Page 32 of Venomous Lust
“The Mating Venom is not to be challenged. Such are our laws.” Khal kept his chin high and his eyes level, but the effect it had on the crowd was immediate. They began whispering in low, excited tones like old wives telling tales. “Hazel is mine and mine only to claim.”
Gerkin’s expression registered a fast succession of shock, disbelief and anger then, finally, resignation.
“Fine.” There was resentment in his voice as he took as step backward. “If this is true, then the troops are in dire need of a distraction. The Mating Ceremony will be after you’re done refueling. In the meantime, you can rest aboard your own ship, for the female’s safety.”
Just like that, the Eoks began to speak fast and low, deserting the room one after the other. A few shot glances at Khal before leaving, inclining their heads in deference.
When Khal turned to her, Hazel lost her breath. What was behind those intense, Prussian blue eyes was nothing short of a raging storm.
And she was standing right in its path.
* * *
Khal
Her presence at his back was like a beacon of madness, pushing him to the edge of a dark abyss out of which he would never crawl.
I should never have brought her here. I should have locked her up in the Myrador until we were safely away.
But she was a stubborn little thing, and by the time he had planned to shove her luscious form over his shoulder to bring her back to his private quarters, it had been too late. If she was in danger on Garana, she would be in even more if Khal showed any weakness to the ruthless commander of the red planet.
Gerkin had long since been lost to the bloodlust; he was never coming back from the pit in which his soul was rotting. He was as dangerous as Roohl, as vicious as Knut, and twice as bloodthirsty. Even his status as a fellow Eok didn’t mean he could be trusted.
I can’t go back now. Hazel will be mine, whether she wants it or not.
Now that they were back on the Myrador, the madness was receding. As the door to the loading dock closed, Zaxis left quietly, his face closed off and his steps hurried. He was smart to leave Khal alone with Hazel. In Khal’s current state, not much was needed to trigger an attack. And once he started, Khal wouldn’t be able to stop until the threat lay dead.
Khal waited until Zaxis had gone before turning to Hazel. Her green eyes—wide with fear—looked up at him and her round mouth hung slightly open. Her fear laced the air with irresistible pheromones and his seed stem answered, a low pain throbbing in his groin.
He wanted her so badly, his entire body ached for it. For the raw possession of male flesh upon female. For her sweet surrender, body bared and soul quivering with lust.
Not yet. Gerkin wants a ceremony for his troops.
“Stay where you are. Don’t come close.” His voice wasn’t his voice anymore. It was the underhanded growl of a beast, a sound designed to subdue and terrorize. But Hazel didn’t look terrorized, not as much as she should.
“What happened back there? Why did Gerkin back down when you mentioned Mating Venom? What’s the Mating Venom?” Suspicion brimmed bright in her gaze as she eyed him back, as brazen as always. “And what in the fuck did you mean byyou will claim me?”
She took a step closer, her body, lush and female, radiating warmth. Her smell became stronger, spicier as fear gave way to anger. Her temper flared, making her silken cheeks blush.
That mouth—that Midnight God forsaken round mouth opened as she licked her lower lip and he got a glance of her pink, wet tongue.
Mating Venom dripped from his fangs, whispering crazy, savage thoughts in his mind of bare flesh covered in sweet-scented sweat and breathless whimpers of pleasure. Of Hazel, her eyes dark with passion.
“Do you have any idea what those males would have done to you if I hadn’t claimed you?” Khal’s growl twisted his words, turning them into an unveiled threat. Hazel’s eyes flashed brighter as her temper flared, meeting his in her anger. It only made the constant drip of Mating Venom in his mouth stronger, clouding his mind with a thick fog.
Take the female. Take her now before another tries to take her from you.
“What if I refuse to be claimed, ever think of that?” she shouted, taking another step. She was so close now, the smell of her breath tickled his nostrils. “What if I say no one gets to claim me, period?”
Darkness ate away at the edges of his mind as his sanity faltered.
“You refuse my claim on you?” Khal asked, his hands twitching at his sides, the constant drip of the Mating Venom forming a growing abyss inside his mind.
“What if I do?”
Something dark and fierce broke its chains inside Khal. His hand shot out and his fingers curled behind her slender neck. His thumb dug into the soft flesh of her jaw as he tilted her head back, forcing her to look up, exposing the crazed pulse of her jugular. He could feel her blood coursing in a strong, healthy flow under his fingertips, enticing him to bite and claim this female who was his. Lava spread through his veins, seeping inside his body until he was no longer in control.
A beast made of fire and fury had taken his place. It was no use fighting it.
