So much for any sense of self-preservation.
Terri watched him curiously as she ate. Unlike a human, Veral seemed to not be disturbed at all or even really notice the distance. She bit back a smile and stuffed more food into her mouth. He probably considered it another human eccentricity that was tolerable regardless of whether or not it was considered rude in his culture. She couldn’t help but stare. He was crouched beside her, close enough that she could reach out and touch the bunched muscles of his thigh.
It was a far cry from his earlier behavior. In fact, he was carefully stripping meat and handing her one bite-sized morsel at a time. He ate as well, but he was so attentive to her needs that she wondered what provoked the shift in his disposition toward her when earlier he was making every effort to stay as far away from her as possible.
“All right, what gives?” she asked abruptly and then winced at her lack of tact. He was being nice to her and she was accusing him of an ulterior motive.
One horned brow lifted. “Gives what?”
Terri huffed. “I mean—I’ve noticed you’ve been trying to stay as far away from me as possible, like I had a disease you were concerned over catching. So why are you being nice to me and coming near me again?”
He tilted his head. “Is this the reason you were silent and not speaking ceaselessly in your normal habit?”
She flushed at the observation. She knew she had what her father laughingly called verbal diarrhea, without even the grace of a mental filter to save anyone in her company from hearing anything at all that sprang to her mind. Maybe she had chattered too much at the alien over the days if he found her silencethatunusual.
“I didn’t think there was anything worth saying if you didn’t want to be around me. I wastryingto be considerate,” she muttered.
His arctic and silver eyes narrowed on her. “You were insulted and reacting with anger,” he corrected. She felt her face getting hotter but shrugged in a manner that she hoped appeared to be nonchalant. Veral chuffed knowingly, adding to her humiliation. Terri thought of moving away from him when a thick arm banded in front of her, stopping all movement as he held her in place. He leaned in against her, his head lowered, and Veral’s blunt, broad nose trailed along her jaw in a manner that made her belly clench with desire at the hot fan of breath over her skin. He nuzzled her as his lips dropped down to her ear.
“Iwastrying to escape you,” he hissed softly in her ear. “Your presence is overwhelming to my systems. The delectable scent of your pheromones, your inquisitiveness, your spirit, even the sound of your voice…” he whispered and brushed his nose against the rim of her ear. A shiver ran down her spine. “I thought to escape you, but there is no escape. I couldn’t even leave the city before my processors refused to cooperate. My systems will not allow me to part from you now. You have awakened something in me that should have been left to sleep, little human, and now you will have to suffer the consequences.”
“What consequences?” she rasped. She was proud of herself for getting the words out. Her tongue wasn’t following directions and her entire body tingled with awareness. She tried to keep from panting and prayed that he didn’t notice the way moisture was slipping out from between her thighs on the wave of arousal crashing over her.
Veral drew away, his thick lips nipping at her ear with only the slightest sting of his teeth. The feeling shot straight down to her clit and her hips jerked in reaction. One large hand pressed on her pelvis, capturing her and dragging her against his body as he held her still. “Not yet,” he growled huskily, his voice low and intimate. He nuzzled the nape of her neck and a breath panted out of him.
“Your smell…” He groaned. “It has changed. My oath, it is beyond anything I’ve experienced. My systems crave and seek it.”
Her breath came out in ragged pants. “You’re smelling my arousal. It’s my body’s response to everything you are doing to me. It is… a natural reaction.”
Veral surged to his feet, dropping Terri so quickly that she fell backward. Brushing her hair out of her face, she watched him in confusion while he growled and paced. The whips around his head twitched wildly, rattling impotently as he walked the length of the room repeatedly back and forth. With considerable effort, she reined in her desire as she looked up at him with concern.
“Are you okay? Your whips are going wild there,” she said quietly.
He shot her a confused look. “Whips?”
“Yeah, you know—hanging from your head,” she motioned with her hands over her hair in a demonstration. He peered at her with amusement and chuffed, his anxiety forgotten, which cheered her considerably, as the long, thin appendages lifted from around his shoulders.
“Are you referring to my vibrissae?” he inquired, his eyes pinning her even as they gleamed with humor.
“Uh, yeah… I guess so,” she agreed with a wide grin. “Vibrissae. Well, in my defense, the name I came up with was completely descriptive due to the way they whip around under their own power. I guess I could have gone with calling them head-tentacles.”
He immediately gave her a pained look. The appendages flattened against his head. “I am grateful that you do not refer to them in such a way. They arenottentacles. My vibrissae are both a secondary defense for my species as well as containing tiny, invisible receptors that helps me gather additional information from my environment for my processors to analyze.”
Terri smiled impishly at him before sobering. He seemed in control of himself. Now seemed like a good time to ask him what he’d meant.
“You said that you had to wait… not yet, specifically… what exactly are you talking about?”
Veral fixed her with a vexed look but rolled his neck, his vibrissae—she enjoyed the word—puffing out and twitching around him with the motion. “This situation is without precedent, as far as I am aware, among the Argurma. We take great pains to not bond outside of our species, and yet it seems that my biology has begun the process in reaction to my prolonged contact with you and my own interest and unfortunate sentimentality where you are concerned,” he admitted gruffly. “As I indicated, it has advanced to the point where my processors are constantly fixed on you and my systems do not allow me to exceed a distance more than several spans from your side. Even my nanos are coding to the bond, which causes me distress if separated.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered in awe. She still wasn’t sure what all was entailed in this bond he mentioned, but it obviously had a huge impact on his physiology. Enough to where he was understandably concerned.
“Human colloquialisms never fail to confuse me,” he muttered.
Terri waved a dismissing hand. “Never mind. Basically, I’m this enormous distraction for you… mostly because this bonding thing is something you cannot control.”
His lips tightened but he did not deny it. “You simplify matters too much. You do not understand.”
“Okay,” she drawled. “So, break it down for me then.”