“My results may not be the most sensible to record,” he whispered and Olivia’s eyes widened. He was right. His bond to her had affected him physically, weakening him because of their link.
He was weaker because of her.
Was she stronger?
She was curious about that and wanted to run a few tests on herself too. Loren drew back enough that she could see his eyes. The moment they met hers, she was lost in them again, fighting the current in the torrent of desire that flowed between them and feeling as though it was already pulling her under and she was going to drown before she could save herself by breaking the bond.
CHAPTER 7
Loren much preferred the location Olivia had led them to compared with the one they had arrived in. She had been quick to make her excuses and usher them from the room, leading him to suspect that the males who had stated they were not a threat to them had lied. He would have to be on his guard while they were here. It wasn’t only his life at risk now. It was Bleu’s too.
Bleu had been twitchy from the moment they had arrived, refusing to remove his armour and vehemently stating that he wouldn’t allow Loren to either. Loren had kept his armour on to placate his friend while they had walked from the meeting room down to the laboratory where Olivia was to study them.
His second in command had also muttered dark things about the tests that Olivia had to run on them, giving Loren the impression that he wanted to refuse. Olivia would need Bleu’s data though. In desiring to keep Loren safe from the mortals, Bleu had inadvertently offered himself as another test subject. She would desire to record Bleu’s data in order to compare it with Loren’s so she could understand how they differed now.
Bleu paced to Loren’s left, along the front of a table which held a row of three machines he had learned were computers. The brightly lit white room they were in was smaller than the one Loren had come around in when he had first met Olivia and there was no bed or any of the equipment that had been present.
Olivia sat in a black swivel chair in front of him, closer to the glass door off to his left, and patted the seat of a tall chair beside her. It was different to the one she sat on, made of white metal with black leather padding, and bolted to the floor. It had a plate for the occupant’s feet and a headrest too.
Loren removed his sword belt from his waist and set the weapon down on the long table with the computers. He crossed the room to Olivia and sat in the chair.
Bleu cast him a curious but dark glance. Loren could almost read the doubts crossing his friend’s mind and hoped to allay them by allowing Olivia to test him first, showing Bleu that she could be trusted and was not out to harm them.
Bleu’s fingers rested around the hilt of his sword, his green gaze monitoring Olivia as she took her dark hair down, neatened it and twirled it into a messy bun, pinning it at the back of her head. She brushed a few rogue strands from her forehead, glanced across at Loren, and smiled. His heart beat harder, a familiar rush of heat racing through his blood. Not her feelings. His. She was beautiful, her deep brown eyes bright with excitement that he knew was because she was going to study him, unlocking secrets about his species, learning about him.
Loren wanted to study her too. He wanted to unlock all her secrets, learning her sweet spots and her taste, how she would feel beneath him, around him. How she would sound as he made love with her.
Her cheeks flushed crimson and he cocked his head to one side, intrigued by the blush of colour. Did her thoughts run along the same lines as his were, imagining them together, touching and kissing, learning each other?
Her eyes darted away to settle on the white table to her left and then crept back again, the colour on her cheeks rising as they edged towards him and her pupils slowly dilating. Her heartbeat picked up, a flood of hormones surging through her blood and through his in response. He breathed hard, a slave to the feelings she awakened in him, his body aching with a need to have her in his arms again, pulled flush against him, feeling every inch of her pressing against his flesh.
Bleu cleared his throat.
Loren snapped his gaze away from hers and fixed his eyes straight ahead on the glass doors, focusing to eradicate the out of control emotions that threatened to have him thinking about kissing her again.
Humans slowed as they passed the doors, glancing in at him with curious eyes. Some were dressed as Olivia was, in a long white coat. Others wore black combat trousers and t-shirts. Hunters.
He recognised one of the males dressed in white. This one stopped at the doors and stared at him. He had been present in the meeting. One of the doctors who had looked at Olivia with disdain in his eyes. Loren gripped the ends of the armrests, his claws slicing into the metal as though it was as soft as flesh.