“How did you do it?”

“I can’t tell you that. We Slayers are forbidden from talking about it.”

“Let me touch your memories of the event. I need to see his face. I need to know who he was and that he met with a clean end.”

“I’m not letting you in my brain again. You’ll have to take my word for it. I gave him an easy death.”

“How?”

She shook her head. “In the way all of your men meet their end when you send them to us.”

Whenever one of the Theronai males’ souls died, they were delivered to the Slayers for execution. It was a secretive affair, steeped in millennia of tradition. When he’d been young, Joseph had wondered how the Slayers managed the task, but now that he was grown, he refused to let himself think about it.

As leader of the Theronai, he’d sent too many men to their deaths. Lingering over the details of how they died was a good way for him to drive himself mad. They were dead and unable to hurt anyone else. That was all that mattered.

“I felt your guilt, your disgust. You were the one who killed him, not one of the Slayer warriors. Why is that?”

She looked away from him again.

“What are you hiding?”

“Let me up.”

She thrust her hips against his in an effort to get free, but all it did was remind him that he had a soft, beautiful woman—his woman—beneath him.

He hadn’t yet staked his claim in a physical way. He’d told himself there was plenty of time for that, that if he gave her time, she’d come to know him, maybe even grow to like him. After they worked together for a while, she’d learn to trust him. Maybe even with her body. He couldn’t help but hope it would happen. After all, she was the only woman he’d allow himself to be with for the rest of his long, long life, and the idea of never having sex again seemed inconceivable. Especially when he would be working side by side with the woman of his dreams.

But now, with her sleek body stretched out under his, all he could think about was how fast he could get inside her. How soon he could strip her bare and kiss what lay beneath those stretchy clothes that hugged her curves.

Maybe if he gave her time to reveal her secrets, it would begin forging a link of trust between them. The man she’d killed was already dead. Nothing more could happen to him. What harm was there in Joseph giving her the time she needed to tell him what he wanted to know?

He released her wrists but didn’t move his weight off her. Instead he slid his finger across her forehead in a light touch. Her skin was as warm and soft as sunlight. “You were sure I was going to kill you and all you could think about was living long enough to find your brother?”

“I can’t let him die. He and Andreas are the only reason I’m alive. They protected me the whole time I was growing up. They helped me hide what I was so I wouldn’t be cast out. I owe them everything.”

He admired her sense of loyalty even as he cursed it. He knew there would be no stopping her, but simply coming along with her to help her find Eric wasn’t enough—not when there was more he could do.

More he could give her.

This was his chance to form a bond with her—one that would start them on their journey together. Without knowing it, she was offering him the key to her trust, and he’d be a fool not to reach out and grab it.

“Then I owe them a debt, too. They kept you alive and well so I had time to find you, and now you’ve stopped the decay of my soul.”

“But your tree is still bare. Aren’t you supposed to get new leaves, like the other bonded males?”

He’d tried not to worry about that, but it had been in the back of his mind, festering. His soul was still in jeopardy until he had a fresh batch of leaves. “Not yet,” he hedged. “But the more important issue is Eric. You want to find him. I want to help you.”

“Then let me up. We need to get moving.”

He’d wanted to wait until they were within a short sprint of a Gerai house, but his instincts were telling him that now was the time to act. Every minute he waited, she laid another brick in the wall between them. She hadn’t wanted this bond, and if she didn’t come to accept it, his lifemark was never again going to be healthy.

“We will,” he said. “After.”

“After what?”

He didn’t answer her with words. Instead, he dug his fingers into the damp soil and pulled energy from the ground beneath them. As was always the case when he tapped into this kind of power, he was stunned by the sheer volume that surged under his fingertips. All he needed was a tiny trickle, but there was a river seething beneath them, eager to find a home inside him.

He resisted the urge to open himself up completely—not while he was attached to Lyka as he was. There was too much risk involved in trying to access that kind of power. All he allowed in was a single tendril of current.

He spanned her neck with his hand, making sure both parts of the luceria connected. He directed the flow of energy from the ground, through his body and into hers.

She arched beneath him, letting out a low moan of pleasure. “Oh, my.”

He imagined she’d look just like that if he ever had the good fortune to make her come. The flush in her cheeks, the way her pupils flared and lengthened, giving her a decidedly feline appearance. Her lips parted and her breath came out in short bursts.

In that moment, he knew he was going to make her his in every way possible. He was going to strip her naked, kiss and pet every inch of her. He was going to slide his cock into her as deep as a man could go and stay there until the sun burned out. It was going to take at least that long to get his fill of her. And then, when he’d wrung as many orgasms from her as she could stand, he’d let go and find his own release inside her quivering body.

He was fertile now. Tynan’s serum had cured all of the male Theronai of their sterility. Joseph and Lyka could have a child—something he’d never before even dared to consider when it was beyond reach. A child would bind them together and serve as a reminder of the permanence of their connection. Surely she wouldn’t be able to deny him access to her trust, her secrets, if his seed was growing in her womb. He would be part of her, and their love for their child would give them common ground.

“What the hell are you doing to me?” she asked, panting.

“Does it hurt?”

She moaned again, and there was no mistaking the sound. It was one of overwhelming pleasure. She more than liked him reviving her strength like this. She loved it.