***
His clever, human mate now atop him, Garr sighed as her delicate fingers tugged his hair, the urgency in the way she pulled his mouth to her breasts turning him on.
He tasted her, adoring her almost sweet flavor—he’d never expected or thought it possible for a female’s skin to taste nearly sweet. Was it a property of humans, or an ephemeral trick of his mind based in how much he wanted her?
And when he glanced up, those alien eyes blazed back at him with their blue-green intensity, locked on him. Her sultry voice made demands of him—of a prime—and she showed no shame in the way she rocked her hips, applying a pressure and friction to his swelling cock.
This was not how females were supposed to behave, and he’d never imagined wanting it before. Now, though, he couldn’t imagine wanting anything else. The challenge in her gaze incited him, made him want to claim her.
He dropped onto his back so that she was over him, and when she leaned forward the placement of her hands on his chest pushed her breasts together. Was that on purpose? Did she know how that exploded his want?
He cupped those presented breasts and groaned at how good her stiff nipples felt brushing into the palms of his hands, how he could feel her heat pushing into his erection through the thin otoya fabric separating them.
It was time. He’d let her play at being in charge too long already. Taking hold of her knee, he started to spin her onto her back.
“No,” she ordered, her hands locked onto his shoulder.
“No?” This was blasphemy. She could beseech her male, certainly, but not give orders. Especially not her prime.
She leaned down until her nipples scraped against his chest, pinching his otoya between two fingers. “I’m yours.”
Yes.
Kissing his throat, she built his pleasure with the motion of her hips, his erection aching against his breeches and in desperate need of feeling their skin pushed flush. “I’m yours, and you’re also mine.”
This game again. But by all the domé of the sphere, he wanted to play it. “How so?” he challenged.
“Give me control of your otoya so I can strip it off you.”
She wanted to undress him. Wildly inappropriate, but… he had a soft spot for this clever human creature, and so he nodded. “If you desire it, taliyar.”
Rae leaned back, settling onto his lap. She did not correct or chastise him for using that moniker. Instead, she circled her fingers through the fabric of his vest and he passed her control of the fabric with a mental command.
“If I’m your taliyar,” she said, “that makes you my prime?”
“Yes,” he breathed. The sound of her saying it was more erotic than anything he’d ever heard a female whisper.
“Then lay back, Prime Garr.”
Another shudder, her words filling him with the urgent desire to be inside her.
She took his hands and lifted them to her breasts, holding them cupped over her. Then she reached to his vest, stroked it, and commanded it.
The liquid clothing sleeked off his skin, and bunched abruptly around his wrists, binding them together. “Lay back, because now it’s time I claimed you.”
***
Rae held no illusions that Garr could bust the otoya binding on his wrists if he desired. However, in spite of his shock, he relented and seemed to let her do it. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Taking his hands and peeling them from her chest, she ushered them over his head, leaning down with the motion to kiss him. She sighed at the taste of his mouth, drawing back to look down into his eyes.
“I love the alpha male who can do those insane things to my body, Garr. And I love the honorable creature who was willing to surrender his desires to send me home and keep me safe.”
He stared up at her, uncertain where she was going with this.
“But you need to understand.” She reached down to touch his jaw, using that motion to keep his eyes on her.
“I am not your property. I’m your mate. If you get to take care of me, I get to take care of you.” She smoothed her hands over the warm contours of his chest, savoring the power that was beneath her and between her thighs.
“But males—”
“—take care of the females.” She grinned. “However, I’m about to take care of you.”
It was the moment she’d worked toward from the start. How deep did his coded rules go? What was stronger in Garr, his desire to follow his culture or to please Rae?
The prime beneath her wanted to mold her into a shape appropriate for his world; but could Rae convince this proud creature that he didn’t have to do that?
Garr relented with a nod. “If it pleases you. Show me.”
She slid down his body, kissing his chest and his taut abdomen. He watched her every motion, and she even put on a little show for him, pulling her hair to one side so that he could see her smile when she kissed the lovely ridges of his hips.