Daahn Rising (8 page)

****

“So it was really an accident?” The flickering candles highlighted the lines of Evan’s relaxed face. Once the frenzy of rediscovery had passed, he’d started experimenting with slow touching that had put Zondra in a stupor of pleasure.

And now the candlelit bathing.
It was so very Xxanian, and yet Evan seemed to know little about her culture.

He shot her a questioning look.

Question.
He’d asked a question.
Zondra nodded. “My
seir
had no idea his
Zhigaaal
on her skin would affect my mother that way. It doesn’t affect Xxanian females the same way.”

“But he loves her?” Evan stroked the cloth along the lines of her breasts, spreading the clove bath gel over already peaked nipples.

“Definitely. It’s not that the Xxan don’t love their mates. That’s a lie the prejudiced like to spread to cause discontent. Mating is just one more step in that bond. My
seir
felt my mother was too young to choose to mate with, but he loved her and would have waited for her had he not... well, messed up and started the bonding accidentally.”

The cloth moved to the other breast, and Evan watched her body’s reactions to it avidly, seemingly cataloging each one. His question drew her out of the near mesmerized state he was putting her in with his handling.

“Younger than you?”

“Older than me by more than three years, but I’m a crossbreed, and my mother is human. Human females aren’t adult at sixteen or seventeen years old.”

“Will your parents be upset that you mated so young?”

Zondra smiled, sure that she knew what he was heading for. “Mating is an adult female’s choice. When I mate and to whom is none of my
seir
’
s
business. Or
Gran-seir
’
s
.”

Evan was silent for a long moment. “Tim told me the Xxanian male typically sends a gift of spice to his mate’s family. A sort of dowry.”

“Usually.”

Evan wasn’t worried about that, was he? She opened her mouth to ask.

“I had him send some. I want to show respect for your culture. Your family.”

Zondra leaned toward him and pressed a kiss to Evan’s chest. Now that his mercurial temper had calmed somewhat, she was getting to know the considerate side of the domineering alpha.

“Do you love me, Zondra?”

The question came out of nowhere, stealing her breath for a moment. “Of course I do.” How could he question it?

“When did you start loving me? When did it become more than biology?”

“Can anyone answer that for sure? Even the initial rush of human love starts with the outpouring of neurochemicals and pheromones, the olfactory matching of genetic immunities and —”

“When did you realize it?”

She considered that. It wasn’t as early as the morning after. She wasn’t sure then, much as she’d argued she was. The answer wasn’t hard to come to. “When I realized that every sleepless moment in my bed at home, I was listening for some sign that you were at the door looking for me. Every minute was a torture. I wanted to cry. I wanted to find you. I wanted to curse you... and couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

Her heart stuttered. “Why?” Was he sorry that Zondra truly loved him? Was Evan saying he wasn’t sure he loved her? That it was no more than biology between them?

“I’m sorry I made you go through that. If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t doing much better without you.”

It wasn’t a proclamation of love, but it seemed to be honest remorse. “You had good reason to.” She dismissed his concerns.

His eyes narrowed. “MacNair had no right to tell you that.”

“He had every right to tell me what was keeping you away, but
he
didn’t. Aleeks did.”

Evan snorted. “Aleeks? You’re joking.”

“Yes. Aleeks. Why would that surprise you?”

His cheeks darkened, and Evan kept his gaze focused on the meandering rag.

“Evan?”

“I thought Aleeks hated me. He certainly wanted to feed me my teeth back at the lodge.”

Zondra couldn’t help laughing. “Xxanian males are protective of females in general. If the female is part of his nest, his family, he’s doubly so.

“Would Aleeks have fed you your teeth? If you’d made one move that might have injured me, or if you’d tried to claim me as your own before the three days of separation were up... or if I hadn’t agreed to be your mate, yes. He would have.”

Evan met her gaze. “What changed?”

“A week later, I still wanted you.”

“That simple?”

“Mating is a serious thing for the Xxan. Females choose their mates. If you separate a female from her mate after they are bound, you are sentencing her to death.”

