“She is mine!Mine!”he roared and the fury on his face was frightening to behold. His golden eyes had turned red—blood red, Lucy saw—and his mouth was turned down into a sneer of pure rage.
“Yours…she’s yoursss!” the lizard man hissed faintly, but his admission came too late.
With a swift, decisive move, T’zaren twisted the scaly head around until there was a sickeningcrackas the lizard leader’s neck broke. His booted feet drummed briefly on the ground and then he went still, his eyes staring sightlessly into the distance.
T’zaren dropped the limp body and glared up at the purple sky. A long, ululating cry came from his throat and when he looked at Lucy again, his eyes were still red.
Crazy—he’s gone crazy!she thought and Dra’vik’s warning flashed through her mind. He had told her that a Stri’vor Monstrum could be pushed too far—that T’zaren could be dangerous. Like a tiger or a lion—a huge predator that could easily kill her.
Lucy’s heart started pounding even harder—her whole body was flooded with adrenaline from fighting with her attackers and now it seemed the dangerstillwasn’t over! The very man who had saved her might attack her if she wasn’t very,verycareful.
Her first instinct was to run but somehow she knew that would be a bad idea. There was no way she could outrun the enraged Monstrum and besides, he had done all this killing forher. Maybe she could find some way to calm him down. She had to at leasttry.
“T’zaren?” she asked softly, holding out a hand to him.
He was a frightening sight in the deepening twilight, his eyes glowing red and a snarl on his face as a low growl rumbled in his throat. But somehow Lucy stood her ground, despite the way her heart was thumping against her ribs.
“T’zaren, honey? It’s all right now,” she tried again. “I’mall right—you did it, yousavedme.”
The growl died in his throat and she thought maybe his eyes looked a little less red.
“Come here, okay?” she coaxed softly, holding out a hand to him again. “Come here and you can see for yourself I’m okay.”
He came forward on all fours, moving slowly and warily like a beast that isn’t certain if the one calling it will stroke its fur or try to harm it. As soon as he was within reach, Lucy slid her fingers into his hair.
“All right now—it’s all right,” she soothed, stroking him gently. “Everything is all right now—you can come back to yourself. Okay?”
A wordless moan broke from his lips and the big Monstrum wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face between her breasts.
“Oof!” Lucy staggered backwards as his muscular bulk collided with her much smaller body but somehow she managed to stand her ground. “It’s all right,” she said again, carding her fingers through his hair and caressing his bare, muscular shoulders, being careful to avoid the raw spot where the blaster had grazed him, though it looked like it was already headling. “Everything is all right now—thanks to you.”
T’zaren nuzzled against her, pressing close so that she could feel the rough scratch of his whiskers against the tender inner curves of her breasts. It was slightly awkward, given that she was mostly naked with her ripped sweater hanging open on either side, her skirt pushed up, and her panties lost, but it seemed to comfort the big Monstrum and calm him down so she didn’t complain or try to dislodge him. She just kept stroking her fingers through his hair and murmuring soothing nothings, letting him know that everything was okay.
As she did, she couldn’t help noticing that his back had turned a different color. Not his entire back though—just the groove that ran down his spine. A crimson red stripe that fanned out into vermillion and deep yellow on either side had appeared there.
Lucy frowned. Hadn’t Dra’vik said something about a Stri’vor male’s back changing color for some reason? She was almost certain he had but she couldn’t recall the significance of such a change at the moment. She was too busy trying to get over the fear and shock of having been attacked while trying to comfort the big Monstrum at the same time.
Tentatively, she ran her fingers down the multicolored stripe. A shiver ran through T’zaren’s big body and he pulled back a little. Looking up at her with eyes that were less red than before, he gave a low, intense growl.
“Oh, uh—don’t you like that?” Lucy asked uncertainly. “I’m sorry—I won’t do it again.”
But to her surprise, the big Monstrum ducked his head, baring the back of his neck for her—almost as though he wasaskingher to stroke the stripe that had appeared along his spine.
Carefully, Lucy did exactly that. She ran her fingertips lightly down his spine and when T’zaren butted her midsection gently with his head, like a cat asking to be stroked, she did it again and then again and again.
This light stroking on what was clearly a sensitive area seemed to have a big effect on him. The low growl in the back of his throat turned into more of a rumbling purr. It made Lucy wonder if his kind of Monstrum didn’t have at least a little of the Felinus DNA in them—he certainlysoundedfeline at the moment, anyway.
He’s calming down,she thought.But he’s still not completely in his right mind yet. What can I do? How can I bring him back?
Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. It might be crazy but somehow she felt like it would work.
Stroking the big Monstrum’s stripe some more, she gently pushed his head lower. Then, gently, she let one of her bare nipples brush against his mouth.
T’zaren took the bait at once. Still on his knees before her, he lifted his head and took the offered nipple into his mouth.
“Oh!” Lucy gasped, but she had no urge to push him away. In fact, she leaned into the intimate embrace, relishing the feeling of his hot, wet mouth enclosing her tender peak—this time with no silk blouse in the way.
She shouldn’t be feeling like this, she told herself, feeling dazed. She’d nearly been raped not ten minutes ago and the bodies of her attackers were scattered on the ground around them. She shouldn’t be feeling in the mood for anything sexual for a long,longtime—should she?