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T he gargoyle king had a hand splayed over my belly and a tail draped across my hip. He had disarmed me, carried me to the bed, gotten comfortable as my big spoon, and I’d slept through it all! How could I let this happen?

“Mmm.” His warm breath tickled the top of my hair. “The best first night with a female in my bed ever,” he murmured huskily. “Thank you.”

I hadn’t moved a muscle, but Xaniban must have felt me stiffen upon waking up. Of course he had. My body was pressed against every hot and hard inch of his. Pretending I was still asleep was pointless. Talking him out of whatever he planned for us was my only option left.

“Why are you thanking me?” I asked tentatively.

“For surprising me like no other before you.” His voice carried a smile.

“I expected to find you still in the bathtub, or dressed and enjoying the view from the balcony. Or wearing nothing but your alluring self whilst splayed on the bed. Perhaps pleasuring yourself, having lost patience in my return.”

“Someone actually did that?” How sex-crazed were the women he brought here? Or was it all him and some sex pheromones at work?

“Never did I expect to find you curled like an unborn pip on the chaise, sword in hand. My great-great-grandfather’s sword, to be exact.”

“Can I have it back?”

“You do not have to sleep armed anymore,” Xaniban rumbled. “You are safe in my palace and in my arms.” As he said it, his tail around me tightened, bringing us even closer.

His chest was so warm against my back that I wouldn’t need a blanket in his arms, either. Just his naked skin against mine, our bodies intertwined–

Down, Sue! No thinking about how nice it was to be held like this. No wondering about the very long and very hard rod I could feel against the small of my back. That way lay danger.

“I needed the sword and knife to protect myself from you ,” I spoke firmly. “Since you kept ignoring my nos, I was hoping a blade to the groin would curb your enthusiasm.”

Xaniban laughed.

Great . I was amusing him again.

“You know little of my kind.” He patted my hip with his tail. “You wielding a weapon would have turned me on even more. I told you I love challenges. They are but another chance for me to prove myself worthy of your claiming.”

“Then give me back the blade!”

What he did was wrap his tail around my leg from thigh to ankle. “Maybe tomorrow night. My self-control is wearing thin already.” He nipped my earlobe like he’d done in the war room.

Again, that nip sent a jolt of electricity through my body. My nerve endings came alive, starved for more of his touch. How could he affect me so much?

“I was planning to just sleep next to you tonight,” he whispered huskily, “and bask in the joy of having you peacefully asleep in my arms. But then you woke up and… I am awake, too. Every single part of me, ready to pleasure you.”

Yes – no! “Enough!” I pushed against his hold, angry at him as well as myself. “I’m not interested, get it? No means no!”

He let me go, but before I could get off the bed, I found myself on my back. Xaniban loomed over me. Not a single part of him was touching me, yet I couldn’t move. I was pinned in place by his gaze alone.

“Say that again to my face.”

I stared up at him. He was so large and so powerful, but I was not afraid. His expression was not one of anger but confusion.

“Your lips say no, but your scent says yes. Which is it? For no gargoyle would strive for ecstasy against a female’s will.”

“But your pheromones make sure no one says no, don’t they?”

One corner of his lips quirked. “I assure you, my kind do not produce mating pheromones. What you feel,” he tilted my chin up with a finger, “is all you and me. A passion that will set us both ablaze, if you say yes.”

I was speechless. That couldn’t be right. If he was telling the truth, then that attraction I’d been feeling ever since our flight was natural. Oh God . I had the hots for a gargoyle.

“I am here to please you in any way possible,” he continued, “in the hopes that you will find me worthy of another claiming. You trusted me by coming here. Do you not trust me to bring you to ecstasy?”

My clit throbbed at the heat packed in that single word. I shook my head vigorously.

Xaniban frowned. “You are not interested in experiencing pleasure like no other? In reaching peaks of bliss no human male can take you to? I have been told by many that males on the ground can barely give you one ecstasy per claiming, let alone five.”

