Page 14 of Kenan's Mate
It’s so fucked up. This whole day.
I should be enjoying a relaxing bath in my suite at the Tallia Grand in Capital Acres, the most popular tourist destination on the most southern continent, my virginity still intact. I should be planning which excursions into the wilds of Tallia I’m going to join during the next three months, pouring over brochures and booking the most exciting adventures.
But Capital Acres is gone, and I’m the prisoner of an alien who harbors an intense dislike for humans, despite being half-human himself. I have no idea on which continent I’m currently residing, and tonight I will have to sleep in a cage.
The door slides open when I finally work up the courage to return to the bedroom. Kenan is dressed in nothing but a pair of tight black underwear that clings to him like a second skin. This surprises me. Somehow, I’d expected him to go shamelessly commando.
The soft glow of the sconces lining the walls accentuates his spectacular physique. He probably doesn’t have an ounce of fat anywhere on his huge, muscular form. He looks like a dark-haired, reddish Viking warrior, with his immense build and the savage force emanating from him.
He disappears into the bathroom for several minutes, and I stand in the center of the room, reluctant to enter the cage and not daring to crawl into the bed.
When Kenan returns, he closes the space between us, and I shiver as he reaches for the tie holding my robe together. He yanks it loose and pushes the garment off my shoulders, leaving me completely bare to his carnal gaze.
Unable to hold his stare, I drop my eyes to his red, chiseled chest and stand absolutely still, waiting for whatever’s to come with a cold sense of dread. Exhaustion weighs me down and I suddenly long to curl up on the mattress in my cage.
In sleep, he can’t hurt me.
I hope he’s quick this time.
His hands travel down from my shoulders to cup my breasts. A hiss escapes me; I’m still terribly sore from his belt. His touch is gentle, though, to my relief, as he inspects each fading welt, even lifting my breasts to examine the damage done to the soft undersides.
I quiver and once again berate myself for the heat gathering in my loins. It’s difficult to remain indifferent when the warmth radiating from his body and his woodsy masculine scent entice me to lean into him.
Deep breaths. I concentrate on inhaling and exhaling, long and slow, to keep myself from surrendering to his careful touch.
Holding my right breast in one hand, he steps closer and wraps his free arm around me, giving my bottom a squeeze. I gasp as his hardness presses against my stomach.
“I know these hurt.” He gives my bosom a delicate caress, running his fingers along the most painful welt. “However, I’m not going to apply the healing salve to them as I did to your pussy. You’ll wear the marks from this punishment until they fade on their own, to remind you I expect your complete obedience. And to remind you to whom you belong.”
I stiffen and try to step back, but he strengthens his hold on me. “I’m very tired. Please, Kenan.”
He rearranges me in his arms and yanks on my hair, but not as hard as earlier. It’s a gentle yank that feels oddly intimate. He simply wants me to look at him.
My eyes collide with his stern gaze and a shiver ripples down my spine to clash with the ever-present aching in my core. The ache prevails and steals the momentum of that shiver to pulse faster and hotter.
I’m powerless to stop the spell he’s cast on me, a dark spell that makes me crave the very things I fear most—loss of control, loss of freedom, and pain followed by his gentle caresses. The comfort he gave me after whipping my breasts, and again after fucking me, is the only drug that’ll ease my trembling and calm the throbbing between my thighs.
“You’re lucky I was so lenient with you.”
“Lenient?” I can’t keep the note of disbelief from my tone, and I try to break the spell brought on by his nearness. He’s manhandled me, slapped me, whipped me and more, and he thinks he was lenient. I shouldn’t be surprised by his declaration, but I am.
“Yes, lenient. I could have made you bleed, little human.” His gaze darkens and the fist in my hair tightens. “Perhaps I should have. You don’t seem very appreciative.”
You did make me bleed. When you stole my innocence.
An exacerbated snort breaks from me before I can stop it. “If you’re waiting for me to thank you for not whipping me until I bled, you’ll be waiting a long time. Where I come from, it’s considered wrong for a man to treat a woman with such brutal disregard and violence.”
In the back of my mind, a little voice pleads for me to shut the fuck up. But I don’t listen, and I press on even as anger flares hotter and darker in his purple eyes.
“On my world, men like you are locked up. You’re the one who belongs in the cage, Kenan. Not me.”
I expect him to hit me, or pull my hair harder, or angrily toss me into the cage. But he releases me entirely and moves to turn down the bedcovers. “Get in, Laylah.” When I hesitate, he adds, “I’m not going to hurt you or fuck you again tonight. I give you my word.”
“Bu-but I-I thought the cage w-was…” In my nervousness, my shaky voice trails off before I can saymy bed.
“Most Kleaxian females sleep in a cage at the end of their mate’s bed, but now that I have you as my mate, Laylah, I think I prefer you to share my bed.” He pauses and levels a serious look on me. “You have much to learn about Kleaxian ways. Our females are expected to be obedient and sweet at all times, and the slightest offenses are punished severely. Had another Kleaxian male taken you from theStargazer, you’d probably have been beaten bloody by now, Laylah.” There’s truth in his dark eyes. “The rest of the human females captured are likely not faring as well as you.”
A shudder courses through me, and I wrap my arms around my center, not to hide my nakedness, but because I’m falling apart. In the weeklong trip from Earth to the wormhole, I hadn’t really gotten the chance to know anyone aboard the ship. It was so crowded that every time I left my quarters I found myself awash in a sea of strangers, most of whom were wealthy tourists.
