Page 104 of Shadows of Stardust

I kiss a trail from his lips, over the firm line of his jaw, the column of his throat. I drag my teeth over him, lick teasing circles around his nipples, kiss my way down his abs until I reach those deep, delicious lines of muscle and armor leading me right where I’m headed.

I kneel between his muscled thighs and can’t help my grin at the strangled, desperate noise that lodges itself in his throat. Glancing up at him, I catch a flash of roiling silver and my grin grows even wider.

“Roslyn,” Zan says, voice tight and husky with desire.

He threads his fingers into my hair, and I let out a short, panted moan at the rasp of his claws against my scalp. He strokes me again, with a little more pressure this time, nudging me back down between his legs.

My lips find that split in his skin and I run my tongue over the smooth seam.

I’m still not entirely certain about all the ins and outs of his anatomy, or how to give him as much pleasure as he just gave me.

But I know Zan, and have no doubt he’ll steer me in the right direction if I do anything wrong, so I lead with enthusiasm. I lap at him, teasing him and dipping inside to find the hard length of his cock, already slick with his natural lubricant.

Hard and throbbing, his cock springs free, and I can’t stop my groan of pleasure.

God, but he’s beautiful.

Thick and long andmine. At least for tonight.

I can’t exactly fit all of him into my mouth considering his size, but I make do. With one hand fisted around his slick shaft, I squeeze and stroke him while I take what I can fit all the way down to the back of my throat.

“Fates, yes,” Zan breathes. “Harder.”

It’s an order I have no problem following as I tighten my grip and revel in his growl of approval. Over and over, finding a rhythm that drives him out of his damn mind, harsh gasps and deep moans slipping from his lips.

“Roslyn,” he groans, and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a sweeter sound than my name in that voice, that tone, poised right on the edge of his control. “Mercy.”

I pull back, grinning up at him. “I think I like you like this. Desperate. Aching for—”

With a rough growl, Zan lunges for me. In a couple of quick, precise, tactical moves, he has me sprawled back onto the mattress. And just like when we spar, I’m an absolute goner in the face of that physical prowess, powerless against that skill and strength.

But I don’t mind.

In fact, I’m so very far from minding any of it that I might as well be on a different planet.

I shift beneath him, making room, finding where I fit as our bodies settle into each other.

And when I meet his eyes again, I’m pinned even more firmly in place.

A universe, in those eyes. So unlike my own, I’m frozen under their depthless black and silver supernovas, caught in the intensity, breathless with the way he studies me. Focused, enraptured, like I’m the only person in any of his universe’s endless galaxies who matters.

28

Zandrel

By the time I settle myself between Roslyn’s thighs, I’m nearly shaking with just how fucking badly I need her.

Fates, I haven’t been like this since my first fumbling attempts at intimacy, since being hardly more than a youth who barely knew what went where and how to keep myself from letting enthusiasm get the best of me.

I give Roslyn a little more of my weight, kiss her deep, fist my cock and bring it to her soaked, swollen entrance.

She pulls her lips from mine, gasping. “Production, uh, took care of you, too? Birth control, I mean.”

My mind isn’t exactly coherent enough to follow a conversation, but after a few murky moments, I give her a quick nod. “Yes. I’m dormant.”

It was one of the many stipulations of joining the cast, adhering to a birth control policy for all contestants which ensures there won’t be any Mate Match babies conceived by couples who most likely won’t last beyond a single revol after filming wraps.

But Roslyn and I don’t have to worry about that, and I find myself endlessly, deliriously thankful to know the precautionmeans I can have her just like this. Bare. As she is. The heat and the softness of her. The glorious humanity of her.

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