I was sitting at the stretch of my gleaming desk. Parchment covered it. Plans for the harvest. Maazin’s reports on the yields from my brother’s territories. On my Halo screen, bids from colonies and planets throughout the Quadrants for lore. Purchase contracts that needed to be reviewed and signed.

But right then, all I could think about was Gemma, who had stepped into my office and crossed the long distance to my desk.

My body tightened. My cock steeled in my pants, biting into the metal clasps. Underneath her dress, I could see the outline of her breasts and her taut nipples, which I now knew she liked pinched and tugged. She’d gone wild when I’d touched her there, and my venom dripped as want flooded me. Not even to feed. But to suckle on those hardened peaks and hear her moans fill my office.

There’s nothing stopping you, I thought.

Gemma was angry with me. I could see it in her face, though she tried to conceal it with a cold expression. I nearly laughed because I saw right through it. I would have too, if that expression didn’t make my cock throb and pulse.

“Where have you been?” she asked, glaring. No—demanded.

Her tone immediately made my hackles rise. Images of punishing her for that mouth flooded into my mind. I would make her kneel at my feet. Shove my cock between her lips to keep that mouth stuffed and full so she couldn’t sass me.

“Go to bed, wife,” I growled, scowling down at my papers. My skin was buzzing. Excitement and expectation built within me. Arguing was practically foreplay for us, and my body knew it. She had me trained.

I wondered how much longer I could hold out before pushing her down to her hands and knees and feeding my cock into her slick cunt. Before fucking all of my aggression and frustration and need into her until I was limp and sated. It was all I dreamed about. That and feeding on her delicious, soul-changing blood.

I nearly groaned.

Her glare was making me even harder, until I felt warm pre-come drip from my cock head.

I’d watched the video again. Of Aina’s murder. A sick reminder to keep me away from Gemma. It was twisted, really. I was fucked in the head to use it as an excuse to keep my distance from my wife.

Because that was what I’d done. Ever since I’d lost control on the terrace with her, I couldn’t stop thinking about the wonder and delight on her face as I’d flown her over the Silver Sea. Something had aligned in my chest in that moment, or perhaps slotted into place, and it terrified me. More so than the fact that Gemma Hara was my blood mate. I could deal with that. The other thing? The thing that felt strangely like affection and warmth and gentleness? I couldn’t do that to my family. I simply couldn’t.

Feeding from and fucking a Hara was one thing. Falling in love with one and getting her heavy with my heir—a child that would share the blood of Rye Hara—was unfathomable. I refused to let it happen.

But I feared that the longer I continued to feed from her, the more ingrained she would become in my life. She was already my damn wife. What more would the Haras take from me?

Gemma had come around the desk to glare down at me. Her hair was down, a waterfall of black silk which brushed over her nipples. There was a scent on her I couldn’t place but one that made my neck prickle, irritation rising.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” she asked. Demanded. Again.

I rose from my chair in a swift movement that forced her to stumble back. Instead, I caught her wrist to keep her close.

“Why do you care, wife?” I purred, watching her eyes widen at my sudden nearness, a thread of uncertainty lacing in her eyes. Good.

Then her spine stiffened, and I was fascinated to watch determination rise in its place.

“Have you been feeding from someone else?” she wanted to know.

I flashed her a grin I didn’t feel, and her eyes trailed to my lips, to my sharp fangs glinting in the floating orb’s light. Her breath shallowed.

“Perhaps,” I murmured, releasing her wrist.

She gaped at me. Unless I was mistaken, I swore hurt flashed over her features. “Who?”

“If I didn’t know any better,” I began, pressing her back into the desk until she was forced to bend, “I’d say you were jealous, Gemma Hara. Can it be that you’ve grown addicted to my feedings? Just like the little bite slut I knew you’d be?”

She leveled me a look that told me she knew exactly what I was doing.

“Maybe I am,” she said, surprising me. In all her pride, I’d never expected her to admit to it. “Maybe I’m both.”

Heat burned in my blood, rushing straight to my cock.

Between us, she rubbed her wrist where I’d grabbed her. My eyes caught on something that made me still.

Snatching her wrist, I saw her eyes widen in alarm as my gaze landed on an obvious bite mark. Healing but present.

Most importantly, it was one I hadn’t given her.

A Kylorr had fed from my fucking blood mate.

Rage unlike I’d ever felt unleashed inside me. Raazos, I narrowly avoided going completely berserk, right there in my office with my wife pressed against my body.

“Who fed from you?”

I didn’t recognize my own voice, and Gemma shrank back, though only for a moment.

“Who fucking fed from you?” I roared. I seethed, “Because I will tear them apart for daring to taste your blood! Until there is nothing left of them!”

She was silent, staring back at me with a stiffened upper lip.

“Tell me who. Now!”

“It wasn’t you,” she finally bit back, right in my face. “If I didn’t know any better, husband, I’d say you were jealous.”

I froze with the fury as my words were thrown back into my face. For her daring to taunt me like this. In this state. And fucking hell, I was jealous. Never before had I felt anything like this. Not for past lovers. This was unparalleled.

The ties to a kyrana were extremely dangerous, and I was only now realizing it. I’d give any mated Kylorr a wide berth from now on. It was only wise.

“You play a very dangerous game, wife,” I said. “I can play it too. Right now, you better fight me.”

Her brows furrowed at my words.

I snatched her dress clean from her body, shredding the material like it was mere parchment. She blinked, her lips parted, unable to comprehend that she was now naked against me. That was when I saw it. The first flicker of wariness. The first flicker of understanding, perhaps.

“Because I will fucking feast on you until I drain you dry,” I growled, pushing her roughly back onto the surface of my desk.

Her legs kicked out in surprise, but I caught her ankles in a punishing grip, spreading them wide. A whimper escaped her throat as she thrashed, sending papers scattering to the floor around my desk. I’d toyed with her cunt on the terrace, feeling her slick and hot and needy, but I’d never seen it. Parted, puffy lips, with black, silky curls. I’d never scented her this close either.

It made my mouth water and my venom drip.

“Who fed from you?” I growled, letting my grip slip from her ankles, needing to feel her fight me. I wanted her to make me bleed because it would be the only way to get my rage under control. “Maazin? Ludayn? Inasa, who you have wrapped around your finger at your meals? Was it him? Because I will fucking end him.”

Her bare foot kicked out and caught the bottom of my jaw. She froze, her cheeks flushed, her breath heaving.

I gripped her ankles again, feeling my jaw throb pleasantly, feeling a bit of control return. I spread her legs wide, even as she tensed and squirmed. She was spread uncomfortably wide, judging by the panic on her face as I exposed the pink slit of her cunt, rushing with blood.