“Your anger?” She frowned at him in surprise. Ke’lar seemed like the most even-tempered person she’d ever met, g’hir or human. “Why are you angry with your Goddess?”
His throat worked for a moment. “Because she had long ignored my pleas, denied me that which I have longed to have. I begged the Goddess to let me go to your world that I might find a mate,” he rumbled quietly. “When I knew for certain there was no hope that I would ever make that journey, I could not bear even the company of my clanbrothers. I forested for weeks, alone, raging at Her . . . hating Her . . . before I came to that place by the river. I looked into the night sky, to the Sisters looking down so coldly on me, I watched the Brother suns rise, demanding to know why our Mother would have had me be born at all only to suffer. But I was a fool. I will forever beg Her forgiveness, offer up my gratitude.”
“A fool?” she asked. “Why do you say that?”
“Because She brought me something more precious than I could ever imagine.” His blue eyes glowed in the dimness as they met hers. “You.”
Ten
“Me?” she breathed.
“You cannot say you have not noticed.” His bright gaze was raw. “I cannot hide my feelings for you any more than I can stop my heart from beating.”
Her own heart was hammering in her chest as his fingers lightly brushed her forehead, tracing the curve of her cheek to run down the tender skin of her throat.
“When you emerged from the forest I thought the Goddess had sent you to me.” He swallowed and his words suddenly came out in a rush. “It sounds foolish, I know. And I know too you do not feel the same for me but if someday you thought perhaps you could . . .”
Shyly, he leaned closer, his breath mingling with hers, to brush his nose up one side of hers, and down the other—a g’hir’s kiss.
“My sweet one . . .” His breath mingled with hers, his voice lowered, a soft mating purr rising in his chest to vibrate through her, right to her clit. “My Summer . . .”
“Ke’lar—” Her head was spinning from the heat he sent rushing through her; that rumble-purr of his had made her breasts heavy, her center so tight she was clenching her hand, the nails biting into her palm, to keep from reaching for him. “Oh, goddamn it . . .”
A look of embarrassment, of shame, crossed his face.
“Forgive me,” he mumbled. “I forgot for a moment how the g’hir have wronged you, of what you think of my kind.” His expression was wretched, his mating purr fading. “You have asked my protection, nothing more. I should have never spoken of my feelings for you. I vow I will not again . . .”
He began to draw away but with a low moan Summer brought her mouth to his, her arms winding around his neck to pull him close.
He froze, uncertain, because he would never have kissed like this. G’hir didn’t touch mouths like humans did.
But he let her kiss him now, his full mouth softening against hers. He caught his breath when she sought to part his lips, yielding easily as she deepened the kiss, and she shuddered with wanting to feel the sharpness of his fangs against her tongue.
He sighed, accepting all that she offered. His touch on her was gentle but he was rock hard against her thigh. His mouth had the sweetest spicy taste to it and he pressed closer, eager for more. His fingers threaded through her hair as he experimented in the ways of a human kiss, lightly flicking his tongue to the corner of her mouth then running along the inside of her upper lip.
He brushed his nose to hers and his lips traced her cheek and throat as he fit his body to hers, his skin warm and smooth, the broad muscles of his back under her fingers. Ke’lar pressed his face to the spot where her neck and shoulder met, pausing there to breathe in her scent, and the rumble deepened in his chest, thrumming through her, rising to tighten her nipples.
She wore nothing but the nightgown and Summer slid her leg over him, wrapping around his hip to press his hard cock, already lubricating in readiness, to her entrance.
A fine tremble ran along his body and suddenly he was no longer docile, yielding to her, but the hunter he was bred to be. His hands moved with a g’hir’s speed to free her of her nightdress and in a heartbeat she lay bare beneath him. His eyes were blue fire as he drank in the sight of her, open and ready for him.
His fangs flashed and his touch turned slow, deliberate, possessive. His knuckles traced from the hollow of her throat to her breastbone. Then lightly, with just the pad of his finger, he brushed against her nipple and she gasped as shocks exploded along every nerve of her body.
“You cannot know how many times I have stopped myself from touching you,” he rumbled hoarsely, cupping her breast, his thumb tracing the peak.
“God!” she got out.
His fingers ran the length of her body, over her ribs and belly to rest against the lips of her *.