Page 209 of Fractured Fate

Charlotte crossed the space to go to the bathroom, but he couldn’t wait today. After the meeting with the Oracle, he needed to hear a direct answer to the question burning through his nerves like an inferno.

He grabbed her arm before she could get too far into the room and spun her around.

She looked up at him.

He narrowed his eyes, and his jaw clenched as he worked the muscles. It took every ounce of his willpower not to throw her over his shoulder and take her to his bed.

The hope and longing he felt when he sat in the room with the Oracle mirrored his own so strongly that he didn’t know where Charlotte’s emotions ended and his began. She wanted it, but he needed to hear her words again. He needed to hear her say it to him, not to someone else.

He tried to sound calm, but his voice came out coarse and low. “You want to be a Vasirian?”

“I do.”

The way she answered with such firm resolve made him groan.

The bag of goodies they picked up at the canteen crashed to the floor as his arms came around her. His hand threaded the back of her hair and gripped the back of her head as he slammed his mouth onto hers.

When she gasped, he shoved his tongue into her mouth, kissing her roughly, walking her backward until she bumped the wall beside the ensuite.

She moaned, squirming against him but not able to move with the way his hard body pressed her to the wall. He held her hair in a tight grip.

“I can’t believe you want that,” he said against her lips, voice like gravel.

She looked up into his glowing eyes that reflected in her own. “Of course I do,” she whispered. “I love you. Why wouldn’t I want to spend as long as I can with you?”

His knees almost buckled at the words she had never used before. He questioned it once. There was a time when they were in her bed that he felt something he was sure was her love, but she said nothing. Hearing her say she loved him out loud made his heart soar.

“You have no idea how much I love you,” he whispered reverently against her lips before stealing a deep kiss, pouring all of his heart into it.

His hands came down to grab hold of her thighs and lift her. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, never breaking the kiss.

He walked her over to his bed and crawled onto it, holding her against him the entire way until he lowered her to her back. His body cloaked hers as he dragged open-mouthed kisses across her cheek to her neck, where he sucked the sweet tasting skin there into his mouth.

She arched her neck, giving him better access. He increased the suction, coaxing out a gasping breath.

“Aiden?”

He nipped her bruised skin. “Yeah, Kitten?”

“Can we do the thing?”

“What thing?”

He trailed his tongue over to the other side of her neck, where he gave the skin there the same treatment. If she’d let him, he’d leave a necklace of his marks on her so everyone would see she belonged to him.

“The seal,” she said on a moan as he worried her skin with his teeth, angling her hips to grind against his hardness.

He paused, lifting his head to look down into her eyes. “You’re ready?”

“I might not be able to become a Vasirian yet, but I want to be as connected to you as we possibly can.”

“Fucking hell.” Aiden dropped his head forward. “You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.” His lips captured hers again as he rolled his hips against her center.

He sat back on his heels and worked her shirt up her body. She sat up so that he could pull it over her head, but it caught at her nose, reminding him of when he used her shirt before to both blindfold her and restrain her arms.

As much as he enjoyed the adventurous things they tried, this wasn’t the time for that. He wanted to cherish her tonight. He wanted to give her the world.

The mistakes of the past might put kinks in the path leading where they were meant to be, but Charlotte belonged in his world. The Oracle may have acknowledged her fate, but he was claiming it. No matter what it took, he would keep her in his world.