Azur rumbled. His hand left my throat, and he rose, my skin rapidly cooling in his wake. I closed my legs quickly, feeling the squelch of his come, which made my cheeks burn and my clit throb. I sat up quickly, the papers beneath me wet, and I hoped we hadn’t ruined anything important.

Azur glared but he didn’t speak. His enormous curved cock was still half-hard, hanging out of his black pants. My fingers nearly curled at the sight of it. Long and impossibly thick, he would stuff me full. Not to mention the strange, curious swelling at the very base, a bulbous bulge that I didn’t know would even fit inside me.

And because I was feeling level-headed and satisfied—even a little loopy, pleased as hell that the agitating buzzing beneath my skin was gone—I tentatively reached out to touch his chest. Wondering what he would do.

His pupils only slitted tighter, but he didn’t move away.

“And what were your findings, wife?” he rumbled, his voice dark and husky. He reached forward to slide his hand into my hair, pulling gently so I met his gaze. “From your little experiment?”

I curled my fingers into his shirt. He wasn’t wearing a hard, structured vest tonight. The material was soft beneath my fingertips. “That it felt like nothing at all. Nothing like this.”

“And it never will,” he hissed softly. “If you ever allow anyone to feed from you again, I will retaliate against them. Consider this your first and only warning.”

Jealous, indeed, I thought with parted lips, realizing why Ludayn’s hesitation and fear had been so pronounced when I’d asked her.

“Your blood is mine, Gemma,” he growled. “I will not share it. I will not let anyone feed from my wife. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I whispered. Feeling a spark of pleasure which mingled strangely with annoyance. “But who have you been feeding from?”

Azur grunted. His hand left my hair and settled over mine where it was burrowed in his shirt. He tugged it away. Even still, he didn’t drop it. He clasped my hand in his.

“No one.”

I blinked. All the fight leaving me. “You’re lying.”

Though I knew he wasn’t.

He shot me an irritated glare. “I told you before. Kylorr can survive on food alone. Blood is a luxury that some cannot even afford.”

That…softened me. Here I’d thought he’d been drinking from others, giving that sublime pleasure to faceless beings, and I could finally admit that it had cut me up more deeply than I wanted to admit.

Only in my relief could I admit it.

“Oh,” I whispered, brows furrowing. “Then why haven’t you come to me? Isn’t that the whole point of this marriage?”

He looked away from me, making me regret the words. Dropping my hand, he finally stepped away, and I watched as he attempted to tuck his cock back into his pants, which were suddenly very, very tight on his massive thighs.

“Raazos,” he cursed softly, gritting his teeth when he finally got the waist band clasped again. I flushed when I saw his fingers were glimmering in the light from my arousal.

It made me remember that I was entirely naked, perched on the edge of his desk, and I saw the tattered remains of my dress—another he’d ruined—lying innocently on the floor at his feet.

He scooped it up.

“Azur?”

“Have you ever been with a male before?”

The question was so unexpected that it caught me off guard. As I blinked at him, he unraveled my dress. He had ripped it straight down the middle, and I took it from him wordlessly, slipping my arms through the thin straps. It was like a robe now and I clutched the middle, holding the edges together to cover my nakedness.

Not that it mattered. I was sticky with his come. I could feel it, slippery and still warm between my legs.

“You…you mean sex?” I asked.

“Yes,” he grunted, waving his hand impatiently.

I nibbled on my lip. And I hated that the instinct to lie pressed hard on my tongue. An old instinct instilled in my society in the Collis, on all the New Earth colonies. That a woman should be pure and untouched until she got married. A virgin.

And I hated that I was tempted to lie at all. I’d done nothing wrong.

So I told him the truth, wondering how he would react.

“Yes,” I answered though the mere memory of it filled me with discomfort, dashing the calm that had settled in my bones. “A long time ago.”

His eyes narrowed. “How long?”

Hugging my arms around me, I told him, “About five years ago.”

He stilled. “That long?”

His tone made me study him, my gaze flitting between his.

“Please tell me that it wasn’t just once,” he murmured.

“I…” I trailed off, feeling like my world was tilting. He…wanted me to be more experienced? “Yes, it was—”

He cursed, running a hand over his curved horn. “Human? A male?”

“Yes,” I whispered, trying to understand what was happening. “You’re not upset?”

He scowled. “About what?”

“That I…that I’ve been with another man when I was unmarried.”

Azur froze. His nostrils flared. But there was something else that entered his expression. An expression that resembled sympathy. Or perhaps even pity.

“I’m upset about the fact that when we do fuck, Gemma, I’ll likely tear you in two,” he growled. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, wife, a human man is not built like a Kylorr.”

My breath went shallow. He’d said when. Not if. I’d known sex was a possibility. A pretty good one, judging from the escalation of his feedings.

He was upset that he would hurt me.

That was where his ire was stemming from.

“Don’t you want to?” I couldn’t help but ask, unable to keep myself from poking at him even though my brain told me to keep my mouth closed. “I thought you wanted to hurt me.”

Azur was in my face in the blink of an eye. I gasped but it was caught in his mouth as his lips crashed into mine. My mind went pleasantly blank, and I felt the sharp glide of his fangs as he kissed me almost angrily. It was a mean, hard, punishing kiss…

Until it wasn’t.

Moments ticked by but they felt like an eternity I never wanted to leave. His kiss gentled as I clung to his tunic, my dress slipping open again. His arm wrapped around my hips, tugging me more fully into his hardened, massive body as he stepped between my thighs. I learned how to move my mouth against his so his fangs wouldn’t snag on my bottom lip. I relaxed in his arms, feeling the back of my neck tingle pleasantly as his other hand raked through my hair, his dull claws scraping against my scalp.

A deep groan left his throat. His cock felt like a thick, hot rod, resting just above my sex against my lower belly. Heat bloomed, my clit beginning to warm and pulse.

Azur broke the kiss first, lowering his head so that it hung in front of me, his horns nearly scraping my cheeks before I leaned back.

Silence dropped between us as we caught our breaths. My lips felt swollen, my eyes half-lidded from the gentle sensation and memory of his kiss.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Azur finally tilted his head up to regard me.

“I did want to hurt you,” he informed me, and I swallowed at the gruff turmoil in his voice.

“But not now?”

I held my breath as he shook his head.

“No, not now.”

“And you won’t tell me why?” He stiffened against me, but I pressed forward. “You won’t tell me why you wanted to hurt me? A daughter of House Hara?”

Azur studied me, his slitted pupils darting back and forth, before he lowered them down my neck to my exposed breasts to the mess he’d made below them. I felt that gaze like a caress, hot and firm.

“No,” he said.

He was retreating already, closing himself off once again. Dread pooled low, but it was what I’d expected.