Page 3 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector
She was interested in every detail of his life—she asked him about his family history, how he had come to the Mother Ship, what he wanted to do in the future, why he wasn’t Joined or “married” as the humans called it.
Some of her questions, Greer refused to answer. But she never seemed offended and she somehow kept him talking. She had gotten more conversation out of him in three hours than anyone else had in the previous three years.
At the end of their “dinner date,” as Sunny called it, Greer had found himself kneeling at her feet and pledging his oath to protect her and keep her safe, even at the cost of his own life. Becoming her Protector hadn’t been his plan, but somehow Sunny subverted all plans around her—it was like she had a gravitational field that sucked everyone in. That was the best way Greer could describe it, anyway.
“My body shall be your shield, my shoulders will bear your sorrows, my ears will hear your truths, my lips will keep your secrets, and my heart will beat only for you,” he swore as he knelt before her. (Despite the fact that he was kneeling, he was so much taller than the curvy little Elite, they were still nearly eye-to-eye.) “Not a drop of your blood shall be shed unless all of mine is first poured out upon the ground. As the Goddess is my witness, I swear this oath to you, my Lady Sunny.”
Sunny had put a hand to her heart, her brown eyes wide and shining.
“Oh, Greer…what a beautiful oath,” she had breathed. And then, to his surprise, she had taken his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. “And you have a beautiful soul too—I can see that. Even though everyone told me you were rough and mean and scary, I can see what you’re hiding—I can see your heart.”
Greer hadn’t known how to answer. No one had ever said such a thing to him before. In fact, most people he met were scared of him, due to his rough appearance and deep, gravely voice. He avoided women but to be honest, he didn’t have to try very hard because they also avoided him. Most of them looked at him like he was a monster—possibly because of his pale gray eyes which were almost white or the jagged scar that ran down the left side of his face. But Sunny didn’t seem to see any of that—she saw past it somehow.
He told himself then and there that he ought to back out—that looking into those warm brown eyes was dangerous. But somehow, he hadn’t been able to stop himself and now he was about to go on his fifth and final mission with the irritating, fascinating little Elite and there was no backing out.
Just fucking hope she didn’t bring her self-pleasuring device on this trip! he thought to himself in irritation.
Sunny had what he believed the human females called a “bildo”—a cylindrical, device shaped like a phallus that hummed and buzzed and vibrated which gave females extreme pleasure when it was applied to their sensitive areas. His Ward had one of these devices which she took with her everywhere.
Greer could tell she was trying to be quiet when she used it. But even when they were in separate sleeping chambers, he could hear the buzzing of the bildo and the soft gasps and muffled cries as Sunny gave herself pleasure.
It was almost more than he could fucking stand, lying there listening to her getting off and wishing that he was the one drawing those sweet sounds from her throat. He could just imagine kneeling between her deliciously thick thighs, licking her soft little pussy until she moaned his name, sucking her juices?—
“Sucking out the poison from that bat bite really was quick thinking on your part, Greer,” Commander Sylvan said, drawing Greer back to the present.
He cleared his throat, trying to rid his mind of the forbidden thoughts.
“I only did was what necessary. The Goddess knows why that damn bat was attracted to Sunny—I mean Dr. Craythorn—in the first place. Trouble just seems to find her.”
“Yes, it certainly does,” Commander Sylvan said dryly. “I hope this last mission the two of you go on will be accident free.”
“I’ll do my best to make sure it is, Commander,” Greer told him.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Sunny said brightly. “The Thropp’ians are known to be a peaceful people.”
Greer only grunted at that. Peaceful or not, if there was trouble anywhere in a fifty click radius, it would find Sunny.
He must have been scowling at his own thoughts because Sunny nudged his arm playfully.
“Oh Greer—don’t be so grumpy! I’m sure you won’t have to suck any bat venom out of me on Thropp’ic Sigma—I don’t think they even have any kind of animal like a bat there!”
“Let’s hope not,” Greer growled and didn’t elaborate further. He was a male of few words—it was safer that way. Besides, if he really said what he was thinking, he was sure that sweet, innocent Sunny would be horrified.
Because what he was thinking was how good her blood had tasted…and how he longed to taste it again. And the reason he was thinking such things was that, despite a bit of Giant Kindred blood far back in his ancestry which made him extra tall and strong and gave his skin a grayish hue—Greer was a Pitch Blood Kindred.
The Pitch Blood Kindred were an aberration in the Kindred Family Tree. The Pitch Blood gene was a mutation of the regular Blood Kindred DNA which caused the males it affected to actually need to drink blood, like the mythical human monster called a “vampire.”
Pitch Bloods were pitied and reviled on his home world of Tranq Prime—other Kindred males felt sorry for them. Instead of giving pleasure with their bite, as a regular Blood Kindred did, there was nothing but pain for a female when a Pitch Blood sank his fangs into her flesh. That was because a Pitch Blood Kindred couldn’t inject his Essence—the pale blue liquid secreted by all Blood Kindred’s fangs—when he was biting for blood.
Only his Fated Mate would feel pleasure from a Pitch Blood’s bite. But the chances of finding the one female in all the universe who could find pleasure in his bite was so infinitesimally small, that Greer had given up on the idea completely. He had seen the fear in the eyes of the female his parents had tried to pair him with when he had come of age. The terror of his would-be bride had frozen his heart. He had refused the Joining and left his home world behind, hoping to find a place where people didn’t see him as a monster.
Sunny doesn’t see you as a monster, whispered a little voice in his head. She’s the only female who doesn’t.
Yes, but that was only because he hadn’t actually bitten her during the incident on Integra Centra. He had simply sucked the wound, getting rid of the bat’s venom to save her from being poisoned.
But despite the bitterness of the venom, he had tasted the sweet, salty flavor of her blood under it…and that flavor had been instantly addictive. Which was too bad, since he was never going to taste any more of it, Greer told himself firmly. He would never hurt Sunny by biting her—or shock her by asking to bite her in the first place.
Luckily, he didn’t need a vast amount of blood to survive—like most Pitch Bloods who hadn’t found their fated mate, he managed his need by going to paid donors. But the last time he had gone, his usual donor had been on vacation and he hadn’t much liked the flavor of the substitute who she had left behind to serve her regular customers.
