Page 43 of Shielded in the Shadows

Suspended in time, we gazed into each other’s eyes within the warmth of his leathery wings. Judging by his fierce expression, he wasn’t just waiting for me to move. He wanted me to take my kiss on my terms. He liked my terms. He liked my rules.

“Good little bat,” I murmured.

The smile he gave me displayed all of his sharp teeth and both of his fangs and set fire to my core.

I closed the distance between us and kissed him.

CHAPTER 11

JARRIX

Everything beyond the shelter of my wings vanished from my senses the moment Keela’s lips touched mine.

She didn’t take control of the kiss; I never had any control to begin with. Her mouth commanded mine. Her lips plundered without mercy. Her teeth nipped and tugged in ways that fell just short of brutality. Her little pink tongue demanded not only entry to my mouth but my utter capitulation.

Surrender had never felt so good.

In my visions of our first kiss—and I wasn’t ashamed to admit I’d had many such visions from the moment I’d first seen her in action in that bar on Ghira Station—I’d been the one to kiss her, to take what she offered and revel in her touch.

Every vision I’d had paled in comparison to the reality of Keela Wren’s utter ownership of my mouth.

Her taste…her ferocity…her will were in this kiss and her vise-like grip on my hair. Without hesitation, she bent and broke and remade me in the endless moments between the first touch of her lips on mine and when she sucked hungrily, almost violently, on my lower lip and then finally freed it with a slick pop that made both my rock-hard cocks spasm and drip.

At some point, her nails had dug into the back of my neck, my tail had tightened around her leg, and my wings had wrapped so snugly around us that neither of us could move.

Every breath I took was full of her scent combined with my own. The perfume of her arousal threatened to bring me to my knees.

My chest was heaving harder than after our sparring match, but her breaths were even and she was smiling and satisfied as if she’d won something of spectacular value.

My mate.

If she decided to keep me, I’d be the luckiest bastard in the whole damn galaxy.

“Medbay,” she said, her tone husky as she slid her hands slowly down my arms, tracing my muscles with fingertips that seemed to leave sparks in their wake. “You’re bleeding all over my mat.”

I swallowed hard and found my voice. “Ground rule number two: clean up after myself. I remember.”

She patted my chest, green eyes sparkling. “Good bat.”

My wings and tail vibrated and my spine straightened. Gods above and below, did I just preen?

Reluctantly, I drew back my wings and uncoiled my tail so we could pick up our dropped weapons, clean them, and return them to her cache.

“Tail,” she said, pointing to her calf.

Obediently, I wrapped the end of my tail around her leg. Her smile made my hearts lose their rhythm.

Together, we left the cargo bay and went directly to medical. She let me treat her injury first when I argued that the captain’s health must come before the crew’s.

As she lay on the exam table, shirt raised to just below her breasts so I could heal her, her eyes followed my every movement. Not in the suspicious way she’d watched me during my first day on her ship, but as if she was trying to figure out what I was thinking.

My thoughts veered wildly between how profoundly good it felt to have my tail wrapped around her leg, how much I still disliked the sight of the injury I’d given her during our sparring despite ground rule number five, and how much I wanted to disembowel Captain Sjer for nearly killing this magnificent woman. Maybe we could track down the Fleeting Fancy once we dealt with the bounty⁠—

Keela’s hand closed on my tail near its base, bringing all those thoughts—and my hands—to a sudden halt. A guttural groan escaped before I could hold it back. I steadied myself with one hand on the table.

“Is it sensitive?” she asked innocently.

“What do you think?” I said, my voice rough. My cocks, which had remained at various stages of engorged since our sparring match, became hard as a meteorite once again.