There was hot, moist blood there. Not dried. Zyn swallowed a silent inward moan, while he argued internally that the woman’s reactions to him were not natural. It was just the trickery of his saliva. Yet a dissenting part of him, borne through that blood, still taunted him.
She desires you. You can see it in her body and on her face. You could—
A sound of refusal had formed in his throat as he glanced at the scratches and burns on her curved body. He would have to lick those as well.
“Intercourse.” His voice had barely been a harsh whisper.
Anticipation attached to the blood arousal made him feel things that were foreign. Her crystal blue eyes blinked slowly once, as he continued the slow slide of his tongue on her creamy flesh. He would never admit he could be trying to tempt her, but he never used the hypnotic effect his gaze could entrance her with.
“With me?” she murmured, and she looked dazed, as if he were really hypnotizing her. He nodded with his eyes straying to her taut nipples, then the velvety softness of her belly. “You would bite me,” she accused, but it had little objecting force.
He stopped the slide of his tongue. “You have my word I would not bite you.”
Fool. Zyn wondered where that raucous voice had come from. He was simply seeking sex to relieve himself, nothing more, and he had offered her a great service by healing her wounds and freeing her. She swayed toward him and he felt the not-unpleasant feelings of anticipation return with more force.
***
I f he set her free, Anna thought, when she could think at all, as strange, dark, and alluring desires built stronger inside her. It was Zyn’s blood and his slow sensual licking, which tempted her. No, it was more than tempting her ... it built a fire inside her and made her want a half-breed Viper. Fangs and all.
She did owe him . He easily could have left her to the Izard's torture and taken the more important elite Duchess, then left. She’d been broken and he hadn’t had to fix her. He’d called it “intercourse” as if it was a sterile event, and she’d wondered if his cool facade could be broken with sex.
Her gaze drifted to his fangs, which were so sharp and white, while she wondered what was attracting her to them. In his blood , he’d said. She was being changed by his blood. She vaguely remembered being terrified he was a Viper. But now that seemed insignificant.
She was an indentured servant, really a slave by all accounts and hadn’t been allowed any life, but to serve. It had been many years since she’d felt the freedom to be tempted by a male’s strong body.
It seemed as if she didn’t make any decision at all, instead she’d simply fell into him ... and he’d caught her.
***
Z yn caught the warm, soft body against him.
The answer was yes .
His shaft throbbed with a stimulated beat as his mouth dropped to a burn on her bare left shoulder. He lapped the abused flesh, feeling it heal against his tongue even as he tasted it, while he lowered her to the bed. Normally sexual release for him was something he had done only to keep his body in prime physical shape. Ninety-percent of the time he merely used his hand, while looking at a vid-crystal of a graceful dark-haired Star Dancer.
He’d never been certain why the Star Dancer’s supple grace and curved figure had enticed him to ejaculate. But as he looked down at the Tellurian, he’d abruptly realized that she resembled the image. Her dark hair with its polished red tints was fanned out on the bed and his gaze traced her delicate features down to the bruises and burns on her throat.
He realized he was troubled to have to heal her there. Lapping his tongue along the column of her slender neck with his fangs extended would be an exercise in temptation so strong, especially with his shaft aroused, that he might lose control. And that was unacceptable.
“I have money,” he said abruptly, with a voice so tight, it had barely come out.
The