Page 30 of Shifting Desire
Chapter Thirteen
Ari
Not Yet
Ilay on his chestand watch the sun rise.His heart beats steadily beneath my ear.There is so much left unsaid between us that I don’t have a single clue where to start.
He stirs.“I can hear you thinking.”
I chuckle.“Lots to think about.”
He rises and positions himself against the headboard, drawing me into his muscular chest once more.“Do you want to talk about it?”
For a man who radiates dominance like a second skin, Malichai is being ...careful.And it guts me.
“I don’t forgive you,” I say again, mostly to remindmyself.I angle my body so I can face him instead of being stuck under his chin.“But I want to understand.”
That makes his eyes flicker—dark, molten heat just under the surface.“Ask me anything.”
I ask the one question I’ve been too scared to speak.
“Why didn’t you just let me feel it?”
He doesn’t answer immediately.Just stares into the distance like it holds the answer he needs.Even though we both know he is the only one with answers.
“I thought I was protecting you,” he finally says, voice low.“But I was protecting myself, too.If you never felt it ...you could never reject it.”
“You thought I’d run?”It hurts to ask the question, but this is my chance to figure out what the hell was going through his thick skull when he had a witch put a spell on his mate.
“I knew you would.”His words hold a sad confidence that guts me, but I push on.
I swallow hard.“You didn’t trust me.”
“That’s not it,” he says, rubbing a hand down his face.“I didn’t trust that I deserved you.”
Something in me stutters to a stop.Because that isn’t what I expected.And it makes it so much harder to hate him.
“I was never going to be the perfect fae girl your world expects,” I whisper.“Even without the human blood.I talk too much.I laugh too loud.I dye my hair stupid colors and forget to fold laundry for weeks and I eat dry cereal for dinner more often than any adult should admit.”
He looks at me like I’ve just described his favorite constellation.
“I know,” he says.
“And you still want me?”
His eyes burn.“I have only ever wanted you.”
