Chapter 108 A god's request
It was becoming routine.
For the third time in two days, I startled awake to the feeling of being watched, to find Mordaine's eye boring into mine, intense.
My gaze drifted to the mantel clock by the fore place, seeing the black hands on the numbers seven and six.
“Good morning,” I reflexively pulled the cedar green silk sheets towards my chin, and he arched an eyebrow.
Then his gaze dropped, pointedly staring at my chest. “What’s your safeword, pet?”
My heart kicked. “Chocolate.”
In a flash, his hand curled around the bedsheets and yanked it off me. My nipples hardened immediately, cold bumps dotting my skin at the sudden exposure to the cool air.
That direct gaze multiplied the bumps of awareness on my skin, causing my nipples to curl till they ached.
“Did you try to conceal this from me, pet?” His voice was even, conversational.
My cheeks burned hot, my chest rising and falling. I was not misled by his calmness. For this dragon, rage was always just lurking around the corner.
“It was reflex.”
“Hm.” he gave a nod like that simple phrase was an intriguing discovery. My stomach knotted in anxiety as I watched him, stretched out on his side, head propped on one hand, staring at my breasts with undivided attention like it was a TV show.
“Could there be more things you enjoy concealing from me?”
I blinked rapidly. What did he discover? Which of my thousand secrets did he learn about this time?
“I’m not sure what you mean. Sir.”
Again, that intrigued nod. “Hale claims I am yet to learn what it means to be human. Forgive me if I speak dragon lingual occasionally.”
My brows furrowed with confusion at his words, at his decidedly flat voice.
At this point, my skin was pink with heat, and my heart missed every other beat. An angry dragon was becoming familiar, but this version…
He jerked his gaze up suddenly, and my shoulders nearly jumped. He noticed it though, and his eyes flashed.
The man enjoyed my fear.
“Your alpha is away…” he drawled. “Your boyfriend who you claim is not your boyfriend is also away.”
He looked far removed from the man who gifted me a large plushie and bouquet of flowers just yesterday.
“That leaves you and me in this large house.” He scanned the length of the bedroom in mock reflection. “Your academy is shut down, I have no scheduled flights, and the city remains unsafe as the ashbounds hunt those skinwalkers down.”
“Hm.”
Silver eyes snapped back to me. “We are stuck with each other for the next three days.”
My throat was dry, my brain thoughtless. Of all three men, Mordaine sent me reeling the most.
One minute he was detached and brooding, the next he was cuddling me and starting up deep conversations, and right now, there was a hint of passive aggressiveness woven in his words. And I could not think why.
It was a little over two hours since I touched him without permission.
I would think he had forgotten all about that, especially as I apologized.
A small sound slipped out of my lips when he touched me, resting his pointer finger on my collarbone. And when he began to trace a lazy line downward, I could not contain the shiver this time around.
“This is the spot your boyfriend gave you hickeys,” his finger was hot, ticklish, and I bunched my fists tightly beside me.
“Those bite marks were unmistakeable, and I find myself thinking they must have hurt to make such imprints.”
The lone finger curved round the corner of my breast, slightly brushing my arm.
I inhaled sharply. He froze.
“Did that hurt?” His head snapped up in surprise. False concern. “I had assumed you could handle a little tickle if you took his bites well.”
“I’m sorry.” my whisper came out tortured.
He brought his lips closer, pressed it against mine, and pulled away. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, little wife. Not when you will do it again.”
Tears jumped to my eyes. What could I have done that stirred up this irritation in him? That reminded him of that night.
I doubt now that it was the incident at the vault. Especially as he had acted normally when we came downstairs, showered with me and then pulled me into bed to sleep in his arms.
“Do you like Finn?” He asked suddenly, and at my hesitation, he added, “Lying is pointless.”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
We stared at each other. What response would not make him more irritated, what truth wouldn't hurt?
The moment I saw Finn that first day in the garden, something tilted in the universe and I realized the script of my life had just been edited?
The pull I felt towards him was mortally impossible to resist?
That I wanted to kiss away all that pain in his eyes, and our long talk by the lake that first night had kindled a fire in my chest to protect him, to burn the world before I watched him relive the horror of his past?
“I don’t know.” I responded, honestly, as my thighs clenched.
That lone finger was still in motion, causing slivers of current to snake down my tail bone, causing my clit to swell as he traced a map on my chest with a steady hand.
“Interesting. He, however, claims to have fallen in love with you that first day, is it the same for you?”
My ears started to ring. This was dangerous waters.
For the next twelve months, love should be taboo for me. Regardless of whatever hormones were unfurling in my body, I could never name it. Still, this was Mordaine. I could not lie to him, nor could I choose not to answer.
"I’d take that long stretch of silence as a yes.” His finger stopped in the valley between my breasts. “Want to hear something interesting?”
I gave a small nod.
“With kinky sex, us supernaturals enjoy special benefits humans can't. For example, I can break you in many ways, because I can fix you right back and heal you.”
My walls thrummed, and my cheeks burned at the realization that I had found that arousing.
“Did you enjoy the bondage last night?”
“Yes sir.”
He sprang off the bed and walked around to my side of the bed, and I momentarily forgot my fear. There was something about a naked Mordaine. In his nude form, he left little doubt that he was an actual god. And that hair…
As he drew up to my side, a wicked light danced in his eyes.
He stopped, held a hand out. I took it. He pulled me off the bed, and my breaths turned shallow as I stood naked before him, our skins just a breath away from each other.
“How about we try that again?” He leaned, whispering in my ear. “Only, we’ll do it longer this time.”
“Yes sir.”
Because that was the only answer there was for a god's request. Yes and Yes.