Chapter Twenty-five

Zoe

 

“I want to talk to you about the future,” Sarden said, apparently deciding to skip the small talk and get right to the point.

“The future…right,” I echoed, sitting up straighter on the silver beanbag hoverbed. I was wearing another one of his dress shirts, since I hadn’t had time to get Al to synthesize me anything else, and I couldn’t stand that damn Slave Leia costume for one more minute. I still had scratches on my poor boobs from where the metal bra had rubbed me the wrong way when Doloroso yanked on it.

“I promised to take you back to Earth,” he continued and my heart just sank.

“Yes. Yes, you did,” I said, trying not to sound as disappointed as I felt. Clearly Sellah had been wrong, we weren’t meant to be. The kiss I’d shared with Sarden when he found me had just been a spur-of-the-moment thing—he didn’t really want me the way I wanted him.

“Of course you did. So…when do we go?” I asked brightly, trying to sound eager and cheerful when I actually wanted to cry.

“Oh, well…” He seemed taken aback by my cheerfulness but I was damned if I would show him how I really felt. I wasn’t going to grovel if he didn’t want me. “I, er, really need to see to getting Sellah back on the throne of Eloim first.” His golden eyes gleamed. “And Hurxx needs to be punished.”

I shivered, glad I wasn’t the evil Hurxx who was shortly going to have seven feet of angry Vorn on his tail.

“Of course,” I said, as casually as I could. “I completely understand. And I don’t mind, you know, hanging around a little while longer. Just until you can get the job done.”

“So…you don’t mind not going back to Earth immediately?” Was there relief in his voice? I couldn’t be sure—maybe I was imagining it.

“No, no—that’s fine,” I assured him. “I understand you have business to take care of.”

“I do. Thank you for understanding.” He sighed. “Well, I guess we should get some rest.”

“Yes, I’m exhausted.” I rubbed the back of my neck tiredly, trying to ease the tension I felt. “I, uh…ouch!” That last part was because I had rubbed over one of the scratches the damn inhibitor collar had left on my throat.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sarden was at my side in an instant.

“Nothing. Just…that stupid collar they slapped on me at the auction,” I said. “It was really tight and it left some marks.”

“Where? Let me see?” Sarden was already lifting the heavy curtain of my hair to examine the pale column of my throat. Luckily he didn’t have any nib-nibs to contend with. All three of them were tucked snugly away in the soft, little bed Al had thoughtfully made for them in the corner of my room.

I felt a familiar tingle go through me as his skin touched mine and my breath started speeding up.

“On the sides, mostly,” I said, trying not to sound too breathy. “It just really…really hurts.”

“Let me heal you.” He pulled back for a moment to look into my eyes. “Let me take away your pain and erase the marks from your skin, Zoe.”

“Well…” My heart was pounding now. I was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about using the fizzing blue liquid he’d had me dip my feet in earlier. He meant he wanted to heal me with his tongue. “I mean, sure,” I said, trying to sound normal and failing completely “If…if you want to.”

He stroked my cheek gently, his eyes half-lidded.

“I want to, sweetheart. I want to very much.”

“All right.” I tilted my head for him and brushed my hair out of the way, baring my throat. “Go…go ahead.”

I didn’t have to ask him twice. With a soft growl, Sarden leaned forward and cradled my head in one large hand. I felt his hot breath on my neck and then he was licking me…his hot, wet tongue sliding sensuously over my tender flesh, making me bite back the moan of pure desire that rose to my lips.

I clenched my hands in my lap as he went on and on—kissing and licking the sensitive column of my throat. First the right side and then the tender nape just under my hairline. My nipples were so hard they hurt and my pussy was more than wet. God, how could he do this to me, just by licking me?

“Sarden…” I gasped as he moved to the left side and began healing the marks left by the collar there. “How…why…”

“You’re wounded. I must heal you.” He pulled apart the shirt I was wearing as a dress, pulling the top down around my shoulders to bare my throat even more. His hot mouth was so slow…so gentle and yet so insistent. I felt like I might catch on fire from the need he stirred in me. He must be done healing me by now but still he didn’t stop. It was as though he couldn’t get enough of me.

But just as I was getting almost light-headed with desire, he did stop.

“Wh-what?” My eyelids fluttered open and I realized I had been half-dazed by his erotic healing.

“Your throat isn’t the only place you’re hurt.” Sarden was frowning with concern and I saw he was looking at the creamy slopes of my breasts, which were marked with angry-looking red scratches from the metal bra of the Slave Leia outfit.

