Kesh smothered an eyeroll and crossed the floor to dip a finger into the tub. Cold. Great. Just another wonderful consequence of being forced to take a several-hours detour to that cursed hospital.

He eyed the Breeder, who seemed too transfixed by his large bed to notice his attention, and weighed his options. She smelled like sweat and fear and hospital—scents he usually didn’t mind in a meal—but on her, it was messing with his stupid instincts to the point that he might start fucking cooing at her again at any moment.

However, his energy was so low, he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out without eating, and he still wasn’t entirely sure how he’d go about extracting energy from her without permanently harming her. He’d more or less decided on feeding off her negative emotions—something he knew would barely do as a snack on the best of days—and if he waited for as long as it’d take to refill the large tub and bathe the woman, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee that he’d be able to stop in time.

Fuck. He’d just have to count himself lucky that if he did end up cooing like a moron, none of his underlings were around to witness it.

Kesh drew in a deep breath, steeling his resolve before he turned fully around to face the Breeder, mouth partway open to tell her she’d have to wait until after he fed to get clean. Only no sound managed to escape his suddenly desert-dry throat.

On the crisp linen sheets covering his large bed lay a dirty, crumbled shirt and a plain cotton bra, both of which had been covering the Breeder only moments ago. Now, though, she was bare from the waist up, peachy pink nipples tight in the cool air of his bedroom and creamy skin glowing in the sun shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

What…. the shit?

Before he managed more than a grunt of surprise, Georgia hooked her thumbs in her trousers and pushed, letting the fabric drop to the floor.

There wasn’t a power in the universe great enough to force his gaze from the magnetic pull of that hallowed triangle of dark hair between her tightly clasped thighs.

“Okay.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “I’m… I’m ready.”

11

Kesh

Kesh swallowed thickly, attempting to get his too-thick tongue to shape words—any words—but the distraction of her bared vulva was making it hard to think. The hair there was darker than the silky strands on her head, and lush enough to hide the valley below.

He moved without thought, blind urgency driving him toward her. He wasn’t aware he’d crossed the floor until Georgia’s sharp inhale finally broke the spell.

He flicked his eyes from her pussy to her face, frowning at the look on her pretty features. The blood had drained from her skin, and her eyes widened with the same terror he smelled in her scent—but the set of her jaw was pure, steely resolve.

Drawing in a deep breath, the girl backed up a step until the edge of his bed hit the backs of her knees. She kept her gaze locked on his as she climbed onto the mattress—and spread her legs.

The rushing of blood in his ears drowned out any and all sound for several seconds.

“What are you doing?” It came out like a growl.

“You need… to eat. Right? This is how…?” A deep blush spread from her chest up her neck to her cheeks in scarlet blotches, and she closed her thighs partway. “Oh, God, is this not… is this not what you meant? I’m so sorry, I⁠—”

He gave her a stare laced with enough darkness to silence her mid-sentence.

She thought he intended to take his nourishment from her cunt.

He wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with that approach to energy extraction, though usually when he was so desperate for release he sought out human women for company, he didn’t waste time feeding on them. He wasn’t an incubus—he could get much more satisfying meals with more… bloody methods.

However, over the years, a few women had left his bed weakened from more than multiple orgasms. And, when his hunger had been too great to control, some hadn’t left at all.

But what he’d said to her in the elevator was true: though he’d happily slaughter her entire species if the need arose, taking a female against her will? Never.

The thought of forcing a scared Breeder under his care to spread her thighs hadn’t so much as crossed his mind.

His dick gave an achy throb, urging him to release whatever flimsy morals had made him ignore the most obvious of solutions. She had offered herself in exchange for the worthless, faceless human she’d made him spare, and she’d stripped naked, climbed on his bed and opened her legs for him unprompted. She was hardly unwilling. At least not in the strictest sense of the word.

He let his gaze slide from her pussy up her body, lingering on her breasts for a heartbeat before he finally met her eyes again. “I can feed from you there.”

“Oh.” She looked like she was going to say something else, but only her slightly panting breath escaped her parted lips.

Kesh drew a long, slow inhalation, focusing his lust-hazed mind. She’d offered her cunt willingly, and taking her energy from there was about the only way he wouldn’t hurt her in the process—but he wasn’t oblivious to the heavy throb in his eager cock, nor what would happen if he lost control during this particular meal.

She was a Breeder—every pheromone in her cursed body was crafted to lure him in, and if he surrendered to that pull… She would die. Horrifically. But it was either this or somehow extract her energy while knowingly hurting her. How was he supposed to feed on her terror when his entire body ached to soothe her?

He bared his teeth, frustration making his skin itch, and looked back up at her.

Her blue eyes were wide with fear, yet that willful tilt to her chin remained.

He would never be able to hurt her.

The knowledge lodged itself firmly in his skull, solidifying with his every breath as he stared into her scared eyes. Even now, starving and so hard he barely had enough blood supply left to think, he knew into the marrow of his bone that—with this woman?—he would break himself into atoms to avoid causing her harm. Fuck.

“Close your eyes.” His attempt at softness died on the gravel in his throat.

Georgia darted a startled look at him, pink lips parting in what was likely going to be a ‘why?’ But one glance at his demonic features, and the Breeder seemed to clock on.

“Okay.” Her trembling whisper went straight to his dick, and he gritted his teeth around a deep breath when she closed her eyes and laid her head back on the pillow. Surrendering to him.

She was so… vulnerable. Naked and scared, with lines of exhaustion drawn on her pale features.

He pushed down the rush of possessiveness bubbling up from his gut in response, forcing his mind to clear of the stupid instincts clamoring up from the depths of his primordial makeup. Right now, she was a meal—nothing more.

The weight of his knee on the mattress made her suck in a superficial breath, and when he climbed all the way up and rested a hand on each side of her shoulders, she stopped breathing all together.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” he heard himself say. “And when you wake up again, all will be well. Okay?”

A delicate frown marred her forehead, and he didn’t have to breathe in her scent to know that, after seeing how he went about feeding earlier that morning, after knowing exactly what he was, she didn’t believe his reassurances.

She still managed to force out a nearly inaudible, “Okay.”

Kesh kept his gaze firmly on her face as he shifted on the bed, the graze of a peaked nipple against his forearm enough of a reminder that he needed his full focus to get them through this with her life and his dignity still intact. She smelled… too good, and even a featherlight brush of her skin against his sent shockwaves of need through his exhausted body.