I wanted that night in the library again. When his walls were down, his mask off. I wanted to seehim. Who he truly was. I wantedthatKaldur.
With thelorepulsing through my body, I took a sip from his glass. Theburnof the liquor nearly made me cough, but I swallowed it down. It mingled with thelorebeautifully, allowing it to stretch even further through my body. I turned to Kaldur.
Thelorewas beginning to make me ache.
I stopped in front of him. His eyes traced over me, and I nearly shivered, as if I were naked and he could see all of me. Those eyes started at my bare feet, traced up my legs, over the curve of my hips, the dip of my waist. They settled on my breasts, eyeing my peaked nipples, and he took a drag on his pipe as he studied them, making me squeeze my thighs. Then they flicked up to my face, just in time to catch me lick my dry lips.
There was something erotic in his casual perusal. Like I was his to do with whatever he pleased, to look at at his leisure.
“I don’t think you know what you’re doing, Erina,” he finally said, his voice dark and guttural. He’d flown all this way in a storm, and his mood reflected that.
I took another sip of his liquor in defiance, feeling a thrill go through me when I caught his gruff grunt.
“You’ve been in a very strange mood since you left that night for your party,” I told him. I approached. Kaldur’s eyes flicked from my lips to my hips.
And then I watched themburnwhen I brought a knee up, sliding it into the empty space between his outer thigh and the leather of the armchair. I sunk and then slid my other leg up.
I had the oddest impression that Kaldur was focusing on his breath. One breath into the next, slowly and deeply, when he looked between us. I was seated in his lap now, the hot strengthof his body beneath me. I didn’t know where I’d gotten the courage. I’d seen a female do this one—to her lover at a party Syndras had once thrown. I’d accidentally stumbled upon them when I’d gone to fetch Syndras her favoritelorefrom the study, and there they’d been.
The female’s lover had certainly seemed to appreciate it, and in my limited experience, even I could see that Kaldur reacted just the same.
I pressed the rim of the tumbler to his lips, and his nostrils flared as I tipped it back. His throat bobbed with the small swallow. Then I placed the tumbler on the small circular table next to the chair. Out of the way but within easy reach.
“Are you trying to seduce me,dallia?” he murmured softly, the edges of his lips curling in an almost sardonic smile. “Or are you just very sensitive to thelore?”
Still prickly,I thought, but I let the words roll off me, not allowing them to stick.
“I wonder how much you can take before it becomes too overwhelming,” he said before inhaling on his pipe.
My eyelids fluttered when he blew out another stream and it floated around us. I bit my bottom lip, my hips beginning to move of their own accord on top of him.
“Kaldur,” I breathed. “Please.”
CHAPTER 19
KALDUR
In all the studies I’d read of human-and-Kylorr blood bonds, one thing was clear: While humans would not feel the intensity and pull of a bond as a Kylorr would, there was still a physical reaction that began to take place on the onset of their Kylorr’s venom. From the very first bite.
A human might not have felt the pulsing, entrancing, maddening need as a Kylorr would. But they would certainly feel an unexplainable connection, one they themselves might not even understand.
It could’ve been theloresmoke that had Erina writhing in my lap, yes. But I had a feeling it was the bond that had brought her to me in the first place. The bond that made her gaze soften on me. The bond that ratcheted up her heartbeat at the mere sight of me.
It was the bond that made her lean close…but it might’ve been thelorethat made her bold enough to press her lips to my throat.
The lashing of lust felt like a whip. The heat of her mouth and rushed exhale across my skin made my cock harden almost painfully. Through my tunic, I felt the pointed press of hernipples, and it took everything in me not to palm them, to keep my hands firmly off my mate.
It didn’t stop me from tilting my neck as I dragged in another deep draw on mylorepipe, as I debated what to do.
The hunger in me already felt punishing. For three days, I’d longed for this wisp of a female. This treacherous little human who made it difficult to think.
The facts were this…
Therewasa Luc Denoren in Laras. I’d had it confirmed. He had grown up with Erina right here in Vyaan. According to Maudoric, who posted all letters in the village, Erina and Luc were in frequent contact, even as recently as yesterday.
And Erina Denoren was mykyrana.
After Lydrasa and Velle’s account, which was at least partially true, based on what I’d discovered, I realized I couldn’t trust Erina’s intentions. Not in the slightest.
