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“Hush?” she hissed, eyes narrowing to slits and nostrils flaring.
“Proceed quickly, Pator,” Yas’kihn ordered before his mate could indulge in an embarrassing temper tantrum.
The priest’s eyes flashed with resentment, but he nodded and rushed through the ceremony. Chanting in a language Louella’s implanted translator did not know, he dipped his hand into a small bowl and flicked the liquid coating his fingers at Jax and her. Liquid silver splattered her dress and skin and sparkled as it dried. Still chanting, he dipped his fingers into another small bowl and flicked his fingers, spraying colorless droplets over them. Those cool droplets evaporated almost instantly. Louella felt a familiar heat rise. She pressed her thighs together as her pussy throbbed with aching emptiness and her nipples beaded into hard points prominent beneath the transparent material of her dress. She opened her mouth to protest when the priest pulled a wide collar of woven gold threads and matching leash from his pocket, but her tongue refused to produce a single word even as her throat worked to no avail. He fastened the collar around her neck, clipped the leash to it, and handed the other end of the leash to Yas’kihn.
As Louella’s chest heaved with indignation, the priest produced a larger third bowl containing a red liquid. He coated his palm and fingers with the viscous fluid and cupped each of her breasts before cupping her mound as he chanted in that harsh, powerful language she did not understand. With a triumphant shout, he clapped his hands together and the remaining liquid sprayed forth as a shower of red glitter that both Louella and Yas’kihn inhaled.
As the priest dipped his hands in a pail of water to rinse them, heat and lust sizzled through Louella’s veins, emanating from her breasts and groin. She could feel the hot slick of raging desire coat her inner thighs. She glanced at her husband and found her gaze fixed on the impressive bulge tenting the heavy leather of his kilt. She wrenched her gaze away from that fascinating sight to Yas’kihn’s fierce expression.
“It is done, Your Majesty,” the priest said. “Go in peace and consummate your bonded union.”
“Begone,” Yas’kihn growled as he drew Louella against him by wrapping a hand around her waist rather than by tugging on the leash.
The priest narrowed his eyes and drew himself to his full height, only slightly taller than Louella.
“I am emperor,” Yas’kihn growled. “You donotdismissme.”
Something ugly flickered in the priest’s eyes, but he bowed his head and replied, “As you will, Your Majesty.”
He gathered up his bowls and the pail and scuttled from the room. The two Kaanian warriors followed him out. No sooner had the door closed behind him than Jax dragged Louella to the floor, tearing off the filmy gown as though it were nothing more substantial than tissue paper.
By the time the mating fever abated long enough for them to gather their wits sufficiently to return to their quarters, Louella’s empty belly rumbled loudly. The Kaanian warriors had thoughtfully left a clean, folded blanket outside the door. Louella wrapped the blanket around herself so she was spared the indignity of returning to their quarters naked.
A platter of food and pitcher of drink waited for them in the room. The modesty of the blanket’s covering lasted only as long as it took for the door to close behind them. Jax tore it off her and settled her on his engorged cock, his tail locking her against his body as he fed her the choicest morsels from the nuptial platter.
In that windowless room, Louella wasn’t sure how much time passed before the so-called dress consisting of nothing more than a collar with a floor-length fringe made its reappearance.
“No,” she said in flat refusal. “Absolutely, positively no, I am not wearing that fucking excuse for clothing.”
“You will wear this or nothing at all,” Yas’kihn insisted. His tail lashed, indicating his irritation.
“Then I’m not leaving this room.”
“You willnotshame me.”
“Andyouwillnotshameme!” she shouted, her voice hoarse from having screamed his name from more orgasms than she could count.
Yas’kihn clenched his jaws. “You are Ahn’hudi now and you will respect our traditions.”
“I amhuman!”
He shook his head and took her by the shoulders. Turning her to face the mirror in the room, he said, “No, pretty spark, you know full well you have left your humanity behind. You need only look at your sweet, soft skin. No human has such beautiful skin, such fine scales.”
Louella blinked back sudden tears and shook her head. “I’m only changed on the outside, Jax. These—” she gestured at her body “—are only manifestations of a physical transformation.” She tapped her fingers over her heart and then her temple. “This—here—is what’s important. In my heart and mind, I am not Ahn’hudi. I am human.” She glanced at the leash still dangling from the golden collar the priest had fastened around her neck. “Isn’t a collar and leash degrading enough? Do I have to be further humiliated?”
Yas’kihn sighed and gathered her to him, her distress perturbing him more than he would have ever admitted. “You still do not understand, pretty spark.”
She sniffled then said, “Explain it to me. Please.”
He had already explained it to her, but did not say so. Instead, he took a breath and tried again. “Only the strongest of Ahn’hudi males share their mates’ beauty. Only the strongest of Ahn’hudi males have the prowess and ferocity to protect their mates from insult. Wearing the garb of a Kaanian female shows that you have no confidence in my ability to protect you and provide for you.”
Louella gnawed on her bottom lip as she struggled to accept his rationale. “You told me Evangeline mated two strong warriors. Two! Does she go about wearing nothing but a fringe and collar?”
“Her mates bow to her wishes,” Yas’kihn admitted, loathing to confess to their weakness. “But they live remote from court. The royal court, where we will live, is a place where the old traditions are strictly adhered to.”
“Do we have to live at court? It sounds awfully stuffy with lots of stupid rules.”
He paused. It was awfully stuffy with lots of rules, both codified and unspoken, many of them stupid to his way of thinking, too. Louella pounced on that split second of hesitation.
