Chapter 16 #4
Nobody spoke right away, but the sudden change in their scents told me plenty.
Tavian’s citrus and sun-warmed wood sharpened first, bright enough to separate itself from the wet vegetation around us.
Luca’s sandalwood and herbs deepened nearby, carrying the familiar warmer note beneath them, while Malek’s cedar, damp earth, and faint smoke grew stronger until I could pick out all three without trying.
My own scent answered them, honey and jasmine growing sweeter beneath the blockers as nerves and excitement tangled together in my stomach.
Nobody commented on it. Tavian did, however, drag one hand over his mouth in a failed attempt to hide how happy he looked.
“You look ridiculous.” I told Tavian as his smile escaped anyway, spreading until there was no point pretending he wasn’t thrilled.
“I’m being completely normal.” Tavian lowered his hand and straightened as though better posture might somehow support the claim, despite the grin still covering half his face.
“You are doing a terrible job of it.” I informed Tavian while my own smile threatened to give me away.
“He’s never been particularly good at normal.” Luca told me with a quiet laugh, turning toward Tavian when the other man made an offended sound.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” Tavian complained to Luca, pressing one hand against his chest as though his packmate had genuinely betrayed him.
“I am on your side.” Luca assured Tavian with a calm nod, amusement still sitting around his eyes. “That doesn’t make you normal.”
I laughed and turned toward Malek before Tavian could argue his case.
He hadn’t joined their argument. He stood a few feet away with his eyes on me, and although his face remained composed, some of the usual tension had left his shoulders.
The guarded look he tended to carry whenever the subject turned toward me leaving had softened into something warmer.
“Malek?” I asked him, studying the quiet change in him.
“Can I scent you?” Malek asked, his eyes briefly dropping toward the side of my neck before returning to my face while he kept several feet between us. My glands gave a warm pulse beneath my jaw at the question.
“You mean actually me this time? Not my camera bag?” I asked Malek as I hooked one finger beneath the strap across my chest, unable to resist reminding him of yesterday.
“Yes.” Malek answered, the faint curve at one corner of his mouth telling me he knew exactly what I was doing.
“Without pretending you’re fixing something with your face?” I pressed Malek, remembering the perfectly straight look he’d worn while claiming my strap had been twisted.
“Yes, Evie. I’m asking this time.” Malek replied, his voice quieter now as he stayed where he was rather than treating my teasing like permission. The humor drained out of me when I realized how different that made it feel.
“Okay. You can.” I told Malek as I let my hand fall from the strap, nerves fluttering low in my stomach despite how certain I was about the answer.
Malek crossed the space between us without hurrying.
Every step gave me time to watch him come closer, and by the time he stopped in front of me, his broad body blocked part of the stream from sight.
The humid morning had already left my skin warm, but his body heat was different at this distance, and cedar with that faint smoky edge of his scent gradually pushed aside the smell of wet earth and running water.
I had spent days sitting close enough to lean against his leopard body without thinking much about it. Having Malek this close while he was human was considerably harder to ignore. His hand rose toward my hair and stopped before touching me.
I nodded.
Malek slipped his fingers beneath the loose strands at the back of my neck and carefully gathered them aside, his rough fingertips brushing my nape as he exposed the skin below my ear.
The first touch of his nose against my gland sent a quick shiver across my shoulders, more surprise than anything else.
He had put his scent on my belongings before, but this was nothing like that.
Malek breathed me in slowly, his exhale warming the sensitive skin beneath my jaw before his nose traced along the side of my neck. The rough edge of his jaw followed, brushing over the same place with enough pressure to leave his scent behind without hurting.
Then he purred.
I knew exactly what the sound did to me by now.
Knowing didn’t make me any better at resisting it.
The vibration started low in his chest and carried through the small space between us, loosening the tension from my shoulders almost immediately.
Before I realized what I was doing, I tipped my head farther aside and gave him easier access to the gland.
Malek’s fingers flexed gently against the back of my neck, and his purr grew stronger.
