“Female…” he murmured, trailing off.His eyes were careful as they looked at her.“It must hurt you very deeply, losing your sire in that way.”
Something tugged at her chest.“It does.”
Devix inclined his head.“It always will,” he said simply.
All of a sudden, Cara wanted to smile, despite what they were discussing, despite what she’d just told him.Because no one had actually ever said those words to her.People always told her it would get better with time, time healed all, blah blah blah.But it never did.Time never healed anything.It only made the pain more manageable.
Devix just told her, in his very matter-of-fact, blunt way, what she’d always thought to herself.
“Thank you,” she said softly, knowing right then that he’d lost someone close to him as well.It was comforting, in its own strange way, that grief was, literally, universal.That beings from all over experienced such an intense, debilitatingemotion.
Devix didn’t say anything else about it, which Cara was thankful for.She would talk about her father if he asked, but after last night, after all the strange emotions coursing through her body that she didn’t know how to deal with, it wasn’t the time or place to discuss him.
Instead, Devix handed her the familiar blade she’d used yesterday.As if her body knew, she immediately assumed the position he’d taught her.
“I will not take it slow just because of your leg,” he told her, eyes glinting.
“I don’t want you to,” she told him, but somehow her words felt like she was responding to something else.Something hidden.
He moved fast, dodging around her blade with a familiarity that irked her.He was at her back, arms around her waist, breath against her neck in an instant.
“Then fight me well,luxiva,” he rasped.
* * *
It happened about four rounds into their training session, when Cara began to become aware that their body language started to morph and change.
She’d managed to elude him once, which seemed to please him to no end.But he kept at her with an intensity that made her arms prickle.
It was impossible not to feel the heat radiating off him and Cara swallowed thickly, feeling that strength against her.Instead of being frightened by it, she felt…empowered.
It was also impossible to forget his words last night, the shocking way they’d made her feel.Every time he came up behind her, she felt his sex pressed up against her.She swore he was hard, but she didn’t know if that was just how he was all the time.What did she know about his race?
His breathing started to change, which Cara thought was odd.They’d barely even started their session and Devix had proved to her that he could probably run a marathon without breaking a sweat.So when his breathing went choppy and ragged, she stopped trying to fight against him, relaxing her tensed muscles.
She turned her head and asked, “Are you okay?”
Cara swallowed.Devix’s eyes were pitch black, his horns were slightly straightened, lifting off his crown, and his shoulders were bunched.
And he never released her.If anything, his grip tightened.
“Devix?” she questioned softly.
His chest rumbled.She felt it reverberate against her back, a kind of growl, softened with a purring trill.
A spark inside her made her belly warm.It spread to every tip of her body, making her suck in a startled breath.
Devix released her with a growl.“Again,” he ordered in a voice she hardly recognized.“Remember what I told you.If you see the opportunity, yourun.Do not let me at your back.”
Cara’s heart fluttered wildly in her chest but she forced herself to nod.The blade shook in her hand as they began again.That time, she dodged him twice, eliciting an animalistic growl from him that made her breath hitch.When he lunged for her a third time, she spun, her leg throbbing in protest, and managed to reach the far wall of weapons, the darkest part of the training room.
Cara saw him approach, saw his muscles shift and grow right before her very eyes.Her sex gave a helpless throb, but she was used to her body reacting to him that way that she hardly batted an eyelash.That tantalizing musk of his rose to meet her nostrils and the space between her thighs grew wet and slick.
Another sound tore from his chest, one she’d never heard before, caught between a muted roar and a rasping purr.She saw his nostrils flare and his eyes glinted a sapphire blue in the dimly lit space.
Devix caught her in a flash, hauling her against him until she was pressed snugly into his body…until there was no mistaking what was between his legs.
Her tunic had ridden up her back in their struggle as she tried to kick her legs to connect.She twisted in his arms like a small, trapped animal, desperate for escape.Part of her was unsure whether shewantedto escape.
