Page 33 of Aria's Desire

Sin narrowed his eyes like he wasn’t sure he should answer, but finally said, “We know.”

Caught off guard at that, she blinked. Finding out Tirox shared things about her with them made her feel… weird. A little uncomfortable and oddly pleased at the same time. What else did they know?

“Oh.”

They exchanged another look before Rellik brought his hand out from around his back, revealing another of the brush things she’d found in the bathroom.

“Kix mentioned you weren’t… adept at caring for your locks. He showed us how to help, knowing you’d be without them for a pair of days,” Rellik said almost hesitantly.

Kix? Okay, that really surprised her. She’d thought he avoided everyone, with the exception of Tirox and herself, thought he only tolerated Rellik’s presence when he needed his help with engineering. Had it been a short, one time conversation, or did her firefly hang out with them regularly?

There was that jealousy again, along with a sliver of hurt. It wasn’t that Kix was able to be around others, it was that she hadn’t been invited. Again, silly. She hadn’t exactly kept her avoidance of Sin and Rellik a secret from her mates, so why would they think to invite her to a powwow?

Realizing they were still waiting on an answer, Aria cleared her throat and wordlessly headed for one of the chairs set in a group near the balcony doors, trying to ignore the butterflies suddenly fluttering in her stomach.

Even listening to them approach, she still twitched when she felt one of them collect her hair off her back.

“Easy,” came Sin’s rough voice. “We’ll be gentle.”

Her mind, traitorous thing that it was, immediately supplied her with an image of him moving above her. And there was nothing gentle about it.

Thankful they were behind her and couldn’t see her nipples tightening to hard points under the top of her bodysuit, she consciously relaxed her stiff shoulders. Taking that as the sign it was, they set to work, splitting her hair down the middle, each taking a side.

The soft rasp of the bristles, the heat of their bodies, their scents enveloping her, the care they took—it all combined to both relax and key her up.

There was something intensely intimate about them brushing her hair.

That intimacy tripled when they set the brushes aside, burying their hands in the thick length instead.

Bit by bit, Aria melted into their touch, even knowing she shouldn’t, her eyes falling to half mast. Her heart was thundering in her chest, a languid kind of desire igniting inside her.

She was already hyper aware of every caress, so when Rellik’s fingertips strayed to her throat, ghosting over her sensitive skin, it was almost shocking in its intensity. Aria had to bite her lip to hold in a moan, her thighs reflexively clenching when Sin immediately followed by lightly scratching his claws down the back of her neck.

Could they scent her need? Did they know her thighs were slick? Were they even doing her hair anymore?

Did it matter? She couldn’t find so much as a flicker of desire to move away from their touch.

This was why she avoided them. They were dangerous to her self-control, but more than that, to her heart, because the arousal heating her blood wasn’t superficial. It was accompanied by longing forthem, as people, as men she knew and trusted, and that was far, far more perilous than just wanting them physically.

A knock sounded on the door, cutting through the quiet room like a knife and jarring all of them. Aria jerked.

Feeling like she’d just been caught doing something naughty, she stood up from the chair a little too fast and spun toward the door. She heard Rellik and Sin start to follow her, but waved them off without looking, needing a moment away from them.

Like a physical sensation, she felt their tension at her brush off and had to grit her teeth to stop herself from turning around and apologizing, had to force her feet to keep carrying her away from them.

It wasn’t easy, and success felt like anything but victory.

Chapter 19

Composing herself so her riotous emotions weren’t visible on her face, Aria opening the door to find another nearly naked male standing on the other side.

This one didn’t appear to be much older than twenty, in human years, and was wearing yet another sheer loincloth in the same shade of grey as the drummers the night before. She wondered idly if that color was assigned to unmated males or if it was to designate castle workers.

He was pleasant to look at, as were all the males she’d seen thus far, but he didn’t have Rellik’s arresting good looks. His eyes were paler, his lips less full, his musculature less defined.

Was it unfair of her to compare him to Rellik? Probably. Her devil was uncommonly beautiful.

Did any of that stop her from looking at his cock? Nope. She didn’t think anyone could hold it against her, though. The piercings sparkled in the light streaming in from the windows and caught her eye. Peeking was an involuntary reaction.

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