Текст книги "Alien On Fire"

Автор книги: January Bell

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

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LEIGH

I could kiss him. Really kiss him and mean it. The huge Roth King holds me in his lap, gently, delicately, like I’m a piece of spun glass and he’s afraid to move.

I’ve never been fragile in my life… but I don’t mind when he treats me like this.

My eyes can’t seem to look away from him. From that strong, masculine jaw, the hair that tumbles across his shoulders, long and thick and enviable. When his tongue darts out across his lips, I’m overcome with the urge to kiss him.

He saved my life. I have no doubts about that.

Sure, I acted tough. Talked tough. But everyone in here knows the real power here is Nydo, holding me like I’m precious, and staring at me like he wants to eat me for dinner.

He’s dangerous.

He’s violent.

Quite possibly, he’s as emotionally unstable as I’ve become since my imprisonment.

Still, I want to kiss him. I like what he just said… and I think I’m starting to believe him. That he wants the Roth to change.

That by taking over, Earth will be safer. The universe will be safer.

I want the picture he’s painted of the future to be real. So much so that I’m willing to bend. A little.

I only hope I’m not as breakable as he seems to think I am.

“Your mother must have been very special. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” It’s inadequate, but he dips his chin and closes his eyes as though I’ve said something really meaningful.

Have I been this awful to him? That the merest blasé statement gets that kind of response?

“Nydo…” I say quietly, my fingers still around his thick wrist. “I haven’t been very kind to you. I haven’t been… kind in a long time.”

I scrunch my nose up, because I suck at apologies.

“I don’t need you to be kind,” he says quietly.

He stares at me with his huge, dark eyes, mere embers of orange flickering in their depths. It’s like the entire rowdy hall disappears, and there’s only me and him, sitting together, having this conversation.

“I need you to be the queen you are,” he continues. His fingers tighten on my thigh, causing my breath to catch. “I need you to be strong enough to bear what is yet to come. I need you to want me as much as I want you. Give me all your fire, Leigh, because I will take it, I will take it, and gods help me, I will beg for more.”

My eyes are wide, waiting for him to close with a snide comment or petty remark about what I can call him in the bedroom. But he says nothing else, just watches me carefully, calmly, like his words haven’t just turned all my assumptions on their head.

Roghat chooses this moment to stand up, the wound on his throat already knitting back together, though blood still stains his shirt.

“A chroida to our king and queen!” he shouts, raising his glass.

“A what?” I ask.

“A chroida.” Nydo doesn’t let go of me, his hands comfortably warm over the dress. “You’ll see.”

“To the male who would bring the Overlord to his knees!” Roghat shouts, and the whole room repeats it, raising their glasses.

“Oh. A toast,” I say, cottoning on. It’s so weird when the translator doesn’t work.

“To the female who would cut off his head!” Lyko shouts, joining in.

“To the king and queen,” Ayro finishes.

“To the king and queen,” the filled room choruses, then cheers break out as everyone drains their glass.

“Are they toasting with water?” I ask, perplexed.

“What else would we chroida with?” Nydo seems equally confused.

“Alcohol?” I laugh, raising my eyebrows.

“A Roth must always be prepared for battle.”

“Oh, is that right? Is it common for Roth to fight after a party?”

“Before, during, after… alcohol would only make things worse.” He’s grinning down at me, and the way his smile transforms his whole face will never cease to amaze me.

Maybe it’s because of the lack of alcohol being served, but when the first shot punches through the ceiling, the Roth are the first to react.

All hell breaks loose.

The plas pulse triggers an immediate reaction from me, though I’m much slower than Nydo. I tug the pieces of the plas sniper rifle from where I’ve hidden them on my body, fitting the sections together as Nydo hauls the heavy metal throne over the two of us.

“Do you often keep plas energy canisters in your cleavage?” he asks.

