rumbles outside. “You’ve been gone for days. They manipulate time, move it back and forth to suit their needs. It’s been days since Solat saw you leave the room. I nearly killed him thinking he had lost you, and then I knew the Spidae were just manipulating us to see how we would react.” Aron’s gaze roams possessively over me again, his hands moving over my body. “They did this purely to toy with us.”
“They’re dicks.”
“Huge dicks,” he agrees.
“Massive, massive dicks.” I reach up and touch his face, loving the electric shock between us. “I’m fine, truly. All I did was talk to one of the Spidae.”
He grabs my hand and presses a fervent kiss to my palm. “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmurs against my skin. “That they’d convinced you to leave me behind.”
“They tried,” I admit.
Aron’s jaw clenches. “I will murder all of them—”
I shake my head, putting my other hand on his chest. “It’s not important. They were talking to both of us, trying to get responses from us. You know how a cat toys with its prey? That’s what it felt like. They were prodding us to see how we’d react. I’m thinking they need to get a new hobby.”
A hard, barking laugh erupts from him and he drags me close again, pressing me against his chest.
Oh. My heart squeezes for Aron. I know he likes to pretend he doesn’t have feelings underneath all the arrogance, but he keeps hugging me and holding me so tight that I know he’s upset. The constant thunder tells me that much. I’ve never seen him this messed up.
And I know I can never leave him, not to save my own skin. “I’m at your side until the end.” I reach up and caress his strong jaw, letting my fingers trail over his gorgeous face, the scar that carves down the left side. “You’re mine and I’m yours, remember? You tell me that every time I turn around.”
I expect him to laugh, because his mouth turns up in a hint of a smile. Instead, he lowers his head, and then his mouth is on mine.
We’re kissing. We’re really, really kissing for the first time since that fateful banquet in Novoro. This is different, though. Then, he was staking his claim on me in front of everyone. Here, it’s just us and it’s far more intimate. He cups my chin, tilting my face up to his, and then his tongue slicks into my mouth and he’s claiming it like he’s claimed my pussy with so many touches. Funny how he’s given me orgasms repeatedly and yet we’ve kissed so rarely.
Everything feels different today. It’s not the push-pull game between us. It’s not the endless dance of teasing him and having him tease me back.
The time for teasing is over.
Aron’s hungry mouth claims mine with a fierce stroke of his tongue, and hot waves of pleasure rush through me. The spark moves between us like it always does, but it feels like it’s just driving the pleasure of his kiss even higher. I love the press of his mouth on mine, the way he claims my mouth as if it’s always belonged to him, the feel of his big body looming over me. For a moment, I want to forget everything and just revel in Aron’s touch.
With a groan, he hauls me up against him, his hands on my ass as he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his hips, my arms around his neck, and I don’t lift my mouth from the kiss. It’s too wonderful a kiss to ever let it go. In this moment, I’d cheerfully let him consume me if he’d only keep stroking his tongue over mine.
“I can’t lose you,” he breathes against my lips. His mouth nips at mine, unable to let up for a moment. “I can’t.”
“I’m here, Aron,” I manage. It’s hard to speak between kisses, but I’m not complaining. His mouth feels too good—too right—against mine.
I moan when my back bumps into the spiderwebbed walls, and then I’m crushed between the stonework and Aron’s heavy body. His tongue thrusts deep again, claiming my mouth, and the stroke of it makes my hips arch with need.
“You’re mine,” he says, even as he rucks my skirts up, shoving them up my hips.
I gasp at the feel of his hands on my bare ass, my nails digging into the shoulders of his tunic. I’m not wearing panties, and in a moment, everyone’s going to