Another hormone-enhancing grenade smokes as it flies over our location. The pink cloud burns in my recently healed lungs and makes the veins in my throat heat.
Jorusk suddenly grabs me and pushes me back into a narrow opening in the hedge. It snakes through the maze, around turns, zigzagging for what feels like forever. Finally, we end up in an unoccupied corner with an adjoining passageway, where he picks me up by the hips and crushes me against the dense hedge.
“I want you,” he breathes. “I felt pushed into this, but I’m glad I’m here. And all this damn shit flying through the air has me on the edge of losing my head. But I don’t want to do that again.”
“It’s okay,” I gasp, bracing myself on his muscled shoulders.
“It’s not okay,” he snarls. “I hurt you, and I can’t forgive myself for that.”
Taking his face in my hands, I lift his eyes to meet mine. “Well, you had better, because I don’t want you to hold back. Got it?”
Jorusk’s red eyes dart over my face like he can’t make sense of it.
“I can handle a lot of pain if I have a good reason. You’re a pretty damn good reason.” I take his bottom lip between my teeth and gently tug it away until it slips from my grasp.
“I wish we could get this damned game over with so I could map your naked body, every curve, with my tongue like last night.” Jorusk’s eyelids droop low as he cranes around to nibble my neck. He takes my wrists and binds them above my head, holding them in place with one hand, while the other unzips my suit and snakes inside. His hot, rough skin against mine lights me on fire.
Jorusk slips his hand down the back of my suit, grabs me by the ass, and crushes me against his rigid length. “I have never lost control quite like that before. You feel too good.”
I’m heating up, or maybe it’s just him, and it’s all in my head. I can’t tell who’s steaming, but I want him more with every kiss he trails down my neck.
Somewhere in the distance, a bell rings out that an egg has been found. But I don’t care. Every touch has me wanting nothing more than to linger in this moment forever with him.
He nuzzles inside my bra, and his teeth find my bud. The embers that swirl out with my strained breath don’t hurt anymore. In fact, I think I’m starting to like them.
Jorusk jerks his head up and sees the embers just before they wink out. “Oh, shit. Okay. We have to slow down.”
No, please!“I don’t want to.”
He releases my hands and lifts my chin until I meet his gaze. “I don’t either. But I’ll take the pain ofwaitingif it’s for a purpose.”
Another grenade goes off over our heads, showering us in delicious powder that makes Jorusk’s body radiate fiery light. His Inferno strains to get out through the cracks in his body.
“Fuck!” Jorusk tenses. Veins rise in his neck as he leans his head back and roars.
I try not to laugh.
He tensely offers me a hand. “We had better get out of here before I take you. You’re not ready for the kind of monster I’m holding back.”
Maybe not, but I’m really starting to like the sound of it.
19: Jorusk
I still prefer the taste of Brynna, even after our post-grenade maze dessert of what she calls ice cream. It seems that nothing else I taste can push aside the memory of her nectar on my tongue or compete with the lusciousness of her delicate flesh.
She seems to find relief in consuming the cold treat as we walk the garden at the far end of the females’ dorm wing, while she tells me about all of the flowers and plants.
Brynna looks stunning among the cherry blossoms in the fading light of day. The way she’s forgiven me and still looks at me like I’m something she wants utterly baffles me. And as much as the idea I should leave still hovers in the back of my mind, Vryskas is right. If something happened to her after I left,thatwould hurt much worse than anything else I can ever imagine.
So I focus on her every facet, her voice, her skin, the softness of her hair, and the way she analyzes everything. I listen. And I wait for the next opportunity to prove my love by protecting and serving her. I’m familiar with servitude. But this time, it’s my choice.
My fated is smart. She has endured pain for me already. She has helped heal me. We have flown together,as much as a human can. I feel like she is mine, but I have not yet claimed her, not truly. And after what has happened between us, I am afraid to. But I’m not going anywhere without her. And she’s not going anywhere without me.
DIA reminds us both over our wristbands that it’s nearly time for the formal dinner. So I escort Brynna back to her ship, where she says she has a dress she can wear.
“I’ll be fine, Jorusk. Go change.” Brynna cranes up and kisses my cheek.
“Close up your ramp. Then I will leave.”
