Page 51 of Clash of Storms
She looked at him, and this time she let herself strip away all her pre-imagined concepts. Warrior. Prince. Villain.
They were but parts of his whole, and she suddenly felt like she held the key to the entire puzzle, if she could just work out where it fit.
"What doyouwant?" she managed to whisper.
Sirius arched a brow. "What do you mean? DoIwant to be courted? Do I want a mate?"
She nodded, desperately trying to fit his pieces together.
The storm was back, a dark cloud sweeping over his expression. Sirius looked away from her with a faint laugh. "Do you know, nobody has ever asked me that." He stared thoughtfully into the fire before meeting her eyes. "I want a woman who seesme, Malin. Not the Blackfrost. Not the monster. Just the male. I want her heart, and I know I'll be a jealous bastard, for I'll never want to share it. But the truth is, it's just a concept, just a dream. You were right. I am bound to Árdís by my father's pact. I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be saying these things. I shouldn't want."
Malin caught his hand, her pale arm sliding through the sudden gape of the cloak. "You're not a monster. You're incredible."
Sirius looked down at her bare skin, and when he slowly looked up, her mouth went dry. "I wish I could believe you."
"Shall we make a pact? I shall believe I am enough, if you accept you're not a monster."
He stared at her for such a long moment, his dark brows drawing together, that she began to feel awkward. But then a smile dawned, and it wasn't like drenching oneself in sunlight. No, it was like feeling the slither of a silk nightgown slip down over her naked skin and pool on the floor around her ankles. It touched her in places she'd never felt someone touch her before.
"You'reimpossible," he said. "Fine. I accept your pact on one condition."
"Name it."
"You tell me how incredible I am once a day. At least. I will accept that in lieu of your kisses, for at least I know you give it freely."
And then he laughed, throwing his head back, his white teeth flashing, and Malin felt like he punched her in the chest. She couldn't breathe. Instead, she stood transfixed. This was the reason he never laughed. Because if he did, then the halls of Hekla would have been filled with woman who'd exploded from sheer lust.
Oh, Goddess. Oh, no. It suddenly all made so much sense. He was right.
Therewasa reason she was so fascinated with his bed.
And it was because she desperately wanted to be in it.
11
He didn't share blankets with her, not this time.
Instead, Sirius wrapped himself in his cloak and turned to stare out into the night as Malin's breathing eased into sleep.
Tiamat's breath, that had been close.
"Are you mating with me?"
She might as well have pushed him off a cliff without the ability to shift. A part of him still felt that plunge, that free-fall, as if he hadn't yet managed to recover. Somehow he'd managed to stammer out an explanation without directly stating a denial.
You startled me. I wasn't expecting... that.
Relief had painted itself across her face when he denied it, as though the very idea horrified her.
But if she was so relieved, then what the hell had that little act been with the slip of the cloak covering her?
He saw again the creamy skin of her shoulder, inch by taunting inch of naked skin revealed. Malin glancing up at him from beneath her lashes, those big, brown eyes practically daring him, like a shy bride on her wedding night anticipating more than a kiss.
Instantly, he was hard.
"Damn you."
Was it just another means to twist him in knots? Did she have any idea what she did to him when she told him how much she wanted to be loved?
