Taming the Queen of Beasts

RIKA

Rika stood in the doorway and watched Elia walk over to the other tree house and step inside. Then she turned back to face the meadow, and Gar. Who hadn't moved. He had to have heard them, but he didn't turn around, or say anything.

Rika swallowed hard, then pushed her shoulders back. Part of her wanted to run to him, to hold him, and kiss him and reassure him. But the bigger part of her was terrified of even the thought of that. She barely knew him!

So, she walked slowly, waiting for him to turn and look at her. But he didn't do it until she stepped into his peripheral vision.

He stood, his broad shoulders hunched slightly, the muscles in his chest and shoulders bunching under his shirt and his sleeves pulled tight on his biceps. His dark hair was mussed as if he'd been pushing his hands through it, and eyes when he turned were red and shining. Rika wanted to weep seeing the sadness in him.

But those little muscles at the back of his jaw twitched, and he scanned her once, quickly, as if checking to make sure she hadn't been injured, then he looked down.

"Why didn't you come in?" she asked carefully, standing a few feet away from him in case he needed space.

"Remember the things I told you about my dad?" he said quietly, his voice husky.

"Yeah. Of course."

Gar cleared his throat and looked up at the mountain in front of them. "He just apologized for all of it. He admitted that he'd misjudged me and got it wrong and been hard on me. And I just… I kind of froze. It made me feel… it was so strange. Like, I was happy and terrified at the same time."

Rika nodded. That was often how she felt being next to Gar.

"I don't like that feeling," he said, his lower jaw pushed out. "It's weak."

Rika frowned. "I don't think it's weak to be touched by something someone said. Especially when it's important like that. I wish my dad would have that kind of epiphany."

A low growl puttered in Gar's throat and Rika's heart beat faster—was he going to get violent?

"I want to kill that male for what he did to you," Gar snarled.

Rika was humbled, but a little nervous too. But she stepped hesitantly closer, reaching for his arm. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Are… Are you okay?"

"In a lot of ways I'm better than I've ever been," he said carefully. He raked a hand through his hair, frowning, before he looked at her. "Are you?"

She nodded, Elia's words echoing in her head.

Take the risk.

"I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out. But… but I'm glad that I'm here. With you," she said, her heart racing so fast her head felt light.

Gar's eyes widened slightly. "I'm glad you're here with me, too."

She nodded again. They stared. Then she gave a nervous laugh. "I don't know what to say except that I don't want to be apart from you, but I'm also really struggling with believing this whole mate thing is real."

Gar's throat bobbed. He stepped over to stand in front her. Her stomach clenched, but she fought it, reminding herself of Elia's words. There were no safer hands. Take the risk.

Her breath caught as Gar lifted one of those safe, gentle hands to her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb, and in that deep, beautiful voice, whispered, "It's real for me."

Then he kissed her.

*****

GAR

He wasn't sure if Rika was suddenly more open to him, or if he was just so emotional he was giving in to every whim, but pulling her in slowly, watching her eyes for the flash of fear, he dropped his chin until his lips hovered, just over hers. Then he stopped, waited.

With a whoosh of breath, Rika closed the space between them, her mouth half-open, lips soft.

Gar sucked in, taking her waist in his other hand and holding her hip as he tasted her, a tiny purr in his throat when her hands appeared on his chest and, rather than pushing him away, she pulled him closer.

She stretched up on her tip-toes, her back arched under his hand, their hips pressed together as he dove into the kiss, tongues dancing, searching, his breath thundering across her cheek as all the pent-up emotion and tension of the day jangled through his veins until his entire body fizzed.

He trembled, holding himself back from plundering her mouth, afraid to move her too quickly. She was shaking in his arms, but her kiss wasn't hesitant. Her fingers clawed into the hair at the nape of his neck and she pulled him down, tilting her head to deepen the kiss herself.

Instinctively, he circled her waist with his arms and pulled her in tight, goosebumps washing down the back of his neck from the point where her fingers kneaded on his skin.

For a moment, he forgot about his father, forgot about the disformed, forgot about everything except her delicious scent—she reminded him of sage, and summer grass when the sun was high—and the thrilling feeling of her body against his. Her soft warmth, pliable and welcoming.

Then she sucked in a breath and nudged her hips against him, and Gar almost roared. He shuddered with the heat that flooded his system, his very veins lighting with the promise of all the ways her soft would embrace his hard. His fingers clawed at her back, but he forced himself to stillness, not to take too much, too fast. Not to scare her away from this moment where she'd given him something—something intangible. But so precious.

She was his. Made for him. Her curves filled his hands perfectly. He wanted to devour her, to pull her inside him and hold her away from the world that had hurt her. He wanted to put her on a pedestal and display her to the world.

But, she was trusting him, he knew. And he couldn't give her any reason to regret it.

If she didn't stop kissing him like that, he wasn't going to be able to deny the temptation to swing her off her feet and carry her back into the treehouse, meeting be damned.

So he forced himself to break the kiss, but couldn't quite bear to put space between them yet. So he rested his forehead against hers and spoke through his roaring breath.

"Whatever it takes, Rika," he rasped. "I'll still be here. I'm not going anywhere. Whatever you need… whatever you don't. You tell me.. I'm yours, Love. Whether you want me or not…"

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