Page 58 of Shadow's Chosen

"Really?"

"Yes."

Elise smiled again, feeling better. They would find her team and the others, and she and Nezka would be together to save them. She could envision them now, side by side as they brought her people back to the ships, seeing their happy, relieved faces. And then they'd be settled, and Elise would ask Nezka to join them and maybe...

Elise pressed herself close. She released her hand gently from his, letting her palm slip over his bare chest, down to his stomach. He stilled as he watched her touch him, his eyes alight with fire though his expression remained dark. When her hand reached the clasp of his pants, he grabbed at her wrist.

"You must be tired still. You should sleep," he whispered.

"I don't want to sleep." Elise rose and pushed him onto his back, placing herself on top of him. "I want more of what we did at the gatehouse." She kissed him again, biting his lip. He hissed softly, gripping her hips, allowing her to grind against him. He seemed to hesitate, as if uncertain, until she flicked her tongue between his lips and rubbed harder against him, and he finally snapped. He rolled her onto her back, and Elise could feel him harden as he pressed himself between her thighs. Elise gasped and threw her head back, and he, in turn, nipped and bit at her throat then down to her breasts as he unclasped his pants and freed himself. His tongue traced circles on her skin, and Elise felt the heat rise instantly. She moaned as he grazed his teeth and tongue along her stomach. Lifting her leg up and bending the other, he spread her out. His tongue swirled and slipped along her center, and Elise let out a shuddering cry.

Nezka lifted himself up, letting his body settle on top of hers. He bent himself down to her and kissed her roughly, needfully, his tongue slipping between her lips, grazing against her own. He rose back up and slid himself deep. As he moved slow against her, Elise noticed his expression still remained dark—troubled. She lay a hand on the side of his face, and their eyes met. Nezka's rhythm increased, his upper lip curling up to expose his fangs. His slow beat turned frantic as he caught hold of her wrists and pinned her. But there was something different in the way he moved, something less primal but just as intense. Something in his gaze flashed hot, and without warning, he let out a low growl. He slipped out of her then forced her onto her knees and moved hard on her again.

Elise, uncertain how their hosts might react to the noise, pressed her face into the blankets and moaned loudly, letting the cries fade into the soft bed as the pressure and heat overtook her. Her body tightened, harder now than before, and she let herself go, moaning sharply into the blankets, her limbs shaking. Nezka pressed his hand to her back and let out a low hiss as he slowed, and Elise felt the warmth of his heat inside her. He groaned and crumbled on top of her, nearly crushing her. Elise could feel his heart beating hard against her back in time with the throbbing between her legs. He shuddered against her, drawing his arms around her.

He mumbled something as he nuzzled her neck. She thought she heard him right, but she wasn't entirely sure.

"I can't let you go," she thought she heard him say. "I can't."

Nineteen

The room had darkened as night returned. Nezka lay on the mat, not stirring an inch as he watched Elise's chest rise and fall, her mouth parted ever so slightly as she slept soundly beside him. When he closed his eyes and placed his hand on her arm, he could see her spirit was bright again as ever.

He let out a slow, deep breath.

Her body had recovered from the poison, but he couldn't stop checking to make sure there were no lasting effects. To his relief, her fire hadn't dimmed. Yet still, his worry remained. His hand fell from her arm, and he lay quietly, letting his eyes wander over her, memorizing every part of her.

Emotions of every kind ate at him. He wondered if he had ever felt so...muchin such a short amount of time. When he had been a child, it had been harder to quell his thoughts and feelings, but they had always been the same back then, always anger and fear, until eventually, they just slipped away into nothing. He'd taught himself to overcome, to control.

Now, in the most unexpected way, things had changed. And perhaps for the first time, he felt uncertain of everything.

Nezka closed his eyes and covered his face with his hand.

This was supposed to have been a simple mission.

But now it was far from it. And he would have to make a decision.

Vesra had been like a father to him. It was he who had taken Nezka in after he had been taken from the ship. Those who discovered him had wanted to put him out or lock him away, but Vesra had convinced them otherwise. He'd saved him. He'd put him through the training, and it had been brutal, but he told him it was so that he would never have to be afraid again, that he would always be prepared for any enemy, for any fight.

But there was one fight, one enemy, Vesra couldn't prepare him for. The darkness of his psyche had boiled over, and the thing lurking in the deep smiled at him. He finally realized (or maybe admitted to himself) what it was, and when it reached for him and grabbed him once again, this time, Nezka allowed it to pull him under without a fight; he wouldn't be able to pull himself back, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Because the grip of the mating bond was a powerful beast he had no hope of defeating.

In a way, he'd known she was for him even when they first met, first locked eyes. He'd known, but he'd been too wrapped up in the mission, in everything, to believe it.

Nezka dropped his hand and opened his eyes, staring once more at Elise.

‘I hope someday you know how it feels to love someone,’said a female voice in his head.‘...and you feel the pain.’

The soft, seething voice of the human woman on Nihl cut through him like one of his sharpened blades. Her warning was now a prophecy.

He couldn't let Elise go. But he was bound to this mission. To Vesra. When Elise had told him her story about the jungle, he felt his heart turn cold as ice. He almost revealed himself, almost told her everything right there. But his fear of her knowing the truth, knowing she and the other humans were to be taken back to Xolis, then seeing her hate him once more, had silenced him. Worse, he knew if he told her now, she would try to make for the deposit on her own and jeopardize her life along with her own mission to save her team.

Thinking of his mission now made him feel venomous. A deadly, possessive rage took him at the thought of those nillium men touching her. No. He would lose himself entirely if she was given to them, so he knew for one thing she wouldn't be taken from him. No one could have her, not even Vesra. He would hide her. Or intimidate Vesra into paying off one of his debts to him. Some way, somehow, she would be saved.

But of the others...he could not be certain. And still, she would hate him if he took them.

Deeply troubled, Nezka touched at his Starling's soft brow then silently rose. Whatever he might feel, he couldn't stop now. Not when they were so close.

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