Authors: Aliyah Burke
You’re projecting your thoughts still,
Aida.
Her gaze snapped up to find him staring at
her with unconcealed and barefaced need in his expression. “Sorry,”
she whispered.
“
Don’t apologize,” he
said. “Never apologize for wanting me.”
Wanting him was the understatement of the
year. Aida bit her lip as she watched him prowl closer and jump up
from a standstill onto the tailgate. His eyes still simmered with
feral fire, and she whimpered.
“
You didn’t want to change
back. Why?”
He moved closer, stopping to pull up the
tailgate and drop the tarp, enclosing them all inside. “I haven’t
been in tiger form for a while.”
“
Why not?” Part of her
realized she was discussing this with him as if it were a natural
thing, a man who shifted into a tiger. The rest of her pumped with
intrigue, and she longed to know more.
Dane moved to her on his hands and knees,
looking just as predatory as he had in the form of a white tiger.
Stopping before her, he sat back on his haunches and pushed one
hand into her hair.
“
My life is complicated,
Aida.”
She didn’t pull away from
his touch nor did she lower her gaze from his arresting one. Deep
within her, she felt his pain. And it was killing her for some
reason. She needed him to feel better. If that meant facing her own
fears then she could do it. She
would
.
“
Do you still think I can
help?”
“
No.” Her heart plummeted
at the single word. “I
know
you can.”
“
Then don’t shut me out.
Let me help.”
Dane leaned in and kissed her gently but
thoroughly.
Aida felt herself respond and ignored it.
“No distracting me, Dane.”
“
Can I hold you while I
tell you?”
For an answer, Aida reached up and turned
off the lantern before lying down and tugging him to the bed with
her. Pressing her cheek against his bare chest, she whispered,
“Start talking.” In the dark, she heard her dogs shifting and
settling in as well, apparently appeased and okay with Dane once
more.
“
You know how things have
a balance. Good versus evil. Even within you. I don’t have the good
anymore, so when I shift or rely on the strengths gifted to me, I
risk losing myself. The evil, darkness, has no counterpart now, and
it’s a constant battle. Tonight was the first time in months—since
the attack in Siberia—I’d allowed myself to shift. My tiger didn’t
want to let me back. He hates to be caged. And battling them both
hurts, not to mention tires me out.”
Aida frowned and ran her fingers along his
defined abdominals. “Where’d your ‘good’ go?”
“
I gave it to protect
someone.”
She narrowed her eyes and frowned at the
tenderness in his tone. “Zora?”
He chuckled slightly and tightened his hold
on her. “No. I gave it up to save my best friend’s mate.”
“
His mate?”
“
Yes. Soul mate. Life
mate. His other half. His reason for living.”
Her fingers stilled. “You gave up a part of
yourself to save a woman for your friend?”
“
He isn’t whole without
her.” The statement was issued so matter-of-factly.
“
But now you suffer.” She
shifted to press tighter against him. “You give so much, who
protects you, Dane?”
“
No one.”
“
That’s not fair.”
It’s just not.
A memory
flared, and she asked quietly, “Back in the village, you said you’d
already found what you needed to free yourself. What did you
mean?”
“
I was talking about you.”
Dane spoke in a low voice, and it resonated through her.
“
Me?”
“
You, Aida.”
“
So you think I’m
your…mate?” The real question was why any of this didn’t freak her
out.
“
I know you are.” His lips
skimmed her forehead.
“
Then why do you still
seem so lost?”
What is wrong with me that
I can’t help?
“I thought you said I
grounded you.”
“
You do. Aida, there
is
nothing
wrong
with you. My demons are still strong because we’re not mated. You
are my mate, but I haven’t marked you. Our mating bond isn’t
complete.”
“
Why not?”
He sighed heavily. “Because I don’t want to
force you into something.”
“
So again, you’re
sacrificing yourself for someone else.”
“
I will always put you
before me, Aida. It’s what a mate does.”
Aida stared through the dark. “But you said
we’re not mated.”
A low grunt escaped him. “Doesn’t change the
facts. You are my mate.”
Aida frowned and pulled a blanket over them.
“I need to think about all of this. You will talk about this again,
right?”
“
If that is what you
wish,
solnyshko moyo
.”
“
Good night, Dane.” Aida
kissed his chest and tried to make sense of everything she’d just
learned. There was something else going on, and she didn’t know
what it was.
“
Good night, my
love.”
Aida snuggled close to his
warmth. Despite all she’d gone through tonight with him, she still
trusted him and, now, felt even closer to him than before. The man
who held her so protectively had given up so much for
others.
It may be time to let someone
protect you, Dane.
“
Dane?”
“
Yes, Aida.”
“
You’re wrong, you
know.”
“
About what?”
“
Not having any good
inside you anymore. It overflows from you, you just have to learn
to recognize it.”
She smiled over the tender brush of his lips
along her forehead before submitting to the exhaustion lingering
near.
Chapter Eight
Dane woke early and allowed Aida to continue
to rest. He took the dogs out with him and watched the sun rise
over the park. Ruger and Kamau stayed near as a herd of springbok
moved past them in the distance. He could sense the group’s
nervousness at the scent of his predator but Dane just sat and
observed them. Finally, he turned his attention to the mountains
the general had pointed him towards then he scanned the
horizon.
He sat against the tire of
Aida’s 4x4 and sighed.
What was I doing
telling her those things?
Dane wanted to
be buried within her so badly he could taste it with each breath he
took. But he didn’t know if he had the control not to mark her once
he sat immersed inside her. The night he’d allowed himself a taste
of her, he had almost lost it just with his fingers and tongue
being in her.
