Snow's words struck a warning to him, so his focus narrowed. The flicker of his eyelid was the only indication that his senses had picked up a disturbing revelation.
She was untouched
.
Completely uninitiated.
How could that be for a mature Familiar woman?! It was unfathomable.
What kind of a life did she lead in this place? How much did she really know of herself and her people? No Familiar woman was ever meant to live as life such as this. Salair Ner, calm on the outside, feverishly wondered what he would do with such a woman? He was a man who lived for heated pleasure; he was a sophisticated lover who looked for the same in his partners. In all his years of experience, he had never lain with an untouched woman. Not that he could not figure it out quick enough, he supposed.
After all, he had a certain expertise.
While the knowledge had momentarily shocked him, he did not want to put more importance on it than it warranted. Her state was more the result of the life she had been forced to lead, rather than anything else. More important, her untouched state clearly spoke to him of how estranged she was from her race–of which she had been denied the company of, along with her true nature. All of that would be rectified soon.
He gladly would see to it.
At first, he had not been sure about this turn of events. But, the more time he spent in her company, the more his instincts told him that he would have no other. It was strange the way the mating rituals worked for his kind. . .
Yet they were always
true
.
Salair realized with total clarity that he utterly
wanted
this woman. Forever.
As his alone.
And she wondered what made him expect such intimacies from her?
She was about to find out.
"You ask what makes me think so?" He lifted her fingers to his lips. "This tells me, Snow." He suckled on the tips, slowly letting his teeth scrape against the ultra-sensitive skin. It was her first introduction to his expertise. The scraping touch was perfectly pressured.
A
frisson
skirted up her spine.
Snow gasped and tried to pull out of his grip. He held her fast.
"Discerning such disclosures from a female are second nature to me."
Snow was not sure she liked being 'discerned'. It was rather perfunctory when one came right down to it. She lifted her chin defiantly. "I am not a simple rhyme that one picks up and instantly guesses the meaning to." He looped a wet section of hair behind her shoulder.
"How boring if you were," he strangely conceded.
"Perhaps I agreed to this swim a bit prematurely. You seem to be a man who expects these arrangements. Especially from women who live rather lonely lives in the far woods, on out of the main gate planets. Mayhap, I should make you wait for your–"
His laugh was full and rich. "I need not wait, Snow. I already claimed you the instant we met."
"Claimed me?"
She could not believe what she was hearing. She had not agreed to
that.
What kind of a weird race did she come from that a man would leap to such a conclusion?!
"The moon is high in the sky behind us, lengthening our shadows." Salair watched as his longer shadow covered hers. "I have already placed my soul upon you."
Her mouth parted in shock. "What-What did you say?" Her dream flashed through her mind. It must be coincidence!
"
N'taga.
Shadow dance. You are mine to take, Snow. And I intend to make it so this very eve." She began to bristle at his audacity. "I see. I should have been suspicious from the first. The way you just walked up and introduced yourself as if you had every right to–Wait a moment. . . ! So the female has no choice in the matter according to you?"
He sighed. "It is not about choice. It is about
mating
." Even as she fumed at his boldness, strong, muscular arms came about her waist, pulling her towards him. “It is the rule of life.”
"Such rules do not apply to me, Salair Ner! I do not live my life as a Familiar woman."
He scoffed at that nonsense. “You cannot dismiss nature. You
are
Familiar, and you will soon see that the rituals very much apply to you. I
am
going to mate you, Snow." His tone was firm and altogether resolute.
And he was through talking about it.
His clasp was like an iron torque around her middle, embracing, sheltering–yet, still
capturing.
She could sense it. She heard him snap off another lallax pod and then felt the
scented oil as he trickled it over each pointed nipple. Before she could speak, his mouth swiftly captured one fragrant bud as it bobbed just above the waterline. The pull of those firm masculine lips was like hot satin on her. Scalding, yet silky smooth.
Unapologetically, he suckled the delicious lallax right from her breasts. Then his own scent began to mingle with hers. Preparing her for him. Luring her to him. Snow could hardly breathe. She tingled form head to toe with intense
desire
for him.
Palms to her sides, the Familiar lifted her out of the water. He seemed to favor the position for he immediately locked her in a tighter embrace, keeping her still as his lips captured her. He drew and drew upon the sensitive peaks, tugging and playing with each distended nipple until she thought she’d go mad.
When her hands sank into his hair and clenched, he
growled
in the back of his throat.
It was the most wildly sensual thing she had ever heard. Her fingers shakily tangled into the long strands. "Salair," she breathed. "I am–"
He triggered the mating response.
A sudden breeze shot across the pond, but it did not cool her fevered skin. Why was she suddenly so hot? Her entire body prickled with need! For his touch.
His kiss.
His body.
Snow tried again. "I am–" She swallowed, but could no longer speak.
"You are what?" he whispered as he kissed up her neck and tugged on her earlobe.
"I-I do not know anymore." And she truly didn't. All she could think of was the touch of his lips, the feel of his wide, warm palms pressed against her back as he held her tight to him. The plushness of his skin. The hard impact of his muscular frame as he embraced her. His luscious scent. That
cool
wintry forest. That crisp excitement of awakened life. . .
