Page 163 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Sendar did this, didn’t he? He hurt you somehow, right?”

His breathing became harsher. That was answer enough for Clair..

She moved another step closer but Kaelus suddenly yanked violently against the restraint around his wrist.

The metal shrieked and Clair stopped in her tracks—that frightened her more than the roar had.

Kaelus was enormously strong, but those restraints had been built to contain Savage males. And he was bending one.

His eyes locked on hers, and Clair saw hunger in them. Not ordinary desire or the warm, possessive lust she had learned to recognize since they’d come to Titus Four. No, this was something else—something feverish and compulsive. A mindless hunger seeking to get out and devour.

But beneath it, fighting desperately to remain in control, was Kaelus—her Kaelus. She tightened her grip on the data tablets she was still holding.

“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Tell me why the hell you locked yourself down like one of the Savage Syndrome males? Like one of the infected?”

His face twisted in terror and fury.

“Because I am infected—now get the fuck out of here!”

27

CLAIR

Clair stared at the big Hybrid in disbelief.

“Infected? You mean with the Savage Syndrome virus?”

She couldn’t make herself believe it, but Kaelus was already nodding.

“Yes,” he ground out. “Sendar injected me with it. Please, Clair—run while you still can!”

Though her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to break out of her ribcage and run away, Clair shook her head.

“And leave you to go crazy down here alone? I don’t think so!”

Kaelus looked desperate now.

“Then if you’re going to stay, lock down my right wrist,” he begged. “Please—make sure I’m restrained so when I lose control, I can’t hurt you.”

His words sent a cold finger of dread down her spine. He hadn’t said, “if I lose control”—he’d said, “when I lose control.”

He must feel the virus working on him, Clair thought.

Hurriedly, she snapped the metal manacle over his right wrist, securing it to the arm of the black containment chair.

At once, a look of relief came over Kaelus’s face.

“Thank you,” he said hoarsely. “But Clair, you can’t help me—please just run away!”

“No, I won’t leave you!” she exclaimed. “You said Sendar did this to you—he might still be around, waiting to finish the job. I won’t leave you here helpless and strapped to this awful chair!”

“But I can’t…I don’t know how long I can…can fight it off.” He shook his head, the look of agony coming over his face again…followed by the naked, hungry lust she’d seen moving under the surface earlier. “You don’t know what I want to do to you, my curvy little wife,” he growled and his voice was different this time—wilder…more primal, Clair thought.

“What…what are you talking about?” she whispered, putting a hand to her chest.

“I want to fuck your soft little pussy with my tongue,” he growled, his eyes blazing red. “I want to hold you down and put my tongue inside you and taste all that sweet honey you make for me!”

“You…you did that last night,” Clair pointed out breathlessly.