Page 35 of Maiming
“I’m not.” There’s that growling edge to his voice again.
“Because when you were ordering around the other shifters on how to take control of the terrible crises that has hit, you looked like an alpha.”
“I overstepped. That’s not my job.” His arms fold across his chest at the same time as my hands press to my hips.
“Well it’s not your job to order me around either.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He pushes off from the door then and the dominant steps that bring him into my space make my heart stutter, makes my confidence waver just slightly. “It’s my job to protect you. No matter what alpha asshole might run this village, I run your fucking well-being, Arlow. You’re mine to protect.”
All the emotion in me from the evening slips away just from the rasping sound of his words. The fear and annoyance no longer register because of his overbearing honesty. He isn’t even touching me, but I feel him against my skin, nonetheless. I feel him like an ache deep inside myself.
With a waiting stare he glares down on me. I see it the moment he feels the tingling tension between us. His Adam’s apple bobs and he blinks away that irrational anger in his eyes.
The steady, gentle fingers that skim down the side my jaw, the length of my neck, and over my collarbone are the opposite of the anger that shook through his words moments ago. “I didn’t mean to order you around. I meant to protect you.” His mouth opens before his lips ever press to the side of my neck and my fingers fall against his hard chest as his tongue swipes along my skin. The collar of my shirt pushes down until his teeth rake against my shoulder too.
“I meant to protect you too,” I say on a heavy breath as his palms travel low down my back, his mouth continuing to nip and suck at my flesh.
“Not your job,” he murmurs with a swirl of his tongue beneath my ear.
“You think I should just stand waiting and thank you when you run out into danger?”
“Mmm, exactly.” His head lowers and his teeth rake over the top of my breast and my back arches to him. I bend and bow but I’ll never relent to the actual words he’s saying.
My fingers drift down the etching lines of his pale stomach and they pause when they get to the waist of his jeans.
“I’ll compromise.”
He pauses, his mouth an inch from my skin the moment I say the apparently magical words he clearly never expected to hear.
“Really?” His warm breath fans against my skin. His head lifts, and he looks down on me with lust shading his eyes.
On my tippy toes I lift myself until my lips tease against his. His mouth parts for me but I only graze a kiss over his wanting lips.
“I’ll never stand back and wait for you, Kain. You’re wrong about a lot of things but you were right when you said I leap head first into danger. I do. Especially when it’s for someone I care about.”Someone I love.“So, I won’t stand back and wait for you. But I will thank you.”
His eyes narrow with confusion and before he can even speak, I press my lips to his. And before his tongue can even meet mine, my hand slips beneath his jeans. Hard, smooth skin slides into my palm and my fingers don’t fully wrap around his thickness. He groans against me, his tongue searching deeper into my mouth as his fingers push roughly through my hair.
The hinges are so damn quiet when the door opens.
“Just saw a dead girl and this is your first reaction?” Chaos’ shaming words have me pushing fully away from Kain.
I pull at my wrinkled and skewed shirt. Heavy breaths shake into of my lungs like I’m trying to get enough air to take flight.
I look innocent.
This is totally innocent.
Kain looks over at his friend, his hands pressing to his hips in a way that I think is meant to look confident but all it does is pull the room attention to the massive erection beneath his jeans.
Completely. Innocent.
Chaos’ brows raise and he waits for his fearless leader’s explanation.
“You could knock before you walk into a room.” Kain glares at his friend. His dick’s hard and he’s still aggressive somehow. Men are a confusing enigma.
Chaos seems to consider this suggestion but never actually agrees.
“I’m going to keep watch outside tonight.”
