He blinked in surprise. He’d never seen a human move that fast. Not even Jay.
“I was only going to reassure you,” he explained in a low voice. Draanth, his other side was showing.
Swallowing, he tried to raise the pitch a little so as not to scare her. “You have nothing to fear from that draanthic. I will protect you.”
She laughed, amusement wreathing her face. “Phillip? Oh, I’m not scared of him.”
He frowned and stepped back. Automatically he fell into a casual guard position, feet spread a little wider than shoulder width and his weight centered. It wasn’t that he felt threatened by her. It was just his default position for thinking.
“Your scent betrays your fear and agitation.” He tilted his head to the side as an unwelcome thought occurred to him. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you.”
She smiled at him. Just the softest, tiniest curve of her lips but it slayed him like no other opponent. His heart thundered in his chest, a warm ache spreading through his torso. He’d do anything to have her smile at him like that again.
“I’m not scared of you.”
She took a step forward and a sudden, desperate hope filled him. Would she touch him again? He wanted her to touch him again… Needed her to touch him again. He held his breath as she approached.
She stopped less than a step from him, her head tilted back as she looked up.
“I was scared for you.”
He frowned. “Why? That draanthic in there?” He chuckled, forgetting himself and giving her a wide grin. “He posed no threat to me.”
“Oh my god.”
Her expression went slack with surprise, her gaze focused on his mouth. She’d seen his fangs.
He snapped his mouth shut, holding his hands out placatingly. “I won’t hurt you. Please don’t be scared of me. Please don’t run.”
He wouldn’t cope if she ran, the predator would take over and force him to chase her down. If he caught her like that… Trall, she really would hate him.
“You have fangs… like a vampire,” she breathed, her voice low and breathy.
The sound hit him right in the cock and he was forced to bite back his growl. She wasn’t running from him, though, and her scent swelled and blossomed in the air around him. She wasn’t scared. It wasn’t filled with fear, but something else.
Interest… Fascination… Arousal.
Lady’s tits… Could she be? He’d been worried his nonhuman attributes would scare her, but could she actually find them attractive?
“What’s a vampire?”
His mouth operated without the apparent intervention of his brain, and he kicked himself instantly. What a dumb question to ask. But before he could correct himself, she leaned closer and smiled.
“It’s a mythical creature from Earth, uses fangs to drink its victims' blood. They’re supposed to be very sexy, lots of films about them.”
Ahh, she meant an atarvial. He didn’t correct her on the fact that atarvials weren’t sexy at all. A delectable little morsel like her would never survive an encounter with a being infected with the virus, nor would such a creature be interested in mating with her. It would view the softer humans as merely a food source. Perhaps it might keep one as a pet if it felt particularly generous, but that was as far as it went.
She flitted closer, her attention on his mouth. “Can I see?”
Surprise filled him.
“You want to see my fangs?”
He studied her expression and her body language, looking for the catch. He really wished he’d spoken more to Jay about human females and their reactions. He didn’t want to show her his fangs in case she screamed in fear and ran.
“Please don’t run,” he repeated. “Running would be bad.”
She tilted her head to the side, and he swallowed his groan with a croak. Whether she realized it or not, the move was a submissive one that called to his primal nature.
“That’s the second time you’ve said that. Why shouldn’t I run?”
Taking a chance, he moved like lightning and tangled her up in his arms. Her little gasp of surprise puffed against his lips and her hands closed over his shoulders as he pulled her off her feet.
“We’re predators,” he whispered to her, catching her gaze with his. “If you run… I’ll chase. And I can’t be responsible for what happens after. Understand?”
Her eyes were so wide they reflected the moon high in the sky above. She bit her lip as she nodded.
“Okay, no running. I can do that. You’re not scaring me, honest.”
He smiled and dropped his head to run his lips against her throat. “Liar. I can smell your fear.”
It was only a little, wrapped up in a whole lot of arousal, and he really rather liked it. And, if the shiver that rolled through her body was any indicator, so did she.
Gently, he lowered her to her feet, not losing contact with her. She leaned into him and looked up in expectation.
With a sigh, he gave in to the inevitable and grinned for her, showing both sets of fangs. Thanks to his heritage, he had both top and bottom sets. The lower were heavier but usually concealed.
“They’re…” She reached out a hand as though to touch but stopped it halfway, and her gaze flicked to his. “Are they sharp?”
“The top are,” he grunted. “For slicing and tearing. The bottom are blunter, for crushing.”
Bending his head, he nodded. “You can touch if you like. But be careful.”
He held his breath as she lifted the hand again, her gentle touch on his lips making him shiver. His arms tightened around her as she traced one of his lower fangs with a fingertip.
“This is amazing,” she murmured as she moved on to the other.
He chuckled, a low rumble of amusement in his throat. “If I’d known all I had to do to get the attention of the human female was flash my fangs, I’d have been grinning as soon as I got off the landing craft.”
He wouldn’t, of course. He took great pains to keep his fangs hidden from the rest of the Lathar, but given how fascinated she seemed to be by them, he couldn’t help himself. No matter how dangerous it was to him.
She smiled back, dropping her hand. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Do they get in the way?”
He frowned in confusion. “In the way of what?”
Her cheeks darkened and she dropped her gaze, not meeting his eyes for a moment. “You know… in the way. Like, when you kiss? You Lathar do kiss. Don’t you?”
“I’m Vorr,” he corrected, which was half the truth at least. “And yes, we kiss. No, they don’t get in the way… At least I don’t think they do.”
She blinked. “What you mean… you don’t think they do? Don’t you know?”
He held her gaze. “We have no women. Remember? I grew up in a village filled with my kin, so I have never found a partner.”
Her eyes widened. “My god, you mean you’re a virgin?”
Elise’s brain short-circuited at the idea the hot as Hades guy in front of her was a virgin. More than that, he was a virgin who had never even been kissed before.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, her eyes wide on his face. “Like… never, never? Not even anybody to mess about with when you were a teenager?”