“Never can be too careful. A human must always be prepared for battle.” It amazes me, actually, that I’m able to form words at all, much less try for a joke. Being pinned down as plas pulses ricochet all around us takes me right back to when the Roth invaded our ship, slaughtered all the men in our crew, and took all of us, all the women, prisoner.

But I guess I’m all out of fear, because all I feel… all I feel is pure anger.

My throat still twinges where Roghat gripped me, and I can’t help that a little part of me hopes he’s been taken out in the crossfire.

“Think we’ll get lucky and Roghat will be dead?” I ask, twisting the segments of the rifle together.

Nydo barks a laugh, turning towards me with surprise. “I would have killed him for you.”

“Yeah, but this is so much more karmic, you know? No blood on my hands, other than the blood that’s already on them, right?” I hold up one of my hands, which, indeed, has a bit of dried Roth blood coating it. Gross.

Nydo blinks at me. “I would have cleaned you if I had known. I should have known. I will take better care of you,” he says, barely audible over the sound of the battle raging outside our little bubble.

“I’m cool with that, considering I’ve been concussed and strangled in short order. But let’s get out of here alive first, yeah?”

“Make for the doors!” Roghat thunders, and a mechanical grinding sounds, the floor shaking under my knees and palms. “Prepare the ships for battle. We ride to glory this night!”

“Don’t tell me the Roth definition of glory is dying in a firefight,” I grit out, slamming the last piece of the rifle into place.

“I won’t then,” Nydo says smoothly.

“Fuck,” I say in a strangled voice. “Right. Okay.”

“Look at me,” Nydo says. His eyes are bright orange, and heat shimmers all around him. “You will not die this night. We will make it out.”

I nod once. I have no other choice but to believe him. Doubting myself in this instant is a recipe for disaster.

“For the king and his queen!” a new voice shouts into the chaos.

“Doors are opening under the floor,” Billie yells, somewhere nearby. “Get in there now, Leigh.”

“On three, I’m going to flip the throne. Run for it. I will cover you,” Nydo barks the orders.

For a moment, I almost ask him if he needs my gun. Then I swallow the idiotic question, because no. He doesn’t need a gun. He’s a fucking weapon of mass destruction all on his own.

“Three,” Nydo says, and the metal throne heaves as he shoves it off of us.

I blink.

The hall is destroyed. Where the table once stretched, there’s a long crevasse, narrow enough to allow the defending Roth to slip through. Plas pulses sear through the air, and Piper’s blonde hair disappears, a pink energy pulse sizzling where her head was seconds ago.

“Go, Leigh,” Nydo yells, his hand propelling me forward. “I have you!”

Shit. I need to move.

I run for the opening, my rifle clutched in both hands.

Through a new hole blasted in the ceiling, a Roth destroyer floats overhead, the plas turret whirring as the gunners reload the cartridges.

All my Federation training clicks into place in my brain, and time turns soggy and thick.

There’s a small blue light blinking on the very tip of the turret.

The auto-aim guide.

“That’s where you hit,” my trainer’s voice barks through my memory, so familiar, so real that it’s almost like she’s standing right at my side. “You take out their ability to aim, and they can’t fire the turret. The auto-aim is the only unshielded bit on the Roth destroyers, because they couldn’t figure out how to protect and utilize it at the same time. Taking it out is the only thing that will give you a fighting chance at survival, snipers.”

Of course, we knew that once the ships were on the ground, we were fucked, but it was better than watching the destroyers tear through city after city.

I skid to a stop, just shy of the hatch.

The rifle butts up against my shoulder and I flatten myself to the debris-littered floor. Flames dance around my periphery, and the turret on the destroyer begins to glow as the plas cartridges heat.

I have mere seconds to get this shot.

I inhale deeply. My heartbeat slows.

I have one chance.

I exhale, ignoring the screaming. Ignoring the fire building all around. I look through the scope. I inhale.

Hold it.

My finger brushes the trigger.

Hold it. Wait.

I squeeze.

The turrets begin to shoot, and for a sick, sinking second, I think I’ve fucked up, I’ve missed. I should have practiced on Sueva. Should have done something besides mope.