The next question came slower. “Xxanian parents never disapprove of the man a woman chooses? Before they’re bound and unable to be separated?” His tone left no doubt that he didn’t believe it.

“My
seir
could
try
to disapprove, but the female’s determination is rumored to be formidable. My
seir
made it clear he didn’t intend to disapprove.

“Aleeks just hated seeing me unhappy. He would have done nearly anything to help me be happy again. He even talked to Doctor Rayn and told me why you were upset.”

A smile flirted with his lips. “And are you happy?”

“Yes. I am. Very happy.” But something told her the discussion was only half-finished. “Are you? You seem very concerned about what my family will think of you.”

“I am happy, and... shouldn’t I be concerned about your family?”

“Should you be? Typically the only concern in mating is whether the male’s family will —” His pained look stopped her cold. “They won’t approve of me. Will they?” Why had she never asked it before? Had she stupidly believed humans didn’t concern themselves with what their parents thought of their mates? Or had she — equally stupidly — assumed his family would love her because of the alliance with Daahn such a mating would bring?

“There’s no one to approve or disapprove of you.” It was offered in a gruff voice, a blunt statement of fact.

“You have no family?”

He didn’t answer.

Zondra cupped his chin in her hand and drew his face up so she could see his eyes in the semidarkness. “You have no family?” she asked gently.

“None that wants anything to do with me,” he corrected.

“But... why?” He was a strong, able man. Why would his family not revel in him?

“Ask my father. He left when I was less than two. I don’t even remember him. Apparently he had other things he wanted to do with his life.”

“And your mother?”

“She died when I was fifteen.”

The words to soothe him wouldn’t come. Losing a mother was shattering to anyone, child or not, and Evan had still been a child. Whoever had cared for him after her death seemingly hadn’t stayed in his life.

“She was murdered. Beaten to death by some drunk she’d cut off at the bar.” His lip curled in disgust. “Guess she cut him off a few drinks too late.”

He must have seen the urge to cry in her expression. Evan made a soothing sound and smoothed her hair.

“I don’t know much about this whole family thing anymore. It’s been a while for me. But I want to learn.”

The question she had to ask stuck in her throat. Zondra cleared it and forced it out. “Do you love me?”

It’s the wrong time to ask.
But when would be the
right
time? After they’d bound themselves irrevocably?
If we haven’t already done that.
Evan had been breathing in her musk for well over a week. If he was still affected after a week separated, did that mean he’d already been bound to her?

Evan hesitated for a moment. “I can’t say that I’ve ever been in love before, but I went through all the same things you did. If that’s love, yes.”

That could just be my Zhigaaah.
Zondra forced a smile that felt strained to her face.

He didn’t seem to notice it. “I can’t explain the way I feel about you. It’s powerful. It’s so powerful, it’s downright scary sometimes. I want to hurt people that hurt you. I want to hurt people that take you away from me. I want to protect you. I want to make you happy, and I don’t know why I want to do any of it. I’m not
unhappy
doing it. In fact, it feels really... good. How do people
know
they’re in love?”

Finding her voice was abruptly difficult. “I think you’re off to a good start. Most men never manage to say what you just did.”

He ground his teeth and offered a terse nod.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard,” she admitted.

Evan started rinsing the bath gel off her body, his gaze locked on what he was doing. “I think I’m in love, because nothing anyone has said to me in my life has ever made me feel like that one compliment does.”

****

“Zondra,” he called softly.

She stirred, stretching beneath the sheets. Her nostrils flared, and she hummed a happy note. “Breakfast.” A yawn followed, showing her hunting teeth. Her brow furrowed, and she finished her catlike stretch. “And something sweet.”

Evan settled on the bed and set the platter of food between them. “Birthday cake. I asked Tim because I knew it was coming up soon. Almost missed it.” He’d come way too close to missing the event.

Zondra scrambled to her knees, deliciously naked, the sheet pooling around her waist. “Birthday cake?”

