15. Aurora

15

AURORA

S lade put me down on the side of the bed—which was an expensive floating mattress covered in a green coverlet—with my legs hanging over the side. Then , to my surprise, he sank to his knees in front of me.

“ What are you doing down there?” I asked, frowning. Though “down there” possibly wasn’t a very accurate description. He was so tall that we were still nearly eye-to-eye, even with him kneeling by the side of the bed and me sitting on it.

“ Healing you,” he said simply. “ Give me your hands, Princess .”

Bemused , I held out my hands to him. I had no idea what he had in mind—possibly he was going to put some salve on the palms of my hands, which were still raw from the fall I’d taken in the parking area.

But Slade didn’t produce any kind of healing ointment. Instead , he turned both hands over so they were palm-up. Then he leaned forward and dragged his warm, wet tongue over the raw place on my right palm.

“ Oh !” I jumped involuntarily and tried to pull my hand away.

But Slade didn’t let me. He had one big hand firmly around my wrist and he wasn’t about to let go until he was finished with what he was doing.

He licked me again, laving the stinging palm with his warm tongue over and over until it stopped hurting. Then he let my right hand go and started working on the left.

I held up my newly freed hand and examined the palm carefully. To my surprise, there was no evidence of the fall I had taken. The raw flesh had knit itself back together leaving nothing but a slight redness to the skin.

“ Oh !” I exclaimed. “ You healed me!”

Slade looked up for a moment.

“ Of course I did—you’re my wife.”

“ But how? How did you do it?” I asked.

He finished healing my left palm to his satisfaction and then looked at me again.

“ When a Brutal finds his Fated Mate , his body chemistry changes,” he explained. “ It allows him to heal her wounds, the way I healed your. And it allows him to do…other things too.”

“ What other things?” I asked, curiously.

But he only shook his head, the dim light of the nighttime glows in the corners of the room gleaming on his golden horns.

“ Never mind. For now, let’s have a look at that knee.”

I’d had my white silk robe wrapped around me but now he pulled it to one side, revealing my wounded knee. There was a jagged cut to the right of my kneecap where a piece of gravel must have stabbed me when I fell. It was deeper than the scrapes on my palms had been and I wondered if he could still heal it.

Slade didn’t seem to have any doubts, however. He looked up at me after examining the knee.

“ Okay , baby this is deeper so it’s going to take a little longer—spread your legs for me so I can get to you.”

“ What ?” I squeaked. “ Why should you need me to…to spread my legs?”

I was very aware that my cunny was still wet from the way he’d been touching me in the bath and I was afraid if I spread my legs he would see it.

Slade gave me a stern frown.

“ So I can reach you easier. Come on now—be a good girl and open for me.”

Feeling nervous and shy, I did as he said, spreading my thighs just wide enough for him to slip between them.

But it apparently wasn’t wide enough for Slade . Growling impatiently, he spread my thighs even wider. This pulled my robe open and put my pussy on display, just as I had feared. However , that wasn’t Slade’s point of interest—not yet, anyway. He simply leaned over me and started licking my knee, bathing the deep wound the sharp rock had left, over and over with his warm, wet tongue.

I was tense at first, but gradually, when all he did was lick my knee, I began to relax. I told myself there was no reason to get worried—he was just healing me. But the vows he had spoken at the Binding Ceremony kept coming back to my mind—the way he had promised he would taste me and bring me pleasure…

No , stop it—you can’t think that way! I scolded myself. You know how wrong it is for a man to put his mouth on a woman there! You know it’s sick and disgusting to even consider it!

But despite my strongly held beliefs, I couldn’t help picturing it—picturing Slade licking me between my legs. I wondered if his tongue would feel good there…then I pushed the question away. It was bad to think like that— wrong.

“ Hey , you’re pretty quiet up there.” Slade’s deep, rumbling voice pulled me out of my self-shaming and I realized he had stopped licking my knee.

“ Oh —are you finished?” I asked him. “ Am I healed?”

“ Mostly healed,” he murmured. “ But I think I see another place that needs healing.”

“ You do?” My heart had started pounding. “ Where ?”

“ Here .” Slade spread my legs even more, which caused my pussy lips to part as well. He reached between my legs and parted them wider with two gentle fingers. “ Well , look at that,” he rumbled, his golden eyes lazy with lust. “ Look at how hot and swollen your sweet little clit is, baby. I think she needs to be healed too—don’t you?”

As he spoke, he slipped one finger inside my folds and began to circle the aching button of my clit, just as he had in the bathtub. The difference was, now I could see him doing it. I watched, mesmerized as he played with me. His gentle touch sent sparks of need and pleasure through my body, making me moan and twitch my hips involuntarily.

“ What do you say, Princess ?” Slade laid a hot, open-mouthed kiss on my inner thigh and then looked up at me. “ Would you like me to heal you here too?”

It took me a moment to understand what he was saying.

“ With … with your mouth you mean?” I asked breathlessly.

“ Yeah baby, with my mouth,” he growled softly. “ Why don’t you lay back and let me give your sweet little pussy a tongue bath? I promise I’ll be gentle— I just want to make you feel good.”

Part of me wanted to say yes—his mouth felt so warm and I was aching for the pleasure I knew he could give me. But the old shame held me back—the belief that it was wrong and sick made me shake my head.

“ No , Slade —you can’t…can’t lick me there,” I protested breathlessly. “ It’s wrong for a man to put his mouth on a woman’s cunny!”

“ Why is it wrong, baby?” he murmured, still circling my clit with one fingertip.

“ Because it’s dirty!” I managed to get out.

“ I just washed you there,” Slade reminded me. “ Your little pussy is nice and clean—not that it wasn’t before. But it’s definitely not dirty.”

“ It’s just wrong—it brings a man low to do that—to put his mouth there,” I protested.

“ That’s not what my people believe,” he rumbled. “ We believe in worshiping our women with our tongues. It doesn’t bring a male low—it lifts a woman up. And it brings Fated Mates closer together.”

There it was again—the “ Fated Mate ” thing—this belief he had that we were somehow made to be together. I couldn’t encourage such a foolish idea, I told myself. It would only make things more difficult when we parted.

“ No , Slade ,” I said, shaking my head. “ I … I can’t let you do that. Please , try to understand—it’s the lowest thing a man can do on my home world. No right-thinking woman would ever allow it.”

He sighed but didn’t push me any further.

“ All right then.” He stopped touching me and withdrew his hand. “ Then I guess we’d better get to bed.”

“ What ? Just like that you’re stopping?” I had been getting close to that mysterious edge again while he touched me and my cunny was throbbing with need.

Slade shrugged his broad shoulders.

“ Sure . It’s been a long day and you need your rest. So let’s go to bed.”

“ Go to bed and do what?” I asked suspiciously.

“ Just hold each other—if you want to,” Slade rose smoothly to his feet and began to undress. “ Or just sleep, if you don’t.”

I shifted on the bed uncomfortably as I watched him strip. What had happened to him “wanting me under him” every night? Was he really giving up on bringing me pleasure so easily? Was he punishing me because I wouldn’t let him be dirty and lick my cunny?

I had no answers, I only knew I felt unfulfilled and restless. I squeezed my thighs together. How was I ever supposed to get to sleep when I still felt so needy?

I had no idea.