Chapter 204: If She Left Him

"Did I hurt you?" Maverick asked once he’d released her from the vines, his hands moving over her arms as he checked the places they’d restrained her.

"No." Aria was still trying to catch her breath when his attention suddenly fixed on her wrist.

The skin had turned red from how hard she’d been tugging against the vines, and the satisfaction on Maverick’s face disappeared.

Aria caught the guilt immediately.

"Not in any way I didn’t enjoy," she assured him, trying to pull her hand away, but Maverick wouldn’t let her.

Instead, he cradled her wrist between his hands and gently massaged it with his thumb. "I wish I had healing abilities like my sister Sage. She’s practically a prodigy at it."

Aria lifted a brow. "So there’s no Fae word for healing?"

He knew exactly what to say when he wanted vines to tie his mate to a tree, but healing the bruises afterward was beyond him.

Maverick caught the jab and grinned. "It doesn’t work like that. Fae magic isn’t abracadabra. You can’t just say a word and make whatever you want happen."

"Convenient."

He snorted in amusement. "My earth magic is actually pretty weak. Water manipulation is where I’m strongest. That’s where the ice comes from, and somehow I inherited that from my Fae grandmother’s bloodline."

"Somehow?"

"It’s complicated." His thumb continued rubbing gently over her wrist. "I could tell you which side it came from, but we’d be standing in these woods until morning trying to untangle my family history."

Aria considered that. Knowing what she already did about Maverick’s family, she couldn’t exactly argue.

"Fine. No healing spell."

"Unfortunately."

"But plenty of bondage vines."

Maverick’s mouth twitched. "Like I said, sweetheart. I’m creative."

"So..." Aria’s voice turned sultry. "Is there a creative way to solve this problem?"

Her hand drifted lower, intending to tease him, but the instant her palm settled over the hardness beneath his pants, Maverick recoiled so quickly that Aria froze.

The playfulness vanished from her face.

"Oh my God." She snatched her hand back. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I thought you’d like—" Her voice caught. "I didn’t mean to hurt you."

"No, no. You didn’t hurt me." Maverick shook his head, guilt replacing the alarm on his face. "You startled me, that’s all."

Aria stared at him. She wanted to believe him, but Maverick could clearly see that she didn’t.

"Aria, I..." He stopped, struggling with whatever he wanted to tell her.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Maverick swallowed. "It still catches me off guard sometimes. But I’m in control most of the time."

Aria’s chest tightened.

"What catches you off guard, Marvy?" she asked gently.

Something in his face changed. Not enough to give her an answer, but enough for Aria to know she was finally getting close to whatever he had spent so long refusing to tell her.

She chose her next words carefully.

"Were you abused, Maverick?"

Maverick flinched.

That was all the answer Aria needed.

Suddenly, everything began to make sense. His aversion to a woman’s touch. The fact that he had never been with one despite having no problem with other men touching him. Even Dimitri’s refusal to answer her questions, insisting that whatever happened was Maverick’s to share.

She had suspected it before. Now she knew. And she wouldn’t force the rest out of him.

"You know what?" She quickly changed the subject. "I think we’ve been out here long enough. We should probably get back to the party."

Aria turned to leave, but she’d barely taken a step when Maverick caught her arm and pulled her back.

She gasped as she came against him.

For several seconds, neither of them moved. His arm remained around her while his eyes held hers, their faces close enough that Aria could feel the warmth of his breath against her lips. The desire from moments ago was still there, but a heavier tension had settled between them now, and despite how close they were, Aria knew Maverick hadn’t pulled her back to kiss her.

"Promise me..." he began.

Aria stilled.

Maverick drew her closer. "Promise me that if I tell you the truth..." He drew in a shaky breath, and for once, the man who always seemed to know exactly what to say couldn’t seem to find the words. "If I bare myself to you, you’ll still look at me the same way."

Her heart squeezed.

"Promise you won’t look at me and see someone dirty. Someone ruined." His grip on her arm trembled. "That you won’t decide I’m not worthy of your love... or worthy of being your mate."

Aria’s lips parted, but Maverick wasn’t finished. His next words were barely above a whisper.

"And don’t think of me as a murderer."

Aria went completely still. Of all the things she’d expected him to say, that wasn’t one of them. She nodded before she could find her voice.

Maverick shook his head immediately. "Say it, Aria. Please."

The plea nearly broke her heart.

"I promise." This time, her voice came without hesitation. "Whatever you tell me isn’t going to change the man I see standing in front of me. You’re still Maverick. You’re still my mate. And nothing that happened to you before I came into your life could ever make you dirty or unworthy of being loved."

Maverick’s face softened, but the fear didn’t disappear completely. He wanted to believe her. Goddess, he wanted to.

But Aria was human. She didn’t feel the bond with the same instinctive certainty he did, and they hadn’t completed it either. Nothing bound her to him except her own choice. Which meant she could still choose to leave. And that terrified him more than telling her the truth.

So he kissed her.

Maverick cupped her face in both hands and lowered his mouth to hers with none of the hunger from before. There was no teasing this time, no Feral pushing beneath his skin, no desperate need to claim. He simply kissed her, slow and deep, memorizing the softness of her lips against his.

Aria leaned into him. Her hands settled against his chest before sliding around his neck, and that easy acceptance nearly broke him.

She didn’t know yet.

Right now, she was still touching him without fear. Still calling him her mate. Still holding him as if there was nowhere else in the world she would rather be.

So he kissed her because this might be the last time Aria ever let him hold her this close.

And when her fingers slipped into his hair and she kissed him back with all the tenderness he didn’t deserve, Maverick closed his eyes and held on to every second.

Her warmth. Her taste. The way she held him.

He committed it all to memory.

Because if Aria walked away from him after tonight, at least he would have one last kiss to keep forever.