I shifted in his lap, realizing that my body was practically plastered to his, head to toe, while the short, flimsy excuse for a skirt was the only piece of clothing I was wearing.
He must’ve become aware of that, too, as his erection started to harden and grow against my core.
I peeled myself from him.
“I’m fine. Thank you. For getting me out of there...” I leaned further back, wrapping my arms around my chest. “I’ll need to get changed.”
“Stay,” he rasped, flexing his arms around me. Trapping me.
His erection kept growing. How huge was this guy?
His green-speckled golden eyes pinned me in place, the expression in them increasingly more unhinged, wild, so similar to what I’d just seen in the eyes of the others.
Alarm lanced though me.
“Wyck...” Covering myself with one arm the best I could, I pressed my other hand into his chest. “I—I should go.”
He yanked me to him. My heart sped up. I desperately tried to hold back fear.
“Please,” I begged. “Let me go.”
A pained groan rose from his throat. He buried his face in my neck.
“Just give me a moment,” he growled against my skin, the short dark stubble on his jawline prickling lightly.
This very instant, he appeared more tortured than dangerous.
“What for?” I asked, tentatively placing my arm around his shoulder.
He inhaled deeply, then again, and again.
“If I smell you long enough,” he said, without lifting his head, “if I let your scent fill me inside and out, without holding back for once, then maybe there is a point when I can say I’ve had enough of you for a while.”
His hold on me was as firm as ever, but he didn’t let his hands wander. He simply held me close.
I managed to relax a little against him. Placing my hand on the back of his neck, I soothingly trailed my fingers along the three gray ridges. They ran all the way along his head. The one in the middle went down his spine, disappearing under his vest. The two on the sides split at the base of his neck, running along each of his shoulders then down his arms to the knuckles on his hands.
“I thought this might make it easier letting go of you,” he said, uncharacteristically softly. “I was wrong, it doesn’t.” He unwrapped his arms from around me, setting me free. “But go on, get changed.”
I wasn’t sure what all of that meant exactly, but he did appear calmer after our hug. The wild expression in his eyes didn’t entirely disappear, but it had softened somewhat, turning wistful.
Climbing out of his lap, I found my suit then took it to the bathroom to change.
Tonight’s events wouldn’t leave my mind. My hands still shook and the anxiety about next week had already started to build.
“Why are they like that?” I asked Wyck upon my return from the bathroom. He remained sitting sideways in the doorway, his eyes focused on the metal panel ahead of him. “So...brutally feral?”
“The crew?” He shifted, making some space for me in the entranceway. “That’s what they are, what all of us are by nature.”
“That’s not true.” I sat opposite him, my back pressed against the panel he’d been staring at. He had no choice but to look at me, now. “Violence and disrespect are not inherent characteristics of any nation in the modern world. They might’ve been prevalent in some places, at some point in history, but that’s not how things are anymore.”
I studied his features for a while, really seeing him for the first time.
The three gray ridges on his head met in a peak over the bridge of his nose. The typical for errocks heavy brow gave him a fierce expression. The bright yellow eyes glistening underneath appeared almost glowing in the shadows. His proud, angular nose and high sharp cheekbones with dark stubble clashed with the sensual shape of his mouth. The shapely upper lip had a defined curve of the cupid’s bow, and the full lower one seemed to be made for kissing.
Wyck was a handsome man, I realized. I had no way of knowing whether an errock woman would find him good-looking, but I was positive that many human women would.
He flinched under my scrutiny, and I promptly shifted my stare away from his face.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’ve never spent so much time in the company of a non-human before. I’ve never even been this close to one of your species. It’s all still new.”