“No, it is worse.I am no longer inside you.”
Freaking unbelievable.“Will you stop it?”I snapped.I didn’t need any reminders of how good it had felt to have his cock deep in my pussy and how empty I felt now.
It had all been a huge mistake.What had I been thinking, letting a gargoyle in my pants?I should have known better.There were always consequences when I let my guard down, apocalypse or not.
How was I going to get out of the mess I’d made?I couldn’teven get out from underneath Xaniban’s wings, let alone leave the palace and the homecloud.Fuck.
My anger slipped toward desperation.My next words came out more as a plea for mercy than a demand.“Let me go.”
“Hmm, you are not happy about our mating,” he muttered.
“You think?”A bitter laugh rose in my throat.I pressed my face into Xaniban’s chest in an attempt to stifle a sob.
“I see.”His hand and tail began to rub my back.
If his intention was to sooth me, he failed.The deep sense of contentment at his touch made me sadder.How stupid and easy to manipulate could I be?
“Someone is afraid of commitment.”
“What?”I lifted my head to stare at him.I couldn’t see his features in the gloom but could tell by his voice that he had a smile on.“I’m not afraid of commitment!”
“No?”
Yep, he was definitely smiling.The jerk.“No!I’m not afraid.As a matter of fact, I’m all about commitment.Always have been.”The more I talked, the more ardent I became once again.I guess that was an improvement to the weepy version of me.“However, finding a man who won’t cheat on me or abandon me, who is willing to commit long-term, is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Iamyour needle.”He patted my ass.“You found me.”
“We barely know each other.”I accentuated every word in the hopes of him hearing me, really hearing me, amid the mate fantasy he was lost in.“We’re not the same species.And you’re talking about us having a long-term relationship?”
“To death and beyond,” he politely corrected me.
If I could throw my hands up, I would.“Precisely!Commitment ‘to death and beyond’ with a stranger from another species–can’t you hear yourself?”I was truly in the Twilight Zone.There was no doubt about it.
“We are not strangers,” Xaniban stated ever so calmly, as if hewere speaking to an unreasonable child.“I know your body, and you know mine.”
“Yeah, as if that’s all that matters–”
“I know you are a brave, caring, protective, possessive, smart, strong-willed, stubborn, curious, and sensual little human,” he said without a single pause in hesitation.“Let me paraphrase: you were made for me.By the Gods themselves.”
I shook my head in disbelief.Me, brave and smart?If I had been any of those things, I wouldn’t be here, lying naked on top of a gargoyle who had no intention of letting me go.Instead, I would be trying to find my way back home in the dark, having left that office building immediately after the bombings.Not a very smart move, but definitely smarter and braver than leaving in Xaniban’s arms.
“See, that’s the thing,” I kept arguing with the besotted king.“You speak ofGods, while I speak ofGod.”
Xaniban chuckled.“Religion cannot be an obstacle to our mate bond.Nothing can be an obstacle,anima.”
“It’s not about religion per se.”I pressed a finger to his lips before he could interrupt me.The more he talked about this mate crap, the more I lost hope of convincing him no such thing existed between us.“I’m talking about beliefs, culture, upbringing… There is so much more to a person than some qualities you can pick up on quickly, provided you’re a good judge of character.I’m clueless about your world, your society, your history.Your life’s history, Xan, or that of your family and your people–I don’t know any of that!”
He kissed my finger.“You will.Time is ahead of us.”
I groaned.I was getting nowhere with him.“I’m not your mate!You link your life to someone when you’ve learned many things about them and like what you’ve found out.How can you claim I’ve been made for you when you don’t yet know anything about my past, habits, and hobbies?I bet you already hate how much I talk–imagine how many other things you’ll discover you don’t like about me in a day or two.And yet, you talk about us being together forever.You’remaking zero sense!”
“I am making perfect sense, little blessing.”Xaniban patted my rear with his hand again.
I only now realized he hadn’t removed it from there.His hand had been resting on my ass for our entire conversation, and I hadn’t noticed.As if it belonged there.
“You, on the other hand, are acting human,” he finished.
“Iamhuman,” I said firmly.And just as firmly removed his hand from where it didnotbelong.
