Hauk couldn’t move as she laid her soft, gentle hand against his cheek. No female had ever touched him like this.

Like she wanted him.

At home, he was too scarred for an Andarion female to look at him with anything more than a contemptuous sneer. And that was far preferable to the human women, whose hatred, fear, and loathing were palpable. All his life, he’d felt hideous and undesirable.

Disgusting.

Like a mutant, mangy animal no one wanted to touch.

But that wasn’t what he saw in Sumi’s eyes. She stared at him as if she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

He held his breath, craving her kiss with every part of his being. He opened his lips to receive it, then remembered why he couldn’t.

Remembered what one single kiss would cost him.

Damn it to hell.

Grinding his teeth, he pulled back an instant before their lips met. “I’m pledged, Sumi.”

Still she kept her hand on his cheek, tormenting him with things he knew he could never have. “Has she ever kissed you?”

He looked away as he remembered the one time he’d tried. Dariana had moved so fast that he hadn’t even felt the knife go into his flesh, until she’d twisted it in his gut. Instead of tasting her lips, he’d tasted his own blood.

“You ever do that again, unworthy, repulsive dog, and it’ll be your testicles I slice open.” Coldly, she’d wiped her blade off on his sleeve before she’d stepped over his body.

He swallowed hard as he pushed that memory away. “No.”

Sumi brushed her delicate fingers over his mouth, raising chills all over him. “You should have a female who kisses you, Dancer. And often.”

Before he could stop himself, he ran his hand through those pale tresses that had been tempting him since he’d pulled her skullcap off. They were even softer than he’d imagined. Lifting a lock, he inhaled her sweet scent. “You smell like flowers.” And all he wanted to do was bury his face against her neck until he was drunk from it.

But he could never do that. Dariana was trusting in him to keep his vow to her. His body belonged to her and her alone. It was something his father had beaten into them from birth.

“I ever catch you with a female other than your pledged or wife, I’ll cut your cock off myself.”

And after the nightmare and infighting between his mother and grandmother, the last thing he wanted was to put any more drama into his already fucked-up life.

It just wasn’t worth it.

Swallowing hard, he forced himself to leave her and take up a sentry post. It was, after all, the only thing he was good for.