“Yes,” he answered her unspoken question. “You can’t hide from me, little human. Your nakedness is a picture book for me to read. I shall know when you are cold to me and when you are hot for my cock. You won’t be able to deny your feelings.”
She shook her head. It was unfair. Unreal. He’d given himself the means to unlock her deepest desires.
“Don’t fight it, Zara. It is for your benefit that I do this. Astra lived a millennium ago when times were harsher and women treated as lesser beings. She submitted to Brynt and he took her as he pleased. I can’t be so callous, and neither do I want to be. You’ve infected me with something, Zara. It may not show like this ink, but it is just as potent. This way, I shall know when you are ready to be claimed. And not once, but over and over.”
She shook her head again, fighting her anger, while at the same time, in awe of what he’d told her. He’d admitted having strong feelings toward her. Feelings that he probably shouldn’t. She couldn’t help responding in kind. The ink betrayed her rambling thoughts. Instead of diminishing, the colors had darkened further. She backed away from him.
“You’ve tricked me,” she blurted. Was she that easy to please? A pushover? He’d made her ashamed of her arousal.
Galen cupped her face in his large hands and tilted her head back further. “No, little human, I’ve evened things up.” He snatched one of her quivering hands and thrust it against his erection. “Feel that. It’s fucking hard as a rock. I could throw you on this bed and ravish you, let you scream for mercy and ignore every word. But, I won’t. However, I can’t hide this from you. You can see it, feel it. It is my weakness that you see this and when I come, you bathe in my spill—there is no hiding my bliss. This tattoo brings equality.”
She tried to turn her head away as he brought his mouth down onto hers. It was futile. As their lips touched, she melted. The resistance ebbed. Beneath her skin, the buzzing sensation rose to the surface and the tattoo betrayed her darkest fantasies to him. She wanted him to ravish her and take her without consideration. She played the scene in her mind and it titillated, causing a spike of adrenaline.
Galen lifted his head and sighed. A deep groan of satisfaction.
“You’re going to come for me, Zara. Here on this bed,” he said.
Rather than pushing her down, he lowered her, taking her weight in his arms until she rested on the bed. He spanned her body with his, and continued to kiss and touch her. His clothing brushed against her bare skin and the fact he was dressed and she wasn’t only added to the thrill. She moaned, lost in the thrall of raw emotions. With her eyes closed, she couldn’t see the tattoos. She wanted to deny they existed. The anger over what he’d done remained. He’d gifted himself a view of her soul. She had avoided the humiliation of a public whipping and in its place, Galen had guaranteed she had nowhere to hide. But, she couldn’t complain since he hadn’t reneged on his sentence or commuted it. Instead, he’d ensured he could enforce it.
She should despise him. Go cold and frigid. However, to her chagrin, she hadn’t. She couldn’t even if she focused all of her thoughts on hating him. It was too late. Galen had already cracked open her soul and found a way in. The tattoo was a tool, a guide to help him navigate her, but the door had been opened back in his office, perhaps even in the courtroom when he spoke to her for the first time. The chemistry between them was far greater than that of the ink of the tattoo.
Her eyes sprang open. The Vendu and humans were made for each other. The perfect match of physical and emotional.
“Yes,” he said softly, rising above her. “You can’t deny it. Show me.”
He thrust his hand between her legs and forced them apart so he could have full access to her sex. “You’re so wet.”
The tattoos were black as the night sky. They seemed to float out of her skin and into the air just above her body.
Zara was suffocating with too many conflicting emotions. She had to let some of them go. He was commanding her and she would obey. With a lengthy inhale, she relaxed and let her body go floppy and malleable.
Sensing the change in her demeanor, he shifted his weight off her. Sitting on the side of the bed, he dragged her across his lap, keeping her belly up while her shoulders and legs were supported by the mattress on either side of him.
He looped his arm around her waist and hitched her hips up onto his thighs and knees.
“Part your legs,” he ordered.
He needed to use only his thumb on her clit. A brisk agitation. She was so close to coming. With her arms tossed above her head, she thrashed her head from side to side. He slid his finger into her slick hole, just far enough to make her aware of his presence. His other hand covered her breast and he squeezed it with his fingertips.
Galen masterfully worked her body into
a frenzy. She writhed and bucked as she came. Her clitoris throbbed painfully with ferocious spasms.
“Too much, too much,” she moaned breathlessly.
He ignored her protestations and continued to rub her clitoris with his thumb, milking the entirety of her orgasm.
“You are mine to command, human. There is no escaping me. Show me.”
Zara screamed. He was forcing her to keep coming, long after the first waves of her climax had abated. His display of dominance was driving her to another equally strong orgasm.
“Good girl, go on. I can see it coming.”
See it!
Of course, her tattoos mapped out her emotions. Opening her eyes, she saw what he could see. Gone were the dark colors and in their place, she was glowing with reds and oranges. Her upper torso and thighs were sparkling with a firework display of warm colors. Galen stroked his hand up and down her body; he would be able to see the intensity of her orgasm in those vibrant colors.
He ceased enticing her clitoris and gently cupped his hand around her mound. The pulsations eased and she slowly reclaimed control of her body.