanted to rip the other man’s hands away from her.

To make it manifest that there were consequences for touching what did not belong to him.

To her credit, Issa didn’t melt into the heart doctor like Ki’Remi had seen some women do.

Instead, she sidled away from him, raising her palm to keep the cardiologist away as she clipped, ‘Eli, I note your greeting methods haven’t evolved.’

Rhoane fell into an embarrassing mess, covering up his shame with a chuckle, unaware that the atmosphere in the elevator was murderous.

The Sableman gritted his teeth so hard he nigh-on cracked a molar, resisting the urge to send out a cloud of metanoids to choke out the man.

He sliced his eyes to Issa and caught the slight upturn on her lips.

Like she sensed his ire on her behalf.

Which got even more under his skin, even as he churned at the lack of control over his usually tightly-held emotions.

He dreaded that he was starting to bump into her everywhere, anticipate her movements, and note how she moved through the world as it belonged to her.

Most of all, he despised the slow, creeping realization that he wanted her.

Fokk.

That was a massive problem.

Later that night, the Rider tossed and turned in bed.

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