Manuscript Monday: Why is Ari naked? Find out now!

I'm so close to done editing Alpha's Cage I can taste it. If, you know, I could taste books. I'm guessing they're a bit dry and papery. Maybe digital is better, taste-wise. Okay, this got weird. . . .

Anyone else in the mood to watch sports anime because of the Olympics? It can't just be me! Or maybe I just want to see the hot Free! boys doing stuff like this:

*pervy smile*

Okay, now on the snippet from Alpha's Cage (Haven City Series #9)! Ari is sort of mercurial, but I hope his moods make sense in context. I think they do.

He's naked. Felan is turned on, but also confused. Enjoy! Also, this isn't the final edit. There may be typos.

When he got back inside, Ari sat on the bed, his shirt strung over one of the chairs along with his pants and his boxers. 

Nude. 

Felan blinked. Maybe the silver had messed with his mind and he was seeing things. No, Ari was still there. Still naked and looking at him with bright green eyes, like the moss that grew outside. 

“The kit?” Ari asked and pointed at his side and Felan’s leg. 

Felan held it up. 

“The bathroom doesn’t have hot water, and it’s only a pump that goes into a metal bin. I think we can heat it on that stove,” he said and nodded toward the kitchen. A large pot sat there, but Felan didn’t bother to look at it. 

Hell, he wasn’t sure he could’ve torn his eyes away from Ari unless something was on fire. Even then, it was debatable. 

“You’re naked,” Felan said as Ari grabbed the kit from him. 

“And you’re a regular Sherlock, aren’t you? Take your pants off.”

Felan didn’t need to think about it to comply. The alpha was pacing now, eager, but he told the beast it had to do with the wound and nothing more. Only, Ari needn’t have stripped for the gash on his side. 

But he had. 

The alpha undid his pants and let them pool on the ground as he toed off his loafers (not hiking shoes, but he didn’t know this is where they’d be going), and stepped out of them. 

Ari watched. 

Licked his lips, and the way that pink tip of his tongue darted over them set Felan’s blood on fire. 

“Shirt too,” Ari said. 

Felan carefully picked at each button, managing not to rip it off. He wasn’t sure where he found the patience. Probably from years of dealing with Ari not wanting him. He tossed it on the chair with the clothes Ari had borrowed.

“Why are you naked?” he managed to ask, his voice a rough growl. All alpha. 

Ari leaned forward, his body taut and firm, if a little thicker in the middle. He’d been quite thin when he was younger, now he wasn’t all skin and bones. Either way suited Felan fine, because Ari was beautiful no matter what. His dark lashes fluttered as he yanked the bandage off the alpha’s wound with those tapered fingers, deft as ever. “It looks good. No silver pieces came off in the wound, and I saw to it before it could fester, no thanks to you being a stubborn asshole.”

“Ari, why are you naked?” Felan repeated, because if he didn’t find out soon, he wasn’t sure what he might do. “If you want to take a bath—”

“Check my wound. Tell me how it looks,” Ari said, cutting him off and peeling back his own bandages with a slight flinch. 

Felan leaned in. Sucked in Ari’s musk, the smell of green things and herbs mixed with his sweat.

“No red streaks. It's scabbing over nicely. Looks a bit sore, but that’s it. The stitches are holding,” Felan said, and didn’t let his fingers wander too near, no matter how badly he wanted to trace every inch of Ari’s body. 

Ari glanced at it. “We can let them breathe for a bit before we apply more salve.”

Then he did the last thing Felan expected and scooted back onto the bed, not bothering to put anything on. 

“Are you trying to drive me insane?” Felan growled and pressed a knee into the mattress. It was firm, but comfortable enough to live with for a few days. 

“I’m trying to relax. Why? Does seeing me naked make the alpha inconsolable?” Ari asked, his voice on the edge of either humor or scorn, and at that point, Felan found it impossible to decide which it was. 

The blood rushed from his brain to his cock, and that was the only thing that seemed up to functioning properly at the moment.

“More like insatiable,” he grumbled and crawled across the bed toward Ari, who eyed him with a heat Felan hadn’t seen in years. He caught a hint of it the other night, but he was sure that it was only a faint glimmer. 

This was more like an inferno, ready to scorch them both to the very soul, and he was fine with that as long as he got to be with Ari again. Hear him moan and see him squirm for more pleasure—another release. He’d give his mate everything he wanted, if only Felan got that much from him in return. 

Ari didn’t scoot away. He spread his legs putting his cock and dark pubes, trimmed short, on full display. “And how can I help with that?”

Felan growled, the alpha so close to the surface it would be impossible to leash now. At least Ari didn’t look like he was going to get up and bolt. Or change his mind. 

Please, don’t let him change his mind.