Chapter 406 Holding Glory  

If you like music while reading, try "Don't Deserve You" by Plumb. It's what I was listening to while writing this chapter!

*****

~ LHARS ~

The scent of Kyelle washed over him when she took his mouth and for a moment Lhars was lost in the softness of her lips, and the rush of her breath. She had wrapped her body around him, her ankles locked at his back, her arms around his neck and she whimpered into this kiss. She clung to him as if she was afraid he would run.

Lhars was overwhelmed. He held her the way he'd ached to for so many years, his fingers clawed into her ass and taking her weight. But his head buzzed and his heart… his heart was so confused.

Then it hit him what was happening and fear slammed into him. Lhars was so stunned he dropped his grip on her and froze. But Kyelle didn't even break the kiss, just put her feet down and pressed up on tip-toes, pulling him down into her hungry, soul-searing kiss.

Her fingers dragged across his scalp. Her lips traced his, probing, demanding. Her tongue found his, darting, and seeking. Lhars hadn't even closed his eyes, he just stared at her, open-mouthed until her kiss faltered and she stopped, pulling back slowly, eyes wide to stare up at him.

"Lhars…" she whispered, stroking his face like she was afraid he'd been injured. "Please. I'm so sorry. I know I got it wrong. I know I hurt you. If there was anything I could do to take that back… please… I was so scared. When you told me… my new feelings got all tangled up with the old ones—I had to be sure. I knew I couldn't come to you if I wasn't certain it was you… but… but I thought… I was starting to see… then when you didn't come back this morning it broke me, Lhars. I saw Zev an hour ago and I didn't even care. All I could think about was my fear that something had happened to you and I was the fool who'd been too afraid to tell you. I thought… I thought you'd been hurt without knowing and I'd lost you because I'm an idiot and I was so angry at myself. It's you, Lhars. I can see now… it's been you for a long time and I was just so—"

"Kyelle?" Lhars rasped, his voice cracking and gruff.

Like a frightened prey, Kyelle went very still, her eyes full of fear at the harsh edge of his tone.

"Yes?"

"Don't… don't ever mention my brother in this context to me. Ever."

Kyelle blinked and licked her lips. Lhars eyes dropped to watch her mouth and a shiver danced down his spine. He could hear her heart pounding.

He could smell her desire. For him.

"Okay. I'm sorry," she breathed. She watched him, searching his eyes, obviously uncertain of his mood or the reception she could expect.

Lhars heart raced so fast it throbbed in his scalp.

It was happening. It was happening. She was really here for him—or at least, she thought she was. A pang of fear sliced through him. What if she was still confused? What if this was just a reaction to her worry about him?

But she was so beautiful. And she'd kissed him. She'd finally… Kyelle had finally…

It's you, Lhars, she'd said.

The moment stretched, trembling on the edge of shattering as his heart swung wildly between euphoria and terror. Kyelle watched him, her brows pinching her forehead with worry, one hand on his chest.

She'd kissed him.

Holy fuck, she'd kissed him.

Lhars blew out a breath, then lifted a hand to let his fingers cup her neck, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw. And he inched forward so their chests brushed.

Kyelle stared up at him, her eyes pleading, her lips soft and slightly open.

She was letting him touch her. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted him.

It's you, Lhars. She said it. She'd said those words.

A thin whine broke in his throat and her forehead wrinkled. Her hand at his waist tightened.

"Lhars… please… forgive me. I wish I could go back and change everything—right from the very first day—"

"I'll always forgive you," he croaked. And when she opened her mouth to answer, he snapped his leash and took it, pulling her into him, his kiss hard and demanding.

Fingers clawing in her hair, tongue invading, he took her with all the desperation of years of restraint suddenly unbridled. It was wrong, he knew. He should be soft. He should be gentle. Even by Chimeran standards, she wasn't experienced with males.

But Kyelle whimpered into his frantic kiss, and to his delight, she gripped him tighter, arching her belly against him and pulling him closer as they stumbled off the trail together until they came up hard against a tree.

With a low growl, Lhars pressed her into the rough bark. Kyelle tipped her head back and gave a happy, breathless laugh—a noise he'd never heard her make before—but her hands clawed into his back, demanding he come closer, and when he felt the bite of her nails even through his shirt, that growl puttered in his throat again.

His kiss was bruising, he knew—and he knew he should soften it, should show her how precious she was. But he wanted to devour her. Ached to possess her. And it was everything he could do not to take her on the spot.

His hands trembled as he raked them through her hair, up and down her body. His breath tore, puffing through her hair, his teeth bared to graze that triangle of skin under her ear. He growled at the taste of her, and she sighed, her breath fluttering against his cheek.

Rather than shrinking from his onslaught as he might have expected, Kyelle came alive under his hands, her body undulating against his and his name on her lips when he released them long enough to taste her skin.

When her hands clawed down his back, he shuddered, the fire inside of him roaring through his veins until he trembled from head to toe.

Then he dropped his chin to kiss his way down her neck, to her shoulder, and Kyelle leaned her head away, baring her throat to give him more room. His body shuddered at the vulnerability she offered.

Then she whispered his name, and that single syllable lit a bonfire in his gut that threatened to send him up so he was nothing but smoke and ash.

Kyelle had gripped his hips to pull him against her, apparently unintimidated by his very prominent arousal. He might have been nervous, afraid of overwhelming her, but she slid her hands under his shirt and up his sides, her fingers dancing over his ribs, then around to his back, her nails clawing as she pulled him tighter against her and whimpered again.

Desire was a bolt in his stomach and he trembled as his mind and body went to war.

It was too soon.

They were outside.

He needed to calm down.

Then she dropped a shaking hand down to stroke up his thigh, then palmed him and he almost came in his pants like a teenager.

"Fuck, Kyelle," he dropped his forehead to her shoulder, arching to suck in a breath and watch her touch him.

"Please, Lhars. I've waited so long. I'm sorry I was so blind. Please—"

"We can't do this here," he rasped, then took her mouth desperately again before she could respond.

It was insane, the fire inside him—and the flames that roared, prickling his skin and making his hands shake.

But Kyelle seemed just as frantic, pulling him in, grasping, arching into him, and pleading.

Fisting his hand in the back of her hair, he forced himself to pull away far enough to meet her eyes—and find them hooded and sparkling, her pupils wide with lust.

He growled and kissed her again. "You're mine," he snarled.

"Yes."

"Only mine, Kyelle."

"Yes!"

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkling, locked on his. And he wanted to believe it, so badly. He swallowed back his lust and asked the only question left for him.

"What happened?" he breathed. "What changed?"

Her brows pinched over her nose and her eyes went sad for a moment. She put a hand to his face, but gently, her thumb tracing his lower lip.

"I thought I lost you and it just about killed me," she said. "I'm sorry, Lhars. I'm sorry that it took that. But… I see it now. And I know. I'm certain. I promise. You're my mate. The other half of my heart. And I can't believe I missed it. Forgive me, please. And don't doubt me. Ever. You're my heart's song, Lhars—"

With a strangled call he took her mouth again and for a long minute, neither of them spoke words, but let their bodies speak for them.