Kerena blinked. “I don’t understand.”
Worry passed over his face again and Ajos took a breath.
Kerena’s eyes moved over him.
In the light, he looked even worse than she’d thought before and she was beginning to realize those dark marks splattered all over him was the blood of the two aliens that had kidnapped her.
“Ajos—”
“You’re mine,” he began. “I know that now. I knew it before…but I tried to ignore it.”
“You ignored me,” she said.
“That was Akur, my twin brother.”
Kerena’s eyes widened. “You said you had a brother. You didn’t say he was your twin.” She searched his face for any sign of deceit. “Identical?”
“Unfortunately.” Ajos sighed. “I’m pretty sure it pains him that he has the same image as the damned.”
Kerena frowned. “What does that mean?”
Ajos reached forward and took her hand. “Come, I’ll tell you while we wash.”
He led her to another room that was obviously a bedroom judging from the bed nestled within the “forest.” He led her from there to another room—the bathroom.
Kerena gasped.
Above, it looked like she was looking up into the open sky. She could see the stars through the roof.
“How…” she whispered.
“Do you like it?” Ajos’ eyes moved over her face as if her answer mattered to him, and Kerena was momentarily at a loss for words.
“This is like a dream home…”
He smiled then, a full-on smile that made her breath catch in her throat.
Somewhere behind the vines, he activated something, and water began literally raining down from the sky.
“Keh-reh-nah,” he said. “I have to tell you something.”
With the “rain” falling down on them, soaking them both, she could almost feel the atmosphere around them change.
“Many moons ago, I was sent with some females from Tonvuhiri…traveling across the stars to our mother planet for the joining ceremony.” His throat moved as he swallowed and his eyes darted away from her to focus at nothing. “Everything seemed okay. Shum’ai females are…delicate…so they all rested in stasis pods for the long journey. Nama,” he said, “my sister, was with us.”
Kerena blinked, waiting for him to continue.
“She…died.”
He still wasn’t looking at her, but there was so much pain on his face that Kerena knew he was battling something deep within.
“I could not save her. She begged…and I could not.” Pain crossed over his eyes. “Losing a female…a sister…is a blow to any Shum’ai’s lineage. Females are gifts. They alone can carry on the family line by bearing young. And I…” Another breath shuddered through him. “I couldn’t save her. It would have been better if I had been the one to die.”
“How did she die?” Kerena whispered.
He finally looked at her then. “Her stasis pod failed.”
The similarity wasn’t lost on her.
When they’d first met, she’d been stuck in a stasis pod. She’d almost died in it.
“Is that…is that why you’ve been so nice to me.”
Through his pain, he smiled a little.
“A little—at first. And then…”
He paused and his throat moved again.
“And then what, Ajos?”
“I thought the gods were punishing me.” He moved toward her and pulled her to him. “I joined the Restitution as penance for what I allowed to happen to Nama. And then…you came along.” He touched her hair. “This beautiful creature that I’m drawn to. This beautiful creature that I’ve bonded with.”
He took a breath. “I want you, Keh-reh-nah. I need you.”
The pieces were slowly falling together. The house. The “forest” within the rooms. Everything he was saying…
Was he really saying what she thought he was?
“I thought…” she whispered, allowing herself to reach forward and touch him. Her fingers brushed over the skin of his cheek and Ajos closed his eyes to her touch, leaning toward her hand.
“You disappeared for three days…”
“I had to.” His golden eyes met hers again. “I begged the gods to show me a sign…”
“And you got that sign?” She searched his gaze.
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
He smiled a little then, but he didn’t answer.
Kerena released a breath. “This is a lot to digest.”
Ajos tilted her chin up so she was looking at him.
“Being without you felt like walking toward death itself.” He paused. “I think I know now. I am not being punished. You are a gift from the gods themselves.”
Uh, she wouldn’t exactly call herself that, but which girl wouldn’t take such a compliment?
As Ajos’ lips crashed against hers, Kerena allowed the tension she’d been holding within her to fade away, and she sagged against him a little.
“I want you, Keh-reh-nah,” he said. “I hope you want me too. Tell me you’ll give me a chance.” His breath was warm against her lips. “Tell me you’ll give us a chance.”
Kerena trembled. His words were powerful.
“I want you, Keh-reh-nah,” he repeated. “Do you want me?”
“More than anything,” she whispered—an admission, even to herself.
31
Ajos’ cock slipped inside her for the third, no, fourth, or maybe fifth time?
She’d lost count now. He groaned as he pressed her pelvis into his so hard, her clit rubbed against him with each thrust.
Sweet ecstasy filled her as he kneaded her breast underneath his palm.
Her cheek was plastered against his chest, his fresh wintery scent wafting into her nose like a thick musk.
Ajos pummeled into her until she couldn’t take it anymore and as she screamed his name, her orgasm flooded through her like a warm unending wave. In the midst of the sweet ecstasy, she leaned into his neck and nipped him lightly.
Ajos groaned, slamming into her one last time and she felt his seed rise from his base to flood her channel.
The effect caused another immediate orgasm and even as her body stiffened then trembled, she wondered how she was able to keep them coming.
She felt limp, but so, so sated.
For a few moments, he held her there, his cock still buried deep inside her.
“I don’t think I will ever get enough of you,” he murmured.
“You better not.”
Ajos chuckled and slipped from inside her, brushing against her leg as he moved to lie beside her.
His chest heaved at the same rate hers was, and she
