Chapter 19 Are you blushing, hellfire?
Dean
It’s nearly midnight by the time we return to the kingdom.
I don’t want to wake everyone at this hour, so I asked Khatri to tighten security and keep things quiet until we’ve had the chance to sit down with our family and explain everything first.
For once, Hazel doesn’t argue, but she hasn’t uttered a single word since we left the human realm. After I sent that message to Eldoris, she went quiet.
The fear of what Tiberius might do next is eating at her, and somehow she thinks what happened today is her fault.
I sneak another glance at her, but she keeps walking silently.
I don’t know why she’s so worried. Tiberius could be God himself, and we’d still find a way to take him down.
She’s not alone in this. Not anymore. Never again.
The Death Castle comes into view, but the idea of walking inside while she’s drowning in her own thoughts doesn’t sit right with me.
Hazel isn’t chatty, but this deadly silence is starting to worry me.
I reach for her hand, ready to assure her that we’ve got this, but I freeze when she pulls away.
What the fuck?
I try again, but the stubborn siren folds her arms, blocking me out.
Now she’s doing this on purpose.
“Damn it, woman, just let me hold your hand.”
“No.” She turns her head, jaw clenched.
Wait, she’s not worried… she’s hurt. But why?
I reach again, but this time she dodges me completely, jumping far away like I’m contagious. I have to admit that hurts.
That’s it. I’m done playing this game.
My mate just had the worst day because I took her out of the safety of my kingdom, knowing full well about the Crab king and his obsession with her.
I can’t even say it was an oversight. I was just too selfish, wanting some alone time with her, that I abandoned all security protocols and put her in danger.
I fucked up, but I’d rather she curse me out than avoid my touch like being around me hurts her.
Before she can move again, I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into me. I’m not letting her run.
Hazel keeps her glare fixed on my chest until I tip her chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Why won’t you let me touch you?”
Hazel squeezes her eyes shut.
I’m starting to realize just how stubborn my siren can be.
“Hazel…”
“You walked away! You let go of my hand.”
My head jerks back like she slapped me, but that would’ve hurt less than the disappointment in her eyes.
“That’s why you’re upset? Hazel, I let go so I could do my move. I wasn’t leaving you.”
She’s crazy if she thinks I’d ever leave her. I’m her mate for fucks sake.
I cup her face, fingers tangling in her hair. “Leaving you never crossed my mind. Not once. I wasn’t going to let those assholes lay a hand on you. I wanted to rip their heads off for even thinking about hurting you.”
Hazel closes her eyes, and I press a kiss to her forehead, unable to stop myself.
“I was trying to impress you with a fancy move. Do you really think I’d stop touching you without a reason? Baby, I’m obsessed with you.”
She keeps looking at me like I’m speaking a different language until something inside her breaks. A choked sob escapes her, and she falls into my chest.
“I’m mated to a dumbass.” I pull her into a hug, kissing her hair. “You’re stuck with me, Hazel. They’d have to tear me apart before I let anyone take you from me.”
I honestly thought my siren didn’t know how to cry, and while the thought once amused me, I wish it were true. Seeing her shoulders shake, her tears soaking through my shirt, is torture.
Hazel doesn’t move, so I keep holding her against my chest, not forcing her to look at me. I’m almost certain this is the first time she’s letting her emotions lead, and I don’t want to spook her.
I brush her fingers over her neck, smoothing down her hair. When Hazel nuzzles into my shirt, I pull her closer and rub her back.
I could stay in this moment forever and die a happy man.
Goosebumps rise along her arms as I trace them, committing the feel of her in my arms to memory.
Hazel leans back and looks up at me with glassy eyes, and something in that raw, vulnerable look pulls her closer. My gaze follows my thumb as it caresses her cheek, then dips to trace her bottom lip again and again like I’m stuck in a trance.
I might as well be because in the next moment, Hazel rises on her toes and tilts her chin up, like she’s giving me permission to take what I crave, and I move on instinct.
My lips brush against hers in a soft, uncertain caress before I pull back, eyes screwed shut.
“I’m so sorry, Haze. I didn’t mean to… you just look so…” My breath falters as I get lost in the dark abyss of her whiskey eyes.
My hands find her waist, my grip no longer as gentle as I’d like it to be. I’m trying really hard to hold myself from giving in to the magic she is.
Hazel grips the front of my shirt and pulls me closer, the soft smile on her lips worth dying for. “Kiss me.”
I freeze for a second, but the moment uncertainty flickers in her eyes, I abandon all control. I’ll never be the reason she doubts herself again.
“That’s not how you beg, hellfire,” I click my tongue.
Hazel throws her head back with a groan, and I take the opportunity to nuzzle into her neck. Fates, her scent drives me insane. It’s addictive… and I’m already too far gone.
I laugh into her neck, my head swimming with anticipation. Being this close to her is already intoxicating. Who knows what kissing her might do?
“I’m just pulling your leg, baby.” I trail kisses along her neck, moving to her cheek and pausing at the corner of her mouth. “A queen never begs. You demand, and I deliver.”
A rare, shy smile tugs at her lips, and if I thought I was already head over heels for this woman, I was wrong… I just fell even harder.
Hazel grabs my face and whispers, “Kiss me.”
I don’t hold back this time. I kiss her with all the desperation I’ve felt every second I’ve been near her but not allowed to touch her, hold her, make her mine in ways only she can be. Every stolen glance, every almost-touch, and finally… finally this.
The kiss is greedy this time. Full of teasing touches, teeth clashing because I can’t stop smiling.
She’s kissing me back. My mate is kissing me back.
Hazel finally pulls back to breathe, and a feral need surges inside me at the sight of her swollen lips and dazed eyes, and wait, a minute, is that…?
“Are you blushing, hellfire?”
“Shut up.”
I squeeze her cheeks. “Look at you! Your face is so red.”
“Stop!” Hazel buries her face in my chest, and I let her hide there.
I smile into her hair. I love that I get to hold her now. That she wants me to touch her.
Hazel is still wrapped in my arms when I hear the start of her hum. A tune I’ve never heard before. It’s transcendent… spreading over my skin like wildfire. I give in to the pull, drawing her closer until I’m swallowing the sound, drowning in it.