Page 8 of Aria's Desire

Aria felt like a twitchy, flushed, well-sexed ball of overly-sensitive nerve endings by the time she left Kix’s lab and made her way up to the conference room where she was supposed to be meeting her Generals.

She hadn’t given a thought to her undoubtedly tousled appearance… until she opened the door, and Rellik was the only one waiting on the other side.

Her heart skipped a beat at seeing him, and for a moment, they just stared at one another, neither moving, the silence charged.

Gazing at him, she let her eyes greedily trace over his lean, muscular body, clothed only in low-slung, black pants, leaving his top half bare, as was his preference.

She traced the lines of sharp, blueish tattoos decorating his pale, whitish grey skin with her gaze, their placement intentionally meant to enhance his appeal. And they did.

Goddamn, theyreallydid.

They flowed over his body, crawling up his neck and chin to cut through the corners of his lips, curving over his sharp cheekbones, then slashing over his eyes to end in a crown-shaped design on his forehead.

If the tattoos weren’t enough to hit her bad boy buttons, the piercings did. Silver rings decorated each corner of his full bottom lip. More adorned his pointed ears. Barbells pierced his nipples and slashing black brows.

What looked like thin, white dreadlocks, but were actually just thick individual strands of hair, brushed his shoulders. They used to fall to mid back, each decorated with gemmed beads and cuffs, but he’d cut them and removed the adornments, something she’d learned from Tirox was a signal he was no longer in a harem.

Keeping his hair off his face were thick, spiraling, mottled black and grey horns that grew from his upper temples, curved over the top of his head, ending in wickedly sharp points.

Finally, she gazed into his fiery orange eyes, and was hit with a flashback to their takeover of the aquatic arena, of that moment where she’d almost lost him. Remembering it still made something in her chest go tight, made it hard to breathe.

Spar had saved the day, distracting the Overlord with her seductive, dominatrix act so Sin could sneak up behind him and tear his throat out, but that split second of thinking Rellik was about to be killed—that moment when he’d stepped in front of the gun aimed at her, ready to die in her place, the look in his eyes a gut-wrenching mix of regret and serenity—made something painfully clear.

The feelings she had for him and Sin weren’t passing infatuations, as she’d been trying to stubbornly insist they were. Aria was forced to admit, to herself at least, that what she felt for them was as genuine as what she felt for Kix and Tirox.

Controlling the odd nervousness she felt at being alone with him, so it didn’t show in her voice, she broke the silence, asking, “You’ve checked in with Tira at the aquatic arena? Everything’s good over there?”

His gaze remained locked on hers as he answered, his voice quiet, purring, “Yes,sarasha.”

She narrowed her eyes at him calling her Queen, but didn’t bother correcting him. He wouldn’t listen anyway.

“And progress on the dungeon retrofit?”

Was he walking closer or was she? It took thinking about to decide it was him. Was he aware he was slowly closing the distance between them one thrilling step at a time? Something told her he wasn’t, that his feet were carrying him closer of their own accord.

“It goes well. It is stocked with supplies, weapons. Security measures are being put in place now. Should someone else attempt to take over the complex, they will not be able to go down there. Our people will be able to shelter safely.”

Nodding a little too quickly, she murmured, “Good. That’s good. And, uh, Killir? Where’s he?”

She fully planned to keep asking questions until everyone else showed up.

“With his watcher.” Rellik paused three feet away, the look in his eyes becoming shrewd, perceptive, always so goddamn perceptive. “You still don’t trust the mercenary. You think the information he provided us is unreliable?”

Aria’s mouth twisted. Did she trust the asshole Salesh had sent to kill them? No. But…

“I trust Kix and Lilac’s judgement of him. I just don’t like relying on someone whose loyalties I still find questionable.”

He took another step closer, intensifying the fluttery feeling in her stomach tenfold. “Which is why you and Sin go alone tonight, to confirm he speaks true.”

Humming an agreement instead of speaking, because her throat felt oddly tight, Aria broke their stare and reached for the comm in her pocket, ready to call in her slow-as-fucking-snails Generals.

Freezing mid-reach when he stepped closer still, she flashed him a warning look. At her expression, his eyes widened ever so slightly and a soft, shuddering breath slid past tempting lips as though he was excited by her warning.

Hewasexcited by it. She knew he was. She shouldn’t find that sexy. Her heart shouldn’t be beating so fast. Her clit shouldn’t be throbbing.

Jesus, maybe her mates were onto something with their insatiable comments.

When she started to reach for her comm again, he spoke. “I received word from Braxton.”

---