Page 57 of Akur

It was his time to swallow hard. “What about that Tasqal? You saw what he revealed. The fin, the genetic connection. Everything my people fought against, everything we despised…it’s part of our lifeblood now. What we are.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re nothing likethem.” Her other hand came up to touch his face, and he had to close his eyes against the tenderness of the gesture. “You know what’s right and wrong. They have survived by taking…but you…you’re willing to die to protect others. That makes younothinglike them.”

“You don’t understand.” His digit tightened on her wrist, not enough to hurt, but enough to make her feel his strength. There was still no fear in those blue eyes. “If we did this…if I lost control…I could hurt you. Break you.”

“I trust you.”

His eyes snapped open again. Words failed him. “Youshouldn’t.”

She had the audacity to smile. “But I do.” She stepped closer, eliminating what little space remained between them. “I’ve seen you fight. Seen you kill. But I’ve also seen you protect.” Her hand slid from his face to his nape, fingers brushing the burning fin there. He inhaled so hard it sounded as if he was taking his last breath. “You’re burning up, Akur. Let me help.”

A shudder ran through his massive frame at her touch.

“Kon-stahns…” Her name was a warning, a plea.

“Tell me what happens.” Her voice remained steady despite the way her heart raced. “Tell me exactly what I’m offering and let me decide. Is this like a bonding thing? Will doing this make us married or something? Is that why you’re so afraid?”

He grunted another laugh. Married. Wasn’t that the human mating ritual that signaled lifelong mates? “No,” he whispered. “Not married.”

“Then what? Will I be marked? Claimed?”

He wanted to push her away. Needed to. But the heat was making it hard to think, hard to remember why this was such a terrible idea. And she was soft. So very soft. And she smelled good, too. So qrakking good. Gods… “No. There are no consequences except…”

“Except what?”

“Pain. For you.” His grip on her wrist tightened fractionally. “I would try to make it good for you. If I hurt you, I…” He couldn’t finish the thought.

She nodded slowly, processing. “So, you’re considering it. Good.”

“No,” he growled.

She drew in a sharp breath but didn’t pull away. “What if wedon’tdo this? What happens to you?”

He shook his head, trying to clear it. It wasn’t just her proximity now. It was her touch. The sensation of her softness against him. The scent of her—sweet, tantalizing. Even the sound of her voice. It was slowly driving him crazy. Maybe she was right about him being insane—only, he hadn’t expected her to be the catalyst of this unfortunate demise.

“The heat will get worse. I’ll lose control, eventually. Become dangerous.” His jaw clenched. “I’ve seen it happen to others. They either find release or…” He let the implications hang in the air.

“Take it?”

He froze, easing back as some clarity reached his mind. “Never. No Shum’ai would ever do that to you. We are not like those Tasqals.”

She leaned in, cradling his head as those blasted digits of hers brushed his nefre again. “I know.” His cock jumped, growing so hard beneath his slit that it was torture. “I know,” she whispered.

“I would not force you, but I would be in pain. A lot of pain. Until it eventually faded.”

“How long?”

He breathed out a hot breath. The questions felt like a hammer against his mind, but he knew he needed to answer them. She needed to know. “Many turns.”

Her free hand shifted, thankfully, from his nefre to touch his face again, and this time he couldn’t stop himself from leaning into it. “Then we don’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice.” But even as he said it, his body was responding to her touch. The heat under his skin seemed to thrum in time with her pulse. “I can bear it.”

“We don’t have time.” She pressed closer, and he had to bite back a groan at the feel of her soft body against his. “Those gator-guards are out there and you’re my weapon. We need to move, and you need to be able to fight.” Her fingers stroked along his fin again, sending sparks of pleasure-pain down his spine. “Let me help you.”

Another harsh laugh grunted through him. “Your weapon? So you’ll surrender to me just so I can fight for you.”

She breathed out a laugh of her own, her cool breath fanning against his skin. “Funny, isn’t it? I never thought I’d be fucking an alien to save the universe.” Another breath shuddered through her. “Just like you never thought you’d need to fuck a human to fight the war you’ve been dying to end.”

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