Chapter 6

Raz'jin

T hat smile was like magic.

I've never had a human smile at me before. Between her pink lips, Tel-eesa has bright white teeth, all as straight as they get. And it's a pretty name, to boot.

She even speaks some Trollkin now. That was a fascinating surprise. Along with the part where she didn't run away from me. No—she asked me questions. She thanked me for freeing her that night and saving her life. The bartender keeps looking at us curiously, until I shoot him a deadly glare and he pivots away.

I don't know what to make of it, really. The human is smiling and nodding like we've been friends for a long time. Her hair is longer now, and tumbles down the sides of her face in waves that reflect the lamplight. I take in every inch of her, from those shining green eyes, down to the delicately exposed skin at her throat. Her outfit is fancy, well-tailored, and I wonder if she's gotten rich since the last time we met .

While she asks me about where I'm from, I can't help looking, studying the way her jerkin wraps around her pert breasts, how it tightens at her waist and flares into a fur cuff at her hips.

I'm not sure why I buy her a beer. I feel like I need to impress her.

"Cheers," she says.

"Cheers."

We each take a drink, and when I'm finished with mine, I'm not sure what to say next. I know what I'm feeling deep inside, of course. Every inch of my coarse body is longing for her. I could simply eat her in one big mouthful. I want to tear that pretty coat off of her and see what's underneath. Is the hair between her legs as bright and red as the hair on her head? I want to know what her legs look like, her arms, her feet. Her hands are tiny and delicate, and they almost can't wrap all the way around the handle of her beer mug.

Instantly I imagine that same hand wrapped around me, moving from the base of my cock up to the tip and back again. I almost choke on my words.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her in Trollkin.

She squints thoughtfully, trying to parse through what I'm asking.

So I try again, with something a little simpler. "Why here?" I gesture at the inn around us.

This clicks. Tel-eesa picks up the hood of her coat and unclasps it from around her neck. She draws the coat off of her shoulders and now I can get a much better look at her. Her shoulders are strong, but still feminine. Her neck is long and slender. She's not tall for a human, I don't think.

She holds out the cloak to me. Is she offering it? It would never fit.

"I make," she says as I finally take the cloak from her. I feel the soft fur, the carefully pounded leather. It's all pliable under my hands.

She made this?

"Wow." I examine the whole thing. It's well-crafted, and certainly nicer than anything I've ever owned. "Beautiful."

This earns an even bigger smile, and I pass the cloak back to her. So she's here making wares to be sold. It's a smart—and bold—idea to set up shop in Eyra Cove. That explains the smattering of Trollkin she's learned.

"Thank you," she says. She doesn't put it back on, and I certainly don't mind. I can barely keep my eyes off of her. I'm removing each of her garments in my mind, working my way down her body to her feet. They would be such petite feet, with five whole toes each. I would bring them into my mouth and suck on them if I could.

"Why you here?" she asks.

Oh. Right. My ridiculous quest for the green jewels.

A big emerald like the one I found could fetch me more than the gold did. I don't want anyone to know I have it, because that's how you get stabbed and robbed in your sleep. But at the same time, I want to continue this conversation with her. And I want to see how wide her green eyes get when she sees it.

I hold up a finger to my lips, gesturing for her to keep quiet. Her eyebrows draw together in confusion as I reach down into my pocket and draw it out.

The emerald. It glitters in the low light of the inn. Her mouth drops open, but before she can make a sound, she covers it with one hand. I can tell she wants to reach towards the jewel, to run her fingers over it... And I think of Blizzek saying, Don't do anything stupid .

But I let her touch it anyway.

Not only that, I allow her to sweep it up into her small hands. It's large, I realize—filling up most of her palm. She keeps it hidden under the bar top as she surveys it, admires it. Her eyes are wide and filled with wonder.

Then, slowly, she slips it back to me. Her fingers linger on mine for a long time. They're so small in comparison, I could swallow up both of her hands in just one of mine.

I'm already aching for her.

I slide the emerald back into my pocket and take a big swallow of my beer. I can feel it rising into my head, shifting my thoughts around and garbling them. My hands are burning where she touched me, and now I want nothing more than for her to touch me again.

"Very good," she says, and I think it's because those are the only words she has for what she really wants to say. But her eyes say it for her. "Beautiful."

I'm not sure how much more I can take. The longer I look at her, the more blood starts to rush down to my groin, filling me up. I'm simply glad for my thick pants and the leather coil I have wrapped around my waist.

"Thank you."

Tel-eesa pulls out a little bag and makes a gesture like she's filling it with coins. This makes me smile. She thinks that surely it will make me rich.

I shake my head. "Some," I say. "Not much."

She makes a frowny face. It's really quite cute. There's even more blood flowing downward now, and it's making sitting this way uncomfortable.

What am I doing right now? I'm flirting with a human woman at a bar. It's ridiculous in so many different ways. And what's really baffling me is how much I'm enjoying myself.