“Oh, yeah…” I tried to laugh casually but couldn’t quite manage it. “Um, that stupid metal top I was wearing with my outfit. Doloroso grabbed the back of it and yanked when I was trying to get away from him and it cut me.”

A low growl rose in his broad chest and his eyes flashed molten gold.

“That bastard. Grav shouldn’t have killed him—I wanted to do it myself.”

“The main thing is that he’s gone,” I reminded him. “Which is good, because he had some really crazy ideas.”

“He hurt you.” Sarden traced one of the long, red scratches that ran down the inside slope of my right breast. “I wanted to make him pay.”

“It’s too…too late for that,” I said, my voice coming out soft and breathless. “But you can still heal me. If you want to, I mean.”

“Of course I want to.” He looked at me seriously. “I want to make all your pain go away, Zoe. But do you mind letting me lick and suck your breasts?”

A surge of desire went through me so strongly I had to squeeze my thighs together and bite my lip. But still, I tried to keep my voice casual.

“Sure. I mean…that’s o-okay,” I said, only stumbling on the words a little bit.

“Good.” Sarden pulled the shirt down around my shoulders, baring my breasts fully for him. “Gods, I love your breasts, Zoe. They’re so full and luscious,” he growled.

“Sarden…” I murmured, wiggling a little with a strange combination of embarrassment and desire. “You’re just supposed to be healing me—remember?”

“Of course. Then let me get started.”

He leaned over me, still gripping the dress shirt I was wearing so that it pinned my arms to my sides. I had no choice but to lie back against the inside of the silver hoverbed and arch my back a little—giving him better access to the area he needed to heal.

“Mmm…” he hummed softly, deep in his throat as he went to work on me again, his long, hot tongue tracing along the slopes of my breasts to heal the scratches on my creamy flesh.

I thought for sure he would go for my nipples—after all, he had talked about sucking my breasts. But instead, he just kept licking up and down and all around, teasing me mercilessly with his hot tongue and pointedly avoiding the most sensitive areas until I thought I would scream in frustration. My nipples were tight little points by this time, poking right out at him and yet he seemed determined to ignore them.

“Sarden,” I moaned at last and he looked up, his eyes half-lidded with lust.

“Hmm?” His voice was a low, rumbling growl I could feel all the way through me.

Now that I had his attention, I didn’t know quite what to say. I wanted to grab his head and push his mouth down until it hit the target but I couldn’t. Hadn’t I just reminded him he was only supposed to be healing me? So then, how could I ask for more?

“Um…” I began, and then had an inspiration. “I feel like you’re, uh, missing the places that hurt the most,” I said. “Maybe…maybe because you can’t see the scratches because the skin there is already…already pink.”

“You mean here?” He looked me in the eyes as he used one long finger to trace a teasing circle around my right areola.

“Y-yes,” I whispered breathlessly. “And…and other places.”

“Here?” He took my nipple between fingers and pinched lightly, sending a jolt of pleasure/pain that seemed to go straight from my tight, pink bud to my pussy.

“Ah!” I gasped, unable to hold back. “Yes, there.”

“And you don’t mind if I suck your nipples?” His eyes flashed again. “I warn you, Zoe, I might have to suck them quite hard in order to heal you completely.”

“That…that’s all right,” I said, barely able to get the words out. “I…I don’t mind. Do what you…what you have to do.”

Sarden didn’t need any more encouragement. With a low growl, he pinned my arms to my sides, leaned forward, and sucked my right nipple deep into his hot mouth.

I moaned and writhed against him, feeling helpless and hot as he took me deep. It seemed like he was trying to get as much of my breast in his mouth at a time as he could. Because he was so much bigger than me, that was quite a lot. I felt completely enveloped by him as he took me in his mouth and teased my tight nipple mercilessly with his tongue.

“Sarden!” I heard myself moaning as my back arched, offering him more—wanting him to never stop.

“Gods, you have such sweet nipples,” he growled, releasing one stinging, trembling tip and going for the other. “I could suck you all night.”

I wanted to let him—wanted to never stop feeling his hot mouth on my mounds. Yet I also wanted more…but how to get it?

“Sarden,” I gasped, pressing up to him as he sucked my other nipple deep into his hot mouth. “Sarden, please…”

“What is it?” He looked up, panting, his eyes hot with lust. “You want me to stop? You think you’re all healed now?”

“Not…everywhere,” I said carefully, trying to think how to phrase it.

