Page 38 of Roar Letter Word

She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her tights and began to shimmy out of them. She was starting to feel her face get hot with the anticipation of rage.

“Go ahead then,” she said, yanking at the pants. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I feel forgotten, Addie.”

Addie let out a long sigh. She couldn’t help it. She stepped out of her leggings and cast them aside, shaking her head as she did. She felt like she had time-traveled to every breakup scene she had ever been a part of. But she wasn’t an actor. She was watching from afar, a spectator viewing it all outside the fishbowl.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mahes, but this is how it is when I’m on tour. I have to practice to make sure everything goes smoothly tomorrow. It’s what I do.”

She didn't look at him when she stripped off the rest of her damp clothing, first the comfortable underwear that she always wore during rehearsal, then her sports bra. It made a moistened smack when it hit the bathroom floor.

Addie could still feel his presence, standing there with his hands behind his back like a soldier. It was daunting and filled her with a sense of doom.

She spun around, standing stark naked, her hair pasted to the back of her neck from all of the dancing. She was angry that he was putting her in that position again. And he was standing there, looking so vulnerable, so sensitive. She didn’t enjoy plunging the knife deep into his chest. But she had to stay true to who she was. Otherwise, who the hell would she be?

“That’s it then, you’re just gonna stand there? Make me bite the bullet like this again?”

Mahes remained motionless. He didn’t even peer down at her naked form, which looked cut and fine, even under the sheen layer of perspiration.

“No matter what you choose to do, Addie, you are always going to be my fated mate. I knew it the first time I saw you. I know you cannot understand what I mean, but you are my entire world. Even if I am not yours.”

She understood him, and she also didn’t understand him. That was what made the exchange so profoundly irritating. His emotions were displayed on his face with a benevolent stoicism that made her want to punch him.

But at the same time, she wanted to console him.

“Fated mates?” she seethed, squeezing her fists together.

He nodded in the most casual way. That made Addie even more frustrated.

“It's a shifter sense. It means we are connected forever. As soul mates, if you will. But it is more physically binding than the human phrase …”

Addie couldn't take any more of it. She turned from him and switched the faucet of the shower on. Her body was hot with fury. He was as quiet as a predator, stalking her. She could sense the lion in him at that moment. Her eyes began to sting as she held back tears, his hand lightly tracing over the small of her back.

Addie recoiled and spun back around, unable to contain herself any longer.

He stared down at her, his injured heart baring down. Her own injured heart fought back.

“What do you expect me to say, Mahes?” she said, her words as vicious as her tone. “I know this is too much for you. It’s too much for every man I’ve ever been with. I wish I could give you an answer. I can’t pick between two things I love …"

His expression fell as hers did. The words had just come out that way. She hadn’t planned it whatsoever. But she realized at that moment that it was the truth. Anger had a way of flushing it out when affection couldn’t.

“Love?” he said, moving closer. The shower stream bounced off the tile and sprayed their feet. “Are you saying you love me?”

Addie’s fist loosened, and then she nodded.

Mahes took her gently by the waist, then lowered her to sit on the lip of the tub. Without breaking eye contact, he went to his knees, placed his palms on her calves, and laboriously spread them open.

Addie had been sweating for the majority of the day and would normally have never let a man between her legs without washing up first. With Mahes, she just embraced it, and he seemed to thrive upon the absorption of her natural fragrances and juices.

The water ran cold as Mahes ate her pussy, licking and suckling until her body succumbed to the pleasure. Her cries echoed in the marble chambers.

Admitting her love to Mahes had a ripple effect, scorching through her brain stem like hellfire, swirling through her loins, and making a home in her cells as the truth burst out.

No matter what happened then, she knew the truth.

EIGHTEEN

MAHES