Page 58 of Akur

His muscles flexed as he still resisted. Did she truly understand what she was asking of him? But even as he asked himself the question, Kon-stahns looked up at him. She stared into his eyes, unwavering.

“I trust you,” she whispered.

Those words again. They broke something in him, some last barrier of resistance. With a growl that shook the walls, he spun them, pressing her against the stone with his body. His hands came up to cage her in, digits scraping against the rock.

“Last chance,” he ground out, fighting for control even as his body screamed for release. “Last chance to run.”

Instead of answering, she lifted her face to his and pressed her lips to his mouth.

The sensation of her lips was like touching a flame to gunpowder. Heat exploded through him, turning his blood to fire. A sound somewhere between a growl and a roar tore from his throat as he deepened the contact. Tasting her. Claiming her. He couldn’t…resist.

The last of his control. It was broken.

His hands moved from the wall to her body, sliding under the thin remnants of her tunic to touch bare skin. Even with his heat clouding his senses, he could feel the lack of hers. Despite the natural warmth of her body, her skin was cold. She was freezing.

As she shuddered against him, he was about to pull back, to check if she was really alright when she gasped into his mouth, arching against him. The movement pressed her more firmly against his hardness, and rational thought fled entirely. With a single tug, he shredded what was left of her tunic, desire coursing through him at the sight and feel of her bareness.

“Akur,” she breathed his name against his lips, and the sound drove him wild. He lifted her, pressing her higher against the wall as his mouth moved to her throat. The taste of her skin was intoxicating, making his head spin.

Qef. This was more than need. This was madness.

Opening his mouth, he ran his teeth against her pulse point, not quite breaking skin. Oh, she was so soft. He could bite her here. The urge to do so now was intense. Maybe later? If she allowed him to? When he was buried deep inside her. When she was crying out his name and begging for release.

It wasn’t even a mating need. Just an urge. One he’d never had before as bad as he did now.

“Tell me you want this,” he growled against her throat. “Tell me you understand what you’re offering.”

Her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. “I want this.”

Qrak. With another growl that sounded like the beast he was turning into, he carried her to the small table. It creaked under their combined weight as he laid her down, scattering debris across the floor. He couldn’t care less about the noise—not with her underneath him, not with her scent flooding his senses.

With another deft movement, he tugged off her lower garments, desperation overriding finesse. Then he froze, caught in the sight of her. Pale skin, soft curves, so different from the sleek, toned forms of Shum’ai females. Nothing like he’d ever seen before. A wave of possessiveness surged through him, hot like molten lava.

She was so small. Fragile. A tuft of brown fur covered her sex, but even that seemed delicate. His gaze fixed there, worry warring with desire. Ajos had taken a human mate, yes, but…

“What is it?” Kon-stahns whispered. Her blue eyes were steady on him, watching his every reaction.

“You’re small.”

She grunted a laugh, sending vibrations through where their bodies touched. “Come on, big guy. Worried you won’t fit?” Her hand slid down his chest, fearless where others would cower. She didn’t seem to mind their size difference. But he was forgetting she was partially insane. “Trust me, warrior. Humans are more adaptable than you think.”

His answering growl vibrated through her body where they were pressed against the table. “If I break you…” His brow furrowed as he looked between them again.

Gods, she was beautiful. Beautiful in a way he didn’t expect she would be. Her nakedness was making it damn near impossible to grab hold of the last few working brain cells he had to think logically in this moment.

“I told you, you won’t.” She arched up, pressing the mounds on her chest against him. Qrak. Him. “You’ve been acting like I’m fragile since the moment we met.”

His digits pressed into the table’s surface beside her head. “Because youarefragile.”

“Am I?” As if in challenge, she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer. And that’s when he felt it. She wasn’t completely cold. The temperature of her cold skin couldn’t distract from a sudden heat. Intense sweet heat. Right at the center of her thighs. And it called him like a beacon. “I survived being trapped on a spaceship in stasis. Survived those gator-guards. Survived the tunnels.” Her hand reached for him, tracing the line of his jaw. “I’m not as breakable as you think.”

Every shift of her body beneath his sent sparks of need through his system. “Kon-stahns…”

“Qrak,” he growled, lowering his head to taste one perfect mound, tongue lapping at the teat. Her back arched off the table as he sucked the sensitive peak into his mouth. Gods of the Shum’ai, she tasted like the sweetest nectar. His hands slid over her body and she responded to him. He could feel the moment she relaxed. The moment she opened to him. “Can’t resist.”

“Then don’t,” she panted.

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