Page 46 of Bred By Sor'en

I jerk away from him, landing a slap on his hard cheek. It barely moves him, but my hand aches something horrible. “Enough! What is going on, Sor’en!?”

He snarls at me, his neck lengthening as he starts to slip.

I shove a finger into his chest before gripping his face, slamming my head a little too hard into his. “Enough… that’senough.”

The next few minutes are heavy and tense as he slowly slips into himself more. When the male is standing in front of me, still gripped in my small hands, I move away from him, but he doesn’t like that. Sor’en jerks my wrists roughly. But not enough to actually hurt his long purple tongue snaking out to lick the palm that touched Jin’rayal before smearing it with his oil.

My cheeks flush, but I’m too pissed to worry about that or the sudden throb between my legs. “Explain what you’ve done.”

His eyes are alight with anger and something deeper, something that looks a lot like shame. Each word spoken between gritted, sharp teeth. “I have kept our people safe.”

I shake my head, backtracking. “But they aren’t safe, are they? That’s why you need the dome. That’s why nobody is supposed to leave. Why don’t you have protected status?”

He scoffs, finally towering to his full height. His eyes cold and cruel, making my chest ache. “We are too dangerous and advanced to qualify. Leave it, Hue.”

“No! That… it isn’t enough! None of it makes sense!”

“Why does it matter?” He turns away slightly before focusing every inch of his cruel attention on me. “You still plan to leave us, do you not?”

The breath is knocked from my lungs. “That’s not fair.”

“It is fair!” he roars, jerking me into his arms.

I cry out at the sudden height as I smack, bite, and thrash at him. “You don’t understand!”

“And neither do you.”

“Fuck you, Sor’en!”

He laughs, but it's not a cheerful sound as I’m deposited on the bed. “Not tonight, my gift. It seems I have a sneaky mate to put to bed.”

My eyes burst open as I try to bolt, but he’s fast… so much faster than me that his hand snags my ankle and drags me back across the vast bed as I scream. “Don’t you dare!”

His hand captures my jaw, his lips commanding mine, slickening them with oil, and quickly, my head feels light. “I suppose we should both keep our secrets, sweet Draya’la.”

My eyes are getting too heavy to hold open, my kicking and hitting growing uncoordinated and sluggish. “I hate our secrets…” I whimper.

“I love you,” he whispers, tucking me into his arms before sleep takes me.

twenty-three

Hue

I love you.

It’s been playing in my head for days.

Sor’en loves me.

And he’s an ass.

We’re at an impasse, a crossroads where neither of us can seem to choose a destination. I glance up at him as he walks me deeper into the center, only to find his eyes already on me, as they always are.

It turns out that my asshole, jerk, creepy, good cook, sexy as all alien hell mate is also a bit of a stalker. Everywhere that I go, he is.

Endlessly.

Watching, listening, and at night he uses his oil to make me sleepy, sneaks between my legs and makes me come until stars dance behind my eyes and I’m lost to the world. But he hasn’tlaid with me, not in the genuine sense. I go to sleep angry, sated, blissed out in his arms while we both refuse to speak, and I wake to a cold bed.