Page 16 of Venomous Lust
“I’ll treat your ribs, too.”
Defiance and fear mixed in Hazel’s eyes as she pursed her lips, but she stood still. Khal put more cream in his palm, then placed his hand on the left side of her body, just under her full, round breast. His hand covered her midsection entirely as he massaged the analgesic into her skin.
The supple feel of her flesh traveled up his arm and his mind clouded with a dark hunger. Something ravenous blossomed inside his gut, flowing through his body in a delectable pulse. A hunger was born, a hunger that wouldn’t be denied.
His mind screamed at him to stop while he still could, but his body refused to listen. His hand moved, covering the curve of her waist, then lower on her hip. All that time, Hazel didn’t move, she just watched him with those eyes of the deepest sea, eyes he could lose himself in.
Her scent filled his nostrils, laden with her pheromones, heavy with feminine arousal.
Danger curled inside his brain, warning him that he was losing control. That maybe he was already too far gone.
A surge of possessiveness overtook him and he pulled her closer. Hazel leaned into his hold, her lips hanging slightly open, round, pink. Entrancing. She was under the spell just as much as he was.
I shouldn’t kiss her.
But his head lowered as Hazel’s tilted back. Her breath on his lips was like oil on a fire, igniting things inside him as ancient and savage as the genes in his cells.
Mine.
The primal word engraved itself on his bones, resonating deep within his soul. Khal’s mind tried to rebel against it, but it couldn’t. Wouldn’t. This female was his.
Then a curt knock on the door preceded the sound of footsteps.
“How’s Hazel?”
Khal stopped moving, fury spreading through his body at the interruption. He glanced over his shoulder, the growl vibrating in his chest with the strength of his annoyance.
“She’s badly bruised. Contact Aveyn immediately, I need to speak with Representative Jonah.”
“Will do. As soon as Hazel is settled into her own rooms.”
There was a strained defiance in Zaxis’s voice, a challenge that pulled at Khal’s deepest instincts. He turned around fully, the loss of contact with Hazel’s skin only contributing more to his anger. His talons shot back out from his fingertips even as his mind told him that the Avonie male was right. He had to keep the human female at a safe distance or he would risk facing an even greater threat to his mission.
“I’m fine now.” Hazel spoke from behind him and her supple body moved past him and into the space between Zaxis and himself. “But I am hungry.”
Khal’s gaze went to her. She stood there, biting her bottom lip, her face red and her eyes full of fear. Fear of him. She had used the last few seconds to pull her tank top back over her luscious body and was now holding her synthetic leather coat in one hand. Somehow, seeing her covered gave him some of his sanity back.
Slowly, Khal forced the talons back inside his fingertips, then cleared his throat. “Of course.” He nodded. “Zaxis will get you settled, with food. You can rest in my private quarters. I won’t need sleep for a while.”
“But shouldn’t Hazel—”
“No.” Khal shot a burning, warning glare at the Avonie male. “There are only two sleeping quarters on the Myrador. Hazel will take mine and that’s final.”
Then he moved past Hazel, past Zaxis and into the cold metal belly of the ship. As he found himself finally alone, he knew.
Danger was lurking around the mission and it wasn’t Knut’s negative particle bomb. It was a human female with eyes dark and green like the sea and a mouth made for kissing.
I should stay away from her, but how? We’re trapped here, all of us.
And she’s already mine.
Chapter 5
Hazel
She eyed the Avonie male as he moved around the small, all-white room then turned back to her, a small plate of gooey gray sludge in a bowl in his hand. Zaxis placed the bowl in front of her, then sat down on the other side of the single narrow table.
“You eat feeding rations?” Hazel pulled the plate closer and turned it around, wrinkling her nose at the metallic, overly sweet scent.
