CHAPTER 15: TOUCH

FENRIC'S POV

She’s alone.

I know; I can smell it before I even step into the hall.

There's no Nyall anywhere nearby and no Orien----- just her.

Her scent flows in the air so sweet and dangerous, and I don’t realize how fast I’m walking until I reach the threshold of her room---- our room---- with my fist curled around the frame.

My heart's beating like crazy, and she’s standing by the window again with that same curve in her spine while she gazes out the window, looking up into the moonlight, completely unaware that she’s driving me insane.

Two more days have past with her here, and I still can't fucking not think about her, not want to be near her or...

Fuck.

Iryn my mate is barefoot, her hair loose behind her back, and she's wearing a soft pale slip that's just barely brushing her thighs.

... And all I see is temptation.

Fuck it's torture.

“Iryn,” I rasp and she spins around, looking startled but then her eyes lock with mine, and she breathes in deeply.

Before she can blink, I close the distance between us, back her up against the wall and cage her in with my arms on either side of her head.

She gasps, shooting her hands to my chest, but she doesn’t push me away instead her chest rises and falls rapidly.

“Fenric… what are you—”

“I've tried to stay away,” I growl, my voice just barely above a whisper.

“And I've tried to respect your space and boundaries. But I can’t. Fuck I can’t; I can't fucking breathe when I’m not near you.”

Her eyes widen as I lean in closer, my breath mixing with hers as I do.

“Do you know what it does to me?” I whisper, my voice running even lower and deeper while I begin dragging my nose along her jawline, inhaling her scent like it’s the only thing keeping me alive.

“... To see you walk around, looking so soft and warm, like you weren’t made for my hands?”

She shivers and her fingers begin curling into the fabric of my shirt.

“I dream about touching you,” I confess.

“Not gently or sweetly; I dream about grabbing you like this-----”

My hand fists the hem of her slip, riding it up dangerously high along her thighs.

“------ and pressing you against a wall until you beg me.”

Her breath hitches at my words, and she gasps,

"Fenric—”

“I can’t stop,” I whisper against her neck.

“You make me fucking rabid.”

My hand trails up her thigh, my rough palm moving against her soft skin, and I feel her knees weaken beneath my touch.

Her lips part now, her eyes are half lidded, and I know she wants it----- wants me----- just as badly as I want her.

But just as I tilt her chin up, bringing my lips down to ghost over hers—

“Step back," The voice behind me says and Iryn gasps softly as I turn my head.

It's Orien, and his eyes are literally blazing with anger.

He’s standing in the doorway with his fists clenched and his shoulders tense, and I see it in the way he’s barely breathing that he saw everything.

“Step. Back,” he repeats and Iryn stiffens against me, but I don’t move an inch.

“I wasn’t hurting her,” I tell him coldly.

“She didn’t ask me to stop.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to claim her like you’re the only mate she has ” Orien snaps.

“She’s mine.” I snarl.

“She’s ours,” he fires back.

"But you keep acting like the rest of us don’t exist.”

My hands drop from Iryn while I turn fully to face him, my chest rising with heat, frustration, and the primal instinct to defend what’s mine.

“You walked in on something that wasn’t yours to interrupt,” I grit out.

"Or were you just waiting for a reason to fight?”

“Oh, believe me, Fen, I don’t need a reason. You are the reason.”

"Fuck you! You're the one who tried to fuck her last time."

"You don't-----"

“Enough!” Iryn cuts in suddenly, pushing away from the wall, and both Orien and I freeze.

She walks in between us with her cheeks flushed, her kips trembling, but her chin raised high.

“I’m not some bone you two get to fight over,” she hisses.

“I’m not prey. I’m your mate.”

“Iryn—” Orien starts in a softer voice now, but she shoots him a glare.

“No. You don’t get to act like you’re protecting me when you’ve both been tearing me in half. Fenric pulls me close, most times to quickly and harshly that I can't keep but. And you, Orien, always circle me and stay around me but you never touch me own your own.”

Orien looks away at that, but our mate continues anyway and I soon start to hear her voice crack.

“I'm drowning in this bond; I need you all---- together----- not snapping at each other like I’m a prize to be won.”

My heart stings at her words, and I can tell that it took a lot for her to say that much less to us.

So I step toward her carefully.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur.

“I shouldn’t have touched you like that without—”

“I wanted it,” she says, her eyes coming up to meet mine.

“Even without the heat, but I also want to feel peaceful. And right now… I can't feel that."

I've turned away from Orien now, but I hear him breathe out harshly.

“He’s always been like this,” he mutters.

“Hotheaded and reckless. He acts and thinks later.”

“And you always think and think and think,” I snap, turning back to face him.

“... until you’ve overthought your way into doing nothing.”

Orien’s jaw ticks at this; clearly I just pushed his button.

“Stop,” Iryn whispers, her voice shaking.

“Please.”

So we fall silent again, and Orien walks over slowly to her, keeping his gaze on her and ignoring me entirely.

“I’m sorry too,” he says gently.

“For walking in and for how I handled it. But I---- when I saw you… I panicked. I thought he was…”

Orien doesn't finish his words and trails off while Iryn keeps looking at him expectantly.

As the coward he is, instead of completing his sentence to her, he turns to me instead.

“I don’t like you,” I say flatly.

It's not what I should say right now, but at this point I don't care; he ruined the moment.

“I don’t like you either,” Orien replies.

Our mate sighs at this, and I look at her, silently wishing that Nyall was here; he'd know what to tell her to calm her down.

For a beat neither Orien nor I say anything, then Orien lifts her palm up her lips and kisses the center.

I should be angry, but I feel a strange calmness in me, and when I look at her, I realise it's what's she's feeling.

"Would you like us to leave you alone now?" Orien asks.

Bastard.

Iryn opens her mouth to say something, and through the bond I almost feel like she's about to say no, but then she says;

"Yes please."