Sought(91)

“Please!” She turned to face Xairn when he would have pushed her into the cell. “Please, wait.”

“We don’t have much time. The AllFather will be here soon and he will expect the ship to be primed and ready.”

“Just tell me one thing,” Lauren said, trying to control her panic and keep her voice level and calm. “Why does he want me?”

“He wants to breed you. You are the fulfillment of a prophesy—the female we have been searching for.” He looked down at her, his eyes blazing. “Only you can replenish our race. Only you can bear daughters born of the AllFather’s seed.”

Lauren had been afraid something like this was to be her eventual fate but she hadn’t allowed herself to think about it. Now, faced with the truth, she knew she could do one of two things—panic and give up hope, or save herself the only way she could.

“Why does it have to be him?” she asked in a low voice.

Xairn frowned. “What do you mean? What are you asking?”

“I said, why does it have to be him who, you know, does it?” Taking a deep breath, she took a step toward Xairn. His broad chest was at the level of her face and she had to look up to see him looming over her. But she didn’t flinch, not even when his red-on-black eyes bored into hers.

“I don’t understand you.” He shook his head.

“Why can’t it be you?” Slowly, gently, Lauren raised her hand and cupped his cheek. His skin was warm and slightly scratchy under her palm though she had never noticed any beard shadow on his face. Up close she could smell his scent—the same warm, exotic spice that permeated the cloak he had given her.

“Me?” His deep voice was hoarse.

“Yes, you,” Lauren said patiently. She hoped desperately that she wasn’t overplaying her hand but this was all she had and she would rather die than submit to the hideous AllFather. “You’re his son. You have the same blood—the same DNA. Why can’t it be you who…who breeds me?” The word stuck in her throat but she forced it out anyway.

Xairn jerked back from her light touch as though he’d been burned. “Are you asking me to rape you?”

Lauren swallowed hard and let her hand drop to her side. “It doesn’t have to be rape,” she said in a low, steady voice. “Not if you’re gentle. You can be gentle, can’t you, Xairn?”

For a moment his face twisted and then he shook his head. “I have no gentleness in me. Only cruelty and brutality.”

“You’ve never been cruel to me,” Lauren protested. “Please, Xairn. If…if someone has to do that, I want it to be you. Not him. Never him.” The tears were filling her eyes but she blinked them back, not allowing herself to cry. Have to stay calm. In control.

“Even if I wanted to breed you, I couldn’t.” His deep voice was cold but his eyes blazed. “Those desires are buried in me—never to emerge.”

“You’re saying you can’t do it because you don’t want me? You don’t find me attractive?” she asked.

“I…” Xairn frowned. “Certainly you’re very beautiful. But beauty means nothing to me. My sexual urges are dormant and shall remain so.”

“Oh?” Lauren had no idea if she was doing the right thing or not. She only knew she was desperate. Taking a deep breath, she unfastened the neck of the long black cloak and let it drop. It pooled at her feet in a heap of fabric. She felt horribly naked and vulnerable without it, but she refused to cover herself.

“What are you doing?” Xairn’s voice was a harsh whisper now.

“Look at me,” she murmured, holding her hands out to her sides. She was no Victoria’s Secret model but she had curves in all the right places and she knew it. Her bare breasts were high and full and firm and her berry-brown nipples were tight in the cool air. The neatly trimmed thatch of black curls between her thighs was soft and inviting.

“Why should I?” he demanded but his eyes burned over her body, devouring her hungrily, making her feel even more naked.

“I want you to see me,” Lauren said clearly. “Not just as a sex object or a female animal with the right bloodlines. See me—see Lauren. The girl you’ve been talking to for so long.”

“I see you.” His eyes stopped roving over her body and he looked into her eyes. “But I still don’t understand.”

“I’m asking you to help me,” Lauren said softly. “And I think you will.”

“What would lead you to believe that?” He sounded uneasy.

Lauren took a step closer until she could feel the heat of his large body against her bare skin. “Because you clothed me when I was cold and fed me when I was hungry. Because you comforted me when I was sad. You care, Xairn—I know you do. So please, help me.”