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Farin was beyond words even before his mate bit him. After that all he could do was claim her, no matter what danger they were still in. The only thing that kept him even remotely sane was the need to know she was not hurt.
He had to gnash his teeth and force the question through his lips even as he closed his eyes against the sight of his mate naked in his arms with his blood on her lips. "Are you hurt?"
"No," she said and then her mouth went to his shoulder and she licked the wound that she had placed there. She shuddered as if she was as overcome as he was. "I need..."
She did not finish speaking before his lips were on hers and he was tasting them on her lips. When she growled and wrapped that amazingly warm hair and those soft glowing arms around him he gave up even the pretense of control and pressed her to the stones beneath him.
Feeling every inch of her softness along his hard length he shoved his hands into the hair at her face and tasted his mate with tongue and teeth and lips until she wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed him over until she was on top of him. Her lips went to his neck and then trailed heat and bites down his chest. It took him a moment to get over the surprise of his mates’ strength before with another louder growl he flipped her back to her back and claimed her lips again.
His cock was suddenly rubbing against the open heat of her and he wasted not a moment more before he was pressing the tip inside that hot wet heat. But it was Ember who canted her hips and claimed his first thrust. Before he could press inside she wrapped him up so tight in that warm soft hair and took him deep. He wasted not a moment before he wrapped his jaw around the ball of her shoulder and bit down.
Then they were both moving, growling and snarling, as if it was more of a battle than a mating. He felt the click of her mind connecting fully with his and he dived inside her memories with ruthless intention, determined to know everything about this woman who had been made for him.
He felt the loneliness and yearning for a mate that rivaled his own. It was as if there were two people inside Ember. The woman who determined to go it alone but for her sisters, wanting nothing to do with a male who thought he had a say in her actions, and the more elemental beast that hunted prey and sang for a mate.
Her predator and his Tellox nature called to each other, at the same time they each challenged the other, neither of them willing to accept anything but what they found. A mate who was strong enough to hunt beside them.
Farin looked into those lavender eyes and claimed the woman with a kiss, even as the warrior claimed the predator with a thrust of hips and a bite of blood. He was not foolish enough to think he could tame such a creature, nor did he want to. As long as she claimed him right back she could be as wild and as dangerous as she wanted. But the woman that even now thought of escaping him, as he rested deep inside her, his blood on her lips, and hers flowing through his veins. Her he would claim carefully and completely until she no longer feared what they were to each other. Until she submitted to his claim as he did to hers.
He caught her eyes and held those swirling lavender orbs that showed both need and stubborn rebellion. He pulled back nearly all the way and then thrust forward forcefully, determined that she would yield to him in every way.
She gasped, and then purred as both her natures reacted to his thrust. She did not drop her eyes, neither did he. Meanwhile he did his best to mark her so deep she would never be able to think about leaving him.
Her talons found his back and cut deep, claiming him in her own way, even as she made sure he understood she was not something he would ever tame. The sentiment and the mark had him moving faster and harder inside that slick heat. He had not thought he could want a mate more than he had when he first tasted her blood, but the challenge and strength of her was enough to push his warrior form to the surface.
He ran his teeth down her neck as he thrust harder and faster again and again in appreciation of his mate’s strength, and his determination to mark her as deeply as she was marking him. Soul deep and without end.
With one last bite he growled against the soft skin of her neck and she came beneath him throwing her head back and finally, finally she surrendered completely, her body shuddering and purring as pleasure crashed over her and her skin once again glowed as if the power she contained was infinite.
The heat of that power washed over him as her warmth and wetness clutched at him in her pleasure. He came with a roar feeling power radiate through him from his mate and then, as if a circuit had been made between them, it ebbed and flowed from her to him and back again. He did not know if it was normal to have such a connection between mates, but he reveled in it. He would always know where she was. Would always be able to protect her. Neither of them would ever be alone again. For the first time in a thousand years Farin the Dark felt something he never thought he would. Peace.
Then the pit around them flickered and he felt a flash of unwelcome and intruding heat from an outside source that had his arms falling from his mate as blackness threatened to tear her from him. He roared in rage even as she did the same. Until his mind, once again, turned to black.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Farin paced back and forth across the small expanse of his cell. Across the way he could see Ember laying on the bed platform in her own, unlike him she had not woken up yet. The only thing that was keeping him remotely sane was that he had claimed her already, and he could see her chest rising with every breath.
The Galais had kept themselves out of sight, but Farin knew that they were watching them both very closely. He also had no doubts that they had done a barrage of tests on both him and Ember while they were still unconscious. But right now his biggest concern was that Ember was still out cold.
He needed to see her eyes. To know that she was unharmed and to find out what kind of changes his claiming of her had made.
