Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
As he swallowed and she put another piece on the tines of the fork, she felt like she was doing something positive, gaining ground on the slippery slope they were sliding down. With so little within her control, this was a balm for her raw nerves.
A small step in the right direction. Even though it wasn’t going to matter much.
In the long run.
TEN
DOWN IN THE Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center, Rehv emerged from out of the office and traveled on sure feet down the long concrete corridor. Passing by the weight and locker rooms, he arrived at the start of the clinic section, and he didn’t need to knock on closed doors to locate his Ehlena.
He knew exactly where she was.
And he didn’t announce himself with his knuckles because he knew she was alone.
Opening the door to one of the exam rooms, he stepped inside, and his shellan looked around her shoulder. She was across at the supply cabinet over the stainless-steel sink, restocking things with gauze packs. Dressed in surgical scrubs and Crocs, with her hair twisted up on her head and pinned by a clip, she was in her element as she stretched up to the highest shelf, pushing the white boxes with the red crosses all the way back.
Instantly, she turned to face him. “What’s wrong.”
Lowering his lids to half-mast, he drawled, “Can’t a male come see his female on the fly?”
Ehlena laughed and put a hand to the base of her throat. “Always. But you can understand why I jump to a not-so-hot conclusion—”
She stopped short as he shut them in together and threw the lock not with his mind, but with his fingers. Slowly. So she saw what he was doing.
“I’m going to the Colony,” he said in a low voice.
Her eyes drifted down his torso, going to his hips. His mink duster was unfastened, hanging in two swaths that exposed his dark red silk suit—and his erection.
“Are you,” she said breathlessly.
“Yes.”
He tossed his cane and stalked over to her, grabbing her body and yanking her against him. His mate’s scent instantly bloomed, and her mouth parted as she looked up into his eyes.
Just as he was about to lower his head, she put her hand on his sternum, right over his heart. “Wait, why are you going?”
“I have to have a conversation with someone.”
Ehlena closed her eyes and shook her head. “Be careful up there.”
“Always,” he said. “I’m the King, remember.”
At that, he took her lips, penetrating them with his tongue while he swept his hands down to her hips. The dopamine he took to control his symphath tendencies when he was in mixed company had one very bad side effect: He was impotent as long as he was dosed. But every time he had to go to the Colony, he needed to have all his faculties available to him.
Especially the ones that made him dangerous to others of his kind.
You didn’t go into a battle without weapons, and the chemical castration of his evil instincts was a death sentence up there. Even if he was the ruler of all symphaths.
Picking up his mate, he laid her out on the examination table and wrenched her knees wide. Then he clamped his broad hands on her thighs and rode down the taut muscles under the thin scrubs bottoms. When he got to her core, he palmed her sex and arched over her, going back to her mouth. As he rubbed her, he felt the heat.
And nearly came in his fucking slacks.
“I have to be faster than I want,” he muttered. “Goddamn it.”
Shoving up the top half of her scrubs, he pushed her bra out of the way and latched on to one of her nipples, sucking, licking. Back down at her waist, he jerked the tie out of its bow and then tore the goddamn pants in half. He wasn’t any nicer to her panties.
Before he unzipped himself, he eased back and took a long look at the female who was laid out before him, that loose pale blue shirt up under her armpits, her breasts exposed, her nipples tight, her legs wide open.
Her sex swollen and gleaming for him.
He wanted to go down on her. And even checked the clock on the wall, the one with the white face and the navy blue arms—damn it, he needed to get his message delivered STAT.
His hands were sloppy at his hips as he ripped his zipper down. And the second freedom presented itself, his cock jumped out, a reminder of how often it was on the back burner. As his slacks hit the floor and he freed the button on his suit jacket, the blunt head of his erection went right to her core, without any guidance from his palm—except he wanted to draw this out, even if only for a little. Wrapping a grip on his thick shaft, he thrust his hips forward and stroked her with his tip, up and down, up and down—and now a partial penetration.