Page 52 of Diamond

"Alright," I say, clearing my throat when it comes out in a weak whisper so I can speak more decisively. "Yes. I want you to teach me."

His eyes open wider, and his lips stretch out into a large smile, sharp white teeth making divots in his dark lips. I swallow hard, tamping down the instinct to run from the intense gaze of a predator. A moment later I feel the fear transition to increasing tightness in my belly and I nearly groan at the pulsing between my legs.

No. I will not find such a thing as him looking predatory a turn on. I will not.

Neither my mind nor my body listen to the small part of my brain sending out vociferous protests.

When he speaks again, it startles me out of staring at his lips and wondering if they are soft. "Excellent. Let's get started, then."

He reaches inside the cart to grab water containers and heads to a small stream that's bubbling out of the cave entrance. It must be an underground spring. I try to focus on it, but my eyes keep drifting back to him as he moves away, the growing light in the sky allowing me to greedily take in every detail.

When he walks, all the muscles in his back ripple in the most deliciously seductive ways.

I can't take my eyes off him.

I'm thinking the most indecent thoughts, and I don't know how to stop them—or if I even want to. I want him to use those rough hands to touch me. What? I do? I press my thighs together. Yes, I do. A wicked shiver runs down my spine and into the wet hidden spot between my thighs.

I blush. I need to focus.

My body feels unsteady as I climb down, my heart racing and a kind of anticipation I've never experienced before rushes through my veins. It's something I never thought I would experience, truth be told, since the best I could have hoped for was an arranged marriage with someone old or desperate enough to ignore my activism.

They would have held me captive for it, of course, and I would have hated them. I never let myself think of feeling something like this, and though part of me is saying I'm being stupid andthat I don't trust him; the other part is screaming that this might be my only chance to find out what it feels like.

From the sounds of it, this Ree person is making a new version of containment and another ache shoots through me at the idea of recreating the same sort of injustices on a new planet rises, but I push it aside.

I'm going to die here. If I want to feel the pleasure my body is promising I will feel with Kuret, this is the time. Visions of how appalled my family would be try to bubble up, but I force them down, rubbing at my aching eyes as I do it. They lost the ability to comment, even if just in my mind, when they sold me.

So what if I don't trust him? If he wanted to kill me, he would have. It's like all those American shows I've managed to sneak watching. None of them trusted each other, they just got their pleasure and moved on.

Should I have other things on my mind right now? Of course. Am I likely to die tomorrow? Yes.

Resolves tightens in my belly right along with arousal. I will learn to defend myself.

I'm also going to get Kuret to touch me. The thought of it makes me groan, whatever the genali did to me surging along all my nerve endings as soon as I stop resisting it.

Now that I've decided to do both things, as usual, I can't make it happen soon enough. I push myself away from the cart, feeling like the predator now as I stalk behind Kuret.

27

Kuret

I refill our water, in case we need to flee quickly, then turn back to Nasrin. My breath stops midway through pulling it in when I see the look on her lovely face. She's no longer avoiding my gaze.

She looks… I don't know how she looks, but it is so intense my markings flare. I haven't felt like this since… ever. I have never experienced whatever this is, and I'm not sure if I like it. My head feels light and I blink rapidly.

What I said had an impact, and she's ready to learn to fight now. I swallow compulsively, almost feeling sorry for the hunters she will soon be decimating.

I feel tense as she approaches with a knife, my hand almost reaching for my own. My instincts are screaming out at me that there is heavy danger in the air right now, but I force myself stay still.

She holds it up toward me, her grip awkward. "Teach me how to hold this. Use your hands to move my body how it should be. We don't have much time, Kuret."

Her breathing is elevated, and it makes me realize mine is too. Those images that I keep trying to suppress of her white hair moving against my skin surge up again and my hearts start pounding.

I swallow hard, then move to do as she asks, hoping she won't notice the ever-increasing bulge of my erection, which I have to start ignoring or I'm going to have to adjust myself and all of this is awkward enough as it is.

I take the knife from her, listening carefully to our surroundings. A glance over to Roshan reveals that he's napping, which makes me feel a bit more settled. If I had to guess, he has a better sense of smell than I do. We've been downwind of where I killed the green hunter—the braceaaer—since we left. He was tense for a while, sniffing the breeze, before finally relaxing.

I turn my attention back to Nasrin. She still has that intense look that sends shivers down my body and makes my armor even more uncomfortably tight. She's much smaller than the females of my kind, and softer. My fingers twitch, longing to touch her waist again, and then I realize I've been given an invitation, and a good reason.

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