He nipped her lightly. “I have every right. You’re mine, Serena. My omega.”
She shook her head, but he nipped her again, his teeth holding her in place as he growled. She froze instinctively as heat pooled in her lower body. But his fangs didn’t pierce her skin. He just held her in place as he swept a huge, clawed hand down her arm and side. Touching. Almost a caress. The sudden dampness between her thighs as his claws scraped her skin made her bite her lip.
The growl deepened as he lifted his head, letting go with his fangs to wrap one huge hand around both her wrists and pinning them above her head as he touched her.
“I am your alpha,” his voice was deeper, more bestial, as he hooked a claw into the side of her top. “I will know all your secrets.”
He pulled on the fabric, tearing it down the seam. She whimpered, a soft sound, as the cooler air of the room washed over her exposed skin.
“No.” She didn’t know where she found the strength for that last denial, but the moment it left her lips she knew it was her last one. She couldn’t stop him. And part of her didn’t want to.
“So stubborn. So beautiful.” He continued to shred her shirt one seam at a time, never cutting her and never rushing. “Will your parth for me one day? The way Var and Rath’s females do?” He rocked his hips against her ass, letting her feel the hard line of his cock. “Will you crave my knot the way they do?”
She stiffened. Knotting. Oh shit. She’d seen what that could do to a woman. The damage. The pain. But in one of their few whispered conversations, Leia had told her it wasn’t terrible at all.
She couldn’t see how that was possible.
“Shhh, little star. There’s nothing to fear. I have never hurt you. Not even when I thought you were a puzzle to be solved. Now?” He growled, the sound rolling through her like the rumble of thunder. “My omega will know nothing but pleasure.”
A shiver stole down her spine, but she couldn’t help the waver in her voice. “But… the knot. They can’t… want that? Surely?”
Her mouth was operating on pure instinct, babbling as he turned her. She didn’t look at him, squeezing her eyes shut. The last line of defense. If she couldn’t see him, he wasn’t there. Not really.
“Oh, they want it. Crave it,” he murmured, his deep voice a whispered temptation. “As you will crave mine when you scream my name in your pleasure.”
She shook her head, her breath catching as he swept away what had remained of her top, leaving her naked to the waist before him.
“So tiny and delicate,” he murmured, his free hand sweeping up her side to cup her breast. Weighing her in his hand. She bit her lip. She wasn’t a small woman, but his hand was huge, easily swallowing her up. “So soft.”
His claws scraped her skin, the rough pad of his thumb rubbing over her nipple until it beaded and ached for him.
“Look at me, Serena.”
She shook her head, her eyes squeezed closed, and he snarled. The vicious sound made her jump.
“Xarth!” The word was so close to another snarl she had to fight back the urge to flinch.
“Serena. I want you to look at me. I want you to see who you belong to.” His words were softer this time, the growl still there but… less.
“If you’re going to fuck me, then fuck me. I don’t want to see you. If I don’t, I can pretend this is something else.”
A finger touched her cheek. No claw. Just a normal finger. “I am T’kinn of the H’thor clan. I am lead healer, a warrior, and one of my lord’s most trusted men. Who would you pretend I was? I need to know his name so I can kill him.”
Her eyes flew open. “No! Don’t kill anyone!”
The mood he was in, and the stories she’d heard, he was likely to go on a jealous rampage, killing any human male in the vicinity. She wouldn’t… couldn’t have those deaths on her conscience.
He lifted his chin, looking down at her. His lip curled back dangerously, the snarl in his voice vicious as he gripped her jaw with his free hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Who? Who is this male you pretend I am?”
“No one!” she gasped, pulling on her hands. He didn’t let her go, his grip tightening as he surged forward, pressing against her and shoving a hard, bare thigh between her legs.
Bare? Shit. When had that happened?
The pressure forced her up onto tiptoe, and she was pinned between his hard oh-so-naked body and the wall. “I promise. No one. Don’t kill anyone. Please?”
He stilled, watching her. Then he breathed in, scenting her.
“You would beg me for this male’s life? This male you fear for?”
She shook her head. “There is no male, for fuck’s sake! I’m an omega. I’ve never let a man near me in my life!” Until him. But now Kinn was pressed against her, all muscle and bare skin and… something she tried not to think about. Something like a steel rod pressed against her belly.
“Good.” His face held only a hint of the beast now, though his eyes were still as black as a starless night.
He leaned in close, his mouth a breath away from hers. “You will know no male’s touch but mine. Ever.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing.
“Do you understand, little star?”
“Yes. You think you own me.”
He snarled. “I do not think. I know. And soon, you will know it, too.”
He caught the waist of her pants, tugging them down over her hips as he pushed in close and kissed her. Fangs grazed her lower lip as his mouth claimed hers, his tongue sliding into hers as his big body pressed against her from breast to thigh.
She heard a tearing sound as her pants fell to her feet in a tattered pile.
This time, she kept her eyes open, and she saw the flash of primal satisfaction in his black-on-black eyes as she met his gaze.
“I know nothing,” she told him defiantly.
He growled in response and leaned in to kiss her again. This kiss made the other seem like the touch of a butterfly’s wing—deeper, darker and more dominant. He didn’t wait for her response. He demanded it.
Letting go of her hands, he pulled her closer, turning them both to boost her up onto a nearby counter. Heat rolled through her, and all thoughts of defiance faded under the heat and the onslaught of his mouth. She whimpered, parting her lips as she surrendered. Her hands slid up his arms and over his shoulders as he growled in satisfaction and pulled her closer, grinding himself against her.
Needs she barely recognized tore through her and she gave in to them at last. She wasn’t strong enough to fight anymore. Hell, she was having trouble remembering why she’d resisted this long.
Powerful muscles moved under her fingers. She let herself explore him for the first time, drinking in her fill of his hard body and bare skin.
His growls softened to something less terrifying. His touch was hungry and hard as he used her body like his own personal playground.
When his hand covered her mound, it was all she could do not to arch herself against it like a cat in heat. Something cracked deep inside her at the first, intimate touch, and she tore her lips from his with a gasp, her nails biting into his upper arms.
Their gazes clashed and then caught. He held her spellbound, pinned with that dark, glittering look that before would have terrified her. Now, she snarled at him, frustrated by his lack of action. He was touching her but it wasn’t enough. Reaching down, she grabbed his wrist, hardly able to get her fingers around it, and rocked against his touch.