Sarazen's Vengeance: Book 1.1 Read Online Free Page B

purely out of instinctual reaction more than fear of Ohlen himself. Before he had gotten control of it and turned the lights on, she had seen his stricken expression. She calmed almost immediately and apologized to him. It had seemed only to make him angry, despite how gently he tucked her back in and lowered the lights again. Soothing her until she fell back to sleep.
    The second time she’d jolted awake, she didn’t go flying off the bed. Ohlen was already there in his cat form. One big paw on her shoulder to steady her. The ginger beast kneaded gently at her skin while he looked down at her. The concern plain on his feline face. His whiskers pulsed with the soft sound he made. Used his paw to pull her closer against his side.
    “Sorry to keep waking you. Maybe I should sleep with the other women until my brain is done purging all this shit.”
    Ohlen chuffed, lowering his head to nuzzle against her cheek gently. Nudged and pushed her until she turned on her side. Giving him room to curl along her back. He threw his big furry leg over her middle until she was totally surrounded by his unbelievably warm body. Her bones vibrated with the soothing purrs he made for her.
    Andi fell asleep thinking about how silly it was that she was more comfortable sleeping with a seven hundred pound monster. One capable of chomping off hands and ripping hearts out with teeth and claws, than she was with his two legged form.
    She didn’t wake again from bad dreams. In fact, she had the best sleep of her life.
     
    Andi woke gently. No fearful jolt of adrenaline, no lingering nightmares. It took her a minute to acclimate because that hadn’t happened in…a very long time.
    Ohlen had moved from the bed and was sitting in a large chair beside it. Some kind of tablet in his hand, reading or doing work. The moment she shifted, his head came up. His blond hair shimmered in the rising lights.
    He was a fascinating study in contrast. Swarthy skinned, the tattoos alongside the long stripe of his hair, a dark bronze. Every Sarazen seemed to have those markings in varying colors. She wondered what they meant. His eyes were startlingly purple. Swirls of blue and violet. They reminded her of the first time she’d ever gotten to look out at the vast vacuum of space. The Aria had flown through a nebula when she was ten. She and the other orphans had been allowed up to the bridge to view it. It was her happiest memory.
     
    Ohlen’s face a work of art. The kind she might have spent hours sketching once, a long time ago. He was immense. Muscles packed on muscles on a tall, wide-shouldered frame. His hands were easily three times the size of hers. Though he probably could have crushed her skull in one hand, each time he had touched her, he had been flawlessly gentle.
       “Good rising, my one.”
    Those bright purple eyes of his sparkled. His voice a near tangible caress against her skin. It made her body break out in goosebumps. Made her lick her dry lips and shift in the bed to turn over to face him.
       “Good morning.” she managed to say back.
    Ohlen got up, moving from his chair to sit beside her on the bed. Held his hand out to her. Gave her the choice of whether or not she wanted to touch him. His smile grew when she set her palm in his. Brought her fingertips to his mouth to touch his that smile to her skin. A gentle, hesitant kiss.
    “How are you feeling?”
    Her cheeks heated when she realized he was asking about her mental state after all the nightmares. Feeling? She was embarrassed. Mortified that she’d nearly kicked his teeth in when he’d tried to help her that first time.
    “Better. I’m so sorry,”
    “After what you witnessed me do, your fear and nightmares were not unexpected.”
    Andi stammered to try and explain. “I wasn’t…that’s not…”
    He squeezed her hand gently and kissed it again. Andi felt that sweet, tender touch all the way down to her toes. This immense alien touched her with such gentleness. She