Page 47 of Offering Herself to Darkness

“Because I don’t deserve you,” he said harshly. “Not after the way I acted on Primus Nine.”

“You mean the, uh, sex show we had to put on?” Her cheeks got pink but she kept her chin up and her eyes locked with his.

“Yes.” Xarex ran a hand through his hair. “I took you too roughly and I knotted you and filled you with my seed, even when you begged me not to.” He looked away. “I let the W’rx side of me take total control. I’m no better than a Broken One.”

Instead of getting upset, Nora looked relieved.

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere!” she exclaimed. “Was I upset when you wouldn’t stop? Yes. But also it was the hottest and most intense sex of my life.”

“But I hurt you!” he protested. “When I saw you restrained like that, tied down and helpless, I couldn’t stop myself!” He shook his head. “I can’t be trusted to love you the way you deserve, Nora.”

“You’re forgetting something.” Her voice was gentle and she leaned forward again and put one small hand on his knee. “That drink they gave us—the weird cinnamon-tasting liquid, remember?”

“Yes…” Xarex looked at her warily.

“Well, I think it must have been some kind of aphrodisiac,” Nora told him. “Because it certainly had an effect on me. Didn’t you feel it, too?”

“I did.” Xarex frowned stubbornly. “But it’s still no excuse for the way I used you.”

She blew out a breath and the exasperated expression came back to her face.

“Look, I asked you to help me get the Flower of Healing for Anna and you did. What we did was the only way to get it—I don’t think it would have let itself be picked for anything less than the most intense emotional output which is what we gave it—both of us.”

“But what if we stay together and it happens every time I take you? What if my W’rx half takes over and I hurt you?” Xarex couldn’t keep the fear and longing out of his voice. He wanted her so badly…but still feared he didn’t deserve her.

“I don’t believe you’d hurt me.” Nora knelt on the couch cushion and cupped his cheek in her soft little palm. “Even when things got a little out of control yesterday, you didn’t actually harm me. Things just got…intense.”

Xarex felt torn.

“But if you bind yourself to me, you’ll be binding yourself to the darkness inside me,” he pointed out. “Unless I go and get my emotion damper replaced, you’ll always have to deal with the W’rx half of me.”

Nora’s response was immediate.

“No, don’t do that! I want you to keep feeling!” she exclaimed. “And as for the W’rx half of you, I know I can love it as much as I love the Kindred half of you.”

Her words stunned Xarex.

“You…love me?” he asked, his voice going hoarse again.

Nora looked into his eyes.

“I do,” she said softly. “I never could have believed it even a week ago—you always seemed so big and scary and cold—like a robot. But after all we’ve gone through together, yes Xarex, I love you.”

“I want to love you too.” He could hear the desperation in his own voice. “I just don’t want to hurt you, Nora! I don’t want to be a Broken One.”

“Just because you like the idea of tying me up doesn’t make you broken,” she assured him. “And I know you won’t hurt me. In fact, I’m willing to bet on it.”

Sitting back, she untied the garment she was wearing and shrugged it off.

Xarex bit back a groan when he saw what she was wearing.

It was a black lace garment that was basically see-through. He could clearly see her tight nipples pressing against the thin black fabric, which only fell to her upper thighs. And when she shifted, he could see she was wearing tiny black lace panties that matched. Her sweet pussy slit was clearly visible, making his mouth water to taste her again.

“Gods, ellana—why are you wearing that?” he groaned.

“Because I know you won’t hurt me.” Nora spread her arms, letting him see her lovely, curvy body—offering herself to him. “I want you to make love to me, Xarex. Any way you want to. I want you to prove to yourself that you can be trusted.”

“But you’re so small…so delicate,” he protested. But already his hands were reaching for her, as though by their own volition. He cupped her heavy breasts and thumbed the nipples gently.

---