Page 10 of Catastrophe

Sweet words that should have melted me, but I wanted to grimace. Trusting, yes. Almost to the point of naivety if I considered the situation with Karin. Despite my suspicions of her and despite consuming spells through trickery before, I still took the tea.

No one to blame but yourself.

But I didn’t mention that. This wasn’t about me. It was about Baelen, and he needed someone on his side.

I licked my lips and whispered, “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I trust and believe in you. You’re my soul mate. You are a protective and strong man. It must have killed you to be in that situation, so I don’t blame you for anything. I just want you to heal now.”

After a long pause, he nodded once, his jaw tight with tension. His voice wavered when he spoke. “It was … violating. Watching things unfold. Knowing his plan and being helpless to stop him. It was the first time in my life I’ve felt so …”

He seemed unable to conjure the right word, and my heart lurched at the pain in his voice. I squeezed him, and although we were both naked and his body felt marvelous against mine, any desires we shared had cooled with our serious conversation.

Baelen lay back, bringing me with him so I straddled his legs and covered his chest, my head buried in his neck.

Not being able to see him made it easier to say, “When my husband, Mr Jenkins—or Fafnir, as we now know—attempted to force himself on me, it was the most traumatic, painful, and violating experience of my life. I felt so useless and empty and angry and heartbroken. Unclean. Ruined. He didn’t get far, but he could have easily, and I knew he would try again. It broke something inside me, so much so that I took my own life to escape him.”

Baelen stayed silent but tightened his arms around me and let out slow, controlled breaths.

I kissed his neck in thanks and continued, “I’m not telling you our situations are alike or that I know exactly how you feel. They aren’t, and I don’t. But I know how alone I felt, and I don’t want you to feel like that. If you want to talk, if you don’t, I’m here all the same.”

“Thank you, Sunlight,” was all I heard in reply, but his voice seemed choked, and his arms didn’t loosen, so I know he heard me and felt my care for him.

After a few moments of peacefully breathing each other in, I figured he didn’t want to talk yet and added, “I’ll never forget those feelings, but I can be thankful it’s over and that it led me to you, Charlie, and Zaide. I’m so sorry you suffered, but I’m glad it meant you were portaled here. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you right now.”

He kissed the top of my head and said, “I am glad to be here too. And that you are human again. Interpreting your meows was not a challenge I’ve trained for.”

Thrilled he was lightening the mood with a joke, I played along, patting his shoulder in mock sympathy. “It’s an acquired skill to speak feline. Very few are bestowed with the knowledge, so I applaud your efforts.”

“Bestowed …” he repeated as his fingers glided over my back and down my sides, tickling me softly. “How might one earn such a gift?”

“I have to admit, you aren’t going the right way about it,” I huffed before squirming out of his grip and sitting up. “We should probably get out of bed.”

Baelen glanced toward the window. “It’s still early, and Elizabeth isn’t up yet.” When his gaze turned back to me, dark and hungry eyes lingered on my breasts. Calloused hands gripped my hips. “And you are naked.”

He licked his lips as his stare washed over my stomach and then to where my core touched his legs, his large and pulsating arousal a tower between us. All the desire we’d put aside came flooding back.

“Cats do not wear pajamas to bed,” I replied breathlessly as he pulled me onto his lap to grind against his dripping hardness.

“How fortunate,” he whispered before he tugged me down and caressed my lips with whisper-soft pecks, which grew into passionate kisses.

His cock jumped when I bit his lip, and I gasped and groaned, my head falling to his neck, as it hit me exactly where I wanted it. Pleasure caused everything to clench and white sparks to fly behind my closed eyes.

He likes being bitten, but does he bite?

“Baelen?” I whispered as he peppered my neck with kisses and moved my hips more firmly against his cock.

“Yes, my sunlight?”

“Do you bite? When you …” I trailed off, my cheeks burning as his eyebrow raised and he looked up at me with a grin and undisguised laughter in his red eyes. I huffed at the mockery and said, “Forget I asked.”

He held me still on top of him and answered seriously, “I’ve only been with akari females, and we do not bite or exchange blood unless we are making commitments to each other.”

My brow furrowed. The thought of him being sexually intimate with anyone else, let alone making commitments, made me angry. “I don’t want to know any more.”

His lips twitched, and I glared. “Don’t be jealous, my sunlight. I promise you, I can’t even remember them.”

“Them?” I asked incredulously until I remembered I was currently in a relationship with three men and couldn’t really say anything. Still, I sat up and crossed my arms as a green haze of jealousy descended upon me. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

He stroked my arms, trying to make me uncover myself again. “What can I do?”

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