He let her bury her face against his chest to hide it from the assembly.  The feel of his chest beneath her hands and face was inhuman but not unpleasant.  The texture of his brilliant scales hard but smooth, and it was warm to her touch as well as scented with his musky scent.<br/><br/>His hands moved, one to rest against her back between her shoulderblades and hold her close while the other stroked her hair lightly.<br/><br/>"Yes," he said quietly, "You are my mate and my prisoner both.  And soon I shall remake you to survive my use and my needs for you."  Vague and disturbing images flickered across the bond as he spoke, the closeness of touch giving her glimpses of his thoughts, of what he intended to make her... of a dark chamber where the bloated forms of females he'd impregnated lay helplessly moaning while slaves tended to them.  And of a raised place in the center of that chamber where a large circular bed had been set.  A bed she she knew from his thoughts was for her, and would be where she would live out the rest of her immortal life.