Found(49)

“Why? Because of what your people do?” Lauren sniffed again and glared at him fiercely. “I don’t accept that. I don’t care how the men in your race treat women or what you’ve seen your father do—you’re not them, Xairn. You’re you. And I know you wouldn’t treat me that way. I know you would never hurt me.”

“You’re wrong,” he said in a low voice. “More wrong than you know.”

“Maybe I am at that.” The tears wanted to come back but Lauren wouldn’t let them. “Because you have hurt me—worse than I’ve ever been hurt in my life.”

“What?” He looked startled. “I haven’t laid a hand on you. Not in the way of my people, anyway.”

“No, but you’re leaving me as soon as we get back to Earth. Leaving without even trying to explore these feelings we have for each other.” Lifting her chin, Lauren looked him in the eye. “And that hurts worse than any rough, kinky BDSM-type fantasy ever could. You haven’t just wounded my body, Xairn—you’ve wounded my heart.”

He opened his mouth to reply but Lauren didn’t want to hear it—didn’t want to hear more excuses. Straightening her shoulders, she drew the robe close around herself and stalked out of the bathroom. If that was the way he wanted it, then so be it. It was clear he was serious about dropping her off on Earth and leaving her without a backwards glance. Fine then, she wasn’t going to beg.

But it hurt. Oh God, it hurt much worse than she ever could have believed possible. And she couldn’t stop hearing his deep voice in her head saying those sweet words, I want to shelter you from pain, to keep you safe from harm. To comfort you when you’re sad. To put my body between you and any danger that might befall you.

It was love all right, but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t care for her enough to stay. To take a chance. Oh Xairn, she thought sorrowfully. If only you were as willing to risk your heart for me as you are to risk your body.

If only…





Chapter Fifteen





Xairn watched her go with a fierce ache in his heart he couldn’t explain. Why couldn’t she understand that he was doing this for her own good? He no more wanted to leave her on Earth and never see her again than Lauren wanted him to go. But he couldn’t help himself—if he allowed himself to get close to her, his true nature would come out.

Briefly, he allowed himself to relive the sweet moment when she’d pressed her lips to his. That…kiss, yes, that was what she had called it. That kiss which had started out so soft and tender and then turned into something else—something more. Xairn had wanted her then, especially when she parted her lips and offered him the freedom to explore her, to know her completely. He’d had dark visions of dropping to his knees and parting her other lips—her sweet, soft pussy lips with his tongue as well. He wanted desperately to taste her, to lap open her willing little cunt and explore her hidden treasures while she moaned and gripped his hair, begging him to do more, to go farther….

But I can’t. I mustn’t. For if he allowed himself to taste and explore her body, other things were certain to follow. Things his body yearned for but which were considered perversions by others.

Sighing, he pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. There were no tears in him anymore—they had gone after his pet urlich, Sanja, had died. But for some reason his eyes were burning now and he felt a lump in his throat that wouldn’t go down no matter how hard he swallowed.

He breathed deeply, trying to push the unwanted emotions away, and caught a faint fragrance from somewhere. Her scent, it must be Lauren’s scent. He’d been stroking her hair as he kissed her—it was all over his hands.

His first impulse was to wash his hands but he couldn’t bear to do that. Instead he cupped his palms to his face and inhaled, trying to breathe her in, trying to memorize her forever. Then he frowned—it was different somehow, her scent. Essentially the same but slightly changed. She smelled like…

“She smells like me,” he whispered in a rough voice. It was true—it was as though he’d scent marked her in the way of the Kindred. But how…? Suddenly he understood. The DNA exchange. Lauren had wondered what she had gotten from him—this was it. It wasn’t much—nothing she would ever notice herself. But it would keep any other male of the Kindred or Scourge race away from her forever. Her new scent branded her as belonging to another male—to him—as surely as if he’d laid all the marks of possession on her.

Forgive me, Lauren, he thought, breathing in her altered but still lovely scent once more. Forgive me for branding you as mine when I am not fit to claim you.