With the Earth females there had been significant physical changes after the mating had taken place. But from what he could see of Ember her changes were subtle. Her opalescent hair now had strands of metallic gold flowing through it, and her skin, that pale luminescence had changed as well, though not as completely as the others he had seen. He would need to get a closer look, but it looked as if she had been painted with swirls of metallic gold paint. Swirls that you could only see on her shimmering skin when the light hit it just right.
Her power glow was gone, and her hair lay about her looking very ordinary, even with the flashes of gold strands running through it. He did not know if the claiming had taken away her glow permanently or if it was something the Galais had done to her with their cursed tests. He only knew that he needed to see her eyes and feel her mind touch, make sure she was unharmed, or he would lose his mind.
He fought the need to throw himself against the clear barrier of his cage. If he did that he would lose the small bit of control he was hanging on to and become the feral beast that was lying in wait just under his skin. That would not help his mate. If it would have he would already have shredded himself against the containment walls that separated him from Ember.
Instead he paced and let scenarios of every way he would rip and sunder Galais flesh soothe the savage beast inside him. And he watched his mate and waited for her to open her eyes and show him she was unharmed. And hoped that one of the changes that he could not see from the mate bond would be even faster healing.
Something in the atmosphere changed and though the containment fields seem to deaden sound as much as they kept him contained, he could practically feel the other inmates reacting all around him. Some of them stood as if preparing for battle, and others made themselves as small as possible, as if to hide from what was coming. They had done this once before he remembered. When the scientists had come the first time.
It was no real surprise when he turned and looked through the clear walls segregating all of them and saw the same three Galais bastards sedately walking the path, though this time they were not looking into the other cells and making
notes in a leisurely tour. This time they were all three coming with tunnel vision and he had no doubt that it was either him or Ember or both that they were coming to see.
After seeing what she was capable of, he had no doubt it was his mate that they were coming for. But for what this time? He practically growled at the thought. It took everything in him to stop himself from showing the beast they had awakened inside him by taking his mate. Instead he tried to keep his mind on what Ember had told him. They look for reactions and read everything you give them to use against you. Give them nothing.
All three stopped before his cell, looked him over, then as one they turned to the cell across from him and looked over Ember like she was a prize animal up for sale.
"Administer the drug to wake her up. I want to see what her body does when she is conscious once again."
Farin wanted to snarl at them to leave her alone but it would have done no good, so he kept still. Mostly because he needed her to wake up almost as bad as he needed to kill the three insignificant bugs harrying her.
With a few presses to her data pad the female obeyed and smoke surrounded his mate until the room was full of a pink haze. Ember started choking first, then convulsing, which made Farin fight back a snarl of rage, before the smoke finally cut off and began to dissipate.
Farin watched her with even more intent than the scientists did. But while they were silent and thought that he was, he sent out thoughts to his mate with a ferocious will that had her growling right back into his head.
Stop growling at me, she thought at him. I have enough to deal with without you making my head hurt worse.
They are at your cell, he warned her. His voice dropping to almost a whisper of mind touch.
He felt her thoughts still but saw nothing of her waking just from looking at her. She hid it well enough that even the sensors the Galais had in her room did not seem to pick up on it, if their impatience was anything to go by. Any idea what they want?
None, he answered making no secret of his anger. But I don't like it.
His mate snorted. Yeah, if only that made a difference here.
He winced inside at her words. Feeling both helpless and enraged that she was right. What he wanted made no difference here. He could not protect her and they both knew it. The idea was enough to nearly send him into a feral spiral of rage.
We're getting out of this fucking place, he promised, not caring that he had no idea yet how to make that happen.
She sighed in his mind. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad Farin. None of this is your fault. She snorted again and then rolled her body over to look at him between the watching Galais. If it makes you feel better I wish that you had not been subjected to this, but I am thrilled I am not alone. If that makes any sense.
Farin met her eyes and held them, willing her to see how much he meant what he was saying. I will make them pay for every insult they deliver to you. I promise you that.
She smiled at him and the scientists started mumbling unhappily to themselves, which is when Farin realized they had been talking, started asking their questions and neither Ember nor he had noticed.
He tuned them back in when Ember looked away from him and sat up, glaring at them. He could see the pain she was trying to hide, and she looked like she was sweating.
My body is pushing the toxins out of my pores, disgusting, but effective. Of course it would be a lot more effective if it worked when I was knocked out.
"We have some questions," The taller light haired Galais said looking her over with his dead eyes. Ignoring the fact that she could barely move yet, or that they had literally put her through the wringer with their tests.
"You have questions?" she asked, and he hated that her voice was rough and small, and her body racked with shivers. She shifted up slowly until she was sitting on her bed platform. He had a feeling it was as close as she could get to standing. "Since when do the Galais talk to their lab animals?" she asked and he marveled at the fact that his mate could still sound so disdainful of her captors, even as she shook from their abuse.
