“Mhhmm?” She didn’t move. Didn’t make more than that one small sound.
Kinn inhaled deeply, his massive chest rising as his nostrils flared. “Your scent…”
Double shit. If the patch failed now? She would die in the next few seconds, and it wouldn’t be an easy death. If only she had her mercy. She’d even reached for it before she remembered that the small but lethal blade no longer hung around her neck. It was with the rest of her things, now locked in Kinn’s office.
She didn’t look that way, her gaze locked on to the monster looming over her. He’d crouched now, still watching. His black eyes riveted to her. He took another breath, his massive chest expanding, and growled again. When he reached out, a clawed hand reaching for her face, her nerve broke.
With a full-throated cry she threw herself to the side, scuttling away under the treatment beds as she raced toward the door to his office. If she could just reach her mercy or some of the other surgical tools in there…
Yes! Kinn hadn’t locked the door when he’d come tearing out to beat on the other alien asshole. If only she could get there in time.
She scampered and scrambled across the floor, adrenaline dumping into her system by the bucketful. Kinn bellowed and moved faster, so she started throwing anything she could get hold of onto the floor behind her in an attempt to slow him down.
She got to the door and ran through it. No time to lock it. She kept moving, looking for her bag or anything she could use. All she needed was a few more seconds. They all knew how to do this quickly and cleanly—the final escape when the beasts left you no other choice.
It wasn’t how she wanted it to end but she was out of options.
She only needed a few seconds, but she didn’t get them. Kinn barreled through the door just as her fingers closed over a scalpel. Before she could lift it from the tray, his massive hand wrapped around her wrist in an iron grip. Her small cry was pure fear as he yanked her around. The scalpel fell from her nerveless fingers to clatter against the floor. A second later her back hit the wall hard enough to knock the breath from her, and she was pinned in place by Kinn’s massive body.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her head to the side, expecting those huge fangs to tear into the side of her throat any second.
This was it. She could have fought, but what was the point? She knew she couldn’t win. Damn it. She’d been stupid. She shouldn’t have trusted Kinn or gotten comfortable. Why hadn’t she tried harder to escape?
Hot breath fanned over the side of her neck. “Serena.”
She kept her eyes closed. What was taking so long? If this was the end, why the hell wasn’t he getting on with it?
Lips brushed her skin, stopping over the pulse point fluttering on the side of her throat. “Don’t ever run from me.”
She jumped a little at the contact. How were his lips so soft? She’d seen the monster he’d become. He was all armor plate and fangs. Wait… fangs. He shouldn’t be able to talk.
His lips brushed over her skin again, right over the pulse. Soft. Like a caress. “Open your eyes.”
She daren’t move, not even enough to shake her head. “No,” she breathed. “I’m dead. There’s no way I’m not dead.”
“I would never…” Kinn stopped, growled in frustration, and then started again, sounding more certain this time. More like his old self. “I’m a healer. I’m not going to kill the main subject of my research project.”
“You’re a beast. Beasts kill all the time. It’s what you do!”
“Open. Your. Eyes. Now.”
“Bite me.” She had no idea what was going on with her mouth. Inside all she wanted to do was scream, but somehow the sarcasm just kept flowing.
“Interesting proposal. If I claimed you as an omega, what would happen?”
That made her open her eyes, but she didn’t look at him. “I’d die. That’s what happens to omegas. Right? Or maybe I’d just fade away like the others I’ve seen. But since I’m not a fucking omega, odds are good I’d just die.”
“I think I should try.” His voice was low and intimate, rough around the edges in a way she’d never heard before. It affected her on levels she didn’t want to admit to, heat pooling in her lower body and making her want to press her thighs together.
Nononono, that wasn’t happening. She almost whimpered again, trying to slam her thighs together, but his thigh was there stopping her. She wouldn’t… couldn’t get aroused. It would burn through her blockers quicker than anything, and, with the amount of time she’d already been here, she knew she was already dancing on the edge of their time limit.
“Yessss,” he rumbled, his lips sliding up the soft skin of her throat, tasting her. Scenting her? “Your scent is changing, becoming fuller.”
“That’s testosterone and ego you’re smelling.” She turned her head enough that she could see him now. He wasn’t the beast anymore. He was Kinn again. Still huge and scary and not at all sexy, but the armor was gone, the markings faded. As she watched, the last of the darkness drained from his eyes, leaving them their usual deep blue.
She went to shove him away, but her hands met a solid wall of hard, bare chest and she realized how close they were. How intimate. And how very little clothing he was wearing.
“Off. Get off me! And that’s the last time I help you with a damned patient. I’m done with this whole Stockholm Syndrome scenario. Done!” Anger was easier than fear, and it gave her something else to focus on besides how good he looked and how much she wanted to run her hands all over his toned body.
The shoving didn’t happen. She tried—she really did—but the instant her hands contacted his chest, they stopped. Then her fingers spread out, fingertips brushing against his skin. He watched her, his gaze intent on hers, and his eyes flared dark but not with his beast. Instead, the darkness had nothing to do with the fact he was an alien and everything to do with the fact he was a man and she was a woman.
Hands without claws cupped her cheeks, and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. His touch was gentle, and the tiny spark of need she’d been trying to smother since the day she’d been dragged in this hall suddenly flared to life.
Heat swirled in her belly, her clit ached, and she leaned forward the slightest bit, drawn to him by some force she didn’t understand and really didn’t want to exist. But god damn, it felt so good to be touched.
She shuddered and bit back a moan as he moved in closer, pushing her back into the wall, his big body grinding against hers.
“Why?” he asked. “What are you?”
3
She wouldn’t look at him. Kinn rumbled with displeasure in the back of his throat, but not too loudly. He didn’t like the scent of her fear. It was sharp and acrid in the back of his nose and it displeased him.
“Stop being scared,” he ordered her. “I will not harm you.”
“I’ll stop being scared when you stop being an asshole. Just because you are lord of the medical hall doesn’t mean you are the boss of me.”
“I have told you repeatedly that I am not lord of anything. I have no royal blood. And I am not being an asshole. Must you be so difficult all the time?”