“You’re doing that on purpose now.” I murmured to Malek, keeping my voice low as my eyes slipped closed for a moment beneath the steady vibration.
“I am now.” Malek admitted against my skin, the warmth of his breath making another shiver threaten at the base of my neck.
A quiet sound escaped me before I could stop it, and judging from the way Malek’s fingers tightened slightly against my nape, he definitely heard.
His jaw brushed my gland again before he finally lifted his head, leaving cedar clinging to my skin and my breathing noticeably less steady than it had been a few minutes ago.
He started to move back.
“You’re stopping?” I asked Malek before I had enough time to consider what the question sounded like, my fingers twitching once at my side when the warmth between us started to disappear.
Malek paused with his hand still resting lightly at my nape.
“You gave me permission to scent you.” Malek reminded me quietly, his gaze dropping to my mouth for a brief second before coming back to my eyes.
Right.
He was waiting for something else.
Water moved over stones behind him while a bird called from somewhere high above us. Tavian and Luca had gone quiet enough that I could almost forget they were still there, and with Malek standing close enough that his cedar scent filled every breath, forgetting them was becoming surprisingly easy.
“Can I kiss you?” Malek asked, his thumb brushing once through the hair near my nape while he watched my face and waited for my answer.
My pulse jumped beneath the place he had just scented.
Malek had been my first connection here.
Before Tavian’s constant teasing and Luca’s quieter presence, there had been Cat beneath the roots, injured and stubborn and watching me with the same golden-brown eyes now fixed on mine.
I had sat beside him during a storm, changed his bandages, argued with him about resting, and fallen asleep knowing the massive leopard outside my shelter would keep anything dangerous away.
Now I knew what his mouth looked like when he was trying not to smile. I knew what his hands felt like in my hair, and I wanted him to kiss me badly enough that pretending otherwise seemed ridiculous.
“Yes.” I answered Malek as my fingers curled into the front of his shirt, the fabric warm beneath my palm when I closed some of the remaining distance between us.
Malek didn’t rush the last few inches. His eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before returning to mine, giving me more than enough time to change my mind even after I had already said yes.
I didn’t. If anything, waiting while his breath brushed lightly over my lips made my grip tighten in his shirt.
Then his mouth touched mine.
The first kiss was soft, almost frustratingly so.
Malek brushed his lips over mine once, warm and careful, the slight roughness of his lower lip catching against mine before he pulled back barely enough to change the angle.
His hand stayed at the back of my neck, fingers resting loosely beneath my hair rather than holding me there, while his other palm settled against my waist.
He kissed me again, and the second lasted longer.
His mouth moved slowly over mine as though he were learning what I liked instead of trying to impress me.
The faint taste of fruit lingered on his lips, and the cedar surrounding me grew stronger until the damp earth and running water became little more than background.
A quiet purr started again in his chest, and I felt it through the hand pressed against him before I really heard it.
My body reacted immediately, some of the tension in my stomach loosening at the vibration even while a different kind of heat gathered lower.
I leaned closer until the front of my body barely brushed his, and Malek followed the movement without taking more.
His lips parted slightly against mine.
I opened for him.
The tip of his tongue brushed mine, light enough that the contact felt like another question, but heat still traveled through me as my fingers tightened involuntarily in his shirt.
Malek made a low sound against my mouth before easing back just enough that I could open my eyes.
His lips were still close enough to brush mine when either of us breathed, but he seemed perfectly prepared to stop there.
I stared at him.
“That cannot seriously be all you planned to do.” I told Malek as I tightened my grip on his shirt and pulled him back before he could put any real space between us.
The change in him was immediate. His eyes dropped to my mouth, and the purr vibrating through his chest roughened until a growl threaded underneath it.
His fingers flexed in my hair while the hand against my waist became firmer.
“You wanted slow.” Malek reminded me, his voice lower now as his gaze lingered on my mouth.
“I wanted you to start slow.” I corrected Malek, pulling him the final inch closer until his chest met mine. “I didn’t say you had to stay there.”
Malek kissed me again.