The turret glows, and the Roth destroyer dips slightly.

“Get underground, now,” Nydo snarls, tucking me into his body. He jumps with me, into the gaping hatch, his huge arms holding me and the rifle tight.

With the hatch doors closing, I tilt my chin up just in time to see the Roth destroyer list to the right, flames soaring up the turret, through the weak point in the auto-aim.

The doors close as it explodes overhead, lighting up the sky like the fourth of July.

Nydo’s feet slam on the ground beneath, and my teeth rattle in my head.

I suck in a great breath and whoop. The underground area is well-lit and futuristic, with huge hydroponic gardens flourishing all around. The entire aboveground village was a farce, I realize. This is where most of the people at the settlement live, for reasons like the one we just blew up.

We blew it up! I took down the auto-aim, and then Nydo blasted it with his fire, and we won. We took out a Roth destroyer.

Holy shit.

“We fucking did it!” I say, shoving my rifle in the air, the Roth from the hall cheering more. Several are bleeding, but for the most part, it looks like everyone evacuated unscathed. “I took out the turret, and you blew up the ship. That’s teamwork!” I’m elated, adrenaline coursing through me, along with relief at seeing Billie and Piper in one piece.

“The destroyer blew up?” Roghat asks, and I’m annoyed to see a hint of regret in his face.

“Yeah, yeah, no dying in battle for you tonight, asshole. Unless you’re asking Nydo to murder you, am I right?” I snort, so keyed up I’m hardly paying attention to the words streaming from my mouth.

Nydo doesn’t say anything though, and I nudge his ribs with my elbow.

Something warm and wet coats my skin, and I glance down in confusion.

Blood.

So much blood.

“Oh my god,” I say on an exhale, terror coursing through me. My gaze rakes over him, searching for the wound. “You’re hurt.”

He frowns at me, his grey skin slightly greenish.

“It’s bad, oh no, Nydo,” I say. My hands shake as I run them over his torso, his blood hard to see against his black shirt. “Oh no, no, no.”

“The turret got me.” His smile is fierce, his face lit up once again. “But you made it possible for me to take down their entire ship.” He raises his voice. “My blood is a small price to pay for our first victory against the Overlord!” he shouts, and the Roth all around us take up the cry.

As for me, I press my hand against his hip, where the wound seems to be, and when he flinches, I know I’m right.

My knees slam against the metal floor and I lift up the hem of his shirt, trying to get a better look at it.

“There’s so much blood,” I mutter. “I need a medic!”

“You know,” Nydo purrs, and I glance away from the plas pulse wound to his face. “If I knew a little blood was all it took to get you on your knees, I would have used that against you a long time ago.”

I glare at him. “You’re obviously fine if you’re going to make a joke about me sucking you off right now, my king.”

I wipe some of the blood away with the hem of my dress, and he flinches even at my gentlest touch.

“I have to say, I would prefer if you weren’t into such rough foreplay,” Nydo grits out.

As far as I can tell, his wound already seems to be clotting. The Roth’s fast healing, something that made us despair on Earth, isn’t something I ever thought I’d be grateful for.

But I am.

I am massively grateful he’s okay.

“You can kiss it better, if you like,” he offers.

“I hate you, you smug ass,” I tell him, standing up. I have half a mind to slap his wound, but I don’t like him hurt.

I don’t like it at all.

He catches me in his arms, pressing me up against his huge, hot body. “No, you don’t. Not even a little, you pretty liar,” he murmurs.

When I kiss him, really kiss him, it takes us both by surprise. His mouth opens as I press my lips to his, and I welcome the fiery taste of him, the feel of his hands in my hair.

Nydo feels right, like this… for all our nonsense, we made a good team when it counted.

We make a good team.

Why the hell have I been resisting him so long?

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY

OceanofPDF.com

NYDO

Leigh kissed me. She. Kissed me. My lips burn with the memory of hers, the teasing taste of her still on my tongue.

