AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She laughed. It was a sparkling sound. A burst of brightness in the quiet of the woods. For the first time since he’d seen her running toward him, he relaxed.
Aria still held her hand against her stomach. He wanted to take it and kiss each one of her fingers, but he didn’t want to chance making her feel worse about her injury.
He stepped around her.
“Perry, what are you—”
He held her shoulders, keeping her from turning. “Trust me. ”
He swept her hair behind her shoulders, feeling her tense in surprise. Then he combed it back with his fingers. He loved her hair. Black as onyx, steeped in her violet scent. Heavy as a blanket in his hands.
Reaching up, he tugged off the leather strap he’d used to pull his own knots back earlier, and tied her hair at the base of her neck.
“Is that what you wanted?” he asked.
“It’s, um . . . much better. ”
Bending, he kissed the smooth skin just beneath her ear. “How’s this?”
“I don’t know. . . . Try again?”
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, gathering her close. Ahead of them, the lights from inside the Hover filtered through the trees—her world, blending with his. “You really want me to talk?”
Aria leaned back, letting him take her weight. “Yes. ”
“You’re going to hear a lot about my favorite subject. ”
“Hunting?”
He laughed. “No. ” He slid his hands to her hips, feeling muscle and solid bone, and then back up, over the curve of her waist. “Not hunting. ” Every part of her drove him mad, and he told her so, whispering in her ear as she rested against him.
When she turned sharply to the woods, he knew she’d heard Roar and Brooke. It was time to go back, but he held on, keeping her there just a little longer.
“What brought you out here, Aria?” he asked.
She looked up, right into his eyes. “I needed to find you. ”
“I know,” he said. “The second I left you, I felt the same way. ”
They returned to the cargo hold to listen to Soren’s assessment.
Perry sat with Aria, Brooke, and Jupiter, while Roar stood off in the shadows again.
Soren planted his feet wide and locked his hands behind his back, letting out a self-important sigh as he scanned their faces. He acted as though he were going to address a crowd of thousands instead of the five of them.
“First, I want to say that it’s a real shame none of you are smart enough to appreciate what I’ve done here. To put it in simplistic terms, which you may or may not comprehend, I essentially hit a bull’s-eye. ”
Perry shook his head. Every single thing Soren did chafed him, but Aria seemed unruffled.
“What did you find out?” she asked.
“That I’m unstoppable. And indispen—”
“Soren. ”
“Oh, you mean about the plan? We’re all set. ”
Aria looked at Perry in surprise. Soren had only been at work for two hours, maximum.
