I set her by the tub and picking up a fresh cloth cut from one of my oldest pelts, I dip it into the water.
“You only want to bathe me so you can touch me.” She says this as she moves onto her knees. “I’ve figured you out.”
I ring out the cloth. “Mmm.”
She tugs it from my hand. “I can do it.”
My nostrils flare as she presses it to the bruised skin of her shin. The glistening water left behind entices me to lick it off. She works the cloth over her arms, neck, and finally under her dress.
My hands clench.
“Can I have a moment of privacy?” she asks sweetly.
My eyes snap to her face and discover she’s studying me shyly. Her cheeks are pink. I grunt and turn my head.
“More privacy than that,” she demands less sweetly. “It’s not like I can go anywhere, Vruksha.”
“Until you do,” I growl, slipping away and to our nest. Her quiet movements reassure me as I straighten out and repair the pelts. I haven’t felt comfortable using our nest while Gemma recovered, but perhaps tonight, I will join her in her sleep. I sniff the blankets she’s been sleeping in, sucking her scent deep inside me.
I groan.
“I’m done,” she calls out.
Dropping the furs, I return to her side. She’s dressed and wrapping her feet in fresh cloth when I do. I tug her fingers away and finish the job for her.
“You don’t have to keep caring for me so much…” she murmurs.
“I like it.”
“But I can do it myself.”
“And that matters how?”
She laughs, startling me.
“You’re not nearly as terrifying as I thought you were. If I’d known that first day what I do now—” She laughs some more, pushing her hair back. “Maybe I would’ve just followed you home instead of running away.”
“Perhaps you would have chosen me instead of Azsote.” I don’t know why I say it, but I do, the old jealousy returning viciously.
She’s quiet until I finish up with her feet.
“I didn’t choose him because I wanted him…”
I look at her. She’s digging her finger into the material of her dress, eyes downcast.
My heart ramps at the submissive posturing.
“You didn’t want him?” I ask gruffly.
She shakes her head, still not meeting my eyes. Oh, how I want to dominate her until she vows to let me rule her. If she allowed me to take over, I would impale her on my member and bind her body to me as I rutted her continuously for days on end. I’d make sure she’d never make it to the stars.
“I chose him because I thought he would be easier to manipulate.”
She goes quiet again, but I want to hear more.
“Go on.”
Gemma sighs. “I was terrified. For a minute there, I thought suicide would be a better fate than what awaited me. Males who barter for women like we’re nothing more than items to own are not good males. When Azsote snatched me, I wanted to get away from him just as badly, but in the frenzy… and when you came for me… Azsote seemed less likely…”
“Less likely to what?”
“Eat me alive.”
“If I ate you, then you’d be dead, and that is not my plan for you.”
She laughs again. “Oh, I know that now.”
She’s in a good mood today, a talkative mood. It’s odd. I like it. “You chose him,” I snap anyway, bothered still.
Her eyes finally meet mine. “If I could go back in time, I would choose you.”
“Why?” Give me more. I’m a greedy male.
“You’re…” Her eyes flick over my face, even briefly to my chest. I straighten, showing off. “You’re kind,” she says.
I guffaw, slumping. “I am not kind.”
“You are to me. I… I don’t know anyone else who would have done for me what you have.”
“I am your male.”
“That’s not a good reason. I still don’t know many human males who would do what you did. Maybe my dad.”
“Your males are pathetic,” I growl.
She swallows. “Maybe you’re right, but it’s not their fault. It’s how life is up there.”
“Do not make excusesss for them,” I hiss. “They do not know what they have lost when they gave you up, and as a male who knows what he has gained, they will always be lesssss than swine to me.”
Her lips twitch. “You have a way with words.”
I don’t understand her meaning, but I don’t care. I lean forward until my face is all she sees. I want to be all she sees. “Let me show you what you mean to me, female.”
Her lips part, and it takes great willpower to not capture them and taste her.
“I think,” she whispers. “You already have.” She tries to pull back, and I let her, knowing exactly that she has only one place she can go.
Down.
I lean over her, corralling her as she leans on her arms, further still, chasing her with my mouth until she’s flat on her back. When I have her where I want her, trapped beneath me, I close my eyes and breathe her in.
Honeyed and sweet. Her chest rises and falls as her heartbeat drums in my ear.
“Vruksha,” she says my name. But it’s not in warning or fear… It’s something else.
I want to believe she likes this.
Me.
I want to show her that I’m not like any other male, that I am the best. That if she stays, I’ll give her everything, and she’ll never be hurt again. I’m a fast learner. An avid one. I’ve done nothing but study and watch her, protecting and caring for her. Trying not to touch her, letting her heal. She’s healed now. Mostly.
I’m desperate for her to choose me. Perhaps it’s because no one has before, not really. Why would they? I’m a lone Viper male with a vicious streak. It was only a matter of time before I left my father of my own volition, instead of the other way around.
I plant my palms on either side of her face, caging her in. My fingers reach out, curling into
