Chapter 19 Aniyah #2
He leaned in just enough for his golden hair to fall around us like a curtain, blocking out everything but him, then he kissed me softly, upside down, which was unexpected. A flutter danced in my chest, reminding me how much I actually enjoyed this man.
He pulled away with a chuckle, the rich scent of tarragon, roses, and sweet myrrh lingering after him. “Coming right up.”
A glass hit the table in front of me with a soft clink. Clear liquid shimmered inside, touched with an iridescent sheen.
Ras’ warm, honeyed voice followed. “Drink. This’ll help your body recover faster.”
When my brows pinched, he held up the life essence bottle I kept tucked in the fridge like he’d done me a favor, then turned to put it away without waiting for thanks.
Staring at the glass for a beat, I picked it up and drank it. Fast. If only it was the answer to all my prayers and the cure for the unease curling low in my belly.
I barely noticed the way the guys shifted around me until I realized they’d created a perimeter. Alic across from me, arms crossed but alert. Van at my side, still watching for signs of something I wasn’t showing. Ras, on my other flank, quiet and observant.
Surrounded, protected, like glass they were afraid might crack.
It would’ve been suffocating if it wasn’t so… oddly comforting. Annoying as hell, yes, but something in me softened at how seriously they were taking it. Taking me.
The sound of a door opening and closing caught my attention, and I turned toward the sound of it. My whole body froze when I saw him.
Maso.
He stood in the kitchen doorway, eyes locked on mine, every inch of him just as maddeningly beautiful as I remembered.
The golden threads inside me snapped taut. A sharp pull radiated through my spine, wrapping around my ribs and throat like they wanted to tether me to him.
Heat licked up my limbs, not the pleasant kind, but an overwhelming swell of need and energy I didn’t understand. My pulse jumped. My breath caught. Everything in me screamed that something was changing, becoming whole, by having the five of these men in the room.
I tried to keep my face neutral, tried to school my expression into indifference, but my hands were trembling. Subtle but real. The essence I just drank churned in my stomach—not violently, but with a shimmer of something alive.
Then he moved.
In a blink, Maso was beside me, crouched low, wide eyes glowing with that feral, aching heat I remembered too well.
“Aniyah,” he breathed, his voice a rough velvet scrape that turned my insides to static. “My mate. You’re awake.”
“What the fuck?” My bones shook from the inside, and something cracked wide open, freeing some piece of me I didn’t recognize.
A fresh pulse shot through my body, spreading like wildfire. My back arched slightly in my chair before I caught myself, digging my fingers into the wooden table as if it could anchor me.
Every golden thread that had been gently humming earlier now blazed with light. Not pain but… connection. His voice had activated something old and hidden and utterly primal in me.
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. The atmosphere in the kitchen shifted, thickening.
Standing up, I backed up away from him, staring at him like he had grown a second head. His brows pinched, confusion filling his eyes. “What do you mean? You’re my mate. My wolf picked you, and I agreed.”
My breath hitched, coming too fast, too shallow. I couldn’t get enough air. The walls were beginning to close in.
“You're my flame, Aniyah.”
My eyes snapped to Van. My head felt like it had been knocked off center, spinning while the rest of me remained frozen. He was looking at me like I’d just stabbed him, as though my silence had physically hurt him, but he didn’t know. None of them did.
“My magic, Ni,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He approached me with his hands up, using all the caution of a man edging his way toward a wounded animal who was about to bite. “I’ve never used it on you. Because I can’t.”
I shook my head, backing away as if it was the only way to get clarity. I’d always assumed it was because I never used mine on him, that it was some unspoken rule between us. It always felt a little like cheating, using magic to get what I wanted, and I never wanted to feel that way about Van.
Then I bumped into a wall of muscle. No, not a wall, a man. Lucus.
His arms circled my waist like they belonged there, his chin gently resting on the crown of my head. Did he think I was his? He had no right to feel this way about me.
He lived halfway across the damn world. This was a temporary thing for him, a layover, a moment. That was it.
Then his lips grazed that tender spot beneath my ear, and my whole body betrayed me. Fire crackled down my nerves like a fuse had been lit. My knees wobbled. My breath hitched.
"You’re my mate too,” he whispered, and I wanted to scream.
I went to yank myself out of his arms, but he held me tighter, forcing me to listen. His voice dipped lower, all silk and certainty. “I have proof. This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s not a trick. It’s here.”
His finger brushed the sensitive spot behind my ear again. “A blood-red diamond. My mark.”
No.
I shoved him away. This time, he let me go, and I bolted to the bathroom. My pulse thundered in my ears as I clawed open drawers, frantic. I found the handheld mirror and yanked it up to the side of my face, pulling my ear back.
There it was.
A red diamond, small and sharp as a secret. It was etched into my skin like it had always been there, just waiting to be seen.
My hands trembled. My legs threatened to fold right under me. That same awful warmth pulsed low in my stomach again, the kind that whispered right, even while everything else screamed wrong.
I set the mirror down and walked out in a daze. “It’s impossible,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone.
“Why?” Lucus stepped into my space, pressing me back against the wall, caging me in. A sick part of me responded to the show of dominance with something close to thrill. Something dark and reckless inside of me sparked to life, begging for a fight just so we could burn.
One of the strings inside of me lit up, pulsing red-hot, and I started to realize what they were. Something my parents occasionally talked about.
“It’s impossible,” I said again, louder this time, daring him. Daring the world to prove me wrong.
Lucus slammed a fist into the wall beside my head, and I had to bite back the twisted grin that tried to break across my face.
The tension between us was always edged with dominance and heat, and my body didn’t care that this wasn’t the time for either.
My chest rose, defiant. Part of me wanted to push him, to provoke him… then fuck him.
Gods, what’s wrong with me?
“Why?” he snarled.
The pressure in my head built to a breaking point, and the walls began closing in again.
“Because…” I closed my eyes and clasped my hands behind my back, trying to anchor myself. This wasn’t foreplay. This was serious. I repeated that in my head like a mantra, begging my body to listen.
Lucus growled again, low and furious. Ras was right behind him, tugging at his shirt, trying to get him to back off.
Lucus didn’t even flinch. He just shook him off, silver eyes locked on mine.
This time, when he leaned in, his forehead rested against mine, and his voice dropped.
It was still commanding, but now there was something raw laced in between his words.
“Because why, Aniyah?”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to say it. We’d all sworn not to, but I couldn’t lie either, not completely.
“Because of the invisible tattoo on my lower back,” I bit out.
Confusion swept across his face and those of the others.
“It’s a spelled tattoo,” I continued, trying to get it all out before I lost my nerve. “It makes it so I can’t recognize mates. It… blocks the bond.”
Lucus pulled back like I’d slapped him. Horror twisted his expression, and I couldn’t blame him.
We were all taught from birth that a mate was a sacred blessing that not everyone got. The mate connection was stronger than anything else. Something to protect. Something to cherish.
That night, the night we became bosses, I’d had too much on the line. Too much to prove. I couldn’t afford the distraction. My family was counting on me, and I refused to let anything derail that—especially something as messy, as permanent, as a mate.
The truth burned within my mind. That’s part of it… but not all of it.
A buzz on my wrist saved me from the spiral. I nearly thanked the universe out loud.
Ezra.
Fuck, I was supposed to call her an hour ago, and it was already twenty-seven minutes over.
Perfect.
I ducked under Lucus’ arm without looking back, even though they all called out my name. Pulling the earpiece from my watch, I shoved it in my ear.
I’d rather be yelled at by my big sister than face the judgment swimming in the eyes of the men in my living room.
Any fucking day.