as soon as the computer registered his presence. A wave of guilt washed over him and he held the female in his arms tighter. He shouldn’t have waited to check out the lack of security in the human quarters. He should have done that right away. Maybe if he had, she wouldn’t have been attacked.
A shudder rolled through him at what could have happened. She could have been injured, or worse, killed. The image of her lying in the middle of that bloodstained glass in her quarters, sightless eyes staring up at the ceiling, rocked him to the core. He bit back his growl. The idea of her vitality just… gone was wrong on so many levels.
“You have a window,” she croaked as he walked through the bedroom, her voice raspy from screaming.
“Yes, I have a window.” He kept his voice low and calm, surprised she’d come out of her fugue state. He continued walking, taking her through to the bathroom.
“My room doesn’t,” she said.
He set her down on her feet and tilted her chin up so he could look at her properly. No. She wasn’t really with it yet. Her beautiful dark eyes were still a little unfocused. But she was with it enough to interact with him, which was reassuring.
“No,” he agreed softly. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did he…” He paused, his jaw tensing for a second. “Did he hurt you?”
She blinked slowly and then looked down at herself. She was only dressed in a thin top and tiny undergarments, the length of her lean, shapely legs bare. The fabric was red with blood, smears and streaks of it decorating her skin. He needed to make sure none of it was hers.
“No… no, he wasn’t interested in that. He was trying to kill me,” she whispered, plucking at the edges of her t-shirt. It came away with a little tearing sound as it parted company with her skin. “Called me human scum and said my wiles wouldn’t work on him.”
Rage flared through him, white hot and intense. He was forced to push it down before he reached out so his touch wouldn’t be too rough and scare her again. She stood still, numb, as he ran his hands over her arms and then down her sides, turning her this way and that.
“I can’t see any open wounds,” he murmured with relief. Her skin was unmarked so far. It appeared that all of the blood had been from her attacker.
A soft sound escaped the back of her throat and she swayed toward him, hands clutching at his arms for support. Instantly he pulled her closer, resting her against the lean strength of his larger body.
“What is it? Do you feel unwell?” His breath escaped in a hiss. “Trall, I can’t see if you’re wounded under your clothing…”
“So take them off.”
Her comment made him look at her sharply. Was she offering…? But her expression was still a little unfocused, absent. Like she was divorced from what was happening to her… or she trusted him not to take advantage.
That thought robbed him of breath for a moment as he closed his eyes. To be granted such a blessed gift from a female, that of trust, was more than he’d ever hoped to achieve in his life. Sending a quick prayer up to the lady goddess herself for strength, he nodded and stepped away.
“Shhh, shh… it’s just for a second,” he reassured Indra as she complained wordlessly. “I need to check you for wounds, kelariss. That’s all.”
The endearment slipped from his lips without warning, but he ignored it in favor of easing the thin top from her. It clung and stuck where the blood had begun to dry and the fabric had stiffened, but eventually he managed to get it up and over her head.
She was glorious. Heat hit him broadside as he looked down at her, only the tiny panties covering her nakedness and leaving the rest of her exposed to his gaze. Even blood-streaked, her skin was flawless… the delicate lines of her neck flowing down into her shoulders, collarbones leading his eyes on a visual journey back to the center of her body.
He steeled himself against temptation as he looked down, telling himself he was only checking her for wounds he needed to tend to but unable to ignore the full bounty of her breasts. Larger than he’d expected, easily more than enough to fill his hands, they were topped with dark, tight nipples he ached to…
The growl escaped