Page 115 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“Let go,” he commanded, his voice a dark, delicious rumble against her sensitive flesh. “Let it out, sweetheart. Give it to me.”

His words were the final permission Terra hadn’t known she needed. With a low moan, she felt her orgasm exploding from the inside out.

But this wasn’t the mechanical release she coaxed from herself with a vibrator. This was a seismic event—a tidal wave of pleasure that crashed through her, turning her bones to liquid and her mind to white noise. She felt herself shaking, her hips bucking against his relentless mouth as he drank from her, gentling his licks as the waves subsided but not stopping, trying to coax every last ounce of pleasure he could from her.

When she finally lay still, spent and boneless, panting on the bed, Taurex lifted his head. His lips and chin were glistening with her honey and his eyes were blazing, his breath coming in harsh pants. He leaned over her, caging her with his arms, and looked down into her dazed face.

“Terra,” he growled. “I can hide this from you no longer—you are my fated mate.”

29

TERRA

“I’m what?” Terra stared at him uncertainly.

“My fated mate,” he repeated patiently. “I have known it from the very first time we touched, back at the club.”

“That was barely a month ago, you know,” she reminded him. The way he was looking at her with such intensity was scaring her a little. But she didn’t want to upset him. “What…what exactly does it mean to be your, uh, fated mate?” she asked.

“It means we are meant to be together for life,” he answered. “I know that may be a lot to take in–”

“Yes…yes it is a lot,” Terra said. “Taurex, we haven’t known each other that long.”

“We don’t need to know each other a long time to know that we belong together,” he said earnestly. “Don’t you see, Terra? I looked into your heart the first time you touched me. I saw you as you are–I saw what a good mother you are, and a good daughter. I saw that you were struggling but still managing to keep your younglings and mother clothed and fed. I knew you were meant to be mine right from the start.”

Okay, now his intensity was really beginning to make her uneasy. He was talking about owning her–just like Viktor Orlov had and Terra didn’t want to be owned by any male. Also, she hated to say it, but it creeped her out when he started talking about “seeing into” her heart. She didn’t like the idea of her secrets being laid bare for him with a single touch.

“Look,” she said carefully. “I appreciate that you have really strong feelings for me, and I’m flattered–really I am. But I just haven’t known you long enough to know if we, uh, belong together forever. You know?”

Taurex shook his head.

“No, I do not know. How can you deny the bond between us? Do you not feel it? The pleasure blooms did–that is why they reacted as they did in the bathing pool. They smelled the mating pheromones coming from both of us.”

Terra put a hand on her hip.

“Well, if you knew that we were supposed to be ‘fated mates’ and knew they would react to the pheromones, then why did you let me go in there? Was it just so I would let them molest me so you could lick me later on?”

“No, of course not!” He reached up and began rubbing the base of one horn, as he did when he was worried or upset. “Gods, this isn’t going at all how I planned. I should have waited to tell you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have told me at all, because it sounds crazy!” Terra was thoroughly disgusted and upset now. She jumped off the bed, hugging her discarded towel close to her chest. “And to think I thought you were a good guy. But you just want to own me–just like that creep, Orlov.”

“It’s not that I want to own you–I want to Join with you,” he protested, holding out his big hands, palm up. “Please–just give me a chance. Once we’re Bonded and can hear each other’s thoughts, you’ll see that I never meant you any harm.”

“Hear each other’s thoughts?”

That was the last straw for Terra. She’d heard about the strange mental connection that the Kindred and Monstrum had with their brides, but she hadn’t known they could actually read each other’s minds. That was too much for her–too creepy.

“Well, yes. You see–” Taurex started to explain, but Terra didn’t want to hear anymore.

“That’s enough,” she told him. “I need some time to myself. I’m going to spend the rest of the night in the other room and in the morning, I want you to take me home.”

Taurex looked frustrated.

“I thought you feared to sleep in the other room because of the pleasure blooms outside?” he pointed out.

Terra lifted her chin.

“Well now that I know they were only coming after me because the two of us together were putting out some kind of weird ‘mating smell’ I’m not worried. I should be fine as long as I’m alone.”