AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The crazy thing was that I loved him, too.
Which was insane. Although we’d never really been together, we were most certainly broken up. And it needed to stay that way. No waffling. No will we, won’t we. It was because I did indeed love him that I couldn’t just let him sacrifice himself. He was so important to me, and one of the last connections I had left. I'd protect him and Darla as best I could. Unfortunately, the best thing I could do was lock them out.
Would it be nice to be able to hold his hand? To walk the fort as lovers who could be open with exactly how they felt? Sure. But that couldn’t be. Not unless I wanted to be both incredibly selfish and short sided. So yeah, Kai and I were mates, we would no doubt eventually succumb to our physical need for each otherfrom time to time. I would likely help him through his rut and he would help me through my heat.
But that was it.
No romance.
Norelationship.
“In order to break this powerful of a curse, usually the caster has to die, and we don’t know who that is, so it’s not really an option. But we don’t havetimeto think about this right now, Kai. I have to focus on getting the relic set up and saving as many people as possible.”
“I get that, I do, but are we both going to acknowledge the boost in power you get when we’re around each other?”
My eyebrows nearly rocketed off my face at that. “How did you even—”
“Our bond. I can feel your powers boost whenever we’re around each other, and that feeling only increases whenever we’re intimate.” Suddenly, he was leaning forward, his much taller form dwarfing mine. It wasn’t intimidating—not at all. Instead it brought out a much different reaction in me.
I'd have to put that off, however, even if my wolf was keening for a little bit of illicit skin-shipping. I swallowed hard.
“I have to go,” I said, ducking out from under his arm. I could already feel the heat and tension building between us, and that was something I desperately needed to avoid. So, without looking back, I hurried off, telling myself I needed to focus on finding my team for the relic.
But then he was in front of me again, not blocking my path, more just reasserting himself in my vision. “Ayla, I understand if things can’t be more right now. Just know that if you need help boosting your abilities before you’re about to do something pretty intensely magical, I’m game. I want to help you in any way I can.”
“Kai…” I groaned, just so exhausted. But the more I thought of it, the more I wondered if that wasn’t a bad idea at all.
Chapter 23
Kai
“I suppose…”
Wait, was Ayla actually considering this? In all honesty, I expected her to refuse. I’d only really known her for a short time, but I’d more than gotten the impression that she didn’t take intimacy lightly. I’d mostly offered as a way to break the tension between us, to make those worried creases in her brow relax a little.
As she looked up at me, though, with her face deadly serious, I realized that, yeah, my mate was considering joining up for a little cooperative action. I certainly wasn’t going to object to that, and I could feel my blood pumping from the idea of being together again.
So, maybe I did something impulsive. Maybe even a little bit foolish.
By that, I meant I cupped Ayla’s beautiful face in my hands and kissed her.
It was the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do, as I knew that she wanted to keep things down low. But how could I resist when she was looking up at me with interest that dripped through our bond, her quickened pulse audible to my keen hearing?
We melted into each other, backing up until Ayla was pressed against the wall. Our lips locked, the lust flowing between us. We were being reckless, but I was so caught up in it, I didn’t care.
At least not until she pushed me away. There wasn’t much force behind it but that didn’t matter. I instantly backed off when I felt her resist. If I was misinterpreting her, I’d be happy to jump right back into it, but I wasn’t about to force Ayla to do anything she didn’t want to.
“What’s wrong?” I rasped, already sounding so affected when that was just what Ayla did to me.
“We can’t do this,” she breathed. “Using you like a battery with a dick makes me feel sick.” All right, if I wasn’t in the middle of a growing case of blue balls, I probably would've laughed at that turn of phrase. “I just can’t risk the curse affecting you. We’ve already pushed it so far.”
I took a deep breath, trying to school my reaction into something at least remotely reasonable. I’d never been a guy who felt the need to coerce my partners into sleeping with me, and I certainly wasn’t going to start now.
“Ayla, I appreciate that you respect me like that, but I have to be honest, I’ve been waiting for my fated mate for so long that it’s hard for me to care if you’re using me or not.” It wasn’t like everything wouldn’t go both ways, as the power boost from our bonding would no doubt give me enough strength and power to challenge my own father. Goodness knew that bastard needed a good unseating.
“I, uh… I…” Ayla shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do this.”
Well, that was that, and though it frustrated me to no end, I'd never, ever pressure my mate. That just wasn’t appealing to me at all.