“Are you hurt someplace else, my little Pure One?” he murmured, still tracing one taut peak with his fingertip. “Because I’d be more than happy to heal you.”

“Well…” I squirmed uncertainly. “I do ache in other places,” I said at last, cautiously.

“Where at? Here?” Sarden pulled the shirt open, baring my abdomen. The finger that had been tracing my tight nipple trailed down my trembling belly.

“Maybe,” I said. “But maybe…maybe lower?”

“Lower, hmm?” he mused. “I wonder where that could be. Maybe…here?”

He pulled the shirt completely apart, baring my pussy mound. I still didn’t have any underwear, though I kept meaning to get Al to synthesize me some, so I was naked. I blushed and pressed my thighs together so he couldn’t see my slit.

“No, Zoe,” he murmured in his deep, rumbling voice. “You have to let me see where it hurts. Come on, sweetheart—spread your legs for me and let me see.”

I thought about protesting but part of me didn’t want to protest. Part of me just wanted to let him do whatever he wanted to me and damn the consequences.

“All right,” I whispered at last. It was hard to do but I made myself spread my thighs and bare my pussy for him.

By now all the attention he’d been paying my breasts had made me positively molten from the waist down. I blushed at the way my outer pussy lips were swollen with need and spreading to reveal my inner folds. Worst of all, I was extremely wet—my whole pussy and my inner thighs were shiny with my juices.

It was incredibly embarrassing.

“Oh…” I whispered and started to close my legs but Sarden held me back

“No, Zoe, let me look at you,” he murmured. “You’re so damn beautiful it makes me ache. You know that?”

“I…I guess.” I bit my lip again, feeling sexy and shy and vulnerable and incredibly turned on all at the same time.

“Now let me see if I can guess where it hurts,” Sarden mused. “Could it be here?” He traced a design lightly on my inner thigh, making me jump and gasp.

“Yes…some,” I admitted.

“Then I’ll have to heal you.” Ducking his head, he dragged his tongue up my right inner thigh, making me gasp. He did the same on the left but though I was sure I would soon feel his mouth on my pussy, he only cleaned the juices away from my inner thighs thoroughly before looking up again.

“Better, Zoe?” he murmured, his eyes hot.

“Some,” I whispered. “But…”

“But that’s not the only place you hurt, is it?” Using his fingertip, he traced gently over one side of my outer pussy, making me jump and quiver. “How about this? Do you need me to lick you here?”

“Yes,” I whispered breathlessly, spreading my legs a little wider. “Yes, please. Heal me there, Sarden. I…I need you to.”

“My pleasure,” he growled and then his tongue was back, dragging upward from the bottom of my pussy all the way to the top. I could feel his hot breath on me, bathing my open pussy. And yet, he was still only licking my outer lips. I moaned restlessly, wondering when all this teasing would end. I needed his tongue on me, damn it—needed his tongue in me.

Sarden seemed to sense my need because after sucking my outer lips into his mouth and releasing them very, very slowly, he finally looked up again.

“What is it, Zoe? Are you hurting someplace else?” he murmured teasingly. “Do you need my tongue healing you in a more intimate place?”

“You know I do,” I said and my words were more than half moan. I pulled my hands free of the sleeves of the shirt, wanting to reach for him. I ran my hands through his thick, black hair and then let my fingers trace his horns, from the base all the way up to their short, sharp tips.

He growled low in his throat and I suddenly remembered that his horns were an erogenous zone. The thought reminded me of what the mechanic and his assistant had told us back on Gallana—that the horns were often used by the female to guild her Vorn lover to exactly the spot where she needed him.

The minute the thought made its way into my head, I knew what I had to do.

“I know,” I said to Sarden, taking a firmer grip on his horns as I stroked them up and down. “Why don’t I show you where it hurts?”

He made a low groan of pure desire.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” he growled, leaning in to my caress. “Lead me. Guide me where you need my mouth…my tongue.”

“Here,” I whispered and pulled his head down so that his mouth finally, finally found my inner pussy and his tongue found my aching clit.

Sarden made a low, hungry, possessive sound and then his hands crept around my thighs, opening my legs further, splitting me wide so he could taste me as deeply as he needed to –as I needed him to.

“Oh…Oh,” I gasped as he lashed the throbbing button of my clit with his tongue, spreading the warm cinnamon fire of his mouth all over my helpless pussy. “Oh, please…”

He had tasted me once before but not so deeply, or so hungrily. Before he’d been taking it more slowly and we had been interrupted before I could reach the peak. This time I could tell Sarden wasn’t going to stop—not until I came for him.