A small smile edges up the corners of my mouth.

I didn’t have to coerce her, or pretend we needed to… All I had to do was take a plas pulse to the abdomen to get her to acknowledge she might actually care for me. My plan worked out better than I ever thought possible. Not only will the vids of me destroying the Overlord’s ship make the rounds, but I earned a kiss from Leigh’s sweet lips.

She cares for me. For me.

The look on her face when she saw my blood… she was frantic.

The white med bay’s ceiling sprawls above me as a medic sprays some kind of cleansing solution on my wound. It should hurt worse than it does, but everything pales in comparison to knowing Leigh isn’t as disgusted by who I am, what I am, as I thought she was. She doesn’t hate me, not even a little bit.

All it took was an unintended consequence of my own actions, one that, judging by the medic’s lack of concern, is already healing nicely.

My half-smile turns into a full-fledged grin.

I wouldn’t take it back.

It makes me the worst kind of being, the worst kind of male, to put my mate in danger and not regret it one bit.

Leigh bursts into the med bay, her black ceremonial war gown replaced by tight black pants and a black shirt that bares her stomach, her shoulders… the tops of her perfect breasts.

I never want her to leave my sight. I want her at my side, and I wave the medic away.

“How bad is it?” she asks.

I pretend to wince as I sit up, and she sucks in a breath, her gaze darting between the bandage on my bare torso and my eyes.

“He should be fully healed by tomorrow morning. Twelve hours or so,” the medic tells her cheerily, before catching my dark look and fleeing from the room.

Finally. Alone with my mate.

“Oh,” Leigh says, her nose twitching as she frowns. “That’s not so bad.”

“It could have been much worse,” I say grandly, glad it wasn’t all the same.

“It could have killed you,” Leigh adds, worry lighting her eyes.

I shouldn’t revel in it, in the fact she bothers to worry for me, when her fragile human body wouldn’t be able to handle the same wound at all.

“I shouldn’t have stopped to shoot the auto-aim,” she mutters. Her eyes well with tears, and my brows rocket up. It shocks me, that she is this upset.

“If you had not shot it, I would have had a much harder time exploiting the destroyer’s weakness with my energy blast.” I love that she’s given herself even more credence with our people through her actions and skill with the rifle. They will eat the vids up back on Roth, paving the way for our glorious return.

“It’s my fault you’re hurt,” she says, and a solitary tear drips down her cheek. She wipes it away with the back of her hand, but not before I see it. Not quick enough.

Guilt rips through me, but I’m not stupid enough to admit to anything. Not now.

Maybe not ever.

“Did you shoot me?” I ask her, cocking my head, feigning ignorance. “Was it you who fired the shot?”

She shakes her head, a hint of a smile on her lips. “No, I didn’t, not even when I wanted to.”

“Oh, okay, then. Did you take out a destroyer with that shot, then?”

Her smile deepens. She nods, her hair slipping from the pinned braids, unruly and wild as she is.

“Tonight might have turned out very differently, had it not been for your quick actions. For your steady hand and warrior’s heart.”

This, at least, is the truth, and I hold onto that steady hand like it’s a lifeline. Maybe it is. She saved me. She brought out the extent of my powers, the only one who could.

“My mate,” I tell her, testing her, seeing if she’ll balk at the title once more.

When she doesn’t, a low growl rises in my chest. She places her free hand on my skin, her eyes widening slightly at the vibration.

“Before you,” I tell her, my voice thick with emotion, “the fire, the energy manipulation… it was latent. Always just beneath the surface, roiling but never able to be channeled. When I scented you in that prison on Nyria V49, it was as though I finally came alive. I could use the power. All because you, Leigh.”

Her throat bobs as she swallows.

I push a lock of her lovely, lava-red hair behind her adorable ears.

