Mel waited until the door shut behind her then moved to
stand over the tube. She depressed the door button and the
top slid open. Cold air flooded out of the container, and
she shivered. It took a few minutes to clear.
"Oh my," she murmured.
He was naked. And he was huge.
Even unconscious he radiated power, and a ripple of
apprehension ran through her. She picked up his wrist. His
flesh was icy cold as she slipped one of the bracelets over
his hand before snapping it shut. She repeated with the
other arm, breathing a sigh of relief once the restraints
were in place.
Her eyes flicked up to his face, but he was still deep
under, and she allowed herself to examine him. This man had
been part of her life for the last ten years, never present,
but still shaping her every action with his constant
pursuit. Now he would never pursue her again.
She knew Sanderson meant to kill him. And he deserved to die
if half the stories coming out of Talmare were true. Even
so, she felt a strange sense of regret, as though a part of
her life was coming to an end.
He was a hybrid, part of the Soldier Guild's breeding
program. A program she knew had been discontinued when the
results turned out to be too dangerous and too hard to
control. It was ironic that Zachary Knight had been their
one success story. Their poster boy, proof that the breeding
program did work. She reckoned the Guild must have been
really pissed when he lost it and ended up massacring half
of Talmare.
She'd never seen a tiger hybrid close up. In fact, he was
the only one she had ever seen at all, and ten years ago,
fully clothed, his mixed heritage hadn't been so apparent.
Now she could clearly see the signs.
The skin of his arms and legs was marked with faint black
tiger stripes. The stripes could also be seen curling around
from his back, fading into the creamy gold of his flat belly.
She picked up his hand again. It was huge but otherwise
appeared normal, until she pressed the pad of one finger and
a vicious claw emerged.
Retractable claws, how cool is that?
For a few moments she played, fascinated as the claws
emerged and disappeared. She touched one, drawing a bead of
crimson from her fingertip. She put the finger to her mouth
and licked the blood clean.
What else? His thick hair was down to his shoulders, a
tangled medley of black interwoven with gold, but there were
no stripes on his face.
He was strikingly handsome with a hard masculine beauty that
even she couldn't deny. Above his high cheekbones his eyes
were closed, but she remembered them perfectly, greeny-gold,
cat's eyes. His mouth was full, and with a sense of daring,
she touched her finger to his icy-cold upper lip then
lightly drew it back revealing long, elongated incisors. His
breath was warm, and she snatched her finger away as she
realized he was breathing again.
Her gaze drifted lower. His body was heavily muscled but
sleek, like a jungle animal. His belly was hard and flat,
lightly furred, the silky blond hair running down to his groin.
She whistled. She'd seen a few men in her time in the space
brothel, and by any account, Zachary Knight was pretty
impressive. If you were the type of person to be impressed
by that sort of thing. Which obviously, she wasn't.
Forcing herself to look away, she caught a flicker of
movement, and she placed a hand flat on his chest. His skin
was cool but no longer icy, and beneath her palm, she felt
the slight thud of his heart. Not long now.
She made to straighten up, but suddenly he shifted. One of
those huge hands snaked behind the back of her neck and
dragged her down toward him. Their eyes met, his slightly
unfocused, the pupils huge and dilated, but the clear
green-gold of her memory. His lips curled slightly. He
pulled her forward. Then he kissed her.
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