My scream echoes around the kitchen as I scramble to my feet, sliding away from the panther. I keep my eyes on Aarick. Is it really Aarick? Have I finally lost my mind? Is this from lack of sleep? Maybe this heat has been a fever and now I’m hallucinating.
You’re not hallucinating.The voice echoes in my mind, like a thought, and I freeze in place, keeping my eyes on the large cat.
"What in the fuck?”
See, I told you. You’re my mate.He stretches out, crossing one paw over the other and making himself comfortable. At this rate, I’ll be throwing everything in the refrigerator away.
I’ll buy you a new refrigerator and fill it with groceries. Quit worrying.
Before I can say anything else, the creak of my front door distracts me. Renee appears in the doorway of the kitchen, her face going pale at the sight of the large black cat chilling on the floor. He swishes his tale back and forth the way Tiger does when he’s displeased.
“Renee, you won’t believe what’s going on.”
She rushes over to me, otherwise unbothered by Aarick, and grabs my arm. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” I squeeze her arm reassuringly. “I promise. Just…he keeps saying these weird things.”
She searches my face before turning to dart her eyes around the room. “What do you mean?”
“He says I’m his…mate.” The word sends shivers down my body and tastes delicious on my tongue.
She pulls me closer until our foreheads almost touch, her eyes now dancing with excitement. “You’ve gone into heat.
FOUR
“What do you mean,I’ve gone into heat, Renee?” I stare my aunt down, shocked at her use of the word. When Aarick said it, I chalked it up to him being insane, but now she’s making the same claim.
“Darian, I…I couldn’t tell you.” Her tone matches her face—pinched lips and sad eyes. But that doesn’t make this easier for me.
“You couldn’t tell me,” I repeat. “That’s...”
“I know it doesn’t change the betrayal you feel, but everything we did was to keep you safe.”
“So you know this…man?” I motion toward Aarick’s animal form. “Or…”
“Shifter,” she says calmly. “We’re shifters.”
“So you’re one too?”
“I am.”
“Does that mean my parents…?”
“Your parents were, yes. But there’s so much more to the story. Right now, we have to focus on you. On getting you through your heat.”
“What in the hell does that mean?” I yell, balling my fists in frustration as the never-ending fire roars throughout my veins.
“It means…” She looks at Aarick.
He immediately stretches, his limbs and figure contorting until he’s a man again, standing before me. Buck-ass naked.
Renee quickly turns away, but I can’t. Because my body hums at the sight of him, at the way his curves and crevices glisten like he’s on a romance novel cover. I move toward him without thinking, and he welcomes me with open arms.
“It means that I have to take care of my girl,” he whispers hoarsely as he wraps me in his embrace, my body vibrating happily at his touch. The fire is there but it’s cozy now, and everything aligns in my mind to make sense.
He will put out the fire.
Everything else around us disappears as Aarick lowers his mouth to my neck and I stretch out to receive the touch. He pebbles kisses along my skin, over my jawline, each one like a block of ice soothing my fever. My body shakes from the contact, and the distant sound of my front door closing barely registers, but I glance out of the corner of my eye and Renee is gone. Knowing we’re alone only heightens my anticipation, and as Aarick’s mouth moves down my body, I despise the layers between his lips and my skin. As I tear out of my clothes, the zipper on my shorts rips. They hit the floor with my underwear, but there’s no time to be shy. He grabs my shirt, pulling it up, and we both fumble to get it over my head.
