Page 22 of Zar

Chapter Seven

Zar had battled alongside his brothers and father during the uprising. He’d taken his rightful place as king when his father had been slain. He’d led his people during a time of great suffering. He’d done it with strength and pride. Never faltering. Never backing down. Zar had never shrank from a challenge and he feared very few things in life. Still, as he lay on the bed and waited for the next wave of arousal to hit and the room to spin a shaft of fear blasted him. Being at the mercy of the influr’ite wasn’t something he’d ever wanted to experience. He’d heard from others what it was like, but nothing had prepared him for the sensations blasting through his body. It would not end without the touch of his ofelia. She just happened to be earth-born and a virtual stranger.

Callie didn’t know their ways. She wouldn’t understand how badly he needed her and only her. No other would do. Zar would rather endure the overpowering sensations rather than ask her to relieve him though. She didn’t know him. Called him a kidnapper. They may have reached a truce during their flight, but that didn’t mean she would be willing to ease his suffering. And he would never do anything to cause her more pain than she’d already endured at his hands.

A shuffling sound from the doorway drew his attention. He turned his head to see Callie slowly entering the room. Her hair was a mess of curls around her face and down past her shoulders. Her blue eyes were wide as she stared at him sprawled out on the bed naked. He’d taken off his clothes earlier. The feel of them against his cock had magnified his suffering. She bit her bottom lip and her gaze strayed to his lower half. A tinge of pink filled her cheeks.

Zar lifted at the waist and grabbed the heavy cotton blanket at the end of the bed and began to drag it up his body to his waist. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to enter my bed chamber.”

She didn’t speak as she moved closer. When she stood next to his bed, her arms crossed over her chest, she said, “Kade explained everything to me. About the influr’ite, I mean.”

Zar easily pictured the conversation Callie must’ve had with his brother. What would Callie do with the information she’d been given? He flipped on the bedside lamp and laid back down as another wave hit. Right on cue the room spun out of control. He gritted his teeth and waited for it to pass enough for him to speak without sounding like a complete fool. “I am sorry, Callie. This is not how I wanted our evening to go.”

She looked down at the floor. “I think maybe it’s at least partly my fault.”

Zar stiffened. “None of this is your doing. What has my brother been telling you?”

Callie sighed and lifted her gaze to meet his once more. She had the most expressive eyes. He could read so many emotions just by watching the color lighten and darken. She was so beautiful. Every curvy inch of her drew him the way no other woman ever had.

“I know that you’re in this condition because I became…aroused.” She cleared her throat. “So, it’s partly my fault.”

Zar had heard enough. He reached out and took her hand in his, entwining their fingers. “No, you are not to blame. You couldn’t have known what your body’s response would incite. I should’ve taken better precautions. I was careless, Callie.”

“Why?”

He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand and became very pleasantly distracted by her delicate skin. As her question sank in, Zar asked, “Why what?”

“Why were you careless? From all I’ve seen so far you are anything but.”

He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on her words instead of the lust bursting through his bloodstream. Her nearness seemed to amplify it. “I have been alone for centuries, Callie. I had given up hope of ever finding my ofelia.” He clutched her hand tighter. “Then Flare brought you to me and for the first time I saw a future that wasn’t so filled with loneliness. For once I didn’t want to think of my people. Even my rank as their king took a backseat. I only wanted to experience the pleasure of being in the presence of my ofelia.”

She tugged on her hand and his eyes snapped open. “Let me go,” she murmured.

He released her, dread filling him. She would leave now and who could blame her? All that she’d been through. To make it worse she was forced to deal with a man who couldn’t even control his own body’s urges. It was humiliating for him, but it had to be so much worse for her.

When she sat next to him on the bed, hope flared inside him. Zar waited to see what she would do or say. Callie didn’t make him wait long when she softly stated, “When I came in here, I thought I was doing something to help you. Like the sacrificial lamb or something. But that’s not the truth, at least not anymore.”

“What is the truth, Callie? Talk to me. What has changed?”

“The truth is, I’m attracted to you,” she admitted in a shaky voice. “I did become aroused when you took me flying. It was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, Zar.”

He smiled, a sense of possessiveness filling him at her admission. He loved knowing she’d never flown before. “I’ve never taken anyone on my back. Only you. I enjoyed it immensely.”

Her eyes darkened and she tugged on her hand until he was forced to release her. She reached towards him and stroked his right wing, her fingers dancing over the place where his talons would extend. The sensation of having her touch him there sent a spike of adrenaline through his system. His talons were lethal. He’d killed with them. No Zenarian would dare touch him there and yet Callie caressed him as if she had the right. As his ofelia she was the only one he would ever allow near him this way. Especially while he was in such a vulnerable state. His cock flexed and he ground his teeth to keep from grabbing her around the waist and pulling her down on top of him. He ached. A minute longer and he’d be begging.

Her hand smoothed downward until she had one of his feathers between her thumb and index finger. “You’re so soft here.” She moved onto his chest and murmured, “Not so much here though.”

Zar balled his fists at his sides and let Callie have the freedom to explore his body. She was curious about him and he wanted her to know that anything she needed from him, anything she wished to do to him would be welcome. He would lay there for as long as it took for her to become comfortable with their differences. When her fingers moved lower to his abs, Callie hesitated a moment before nudging the blanket out of her way, exposing his cock to her view. He caught the way her gaze seemed captivated by his erection. She bit her lower lip and touched a single fingertip to the head of his cock. Zar sucked in a breath. Their eyes met and held. He reached down and took her hand and wrapped it around his cock and squeezed, showing her exactly what he wanted from her. His balls drew up tight and he cursed. “You send me over the edge, Callie. My control is a touch away from snapping.”

She licked her lips, then moved her hand up and down, pumping him in a gentle, soft fist. “You’re big, Zar. Bigger than any man I’ve ever known.”

An image of her touching another filled his mind and it enraged him. She belonged to him! “I don’t want to hear about past lovers,” he ground out. It would be too tempting to find them and slice their necks. He would enjoy watching them bleed out at his feet.

She sighed as the pad of her thumb teased the slit in the tip of his cock. “Careful, winged-man, you have that look.”

He frowned and tried to stay on the conversation. Not an easy task considering he was seconds away from coming all over her fist. “What look?”

“Like you want to play seek-and-kill with my exes.”

---