Page 133 of Aryn

A content sigh leaves me as I try to convince myself to get up and clean off before we crash right here on the floor. “That’s alright. These are the scars I chose.”

He props himself up on one hand, staring at me in that contemplative way he so often has. “Someone much older and wiser than me once said scars are a roadmap to what you’ve lived through. The ones you carry are nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I know,” I agree with a sad little smile.

He crawls over me, straddling my stomach as he leans in to press kisses along the pitted skin of my arm. “These tell me you’re loyal and brave,” he murmurs, moving higher to my neck. “And maybe a touch reckless.”

I trace the twin spots of raised skin on my shoulder. “And what do these scars you’re leaving say about me?”

He grins, licking across my collarbones before placing another kiss on the bite mark. “That you belong to me… and that you like to be fucked senseless.”

I breathe a laugh, and he smiles against my skin. “I can’t really argue with that, now can I?”

“I’m afraid not, kitten.” He leans down and kisses me so thoroughly my lips tingle. When he pulls back, I hook his neck and hold him there, nose to nose.

“I love you,” I whisper. “Even if I’m fumbling my way through it.”

He smiles, softer this time. “There’s no right or wrong way to love someone, Cato. Any way you love me is more than I could’ve asked for.”

I pull him down into one last kiss. “We need to clean up again.”

He drags a finger through the mess on my stomach—the mix of slick, cum, and sweat already drying in my happy trail. “It would be wise if we don’t want to be glued to the sheets.”

Aryn yelps as I sit up, but I wrap my arms around him and hold him steady in my lap. “Gods,” I groan, “we get to sleep in a bed. An actual bed.”

“After we bathe,” he agrees, kissing my forehead before climbing to his feet.

“Again,” I add.

He chuckles as he helps me up, then winds our fingers together as we head back to the bathroom and start the shower. “Again,” he agrees, tugging me under the water.

Aryn

Cato is a lot of things, but he’s certainly not a delicate man, despite the silent way he moves when he needs to. He’s sprawling and broad, unapologetic in the way he fills a room. He exists to take up space, and lives for the moments that someone dares to point it out. Sleeping doesn’t change that.

Hells, it doesn’t even fully erase the combative lines in his forehead.

Course hairs tickle my nose and my chest is compressed enough to make it difficult to pull in a full breath. My mate is completely and utterly relaxed as he sleeps on top of me, his weight pressing me into the mattress and his arms forbidding me from moving.

It fills me with a bone-deep happiness.

Remnants of last night’s dinner sit on a tray beside the bed. By the time we collected it from outside the door, it had gotten cold, but we were too wrapped up in each other to care. Both of us were exhausted, but we fought sleep anyway.

We curled up in the furs, eating dinner and talking about nothing and everything. He told me stories of his adventures in the city, and I shared the rare moments of peace I found during my time in the human world. We both spoke of Bash, reflecting on the way he had changed between the two lives he lived with each of us. Eventually, our voices grew softer until sleep finally claimed us.

My tail is wrapped around his thigh, always so desperate to hold on to him. I unwind it from his leg and flick it gently in the sunlight streaming through the window.

A smile spreads across my lips, holding boundless, impossible joy.

The golden glow has faded into a soft beige. It’s him—the exact color of his skin, down to the deeper scattered freckles. I glance at his arm, finding a coil of deep red around his biceps.

It feels more permanent now, like a piece of him is irreversibly mine.

I press a gentle kiss to the top of his head, letting my fingers trail lazily down his back. Cato stirs with a sleepy hum and nuzzles closer.

“Morning,” I murmur.

He makes a contented sound and tightens his arm around me. “Don’t wanna get up.”