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  Goddess, she thought, as the new bond began to form inside her, like a sapling putting down roots. He feels so good, tastes so right. If only we could seal our bond after this as a bonded couple is supposed to. Of course, to seal the bond with Rast, she would have to let him change the color of her eyes and Nadiah knew they couldn’t do that. But, gods, how she wanted to. Wanted to feel that hot, hard ridge of his shaft thrust deep inside her pussy, filling her up, making her Rast’s forever…

  “One minute. You have one minute remaining.” Magistrate Licklow’s pompous voice through the curtain shattered her sweet fantasy. Nadiah sighed and, with a final lick, released her beloved’s wrist. “Oh!” She looked at it in surprise—now that she was finished sucking, the slice was already beginning to seal itself. “It’s already closing.”

  “I’ve always been a fast healer,” Rast said dismissively. He shifted her on his lap, allowing her to feel his throbbing cock pressed against her once more. “Uh, are you sure you got enough? I’ll be more than happy to cut myself again if you need me to.”

  “I got enough,” Nadiah assured him. “But there is one more thing I’d like to do,” she added with sudden inspiration. “Give me the knife.”

  “What for?”

  “Hurry—we don’t have much time!”

  Rast handed her the small silver knife hilt first. “All right. Sorry.”

  “It’s all right.” Bracing against the pain, Nadiah stabbed herself in the pad of her right index finger and watched as a single crimson drop welled up.

  “Wait a minute.” Rast turned her so he could see her face. “What are you doing?”

  “I want you to drink of me too,” Nadiah told him breathlessly. “To remember me always in case…just in case,” she ended lamely.

  “You think I could ever forget you, sweetheart?” Rast’s voice was low and demanding. “Because I’m telling you now, that’s not gonna happen. You’re burned into my heart forever.”

  “Oh, Rast…” Nadiah had to blink back tears at his sweet words. “That’s wonderful but I still want you to. Please?”

  “As you wish,” he murmured. Taking her hand in his, he brought her finger to his lips. Then, keeping their eyes locked the entire time, he slipped her wounded fingertip into his hot, wet mouth and sucked gently.

  Nadiah’s breath caught in her throat at the erotic promise in his eyes and the soft suction of his lips. I want you, the look on his face said. You and only you.

  Goddess, Rast, I want you to, she wanted to say. Want you and love you so much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, showing you how much…

  “Time,” Magistrate Licklow declared, once again interrupting her fantasies. “You must now exit the tent.”

  Rast didn’t stop sucking at once. He took his time, swirling his tongue around her finger and lapping gently at the wounded tip before slowly letting it slide from his mouth. “Delicious,” he murmured, placing a soft kiss on her finger before giving her back her hand. “I bet all of you tastes good. Sure would like a chance to find out.”

  Nadiah blushed when she realized what he was talking about. He wants to taste me, she thought, her cheeks getting hot with pleasure and embarrassment. Wants to taste more than my finger—wants to taste me there, between my legs. Gods, how she wished it could be so. That they were together alone after their bonding ceremony and Rast was about to change the color of her eyes.

  But the sound of Magistrate Licklow clearing his throat impatiently popped her bubble. With a sigh, she realized there was no escaping the harsh reality of the situation. She was about to undergo the most agonizing process a Tranq Prime female could be subjected to, aside from childbirth. And some who had endured both said even childbirth was better. But since there was no way to the end of her road except through the fiery curtain of pain, Nadiah resolved to grit her teeth and go through it, no matter what the cost.

  “We have to go,” she told Rast.

  He sighed. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

  “Unfortunately not.” Reluctantly, Nadiah rose from his lap. “Do you feel the bond between us?”

  He nodded. “It’s like…like someone tied a rope around both of us but the rope is somehow alive. Maybe more of a vine than a rope…” He shook his head. “I can’t describe it but it’s there, all right.”

  “Good,” Nadiah felt a surge of relief. Up until this moment she hadn’t been completely sure if his human blood would allow them to form a bond or not. It was good to know that it was possible to forge a psychic tie between the two of them. Now if only she knew if it was strong enough to defeat Y’dex…

  “I like it,” Rast said in a low voice. “It feels…right somehow. Like we’re, I don’t know, plugged into each other.”

  “I like it too,” Nadiah admitted, blushing.

  He frowned. “But aside from being newer, isn’t it the same as the bond you have with Y’dex? I remember Sylvan saying that if your blood bond came loose and you didn’t have a soul to anchor to you might…might die.” He cleared his throat. “Of course that can’t happen now, can it? Now that we’re bonded too?”

  Nadiah bit her lip. For a moment the truth almost came out…but no, she didn’t want Rast bonded to her permanently out of a sense of duty. “The bond between myself and Y’dex is very old and very strong,” she said carefully. “It’s difficult to replace such a bond.”

  In fact, it was impossible but she didn’t want to say that. The weak, new bond she had with Rast was only surface deep—like a plant which had rooted itself in loose, sandy soil. Her bond with the hated Y’dex was more like a mighty giant of the forest, a tree whose roots went miles underground. Trying to fill the gap those roots would leave when she pulled out his half of the bond with a newer, weaker connection would be like… It would be like trying to seal a gaping hole in my heart with one of Rast’s tiny human Band-Aids, she thought grimly.

  The only solution was to anchor her half of the stronger bond to another soul, to put those same roots deep down in the soil of another being, but she could not do that without Rast’s permission. And she wasn’t about to tell him that.

  “Difficult but not impossible, right?” Rast frowned. “Just tell me you’ll be all right, Nadiah.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t—not absolutely. But please, Rast, don’t let that stop you—pull on it as hard as you can to bring me to you. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be trying to rip the roots of Y’dex’s half of our bond from my soul.”

  He looked at her doubtfully. “Can you do that?”

  “I hope so,” Nadiah said grimly. “I certainly intend to try.”

  “Good.” Rast pulled her to him suddenly and gave her a long, hard, hot kiss, his mouth demanding and receiving entrance to hers as he claimed her for his own. At last he pulled back. “Don’t worry about anything, sweetheart,” he murmured, looking into her eyes. “We’re going to get through this together.”

  “I know.” She smiled at him gratefully and then lifted her chin. “I know we’ll get through it because I’d rather die than be bonded to Y’dex. No matter what it costs me, I will be free of his bond. Even if it means my death.”

  * * * * *

  Seeing the set of her chin and the grim determination in her eyes reminded Rast again of why he loved her so much. On the outside she looked so fragile and feminine, so delicate and lovely. But inside she had a soul of steel—a cool determination to do whatever it took to get the job done. He admired that in a woman—admired the hell out of it. But he still didn’t like her fatalistic attitude toward breaking the blood bond.

  “Hey, don’t talk like that,” he protested as they exited the tent together. “Everything’s going to be fine and nobody’s going to die. Except that idiot fiancée of yours if he dares to lay a finger on you again.” He gave Y’dex a glare as he said it, letting the other male know what was coming.

  “I hope you’re right,” Nadiah murmured but there was still something in her dark blue eyes Rast didn’t like. Somethi