“Why do you cry?”
“Am not,” she retorted, her lie soft and unconvincing.
In a swift motion, he rolled so she lay beneath him. “Open your eyes,” he ordered.
She clamped them tight. “No.”
“Please.”
How could she ignore his plea? She blew out a heavy breathe, her throat tight, and opened lids, damp with moisture. His thumb brushed at one eye, smearing the brimming tears.
A spasm crossed his face. “Do you hurt?”
She shook her head. Another lie, she hurt, just not physically like he assumed.
“You are sad?”
She thought about fibbing, but didn’t. “A little. Don’t worry. I’ll get over it.”
“Why are you sad?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I miss home.”
His eyes darkened and his face tightened. “This is now your home.”
“Only until you sell me,” she snapped back, anger an easier emotion to feel than sorrow.
“And if I were to keep you?” He threw that out there, a word bomb that stole her voice. His brow furrowed. “Why do you not answer? Is the idea so abhorrent?”
He didn’t wait for her answer. He kissed her fiercely, possessively. His cock, still buried inside her, began to pump, in and out, quickly thickening and butting against her sensitive inner walls. She clung to him, matching him kiss for kiss, thrust for thrust. She didn’t dare speak. Didn’t dare hope he meant his words. But she could show him.
They rode the wave to their pleasure together, flesh slapping, breaths tangled, their erotic energy building. He tore his lips from hers as they reached the crest, his eyes blazing with passion.
“You are mine,” he growled. With that startling, possessive announcement, he buried his face into the crook of her neck-and bit her.
Megan screamed, not from the pain of him breaking her skin with his sharp teeth, but from the crushing pleasure of her orgasm. Ecstasy rolled over her in a tidal rush, sweeping her up and shaking her with bliss.
And it wouldn’t end.
With each suck of her neck, and the blood that surely flowed, the crest of her climax rose higher, and higher. When she thought she would pass out from the potency of it, she discovered paradise. Somehow, Tren touched her soul, a feat, she’d never imagined, but how else to explain it. She floated out of her body, which would have been really scary, except Tren found her in that vast, lonely limbo. His own spirit wrapped around hers, twined with it, meshing himself in a permanent way that brought with it a sense of completion. Rightness.
Like I’ve come home.
Chapter Twelve
Tren woke first, and he used that moment to stare in silence at the alien female who’d captured his heart-and soul. Not that he was ready to tell her that yet. He didn’t want to give her that much power over him, even if she already unconsciously wielded it.
The stunning realization that he couldn’t live without Megan rocked him still. He’d fought an inner battle against caring for her-and lost. His capitulation and admittance when he’d watched over her during her convalescence that he loved her was the driving force behind the reason he’d brought her to his secret hideaway. A first ever.
He’d claimed the planet in his youth, and over the years built himself a home and a security system that rivaled that of kings and heads of government. He should know since he’d designed most of theirs.
And he’d brought Megan to it, brought her home. He still remained undecided as to what he would do about his acquisitions business. Much of that depended on Megan. His marked mate.
He’d bitten her the night before, unable to stop himself, wanting; actually, make that needing to claim her. She didn’t know it yet, but she belonged to him, forever, whether she liked it or not. He dared hope the former.
As for her belief he still intended to auction her, he kept the ruse up for the entertainment of seeing her get mad. Although, he might have to drop it soon because he’d noticed sadness in her eyes the last few times she’d attempted to rile him with it. He couldn’t stand to see her upset. Her silent tears during their copulation tore at him and roused a fear in him that she wanted to leave him. Never!
He still needed to recover from the anxiety he’d suffered at her capture and beating. That will never happen again. He’d hate to be the idiot who ever harmed a hair on her head. If they thought him viciousness as a mercenary, then watch out, because as a mate he could promise worst.
Megan stirred against him, and he brushed the hair at her temple back so he could press a kiss there. She sighed softly and wiggled her bottom against him. Blood rushed to his cock, which expanded, but that would have to wait for later. He’d made other plans for the morning.
He whipped the sheet back and she squealed. “Hey, it’s chilly. Give it back.”
“Get your lazy human buttocks out of bed, female. We have work to do.” She rolled onto her back and shot him a dark look. He grinned in reply, loving how she never let him intimidate her.
“What’s with this we? If you have something to do, go ahead. Me, I’m crawling back under the blankets and enjoying this bed some more. After all, someone made sure I didn’t get to use it much for sleep last night.” She scowled as she said it, but couldn’t stop the humor from lighting her eyes, or the sensual stretch of her body.
Tren’s cock jerked in response. Megan smiled as she dragged her hand down over her belly, then further to the curls that crowned her cleft. Tren growled at her teasing maneuver. “Megan,” he warned.
“What?” She widened her eyes with mock innocence as she bent her legs and parted her thighs. She no sooner exposed her pink flesh than she dipped her own finger into her sex.
Tren was only a male, and a weak one when it came to her it seemed. He fell on her like a ravening beast and gave his mate what she so obviously desired.
Then again, to make sure she could last for the time it took to accomplish his planned task.
After cleansing themselves and feasting on the fruit harvested by his staff from the trees in his personal orchard, he finally managed to get her out into the courtyard where he’d had his rack of weapons hauled out for practice.
She perused them and threw him a questioning look.
“You asked that I teach you self-defense. Welcome to your first lesson,” he announced as he stripped his shirt off and flexed his upper body.
Her expression brightened. “Really? I thought you said I didn’t need it.”
He shrugged. “You don’t, because I intend to be all the protection you need, but it was not an unreasonable request in the unlikely event I am not around.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll use this knowledge to hurt you?” She smirked as she said this and Tren laughed.
“You will have to work very hard before you can hope to do that. So come on, my little barbarian. Do your worst.”
They spent several units grappling because, as he explained, the first element of defense involved learning what a body was capable of on its own.
She hit the ground often-thankfully he’d padded it ahead of time to protect her more fragile constitution. Each time she landed, she got up and scowled at him with annoyance, then cursed him with expressions he’d never imagined. But she didn’t complain. She kept picking herself up, and rushed him again.
When he called a halt, a sheen of sweat covered her body and her breath came hard.
“Not bad, but I think next time we’ll concentrate on a weapon. You’re just too tiny to do any real damage,” he taunted.
Megan’s jaw dropped. “Tiny? Are you kidding me? I’ve been called a lot of things in my time, but tiny is not one of them. You have seen the size of my ass, right?”