“Well, white chocolate cake with coconut icing. I sent a comm to MacNair and asked him what your favorite is. If he’s wrong, I’m beating him senseless later.” A smile pulled up at his lips, but his stomach clenched in something that felt suspiciously like fear. What did it matter if it was her favorite?

It does!

“You asked Pap Mac?”

He offered one decisive nod of his head.

“Why?”

There was no easy answer to that. Evan shrugged. “It’s your favorite. Isn’t it?”
Please, tell me it is.

She dipped a finger in the icing and brought it to her mouth, a mischievous little smile on her lips. “Ummm... yes. Enough to make me consider not eating the meat and gorging myself on the cake instead.” She sucked the icing away with a moan of pleasure.

“And what would that do to your... sensitive constitution?” He pulled out his best impersonation of Tamsen.

Zondra sighed, and a forlorn expression settled on her face. “I wouldn’t feel very well for at least a few days. That much is sure.”

Evan lifted a cube of meat and brought it to her lips. “Then I suggest you eat the meat first and then the cake.”

Her eyes went wide, then narrowed. Her rising scent said he’d done something to arouse her.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Zondra,” he warned.

“Xxanian males feed their mates. It’s silly. It’s —”

“Tell me how.” Chances were it was important in their mating. Even if it wasn’t, if it made Zondra happy, he was willing to at least try it for her.
It is her birthday, after all.

“The male puts the meat in his mouth and chews it for her. Then they pass it, mouth to mouth.”

Evan stared at the meat in his hand.

“It’s okay if you —”

“It’s no worse than eating meat rare.”
If you let it go warm on the plate instead of hot. Who hasn’t while eating rare meat?

She moved her mouth as if to speak, but nothing emerged for a moment. “You’re saying you want to?”

Evan popped the cube of meat in his own mouth instead of hers. It was marinated in spices that complimented the natural flavor. It wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as it might have been if the meat had been bland.

Zondra watched him, her breathing low and choppy. Her nipples came to enticing little points.

He leaned toward her and parted her lips. The kiss that followed was hard and hot, and the meat spread between both of their mouths. Evan backed away, his head reeling. If this was what a Xxanian couple got out of sharing a meal, he could understand why she was so aroused by the idea. He popped another cube in his mouth, anticipating passing it to her.

Zondra moved closer, her fingers tunneling through the curls on his chest. Evan grasped the back of her head and brought her mouth to his. Passing the second cube was even more involved than the first had been.

The third followed. Then the fourth. The loudest sound in the room was their rasping breaths. Zondra sank to the bed beneath him, Evan stretched out over her, and the feeding went on.

It became a pleasant blur of touching and tasting. The kisses went on longer, and the time between bites of meat extended. Evan sank over her and fit his body to hers, his skin sensitized to every slide of her flesh against his.

Evan couldn’t mark the moment when it became more. One moment, he was passing meat into her mouth. The next, he was sliding into her heated body, his hands fisted in the sheets, his muscles bunching with each thrust.

Zondra’s sounds were sharp, and her talons against his skin were sharper, urging him deep into her body. Her hips rose and fell, and her inner muscles tightened and loosened, milking him toward release.

It was over in heartbeats, leaving them both gasping for breath, her
Zhigaaah
tantalizing his senses.

Evan recovered first. “Happy birthday, Zondra.”

She pressed to his chest, holding tight to him. “It is now.” There was a moment of silence. “What do you think of Xxanian feeding?”

“I still get to eat the occasional hamburger?” he teased.

She laid a smack across his bare ass. “If you insist.”

“It’s the most incredible meal I’ve ever had,” Evan admitted. “I’d be glad to do that anytime.”

“Family meals in the nest with
Gran-seir
are only once a week, unless there’s a celebration. Anytime we choose to visit, it will likely be something of a mini celebration.”

He scowled. “We are not doing
that
in front of your
gran-seir
.”

“Of course not.” She smiled. “Want to feed me cake now?”

“Mouth feed?” That didn’t sound as appetizing as passing shredded meat.