Page 41 of Needed in the Night
“What is a home but a place of safety, contentment, and peace?” I pressed. “It is a place, yes, but it is more than that. It is a feeling. It is the difference between the place you reside and the place where your heart is full.”
“My heart is already full of bad memories and pain.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure it has room for much else.”
“Then I will dedicate my life to replacing the hurts of the past with joys and new memories, if you will let me.” I cupped her face with my palm. “I would like a chance to try, but it is your choice.”
She smiled. “Somehow, I knew you’d say that.” She blessed me with a gentle kiss. “I choose to let you try,” she whispered, her lips against mine.
My hearts soared and I found myself speechless.
“We still have some time,” Isla added, her eyes twinkling. “Will you give me a sample of what kind of new memories you’d like us to make?”
I thought of Nubo’s threats and Kona, who stood outside the shop’s doors waiting for us to emerge and finish our market shopping under her watchful eye. And then she would report everything she had seen to Nubo.
“I do not want to return to our apartments and jobs as if nothing has changed between us,” I said, my voice guttural. “I do not want to live like that anymore. I do not want to live without you.”
Isla’s smile faded. I cursed myself for making her heart heavy, but her disquiet did not last for long.
Her gaze flicked to the blank wall behind me, then returned to my face. She rested her hand on the back of my neck. Her gentle touch drew a rumble from me.
“Do you trust me, Mikas?” she asked.
I did not have to think about my reply. “Yes.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Is there anything in your apartment you can’t leave behind?”
Leave behind?As in, if we were to depart tonight with only the clothes on our backs? My hearts raced, but not in trepidation or disquiet—only in anticipation.
My belongings were few and I had no particular attachment to any of them. The only thing I possessed that could not be easily replaced was my military medal and that was nothing more than a reminder of years and pain I would rather forget. Why I still had it, I did not know. There was no better reason to rid myself of it than leaving with Isla.
“No,” I stated. “There is nothing I will miss.”
“Me neither. That used to make me sad, but not anymore.” Isla laced the fingers of her free hand through mine. No easy trick, as my hand was so much larger. “We’re leaving tonight, Mikas,” she said. “You, Brae, and me. Ycari is arranging it. So trust me and forget about Nubo. Only think about you and me.”
I thought of that strange exchange about flowers when we arrived at the shop tonight. Isla’s tone when she had saidCentenian gregarusandSolani violetand Ycari’s response had made me suspect these phrases were code for something. So Isla had already planned a departure? Whatever her plan was, I would follow my beautiful mate.
With her hand on mine, she guided my fingers up her thigh, inching closer to her hip.
Gods, her sweet scent was more intoxicating than any ale or liquor I had ever served and infinitely more precious. My fingertips dug into her skin. I was careful to keep my claws sheathed.
“Yes, hold me like that.” She dipped her head to kiss the corner of my jaw where my skin was thinnest and most sensitive. I growled and trembled with need.
But for all my desire, and despite her obvious arousal, I feared Isla’s reaction to my nonhuman attributes. She had seen me shirtless many times, but never nude.
“My anatomy is not human,” I said before I lost my nerve. “My body may frighten you. Even horrify you.”
Her teeth closed gently on the small ridge that ran down the side of my neck. I nearly lost all control at that delicious combination of pleasure and pain. “I doubt it,” she said, and licked the spot she had bitten.
Gods above, this woman.
“I don’t frighten easily.” Now she was smirking, as if my trembling pleased her. “And I think I’ll find your anatomy very much to my liking.”
She ground herself against me with a moan. Her sweet pussy was so near my cocks, separated only by layers of fabric. A wave of blinding heat rolled through me from the soles of my feet to my scalp.
“Mikas,” she pleaded, her lips against my neck. “I see how much you want me. Don’t hold back. Touch me,please.”
I would have crawled across a Solani desert carrying trunks full of stones on my back just for the privilege.
My fingers slid higher beneath her dress and found the dampness between her legs that had soaked into her underwear—and a trace of silken liquid that had escaped the material to run down her inner thigh. This was her response to my touches, my adoration, my own need. No treasure could be greater, except her heart.
