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Was it because he was dancing with a human while everyone else on the dance floor was immortal?
Well, that was their problem, not his or Marina's.
Ignoring the looks, he let the melody envelop them and drew Marina even closer, their bodies touching and electrifying one another. He could sense her heartbeat quicken, her breath hitch, and that delicate aroma of her arousal flare.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her, and unlike Kagra, she didn't find him lacking in any way.
To Marina, he was a god.
26
MARINA
Originally, Marina had seen Peter as a mere steppingstone, a part of her calculated strategy to escape the mundane life in Safe Haven. He was supposed to be a means to an end, but it seemed like she was falling into her own trap.
Moving across the dance floor, she was acutely aware of every point of contact between their bodies, of the way Peter's arms felt around her, of how solid his chest was, and of the substantial erection pressing against her stomach.
It had been so long since she'd been with a man, and she missed it.
She was nearing her mid-thirties, so the Kra-ell had lost interest in her a long time ago, and out of the limited selection of human partners in the compound she had chosen Nicolai, who was many years younger than her and had Kra-ell blood in him, which hadn't worked in his favor as far as she was concerned, but the fact that he'd been chosen to attend a university had. It was what had attracted her to him the most.
The problem was that the university offered him many more choices than what was available in the compound, and eventually he had lost interest in her as well.
Marina had been heartbroken for a while, and then the liberation had happened, and then she had found herself in Safe Haven with community members who held on to strange beliefs that were closer to the Kra-ell way of life than what the humans in her former compound practiced. They were into free love, which just meant multiple partners and no individual commitment. It wasn't what Marina wanted out of life, so she had stayed away from them.
She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had sex. It had been during one of Nicolai's monthly mandatory visits from college, but she didn't recall which one.
It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Everything had changed so drastically that looking back to life in the compound seemed like ancient history, when in fact only a couple of months had passed since the liberation.
The problem was that hooking up with an immortal might help her get out of Safe Haven, but it wouldn't get her any closer to having a man to call her own.
Marina wanted children, and she wanted to make a home for her family, but the only way to achieve that was in the outside world, and she wouldn't be allowed to do that. She knew too much, and there was no way to make her forget that two alien species were hiding among humans.
Her plan had been to play coy, to weave a slow web around Peter and make him chase her. She had thought to draw this out, to savor the dance of seduction, but as their bodies moved in perfect harmony, with Peter's gaze so intently focused on her face, her strategy began to crumble. The desire she felt was too intense, too urgent to be stifled, sacrificed on the altar of strategic games.
He seemed to see beyond the calculated façade and stir something within her that she had long given up on.
Escaping the intensity of his gaze, she put her cheek on his chest and inhaled his scent. He had applied his cologne sparingly, for which she was grateful, and not just because she didn't like overpowering scents. It allowed her to smell his own unique scent, and it was much better than anything that could be bought in a store.
As the song reached its crescendo, Marina lifted her head and whispered, mindful of all the immortals around them with their super hearing, "I want you, and I know that you want me." She leaned away and forced her voice to remain steady as she looked into his eyes. "The only question remaining is your place or mine?"
In that instant, the world seemed to stand still. The dance floor, the watching crowd, the twinkling lights—all faded into a distant blur. There was only Peter and the way he looked at her, with eyes that promised a world of passion.
"Mine," he finally said. "I have my own bedroom, but I share the cabin with another Guardian. Are you okay with that?"
She nodded. "Can you sneak me in without him knowing?"
He frowned. "Are you embarrassed about being with me?"
"No, but you might be embarrassed about being seen with me." She chuckled nervously. "Slumming with the human."
His hold on her tightened, becoming almost bruising. "Never say that. I don't slum. Any female who invites me to her bed or invites herself to mine honors me."
Peter looked so offended and so sincere that she couldn't bring herself to doubt him. He'd really meant that, and it eased something in her chest, a memory of past humiliations that she had buried deep inside and pretended that they had never existed.
"What about your roommate? Does he think the same way you do?"