I moaned helplessly and pulled on his horns, which grew and throbbed in my hands, while I bucked my hips up shamelessly to meet his mouth. Here I was, spread out mostly naked on the hoverbed with a seven-foot tall alien between my thighs. I knew I must look wanton with my breasts heaving and my body bared but I was too hot to be embarrassed anymore. I could feel myself climbing the peak and I wanted so badly to reach it. Wanted to come so hard as I felt Sarden’s hot tongue caressing my open pussy.

I tugged harder on his horns and he responded by pressing my thighs back and putting my legs over his broad shoulders. I moaned as the new position made me feel even more open—more vulnerable. God, I couldn’t stand much more—I was going to come…going to come so hard…

And then I felt his tongue slide down and enter me as one finger took its place. He circled my aching clit with his fingertip while thrusting into me, tasting me as deeply as he could. He was growling continuously now—a low, hungry, animal sound. The deep vibrations of his growls moving through my pussy were too much to bear.

It was enough—more than enough. I felt the wire that had been tightening in my belly suddenly snap and my orgasm washed over me like a warm tidal wave of pleasure.

“Oh, Sarden…oh!” I gasped, pulling even harder on his horns. My toes curled and my back arched, my clit throbbing as he kept licking and sucking and tasting, eager to lap away the fresh wetness that came from my pussy as I came for him—came so hard I actually saw stars flashing before my eyes.

It was the most amazing orgasm I had ever had in my life and yet…it wasn’t enough. The moment he raised his face from between my legs, panting, his mouth and jaw wet with my juices, I knew I wanted more. No, I needed more.

“Zoe,” he growled, licking his full, shiny lips. “Gods, your pussy tastes so sweet.”

“I love the way you taste me,” I whispered, still panting a little myself. “But Sarden, I need more…I need a…a deeper kind of healing.”

His eyes flashed. “Don’t ask for something you can’t handle, sweetheart.”

“I can handle it,” I said. “I swear I can.”

“And what exactly do you feel like you can handle?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

I blushed but lifted my chin. “More than your fingers,” I whispered. “And more than your tongue. Please, Sarden, I ache…inside.”

“Well…” He pretended to consider, his eyes burning with lust. “There are other ways to heal you. My body is attuned to yours now—the same healing compounds in my mouth are doubled in other areas.”

“What areas?” I whispered breathlessly, knowing already what he meant.

“Here.” He took my hand and guided it down to the long, hard bulge beneath his tight leather trousers.

I bit my lip. “You mean…you have healing compounds in your, uh, other fluids?”

“Mmm-hmm.” He nodded slowly, looking down at me, his face filled with desire. “But I’m afraid I would have to come inside you—deep inside you—to heal you completely. To take care of that ache you were telling me about.”

A shiver ran through me and I felt my stomach clench with desire.

“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, please—that’s what I want. What I need.”

“I don’t know…” His finger slid down to stroke lightly around the entrance to my channel. “This sweet little pussy is awfully tight. You think you can handle me?”

“I’ll try,” I said, remembering how big he was, how I had barely been able to get even just the head of his shaft into my mouth. “I want to try.”

“All right.” He started to unfasten his trousers but I put a hand on him to stop him.

“No—let me.”

He got an amused look on his face.

“Sure. If you want to.”

“I do.” I sat up in the hoverbed and began stripping his tight black trousers down. When his cock sprang into view, I had to bite my lip. I have never seen him look so long and hard. I held his shaft in both hands as he stood before me, enjoying the heat of it, and the silky skin.

There was a shiny bead of precum on the tip of the broad, mushroom-shaped head. On impulse, I leaned forward and lapped it away, savoring his hot cinnamon taste as he groaned.

“Gods, Zoe, want you so badly—need to be inside you, sweetheart!”

“That’s what I want too,” I told him. “But you are really big. Can we take it slow?”

“Of course. In fact—here.” He shucked his trousers down the rest of the way and stepped out of them. Then he pulled off his black, sleeveless shirt and threw it to one side.

I scooted over as he climbed into the silver hoverbed with me. It was a good thing it was so large because Sarden was a really big guy. And completely naked as he was, he looked huge.

“Like this,” he told me, lying on his back. Then he scooped me up as though I weighed no more than a doll and deposited me on top of him, so that I was straddling his lean thighs.

