If he thought he was scaring her off, he had no idea. She didn’t have to think twice about it. “Yes.”
He struggled to sit upright from his slumped position and Saedra cupped his shoulders to assist. She couldn’t believe he was going along with it. Relief and hope loomed in all its brightness and tears wet her lids but she refused to let them fall.
His frustration at needing help was evident on his face. “What makes you think I can save you when I need you to save me?”
The question was full of sarcasm. Saedra’s answer was easy. “Those of the Guild don’t fail when they take on a mission.”
She wasn’t catering to his ego. It was simply the truth.
His expression hardened. “Then you equate your life to a mission? One without monetary pay?”
Was he teasing? She couldn’t tell since she had no one who shared humor with her. “I don’t have any funds to tempt or convince you. The only offer I have, the only thing you might want with value—is your life. I can save it despite the fact I might not look like much.”
Everyone underestimated Saedra.
More intense staring from him. She resisted the urge to squirm and held his gaze while her heart thrummed a discordant note. Please don’t refuse. Please don’t.
“Tell me who you really are,” came the rough demand.
There were some things she couldn’t share. Namely her father. He might not believe her or help if he knew her father was the reason he was here. “I already did. My mother named me Saedra. I wouldn’t lie about that.”
“Saedra,” he repeated in a soft voice that did things to her. Sexual things.
“If you betray me,” he growled on a wave of menace that trapped the air in her lungs, “there will not be a corner in all the worlds where you can hide from me. I will hunt you down until I find and kill you.”
Her pulse jumped then beat at a rapid pace. Saedra understood the risks. She was dead either way if she didn’t leave. Her nod was short and brisk. “I know.”
“You need to be closer for this to work,” he muttered as if he hadn’t just threatened to end her life.
Then the meaning of his words sank in. He was agreeing?! Saedra crawled closer before he could change his mind and looped an arm about his shoulder. He couldn’t hide his groans of pain as she adjusted him. “Hang on. Almost.”
Due to the proximity, their heads bumped but he didn’t pull away. Instead, seeking the crease of her shoulder and neck, he trailed his nose up the column of her throat where he inhaled deeply and exhaled softly. It was the oddest thing and parts of her body she thought long dormant or defective tingled in reflex.
Saedra blinked and tried to ponder her body’s response. This instant physical reaction she was having to him was new. There was nothing in her life to compare it to because her father would have killed any man she expressed an interest in and the ones who worked for him didn’t make any attempts to get close to Saedra though they made occasional lewd comments outside his hearing.
Except for Parson. Parson was in a class all his own.
As a result, she wasn’t as familiar with the behavior between men and women who shared an attraction. Her parents were not an accurate example.
“I have your scent now. It will activate my mating hormone.”
Snapping back to the moment, Saedra wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that. “Okay?”
“Pain is involved,” he whispered behind the shell of her ear where he seemed content to rest his face.
“P-p-pain?” Her voice trembled on the one word. His casual nuzzling had her sensitive flesh going hot then cold.
“Mmm,” he agreed on a hum. “Get closer.”
Saedra wasn’t sure that was possible. She was already crouched and curled practically in his lap between his thighs as he sat with his back to the wall and his legs stretched out before him. Cold seeped through the material of her dress, his hands at her waist a warm weight yet chilled.
Everything else about him was burning hot. Very hot. The back of her hand brushed his temple. Perhaps he had a fever. Her heart jumped. If so, it could make what they needed to do trickier but she wouldn’t lose faith yet. More concerning was the feel of her breast swelling with an unfelt before fullness and a tightening in her nipples as they rubbed against the cloth of her dress.
The sensation of Garik’s teeth scraping her throat distracted her further and Saedra twitched on a soundless gasp then settled. What had he done that for? Her body was too close to pull back and see his face.
His hands tightened on her waist and he seemed content with their intimate position. Every breath he took feathered against her skin and her core started a rhythmic clenching.
“Ready?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure. He hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to explain anything about the process of bonding for Gerelins. “Yes.”
He breathed out, then leaned back and she missed the soft touches from his lips on her neck. When he grabbed one of her hands in his and brought it up to his mouth, lips teasing in the same way they’d teased her neck, Saedra didn’t think anything of it. She let her fingers remain lax in his grip.
She was willingly being touched by a man for the first time and it was pleasurable. More than that. She could see now why women enjoyed it so.
His other hand came up to cup the back of her head. “While its typical to go for the throat, that requires an intimacy I don’t think either of us want. Still, I need to make sure it’s visible for the time when we eventually part ways. To warn others.”
Make what visible? He dragged her hand up to his mouth and flicked his tongue along the underside. Gray eyes hardened as they lifted to her. “Brace yourself but don’t scream.”
He locked his hand about the back of her neck. Fear shot through her, but Saedra didn’t have long to contemplate the meaning of his words. Piercing sharp teeth sank into the skin of her wrist. The wrist he’d been kissing only a moment ago.
Agony unlike anything she’d ever experienced ripped into her. Worst than when her father threw her into a wall in his rage and she’d broken her ribs and her leg. Worst then when she’d awakened to find he’d carved a jagged line down the side of her face, scarring her for life.
Her gaze flew to Garik’s steely one. He didn’t blink as his teeth savaged her. Betrayal a dull ache in her chest, Saedra jerked and fought, but his grip was relentless, holding her in place. Her eyes stayed on his, stunned by his unexpected attack.
“Why?” she whispered. Why had he hurt her?
He was like everyone else around her. A liar.
***
Fuck. Garik stared into the wounded eyes cutting straight through his ice-cold heart. The look was one of intense betrayal. It shouldn’t have bothered him. He’d gone on more assignments than he’d ever be able to recount and killed without a hint of remorse, hesitation or regret. Yet, here he was having an unfelt before attack of conscious.
As strangers, they didn’t owe each other anything. Not even kindness. Except they’d made a bargain. He drilled away the guilt and focused on pumping the hormone he’d released from his elongated fangs into her bloodstream.
She jerked in his hold, but he relentlessly kept his grip on her neck and fine-boned wrist. To part now would negate the effect and he’d have to start all over, renewing the pain and discomfort she felt. Garik just needed her to hold on a little longer and this would be done. He held her gaze, forcing himself to witness the accusation there.