Page 50

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight of Raelynn spread out on the bed, feet planted firmly on the mattress, fingers working her clitoris. Discomfort pinched her face.

I leaned against the doorframe, watching her in silence, trying to gauge her condition beyond arousal. This wasn’t a voyeur session. This was about her well-being. As long as I continued to remind myself of that, we’d make it through the night.

She was careful to avoid touching her clitoris directly but winced whenever she accidentally did. When had pleasure shifted to hyperstimulation and physical discomfort?

My gaze slid down. She hadn’t moved the covers on the bed but had discarded the towel along with her shorts and panties on the floor.

Her disgruntled groan brought my gaze back to her.

She sat up panting and shifted as if to get out of bed, but froze when she realized she wasn’t alone. Her gaze locked onto me.

I pushed away from the doorframe, allowing her to see my face in the moonlight. The goal wasn’t to frighten her.

“Ezra,” she breathed.

I would never tell her how much I loved hearing my name pass her lips.

She sniffed and looked away, reaching for the covers at the foot of the bed.

“Look at me,” I commanded, keeping my voice soft rather than harsh, but leaving no room for refusal.

She paused, sitting back without retrieving the covers to hide herself from my view. Frustrated tears glittered in her eyes.

“Are you in pain?”

She scoffed. “Only when I touch myself.”

I wouldn’t ask her why she touched herself if it hurt. Her scent saturating the air, threatening to suffocate me, made it clear she needed relief. The only relief she’d find was at the end of an orgasm.

I considered waking Zeke and having him put her to sleep for an extended period to allow the starmin to leave her system, but then she couldn’t tell us if her side effects developed into something dangerous.

A thought occurred to me—one that I cursed myself for not having considered before. But given how our incomplete tether hummed with restless tension, cognitive impairment was understandable.

“Would you allow me to join you?”

“Huh?”

I didn’t answer her. She heard me.

“Uh… I guess?”

Ignoring my desire for a more certain, confident answer, I crossed the room and looked down at her.

She blinked up at me. “So, what now?”

“Do you recall when I cleansed your blood of gonthek venom?”

She looked down as if recalling our time on Earth. “I remember. More than I did when it happened.”

I reached for the covers and pulled them up, holding them out for her to cover herself. For us to have this conversation, she needed to both mask her scent and reclaim some power.

“The secret of my blood is mutual exchange.” I sat on the edge of the bed as she covered herself. “Something only Father and Mother understand.”

I needed to give her something. A secret this powerful would go a long way toward securing her trust. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe she still trusted me after Cholian—even if I’d stopped her ex-boss from killing her.

“What does that mean?”

I appreciated that she neither echoed my words nor avoided asking a direct question.