Chapter 4 – Himari
I woke in the strange prison-cell-like interior of the ship and looked around. Light leaked in around the door, which we’d left propped open only a crack, but it was otherwise dark. And I was warm. We’d rolled Aidro’s jacket to make a pillow, but during the night we’d somehow snuggled close. I was pressed up against him, and his thigh was wedged between mine. The thickly muscled leg was a little too close to my good bits for comfort, and I felt my body respond. Well. That was embarrassing, so I tried to shift away, but in his sleep he only pulled me closer, shoving his thigh more firmly against my pussy. The pressure was delightful and I wanted to grind against the hard muscle, but that would not be appreciated.
“Stop wiggling, I’m trying to sleep,” he muttered. Yeah, right. You stop wiggling with a hard, muscled thigh pressed up against you. Actually, it was probably better to stop wiggling, because wiggling was not helping my embarrassing level of arousal.
“I need to pee,” I whispered. He grunted and pulled me even closer. Maybe I would have to make us a bed. Or separate beds.That would make sense. One for me and one for him. “Come on, Aidro, I have to pee,” I said, trying to move again.
He sighed, finally pulling away, and at once I regretted his absence. He’d felt so nice against me. “Wait for me. I don’t want you outside alone.” He stood and pulled on his jacket, reaching for the ridiculous axe, which I couldn’t really make fun of too much since it had saved our lives. He had been reserved since our bickering had come to a head with a sort of sexy slam me up against the wall thing, and I was pretty sure he felt guilty about it. Whether it was that he felt guilty about not kissing me while he had me like that or something else, I didn’t know, but I had wanted him to kiss me more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. Which was maybe not the best way for my brain to think about a guy holding me like that.
But he’d said he couldn’t harm me, and I believed him. Whether the throat thing was a scare tactic or something more sexual, I didn’t know, but it hadn’t hurt. I’d felt sensually controlled, pinned in place at his mercy, and it had made heat pool in my core. And then he’d dropped me and rushed outside, like touching me had been disgusting to him. So nowI felt shy around him. He was big and gorgeous and intimidating, and I was just me.Even though his lips had dropped to a spot inches from my mouth, I was sure he hadn’t been about to kiss me. He had definitely sniffed me, though, and for a moment I had thought was a sexual thing. But now I wondered if that meant I needed a bath. Fan-fucking-tastic.
“I can go outside alone, Aidro.”
“This isn’t Earth, Himari. If one of those things snatches you…” I could have sworn he swallowed hard, like that thought made him want to throw up. Then he trailed off and shrugged. “I won’t let you put yourself at risk.”
“And you’re the boss of me?”
His lips twitched, a hint of a smile playing there as he studied me, his eyes hooded. After a beat he grabbed my chin, leaned forward and tilted my head to the side, biting my neck. I yelped, though a strange surge of arousal made me hot all over as his fangs sank into my flesh. It should have hurt, but it didn’t. Instead it made moisture pool between my legs, made me grip the hard muscles of his shoulders. He was marking me? Why would he mark me?
“What the hell? You can’t just bite people.” I placed my hand on the firm wall of his chest to push him away, but his mouth was still there, making my body needy, my pussy wet and ready for him, begging for his touch. He lifted his hands to my waist as he licked the wound, his long tongue tracing up the column of my throat. “Aidro,” I hissed, finally gaining enough sense to push him away.
He wiped my blood off of his lips with the back of his hand, then lifted his hand, cupping my chin and forcing eye contact. His eyes were a strange golden color, rich and beautiful, and they were dilated and hazy. He blinked a few times, his long lashes brushing his cheeks, then cleared his throat. “That was for your safety.”
“You bound us together for all eternity without my permission for my safety?” I couldn’t keep the snark out of my voice, or the hurt. But why should I feel hurt by his desire to keep me safe?
“I bound myself to you. You have not bound yourself to me.” He stepped back and turned, looking out the door. “I will be able to find you. No matter what happens. Because you are mine, my body will know where you are even if they grab you.”
“What?” I whispered. “Why would you give up your chance for a happily ever after for that?”
He chuckled, and it was a gruff, humorless sound. “Men like me don’t get happy endings, Himari.” His golden eyes should have been warm, but they were cool and assessing. But if I wasn’t mistaken, his breathing was a little uneven. Perhaps he had been disgusted by what he’d done, even though he seemed to find it necessary. He leaned over and picked up his jacket, tugging it over his bare, beautifully imperfect skin. My hand rose to the spot on my neck he’d just bitten, and his eyes were intent on my fingers as they traced over the fang marks.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped back and tentatively opened the door, peering around before leading me outside.
“Why don’t men like you get a happy ending? Uli got a happy ending,” I said.
He looked around the forest, then back at me. “That remains to be seen. But Uli hasn’t done the things I’ve done. He came along for the ride.”
“Oh yeah? What is it you did that was so bad?”
“I killed my parents,” he said matter-of-factly. “And my actions got my sister Omia killed as well.”