I panted for breath and he leaned over me, chest pressed to my back, head over my shoulder.
“So you’re awake,” he whispered in my ear, his hot breath brushing my face. “I didn’t expect to find out this way, but I admit it has an appeal.”
My cheeks burned at that, and I tried to squirm out of his grip. No way, not against that strength, but my struggles had their own effect. He hardened, his stiffening cock pressing against my butt. I whimpered, adrenaline coursing through me and burning out the fog that filled my memory.
“Karnac?” I spoke the name that came back to me, along with all the rest.
“Who did you expect?” He chuckled darkly as he spoke, and my blush deepened. “Who else would I be?”
“The Prytheen who attacked me?” I tried to be angry, but it didn’t come across well. My breath was short for other reasons. One of which was pressed up against my rear. I wriggled again, ‘trying to escape’ and it swelled again.
Karnac’s voice was rough and deep, his breath ragged. “Torgek? No. I killed him for threatening you. No one will harm you while I am near enough to reach your side.”
Flashes of memories surfaced. The hand on my throat, lifting. Death approaching… and then Karnac, appearing out of the snow like an avenging angel. I couldn’t remember much more than that, but that didn’t matter. He’d saved me, and here I was…
Turning my head to see his, I bit my lip. I’d started this fight with a fuzzy brain from the cold, now it finished with me confused by the lust that pumped insistently in my veins.
Karnac growled, prompting me to continue while sending a shiver of need through my body. My heart raced and my pussy pulsed with a desperate emptiness.
“You saved me, and this is how I reward you?” I swallowed before continuing. “Trying to smash your skull in a sneak attack? How can you be so…”
Words failed me, but Karnac didn’t. “So forgiving? Because, darling fool, I love you. You are my khara, and I will always side with you. Even if you do not wish to hear this, it is true.”
His words hit like a sledgehammer, smashing aside the wall I’d tried to keep up around my own feelings. I still wasn’t sure that I believed in the fated mates thing, but my body sure did. And my heart? It melted when he spoke, that dark rough voice speaking words of love into my ear.
I took a deep breath, inhaling his intoxicating scent, but before I could reply, Karnac continued. “Besides, who says I’ve forgiven you?”
Lifting his right hand, he moved back, breaking the contact between his body and mine. My moan of disappointment mortified me but amused him.
“What are you — oh!” His heavy hand came down on my rear with a crack like thunder and I jerked, trying to straighten up. Pinning me in place with his left hand, Karnac kept me bent over the table as he spanked me again.
Either the robe provided no protection, or I really didn’t want to feel his hand on my bare behind. My ass stung and I whimpered, my eyes wide and my heart racing.
“You can’t do this,” I whimpered, trying to sound angry. It came out husky, needy, instead. Okay, so my body was responding to him, that didn’t mean he wasn’t being a jerk.
“Of course I can,” Karnac said, and again his voice filled me with need. “You thought me too forgiving. I will not disappoint you: if you think you need to be punished before I forgive you—”
Crack, his hand came down again, even harder. And again, the sound of the spanking echoed through the room.
“—I am happy to oblige.” His voice, amused, arrogant and oh-so-fucking-sexy, vibrated through me.
“That’s not what I meant,” I protested, not sure if I was lying. No, I this wasn’t what I’d had in mind, but good god I’d never felt hornier. And Karnac, perceptive asshole that he was, knew it.
“You did, darling, even if you will not admit it to yourself,” he told me, pulling up the back of my robe and baring my stinging butt. I tensed, but the expected blow didn’t happen. Instead, his hand brushed between my thighs, parting them and teasing. I moaned and arched, his fingers coming away wet.
“See? Now I have to spank you for lying to me, khara.”
I squirmed helplessly, my face burning. He wasn’t wrong about my body’s reaction to him. He also didn’t sound annoyed or upset by my ‘lies’ — no, his hungry, lustful amusement made it clear that he just wanted an excuse, the bastard. The sexy, domineering, beautiful bastard.
He smacked my bare behind, the loud crack echoing and my body shaking. The burning sting his handprint left behind just made me want him more.
A second smack on my other cheek, leaving another handprint, another jolt of mixed pleasure and pain shooting through me. My breathing rapid, I twisted in Karnac’s grip, unable to keep up my denial any longer.
“Okay, okay,” I panted. “I’m sorry Karnac, sorry I lied to you.”
His grin could have swallowed worlds. Golden eyes blazing, he looked down at me.
“You mean you wanted this?” A light tap of his hand on my skin, a reminder of the penalty for ‘lying’ to him. I bit my lip.
“No, I mean that I wanted you,” I said, all in a rush. “I want you, Karnac. Please.”
Saying it out loud made me realize just how true it was.
10 Karnac
My khara looked so delightful, spread before me, bent over the kitchen table. I’d enjoyed making her writhe, pushing her to come to terms with her desire. But nothing had prepared me for how those words felt.
The urge to tear that gown from her back, to take her then and there, nearly conquered me. Instead, I pulled her up to her feet, up to face me, up into a kiss that left us both gasping for air. Her hands, small and soft and eager, caressed my body, making me pant and my cock harden further.
I carried her out of the kitchen, across the hall and into one of the pod’s bedrooms. Molly squirmed and struggled with my clothes, managing to undo my belt as I set her down. As soon as she was free, she plastered my torso with kisses, breathing faster and faster as she kissed her way down across my abs, down further as her clever fingers undid my pants and freed my cock. It bounced free, hard and urgently needing her touch. Not that she would deny me that.
Her fingers closed around me as she kissed lower still. Her every artless touch seemed designed to drive me wild, and when her mouth finally reached my cock, I was holding onto my self-control by a thread.
A kiss to my cockhead was nearly enough to set me off, but I didn’t want to lose control this early. I looked down, seeing the strange emerald green of her eyes looking back up at me. Seeing my joy reflected in them, as she slid my cock into her wide-open mouth.
Shivering with the pleasure, I slid a hand into her mane of red hair, guiding her down on me. It felt so perfect, so wonderfully right. With gentle force, I thrust forward into Molly’s mouth, feeling her moan around me. I wouldn’t last long like this.
But I wasn’t about to let my eagerness rob Molly of the joy I wanted to give her. Rather than let her drive me beyond my limits, I pulled her back, withdrew from her mouth. Her whimpering pout told me that she’d had other ideas, and I promised myself that I’d let her indulge them another time. It would be no hardship.