Chapter One
Present day, Captain’s quarters, Brintex Wraith Class Ship XTX
“The clothing. Remove it.”
Her shudder at his growl was the response Trel sought. The right amount of apprehension would provide emotional distance and protect her in ways he couldn’t. It wasn’t much of a plan and it mostly sucked. Pray the Goddesses it would be enough.
His gaze returned to the report-pad in his hand. Acutely nonhuman senses monitored her movements. He could have done it from the next room. This close, the slide of jeans down curvy legs was just a very effective way to drive him insane. Resisting the urge to glance up at her tiny indrawn breath as the bra dropped off her shoulders probably cost him ten years off his life. He could afford it. Protecting her meant she wouldn’t be with him then.
His sensitive ears cataloged her progress but nothing was more evocative, more compelling than the fragrance of her excitement. His command to remove her clothing had triggered an immediate response in that delicate spice.
Her arousal perfuming his quarters forced him to beat back the instinctive, possessive answer his nature clamored for. A cruelly limited range of expression was all he was afforded in this setting. Denial born of control could slice away a male’s soul. A fact he’d been unaware of before meeting her.
She was bare and Trel let her stand before his desk for several minutes, pretending to ignore her. Luckily he could regulate sweat, that indication of his emotional involvement would have been ridiculously obvious.
Over eleven Earth years separated them from the moment he’d known who she was to him. Every one of those years had been a test of his discipline. At times, honor was all that stood between her and the brutal revelation of his claim.
Brutal only described the choice he would not ask her to make, not what would have occurred had he been free to claim her as a Brintex should. Seducing his mate was supposed to be a sensuous, intoxicating journey into pleasure. One she could not resist.
Mated females enjoyed their Brintex Centurion’s undivided attention. Mate-bond meant there would never be another female for the Centurion. A male’s genetic code imprinted his female’s code in nature’s ruthless dictate that tied a male to his mate but left her free to choose another if he perished. In the warrior society, it had once been an essential element to the survival of their race. So, Centurions, deeply passionate and immensely powerful, were by necessity possessive, attentive lovers.
Trel jerked his thoughts from the luxury of seducing his mate with the erotic courtship he would have given her. This reality was what they had. He would make it every bit as erotic as he could but he would not permit her the pain of falling in love with him.
Earth females were hauntingly sexual like no other humanoids he’d ever encountered, but his mate, she was something more. It was her loyalty, her ability to love deeply that stopped him cold the first time he met her. That same quality was what commanded him now. He had witnessed her destroyed by lost love, that pain was something he would never allow anyone to hurt her with again, and that rule applied to him.
Letting her gaze at him added tension to the little female, a pleasing response as her scent ripened. His seven-foot frame was seated but perhaps still daunting. The heavy black mane streaming down his back and framing vaguely nonhuman features didn’t seem to bother her. Her scent had never carried the cloying aroma of distain or any of the other offensive human responses to new races.
He had been told Brintex appear somewhat feline to Earth’s inhabitants. Perhaps it was the tilted eyes and pronounced cheekbones. Yet, humans could look to one of their own native races and see the Brintex stamp. Aztec descendants were mostly Earth humanoids
Present day, Captain’s quarters, Brintex Wraith Class Ship XTX
“The clothing. Remove it.”
Her shudder at his growl was the response Trel sought. The right amount of apprehension would provide emotional distance and protect her in ways he couldn’t. It wasn’t much of a plan and it mostly sucked. Pray the Goddesses it would be enough.
His gaze returned to the report-pad in his hand. Acutely nonhuman senses monitored her movements. He could have done it from the next room. This close, the slide of jeans down curvy legs was just a very effective way to drive him insane. Resisting the urge to glance up at her tiny indrawn breath as the bra dropped off her shoulders probably cost him ten years off his life. He could afford it. Protecting her meant she wouldn’t be with him then.
His sensitive ears cataloged her progress but nothing was more evocative, more compelling than the fragrance of her excitement. His command to remove her clothing had triggered an immediate response in that delicate spice.
Her arousal perfuming his quarters forced him to beat back the instinctive, possessive answer his nature clamored for. A cruelly limited range of expression was all he was afforded in this setting. Denial born of control could slice away a male’s soul. A fact he’d been unaware of before meeting her.
She was bare and Trel let her stand before his desk for several minutes, pretending to ignore her. Luckily he could regulate sweat, that indication of his emotional involvement would have been ridiculously obvious.
Over eleven Earth years separated them from the moment he’d known who she was to him. Every one of those years had been a test of his discipline. At times, honor was all that stood between her and the brutal revelation of his claim.
Brutal only described the choice he would not ask her to make, not what would have occurred had he been free to claim her as a Brintex should. Seducing his mate was supposed to be a sensuous, intoxicating journey into pleasure. One she could not resist.
Mated females enjoyed their Brintex Centurion’s undivided attention. Mate-bond meant there would never be another female for the Centurion. A male’s genetic code imprinted his female’s code in nature’s ruthless dictate that tied a male to his mate but left her free to choose another if he perished. In the warrior society, it had once been an essential element to the survival of their race. So, Centurions, deeply passionate and immensely powerful, were by necessity possessive, attentive lovers.
Trel jerked his thoughts from the luxury of seducing his mate with the erotic courtship he would have given her. This reality was what they had. He would make it every bit as erotic as he could but he would not permit her the pain of falling in love with him.
Earth females were hauntingly sexual like no other humanoids he’d ever encountered, but his mate, she was something more. It was her loyalty, her ability to love deeply that stopped him cold the first time he met her. That same quality was what commanded him now. He had witnessed her destroyed by lost love, that pain was something he would never allow anyone to hurt her with again, and that rule applied to him.
Letting her gaze at him added tension to the little female, a pleasing response as her scent ripened. His seven-foot frame was seated but perhaps still daunting. The heavy black mane streaming down his back and framing vaguely nonhuman features didn’t seem to bother her. Her scent had never carried the cloying aroma of distain or any of the other offensive human responses to new races.
He had been told Brintex appear somewhat feline to Earth’s inhabitants. Perhaps it was the tilted eyes and pronounced cheekbones. Yet, humans could look to one of their own native races and see the Brintex stamp. Aztec descendants were mostly Earth humanoids
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