“Oh!” I gasped and then wiggled a little to get comfortable. I was up on my knees so just the head of his cock brushed against my sensitive pussy.

“You take the lead,” Sarden told me, his voice a soft growl. “Take me in as slow as you need to, sweetheart. I won’t move until you tell me you’re ready.”

I liked the sound of that—liked it a lot. It made me feel hot and safe at the same time to know he was letting me take control.

“All right,” I said and reached between us to grip his shaft in one hand.

He moaned low in his throat and watched with half-lidded eyes as I lowered myself onto him. I tensed up a little when I felt the broad head breach my entrance, but Sarden didn’t move a muscle and I knew I could take my time.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” he murmured encouragingly as I slowly took him in, lowering myself as he penetrated me, inch by thick inch. “That’s right, come down when you’re ready. Just take it easy.”

“God!” I moaned as I felt him stretch my inner walls. He was so big but I wanted him badly and he had done an amazing job of getting me ready for him. So even though it was a tight fit, it was doable—deliciously, amazingly doable.

At last I was all the way down, resting with his thick shaft completely inside me. I had never felt so filled before—so completely penetrated. And God, it felt incredible.

It must have felt pretty damn good to Sarden too because he groaned softly as he caressed my hips with his big hands and looked into my eyes.

“Gods, you’re tight,” he murmured. “So tight and hot and wet. Tell me, Zoe, are you ready to let me heal you yet? Are you ready to let me thrust deep in your sweet little pussy until I fill you with my cum?”

“Yes. God, yes, please,” I half moaned.

“All right then.” His grip on my hips tightened. “Hold on, my little Pure One. I’m going to start out slow but it’s going to be wild at the end.”

Leaning over, I pressed my hands to his broad shoulders, trying to balance myself as he pulled out of me in one long, slow stroke. And then he was thrusting back in again, filling my pussy to the limit and beyond while I spread my legs and tried to be open enough for him.

“Sarden!” I moaned as he did it again. And then again and again. God, it felt amazing—the long, slow pull and thrust of his shaft deep inside me was the most pleasurable thing I’d ever felt. But it wasn’t just the physical sensations that made me moan—there was something else. Some connection I swore I could feel growing between us. I didn’t know what it was, only that it seemed to tie us together like a golden cord which was hooked just under my heart.

Sarden must have felt it too—at least, he was looking at me intently while we made love. For a moment the sensations got too intense and I closed my eyes but then I heard him call my name.

“No, Zoe,” he murmured when I finally opened my eyes. “No, look at me sweetheart. Look at me while I fill you…while I make you mine.”

My breath caught in my throat at his hot words. I looked down into his molten gold eyes, drowning deep and filled with lust and desire for me and knew I never wanted this to end. I felt like I could lose myself in him, that I could fall into that golden gaze and never return and that would have been fine.

“Such a sweet little pussy,” Sarden growled as he continued to thrust inside me. “So tight and hot and wet. I’ve wondered what it would feel like inside you, sweetheart. Wondered what it would be like to have you ride my cock.”

“You…you did?” I gasped, still bracing myself on his muscular abdomen.

“Mmm-hmm.” He nodded, still rocking inside me. “Remember how I told you it was going to get wild? Are you ready for that, sweetheart? Because I need to get deep—really deep inside you before I come.”

I bit my lip. Oh God, he was already so big. Could I really take him going deeper? Yes, whispered a little voice in my head. Yes, you can—not only that—you want to.

I knew it was true—I wanted him, wanted to take him all the way, as deep as he could go.

“Yes,” I whispered, tightening my grip on him. “Yes, I’m ready. I want that.”

“Good.”

Without warning, he flipped us over, still somehow staying inside me. Then he was looming over me, buried in my pussy to the hilt with a wild light in his golden eyes.

“Hold on, my little Pure One,” he growled in my ear. “Hold on to me while I fuck you.”

I moaned breathlessly and did as he said, reaching up to wrap my arms around his back and scratch his broad shoulders, bucking my hips to meet his deep, hard thrusts.

Up until now we had been making love but now he was fucking me—claiming me in a way I had never been claimed by a man before. I felt the connection between us again, growing with every deep thrust of his cock in my pussy. And I felt my pleasure building. There was something about being so open, so completely dominated that made me helplessly hot. I needed him—never wanted him to stop. Never wanted our lovemaking to end.

