Page 5 of Offering Herself to Darkness

Apparently so because his silver eyes were roving up and down her body, making her feel like she was wearing a stripper outfit instead of her usual sensible button-down silk blouse with a black pencil skirt. There was a kind of feral hunger in her boss’s gaze that made her feel like prey—naked prey!

Then she came to her senses.

Get hold of yourself, Nora! It doesn’t matter if he thinks you’re hot or not—this is supposed to be a blackmail attempt and you’re botching it!

Okay—she needed to start again.

“I saw what was on your computer and I’m prepared to go to your direct supervisor, Commander Sylvan, and tell him everything,” she said, lifting her chin.

“Oh?” Xarex raised an eyebrow again. “And what would that accomplish?”

“Well, it would probably get you fired or at least reprimanded!” Nora exclaimed. “Don’t you care about that? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing?”

He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling under his black uniform shirt.

“As a Dark Kindred, I have no emotions. ‘Embarrassment’ is not something I am capable of feeling.”

His eyes—which had been so hungry and feral a moment ago—were now flat and blank as though he really didn’t care.

Nora felt at a loss. She’d expected him to be upset with her—to ask her not to tell on him—hopefully to offer her anything she wanted in exchange for her silence. But that wasn’t happening. In fact, none of her plan was going the way she’d hoped. She supposed it made sense when she considered that he had no emotions, but it just wasn’t how she’d seen things happening when she made her plan.

“I…you don’t care if I report you at all?” she asked, feeling helpless.

He shrugged again.

“Do as you please.”

“But…but…” Nora didn’t know what to say.

“Is that all, Ms. Thompson?” Xarex asked in a bored voice. “Do you wish to come up to the Mother Ship with me right now to make your report to my supervisor? Our shift is almost over so this would be the optimal time to meet with him.”

Nora was taken aback. Not only did he not care that she might tell on him—he was offering to take her up to his supervisor himself so she could make a report. But what good would that do? It wouldn’t get her treatment for Anna and it might possibly make her lose her job, which she couldn’t afford.

This is going completely wrong! What am I going to do?

“Well?” Xarex rumbled. “Would you like to go?”

“I…I…no, that’s not what I want at all!” Nora exclaimed.

He frowned.

“You do not wish to report me? Then why did you threaten me?”

“I…you don’t understand,” Nora said quickly. “It’s not that I wanted to report you—I wanted to…to marry you. To get Joined with you, I mean. And I thought if I threatened to report you, you’d agree to a Joining between us.”

Both of his eyebrows shot up again and if she hadn’t known he was emotionless, Nora would have sworn he looked surprised.

“I don’t understand. You wish to Join with me after seeing the salacious human pornography I have stored on my computer? But why? Do you wish me to do all the things to you that the human men in the images are doing to the human women?”

“What? No!” Nora felt her cheeks getting hot. “Nothing like that! It’s for my daughter—she’s actually my niece but after my sister died I adopted her.” She was aware that she was babbling but she couldn’t seem to stop. “She has a rare medical condition—Pulmonary Crystalosis. If she doesn’t get treatment soon she’ll die and I know that all the women married to a Kindred warrior get free health care. I need care for her—I need to save her life!”

“You need…?” He seemed to be trying to take in her sudden outpouring, his brow wrinkling in uncertainty.

“Please!” Nora was past threatening now—she was outright begging. “Please, if you’ll just marry me so my daughter can be seen by a Kindred doctor, I’ll let you do anything you want to me! You can whip me or punish men. You can tie me down and…and taste me too for hours on end. Just please—Join with me so I can save her!”

Her cheeks were so hot she felt like she had a fever as she made her desperate plea, but she couldn’t stop—couldn’t help herself. She was just so desperate to save Anna!

“I’ll let you do anything—anything. Look!” she exclaimed.

---