After all, there was nothing to live for, nothing to fear.
He would not tolerate this twisted power dynamic a moment longer. It was time to take his chance.
But he didn’t expect the sudden slam of his heart, the thunder of his pulse, and the roar of his blood when the liger transformed into man and stalked toward him in all his golden, naked glory.
Every fiber of Zai’s being snapped taut, standing at attention. His eyes stared intensely, unblinking, trying to absorb every detail of the vision before him.
No one had ever stopped him in his tracks like this across the entirety of his existence. Stopped his very heart from beating and lungs from breathing.
It seemed as if time itself had come to a halt.
The male was his height and just as broad, though his muscles were leaner, not the least because of the recent starvation he suffered. Zai suspected that even when he fully filled out, his form would always be more lithe and long than Zai’s own bulk, graceful in the way of felines.
His hair was a dark, multi-colored blond, growing in uneven lengths that framed his face and shoulders, looking both rough and silky at the same time, like a lion’s mane but more sculpted. It emphasized his hard, angular features—the thick, straight brows, strong nose, sharp cheekbones, deep hollows beneath, a wide, generous mouth bracketed by grooves, a stubborn chin and a jaw that could have been carved from stone.
His muscles shifted visibly beneath the thin layer of his golden skin with every subtle movement, every bulge and plane delineated in stark detail. In the barest of moonlight that filtered through the canopy of leaves overhead, Zai could see the fine blond hairs covering almost all of the male’s body, thicker over his chest, though still just a light smattering, narrowing into a darker line that split his torso and led down his abdomen to a neat patch around his groin.
There, a long, thick, half-erect cock hung. As big as Zai’s own in both girth and length, proportional to their massive builds.
Zai had seen countless naked bodies in his time, male and female. Dark Ones didn’t suffer the modesty Pure Ones and humans did. Sex and bloodlust fueled them all, some more than others.
Zai was one of the rare Dark Ones who either possessed more self-control, or simply didn’t suffer from the compulsion of basic needs as much as his brethren. He’d partaken of sex and blood from both males and females when they were freely offered, and when his own mood struck. But, despite having existed for centuries, he couldn’t claim to have much experience.
Thus far, the mood very seldom struck.
Well, the mood very much strucknow, looking upon the human form of the liger Beast for the first time.
Zai’s entire body vibrated with tension, like a gong that had just been obliterated by a battering ram of primal lust.
His own cock thickened, lengthened and hardened, throbbing with the beat of his heart, which jolted into beating again after the longest second of awed stillness. His mind was a complete blank as the Beast stalked closer.
But his senses came fully alive, more alive than they’d ever been.
His eyes feasted on the liger’s body. His nostrils flared at the other male’s scent—a heady, intoxicating musk that made a groan climb up Zai’s chest and throat, which he just barely managed to contain.
This was fucking ridiculous! What was wrong with him?
The liger was close now, walking right up into his space. He stood half in front, half beside Zai, his shoulder and chest brushing Zai’s, hip against hip.
His cock was fully hard now, a hot iron brand Zai could feel even through his leathers against his hip and side.
The liger had Zai’s leash twisted in loops around his forearm. He pulled on that rope now, pulling Zai’s arms painfully taut at the small of his back, making him lean his head back as the noose around his neck also tightened, exposing his throat.
It was exactly what the liger wanted, he knew. He couldn’t be more vulnerable bound like this, with his throat exposed.
Adrenaline fueled his blood and thickened his muscles, preparing him to fight.
But there was nothing he could do. Only focus on breathing, for air was increasingly hard to come by, forcing him to breathe faster, his chest rising and falling with each thin gasp.
Between the lack of air, the adrenaline and the sudden, inexplicable arousal, Zai lost track of his plans. In the moment, he was simply a trapped prey, standing upon weakened knees before a lethal predator.
A predator in every sense of the word, if the liger’s hefty cock gouging into Zai’s hip was any indication.
The golden male leaned closer, the rope around his arm wound tighter, so that Zai’s body was bowed taut and at his mercy. He barely put his face in the crook between Zai’s jaw and shoulder, and Zai both heard and felt his deep inhale.
A rumbling growl emanated from the liger’s chest.
Zai couldn’t tell if it was a pleased or frustrated sound. Perhaps a mixture of both.