“Gods, little Mistress—I’m so sorry you thought that.” Kalis looked horrified. He met her eyes firmly. “Let me make this promise to you—my Ursus would never, ever harm even a hair on your head. He’s part of me, which means he feels the same emotions I do for you.”
“Um, okay.” Jillian nodded, biting her lip. She didn’t want to ask what emotions the big Kindred felt for her—that question might lead them down the wrong path. She vaguely remembered the Grizzly thing roaring something that sounded like, Mine! Had it been claiming her? Staking a claim as it fought the three-headed Trollox that had been holding her?
Jillian didn’t know, and she didn’t want to know. She just wanted to put that awful memory out of her mind and forget about it forever.
“Okay,” she said to Kalis. “As long as you promise me he’s not coming out around me, I’ll believe you. You didn’t let him out tonight when the Nebrian ambassador grabbed me, so I guess you can be trusted to keep him inside.”
“He only comes out in times of great need,” Kalis said patiently. “I needed him many times during my Blood Circuit years. But I have no need of him here on the Mother Ship.”
“All right. Thank you.” Jillian gave a shaky laugh. “Sorry, it’s just—he’s freaking terrifying, you know?”
“Only when he’s angry and protecting someone important to him—to both of us,” Kalis assured her. “But my Ursus has a quiet side too—a loving and gentle side. He isn’t just a huge, raging monster I keep inside me.”
“I’ll take your word for that,” Jillian said dryly. But she definitely felt better now that he’d promised not to let the huge bear-thing out around her again.
Kalis seemed to sense that her fear and reluctance was melting away because he took her by the hips and drew her gently forward.
“Are you ready to let me heal you now, Jillian?” he murmured.
She nodded and found that her heart was suddenly thudding against her ribs.
“I guess so,” she said, wishing the words wouldn’t come out sounding so breathless.
“Good.” Kalis’s voice was a soft growl. “Because I can’t fucking wait to taste you.”
Then he drew her forward and began to lap gently at the side of her throat.
Jillian’s neck had always been an incredibly sensitive part of her—a hidden erogenous zone that had been neglected by almost every man she’d ever been with. But Kalis seemed to know how sensitive she was here—and how much his mouth on her affected her. He dragged his tongue in long, slow licks from her shoulder all the way to just under her ear, taking his time as though he enjoyed the flavor of her skin.
Jillian shivered helplessly, unable to help the waves of pleasure that coursed through her at this gentle treatment. His tongue was warm and wet and his breath smelled faintly of cinnamon. He seemed to be lighting up her nerve endings, sending electrical flashes of pleasure through her entire body with his slow, gentle licking.
Jillian bit her lip. God, why did it feel so good just to let him lick her neck? This really shouldn’t be turning her on—it was just about healing, after all. Not about…anything else.
But she couldn’t seem to stop her nipples from getting tight and achy or keep her pussy from getting wet. She pressed her thighs together desperately, trying not to feel what she was feeling…
And then Kalis was murmuring that her neck was healed and he was going to move lower.
Jillian didn’t protest as he opened her robe a little more and began licking along her collarbones and upper chest. Her red skin, which felt painfully tight, turned pale and supple again, and she was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the sunburn-like feeling in that area eased.
But then it was time for her breasts.
Jillian bit her lips as Kalis tugged on her silk robe again and looked at her meaningfully.
“Open for me, Mistress,” he growled softly. “Open your robe and let me heal you.”
Heart pounding, Jillian did as he commanded, letting the robe fall from her shoulders to her waist, baring her breasts completely.
Kalis looked at her for a long moment.
“So fucking beautiful,” she heard him murmur and then he was tasting the tops of her breasts, bathing them gently with his tongue as he erased the redness and left pale, healthy skin behind.
It didn’t take long for him to work his way down. Soon he was lapping carefully around her heavy globes, though Jillian noticed that he was avoiding her areolas and nipples. He handled her full curves gently—almost reverently—touching her as though she were precious and breakable.
At last, when every other part of her breasts was healed, he looked up at her with a question in his eyes.
“Mistress?” he murmured, raising his eyebrows and nodding to her reddened peaks.