“You made me come alive. You made me realize that the time to act has come, the time to do right by my species, by all species, to stop the Roth Overlord. This wound?” I gesture to the half-wrapped bandage. “This is nothing in comparison to what you’ve done for me. I was asleep, going through life with my eyes closed, until I met you. You make me want to be a better male.”

“That’s a lot of pressure for one person,” she says, and this time, she takes her hand from mine, crossing it over her chest.

“You’re afraid of a challenge?” I ask, knowing it will only incense her.

“Of course not,” she scoffs, then raises an eyebrow. “But I can’t be your… moral compass, Nydo. Besides, why me? What makes me so special? You tried to take Niki as your mate before me.”

“Bah,” I say, nervous, noting every expression that flits across her face. Storing them away like little treasures to look at later. Hoarding them. “Roth have no need of a compass. We navigate by the stars.”

Her fingers tap against her arm, and I realize she wants more of an explanation.

I sigh. The least I can do is reassure her of this.

“Your captain was the first human woman I’d ever seen. She said human females were compatible with the Suevans, that she would breed with me. Does that mean I wanted her? No. But I am not a fool, Leigh.” I sigh, scratching the scruff on my chin. “I am many things, but foolish is not one of them.”

She tilts her head. “Didn’t she stab you?” Her eyes twinkle with humor.

I snort. “Perhaps I am sometimes a fool. The reason I wanted your human captain was because I knew that the first to have access to a human mate, whether it be the Overlord or me, would be the one to secure the throne. I didn’t want your Captain Jacks because of who she is. I wanted her because I realized a mate was the way to freedom for me, for my species… and now I realize it is the way to freedom for yours, as well.”

“A figurehead,” she says softly, mulling it over.

“Niki would have been a poor choice for a queen,” I say. “She is more suited for her warlord duties, I think.”

“Niki is great,” Leigh admonishes. “I could see why you wanted her, for reasons other than—"

“She’s not you,” I interrupt. “The only female I want, the only female I’ve ever truly wanted, Leigh, is you. Every day you breathe the same air as I do honors me.”

The corner of her mouth twitches up, her eyes crinkling at the corners slightly.

“I know that you think… that you think I lied about you being my mate, Leigh. That you think this is some play we are putting on to convince the Roth to follow me against the Overlord.” I shake my head, and she steps towards me.

I seize her waist and pull her onto my lap. Leigh sits, complacent, her chest heaving, then finally circles her arms around my neck. Her touch is tentative and sweet, and I cannot get enough of her.

“It’s not a lie,” I tell her. “Nothing about how I feel for you is a lie.” I keep other secrets from her, yes, but not this. Never this. “You are the only female who has ever matched me. Who has stood toe-to-toe with me and cared enough to worry for my well-being. You are… everything I have ever wanted, and your surprising skill with the plas rifle is just another benefit.”

She laughs at that, a small, choked sound that seems to surprise her.

“I know humans do not mate as the Roth do, and that the Suevans do not either, but I have known it was you from the moment I realized you were in that prison.”

“So you don’t just need me as an elaborate plot to take the throne? Because you made me think it was pretend.” Her eyes narrow, her tone conflicted. “I’m not just a way to make babies and continue the royal line?”

“You are both of those things,” I growl, and in a flash, our positions reverse as I fling her against the back of the med bay cot, crawling on top of her, rubbing my nose against the soft, delicately scented flesh of her neck. “Do not speak of getting with child unless you are ready for me to spill so deep inside of you that you will lose the ability to walk for the rest of the night.”

“Er,” she wrinkles her nose. “I don’t want that. Well, the consequence to that, at least.” She points to a polka-dotted patch on her arm. “Besides, I’m on birth control.”

I sit up, straddling her, scrutinizing her face. “What?”

“The women on Sueva gave us birth control, to counteract the hormones your asshole scientists pumped us full of. I’m not having any little Roths anytime soon…” Her voice trails off, her eyes turning speculative. “But I’m still really messed up from those hormones, because the rest of what you said sounds… like fun.”

