that, but then I wouldn’t be able to hear the location, or all the sweet sounds you’re about to make.”
Her eyes fluttered shut, blotting him out. One flat-toothed brute would not succeed where so many others had failed.
“You think you can withstand.” His soft rasp rippled against the shell of her ear as he leaned in close. “You can’t. All you’ll do is make the ache grow. Until you can’t bear it anymore and you crack.”
He had no idea the trials she’d undergone to prove herself. Talg had promised this would be her last. For the chance to prove herself worthy, she would endure anything. Even death. “You kill me now. I never tell.”
“We’ll see about that.”
She braced for the snap of the rope.
Instead, material as light as a targish butterfly wing brushed her collarbone.
7
Shock slammed through her. “No! Not my anazi.”
She twisted to dodge the soft fur.
His hand seized the hair at the back of her head and locked her in place, his nostrils flaring as if he scented blood.
“Anazi?” His gaze never wavered from hers as he skimmed the soft bristles up the length of her exposed armpit and raised arm. “Is that what you call this ragged, nasty hide?”
Another flash of shame, this one at how easily she’d already given up more than intended.
She clamped her lips shut, determined not to make the same mistake, but the silence only heightened her awareness of the pelt gliding over her skin.
She had worn it for so long that she’d gotten used to the heavy weight of it. In truth, she didn’t know how to be without it. The anazi might be a sign of her shame, but she relied on it as much as she hated it.
Except now this savage was twisting it into a weapon to be used against her. She was prepared for pain. For punishment. She wasn’t prepared for this.
“You don’t like me using it.” His predator eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Why?”
She pressed her lips tighter together.
His smile widened. “It’s as soiled as you.” Eyes locked on her, he grabbed the waterskin from the rocky ledge and poured some onto her pelt, soaking it. “I aim to get you both clean.”
Impossible. A Gazi’s taint could never be fully removed.
The edges of her throat rasped painfully as the excess water dripped onto the floor, taunting her as it stained the ground crimson
“Thirsty, huh?” He caught everything. “Well, you know how to end that.”
She glared at him.
The soft fur, now wet and firmer in texture, danced across her nipple.
To her horror, the golden peak tightened, crinkling into a hard bud.
“Very nice.” He skimmed the pelt along the underside of her breast.
Her flesh tingled, and it wasn’t simply from the astonishing sensation of being dirt free. It was the gentleness of the anazi against her flesh that rocked her to her core.
Her body was used to pain, sharp grabs, and strikes. She had no idea how to guard against pleasure.
“I’m curious about your body art.” He traced the pelt over the Ancient blessings for purity and courage drawn on her stomach, smearing as he went. “It’s very similar to what’s on the glowing spear you like to swing at my head.”
If only she’d swung harder.
She forced her eyes to remain narrowed with disgust. Inside, her façade was cracking, a different kind of heat overtaking her.
“W-why you not beat?” She could not help the rush of words. Or the desperation that shaded her tone.
His hand stilled, the intensity of his stare as tangible as a finger’s touch. “A little pain so you can shut down? No. I prefer you with me every step of the way.”
She shuddered.
His smile widened.
In the previous scuffles, she hadn’t noticed what made his savage eyes so eerie. Bright green around the pupil, they were edged by a circle of gold as beautiful as the sacred stain used to bring the Ancestors’ teachings to life, but it was the outer ring of black that showed his true self, revealing the dark spirit within.
“Anazi is a strange word.” Relentless, he trailed the pelt down her neck and over her ribs, his extraordinary muscles shifting beneath his skin, his touch featherlight. “Are your people originally from New Earth?”
He was trying to get her to talk, to spill things she shouldn’t.
“My guess?” He skimmed the fur over her other armpit and up the inside of her arm, making skin she’d never noticed come roaring to life. “I think your kind arrived here long before the wars while there was