Page 36 of Taken to Lemora
“What?” I snarl, “You were planning on using this on other males? Will you lie to them, too, and tell them that you’ll be professional?”
Her lower lip juts out and her chin puckers. She steps away from me, pulling her hands into her chest and holding them there like injured victims of a crime she didn’t mean to commit. But make no mistake, there has been a crime, one taking place in my head. Thousands of males slaughtered for daring to take a single touch from her that is mine by right. My horns tighten and burn as she reads the warning in my eyes and takes a step back.
“Raingar.” She stiffens. “This isn’t easy for me, but Merquin…Merquin said I needed to stand up for myself and I…I don’t like the way you’re talking to me.”
She can’t meet my gaze. She doesn’t have to for her words to slam into me like a battering ram. I manage to find the strength to brace through them and stand.
She stumbles back —back toward the bed. “Raingar?”
“Get on the bed.”
She looks over her shoulder at it and crosses her arms over her chest. “Raingar, I don’t understand.” Her voice quivers and her scent intensifies around me, an echo of the fresh rain falling outside of our window. Spring flowers covered in dew. The storm at its peak. I need to taste it. I have no restraint.
“Essmira…” I moan, agonized. “Get. On. The. Bed.”
“Raingar, I thought…”
“I thought you wanted to be a pleasure female.”
She frowns, looking torn, looking hurt. “I don’t…”
“I see.I’mthe problem. You don’t want to be mated to me. Is there someone else?” I’ve advanced on her far enough now that her knees hit the edge of the bed. She plops onto it, unable to catch herself.
“Raingar, you’re scaring me. I’ve never seen you like this. I…I didn’t mean to make an aphrodisiac.”
I chuckle, though the sound is dark and threatening. “You didn’t need to. It’s your scent. It’syou.”
Her expression hardens and fire enters her gaze, reminding me of the moment she threw the statue at my face. It only fans my desire. Before she can say anything else, I grab the fabric at my waist and rip the front of my pants free of the back, destroying most of her work in the process. She doesn’t look down at my angry cock, though I know she sees it. She does an admirable job of keeping her gaze — and her anger — trained on me.
“I wastrainedto be a pleasure female. I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m not trying to seduce anyone!”
“You don’t have to try…”
“You said I didn’t have to be a pleasure female. I thought I was doing a good job here as a member of your clan…”
“I don’t want you to be a member of my clan.” I drop my fists onto the mattress on either side of her knees. She tries to pull away from me, but I grab the front of her dress and hold her in place. “I want you torunmy clan.”
She freezes. Her big, beautiful eyes blink. “What?”
“You’re my mate.” The words just come out, blunt and without ceremony. I can’t control them. They rappel from my lips like climbers, free-falling into an unknown abyss. “Merquin’s horns only flaked white when she met Librida. White horns mean we’ve found our mates and my horns started flaking the moment I entered the atmosphere of Quadrant One.You,” I accuse.
“Me?” She whispers.
“You,” I say.
I wait for a rejection…that doesn’t come. Because in the next moment, the frustrated fear that had been clouding her expression, making it murky, is wiped clean. A brilliant, clear smile is what’s left. She beams at me.
“You’re serious, Raingar?”
“Yeffa.”
“Is that why you’ve been so mean…you’re jealous?” She gasps and brings a hand to her mouth and, when I don’t answer, she shakes her head and immediately moves onto her knees. “If I’d known, I’d have understood. I would have let you know clearly that I didn’t touch any males like I touch you. I…” She smiles. “I like you. I was hoping you’d choose me for a mate.”
“There is no choosing. The universe chooses. This is Xiveri.” I bow my head so that my horns rest just beneath her.
What I don’t voice however, is that thereisa choice. One that’s hers because she has no horns and no ability to feel Xiveri from her hybrid heritage either — at least none that I can see. She has a choice, but I don’t want her knowing it.
“You’re sure it’s me?” She takes my horns in her hands and my shoulder blades bunch beneath my ears, tense…ready.
