“May the All Mother bless us too with a child so healthy, so lovely,” Ar’ar growled fervently. He glanced at Summer then addressed Jenna again. “And may She bless you with many more offspring.”
“Thank you,” Jenna said formally.
“The feast will begin soon,” he said. “I have come to escort my mate to your hall.”
“Thank goodness,” Jenna said cheerfully. “I am starving, y’all! Back home we have something called pancakes. Usually they’re eaten for breakfast—first meal, that is—and so I was thinking for the morning—”
“We are grateful for your hospitality”—Ar’ar’s glance flicked to Summer—“but we will not remain the night. I am eager to take my mate home.”
“Oh,” Jenna murmured then brightened. “Well, we should get downstairs then.”
“I will speak with my mate first,” Ar’ar said firmly. “Alone.”
Jenna looked like she was scrambling for some excuse but this wasn’t Jenna’s battle, it was hers.
“Go ahead,” Summer said, swallowing back her own trepidation. “I’ll see you in a couple minutes.”
Jenna hesitated. “Just a couple, okay?” She looked at Ar’ar. “It’s the human custom that no one begins the meal until everyone is assembled.” She gave him a tight smile. “Now, don’t you keep us waiting, you hear?”
“I’ll let you know if I see any Yankees coming to burn the place,” Summer promised, with a wry look toward the balcony and the alien forest beyond.
Despite the joke, Jenna sent her a worried look, pausing at the ornate door to shift the baby’s weight onto her hip. Summer sent her friend a confident smile she wasn’t feeling at all and Jenna gave a nod, then shut the door behind her.
But now she was alone with Ar’ar.
And from the molten yellow gaze that fixed on her, that wasn’t a good thing.
Seventeen
“I searched for you,” Ar’ar growled, his fangs showing. “For days I searched and I feared for you.”
Summer lifted her chin. “I find that a little hard to believe.”
“That I searched for you?” he demanded, outraged. “I crossed and re-crossed our territory a dozen times seeking you!”
“That you were worried about me. If you cared about me, you’d care about what I want.”
“You are my mate. You are my responsibility!”
“I am not anyone’s responsibility—I’m not anyone’s period—except my own.”
His jaw worked for a moment. “You slipped from our bed in the middle of the night—”
“Your bed,” she corrected. “My bed is back on Earth, remember?”
His nostrils flared. “I was a fool to trust you. A fool to believe you might come to care for me.”
Yeah, that’s going around.
“I have tried to be a good mate to you. To make you happy,” he continued.
Summer folded her arms. “What part of ripping me out of my life and holding me prisoner on an alien planet do you think would make me all holly-jolly, anyway?”
Ar’ar, all seven feet of solid warrior muscle, glowered down at her. “My capture was intended to honor you, a tribute to your beauty. I tried to keep you safe within the enclosure you will someday rule as clanmother. I sought you day and night when you vanished, fearful of your safety. I have gifted you all I have and you spurn my offerings at every opportunity!”
Somewhere in those narrowed glowing eyes she saw the hurt—the deep hurt—that she’d caused him.
“But I don’t want to be here, Ar’ar,” she said, her tone softening a little. “I don’t want to be your mate.”
“Then that is what I must address . . .” he murmured, stepping a little closer, the softest of rumble-purrs starting in his chest as he pulled her against him.
Summer’s mouth parted as his purr sent waves of pleasure through her.
“Wait . . .” she got out as he gently cupped her cheek. “What are you doing?”
“What I should have done long before this.” His rumble-purr deepened as he bent his head, brushing his nose up one side of hers and down the other. “What is it called again? The kiss?”
His mouth touched hers, lightly, experimentally. His purr kept her frozen in place, fearful if she did move it would only be to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer.
He breathed in deeply. “I can scent your arousal. Shall I be gentle with you? Or would you have me put your back to the wall? Hold you open while my cock pleasures you?”
Summer squeezed her eyes shut. “Stop it.”
“Why?” he rumbled. “I know speaking of it has roused you more.”
His fingers traced her back and buttocks and she shivered at the sensations it brought.
I have to distract him or I’m really not going to want to stop!
“You really want to do this here?” she gasped. “At the Erah’s clanhouse?”
“Perhaps we both do,” he rumbled, his cock hard against her belly, as his fangs brushed the sensitive skin of her throat.
“I think you’re enjoying this,” Summer got out. “Enjoying playing with me.”