Cheeks hot, Andromeda went to lie, stopped herself. If these were to be her last hours of freedom with him, she would tell him every truth she could. And she would try to seduce him. Honor be damned. “I was wondering what it would feel like to rub my naked body against yours.”
His eyes gleamed. Closing one big, wet hand over her thigh where she sat on the edge of the stone bath, he hauled her closer, leaned forward until he was dangerously close to the pulsing, swollen flesh between her thighs . . . and bit her hard on her inner thigh. She yelped even as liquid heat pulsed between her legs. “You didn’t like my idea?”
Growling up at her, he bared his teeth. “We can’t have those thoughts. You took a vow. Be good.”
Her mouth fell open. “I can’t believe you’re telling me to be good.”
“I won’t steal your honor,” he said stubbornly. “I’m going to find your very stupid Grimoire book so we can rut without guilt.”
Every time he said the word “rut” it made her entire body hum. It was such a carnal word, so raw and unashamed. “I want to know what you’d do to me,” she whispered, leaning in until her lips were a bare inch from his. “Tell me.”
A loud chest-rumbling growl was her only warning before he tumbled her into the water.
When she came up, spluttering and pushing her hair out of her eyes, he glared at her. “Behave or I’ll turn on the cold water.”
At the end of her rope, she bared her own teeth at him. “Try it and see what happens.”
He laughed and pounced on her, dragging her over to his chest. Another rub of his nose against hers. When she threatened to bite him, he grinned even harder. “I always knew my mate would be as wild as me.”
No one had ever called her wild; she decided she liked it.
When he kind of snuggled her against his naked body, her wet clothes sticking to her, she stayed. Because being held by him, being affectionately petted as they spoke about their adventure, it was so wonderful it made her aching heart pulse in unfiltered joy, her eyes burning until she had to shut them lest her tears fall and give her away.
* * *
Naasir left his mate three hours past dawn. “I’m going to find your stupid Grimoire book,” he muttered with a scowl.
“Naasir, it’s a legend.” His smart, wild—though she pretended not to be—mate glared at him, her hands on her hips. “I told you I take back that idiotic vow!”
“You can’t.” Something inside his Andi was broken and he wouldn’t help her hurt herself any more. “I’ll see you in a week at your parents’ estate for the dinner, and you’ll tell me what you hide from me.” It came out a snarl. “No more secrets.”
Eyes stark and wide, she nodded. Then she ran to him, wrapping her arms around him in a fierce embrace. “Don’t get hurt searching for the Grimoire. And don’t be late. I’ll be waiting for you at noon on the seventh day from today.” She pressed her cheek to his. “I’ll make us a picnic and I’ll go to what was the old elephant watering hole on the estate—you can find it by following the flight of the herons. They like that spot.”
Drawing deep of her delicious scent, he lifted her up and spun her around. “I’ll be there,” he promised when he put her down again. “Make sure you don’t cook the meat.”
Her fingers played through his hair, where he’d woven in a second feather. “I promise.”
“You should know something,” he said as they separated.
“Yes?”
“When we’re mated, I won’t go far like this again. We’ll be together.” Naasir didn’t understand why anyone would have a mate and not be with that mate. “If I have to go to New York or another place, you’ll come with me. If you can’t because of your work, I’ll ask Raphael to allow me to stay here—he won’t say no. He likes being with his mate, too.”
His words shattered Andromeda. Though he occupied a far higher position in the immortal hierarchy, he didn’t just assume his wishes would come first. “I would go anywhere with you,” she whispered, emotion a knot in her throat. “Go find the stupid Grimoire so we can do bad things together naked.”
A feral smile and then he was running out of the Refuge. She watched him until she could no longer glean even a hint of silver, and then she turned to pick up her small bag for the flight to Africa, a land that sang to her as Alexander’s territory did to him, and yet that was to be her prison.
46
Naasir hated the cold. Hated it. But he had to go into it to find the Grimoire. Everyone thought it was a legend, but during the flight home from Alexander’s territory, he’d finally realized why it seemed familiar: he’d seen it.
It had been long, long, long ago, when he’d still been two. The tiger cub was the one who’d seen the red book with the golden etching on the front. It wasn’t something that would’ve registered on the cub except that the chimera experiment had happened that night, the boy and the tiger forcefully merged into one. The tiger’s memories had become the boy’s and the boy’s had become the tiger’s, but because they were two such different species who should’ve never been one, nothing had made sense for a long time.
It had been a confusing, terrifying period and the chimera he’d become had long forgotten the book the tiger had seen. But when Jason had described the Grimoire, the memories had surfaced as all parts of him worked together to win his mate. So he knew where that book had once been and where it should still be. Unfortunately, that place was now buried under tons of ice and snow.