Page 4 of Offering Herself to Darkness

“That’s for being disobedient,” he growled, frowning down at her. “And now for the second part of your punishment, you’re going to hold still while I eat your pussy. And you’re not allowed to come until I tell you to.”

He climbed between the woman’s legs and Nora watched with a fast-beating heart as he ducked his head and began to lick between her thighs. The curvy brunette moaned and writhed in her bonds but she was unable to close her legs because her ankles were tied to the bedposts. The man stopped several times to admonish her and whip her with the riding crop but it was clear his main focus was on eating her out.

Nora became aware that she had been staring at the screen for who knew how long and that her heart was pounding. Her breath was coming short and her hands were clammy and damp with perspiration. What the Hell was wrong with her?

Numbly, she clicked off the video and scrolled down some more. Over and over she saw the same kind of thing—a curvy woman with long brown hair bound or restrained while a man tasted her or pleasured her in some way.

“There must be hundreds of these!” she muttered to herself. How long had Commander Xarex been collecting porn and why in the world would he keep it on his work computer? It just didn’t make sense. But it also didn’t make sense that all of the women in some way resembled Nora herself.

She pushed that second thought away. Surely it was just a coincidence that the women in her boss’s porn looked like her. He had never been anything but coldly polite to her before and if his silver eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went, well, she was sure he was just watching to be sure she did her job correctly.

Nora had closed the file guiltily and hadn’t even clicked on the other “Joining” tab. She shut down the computer and left the office in a hurry, looking over her shoulder to be certain that no one had seen her. Then, for the next several weeks, she tried desperately to tell herself she hadn’t seen what she had seen.

But now she was going to use the illicit information to her benefit, she thought, lifting her chin as she strolled into the HKR building for her regular Saturday shift. She was certain that Commander Xarex wouldn’t want his immediate supervisor to know that he was viewing porn at work—especially kinky BDSM porn. She would wait until she could get her boss alone and then let him know—very calmly and coolly—that she knew what he was hiding and that she was prepared to reveal his sick little secret unless he agreed to marry her so she could get lifesaving treatment for Anna.

It was a plan she never would have come up with unless she was absolutely desperate. Commander Xarex was extremely frightening—despite the fact that he was supposed to have no emotions he had a menacing air about him and he was so tall that her head didn’t even come up to his biceps.

But Nora would do anything for her niece—her daughter—anything at all. Dr. Patel had given Anna only six months to live—the clock was ticking and she needed to be seen by a Kindred specialist right away. So even though it made her stomach feel like she’d swallowed a pound of ice cubes that refused to melt, Nora was determined to go through with it.

She was going to get Anna her treatment no matter what she had to do to get it!

3

NORA

Nora had to wait until the end of her shift. Xarex kept getting called into meetings—most of them over the viewscreen in his office—and she couldn’t get him alone. So it wasn’t until the last Kindred warrior had called his bride for the day and the happy couple left the HKR building that she was able to go to her boss and say,

“Excuse me, Commander Xarex, but can I please have a word with you in private?”

He looked down at her from his great height with a perfectly impassive expression. She wished his face wasn’t so hard to read! But all he said was,

“Of course, Ms. Thompson. Let’s step into my office.”

Once they were in his office, he closed the door and went to lean one hip casually against his desk. Even leaning that way he was still so tall that Nora had to look up at him. She wished he wasn’t so damn big and imposing! His shoulders were twice as broad as her own and he could easily twist her into a pretzel with that robot arm and hand of his!

But the Kindred never hurt or abuse women—never, she reminded herself. It was one of the biggest selling points of being called as a Kindred bride. A woman never had to fear that her Kindred husband would turn out to be an abuser—they were very respectful of women.

She felt a little better when she remembered that and it gave her courage.

“Well, Ms. Thompson? What is it you needed to talk to me about?” her boss asked, one black eyebrow arched.

“I…I…” Nora took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “I was in here—in your office—the other day and I happened to see a certain file on your computer. A certain erotic file,” she added knowingly.

Both eyebrows shot up and his silver eyes narrowed.

“Oh? And what were you doing snooping in my private computer, Ms. Thompson?” he rumbled. “That is what you humans call it when someone makes an unlawful incursion into the privacy of another, correct? Snooping?”

“Yes, that’s right but none of that matters,” Nora said quickly. “What matters is what I found.”

The corners of his thin but sensual mouth turned down and if she didn’t know that he had no emotions, Nora would have been certain that he was extremely displeased with her. Maybe even angry.

“I suppose you’re wondering why they all look like you,” he growled.

“I…why…I mean…” Nora stumbled over her words. She hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about the resemblance between herself and the women in his preferred porn.

“You have nothing to be concerned about,” he continued. “Just because I find your physical characteristics to be extremely attractive doesn’t mean I would ever attempt anything with you.”

Nora didn’t know what to say to this. She could feel her cheeks getting hot. Was he saying he found her attractive? But he was built like a professional athlete and she was plus-sized and curvy—was he serious?

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