Page 15 of Married to the Beast

“It’slovely,”Aleena breathed, looking around her at the dark blue inlaid floors and the vast spiral staircase that swooped upwards to the top of the house. “Can we explore it?” she asked, looking up at Bear hopefully. “I mean, unless you have other things you, er, want to do,” she added, looking suddenly apprehensive.

“Other things?” He frowned, uncertain of what she meant.

“I mean if…if you’re going to change the color of my eyes right away,” she said, almost in a whisper and her eyes darted nervously to the crotch of his uniform trousers and then away again.

There was that peculiar phrase again about changing the color of her eyes. It must be some kind of euphemism for deflowering, Bear thought. He realized that the poor girl thought he was going to throw her down and have his way with her right that minute! As if any Kindred would treat a female in that way.

The very thought made him angry—he didn’t want her to be frightened of him.

“For now let’s just explore the house together,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “I didn’t get a chance to look at it much when I rented it. I was in a hurry to get to our ceremony.”

“All right.” She gave him a relieved smile and slipped her much smaller hand into his. Bear felt his heart squeeze at the trusting gesture. He wanted to assure her that he wouldn’t hurt her or take what she wasn’t ready to give, but he thought it might be better to get to know each other first and exploring the house together seemed a good way to do that.

Hand-in-hand, they wandered from one luxurious room to another. The mansion had come already furnished though Bear wasn’t sure that most of the furniture would hold him. It was built for the Karpsians, which were much smaller people than the Kindred.

Aleena’s favorite room seemed to be the Sun Room—an enormous, two-story area with a domed glass ceiling that let in the reddish-orange rays of the Karpsian sun. It was like a solarium—carpeted in soft purple moss with trees and flowers growing around the perimeter. Before entering the room, they had to take off their shoes—or in Bear’s case boots—so as not to damage the delicate flora. It reminded him of the Sacred Grove where he and his mate, Zelia had been wed.

He couldn’t help wondering if his mate would think he was breaking his vow if she could see him now. But he hadn’t sealed the Joining with sex and he didn’t intend to. The fact that the Karpsians felt so strongly that a woman’s purity was tied to her worth was reason enough not to take the only thing of value that Aleena had. Not to mention it woulddefinitelybe breaking his vow.

“This is so beautiful—like having a park right inside the house.” Aleena sighed, drawing his attention back to the present and away from the guilt he was feeling.

Bear looked up to see that she was standing in the center of the room. The rays of the Karpsian Sigma sun were bathing her in radiance, picking up the lovely copper color of her hair and making her eyes sparkle like jewels. Truly, her beauty took his breath away!

He felt his heart stop in his chest for a moment before it resumed beating. Goddess damn it—he wished she wasn’t so fucking gorgeous! It almost might have been easier if he had joined with her half-sister instead. He wouldn’t have felt bad about disavowing a female as awful as Faleesha, who he also found extremely unattractive—not just because she was skinny but because of her terrible attitude and personality.

“You look like a goddess,” he said, when he finally found his voice. “Standing there with the sun’s rays falling on you—you’re beautiful, Aleena.”

“Oh!” She put a hand to her mouth and her bronze cheeks went red, as though he’d embarrassed her. “That’s so kind of you, my Lord Husband,” she murmured, looking up at him from under her thick lashes.

“You don’t have to call me that, you know,” Bear told her.

Aleena looked instantly contrite.

“I’m so sorry! Would you rather that I call you by your title, Ambassador Bearick?” she asked quickly.

“No, of course not. Just call me ‘Bear,’” he told her.

Her eyes went wide.

“You want me to call you by yourname?But…that’s very disrespectful!”

Bear frowned. Did the Karpsians really believe that a married woman couldn’t call her husband by his name?

“I don’t like being called ‘my Lord’ all the time, though,” he objected. “It makes it sound like you’re worshiping me—or that I own you.”

“But youdoown me. You took possession of me body and soul when you placed the bands upon my nipples,” she reminded him. “And a wife must worship her husband—he is the authority over her as the Goddess of Mercy is the authority over him.”

Bear shook his head, trying not to think of how much he had enjoyed that part of the ceremony. Holding her full, firm breasts in his hands and teasing her ripe nipples had been a pleasure.

“That’s not the way it is in my culture,” he told her. “We Kindred believe that males and females are equals.”

“Equals?” She looked half scandalized and half intrigued. “But…how do you decide what to do and where to go and how to spend the household budget?”

Bear shrugged.

“We decide together. And if we can’t agree on something, we compromise.”

Aleena shook her head.

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