“That was incredible,” she breathed in his ear.
He smiled. “Yes, you were.”
Sumi watched as his eyes slowly faded back to their normal color. “Did you know your eyes glow red when you’re aroused?”
He pulled back with a frown – as if her words greatly concerned him. “What?”
She nodded. “They were as red as they could be the entire time you made love to me. Is that normal?”
“I guess… you broke me.”
She made a face at him. “I broke you?”
“Maybe?”
Sumi rolled her eyes at his uncertainty. “Do all Andarion males do that?”
He snorted at her question. “I don’t know. I’ve never slept with a male.”
She playfully tugged at his hair. “You know what I mean. Don’t Andarions talk about it? Have Andarion porn videos and such?”
Tracing the line of her lips, he shook his head. “We’re not human, Sumi. Sex is a very sacred thing for us. It’s a sharing of ourselves. Whenever you engage in it, you run the risk of combining bloodlines. We don’t undertake that lightly. Our ancestry defines us. Binds us. While there are Andarions who rut like animals, they’re scorned by the rest of us. And are usually blocked from unification.”
“And yet you slept with me. Why?”
He sighed heavily. “I don’t know.”
Offended to the core of her being, she gasped. “You don’t know? What do you mean, you don’t know?”
Hauk hissed as she rose up from him and practically tore the skin off the most delicate part of his body. “Ow!”
She broke off into a language he didn’t know as she yanked her clothes back on.
He reached to her. “Sumi…”
She jerked out of his reach. “Don’t you dare take that tone to me now! How dare you!”
Rising to his feet, he pulled her to a stop. “Don’t be angry at me. Do you not understand what I just did?”
She raked him with a scathing glare. “Yeah. You just acted like a typical man!”
“No, mia. To lie with you, I’ve condemned myself to death.”
CHAPTER 17
Sumi froze in the middle of dressing to stare at him as a horrid fear went through her. “They won’t actually kill you for this. Will they?”
There was no missing the sincerity in his gaze. “While another female might not, Dariana will certainly demand my life for it when she finds out.”
She straightened to frown at him. “Then don’t tell her.”
“It’s not that simple. I have no choice. To lie under Disclosure is also a death sentence.”
“They’ll never know. I won’t tell.”
His gaze sad, he sank his hands into her hair and held her in the tenderest of embraces. “Then I would damn my soul for the lie. I’m not a coward, Sumi. I knew what I was giving up for this moment with you. And I have no regrets… except for the part where I made you mad. I didn’t mean to do that.”
Tears choked her. “Then run with me, Dancer.”
“What?” he asked in confusion.
“I’m serious. We can get Thia and Darice back to their parents and leave. I’m not my sister. I’m not afraid of having your children, and I would never betray my husband’s trust. There is nothing more I would love than to hold your baby in my arms.”
“Oh, mia,” he breathed. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be with you, but we can’t. You are Omira’s sister. If Fain ever sees you, the pain of his past would destroy him. I could never buy my happiness at the expense of my brother’s agony.” He pulled her against him and dipped his head down to rest it on her shoulder. “I will get your daughter back for you and see to it that you’re both outside of Kyr’s reach. But I can’t run with you, Sumi. I can’t do that to my family. My mother would never forgive me for dishonoring her.”
She scoffed at his words. “Are you telling me that your mother would rather have you dead?”
“Yes. She would.”
“Dancer,” she chided, “I promise you, no mother would rather lose her child.”
Lifting his head, he traced the line of her jaw with his thumb while a sad smile played at the edges of his lips. “That’s you speaking. You don’t know my mother. I promise you, she would much rather see me dead than be dishonored.”
“Then tell them I raped you.”
He arched an amused brow at that.
“I could have drugged you first. I did kiss you without your consent.”
“And my lips thank you for that.”
She hated that charming tone most of all. “This isn’t funny.”
“No. It’s not.” He picked her hand up and placed it against his heart that beat a fierce rhythm under her palm. His gaze burned into hers as he spoke in that deep, lilting accent that meant everything to her. “For one touch of your precious hand, I gladly consign myself to death.”
She wanted to hate him for that. But how could she? No one had ever made her feel like this.
Cherished and beautiful. Like she mattered.
That was why she couldn’t let him go.
“I will find a way to save you, Dancer. Mark my words.”
“Then I wish you luck. Because honestly, I don’t want to die. I would rather spend the rest of my life inside you, and making you smile.”
It was only then she realized he was growing hard again and his eyes were starting to turn red. Blushing, she looked down at him.
He snorted and laughed. “It appears what they say is true.”
“And that is?”
“Once an Andarion has tasted the flesh of another, we’re insatiable.” He dipped his head to gently lave and nuzzle her neck.
“What are you doing, Dancer?”
“They can only kill me once.” He pulled her shirt off, over her head. Then he removed his boots and pants.
Her throat went dry at the sight of him fully naked. But the last thing she wanted was to add another scar or injury to him. “What about the men tracking you?”
His eyes were really glowing red now – even more luminescent than before. He wrapped her hair around his hand then brushed it against his face. “We have Illyse to warn us. And if they dare interrupt me right now, they’ll wish to whatever god they worship that they’d been more considerate.”
Sumi started to protest, but her mind went blank as he entered her again and found the perfect rhythm for her body.
Sumi came awake to the warm, luscious scent of Dancer’s skin under her cheek. Sighing contentedly, she opened her eyes to find herself still cradled in the shelter of his arms. She ran her nail over his nipple, making it pucker instantly as chills spread over his chest.
He sucked his breath in sharply. “Keep doing that, mia, and we’ll never make it to the base.”
She kissed his chest. “What does mia mean again?”
“Little mouse.”
Cocking her head, she pinned him with suspicious glare. “You’re sure that’s not an insult?”
He gave her a playful pout. “Why would I insult you, munatara? You’re one of the bravest females I’ve ever known.”
“You keep sweet-talking me like that, War Hauk, and you might get lucky.”
A slow smile curved his lips before he gave her a gentle kiss. His eyes glowing, he rolled her over, taking care not to put too much weight on her body. The one thing they’d discovered last night was exactly how heavy he really was. He could easily squash her with that heavy Andarion frame. He seriously weighed a ton.
But she didn’t mind it in the least. If she had to die, she could think of no better way to go than in his arms.
She groaned in ecstasy as he entered her again and stared down at her with those glowing, beautiful eyes. “How can you still be this aroused?”