Farin wondered if they would answer her but to his, and from the expression on her face Ember’s surprise, he did. "It is not our usual form of study but there is so little known about your kind that can be accessed any other way. Our tests have not been conclusive in many ways so it was decided that you would answer the questions we have on your kind, and we would proceed from there."
Ember stared blankly at them for a long moment, and then she laughed. It was a bitter taunting laugh that Farin could see had the Galais stiffening. The tallest one, presumably the leader since he was the one that seemed to give the orders stepped toward the containment wall of Ember’s cell.
Farin narrowed his eyes on the man’s back and had to fight again to stop the warning growl that wanted to erupt from his abused throat. He did not know what they had done to him in their testing while he was drugged, but from the feel of his throat and the amount of energy his body had used to heal him, it was excessive.
He knew Ember had her own healing abilities, possibly more now that she was his claimed mate, but from the look of her she was even more depleted of energy than he was. He tried not to think about what they could have done to her to create that amount of damage and could not keep a snarl from escaping his clenched teeth. If he started to think about his mate at the mercy of these cold scientists he would lose his mind and his hold on the feral beast inside, which was the last thing Ember needed right now.
"I'm not helping you." Embers words brought him back to the discussion with a bitter edge to her words that told him he was not the only one close to feral at the moment. She had stood and faced her captors, and while he could not see much of her, her hair wrapped around nearly her whole body told him just how vulnerable she was feeling.
What skin he could see was bruised and lacked the glow he was used to seeing. Though like the golden edges that had developed in her hair, the gold swirls that had shown up all over her body from their mating seemed to flare as she spoke. It could be the lights from the containment shield hitting her as she moved, but he didn’t think so. Like her hair reacting to her emotions, he had a feeling those gold swirls were also telegraphing something, he just didn’t know what yet.
His mate looked like she had been to war and was standing on her last leg of defiant battle. He had to brace himself against ripping and tearing at the walls between them again. Only her eyes assured him that she was far from beaten. That and the low growl that came from her lips when she smiled despite everything.
The leader took another step toward her as if he could not stop his actions. He ignored her warning smile and her words. "Do you know how many you killed in the pit? Why did you kill all of the others but not harm the Tellox?" The questions practically burst from the male as if he could not help himself. "What was it that made mating with him acceptable?"
He stepped even closer to the containment field, so close the other two shuffled, almost as if uncomfortable at his actions. It was, Farin had to admit as his eyes sharpened on the males back, the first real emotion he had heard from the Galais since he had been taken.
"What was the singing you did to call them all to you, and how did you kill them? We have studied the bodies and they look as if they were slashed with thousands of small blades. But looking at the com feeds it was only your hair and claws that touched them." He gestured behind him toward Farin's cage. "Why was the male Tellox not harmed? Why was he accepted as your mate when none of the others, some possibly stronger had been rejected and killed? You were clearly reacting on instinct, not thought, so why?"
I can't see his face, Farin said into his mate’s mind. His displeasure as obvious in that mind touch he knew as his anger. Is that fear of what you did in the pit, or did your song lure him even through the com?
It is not desire that he is feeling, and he's not afraid. I was made in a lab like this one for the purpose of study and experimentation, believe me he doesn't see me as anything b
ut a lab rat. Her voice in his head carried some of the anger he was seeing, but none of the shaking. His eyes flew to her shaking form and realized whatever weakness she was showing was deliberate. Even more than the poor bastards he has taken for his experiments, I am nothing but a curiosity. To do with as they please. In their minds if I become too much of a danger I will simply be disposed of like every other failed experiment. But it would never occur to them that their own creation could be a true threat to them despite knowing that I destroyed the last lab I was in. I am not real to them, so what could they have to fear? And that, she thought darkly. Her satisfaction and need for revenge a dark promise that showed not at all in her face or bearing. Is going to get them as dead as all the rest.
The Galais shifted again so that Farin no longer had a view of his mate and his small clasp on control melted further. This time he could not stop the threatening growl that fell from his lips or his fists from banging against the energy barrier between them. It did nothing but spark and burn his skin, but it did draw the eyes of the Galais to him and away from his mate if briefly. There was some satisfaction in the wary looks two of the three gave him before turning back to Ember.
The words 'Disposed of like a failed experiment?' made it nearly impossible to keep his predator locked down. But the Galais were not paying him any mind again, all their attention was on the female in the cell across from him, so they had no idea the beast they had given their backs to. Instead the Galais leader flicked a finger at his com and the next instant something flashed across the containment field.
Farin felt more than saw his mate’s reaction to the pain searing her nerve endings.
"You will answer my questions." The voice was steeped in satisfaction as whatever was happening to Ember screamed across his own senses.
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