“Garnis and Indranan? How?”

“Dr. Aster had fulfilled his promise to Leto’s father, who won some ridiculous number of Cage bouts and annual Grievances to earn conception. Three children, including Leto. Only, his mother and father were both Garnis, and Leto’s powers were clearly a mixture. He and Nynn are out there now, trying to find out why he’s half Indranan, and to learn the secret of Dr. Aster’s methods.”

He seemed to blink away the past, while Kavya held on to the present by an unraveling thread. “It could be as easy as . . . crossbreeding?”

“I don’t think anyone would call it easy.” Tallis shook his head against the pillow, tangling the silver-tipped hair she adored. “Just that it makes some sense. Rifts have split your people. Centuries of raids have been to gather breed stock from other tribes of Indranan, yes? Like Pashkah was gathering there in the valley?”

“Yes. Three thousand years ago, it was easier on all our populations. We reproduced without worry. Except the Indranan split according to geography. Some in the Himalayas, believing themselves closer to the Dragon, and some down by the seas—even sailing to Australia. We remained one clan, but births dropped off over a few centuries. During the original severance, six hundred men died. Can you imagine the extravagance of that much waste? These days it would likely level half the Dragon Kings on the planet. They died in battles to protect their women. Raiding parties. Mass rapes. The selfish gene—is that what the humans call it?”

“Perhaps. The Indranan method of mass abductions isn’t the way to go, but there might be merit in the thinking. We’ve become so fractured.” Tallis held her hands and kissed her knuckles, the backs of her hands, up her forearms, until he pulled her down for a kiss on the mouth. “What did we truly know about one another’s people before spending this time together?”

“Rumors and misconceptions, or missing knowledge no one bothered to fill in.” She touched the back of her neck. “Bonding rituals, for example.”

Tallis lay back, with his hands behind his head. She loved that pose. So utterly, confidently masculine. The muscles of his torso stretched in long lines, while those of his arms bunched in strong, potent relief. That his prick was a hot rod beneath her bottom only added to the sudden flush of her need.

“You keep coming back to that subject, Kavya. Makes me wonder what you have on your mind.”

“I’d show it to you if I could.”

“Old-fashioned way and you know it. And no jokes, remember?”

Rather than answer, she stripped her underwear and his, then returned to her straddling position. It was a simple thing to lift her hips, position his shaft, and sink onto it with one long, moaning, melting move.

Tallis hissed. “Bathatéi.”

“What?”

“You sinking down on me. No pleading or bargains or nauseating anger. You’re what I never knew I truly needed. It’s a miracle, Kavya.”

“No,” she said, rocking her pelvis. “It’s just real.”

He arched off the mattress, pushing deep. Kavya set their pace. Although Tallis massaged and toyed with her breasts, wearing an equally stunned, bemused look, she used his chest to more purpose: for balance as she lifted and lowered at the command of instinct. She would come quickly this way. The angle suited her body. The speed of it was a complete surprise. Another four or five quick bursts of her hips against his and she cried out, arching into his tight hands.

“Dragon damn.” Tallis gathered her close. He whispered near her ear, lips tucked in her hair. “Do you know what you do to me?”

“Tell me,” she said, dazed and gasping.

He was still achingly hard within her. She would only need another few rolls of her hips to come again. She moved. Tallis cursed. He smacked his hands against her ass and held on with a fierce grip as she writhed, using him, grinding down, over, around his cock. The second orgasm blacked out her mind and snapped through her body with even more potency. Something was building in her, and she didn’t know . . . didn’t know . . .

“Tell me.” She licked the sweat from his neck. “Tell me what I do to you.”

“You make me want to push you off me right now.”

“What?” Kavya tried to sit up and see his expression, but he held tighter. His hips picked up speed and revealed his selfish intent.

“Give me the word,” he said on a grunting thrust. “I’d push you off me, stalk down the hall to find my family, and ask them to acknowledge our union.” He grasped the back of her neck. With two fingers he pinched the scruff. “Then I’d slam the door behind me, toss you down, and fuck you how we both want. I’d claim you. My teeth here. For good this time. I wouldn’t let go until we both came. Until you’d screamed out your pain and pleasure, and I’d given you everything I can give. We’d be joined forever.” He was thrusting in earnest now, urging Kavya toward another release. “That’s what you do to me, Kavya of Indranan. That’s where you take my mind and how you tempt my body and how you erase what’s left of my sanity.”

“Does it feel insane?” She groaned, then sucked hard where his neck joined his torso. That curve was meant for mouths, lips, teeth. She sucked until she was certain a bruise would appear come morning. “It feels hectic and selfish, but does it feel insane?”

“No,” he said on a sharp gasp. “It feels primal. I want to mark what’s mine. You’re mine, Kavya.”

“Then do it. Tell them to acknowledge us. I want your teeth on my nape and your cock inside me.”

“Off.”

Kavya could hardly believe the words she’d thrown down—a dare as powerful as his. He was telling her to get off. She’d been on the verge of a third orgasm, but she forced her protesting body to comply.

But he didn’t leave. He sat up, cross-legged, with his slick erection jutting between his legs. Kavya wanted to lean over and slip her lips around his hard length. She’d taste herself and Tallis, mingled, joining. A moan built in her throat.

“The last time I agreed to anything so life-changing, I was mesmerized by the promise of sex.” He ran shaking fingers through shimmering hair. “I won’t make that mistake again. Breathe, Kavya. You’re glowing like a candle. Calm down and look me in the eyes. If you believe what you just said, tell me again.”

Kavya looked down at her hands, which were already aligned into perfect hills and valleys. She dug deep beneath the layers of emotions and thoughts, old lives and new, Masks, memories that weren’t hers, fears, desires. She kept digging until she found a shining kernel of something innocent, young, and beautiful.

The effort it took to lift her head and take his stare head-on was tremendous. To accept the weight of his expectations was another challenge. But saying the words was not difficult at all. They reflected what she wanted, for herself and Tallis. “I want to be joined with you.”

“Why?” he said roughly. “Tell me why, and by the Dragon, Kavya, make me believe you.”

As if drawn to the need to touch fire or swim rough waters or, yes, stroke a wild animal, she took his hand. “I’ve never been with another man, and I never will be again. I’ve never been in love before, and I never will be again. Tallis, the only man I’ll ever love is you.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

In the three minutes between donning his cargos and striding down the corridor to Rill’s room, Tallis could’ve changed his mind. He could have changed his mind had he had a sensible mind left to change.

He should have been panicked. Echoes of the last decision he’d made while under the power of a woman with Kavya’s dear, familiar face . . .

He pulled up short.