Page 58 of Aries

The sound of our family’s laughter follows us down the corridor toward our new quarters, toward the beginning of our real life together.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Callie

The door to our new quarters slides shut behind us, leaving just the gentle hum of the ship’s engines and our ragged breathing. After all the crew reunions, the toasts, and the chaos of officially transferring to Captain Beast’s ship, we’re finally alone in our permanent home.

Spark seems to sense the electric tension crackling between us, its bright colors shifting to knowing rose-gold as it deliberately zips to a far corner shelf, settling into its rest-sphere with what looks suspiciously like a smug pulse. Even our faithful companion knows what’s about to happen.

“So,” I breathe, watching Aries prowl across the room like the predator he is, all controlled power and barely leashed hunger. The starfield through our viewport frames his bronze skin and gleaming horns, but it’s the molten gold of his eyes that makes my knees weak. “Our first night in our real home.”

My pulse thunders as he stalks closer, each step deliberate and predatory. This isn’t the careful reverence of our first joining—there’s something feral in his expression now, something that promises the gentle intimacies we shared at the cottage are a thing of the past.

“I can smell your need from here,” he growls, stopping so close his heat seeps into my skin—but he doesn’t touch me. “Sweet and intoxicating. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”

“Tell me,” I challenge, lifting my chin defiantly even as my body betrays me with a shiver of pure want.

His smile is wicked, all sharp edges and dark promise. “It makes me want todevouryou. To mark every inch of your skin so thoroughly that everyone on this ship knows exactly who you belong to.”

The possessive edge in his voice makes my core clench with need. “Then stop talking,” I reach for him, “and take what’s yours.”

Something flashes in his eyes—heat and hunger and a playful dominance I haven’t seen since that storm night when he ordered me to spread my thighs for him during my bath. His head dips, but instead of the gentle brush of lips I expect, he captures my mouth in a kiss that’s pure claiming—teeth and tongue and barely restrained violence that makes my blood sing. His hands don’t frame my face tenderly like before; instead, they fist in my hair, angling my head exactly where he wants it for deeper access.

“You want wild?” he snarls against my lips, his voice a rough growl that sends shivers racing down my spine. “You want me to stop holding back like some civilized male?”

“Yes,” I breathe, my hands already working at his tunic. “I want everything you were afraid to show me before.”

His laugh is dark and predatory as he spins me around, pressing my palms flat against the viewport. The cold transparisteel against my heated skin makes me gasp as he presses against my back, his mouth hot against my ear.

“I’ve been fantasizing about bending you over and taking you against a viewport window,” he confesses roughly, his hands already working at my clothes with efficient brutality. “About having you watch the stars while I make you scream.”

Heat floods through me at the idea, at the feral hunger in his golden eyes. “What are you waiting for?”

My words unleash something savage in him. Fabric tears as he strips me with ruthless efficiency, his mouth trailing fire down my spine. But instead of gentle kisses, he uses teeth—nipping and marking until I’m trembling against the cold viewport.

“I can see our reflection in the window,” he rasps, his hands skimming down my sides with possessive intent. “Can see how desperate you are for me? How beautiful you look when you’re about to be thoroughly claimed?”

I bend at the waist, needing friction, hoping to feel his hard length against me.

“Not yet. First, I want to watch you fall apart against this window.” One large hand slides up to cup my breast, fingers finding my nipple and rolling it between thumb and forefinger with just enough pressure to make me arch and gasp. “That’s it. Let me hear those pretty sounds you make when I touch you.”

His other hand trails down my stomach, fingers dancing along my hip bone before sliding between my thighs. When he finds me already slick and ready, he chuckles darkly against my ear. “So wet for me already. And we’ve barely started.”

“Aries,” I breathe, my palms flat against the cold viewport as he works me with skilled fingers, circling my clit with maddening precision while his other hand continues its assault on my breast. The dual sensations have me trembling, my reflection in the window showing a woman completely undone.

“I could take you right here,” he growls, his fingers increasing their pace until I’m gasping and writhing against him. “Press you against the portaland make you watch the stars while I claim you. Would you like that, Callie? To be thoroughly owned from behind? Where I can take you any way I want?”

The thought sends a shock of arousal through me so intense I nearly climax from his words alone. “Please,” I whimper, my hips rolling against his hand.

“Please what?” His fingers slow to an agonizing tease.

“Please don’t stop. Please touch me. Please—” The words dissolve into a moan as he pinches my nipple harder, his fingers on my clit finding just the right rhythm to have me seeing stars.

Just when I’m about to shatter, he withdraws both hands, spinning me around to face him. His eyes are molten gold, pupils blown wide with lust. “Now I take you to our bed,” he says, his voice rough with barely contained need. “And finish what I started.”

Before I can protest the loss of his touch, he lifts me bodily, my legs wrapping around his waist as he carries me to the bed, stalking like a jungle animal.

Instead of laying me down gently like before, he tosses me onto the mattress with just enough force to make me bounce, his eyes drinking in every inch of newly revealed skin.

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