Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

29

AARAV

Aarav burst through the door, not bothering to knock. He would beg forgiveness from his Vraka later if necessary. Her scent filled his lungs. She was here. He needed to see her.

Something had changed. Her text had asked him to kiss her when he got back.

“Connie!” He called out a second time.

Col appeared at the top of the stairs. “Aarav.”

Aarav grabbed the bannister and took the stairs two at a time.

Col waved his hand, indicating he should go to the room just behind him and to the right. “Thank you, Vraka.” Aarav paused next to the male. “How are the children?”

Col gave the slightest of smiles, but one that expressed he was pleased Aarav had asked. “They have been healed by the Magick-Benders. We have been told they will fully recover.”

The leftover worry rock at the bottom of Aarav’s stomach dissipated for real this time. “That is so good to hear. I—”

“Go to your mate, lion. She heard you.”

Aarav looked around Col. Connie stood in the doorway. Her brown hair was slipping wildly from a ponytail. Her face was blotchy and red and she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Shuarra.” He walked to her with his arms outstretched and hope in his soul that she would accept his embrace. That she wouldn’t shy away. That her text hadn’t been a fluke. That she hadn’t changed her mind.

She buried her face against his shirt. Wrapped her arms around his waist and let out a broken sound that threatened to tear a hole in his heart.

“What’s wrong? Connie, please.”

“I-I thought I was l-losing you twice today.” She clutched at him tighter, grabbing folds of his flannel shirt in her small fists.

Twice? Lost me?

“I’m here. Nothing’s happened. You’re never losing me, is that clear?” He pulled her loose and bent to meet her gaze eye-to-eye. “Look at me, shuarra. You are my soul match. No matter what happens on this earth, I would never leave you.”

“I thought you were dying. I saw Raj. And I thought it was you. I didn’t—”

He cupped her face to still her. Her mind was still panicking. Her heart rate was all over the place and her breathing was sporadic. Inwardly, it pleased him greatly that she had worried about his safety, but he didn’t like seeing her so distraught.

“I am perfectly fine. Look at me. Do you see any injuries?”

She sucked in a ragged breath and shook her head.

“What else scared you, shuarra?”

“Naomi and the others were packing, and Sarah was asking Col not to leave. That she was going to make sure the town was safe for you to stay and I hadn’t thought about it that you would leave too. If they left, you would leave, and I didn’t know what to do. I need you.” She grabbed at his arms and looked him right in the eye. “I don’t want you to leave. I love you.”

I love you.Those last three words were like a balm to his soul. Every worry and doubt that had plagued him instantly evaporated.

He pulled her face closer, crashing his lips against hers. He growled into her mouth, tasting the sweet essence of her. His lion wanted to roar and lick and bite and mark her all at once. He’d hoped he’d get another chance to kiss her. After her text, it’d been almost everything he could think about.

A little whimper from her chest got his beast even more fired up. She was kissing him back with a passion and eagerness that matched his.

“Shuarra, I need to taste more of you.”

Her lips curved into a smile against his. The playfulness and lack of fear or anxiety in the little noises she was making made his cock so hard he shuddered through the urge to shove her against the wall right here and now and rip all her clothes off.

That would be counter productive.

Focus.He mentally smacked his beast and forced himself to pull away from her sweet soft luscious lips.

Eyes were staring at them from every direction.

He roared a little, upset that other people were witnessing their intimate moment.

Col coughed out a laugh. “You’re still in my house, lion.” The dragon male waved to the staircase. “We’ll take care of things for now.”

Aarav didn’t hesitate. He bent, slipped an arm around Connie’s thighs, and put her over his shoulder.

“What the heck? I can walk.” She smacked his backside. “Put me down.”

He grinned, liking her hands on his butt. And her tone said she wasn’t really mad. He rushed down the stairs with her, careful to take them gently so she didn’t get the air knocked out of her.

“Bye, Connie.” Naomi’s voice called from the kitchen.

“Naomi! Tell him to put me down.” Connie whined, lifted her head to seek out the dragon female.

“Pretty sure that looks like fun to me.” Naomi laughed loudly. “You need more fun in your life.”

Connie whined again but didn’t say anything else to Naomi.

Aarav opened the front door and slipped out with his mate still securely hung over his shoulder. His patrol car was parked on the opposite side of the gravel driveway.

He walked with purpose and ignored the whistles and calls from the other guys.

“Aarav.” Connie’s voice was small and slightly anxious.

He opened the passenger door and deposited her in the front seat. Then bent down and kissed her again. A quick nip at her lips. Her taste exploded into his senses again.

Mistake. Dalmeck.

“Connie. I can’t do this. Not here. Not now. I need you to let me take you home.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but then for some reason stopped herself. Some of the spark left her eyes and her sweet pink lips pressed into a tight line.

Something’s wrong.His lion pushed, about to lose his mind. Fix it. Fix her.

He took her chin gently in his hand and pointed her gaze back to meet his. “What changed? What did I do wrong?”

A single tear rolled down one of her cheeks. He wiped it away. “I’m not okay with this. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I promise. I knew it might be a problem.”

Now he really was confused. “What might be a problem? Connie, I don’t understand.”

“That I’d be the problem. That you wouldn’t really want me…in…you know…that way after you had seen how broken I was. After you’d seen my scars.”

It was like someone had sucked all the air out of the entire atmosphere. He couldn’t breathe. No words came out, just a painful snarl of frustration. She thought he didn’t want her. She thought he wasn’t attracted to her because why…because she had nightmares? Because she had scars?

The anger came, boiling inside him like magma deep within a volcano. But the heat of his anger was not what she deserved. His brave beautiful frightened mate needed more of his patience.

“That is not what I meant when I said I needed to take you home.” He forced his tone to be calm and soothing.

“But you said. You couldn’t…that—”

“Connie, look at me. I’m so hard right now I literally want to rip my clothes off. Your clothes would be next, and I’d be on top of you in the snow right here in front of everyone. I need to take you home so that I can convince you to allow me to make love to you until you can’t move a single muscle from sheer exhausted bliss.”

Her mouth opened and rounded into an “o” shape. Understanding lit the fire in her eyes again.

“Can we go now? Please say we can go now, shuarra.” Aarav waited, crouched in the opening of the passenger door.

She reached out toward him, her hand gliding softly over Aarav’s knee and up his thigh. A searching, curious, hopeful touch. But the further she reached, the closer her hand got to his cock, the more the pressure was climbing toward an unbearable level.

“Yes.” Her voice was so small, so unsure, still so worried.

Aarav ground his teeth. He wanted to drop to his knees right there and worship her. All of her. Her mouth. Her body. Her soul. He fallen so hard for her. For her kind and compassionate and fierce heart. She was his everything.

Couldn’t she see that he wanted that?

Couldn’t she see how much he desired her?

How much he wanted to be with her every moment of every day for the rest of his life.

How could she not?

But she couldn’t.

He could still see the hesitation in her gaze.

She didn’t believe him, not really, and he wished to the gods that he could punish the people who’d stolen her joy and confidence from her. The animals who’d damaged her ability to trust so completely.

He would earn it.

Her trust.

He would build it back.

He would show her how worthy she was. He would show her every day of the rest of her life what an amazing gift she was, scars and all.