Page 170 of Tamed By Her Touch

He’d held her down and bred her—fucked her ruthlessly and bitten her like a wild beast! He stared down at the petite, fragile woman in his lap in horror. Clair was so little—so delicate. She’d been trying to help him, and he’d used her like a whore and savaged her like an animal. Was this who he really was inside, when the veneer of civility and science was stripped away? Was he nothing but a rutting breast?

The thought made him feel sick, as did the sticky sensation of his seed seeping out of her. Luckily, this made his mating fist at last begin to deflate. Soon he could free her of himself, Kalus thought. He didn’t want her to wake with him buried inside her.

As though in defiance of his wish, Clair chose that moment to stir. Her long lashes fluttered and she asked,

“Where am I?”

He heard her voice loud and clear…but for some reason her lips hadn’t moved.

“What’s happening?” she asked and again, her mouth stayed closed though he heard her voice.

It took Kaelus a moment to realize what had happened. Somehow, against all odds, he had Bonded her to him! He had knotted her and bitten her, injecting his essence as he came inside her and somehow, though he was a Hybrid, a Bond had formed between them. The voice he heard was Clair’s mental voice as she was waking up. She wasn’t speaking aloud—she was thinking and he was catching it through their mental connection.

“Kaelus?” he heard her think. “Is that you? Why can I hear you in my head?”

Frantically, Kaelus slammed a mental barrier into place between them. He couldn’t let her know they were Bonded now—she’d told him that she never wanted to be in a long-term relationship with a male again. And there was nothing longer-term than the Bond a Kindred male formed with his mate—it was a lifetime commitment that ended only in one or both of their deaths.

Kaelus hated himself.

Not only had he savaged her—fucking her so roughly he’d probably left bruises on her soft skin—he’d also violated her wish to never be in a relationship again.

What was he going to do?

Kaelus had no answer for that. All he could do was keep the mental barrier in place and pray she didn’t realize about the Bond. About his other violation, there was no disguising what he had done, he thought grimly. Though his mating fist was slowly shrinking, it was still inside her, still tying them together.

“Kaelus?” This time her voice was in his ear, rather than in his mind.

He looked down at her again, though he was almost ashamed to meet her eyes.

“Clair,” he said and then didn’t know what else to say.

“What…what are we doing?” she asked, groggily. “Are you…inside me?” She looked down between her thighs where the pale green dress she was wearing had been hiked up. “Oh my God—you are inside me!” she exclaimed.

Kaelus’s heart seemed to shrivel in his chest with pure shame.

“Clair,” he said hoarsely. “I’m so sorry…”

“No, wait…” She sat up fully, running a hand through her hair. “I remember now—Sendar injected you with the virus and you came down here and locked yourself down so you couldn’t hurt me.”

“I didn’t do a very good job of that.” Kaelus couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Gods, Clair, I’m so fucking sorry!”

“It…it’s okay.” She gave a shaky laugh. “But, uh, when do we—you know—come apart?” She looked down again to where they were joined.

“Very soon,” Kaelus promised. His heart hurt with shame. “I know I was rough with you,” he said in a low voice. “I know I hurt you.”

“Well, you did get a little rough,” Clair admitted. “But I knew what I was signing up for.”

You didn’t know I would Bond you to me and cross all your boundaries, Kaelus thought bitterly. You didn’t know I would betray you in the worst way possible.

“What was that?” Clair frowned at him and cocked her head to one side. “Did you say something?” she asked Kaelus.

Realizing that his mental barrier must have slipped, he did his best to shore it up.

“No, I said nothing,” he growled.

“Oh God, I kind of can’t believe we did this,” Clair said, wincing as she wiggled again. “I mean, it’s way past what we agreed to do when we started this mission.”

If only she knew how far past the limits they had gone, Kaelus thought. But he had to keep it a secret from her. As long as he kept the barrier up and was careful not to think too loudly—if that was even possible—the Bond might fade in time, if he put enough distance between them.