Chapter 649 Chapter 649
Reaching over, he touched the side of her face. “Journee. It’s not that I’m not happy, I’m just—” He didn’t even know how to explain it. “The idea of there being a mate for me out there was never something I thought about.”
She moved her hand and leaned away from him. “Oh.”
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not—since the day—the day you bravely followed your sister.” He thought that was a better way to say it. “Since that day, I have had one objective.” His cat wasn’t happy that she’d moved away. He needed to explain. “To find those that killed my family and to stop them from ruining more lives.” Taking her hand, he raised it to his mouth and kissed it softly. “That-I didn’t allow thoughts of anything else.” It was the truth, his entire being was solely focused on that.
“I had and objective too.” Her voice shook.
“I know, to get off the island.”
She shook her head. “To save my sister was the first one. The island second and then to get back and tell the king.” He could feel the emotions pouring from her. “I failed. I didn’t do them all.”
His objective sounded shallow in comparison to hers.
“Asher.” She leaned closer again. “We both know, better than others, that a long life is not promised to anyone.”
She was right. Since that day, he’d found out so many lives had been lost and others that had lived suffered unspeakable atrocities. She deserved so much after what she’d been through. “I just—” He held her hand between his. “I’m on the road all the time. You deserve more than a mate that is always gone.” He paused. Wasn’t that what his grandfather had tried to do with his Nan? Leave her behind.
“Does what I want count? I don’t need a home.”
He sat there watching the firelight dance on her face. She held his look without wavering, waiting for him to answer.
His cat was currently losing his mind, and Asher was thankful that he was in charge of this part of their life, or this would be an even bigger mess than it already was. A thought of not seeing her again entered his mind, he didn’t know where it came from, but just the alleged idea of that happening hurt.
With her free hand, she touched his face and held it there. The expression in her eyes told him she wasn’t going to back away again. Considering that she’d followed killers at the age of nine, he shouldn’t be surprised by that, but he was. Even in this, she was so strong. Her beliefs were unshakable. He glanced away. He didn’t even know what this was. He wanted her. His cat wanted her. He knew he would never let anything happen to her—again. Yet here he was, frozen in a staring competition with the one woman that fate knew he needed, and he was botching it up badly.
Journee bit her lip for a moment. “I think you should kiss me. Your kisses know the truth and speak it.” She tilted her head. “Words are confusing. Your kiss is not.”
His heart felt like it was beating between his ears now. His cat was so still it alarmed him for a second, and then he realized he was waiting as the male was to do when their mate was near and unclaimed. If he kissed her now, he knew he wouldn’t stop. He would be her first and her last. Even without his cat’s inflection to that, Asher liked the idea of it.
Releasing her hand, he placed his behind her head and leaned toward her. When he could taste her breath, he looked into her eyes and kissed her mouth softly. Before she could react, he kissed her cheek and then the other one. He brushed his lips over one eyelid and then the second. She didn’t move until his mouth reached her throat. She held his head with both hands but didn’t push or pull him in any direction, just letting him continue to cherish her skin.
When he reached her lips again, she grasped his hair to stop him from moving away again. Asher could have kissed her for the rest of his life without complaint. She tasted like some elusive thing he hadn’t even known existed or needed. Combined with her scent made his body surge with the need to claim her. He was going to have to force himself to go slow. He was her first. Breaking the kiss, he looked into her eyes to see she wasn’t afraid at all. She would be his last, and for that, he was grateful. One-night romps never sat well with him. If any from his clan hit their cycle when he was briefly on clan land, he left as fast as he could. The want for physical satisfaction had never been a priority for him. Until Journee.
He didn’t know who initiated them to lay down on the fragrant earth, but he wasted no time pulling her close, so he could feel her body against the length of his. They fit as if they were the other half of a cut-out. Her soft curves rested perfectly against his form.
A soft moan from her, had him lifting his head to suck in air and stay his control. This allowed her to explore on her own. When her hot breath and lips were dragged over his throat, even his cat was shaking in anticipation. Their mate. The one to complete their soul and bring peace to the nightmares.
With a growl, he grasped her hair and gently pulled her mouth back up to his own. Against his tongue, he could feel the sharper feline teeth and froze. Leaning his head back away from her, he looked down at her lust-filled eyes. “I can’t touch you.” He gasped to bring air into his body.
A confused look replaced the sexy look. “Oh.” She started to move away, and he wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from leaving.
“I didn’t mean that.” He closed his eyes and tried to remember how word worked. “The mating—” He almost said procedure and cringed, “the male isn’t to touch the female until she claims him.”
She studied him for a moment. “Okay. I claim you.” She nodded.
Asher opened his mouth and then closed it. “I don’t think that’s right.”
“To claim you?” Her voice was still breathless.
“Yes. No. I mean—” Words. Now. Please. Blowing out a slow breath, he kissed her quickly.
“You don’t know how this works?”
“Not really. I mean, I know of it, but the exact steps, I have no clue.” He’d listened to enough conversations he should know. The world could burst into flames before he’d call anyone and ask the steps to the mating process. Her mouth moved along his jaw. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this yet.”
She leaned back and gave him a firm look. “You want to stop?”
“No.”
Her mouth quirked like she wanted to grin, but she didn’t. “You know what I think we should do?”
He nodded. Any suggestions that made more sense than he was would be great.
“I think—” She leaned forward again and brushed her lips pain staking slow over his. “That we should do this the way we want to do it.” She leveled him with a serious look. “Unless you’re worried there will be a written test later on.”
Asher grinned, and then it dawned on him that she was trying to lighten the mood and settle his nerves when it should be the other way around. He sat up, pulled his shirt over his head, and set it on the ground. The ground. Should he suggest they go inside? He glanced at the little building. A dim, dusted space, or out in the fresh air. He knew she’d be more comfortable outside.
He leaned down on his elbow and brushed the hair back from her face. “Our way.”