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She flinched again, then jerked her head to the side in the human equivalent of a negative. “Not when you’re like this.”

“When I am like what, mate? Explain to me what I am.”

“Angry.”

A low laugh rumbled out of him, and for the first time he saw true fear in her gaze.

Good. She understood him well now.

Casually, he reached down and flicked a claw through the waistband of her breeches, ripping the cloth away from her womanly folds. She wore human underwear, the same pair she had worn the day he found her, and that infuriated him all the more.

Did she cling to her past so fiercely then?

Without a thought for the consequences, he shredded it, leaving her skin unmarked and whole despite his fury. A part of him whispered,Protect her.

And he would, always, even with the mating frenzy riding him so hard, it was all he could do not to claim her then and there.

Yet now must he impart a different lesson, one of a warrior to his defiant mate.

She trembled, though she did not cover herself, and the warm scent of her burgeoning arousal teased his nostrils. “What are you doing?”

“Whatever I wish,mate.” He met her gaze then, let her see the turmoil raging within him, the turmoil she had created with her defiance. “Do not cry out.”

He fell upon her then, lashing his tongue across the sweet bud between her thighs, driving her into a swift orgasm. Her thighs trembled against his face, and she held one hand to her mouth, stifling her gasps.

He rumbled his pleasure at her compliance as he ran his fangs along her unmarked thigh.Soon, he assured himself, then tested her readiness with one finger, careful even in his frenzy not to cut her fragile skin. Her tight little channel dripped for him, and he nearly purred at finding her so.

“Good girl,” he whispered hoarsely.

A strangled groan issued from her throat, pleasing him all the more. Such restraint his mate demonstrated.

He added a second finger to the first and delved within her, seeking her inner pleasure zone, stretching her until she shook and squirmed under his touch. Her second orgasm pulsed unexpectedly against his fingers, surprising him in its intensity. With his fingers still buried deep in her pussy, he shoved his fangs into her thigh. She jerked against him, then moaned helplessly, quietly as he had commanded her. And when he had marked her satisfactorily, he sucked her clit into his mouth and drove her into a third frantic orgasm.

Before it had completely faded, he withdrew from her, unfastened hisshinsek’uk, and shoved his breeches down, baring the hard, demanding length of his erection.

Her eyes widened as she took it in, though she remained silent and quivering, still gripped by the ecstasy he had given her.

He leaned forward and pressed the tip of his cock to her opening. “Do you trust me?”

She nodded once.

“What am I to you?” he demanded harshly.

Her hand slowly dropped to her lap, trembling against her torn clothing. “My mate.”

He slid his hand under her hair and clasped her slender nape, drawing her forward until their noses touched and he could draw her breath into his mouth, and give her his in return. “I will never let you go, Mia. Not even death will loosen my hold on you.”

“I know,” she whispered.

The mating frenzy abated abruptly, though he ached to bury himself in her, to feel her hands on his skin, to have her love him as he was coming to love her.

Was his wish so impossible?

He released her, stood, and tidied his clothing, then walked out of her office, closing the door quietly behind him to preserve her dignity.

The outer room had been deserted. Zoran stalked through it and outside without encountering a single soul.

His mother stood beside his conveyance, her sword drawn, her posture ready.