His brow furrowed.
“Gods, please don’t say that! Can’t stand to think of you being out of my life completely. And as for the bonding, please believe me when I tell you I didn’t know I had done that. It’s not what we Kindred think of when we talk about forming a bond at all.”
“You don’t?” Lan’ara frowned. “Explain,” she demanded.
“All right.” He frowned, as though thinking how to begin. “In your reading, did you come across the fact that Kindred warriors form a soul bond with their females? A bond that lasts a lifetime?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s really that strong—it lasts your whole life?”
His eyes darkened.
“Or the lifetime of your mate. A broken soul bond is…devastating.” He shut his eyes briefly, a look of pain crossing his face. “So painful you’d do anything to avoid going through that agony again.”
Lan’ara understood at last.
“You suffered a broken bond when you lost your first mate, didn’t you?” she asked softly.
Need nodded.
“It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. And I didn’t want to take a risk on forming another bond and having that kind of pain again.”
“But how does a Kindred form a bond with his female in the first place?” Lan’ara asked. She was intrigued at the idea of a life-long bond between a male and female. She knew some animals formed such attachments but she had no idea that any humanoid species could.
“Well…” Need shifted a little, making her bite her lip as he moved inside her. “It’s different for every kind of Kindred.”
“Well…how is it for your kind of Kindred?” Lan’ara asked, rather breathlessly. “Tell me, Need. How…how would you do it if you were trying to bond me to you, for instance?”
She told herself she was only asking purely for information and to satisfy her curiosity, but she couldn’t quite quell the deep desire that filled her as she spoke.
“If I was trying to bond you to me?” Need mused, his deep voice suddenly sensual. “Well, let me see, sweetheart. First I would need to be deep inside you.”
“Which you already are,” Lan’ara pointed out, nodding down to the place where they were joined.
“So I am,” Need rumbled, his eyes half-lidded with lust. “Well, next I would have to make love to you. To fill you long and hard until I spurted my seed deep inside your hot little pussy—right at the end of your tight little channel.”
“Oh…” Lan’ara moaned, for he had started moving in her again, drawing almost all the way out and then thrusting in deeply, sheathing his shaft to the hilt inside her with every long, slow, deliciously hot thrust. She could feel the hungry flower inside her begging for more—begging for not just his shaft but his seed inside her as her pleasure began to climb to the peak again.
“And…and then what?” she somehow managed to get out as the big Kindred stroked deeply into her again.
“And then, at the same moment I was shooting my seed in you, I’d need to sink my fangs into your neck and inject you with my essence,” he growled softly. “Which would instantly make you come so that your soft little pussy would contract all around me, milking even more of my seed deep into your womb.”
“Oh…” Lan’ara moaned again. She had feared his fangs when he had first bought her at the auction, but time and experience with how pleasurable the essence they produced could be had greatly changed her view of them. She found she rather liked the idea of him piercing her above and below at the same time. It made her hot to think of his fangs buried in her neck while his shaft was buried in her pussy.
“And that,” Need murmured in her ear. “Would form the bond between us. And then I would never, ever let you go, sweetheart. I would love you forever—or for however long the Goddess would grant us as a couple. And I would spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”
Lan’ara took his face in her hands, looking down into the bronze eyes which were now so earnest as he looked up at her.
“Need,” she whispered, studying his face, “Do you really mean that? Do you really love me?”
“With all my heart,” he swore hoarsely. “I was a fool before. But if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”
“I love you, too,” Lan’ara whispered, knowing the words were true as they left her lips. “I…I didn’t mean to fall in love with you at first and I was so angry with you for a while it was hard to tell how I felt. But now, well…” She stroked his cheek and gave him a rueful little smile. “I guess I just can’t help myself.”