Page 56 of Akur

He didn’t answer. Shame held his mouth shut.

“I don’t remember much. At least, it’s not all clear. Whatever that bastard injected me with really did a number on me. But I…your suit couldn’t handle it, could it? It was glowing red-hot during the descent.”

“Yes…well…” He wanted to hit something. To tear something apart. To channel this burning need into violence instead of…instead of… “The shock rod didn’t help either. Neither did whatever that Tasqal did to transport us here. Too much heat, too fast.”

“But the medicine helped,” she said, taking a step toward him. “There’s more—”

“No!” He backed away, hitting the wall hard enough to send tremors through the stone. “The medicine is temporary. A bandage on a wound that needs cauterizing.”

“Then what do youneed?” Her voice had gone soft, gentle in a way that made his blood surge. “There has to be something—”

“What I need,” he snarled, “is to rut. To claim. To mark and mate and—” He slammed his fist into the wall, focusing on the pain that shot up his arm. “But I can’t. I won’t. Not with you. Not like this.”

The silence that followed his outburst was deafening. He could hear her heart racing, smell the spike of…something in her scent that made his nefre pulse with want.

“Why not with me?”

The question hit him like soft wind, yet it left him reeling. He looked up slowly, seeing the flush on her cheeks, the way her chest rose and fell with quick breaths. “What?”

“You heard me.” She lifted her chin. “Why not with me? If it would help—”

“No!” The word came out as a roar that made her jump. “You don’t understand what you’re offering. What it would mean.”

“Then explain it to me.” She took another step closer, and this time he couldn’t retreat. The wall was solid at his back, and she was there, so close he could feel her body heat mixing with his own. “Because from where I’m standing, you’re suffering. We need to get out of here, need to stop them from reaching Earth, and you can barely function. So if there’s something I can do to help…is the thought of you touching a human so bad?”

This must be in jest.

Touching her? Ha. Ha ha ha. He wanted todevourher. To taste her skin, to scent the delicate curve of her neck, to lose himself in the depths of those eyes. He wanted to map the constellations of her body with his lips, to learn the rhythm of her life organ against his own. He wanted…everything.

He’d already caught her scent. Qrak, he’d already tasted her. And now, every breath, every movement, every flash of defiance in those blue eyes had carved itself deeper into his mind until he could thinkof nothing else. Her presence was like a brand against his senses.

“You don’t know what you’re offering, human.” His voice had gone rough. Speaking was almost painful. “Shum’ai mating…it’s not like your human coupling. It’s not gentle. Not kind.”

She moved closer still, close enough that he could see the flecks of gold in her bright eyes, smell the subtle changes in her scent that made his head spin. “I’m not asking for gentle.”

A growl built in his chest, rumbling through the small space between them. “You should be. You should be running from this. From me.” Had she no sense of self-preservation? Wait. What was he thinking? Of course, she didn’t. She turned back to save him when he’d told her to run. Crawled through the dangerous dark tunnel blind, just to save him. This female was reckless. Just like him.

And that’s probably why he was starting to like her so much.

His digits scraped against the stone wall, drawing lifeblood. “I am a rebel. A being that has killed more than he’s saved. I’m worthy of no female. Especially not you.”

That was clear, wasn’t it? She was a pretty soft thing. Untainted by the curse that was his existence. Surely she’d abandon her hopes of saving him now.

The blasted female didn’t.

“Stop.” She pressed a hand to his chest, and he sucked in a harsh breath at the contact. “You’re worth more than that. You came to save me. You alone.” Her throat moved as she swallowed hard. “You, Akur. No one, not here or on Earth, has ever tried so hard for me before. I owe you my life.”

He grunted a mirthless laugh, closing his eyes tight as he tried to fight the urges pulsing through him. She was close. She was too close. “I’m a monster. And you, bright eyes—”

“Would willingly fuck a monster.”

His eyes flew open as he caught her wrist, meaning to push her away. Instead, he held her there, feeling her pulse race beneath his digits. “This is no joke, Kon-stahns.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“You don’t care?”

She shook her head slightly. “I don’t see what you see, Akur.”

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