Claimed by the Alien Bodyguard - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,97

either side that Tenthil noticed the ribbons clasped at her wrists, hips, and near her temples. The first swelling chords of music accompanied her movement.

Her hands rose over her head, slowing their upward momentum. When she swung them down again, the song’s first beat played. At the same instant, the ribbons lit up with a neon-green glow. Another drumbeat had her spinning toward the audience. The ribbons left green trails as they flared out with her rotation. Her lips glowed vibrant pink, complimenting the glowing pink and purple patterns adorning her face. The patterns reminded Tenthil of the natural markings common to volturians and sedhi, but these were far more detailed.

As the music picked up speed, so did she, her movements flowing in such perfect harmony with the sound that it seemed she was creating it with her body. The stage remained dark, though her footprints glowed in vivid colors on the floor for several seconds after she’d lifted her foot away, creating an ever-changing, surprisingly intricate path around her.

Eyes transfixed upon the terran, Tenthil finally descended. There was a pattern to her dance, barely discernable through the fluid, natural ease of her movements. Just like he’d learned to throw different punches and kicks and to wield various weapons, she must have learned to weave the steps of her dances together, combining basic parts into tantalizing wholes.

He wove through the crowd, studying her every move, urged forward by a consuming desire he did not understand and could not deny. He needed to stand beside her, to touch her. He needed her scent to wash over him. Nothing else in this place, in this world, in the entire universe mattered more. All that existed was this female, dancing amidst the darkness. Dancing for him.

A two-meter-wide walkway jutted from the center of the stage with a guard posted to either side of it. Tenthil worked his way to the left, giving the guards a wide berth. The beat of the music pulsed through him as he tracked her steps.

Tenthil didn’t pause to consider his next action; his free will had succumbed to whatever spell she’d placed upon him. He ticked off the beat in his head as she moved closer him, his muscles instinctively tensing in preparation. He forced himself to relax.

The terran came within a few meters of the stage’s edge and shifted her momentum.

He leapt onto the stage. A collective gasp rose from the crowd, but Tenthil was only distantly aware of the sound—it could have been the sigh of a ventilation system or an effect in the music for all he cared.

Tenthil mimicked her steps, matching her pace as she danced toward the opposite side of the stage.

The female turned and faced him, her eyes widening as she met his gaze. Her skin paled. “What are—”

Without missing a step, he took her hands in his. Heat flared where their flesh touched. Electric currents crackled through him, flowing from his fingertips to light every nerve in his body ablaze.

He led her across the stage, and she followed, casting a worried glance toward the crowd—likely searching for Cullion. Tenthil’s gentle squeeze of her hand pulled her gaze back to him. Their legs moved in unison, like complementary pieces of a clockwork machine. Even in the dark, her eyes shone a brilliant green, more beautiful than the lush forest of his earliest memories. He lost himself in their impossible depths.

The female smiled.

The surprise and sadness previously lurking in her eyes were swept away by a spark of excitement, a joyful gleam, an inner light in defiance of the surrounding darkness. Suddenly, Tenthil was no longer leading.

She released one of his hands and twirled around him, brushing her skirts—and her body—against him. Her scent filled his senses in a rush—crisp and clean, like freshly fallen rain on the plains of his youth but bearing an underlying sweetness that poured fire into Tenthil’s blood. An ache pulsed low in his belly, and his cock strained against his pants. That oddly pleasant taste returned to his mouth as venom seeped from his fangs.

Her movements altered; whether it was due to her having a partner or because the music had changed, Tenthil neither knew nor cared. Her body was his guide. She danced around him, and he reacted, reading the hints in her body language to offer an anchoring arm when she dipped, to stabilize and speed her spins, to drop his hands to her hips and lift her off her feet. She raised her legs and swept them to his sides, skimming her bare inner thighs over his clothing. He longed to remove his attire, to feel her flesh against his, but that would mean too much time apart from her.

Despite her spins and twirls, despite her ceaseless motion, the female’s eyes snapped back to Tenthil’s time and again, darkening as the dance continued. Soon, the new steps were almost instinctual to him. Her unspoken desire became his command; he was a slave to her dance, to her body, and he yearned for more, more, more.

He dipped her backward and ran his free palm down her abdomen toward her belt, eyes never leaving her face. She laughed, her smile widening. When she came back up, she cupped his jaw between her hands and leaned close, their noses only centimeters apart. Her breath was his, and his was hers. He tightened his hold on the terran and drew her closer.

Tenthil held her gaze for another moment before lowering his lips and pressing them over hers.

She tensed in his hold for an instant, eyes rounding, before her mouth softened and yielded to his kiss. Her hands settled on his shoulders as she closed her eyes, and Tenthil slipped his fingers into her silky hair. His heart pounded against his ribs as fresh venom flowed over his tongue—spicy, woody, saccharine, but bland compared to the tiny sample of her taste he received while their lips were together.

She tasted rich, alluring, and pure, impossibly sweet. She was…

Mine.

To read more, you can find Silent Lucidity (The Infinite City #1) on Amazon!