“Okay,” she said again.Except this time, her voice sounded a little more breathless.Three times?He needed itthree times a day?At least?
She should be appalled, right?She should be running to the door after hearing him say they would be having sex.But she’d already suspected that.In fact, judging by the way her body warmed and his nostrils flared, she guessed that she wasmorethan on board with that.
What is wrong with me?she wondered, cheeks flushing.It was humiliating enough that Vaxa could tell when she was aroused.
“And we will go through the traditional mating ceremony, theravraxia.We will ask the Fates to bless our union.”
“Wait…what?” she asked, the sound of a record screeching in her head.“That—a ceremony?I’m notmarryingyou.”
“Marrying?” he asked, something she recognized as a puzzled expression coming over his features.
“Yes!When two people legally bind themselves together, promising to spend their lives together.”
“And this marrying…it is forever?”
She paused.“Well…no.People can get divorced.”
“Divorced?”
“They can separate, leave each other, go about their lives.They can get married again to someone else if they want to.”
He frowned.“Then no.Theravraxiais not thismarrying.Your marrying sounds more like Breeding pairs.”
“Umm…”
“Marrying can end,” he said.“Mates are forever if the Fates bless us.We blood bond.”
“Blood bond?”
“Tev,” he said, nodding.
“I’m not blood bonding with you!” she cried, pushing at his chest, trying to get off his lap.She didn’t even know what it meant, but it sounded painful.
“You will,” he informed her, calmly.“You agreed to my terms.”
“Yes, but—but, I didn’t know about the blood!Besides, I’ll beleavingin a month, in case you forgot.You don’t want to blood bond with me.I won’t be here for very long.”
“You will be my mate for a month.Mymate,” he said.“If you want me to pay the Krevorags, then you will assimilate into my life.You will become minefullyfor one lunar cycle.And I will become yours fully.I willnotcompromise on this, female.”
She stared at him, feeling an intensity radiating off him like a heat wave.“This is…important to you?” she questioned slowly.
“Tev, Kat,” he said, pressing her closer.His voice was nothing more than a growling rasp and he said, “If you wish to leave me after a cycle, then at least I know I will have had you for a short time.”
Kate’s lips parted and she swallowed thickly.Those damn butterflies were starting up again in her belly and she found her gaze straying to his lips.What would it be like to kiss him?Did his kind even kiss?
Stop, she said to herself.Don’t go there.
A month would go by in the blink of an eye.What did it matter really, in the grand scheme of things, if she did as he asked?She’d been kidnapped by aliens and forced into this situation…but if she did this for him, then he would help her find her way home.Thatwas what mattered.
At the very least, she could get someamazingsex out of this, right?
“Okay,” she whispered, blowing out a short breath.“I will.”
His features didn’t change at all, but his fingers pressed into her hips just a little bit more.Then, without saying a word, he lifted another piece of food to her lips.His eyes flashed gold again when her tongue brushed his fingers.
Perhaps, she was a sex slave, she mused.Or would be.He was paying for her passage home, but only if she mated with him,completelymated with him, according to his customs.What she hadn’t expected, however, was to want to.Besides the insane attraction between them, she was curious…not only about the sex, but abouthim, about his way of life.A whole new world hadliterallyjust been opened for her.
She’d always told herself that eventually she’d do something crazy and completely unlike her, like quitting her job to travel around the world for a year, or finally moving to a new city in a new state, where she knew no one, to start fresh.But year after year, she stayed in the apartment she’d fought tooth and nail for from her cheating ex-boyfriend and every day, she commuted to her dream job that was seeming less and less like her dream job.
