Page 84 of She is the Darke
His jaw clenched so hard a muscle jumped there. “I loved the sunlight. I loved my life, and she stole everything from me. I know about wanting to leave. I know about the anger. You were braver than me, Sadey. Stronger. You left the bad behind, while I became the king of my coven.”
And now she could see him. Really see him. He wasn’t one of the heartless vampires she’d been taught to fear. He had been broken like her but had dug in his heels. He thought she was the strong one, the brave one, but he was the one who took over his coven and cared for his people enough to keep them from war. To keep them from complete annihilation. He cared enough to facilitate change in them. To curb their violent tendencies and bring them around to a softer way of thinking. He’d kept his old job of saving people because he cared in a way that was unnatural for the creature of the dark Arabella had turned him into.
His coven probably didn’t realize it, but Aric was likely the best thing that had ever happened to them.
And now Garret’s murmured words when she’d knocked on Aric’s bedroom door made perfect sense.Take good care of our king. He shoulders a lot.
Aric was possibly the strongest and most admirable man she’d ever known.
No wonder her animal had chosen him.
No wonder she’d allowed Aric’s bite to bond them.
“I like when you make that sound,” he murmured, locking her in his gaze. His eyes had lightened to a dawn gray now. “I like when you’re happy.”
She giggled as her cheeks heated with a blush. “I didn’t realize I was purring.”
The slight smile dipped from his lips when he dropped his gaze to her mouth. Slowly, he leaned down and sipped at her lips. With a helpless noise, Sadey melted into him and slipped her arms around his taut waist. He brushed his tongue against the closed seam of her lips in silent question, and she opened for him. He dragged her closer as he dipped his tongue to hers, and she rested her fingertips on his chiseled jaw just to feel the muscles work there.
This wasn’t the passionate, fire-catching kisses he’d given her earlier. This one convinced her that perhaps this growing bond between them wasn’t a mistake. That maybe it was Fate’s way of making up for Brock’s shortcomings. Maybe she’d needed to go through that awful ordeal with him to fully appreciate when a good man came into her life.
Heaviness evaporated from her shoulders as he held her. It disappeared completely when he brushed his finger down her cheek and rested his touch onto her neck, right where he’d bitten her. Slowly, he pulled her into his lap until she straddled him. Sadey thought he would push for more because she could feel his thick erection pressed between her legs. But he didn’t. Instead, he gave her three, sweet, smacking kisses, then secured the blanket around her shoulders and relaxed back, pulling her with him. And he hugged her. Just rested his chin against her shoulder and held her in a way that cinched up some of her shattered pieces.
Her eyes burned with emotion, but she blinked hard so she wouldn’t cry here with Aric. These tears were left over from Brock, and they didn’t belong here now.
He rubbed her back in gentle circles and whispered, “Please stay.”
And suddenly she wanted to. She wanted to be strong and brave like Aric. She wanted to dig her heels into a place and make it hers. She wanted to stop living a half-life on the run. She wanted to see this thing through with the man who had saved her life, covered for her, thought of her, and drew her face. She wanted to see if there was a life with the good man her animal had chosen.
“Okay,” she murmured.
“Okay what?”
Oh, he wanted her to say it out loud so he had no doubts. So he could hear the honesty in her voice, and she got it. If he was the one thinking of leaving, she would want that same security, too.
Sadey inhaled his clean, crisp scent and nuzzled his neck affectionately, then smiled against his skin. “Okay, Aric. I’ll stay.”
Chapter Seven
Sadey leaned against her rental car outside the firehouse, waiting for the clock to hit five a.m. Aric’s boss, Fire Chief Lang, always let him off in plenty of time to get home before dawn if they weren’t out on a call, and since the fire truck was still parked in the towering garage, the excitement in her middle had been growing for the past half hour.
The nights he was on shift were the hardest because she didn’t get to see him much that day. The past week had been amazing. Every minute spent with him made her feel more alive, more vibrant. So it wasn’t a normal dating relationship. They couldn’t go out during the day, but she’d always been a night owl anyway, and her online graphic design job allowed her to work odd hours that she could move around to get more time with the man she was falling in love with.
She would much rather deal with the oddities of this relationships than the abusive one with Brock.
Aric was teaching her she could trust people again. He was showing her there was still good people in the world, and he was the best she’d ever met. He was easy with his compliments, and an easy smiler. He was sensitive when she’d had a rough day, and she could tell he tried to tamp his brutal vampire instincts around her.
One thing that hadn’t happened, though? Aric had taken her out on dates, talked for hours and hours on her front porch, but past kissing and petting, he had been avoiding intimacy.
That shit ended now.
A happy purr crawled up the back of her throat. She was on the hunt because he’d been revving her up for days with his gentle touches and how damn sexy he looked. Even his laugh melted her into a puddle of hormones.
Aric waved to someone in the garage she couldn’t see from this angle, then he shouldered a gear bag and strode a few steps out of the station. His nostrils flared slightly, and he jerked his attention to her. Despite his greeting smile, his eyes were too dark, too hungry.
Maybe it had been a rough shift.
“Hey,” he said in that deep, sexy timbre of his as he jogged across the street. He slipped his hands to her waist and pulled her close. “This is a good surprise.”