Page 47 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

She nodded against the pillow, wishing fervently that his hand hadn’t stopped there, splayed along her side, that he’d kept going and covered her breast fully. “Why?”

“The mating mark is not permanent. It was never intended to be, not from one mark alone. To imbue permanence, the mark must be renewed continually over the life of the bearer. For that mark to never fade is a symbol of the mating bond’s strength.” His eyelids lowered and he seemed almost shy now. “We find them beautiful, a testament to a love that can only be shared between mates. You are my mate, Mia, and I will never let you go. Thus does my desire to mark you run high in my blood. Yet I find myself reluctant to mar the delicate beauty of your skin.”

A tiny piece of her heart melted for him, falling through the barriers of mistrust and forgiveness into love. She stroked his hair gently and let her fingertips trail down the line of his spine, petting him, taming him to her.

“Where else do you want to mark me?” she said, her voice as tender as her touch.

His thumb brushed across the side of her breast and came to rest against her nipple, and heat spasmed through her. “If it so pleases you.”

“Yes,” she breathed, already anticipating the wet heat of his mouth.

He dipped his head to her throat instead, murmuring so softly, the translator failed to catch his words. His lips traced the column of her throat, sucked gently on the hollow at its base, then trailed along her collarbone. She shrugged restlessly beneath the featherlight caresses as a yearning grew within her for something more, something harder, faster, for all of him everywhere.

But Zoran took his time, lightly flicking the tip of his tongue down the slope of her shoulder, nuzzling the plane of her upper chest, rubbing his chin over her upper arm. Then doing it all again with his claws, scoring her in deliciously sensual, teasing strokes until her legs shifted against his and her hips arched into his abdomen.

His mouth came down on hers, and it was as if he’d heard her silent yearning, for now his kiss was firm and demanding, sharply contrasted against his gentle play.Give to me, this kiss seemed to say.Give me everything.

She whimpered into his mouth, felt him swallow it down, felt the stroke of his thumb across her nipple. Instinctively, she dug her fingernails into his back, and when he rewarded her with one of his lovely, ever so pleasing growls, she grew bold enough to run a firm hand along one of his horns.

He reared back, panting hard, his irises so dark, they were nearly black.

She bit her lip in dismay. “Did I do it wrong?”

“No, my love,” he murmured. “Do it again.”

And finally, he bent and sucked her nipple into his mouth, pulling hard against the tiny bud, his fangs penetrating her skin above the areola, pushing her over the edge. She gasped as a sharp orgasm rolled through her, swamping her under a tidal wave of emotion and heat, and she felt that small measure of love rise to meet it, rising, rising.

Zoran rasped the flat of his tongue across her nipple, then rose above her, kneeling between her widespread legs. She’d worn no underwear to bed; her single pair from Earth was drying in the bathroom, leaving her fully on display to his wickedly hot gaze.

He raked his palm down her body from breastbone to the feminine mound between her thighs. “The thought of all the marks we will give each other in the coming years brings me a great deal of pleasure, mate.”

Her gaze snapped to his. “That many?”

“As many as you will allow me,” he rumbled, satisfied. He pushed down the waistband of his pants, freeing his erection, and stroked it once from balls to tip. “Will you trust me, my love?”

She eyed the length of his hardness, uncertain. He was built like a human male, very nearly identical save for the shape of the tip. No mushroom cap, just a broad head tapering straight down to a thick base.

“Why?” she said. “What are you going to do?”

His husky laugh feathered over her as lightly as his mouth had. “My inquisitive littleklika. Trust me.”

Before she could say another word, he leaned forward and pressed the tip of his erection against her clit.

She stiffened automatically, one hand flashing down to land atop his free hand where it gripped her thigh.

“Have no worries, Mia. We will not take that path today.”

“No rutting?” she said, her voice so small she wondered that it had come from her. “No penetration?”

“Not with my manhood. My tongue, yes. Perhaps my fingers. Does it please you to know what plans I hold for you?”

She squinched her eyelids closed on a wave of embarrassment. “Oh, my God,” she said, drawing another husky laugh from him, accompanied by the faint click of his teeth. “Ok, alright. I trust you.”

Still, when he slid the head of his cock down and teased her entrance with it, she stiffened again. Immediately, he eased it away and played it over her clit again. Down again and up, spreading moisture along him and her both.

She tore her gaze away from his cock and watched his face instead. He studied her with the same intensity he brought to every task, focusing on whatever pleasure he meant to share with her. His eyes narrowed slightly when he slid his cock down, and she saw him hesitate for the briefest of moments, no more than a second each time he repeated the action.

Amazement bloomed in her as she realized what he was doing. He was trying to accustom her to his touch, to get her used to the feel of him in this most intimate of places, readying her for…what? Not penetration. He really wasn’t going to push into her. Not today.

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