I suddenly feel like I need to escape, because if I don't, I'm going to grab her arm and pull her against me, and then seize her mouth in mine. I'm going to drag her upstairs with me and rip off all of her clothes, and then—

It's almost like she can see what's happening on my face, because with the utmost caution, she reaches out and puts her hand on my leg.

I suck in a sharp breath of air. Her fingers are nearly searing me through the leather. When I look down, her green eyes have darkened to the color of a winter forest. Her mouth is no longer smiling. There's something else on her face, something I can't even let myself interpret.

So I reach down and put my hand over hers.

Telise

He's hot. Boiling hot. His fingers clasp around mine, and my hand disappears into his.

I'm worried that I'm being too forward with what I want, when I'm still not even sure I want it. But that part of me way deep down that has been hungering for who knows how long... It's drooling now.

You're a freak, Telise . Was Deleran right? Am I attracted to a troll?

But why not? He's tall, and filled with muscle, and handsome to boot. Maybe it's not a face to everyone's taste, but it sure is mine. And the tusks that veer off to either side of his mouth? Perfect for grabbing onto. I could yank him down to my height again and kiss him just like I did the first time we met, when I had a dagger at his throat.

I'm glad he doesn't hold that against me now.

Slowly, never taking his eyes off of me, Raz'jin starts to guide my hand up his leg. I go along with it. He pulls my fingers under the coil and there, I can feel it. He's hard underneath, like a solid rock.

I try not to jerk my hand away in surprise, because I wouldn't want to think I'm repelled by it. It's just not what I expected; something I didn't know I wanted until right now.

Tentatively I reach out and let my fingers trail along the lump in his pants. I look up at his face, and his eyes are focused intently on me, something dark and thirsty lying behind them.

Once I've reached the tip of him, I move my fingers back again, all the way under the leather coil. He sucks in a breath and then, more fiercely than I expected, he grabs my hand in his. He shoves it hard against the cock that I already know is throbbing underneath there. A burst of heat races down my chest to the crux between my legs.

I know what he wants now. And if I get alone with him, I know what he's going to do. Do I want that, too? Do I want this creature to throw me down and tear my clothes off, and then pull out this enormous beast and shove it inside me?

A tingle darts all the way up my spine. The hungry part of me says, Yes, of course that's what I want. While the rational part of me says, But he's a monster.

I grip his lump hard, the same way he's shoving down on my hand, and he gasps. I can see over the bar top as the bartender looks up again, and his mouth falls slack when he registers what's happening.

I remove my hand quickly. Raz'jin's eyes flick open and look at me with disappointment—until I grab onto one of his huge fingers in my hand and pull, then point upstairs. His ears flick forward, and his eyes grow wide.

He grabs my entire hand and pulls me off the bar stool. I remember at the last moment to grab my cloak, and he drags me through the inn almost faster than I can keep up. Every single head turns to watch us go past, and I know my face is a fiery red as we finally reach the stairs.

Everything is happening in slow motion when he reaches down and picks me up without any effort at all. I half expect him to throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes the way he takes the steps two at a time, until we're up on my floor.

I point up ahead. "That one." I know this phrase well. With a sharp nod he crosses to the door and sets me down in front of it. I pull out my key, and my hands are shaking. Why am I shaking? Am I scared, or happy, or something else entirely?

Finally the door is open and Raz'jin shoves it wide, and I scurry inside ahead of him. He closes it with an audible slam, and I can tell then he's hungry.

Ravenous.

For me.

I'm almost certain that he's going to eat me up, swallow me whole and spit out my bones, like in an old painting. And I'm already so wet for him.

I expect him to shove me down on the bed when he approaches, but he stops abruptly in front of me, then leans down. He puts one hand under my chin and brings me close to his face.

This time, Raz'jin is the one who kisses me. And it's no surprise peck on the lips—it's an invasion. His mouth pulls me in, and his hand drops to my ass. He squeezes it, hard, feeling out the roundness of it with his four large fingers. A few guttural words fall out of his mouth, but I can make out one of them:

"Want."

Suddenly I'm desiring nothing more than his hands on the rest of me. I grab his tusk, just like I did that very first time, and pull him towards me until I'm falling back on the bed and taking him down with me.

Raz'jin's mouth never releases mine as his fingers explore me. He shoves his waist hard against me so I can feel the huge lump under his pants between my legs. I lift my hips and grind them against him, showing him how much I want it.

Finally, he lets my mouth go, and he's panting as hard as I am. He doesn't need words to say what he's after.

I don't want him to rip off my any of my nice clothes, so I slowly back away from him. Reluctantly, Raz'jin lets me go, and I unbutton my jerkin. When it falls off, the look that comes over him is... Something like relief, as if he's seeing a very old friend.

He grabs me around the middle, then seizes one of my breasts in his hand. I worry he's going to be too rough with my nipples, but the moment his fingers reach one they slow down, and I'm surprised by the gingerness with which he takes it in his huge hands. He pushes me back to the bed again and drops his head, taking the same nipple in his mouth. He sucks on it hard, like he's trying to pull milk out of me, and his long tongue traces every part of it.

He says something in Trollkin that I don't understand, and it sounds like a prayer.