“The contract was written to protect the shifters at Shifting Sands... and to protect me. None of us ever dreamed that Rupert and later his grandson would use it conceal something like... that.”
The sun was almost down now, the sky velvet indigo overhead. A silver moon, nearly full, cast crisp, cool light over the clearing, and in the shadows under Scarlet’s tree it was growing dark. Mal could see in the dark, thanks to his dragon, but it was almost colorless sight; Scarlet’s hair, and the flowers in the tree, had lost their red hue.
Her eyes were still emerald when she turned to look at him, luminescent to his sight, and Mal felt like he was looking straight down to the center of her, to all of her years of loneliness, all of her strength, and every regret.
She was so beautiful, so complicated.
“I wish I had done something sooner, stopped him...”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Mal interjected.
“I could have...” she spread her hands helplessly.
“You did everything you could. More than you
had to.” Mal had kept his hands from her longer than he’d thought possible and he failed to resist the urge to comfort her where he’d been able to resist touching her for his own pleasure. She didn’t pull away when he took her hands, and when he drew her close, she didn’t protest, merely looked at him with those glowing eyes.
He didn’t kiss her, though he desperately wanted to, only opened his arms and gathered her into a tight embrace. He held her close and, after a moment, she sighed and put her arms around him.
Chapter 14
Scarlet leaned into Mal’s body, trying to absorb his strength and comfort. She was so filled with yearning and emotion that she didn’t know what to do with any of it. She hadn’t spoken of Aaric or her guilt over Beehag’s zoo to anyone, bottling it up as deeply as she could manage.
Her trust of Mal was alarming in its intensity. His motives were clear now and all of their past strife had logical, if misguided, explanations once they’d bothered to sit down and untangle the underlying confusion.
It felt amazing not to have secrets, for the first time in such a long time... almost as amazing as it felt to have strong arms around her, holding her close.
Scarlet could not help but remember his gaze—amused and full of wonder—as he told her why he knew she wasn’t a shifter.
Her mate. Was it true?
It was impossible not to realize he wanted her; he was trying not to press his erection against her, but Scarlet was not oblivious to its hardness between them, or the way his fingers kept caressing her and stopping as if the desire was rising in him like it was in her and he wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“We never finished our dance,” he murmured near her ear.
“That’s a shame,” she whispered back. “But I suppose we still could...”
With small adjustments, one hand was in hers and one was at the small of her back, and they were no less close as Scarlet walked her fingers to his shoulder, wishing now that she hadn’t encouraged him to put his shirt back on. The runes on his forearms gleamed slightly in the darkness below his rolled-up sleeves.
She smoothed the mossy ground to a seamless flat dance floor and when he led her out into a slow, sensual salsa set to the sounds of the jungle at night, she let herself close her eyes and melt into him the way she had been dying to when he first danced with her.
This time, he did dip her, and she rose back up to the unheard music that they were dancing to and pressed her mouth against his, too hungry to resist any longer.
They made love slowly this time, the frantic need they felt tempered with the will to prolong every touch, every caress, every discovery they made of each other.
Scarlet drew a fingernail curiously along his runes as she pulled his shirt off of him for a second time and he hissed and yanked too hard on one of her blouse buttons. She forced herself to be patient and let him remove every piece of clothing and was rewarded with careful kisses that made her whimper in anticipation.
Mal slipped off his shoes without untying them and when they were finally naked together, he kissed her again and again, and it was even more glorious without anything keeping their moonlit skin apart.
He laid her down onto the moss—she made a thick, moss-soft bed for them without more than a thought for it—and she spread her legs for him eagerly.
Mal teased her, pressing but not entering, until she was begging him without words, scratching his shoulder and tugging at his strong arms and arching up to thrust herself at him in desperation.
When he finally slid into her, she was wet and more than ready and her world exploded into light. He brought her wave after wave of pleasure, every thrust a crest, every kiss a surrender, and Scarlet felt as if her heart would give out from sheer joy.
He finally gave a cry of release and cradled her through their aftershocks as he succumbed to his own need at last.
They lay tangled together as Scarlet remembered to breathe again and Mal’s heartbeat returned to something more normal against her ear.