“Oh shit,” a woman’s voice says. “Oh. Okay, uh, we were about to take off in the ships Roghat gave us, um, we were just coming to say goodbye…”

“Piper, why do you sound so weird?” the woman Billie surges into the room, and Leigh slaps a hand over her face. I grin down at her, unembarrassed, even though she squirms, clearly trying to get up.

“Jesus Christ,” Billie says, her mouth a surprised O. “What is… You know what? Okay. Sure. We’re leaving. We wanted to tell you the Suevans sent teams out after us. Apparently, your note only convinced them that Nydo stole you. You need to handle that.” Billie turns to leave. Piper, the yellow-haired one, stares at Leigh, clearly in shock.

“Wait,” Leigh manages, pushing me away. “We want to say goodbye. Hold on, nothing was happening!”

“That is a lie,” I tell them, highly affronted by her casual dismissal. “I was telling you you are my one and only, my mate, my whole heart. That is not nothing.”

“Well, yeah, that did happen,” Leigh says slowly, as Billie and Piper share a knowing look. “And no, it wasn’t nothing, but we weren’t having, you know,” she continues, making a strange hand gesture.

“We were about to have sex,” I tell them. “I was going to fill her up until she couldn’t walk without my seed leaking down her thighs.”

Billie pushes her hands against her eyes, and Piper’s jaw drops.

“Nydo!” Leigh pushes up against my chest, and I smirk down at her.

“I was.”

“That doesn’t mean you need to tell everyone, for fuck’s sake.”

“Ew,” Billie finally says. “Fluids are not my kink, but whatever floats your boat.”

“It would not float a boat, it would sink it.”

Piper claps her hand against her mouth, and I am pretty sure that she snorts a laugh, as well. Humans are strange creatures.

“Whatever tickles your pickle,” Billie continues.

“What is a pickle?” I ask, curiosity getting the best of me.

“It’s this long fruit called a cucumber,” Billie gestures wide, circling her fingers to indicate girth. “And you put it in a brine, and it turns sour.”

“Why would you tickle it?”

“Nydo,” Leigh groans. “Just don’t.”

“Anyways,” Piper finally says, her mouth pulled back in a tight grin. She shifts uncomfortably. “We need to leave, and since you two are headed elsewhere, we wanted to say goodbye. For now. Bon voyage. You know.”

Leigh sits up, and I let her go, missing her soft, warm body beneath me as though it’s part of my own.

She runs to her two friends, pulling them into a long embrace that makes me… envious.

Not of her, because I want her to have friends.

But of her friendship.

My brothers are the closest thing I’ve ever had to friends, and yet, we’ve never been as tight-knit and carefree as these three human females.

“Sueva sent warlords after us,” Piper finally says, loudly enough so that I know she means for me to hear. “You two need to pick up a comm link and call them off. Especially since you’re clearly here because you want to be, Leigh.”

“At least she is now,” Billie murmurs under her breath. “Alien dick must be better than I thought.”

“We aren’t having sex!” Leigh insists, her face as crimson as her hair.

“But we will be soon,” I assure the three of them. “She is my mate.”

“Ugh,” Leigh rolls her eyes at me, then turns back to Billie and Piper. “I’ll call Captain Jacks, I promise.”

“Be safe, Leigh,” Piper tells her, her strange light blue eyes watering as she tucks her into a huge hug.

“You too,” Leigh says softly, hugging them both again.

“Don’t forget to patch up,” Billie suddenly interrupts, sniffling. She points meaningfully at a small, dotted square bandage on her arm.

“Don’t worry, the last thing I need in this clusterfuck is a big pregnant belly,” Leigh says with a laugh.

“Comm us every day,” Piper sniffs. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Hey, listen to me.” Leigh holds her arm, then grabs Billie’s as well.

I tuck my arms around my chest, narrowing my eyes at the trio.

“We will see each other again, okay? This doesn’t change anything. We knew splitting up was a possibility. No matter what, we’re getting back… together. All of us. Right?”

