Page 8 of Tomlin
The question died on her lips when she realized he’d already finished cleaning away all traces of the meal. Amazing. She might have gone as far as running water over the pan - she probably wouldn’t even have bothered with a plate - but it would have taken her the rest of the day, or even longer, to actually get around to washing it, let alone putting it away. Shaking her head, she smiled at him and then led him back to the lab.
He followed her into the room, then came to an abrupt halt. Had his face paled?
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I… I’m fine.”
Despite his words, she didn’t believe him. She looked around at the neat worktops, her orderly desk, the rather less orderly daybed, but couldn’t see anything which might have accounted for his reaction. With a mental shrug, she turned to the experiment she’d begun setting up earlier.
“I was wondering if your story about the twins meant that there was some kind of resonance between parts of a stone. I was just about to split this one into two pieces to test it. Like this.”
One of the glittering purple gems had been fastened into a set of clamps and she initiated the laser cutter. It sliced across the stone, separating it neatly into two equal parts. Tomlin made a choked sound, and she whirled around to find him bent over the nearest worktop, clutching the edge as if he were about to fall.
“Tomlin!”
She rushed over to him, throwing one arm around his waist to help him stand. She instinctively placed a hand over his in a comforting gesture but the moment their hands touched it was as if a spark passed between them, one which sizzled straight down her spine. When she gasped and looked up at him, his eyes were glowing with a pure blue light.
“I must leave. I am sorry…”
Before she could respond, he moved with incredible speed, fleeing the room and heading for the door. She immediately rushed after him.
“Wait! Are you all right?”
He stopped with his hand on the door, his back to her.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
She didn’t believe him, but what could she do?
“Then why are you leaving?”
“I have… business to complete.”
“I see. Will you come back? To tell me more stories,” she added hastily.
There was an agonizingly long pause before he nodded abruptly.
“I will.”
And then he was gone.
CHAPTER 5
Mate.
Tomlin forced himself to ride away from Etta’s lab, even though his Krythian side fought it with every hoof beat. The moment she’d touched his hand in the lab, he’d known she was his mate. His first overwhelming happiness had been followed by horror as his cock immediately hardened to the point of pain. The need to claim her, to strip her bare and bend her over the worktop, fucking her until she knew she belonged to him, had been almost impossible to resist.
Even now his cock throbbed urgently, and his hands clenched on the reins as he fought the urge to return. His mind might be appalled at the thought of taking her so forcefully, but his body was far more subject to his Krythian heritage.
Claim her. Make her mine.
No!He concentrated on his breathing, his heartbeat, his mantra, the rigorous discipline he used to suppress his more primal instincts. Although he was able to exert enough control tocontinue on the journey back to Wainwright, the need for his mate continued to pull at him.
When he reached town he hesitated briefly, then decided he had to return to the farm, to let S’kal and the others know that they were safe, that Marshall would not send any more men to harm them. Under other circumstances he would have been… happy to return, to take up the role he’d made for himself, but he already knew he couldn’t stay. Even without the mating urge tormenting him, his Krythian side was too close to the surface.
Unless he could reassert his control, he wouldn’t be able to disguise his heritage for very long. Perhaps it shouldn’t matter - none of the other males at the farm were human - but the thought of losing his camouflage made him shudder. Very few people even knew about his race - Grethel had told him that they were almost extinct - and the little that was known was not positive. They were vicious, primitive warriors subject to almost uncontrollable lusts for blood - and for their mates.
He had experienced the first, but he’d had no experience with the latter until now. That single touch had created an almost irresistible flood of desire. How much worse would it be if they were to go any further? The thought of seeing fear in those beautiful brown eyes made him shudder again, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her as he stabled his horse and returned to his flyer.