Thrusting his hands into his hair, he
dropped his head. Aida had taken it all in stride last night. The
shifting, the questions, his answers. He’d never met another woman
like her in the world. And never would again.
“
One thing at a time,
man,” he muttered to himself.
Slim needed to be resolved then Dane would
figure out what to do with the luscious vixen named Aida Roberts.
He heard her stirring inside and looked over his shoulder and saw
her lowering the green material. Pushing to his feet, he smiled at
her.
“
Morning,
Aida.”
“
Good morning, Dane,” she
said quietly.
He frowned when she put her back to him.
Maybe she hadn’t taken it as well as he’d believed. Dane sprang up
easily into the back and stepped toward her when she turned.
“
Oh!” she gasped. “You…you
surprised me.”
She licked her lips, and his body jolted in
response. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“
Why are you staring at me
like that?”
“
How am I staring at you,
Aida?” He purred her name.
“
Like…like you want to eat
me.”
“
I do.” He grabbed the
edge of her shirt and pulled her close to him. “Are you scared of
me now, Aida?”
“
No. I believed you when
you said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
He smiled and pressed his lips to the corner
of her mouth. “I would sooner cut out my own heart than cause you
pain. Can I help?”
“
Help?”
He tugged on the tarp in her hand. “Yes,
help. Folding.”
She flushed and ducked her head. “Yes.
Please.”
They worked quickly together and in silence.
It didn’t take long and the vehicle was once again open, and he
ogled her ass while she bent over, straightening out the dog beds.
His beast made his wishes known, and Dane ignored him.
“
Aida,” he said. “About
last night.”
She got to her feet, pulled on the hem of
her shirt for a bit then met his gaze. The warm African wind blew
through her multihued hair, and she tucked some behind her ear.
“I’m still working on that. I don’t understand why you’re doing
what you are.”
He cocked his head. “You don’t understand
what I’m doing?”
Aida sat on the wheel well. “Since I’ve met
you, Dane, you’ve told me how I belong to you. How there’s no one
else for you, hell, even how you’re gonna knock me up. And yet, you
keep me at a distance, saying it’s me who’s putting it there
between us. I’m not stupid, I know you want me. I can feel it. In
my head and in my heart.” She pushed to her feet and stood directly
before him. “If you have a chance of being stronger and fighting
whatever is warring within you, why don’t you take it?”
“
Stupid you most
definitely are not, Aida. And I do want you, every inch of you.” He
licked his lips and grabbed her hand. Dane pressed it against his
rock-hard erection. “Every single inch. I dream of what it will be
like to be deep inside you. I don’t know if I’m strong enough not
to mark you while I’m there. Making love to you and marking you is
not the same thing. And you’re not a woman I can fuck just for the
sake of fucking.”
She lifted a brow. “Thank you…I think. And
you’re telling me you’re not strong enough to do one without the
other.”
“
Exactly,” he ground
out.
“
What happens if you mark
me?”
Dane could see the wheels turning in her
head, and it frustrated him to no end that he couldn’t break in and
find out what she was thinking. “We’re bound together for the rest
of our days.”
“
But, you could go on with
your life and I could mine?”
He scowled since he didn’t
like the direction this was taking. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
Dane held her chin in his hand. “But not like that, Aida. I’m a
fiercely jealous man. No other men would be able to touch you.
Hell, I wouldn’t want you away from me.”
I
wanted to kill Christopher, Kees, and Kgosi for daring to touch you
with such affection and familiarity.
“
That just doesn’t make
sense,” she said, pulling away and jumping out of the
truck.
“
Yes, it does.”
“
No. You’re a military
man. You’d be leaving anyway. Look, I’m trying to figure out a way
to help you here. Now, come eat something.”
Dane frowned. Aida made a very good point.
He jumped down and sank to his haunches next to her. “So you’re
telling me men touch you?”
She cut her gaze to him and snorted before
shoving against his shoulder hard. “I’m telling you to mind your
own business. There are other things to think about right now.”
A lot of thoughts raced through his mind at
the moment, and he’d bet everything he owned it wasn’t what Aida
was talking about. Because his were along the lines of them naked
and doing lots and lots of things that way. She thrust a plate at
him. Dane sat and stared at the food she’d put before him. Placing
the tin on the ground, Dane grabbed her around the waist and pulled
her on top of him. Face to face they lay, his hands sliding up
underneath her shirt while his lips teased hers.
“
You’re a very bossy
woman,” he grumbled playfully.
“
Just noticed that, did
you?” Aida rubbed enticingly against him. “You can’t keep doing
this, you know. We need to get going.”
He snarled at that. Bewilderment rushed him
when Aida chuckled and kissed him lightly before leaving him bereft
of her body along his. Lifting up to his elbows, Dane watched in
silence while she fixed a plate for herself and ate.
“
Stop staring at me,
Sidorov, and eat your breakfast,” she ordered without looking at
him.
Dane sighed loudly and picked up his plate.
Eating quickly, he finished the same time Aida did. It wasn’t very
long before they drove across the park. Dane could feel the beast
in him tearing to get out and run free. Lifting his head more, he
closed his eyes, allowing the wind to blow over him more.
“
Can I ask you
something?”
“
Anything,
Aida.”
“
Are your
siblings…um…shifters, too?”
“
Yes.” She didn’t say
another word. “Why do you ask, Aida?” he questioned, opening his
eyes to look at her.
“
Curiosity. The woman you
saved, can you get what you gave her back and restore your
balance?”
He smiled softly. “No. That now belongs to
Lady Nahia now.”
Aida frowned before she wiped it away. “If I
told you to mark me, would you do it?”