His luscious scent.
His luscious scent.
His luscious scent.
Covering her. Entangling her. Filling her!
What was happening?
Snow blinked and tried to regain herself. It was as if she were sinking into a vat of a heady brew. She wanted him with every breath she took. What would he do to her next? she wondered, shakily. He began
by simply licking
her nipple. As if he were lapping up a bowl of creamy lallax. Over and over. In long, even flicks of his tongue.
Each hot rasp sent her spiraling. She was lost to this man's expertise!
Why had no one warned her what Familiars were truly like? Her heart began to pound in her chest, a steady, strong beat of escalating desire. Shivers ran down her arms and to her toes.
Under the water, the tip of his manhood bobbed against her inner thigh.
It momentarily brought her to her senses.
Snow placed her palms against Salair’s naked chest in an attempt to find her breath. And her sanity. "I think you–I think you still misunderstand the situation, Salair Ner. I will bathe with you in this pond, but after–" She thought about the delicious waves of enticement rolling off him and decided it would be foolish to send him away. Who knew when, if ever, this chance would arise for her again? "Mayhap, I
might
share a bed with you this eve. But, I have no intentions of mating anyone. My life is quite settled."
"Predictable," he supplied too helpfully, as he continued with the licking.
She pursed her lips. "Ordered," she shot back.
"Safe," he countered and bit down lightly.
"
Oh!
Whatever. In any case, I do not need a–" His finger curled under the edge of her chin. She could feel him bending closer to her.
He must be quite tall
, she realized with a gulp.
"Snow," he murmured in a husky kind of voice that she had never heard
any
man use before. Tiny bumps rose on her skin. She swallowed as she waited to hear what he would say next.
It was not what she expected.
"This Familiar takes you," he kissed the corner of her mouth.
"But–"
His finger across her lips silenced her.
"And he discards all others.
This Familiar will give himself only to you–And no other. This Familiar unites with you now forever.
For him there is no other."
And then, he repeated his words in the ancient Familiar tongue:
"Salair Ner K'Tea
Ei mahana ne Tuan
Salair Ner K'mea sut la
Ei ra Tuan
Salair Ner litna K'shintauk rehan
A jhan vri re Tuan"
Salair's hands cupped her head, and she could feel him lowering toward her for a kiss.
A mating kiss
? Snow blinked. Where had that thought come from? Was he really mating her?
He could not be!
She opened her mouth to forestall him, but he was already there.
In the traditional manner, his lips covered hers to take what was his. To capture. To seize…
And to gift.
Although playful at times, Familiar males were dead serious when it came to mating. They never veered from their intended path, nor allowed themselves to be swayed from the actions that they were bound to take. Which was why one could never be too careful, should one lie down with one.
A cat always knows where he will land.
Snow's lovely eyes widened at the touch of those masterful lips.
Smooth yet hard, determined yet pliable. They covered her much like his scent, alluring and enticing. They pierced every defense.
Gasping, she clutched at his shoulders. Then grabbed harder when she realized she could not breathe!
Applying a proper mating kiss, Salair Ner took it all. Drained the last breath from her.
Snow did what most mates of Familiar's do when they are given their mating kiss. She panicked and tried to get away.
He
growled
low in his throat. Part warning and part pleasure that the proper response was being given to him as he firmly, utterly placed his mating seal upon her.
Not until the fight in her had petered away and she became faint did he react.
He returned breath. . . But it was not hers. Symbolically giving her his life with his breath, the hunter was captured along with his prey.
Their lives were now forever joined.
When she exhaled, he would inhale. Thus they were attuned.
His arms dropped to her waist, and he brushed his mouth over her face to speak low in her ear.
"You are mine, Snow. This is a fact. Though you have not lived much of your life as a Familiar, I vow that will change." His sharp teeth nipped at her ear, causing her to shiver–even as her blood was thickening in anticipation of the physical mating they would soon share.
***
She trembled in his arms.
Her instincts told her there would be no escaping this man. He was not like the others; she could not hide away from him as she had always done, staying safe and content in her cozy home.
He was one of her own kind.
There was a feral quality to him now.
It had galled Salair that his mate did not seem to appreciate their rituals. What others longed for, she had too easily cast aside. He did not think she actually understood or sensed the depth of passion that their race harbored. Or why they were so sought out in the galaxy. The reason so many wanted to “own” them.
He would have to teach her what it meant to truly be Familiar.
Leave no doubt in her mind who and what she truly was.
Picking her up in his arms, he carried her to the edge of the pond. Snow clutched his long hair between her fingers.
"Wh-where are we going?"
"Not far, and yet, a long way," he replied cryptically. He followed her down into the tall grasses, coming over her in a seamless motion.
His desire for her was thick and hot.
It pounded in his veins, seeking a place inside her. He so wanted to take her wildly and roughly, as most first joinings were–but he knew that was not to be with their first time.
He needed to be careful with her.