Page 40 of The Alien's Private Redemption

He worked his way around the part of her that wept for him, down her thighs, to the backs of her knees. When they gave out, he caught her, arms around her waist and tail around her calves. He laid her down in front of him, legs spread wide, while he licked his way down her calf and around her ankle.

When he nipped gently at her achilles, her toes curled, and she started to writhe. The reaction startled both of them but she caught the pleased grin that crossed his face before he placed a long, delicate lick across the top of her toes.

She squeaked and covered her mouth in sudden embarrassment. He moved up her body to her face with a speed she couldn't quite process, until he was covering her entire body with his own.

"Don't hide from me," he demanded. "Every sound you make, whether from pleasure or pain, belongs to me now. I want to hear everything."

His intensity shocked her, and sent another bolt of heat to her core, until she was certain she was a moment from exploding.

"Why?" she asked. Her body screamed at her that this was the worst possible time to have this conversation but she needed to hear him.

"Because you are my Mate. You were made for me and I for you, and by some miracle we have found each other. I may not know you as well as I'd like to, yet, but I will spend the rest of our lives learning every inch of your body, mind, and soul. Because they are mine to protect, to cherish, and to love. Every inch."

Angela ached for the beautiful man who was holding himself so carefully on top of her. She wanted everything about him, wanted to know everything there was to know, and she felt a tear slip from her right eye. It didn't match the flood of desire that had already leaked from her but it felt like she was letting him in to more than her body.

His tail was still curled around her right ankle, so she lifted her left and wrapped it around his waist, her heel resting just above the base of his tail. He squirmed against her and she grinned with the discovery of a sensitive spot.

"Then know me, Zoric," she demanded. The feel of the leather kilt disappeared from against her skin, and something hard and solid smacked against her clit.

She moaned with pleasure when his hips moved back, dragging that hard length against her weeping pussy. The tip was at her entrance, and he started to push, gently at first to give her time to adjust, then faster.

Angela was more than ready for him, her body fairly aching to be filled, and she sighed with relief as he slipped deeper inside.Her arms were wrapped around him and her fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders as an anchor when he started to move.

His emotions spilled across their bond and she could feel his desire to taste her pleasure. She relaxed into the moment, allowing herself to enjoy every stroke, every clench of her body, until she was balancing on edge, waiting for the next hard breath that would push her over.

Between one breath and the next, her anticipation rose - then a metallic taste flooded her mouth, sharp and wrong like copper pennies mixed with battery acid. A sharp pain in her shoulder yanked her away from the moment. Her body screamed with the failed orgasm and she reached across to grab whatever had knocked her from the peak.

A slippery, snake-like thing had bitten her, its scales feeling oily and unnatural against her fingers. The air in the cave grew thick and heavy, the previously comforting mineral scent turning acrid and chemical. She could see toxic, green liquid oozing from its mouth like mercury, only to be stopped by a very thin layer of Zoric's scales. They'd grown under her flesh with a sensation like ice crystallizing, spreading in a protective shield. The snake-thing reared back to try again, its presence creating static interference in their Bond like a badly tuned radio, but Angela grabbed hold of it behind the head.

The creature's flesh felt wrong under her fingers - not like a real snake's smooth scales, but something artificial and cold, like wet plastic. It writhed in her grip, sending waves of wrongness through their connection that made her stomach turn. Each time it moved, the natural atmosphere of the cave seemed to warp around it, torch flames flickering and shadows twisting unnaturally.

Zoric slipped out of her and she allowed a brief thought to mourn the loss of his body in hers, the sudden absence of his heat making her shiver. Their Bond crackled with interferenceas she focused her attention on the intruder, the creature's presence creating discordant notes in their mental harmony.

"Do you recognize it?" he asked, and she looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Why would I recognize it?" she demanded and he shrugged.

"We should have Ae-cha look at it," he said. "It feel like the triggers she's trying to pull from your body."

Angela looked up at him in horror, then down at her body. "Not like this," she said.

"No," he agreed. "This is just for me. Can you keep holding it?"

She nodded and tightened her grip on the squirming snake-thing. It was thrashing in her hands, trying to connect with its head or its tail. Something told her that, if it did, it would burrow even deeper into her mind and she wouldn't be able to pull it out again.

Suddenly, she was clean, with a flowy summer dress covering her. Then Ae-cha was there, her presence a discordant note in an otherwise harmonious place. Angela didn't want her there and she didn't want to be there.

The lizardwoman placed her hand over the head of the snake thing and crushed it. Angela dropped to the floor of the cave and Zoric wrapped his arms around her. Ae-cha took the corpse of the snake-thing and sifted through it as it crumbled to ash.

"This one is newer than the others," she announced. "And placed deliberately to keep you from strengthening your Bond."

"What do you mean?" Angela asked, shaken.

"I mean, it was designed to make itself known when you attempted to consummate your relationship with Zoric. I don't think they expected you to do it while you were asleep."

"Are you saying that you can tell when-"

"Everybody with five working senses could tell what was going on," Ae-cha said. She sounded angry and Angela wasn't sure she could blame her.

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