I don’t know how long it lasted, Sarden thrusting inside me while I bucked up to meet him, the feel of his shaft hitting home inside me, the head of his cock kissing the mouth of my womb with every thrust. It seemed to go on and on as time stretched out like taffy. Finally, though, I felt Sarden getting even harder inside me and knew we were reaching the point of no return.

“Zoe,” he groaned, thrusting harder…deeper. “Gods, want you so bad—want to feel you coming all around me while I fill you up.”

As he spoke, one large hand slipped between us to the place where we were joined. I felt the broad pad of his thumb began to rub in rhythmic circles around the aching bud of my clit as he pounded into me.

The sensation of being stroked while he was penetrating me so deeply was too much. With a long, low cry, I felt my orgasm break over me as I clenched around him hard.

It was a deeper, more intense feeling this time and with it came an even stronger feeling of connection. A sensation strangely like putting down roots even as I felt him spurt hot and hard inside me, filling me with himself, making the two of us one.

“Oh!” I gasped and curled my hands into fists as my back arched. “Oh, Sarden…Oh!”

“Zoe!” he gasped. Crushing me to him, he kissed me, taking my mouth in a fierce, possessive way that sent shivers through me and left me weak.

We seemed to stay on the peak forever—in fact, I don’t know when I’ve ever had a longer orgasm. But just when I thought I couldn’t take much more, the feeling slowly began to ebb—at least enough for me to think again.

Sarden must have been thinking too, because he finally ended our kiss with a sharp, possessive nip.

“Mine,” he growled when he finally let me go to stare fiercely into my eyes. “You’re mine now and I’m never going to let you go.”

“All right,” I whispered, feeling strangely and completely content. “But if I’m yours, that means you’re mine, too.”

“That’s what I want.” I wiggled against him, my legs spread wide to accommodate the thick shaft still buried to the hilt inside me.

“Zoe…” He looked at me intently. But then he stopped.

“Sarden?” I asked, uncertainly because it looked like he wanted to say something else. But in the end he just shook his head.

“Nothing. Just that…I’m feeling very possessive of you right now.”

I felt a tingle of pleasure run through me.

“That’s okay, I feel the same way about you.” I buried my face in his broad shoulder and breathed in his warm, spicy, masculine scent. I didn’t know what any of this meant for the future but just at that moment, I didn’t care.

“Sleep,” Sarden said, finally withdrawing and cuddling me against him like a child. “You must be worn out.”

“Yeah.” I yawned. “Being cloned and kidnapped and auctioned and attacked and, uh, healed, will do that to a girl.” I winked at him but he looked suddenly serious.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you earlier. I can’t believe I let Tazaxx fool me like that—I feel like a Goddess-damned idiot.”

“You were nearly immobile with grief,” I reminded him. “After that awful thing he showed you about Sellah…”

“I’m in your debt for finding her, you know,” he said quietly. “To get both of you back with no harm done to either of you, well, it’s…” He shook his head. “It’s more than I deserve.”

“What you deserve right now is a good night’s sleep.” I yawned. “You wore me out, cowboy.”

“You didn’t do so badly yourself.” He smiled at me and stroked a strand of hair out of my eyes. “Whatever happens, you’re mine now. Remember that, Zoe.”

“Not likely to forget it—you made it pretty clear,” I remarked.

“Good.” He kissed my forehead tenderly and then settled me more firmly against his big body. “I’m glad. Sleep now and we can talk more in the morning.”

There was plenty to talk about, I realized. For instance, all this talk of belonging to each other was nice, but what did it really mean for the future? Had we made some kind of commitment here tonight?

I remembered what Sellah had said about bonding and fated mates and all that. But that kind of talk was crazy, wasn’t it? You couldn’t just declare that you’d found the one person that was right for you in the whole universe and decide never to leave them again—could you? Or even if you could, she’d told me that half-breeds like Sarden couldn’t form a bond.

What about the connection you felt? whispered a little voice in my head. I frowned sleepily as I remembered the strange feeling of putting down roots—almost like something in me had reached out and connected irrevocably to something in Sarden. Had he felt the same thing? Or was it just my imagination?

Most probably the latter, I decided. I’d just had a really intense sexual experience—the most passionate of my life, if I was honest. It was natural to feel an intense connection to go with it.

I wanted to think more about it but sleep was dragging at me. I’d had a busy couple of days and I really was completely exhausted. Telling myself I could worry about what was going on between Sarden and me tomorrow, I let myself drift off to sleep, lulled by his slow, even breathing and the warmth of his big body surrounding me protectively.