A crash woke Gerrit in a flash. His hand flew out to cover the sleeping woman beside him, his mate. His bonded mate.

He shook his head. He’d think about that later.

He sprang up, jerking one of the sheets they had discarded the night before around his waist. He prowled downstairs on silent feet, his skin rippling, ready to shift. He had no doubt he would manage the transition this morning. He’d rip apart anyone who tried to threaten his mate. But instead of an enemy on the first floor, he discovered a young human woman standing naked in the main room with broken dish shards and rolling fruta at her feet.

“What the fuck?”

“Alpha,” she lowered herself to the floor, touching her forehead to the ground as she spoke. “I am here as a gift from Mage Prior Tavorn to be shared with you and your mate. I also bring you food for nourishment during your bonding.”

She gestured with her hand at the fruta without raising her head.

“Get up,” he growled, tempted to grab the woman by the arm, but not wanting the smell of another woman on his skin. “What the fuck does Tavorn mean by this?”

“Alpha, I don’t know what you mean, but I am a gift given in friendship and generosity.” The woman stood but still wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Gerrit took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. He could smell the woman’s terror, which meant she wasn’t here willingly. Tavorn was trying to entrap him, using Gerrit’s mating hormones against him to get him to participate in the spoils of Tavorn’s flesh trade. That fucking snake.

“Please return to Tavorn and tell him Vilkans do not participate in the flesh trade nor do we lay with slaves who’ve been brought to our world against their will. We like our women and men willing when we mate with them.”

The girl looked at him, her eyes wide. “Are you displeased with me?”

“No,” Gerrit said, raking a hand through his hair. He wanted to yell and break things, but his anger wasn’t this girl’s fault. It was Tavorn’s. Perhaps the Hyla had also hoped to tempt Gerrit into acting out in a way that would merit his arrest. He wouldn’t put it past the Mage Prior. “What is your name?”

“Suzanna,” the girl whispered, voice trembling.

“You have done nothing to displease me, but to accept you as a gift would be dishonorable. Do you understand? You aren’t treated as such here, but you are a person, not a thing, and I wish for more than this for you.”

The girl’s eyes glinted with tears, but she stood up straighter. “Thank you, Alpha.”

“Gerrit,” he corrected.

“Gerrit.” She smiled. “I will clean this up and report back to Tavorn.”

A dark thought occurred to him. “You won’t be punished, will you? I will get dressed and go with you to explain everything to Tavorn. I do not wish any harm to come to you.”

Suzanna shook her head. “No harm will come to me. Although I appreciate the kindness.” A sad look washed over her face but was gone before her next words. “I am one of Tavorn’s favored women. I will not be harmed.”

She bent down and picked up the food and shards of broken tray before standing.

“Are you certain?” Gerrit asked. He shook his head, his mind spinning with politics far too soon after waking. “If you are in any danger, I will protect you. You can return to my home when we leave if you need to escape.”

Suzanna smiled ruefully. “I have been here for five years. You’re the first person to offer to protect me. Thank you. But I am fine. I am not mistreated, and the other humans here are my family.”

Gerrit’s heart broke for her and the other women. “Someday, you will all be free.”

“I believe you mean that, Gerrit.”

“I do.”

“I look forward to the day when I will see you again, as a free human.” She bowed and left the hut before he could say anything else.

He climbed the stairs with heavy thoughts weighing him down and found Jude awake, dark hair softly curling over her shoulders, wrapped in an Arakin sheet. She was breathtaking. The sight of her ran through his body, consuming him with the overwhelming urge to hold her tight against him and declare to everyone who could hear that she belonged to him.

The air smelled like sex and sweat. The scents of their two bodies mixed together intoxicated him, and if he had been a weaker man, he would have fallen to his knees at the smell alone.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, sitting up in bed. “Did I hear you talking to someone downstairs?”

Fuck, he was all kinds of in love with this woman. His mate. His wife. This couldn’t end well.

“Everything is fine. Just another of Tavorn’s tricks.”

Jude rolled her eyes and flopped back on the bed dramatically, pulling a laugh from his lips. She flung an arm over her eyes and whined, “It’s too early for nonsense. Can we go back to the no-nonsense from last night?”

“Most of last night was nonsense, as I recall.”

She peeked out from under her arm and ran her eyes over his bare chest. “Not the parts I remember. Drop that sheet and let’s see if I can help your memory.”

He laughed again, heartily and easily. Jude made him feel like the man he thought he was supposed to become, not the guarded, angry man he’d turned into after his father’s death. She made him feel strong and light, full of hope and pride. And the way she looked at him …

It wasn’t a surprise that, when he dropped the sheet, his cock was already hardening for her.

Jude sat up and licked her lips, the sheet falling to her waist and revealing her perfectly dewdrop-shaped breasts. She crawled forward until she’d positioned herself right in front of his now fully erect cock.

“Now, what should I do with this?” she teased, reaching out and running her hand up the length of him and circling his head.

He made a sound that could loosely be called a gurgle and muttered incoherently as she stroked his erection.

“Harder,” he said, and she squeezed, sending vibrations of pleasure through his body. He wanted to be inside her, to fill her up, to leave his scent and his seed all over her skin. The primal animal instincts were in control of his mind as he watched her wrap her plump perfect lips around his hardness.

He slipped a hand into her hair, threading his fingers into the brown curls as she wrapped her tongue around him before sucking him in deeper.

He watched, mesmerized as she took as much of his length as she could, licking along the length of his cock as she went. Her lips stretched wide, but she pushed on until he felt the back of her throat with the head of his cock.

“Jude,” he moaned, pulling her hair slightly. He swayed on his feet as she began to move, bobbing her head and hollowing her cheeks as she went. Her eyes drifted shut, and she placed one hand on his thigh, the other wrapping around the root of his cock and squeezing in rhythm with her mouth.

As good as it felt, he didn’t want to come in her mouth. He needed to be inside her.

He pulled away and lifted her up by the upper arms, registering the soft bruising on her neck from his passionate kisses the night before. No one could doubt their mating now.

He took her mouth in his and walked her backward against the wall of their tiny room until he had her pinned. She tasted like sunshine and fruta and sex. He made love to her mouth, licking and nipping at her lips as he ran his hands down her sides and under her ass.

He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around him, gripping his shoulders with a moan.

“Gerrit,” she breathed as he slid inside her, easier this morning now that she was used to his size.

She was wet and warm, and when he rocked up into her, she felt like home.

He leaned her against the wall and thrust up, pinning her in place while kissing her hard.

She wiggled against his hold, trying to find a point of leverage so she could control their movement, but Gerrit was having none of that. This time, he was taking full control.

With one hand, he smacked her ass.

“Hey!” she squealed, eyes flashing wide, but her inner walls squeezed him tight.

He ran a gentle hand over the spot he’d slapped, and she quivered.

“Oh,” she moaned, closing her eyes once again and grinding harder against him.

“You like that?” he whispered in her ear as he began a slow and deliberate pace.

“What? I can’t remember. You might have to do it again,” she breathed, running her hands across his shoulders.

He smacked her again, harder this time, and her core clamped down like a vise grip on his cock, pulling all reason out of him until he slammed up into her again, hard and fast. Jude lowered her head to his shoulder and bit the flesh between his shoulder and neck.

He lost it at the sensation of her teeth. He rammed into her with all his force, thrusting over and over, holding nothing back, knowing she could take it. Take him.

He gave everything he had, every movement, every touch, every kiss, every breath. He made love to her with all the wildness of his Vilkan heart, and when she came around him, quivering and clinging to him, he followed her into oblivion.