Page 83 of Alien God

“Welcome home, my lord! Welcome home!”

The old man seemed genuinely happy that Wylfrael was back, which only added to the idea that the Sionnachans really did adore him. I need to look just as excited.

I beamed at Wylfrael, and echoed Ashken’s greeting of, “Welcome home!”

Wylfrael looked at me in astonishment, and my smile took on a slightly wicked slant. See? I can play the good little wife.

He cleared his throat, brows pinching downward for a moment before he smoothed his expression into something that could maybe, very generously, be called pleasant.

This guy said I would have to play my part well, but so far I’m doing way better than him!

This excited me. Made me feel powerful. I was, for once, more in control than Wylfrael. I wanted to hold onto that power. To make Wylfrael see I wasn’t stupid, wasn’t weak, wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

I sauntered over to him, clasping my hands in front of me as if I were completely entranced by what was before me. Like I was praying to the god the Sionnachans considered him to be.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I breathed.

Wylfrael’s nostrils flared, his gaze intensifying with some unnamed emotion.

I halted, standing very, very close to him. I stopped just short of touching him, deciding I wasn’t quite that brave yet, and gazed up at him with cavity-inducing sweetness from beneath my lashes.

His jaw worked, his eyes a bright storm. He didn’t seem capable of speaking at the moment, which would have made me burst into laughter if Ashken weren’t here.

Torrance one, Wylfrael zero.

“The lord is so taken with his bride-to-be that he cannot even speak!” Ashken said happily from nearby. “Ah, my lord, I always heard it was the same with your own father. That he’d grow silent and look at Sashkah just like that.”

My smile turned pinched.

Well, shit. He was actually convincing Ashken with this brooding, silent treatment? I had to turn into a simpering idiot to hold up my end of things, but all he had to do was glare at me?

Whatever. I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of honouring our agreement. I’d be the most obnoxiously loving human this alien god ever could have imagined.

My annoyance turning into courage, I reached forward, deciding to touch him after all. He was dressed in his usual fashion, with black boots, tight leather trousers, and a dark leather vest. I drew my fingertips gently, like a grazing breath, down the bare strip of skin on his chest that showed between the two sides of his vest. When I got lower, reaching his stomach, his abdominal muscles clenched. Something in my own stomach coiled in response.

Wylfrael’s hand snapped up to grip my wrist. I froze, wrenching my gaze upward in questioning anger. Don’t you fucking dare ruin the illusion of this. I’m only just getting started.

Still, he didn’t speak. He didn’t drop my hand either. Instead, he raised it to his mouth. I thought he was maybe about to plant some kind of chaste, chivalrous kiss on my knuckles, but my breath left my lungs in a hot sigh when instead, he turned it over and brushed his lips over my palm.

Whatever had been already growing warm and tight in my stomach strengthened, my entire core squeezing at the irritatingly exquisite sensation of Wylfrael’s mouth on my palm. He let his eyes fall closed, and I gawked at his face as he began to kiss along my screaming skin. He reached my sensitive inner wrist, and I let out a shameful peep of a sound when the kiss grew wet, his tongue sliding downward in a heated, silky stripe.

At the sound I made, Wylfrael’s eyes snapped open. There was something new in his gaze, something dark and savage, something that made my nipples prickle and my heartrate skyrocket. His mouth was open against my wrist, fangs grazing my skin, a reminder that he could bite down, that he could crush me if he wanted to.

But he couldn’t. Not anymore. Not when he was supposed to love me. Not when he needed me.

Heat flooding my cheeks, I refused to pull away. We were frozen in a tableau, each of us testing the other. His mouth, open against my wrist, his eyes on mine. Trying to steady my suddenly harsh breathing, I held his gaze in silent challenge.

He started to suck. And when a gush of arousal dampened the place between my legs, I learned that I had made a very, very big mistake.

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