“ Five? ” I snorted. I’d heard boasting like that, and the result had been zero orgasms for me. I had faked it with my two exes too many times to keep count.

Not that it mattered now. Because I. Was. Not. Interested.

“Yes, sweet little human. As many peaks of bliss as you will of me.” Xaniban smirked, one fang showing. “Shall I start taking you to your first peak for the night?”

“Just stop it.” I hid my face in my hands.

If he kept going like that, I would say yes. I would give in to a gargoyle. It made no sense!

Sure, he looked like a wet dream, made me feel protected and special, acted like an honorable guy, treated his people with care, spoke of orgasms and pleasure when I couldn’t remember the last time I had experienced any… I probably never would, given the state of the world–

No, no, no. I should be focused on why not to sleep with Xaniban! Why was I thinking of reasons to give in? Why was I wondering how his mouth would feel on my skin, how the weight of his body would feel on top of me, how–

“You think me a liar?” Xaniban pressed on. “You think I make empty promises I cannot fulfill?”

“I–I mean…” I groaned. “It’s not that I don’t believe you… Maybe it’s you being so experienced that’s the problem.” Yes, that was a good reason! I lowered my hands from my face to look up at him. “Why would I want a womanizer like you?”

“You want a virgin?” He sounded utterly perplexed. “Why? A gargoyle who has just reached the age for a first claiming is incapable of a third of what a seasoned gargoyle can offer you.’’

“How old are you?” I blurted out, as if that would change anything.

“I have recently entered the decade of a gargoyle’s prime,” he told me with pride. Seeing the lack of reaction from me, he added, “I am 33.”

Oh. He was just a year older than me and in his physical prime. Not that it would change anything, it was just that–

His lips swooped down to catch mine.

I gasped into the unexpected kiss. A heartbeat later, I was already lost to the feel of his mouth on mine, no resistance coming out of me.

He left me all the space I needed to get off the bed, but I didn’t.

I French-kissed him instead. I joined my tongue with his for a sensual dance that had liquid heat pooling between my thighs.

It was his hand under the hem of my top, inhumanly hot against my bare skin, that brought me back to my senses. I broke the kiss and got off the bed as if it were lava. Heart racing, I whirled around to see what Xaniban would do.

He was still stretched out on the bed, a smile on his face. His lips were as swollen as mine felt from those scorching kisses. “Little blessing?”

“Look, this can’t happen,” I said shakily.

With his eyes drinking me in and his voice a seductive rumble, I was a breath away from jumping back in bed.

I was losing the battle with my horny self, but there was still hope of dissuading him.

“My body is a mess, you know. I had a healthy lifestyle before the zombie apocalypse, but then the whole world went to hell, and there were no more gyms and proper food and… Do you have any idea how much sugar and salt there are in canned food–”

“You are curvaceous,” Xaniban countered. Under his appreciative gaze, my nipples hardened further.

“What if I have a nasty infection down there?” I insisted. “Hygiene during the apocalypses has been–”

“My kind are immune to human diseases and carry none.”

“I haven’t shaved since forever. My legs will give you nightmares.”

“Wet dreams, you mean.” The fire in his eyes never dimmed. He sat up, his abs flexing deliciously.

“But I’m stinky! Look at these clothes, it’s gross–The whole of me is!”

“Your natural scent drives me wild.” He moved off the bed with feline grace, his wings flexing, his muscles bulging. “As for the clothes, I will remove them soon enough.”

I gulped, unable to tear my gaze away from the approaching gargoyle.

“I’m bad at this, Xan!” I said in a hurry, a last attempt to change his mind before he could reach me.

Because I couldn’t move away. With his wings spread open in their full glory, all I could do was stare at his magnificence.

“I’ll be a disappointment,” I whispered.

Xaniban stopped a step away, gaze fused with mine. “I could be a disappointment, too. We will not know unless we claim each other, will we?” Then he said with the most panty-wetting voice, “Come to me, little blessing.”

I stepped forward.