Page 39 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
“Excellent.” Lord Zorn collapsed back onto the throne, and used one of his rings to unlock a chamber in the armrest. A rug slid across the floor, and a table command center lifted from the ground. “Vareo, you know where your rooms are, unless you’d like to stay?” The gleam in his eyes told me that if we stayed nothing good could come of it. Lord Zorn laughed, and waved his hand dismissing us.
As we passed the guards in the hall, Vareo waited until we were out of ear shot, and whispered in a deep voice, “He will keep his word.”
“You were going to have him send you away with the rest of his slaves…” I wasn’t going to bring it up, but it came out before I could stop myself.
“It would have been better for you.”
We turned down a corridor , and my anger bubbled up.
“That is for me to decide!”
“And you’ve done such a great job of that so far?” He raised his voice an octave to match mine, and I was clenching his hand so hard my knuckles were white. I hadn’t realized I was still hanging on to him this whole time. We squared off, and I felt my chest heave with irritation. He had no right to judge my choices. Even if my choices were the reason why I was stuck on his ship, damaged my loh, and lost all my radiation all to be near him, and protect him.
Why was I acting this way about him?
We stared at each other for a long moment, our breathing heavy with emotion. That warmth from within me tingled, and my loh on my hand glowed.
I wasn’t imagining it.
He had to see it too. His blue eyes drifted to where I stared, and he pulled me to his firm chest, and wrapped his arms around me. The tension between us snapped, and the memory of his hands all over my body had me gripping the back of his head, and tugging him down to me. When our lips crashed into each other, electricity coursed through my limbs. Everywhere our bodies touched it was like he was recharging my loh, and the radiation within me returned slowly bubbling up within. But that couldn’t be possible. Without the moons no one had ever gained their radiation back through self regeneration.
Was there an artificial radiation field close by? He said my name in a husky moan between kisses. Vareo’s hand was rubbing up my thigh, and then gripping my ass to hold mecloser. I knew we should stop, but everything in me kept urging me to continue like my life depended on it.
And perhaps it did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Vareo
I COULD FEELher hesitation as Luan’s hands trembled, and I forced myself to pull back, brushing a few strands of blond hair behind her ear. My shoulders tensed, she was so stubborn, and when the look in those silver eyes changed from irritation to lust I acted before I thought better of it.
But she responded to me, touch for touch.
My skin was on fire, I wanted to be in our rooms already and remove the leather compression shielding from my chest, and shoulders. Anything between my skin and hers was too much. But I stilled, staring into those deep-in-thought diamonds of hers. What was she thinking to stop the storm that was brewing there moments before?
Threading one hand behind her head, I squeezed her ass in the other, pressing her hips against me. Her breathing was still as heavy as my own.
“Will you leave again?” My heart clenched within my ribcage at her words. She was in my arms, and her touch searched for mine, but there was doubt I didn’t know how to ease.
She bit her lip, and I wanted to devour them again to express to her how much she meant to me, but actions alone wouldn’t be enough, not when I’d already proved capable of disappearingon her. Even if it was better for her to not be involved with me. I couldn’t deny what I was feeling anymore.
Whether it was her radiation or not, didn’t matter to me as it once did. Not now that I knew my body was responding to her, claiming her as mine. Lifting her up, she gently wrapped her legs around my waist, and I steadily got us to our room before elbowing the button to close the doors behind us in silence. She waited patiently for me to answer her, and I set her down on the table just in case she changed her mind after I told her what needed to be said.
This was more than a one-night decision. And she needed to know. Undoing the straps of my compression guard, she licked her lips, and I grinned. Chemistry was never the problem. As soon as my top guard was off, she gasped. Stepping up to her, placing myself between those still open thighs, I grabbed her hand to guide her finger over the newly developing tattoos on my chest.
“These are for you, and only you,” I began to explain before my breath caught when she placed her palm over my heart. Her touch was only speeding up the bond and my skin burned to finish that claim once and for all.
“These are—” she stopped before finishing her assessment.
“Mating runes,” I growled out as I gripped her thighs with both hands. My cock was hard, pulsing against her. She had to know that if we did this, there would be no one else. I would never leave her, and if she didn’t let me stay by her side it would break me.
Her loh glowed again, this time the jewels that sprinkled along her inner thigh like freckles warmed the front of my pants, as I strained against the fabric.
“How is this possible?” she asked in a hushed whisper. I could sense the vitality returning to her and it made me happyand relieved to know that even if she didn’t choose me the med pod had saved her life.
“You hardly know me,” I admitted, “and I’ve already broken your trust.” I leaned in, nuzzling into her neck. “But a mate bond of the shol is for life, and my essence knows you are my perfect match. If you’ll have me, I’ll have the rest of my life to fall in love with every part of you, and to prove to you every day that I choose you.” My muscles tensed at the possibility that she would reject me right here and now.
“You do?” she choked on her own words. Her eyes watered, and I gathered her into my arms, pressing her cheek to my chest and stroking her long blond hair to sooth her. I had upset her already, and this was not how I saw claiming my mate. At this rate, there would be no claiming at all, and my heart stilled, silently breaking.
