Page 96 of Stars in Aura

With a ragged inhale, she placed her hand in his.

A muscle ticked in his jaw, his satisfaction curling like a dark promise behind his eyes.

‘Good choice,’ he murmured, his thumb sweeping over her palm in a slow, devastating caress.

This right here, his bulk, heat, and sinew, gave her a chance to release, to find some ease and solace.

She didn’t want to be patted on the back for how well she had taken hit after hit over the years.

She wanted to lose herself in feeling.

He tugged her hand, and she rose and eased from the booth.

They locked eyes, and then she sliced hers from him and took her first step.

Into the unknown.

His other hand settled against the small of her back as he followed, all lethal grace and unyielding dominance.

Without a word, he prowled past their server and Mo, his silent command making both men fall back.

He didn’t look at them.

His entire focus was on her, on her face, his hand encircling her, cradling her frame to his solid physique.

She’d never felt so wanted, so needed, so freakin’ cherished.

The lift slid ajar.

He turned, his grip on her hand tightening.

With absolute certainty, he led her inside.

The elevator doors whispered open, revealing a space that seemed more like an extension of him than just a residence.

Issa stepped forward, her heels clicking on the dark, polished ebony floors.

The surface reflected the ambient glow of recessed lighting that ran from floor to ceiling and was embedded seamlessly into the walled paneling.

Deep indigo walls wrapped around the expansive suite, their color shifting in the dim illumination.

The subtle, ancient tribal etchings glowed, almost alive, under the soft illumination.

Her gaze flicked around the room.

Tribal masks, their carved features solemn and watchful, guardians of a forgotten past, were mounted over the sleek, modern fireplace.

Above the mantel, an antique spear lay in careful display, its obsidian tip polished and wicked, a relic of a warrior’s bloodline.

Across from it, a woven ancestral tapestry hung on the far wall.

Its intricate design depicted the old myths of his people, the figures frozen in eternal battle, victory, loss, and legend.

She took a slow breath, her feet drawn to the floor-to-ceiling window that framed the sweeping view of Eden II, stretching beyond the city’s edges.

Where the lunar planet’s twin star-suns melted into the horizon, setting fire to the firmament in molten gold and blood-orange hues.

The metropolis twinkled with a thousand lights, adorned with air-traffic lanes that snaked over the towers, bridges, and hovering transport lanes like a series of jeweled necklaces suspended in the sky.

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