Page 37 of Venomous Lust
“That’s it, come for me, my sweet Hazel.”
And she did. Hazel screamed into the hollow of Khal’s neck. Her climax washed over her body in a wave of destructive power, wiping clean all her thoughts, leaving behind nothing but a wasteland.
Then a deafening roar sounded above her head as Khal’s own pleasure came, hot spurts of semen inside her womb triggering another deep, pulsing orgasm.
For a long time, he held her beneath him after their pleasure had abated and they lay, prostrate and spent. His large hands came to rest on either side of her face as he finally moved. His forehead rested against hers as a peace, strange and yet familiar, spread inside Hazel’s mind.
“Nothing can undo this now.” Khal nuzzled her neck, his lips pressing small kisses along her jaw. “No matter what happens, I have found you.”
The words were strange, but Hazel didn’t answer. She was too spent, too fulfilled to speak.
But it was over all too soon as Khal moved away from her, the loss of his flesh inside her like a physical blow. He cast her a long look, regret clear on his handsome face. His lips lifted in a true smile and it softened the hard lines of his features, making him look younger. Hazel could almost see the carefree youth he had been once, a long time ago.
“I wish we could stay here longer. I wish I could leave you behind to rest, but I can’t.” He bent and picked up her clothing from the floor. “You have to stay by my side at all times. As you are my bloodmate, no Eok should try to harm you, but we can’t give them too much temptation. Violence does not bring out the best in my kind.”
“So, you’re not going to leave me here?” Relief washed over Hazel as she understood. “Send me to Aveyn in a shuttle?”
Khal frowned, then shook his head.
“You are my bloodmate. I could no more leave you behind than I could cut off my own arm.” There was regret in his voice as he spoke. “I wish I could send you away to safety. It would set my mind at ease for the rest of this mission, but I cannot trust them with you. Not after what I saw today. I don’t know what happened to the garrison and the Eoks stationed on Garana, but something isn’t right. Garana has always been a dangerous place, primitive and filled with violence, but the Eoks here seem to have forgotten who they are.”
“It’s Gerkin who scares me,” Hazel answered truthfully as she put on her tank top. “He’s bad, that one. Rotten to the core.”
“Leave Gerkin to me.”
There was a promise in Khal’s voice. A deep, dark promise that Hazel held on to with all her heart.
Chapter 13
Khal
Hazel is my bloodmate.
His link had sunk into his heart like a hook, pulling at his innards, leaving him bleeding inside, reeling with a bond that was stronger than anything he had ever experienced before. He could feel her sumptuous body moving behind him, those shapely limbs, that perfumed, pale hair luring his mind toward the pleasures of the flesh when his focus should be on the dangers lurking ahead.
He should regret it. Should feel shame for endangering her, for selfishly keeping her tied to him. For endangering his mission, the most important mission of all.
But he didn’t.
A force stronger than Prime Councilor Aav, stronger than the Ring and the negative particle bomb, had put Hazel in his path. She had brought forth not only the Mating Venom from inside him, but had become his bloodmate.
He was the last warrior in his family to close the circle, to find the one female who would make his life full like no other. Khal had witnessed each one of his three brothers find fulfillment like nothing else in their mates. He had watched them recover from years of enslavement, from the stain of lawlessness, and the brink of insanity. All because of that bond that made a warrior whole. That made him want to build a life instead of cutting lives apart.
But still, he had never thought he would have that honor. He’d never seen himself as worthy of finding that kind of peace.
Now his bloodmate was standing in the path of danger, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
She’s safer with me than with Gerkin, but for how long? I can’t bring her along on this mission.
There was no easy solution to his problem. He had spoken the truth when he’d told Hazel he no longer wanted to leave her on Garana to be put in a shuttle for Aveyn. There was something wrong with this place, with the way the Eoks were acting.
With Gerkin. This wasn’t just bloodlust induced by too long a time drenched in violence. There was something more, something rotten in Gerkin that made him more dangerous than anything Khal had been prepared for.
And with the Myrador still completing its refueling, he was at the mercy of the commander of Garana. There was no choice, he had to face him again.
Khal had led the way to the garrison building, Zaxis and Hazel following close behind, and he now stood in front of Gerkin. Two pale, soulless eyes settled on Khal and a cold, calculating grin split the Eok’s face.
Khal had him and Gerkin wasn’t going to let this pass. Vengeance shone in those pale eyes, nothing of the usual Eok loyalty showing. No honor and no respect, only greed and a lust for violence that corrupted all it touched.