An ache begins at her words, deep in my chest. I grit my teeth. Why does it sound like she almost said getting back to Earth?

“Yes, right,” Billie says.

Piper nods, too, but she doesn’t look convinced.

“Now go get ‘em. Let’s do this thing.” Leigh holds a fist up, and the three females bump their hands together in quick succession.

They all let out a primitive war whoop, and then Piper and Billie leave, without so much as a backwards look at me.

Strange creatures.

Leigh sighs, turning to stare at me as the door hisses shut.

“You are sad,” I say, surprised.

She rubs her forehead, her mouth twisted to the side. “I worry about them. I worry about all of them, and the women who went with the Arco. I understand why they made that choice, to go with those aliens to their marine planet and take their chance away from the Federation and the Roth. I even understand why we’re doing this… but that doesn’t mean I won’t worry.” Her eyes meet mine. “Aren’t you worried about your brothers?”

“Of course I am,” I say, slightly offended. “They are all I have left of my family. They carry the royal blood, same as I do. But they are brothers. These are just friends you worked with.”

“Yeah, on a ship. In space. In a male-dominated industry. And then, oh, I don’t know, we were captured by the Roth and shared a prison for god only knows how long thanks to the number of times they knocked us out to pump us full of fertility drugs.”

“And you don’t want a baby.”

“No, definitely not.” She throws her hands in the air. “Why would I want to bring a baby into this? We are in danger. The last thing I want is to gamble an innocent’s life during this. Why would you want that?”

I can’t stand how far she is from me, and I stalk towards her, drawing her into my arms. Stiff at first, she melts against me in the most delicious way after a few seconds.

“I want you to bear my children. I want to see your stomach huge with them, for everyone who looks on you to know that you are mine, and that I am the one who has mated with you.” I need it. I need it as fiercely as I need this woman to submit to me, to be my queen, to let me fill her with my cock.

“That’s not going to happen…” she says slowly. “I am not doing that.”

“Not right now, no.” I slide my palms across her back, and her breath hitches as my fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck. “But you will want to. Eventually.”

“What if I don’t? Ever?” She raises one eyebrow, attempting defiance, attempting dominance.

I shrug. “Then I will have you all to myself.”

“And what if I told you I don’t even like you?”

“Then I would call you a liar. Because if you didn’t like me, you wouldn’t have been worried for me the way you were.” The words are smug, triumphant, and I dare her to challenge them.

“Well, if you were really wounded, or killed, it wouldn’t be great for the three of us human women in Roth territory, would it?” She tilts her chin, all defiance, but her arousal scent grows more intense.

I grin.

My Leigh likes this game between us every bit as much as I do. She likes to challenge me as much as I like it when she finally submits.

“That’s true,” I tell her, pressing my nose against her hair and inhaling deeply. “But that’s not why you were upset. No, you care for me. And even if you only want me for the way I make you come, then I am fine with that.”

She makes an annoyed, choking noise in her throat, but the corners of her mouth lift up slightly. “So romantic. Poetic, even.”

I know her well enough now to know she’s being sarcastic, but it doesn’t bother me.

“It’s the truth.”

“And why would you be fine with that, Nydo? My king? You wouldn’t care if I just used you for sex?” Her voice takes on a sultry quality. “Even though you keep insisting I’m your mate, that I’m the one for you?”

“Oh, I would care. It would wound me. But I also know how to play the long game, Leigh.” I brush my lips against her forehead, her temple, kneading her low back, then digging my fingers into the muscled curve of her luscious ass.

She sucks in a breath, and my nostrils flood with that addictive scent.

“Use me,” I growl, nipping at her neck, kissing her jaw. “Use me as much as you need to slake your lust. But know that when this is over, you will still be mine. Because it will not just be your lust I earn.”

“Is that right?” she moans. Her head falls back, her breasts pressing against my chest. “You wish.”

I bend down, biting one nipple gently through the delicate fabric of her shirt.