Whether she’d fought her cousin during her first months here, she hardly remembered. All she vividly recalled was that the focus of her existence became the mark on her back, which her cousin was intent in deciphering.
There was no escape from Oriana. It was among the first lessons she’d learned. Pitying herself was useless. And so was wishing.
Life in Oriana and in the compound had been so empty that she’d soon stopped longing for anything. In nine long years, nobody had ever taken a moment to comfort her, to hold her.
But now this big, brawny Foher held her in the gentlest way, like she herself might have held her favorite teddy bear as a youngster. And she wanted nothing more than to hold him back.
“Kavi?”
His lips were brushing over her hair, the move teasing her scalp. “Go to sleep, Liana,” he said huskily.
“But…” I want you to touch me. Kiss me. Fuck me. I want you to touch me like other Fohers touch their mates.
Liana had suffered endless nights listening to the Fohers mating under their pelts, Galina and Ajay among the most active. Galina was strong and sexy and Ajay was almost as magnificent as Kavi. Sometimes as they fucked their pelts would shift, exposing parts of their bare flesh. One night Liana had been near bursting when she’d caught sight of the muscles on Ajay’s butt, clenching with each thrust as he fucked Galina. With his legs ramrod straight behind him, and Galina’s tanned legs draped over his shoulders, Ajay’s swollen, hair-roughened sac had been revealed, looking taut and full as it slapped Galina’s underside. His cock as it withdrew had glistened with moisture. Liana had almost jumped to her feet to shove Galina out of the way and part her legs wide so Ajay would sink that big, stiff rod inside her and ease her pain.
She didn’t, of course. It was Kavi she ached for, Kavi’s touch her body craved.
Now even though pelts covered them, other Foher couples’ deep-throated sounds, so brimming with passion, caused Liana to soak her dress. Heat simmered between her legs, fed by those sounds until she was close to an inferno, and it just made her long for Kavi all the more. She ached for Kavi’s strength, the calm, steady warmth that seemed to emanate from his core. The brief taste of him that night in the cell was one that still teased her mouth, and her jaw felt weak with hopes for more.
“Kavi…” she began again. Slowly, she turned in his arms until she faced him.
They lay side by side, his big arms around her, and it would take very little effort to lift her head and kiss him. Her eyes were drawn to his full, plush lips, and she licked her own as her body began to feel languid. “Kavi, why don’t you—”
“Sleep.”
She scowled. And thought of giving a big applause to Kavi for reminding her just how much she appealed to him.
Clearly the one time he’d touched her had been meant as punishment. Not as something he might have actually wanted to do.
Liana sighed in defeat, wrapping an arm around his waist and burying her head against his neck. When her stomach still felt a little cold, she wiggled closer until she felt his flesh.
“Don’t. Move.”
He sounded strained, as if speaking through clenched teeth. Liana vaguely and silently mused that he’d break his pearly whites if he kept that up. “Don’t worry, I’m good now,” she assured. “This feels…perfect.”
He exhaled a shaky breath. “It is torment for me.”
She smiled. “I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that and stay right here.”
“You move too much and you…” He trailed off when she tilted her head back and blinked up at him. “Argh. Go to sleep!”
Liana sighed in contentment, snuggling closer. “You’re better than any bed, Kavi,” she murmured drowsily.
His arms tightened around her but he didn’t respond. Yet when she was finally drifting to sleep, she thought she heard his voice, low and husky as he whispered, “And you are better than anything.”
Chapter Four
Morning came too soon, and as they made their way to Nowhere, Liana was in her sourest mood yet. She was tired, sweaty and her limbs and arms ached. How Kavi expected her to keep up with the Fohers and their big, powerful legs, she had no clue.
She’d entertained herself for a while with the view of a beautiful blue-green valley below, then quit when they started down a steep, rocky slope that required her shaky concentration and even shakier muscles.
“That’s it,” she mumbled, plopping down on the flattened surface of a jutting rock.
For all of Kavi’s pretending not to look at her all morning, he noticed in an instant, stomping from the front of the line all the way to the back to glower down at her. “I vow you do this on purpose so your humans may catch up!”
She wanted to shout back at him, because she was tired and, frankly, she hadn’t had much sleep and it was entirely his fault. But he was quicker, stealing a gasp from her when he lifted her into his arms.
She was very ready to protest then decided to remain quiet and enjoy it. This was much nicer than walking, of course.