chapter 61
1237 Words
Malix dives under, and I startle, looking around for him. Is he coming for me?
I turn my back on the shore and wade a little further, only to realize it’s much too deep for me to touch here. I’m forced to go back a couple feet, only for Malix to surface right beside me.
I glare at him. “Can I have some privacy please?”
His hand emerges from the water. “Thought you might like some soap.”
I stare at the small round bar in his hand, all the bluster fading from me. “Oh. Yeah, actually, that would be cool.”
As I pluck the soap from his fingers, he gives me an amused grin and then backs off, giving me extra space.
Turning around, I start rubbing the soap over my body beneath the water. Not the best way to scrub myself, but I’m not too keen on walking further inland and having Malix stare at my naked body while I wash.
Well, maybe I’m too keen on that. And that’s scarier.
I rub the bar through my hair to get a good lather going, then offer it back to Malix. “Thanks.”
“No problem, kitty.”
Shoving my hands into my hair, I roll my eyes and start scrubbing. I listen to the water lapping at Malix’s body as he washes up, trying desperately not to think of his nakedness below the surface.
I rinse my hair out by ducking beneath the water, then resurface, turning my face into the cool breeze.
Don’t think about Malix.
Don’t think about Malix.
Don’t think about Malix.
Chanting it in your head is thinking about Malix, you f*****g dumbass.
Giving in to my insanity, I glance over my shoulder at him. He’s not much taller than me, so most of his body is underwater here, too. The emphasis is on his neck and shoulders, both of which are strong. Corded.
Biteable.
Jesus, I need a distraction.
“So,” I say, “once we’re done with the antidote, are you guys going to go back to that place where you sensed the shadow realm?”
“Sure will,” he replies cheerfully. “You gonna try to stop us, kitty?”
“Sure will,” I parrot back in my sweetest voice, making sure there’s an edge of challenge beneath it.
We glance at each other. Malix has that stupidly charming grin on his face, as always, and against my better judgment, I grin back.
“I’m pretty sure you just told me to f**k off in kitty speak,” he says, tossing the soap between his hands twice before he chucks it at the shore. We watch it bounce across the rocks and then come to rest.
“Not even a week in my presence and you just know me so well,” I quip.
Malix chuckles. “See, that’s why I like you, kitty. Funny, smart, give no fucks...” He trails off, and it feels like he was going to say something else.
I catch his violet gaze, and something shifts in the air between us. The acknowledgement that he likes me settles into a sudden, charged silence.
For the briefest of seconds, I consider telling him that I like him, too. Or I would, if I let myself like him. He’s a lot like me—strong, stubborn, loyal to the people he loves. Malix reminds me every day that he’s meant to be my mate, simply by being himself.
If we weren’t diametrically at odds, all three of them would be my perfect complements.
Our teasing banter vanishes under the weight of the silence between us.
“What are you?” I ask softly. “I know you were ‘made’ or ‘created’ or whatever, but what does that even mean?”
Malix’s smile fades away and he moves toward me, seemingly considering his words. He stops before he gets too close, but even still, his sunshine and fresh air scent overtakes me. I fight the urge to step back—I want him to talk to me. To give me answers.
He lifts a hand out of the water and rubs his palm over his short black hair. His shadows move sluggishly over his bulging biceps. “I am the son of a shadow and a shifter woman.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Um. How?”
“Magic,” he says with a shrug. “Magic was used to create me, but I had a shifter mother who birthed me.”
“Had?”
Malix nods. The moon is rising over the mountains, and it glints off his eyes. He’s beautiful. Otherworldly.
Sad.
“She died when I was four,” he murmurs. “Because of me and my twin sister. Carrying us, all the magic and shadow, it… my mother never recovered.”
“You have a sister?”
He clenches his jaw and looks away, out over the lake.
“She died too,” I guess, my heart sinking at the tightness of pain around his eyes.
Malix swallows visibly and blinks his long, dark lashes several times before he looks back at me. “Kian and Frost are all I have left.”
The pull between us, that insistent tug that never seems to go away, suddenly feels stronger than ever. I can’t stand the way his brow is drawn together, the pain in his eyes, the fact that his smile has just completely vanished. I want to give his happiness back to him and take away everything that’s making his heart ache.
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
What the f**k am I thinking?
It’s a good goddamn question, but I’m walking forward before I can even begin to think of an answer.
When I reach Malix, I don’t hesitate.
I just wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.
His soft, full lips are wet with lake water, and they stoke a fire in me that rages through every nerve ending. He makes no move to touch me, but his lips respond to mine, kissing me back.
My heart’s racing when I pull away from the kiss. Our eyes meet, and I want to tell him how sorry I am about his mother, about his sister, about this shitty lot in life he and his brothers have been handed. But the words don’t come. They feel insignificant.
So I just turn away and start making my way to shore.
When I get back there, I swear I’m going to go into hiding forever.
I kissed Malix. What the f**k? Have I forgotten my entire reason for being? I’m supposed to kill him, not kiss him.
The water splashes around my thighs as I reach the shallows. I’m almost knee deep when a hand grabs my wrist and jerks me to a halt.
Startled, I whirl around to find Malix right behind me, water cascading off his torso like he’s some kind of water god. The tattoos that wind over his shoulders and arms look like deep shadows on his dark skin, and his violet eyes glitter in the moonlight as he stares down at my face like he’s reading my soul.
Then he tightens his fingers on my wrist and yanks me toward hi m.
Our bodies collide, and he crushes his mouth to mine.
- Writer
