“Did I hurt you?” he finally asked, his voice guttural and rough yet quiet.
“No,” I whispered, looking up at him. “You didn’t. I feel good.”
His lips twitched at that word, his brow quirking as if to say ‘only good?’ I liked this side of Arokan too. All the tension had left his body, leaving him relaxed and loose.
“I heard you’ve been somewhat of a terror to your warriors lately,” I commented.
He grunted and he angled a look down at me. “Keeping tabs on me?” he asked, repeating words I’d once said to him.
Surprised, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I have my sources,” I said, unwilling to give up Mirari’s name.
“My warriors have nothing to fear from me in the morning,” he rasped, stroking that large palm down my back, settling over my buttocks and squeezing, making my breath hitch. “I will be as docile as a newbornbveri.”
I grinned.
“What else have your sources said about me?” he asked.
Damn.
“Not much,” I said.
“Tell me,” he murmured.
I bit my lip but then said, “I know that Hukan was your mother’s sister.”
He grunted again. “Lysi.”
“I know that you and Hukan are the last of your line,” I said, watching him.
“Until you gift me young, we are,” he murmured. “But Rath Kitala will flourish once more. I know it.”
My breath hitched.Until, notif. As if it was a certain thing. And perhaps after tonight, if my cycle was correctly aligned…itwasa certain thing.
That should frighten me, shouldn’t it?
“How do you know we’re even…compatible in that way?” I whispered.
His tail twitched. “You think I am the first Dakkari to take a human as a mate?”
I thought of Mithelda, of what Arokan said about her capture from my village.
But what he was implying made me pay attention. “There are childrenalready?” I asked, my heart speeding up in my chest. “Dakkari-human children?”
“Lysi,” he confirmed.
Disbelief went through me.
“Not in my horde, obviously,” he continued. “In others.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “You’ve seen them?” I asked in awe.
He nodded. “They are young. Healthy. Strong. So,lysi, kalles, Iknowyou will bear me children.”
I blew out a breath then nibbled on my lip as I felt more of his seed leak from my body.
He tilted my chin up so I met his eyes. “What do you think of,kalles?”
Softly, I confessed, “Truthfully, I’ve never given much thought to children. It never seemed possible for me.”
