I fall back onto my elbows, and the bastard does it again, toying with my clit.

“Ni-Kee, you are a stubborn female,” he growls. “But I can wait no longer to taste this cunt.”

He dips his head, that long, strong tongue darting out, and I nearly scream. Holy shit. Nothing has ever felt this good, this intense. He thrusts one finger inside me, and growls against my pussy, repeating the motion, until I’m about to crest, about to fall apart.

Then he stops.

“Draz,” I moan, strung out and needy. “Please.”

“Tell me you’re mine.” That tongue darts out again, licking, licking, teasing. Another finger thrusts in me, and he pumps once, twice.

“Tell me.”

“I’m close, so fucking close,” I moan.

The tongue stops, and I grit my teeth, so close to the edge that I’m going to yell with frustration and need both.

Draz tongue darts out, circling my clit, and my hands tangle in his hair.

“Yours,” I say. “I’m yours.”

An animalistic noise tears from him, and then he’s straddling me, the thick tip of his cock poised at my entrance.

“Yes,” I sob. “Please, Draz. Yours, I’m yours.”

He thrusts into me, and there’s no patience to it, no waiting for me to adjust. It’s brutal, and savage, and every fucking inch feels like heaven.

When his xof begins vibrating, growing harder against my clit, I lose any remaining semblance of control.

“Draz, Draz, Draz,” I half-chant, half-cry, feeling like the pleasure is going to tear me apart. He’s so thick, the texture of him so intense, the vibration.

“That is right, my wife. That is right, my mate,” he says, his tone savage. “Come apart on my cock.”

And I do. My fingers scrabble against the huge muscles of his arms, reveling in the power of his body, arching against him, wet and wanton.

“So perfect,” he grunts, lowering himself onto me, cradling my head as I fall back, limp.

But he doesn’t stop, the vibrating xof doesn’t stop, and soon, I’m riding a second wave to the top. I fling my legs around his waist, meeting every hard thrust.

“Say it again,” he demands.

“Yours, Draz, all yours.” Reality seems to shatter against the words, against the power of my second orgasm, and all I see are stars.

“My seed will fill you now, my mate, and you will bear us many babes.”

My eyes fly open, pleasure giving way to panic. “Wait, wait, I don’t know if I’m ready for—”

His gaze is fixed on me, and the savage look is replaced by one of utter sadness. He withdraws from my body, and then his body and face go taut as he comes all over my stomach.

“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice small. That was the whole reason he wanted me, and it’s clear from the disapproving look on his face.

“Do not worry yourself, my heart. Let me clean you up.”

I should feel amazing. That was by far and away the best sex of my entire life. My body is completely limp.

But as Draz starts to wipe away the messy evidence of it, a pang of guilt goes through me.

As well as suspicion.

What if all his sweet words, all of his kindness, is all a ploy? All to get me pregnant?

I don’t want to stop having sex with him… now that we’ve done it once, I have a feeling that I’m going to get addicted to it, and quickly.

But I need to be smart about this—strategic. He wants babies.

I don’t know if I want babies, not just with him, but with anyone.

And I need to make sure Earth gets the tech they promised.

“My mate, you are beyond words. Beyond anything I’ve ever thought I could have in this life or the next,” Draz tells me, curling me into his big, muscled body. “I am so grateful you have decided to be mine.”

I close my eyes. “Yeah,” I choke out, nearly beyond words.

Because I did. I told him I was his.

What have I done?

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

OceanofPDF.com

DRAZ

Rock crunches under my feet as I leave the cave, where my Ni-Kee sleeps peacefully. A troblek rumbles in the distance, and a flock of scarlet and indigo birds take wing, disturbed by the noise. All around me, the jungle stirs to life, full of promise for a new day.

My tail lashes behind me.

I should be pleased, thrilled, even, with finally convincing Ni-Kee to accept me as her mate. Even now, the memory of her body clenching around my cock makes me hard, my lust for her hardly slaked.

No. If anything, my desire for her has grown exponentially.

I gnash my teeth, continuing off, in search of more of the sweet berries Ni-Kee seemed to like so much.

What have I done wrong?

I brought her great pleasure, that much is certain. I never knew a female could taste so sweet, could feel so good beneath me. I thought she wanted to be with me, that she wanted to bear my young.

Instead, her eyes went wide, her face pale with terror, and she told me no.

Does she not want me? Have I done something to make her think I will not be a good mate or father to our children?

My heart aches, and I rub a fist against my chest, pausing from the pain of it, before setting off again. I know I am not human, not even close to it, but after the way they treated her, throwing her at me and my men without so much as asking her what she wanted…

Aren’t I better than her human options?

A small hand tugs at my pant leg, and when I look down, the zoleh chitters at me, its bright eyes blinking one after the other.

“Did I do something wrong?” I ask it. The little zoleh just stares though, no answer forthcoming. The humans were deceitful to their own warriors. They lied to my mate and her crew about their mission. It is so at odds with our Suevan ways. We can lie, but it is considered a grave crime. Our language is sacred, and built for telling truths, for speaking from our souls.

The humans seem to feel no such compunction towards honesty.

It seems a human trait, to lie and deceive where it suits them.

The thought brings me up short, and the ache in my chest grows uncomfortably tight.

Could it be that my Ni-Kee only had sex to appease me? To ensure that I take her safely to her crew at Edrobaz, and to try to make sure that her species gets the tech they so fervently desire?

It hurts. The mere possibility that she only had sex with me because I wanted it, and not because she wanted to be mine… My throat constricts, and I suck in a breath.

I nearly stumble across the berry bush, so preoccupied with the thought, and I manage to squash half. The rest go into the bag I brought along.

Is it possible that she could have falsified her desire? I scented it on her, but every day, I realize I know less and less about the humans and their culture. Shame washes over me, and I trudge back to the lunar cave where my mate sleeps, the cave where I spent the four days without sleep, in constant vigil over her fevered body.

The worst, deepest part of my shame is that I would not take it back.

I will treasure the memory of my night with Ni-Kee for the rest of my existence, no matter the taint of sadness now attached to it.

And I will not give up hope that I can court her, that I can convince her to accept me, and Sueva.

I just have to try harder.

My back stiffens, and I roll my shoulders. A Crigomar lets out a terrifying bugle, and I crouch instinctively, trying to gauge how far it is. A second bugle crashes across the jungle, and the zoleh claws up my leg, nestling against my neck, its little hands clutching fistfuls of hair.

Two of them, then. A hunting pair.

“They sound far enough away,” I tell it, and it makes a high whimper in my ear. “Do not fear, little zoleh. We will not cross paths with the Crigomar today.”

Or tomorrow, or at all, if our luck holds.