Alien storm, p.22
Alien Storm, page 22
“You are supposed to rely on me and me alone. I should always be strong for you.”
“We’re supposed to rely on each other,” I told him softly.
He made a bitter sound. “Have you ever once had to rely on me? Have you ever even once come close to needing me?”
I hadn’t. I knew I hadn’t. Being independent was important to me, and I’d needed him to know that I wasn’t going to let him stomp into my life and rule it. But at the same time, I now knew I’d been hurting him the same way he’d hurt me when he’d told me not to sleep in his cave anymore. He’d never gotten the chance to take care of me, to be strong for me, because every time he’d tried in his over-the-top (and often offensive) ways, I’d essentially slapped his hand for doing so. In some ways, he’d really needed that hand-slapping. But in others... In others, I realized he was doing his best with the meager tools he had. He thought I’d love him back when he met me, and I didn’t. He thought the things his culture valued – strength, pride, and masculinity on steroids – would woo me. But they hadn’t. Just as he’d said, every instinct had led him astray. And left him utterly adrift.
“Well, I need you now, Errok,” I told him. “And I need you to know that opening up and telling me how you feel is a sort of strength. I think you’re stronger now, in this moment, than I’ve ever seen you before.”
His fingers tightened on my waist.
“That makes no sense. You are confusing me,” he said miserably.
“I know. But we’ll figure it all out together. I promise.”
I stretched up to reach his mouth. But I didn’t need to go far.
He met me halfway.
His mouth on mine was slow and tentative at first. As if he still couldn’t quite believe this was happening and he was scared I would pull away.
But I wasn’t going to pull away.
I opened my mouth against his.
And then, the kiss turned to chaos.
One of his hands shot to the back of my head, supporting it as the force of his kiss wrenched my neck back. His tongues surged into my mouth, tasting, searching. Claiming. I met them with just as much force, my clit throbbing at the feeling of his three tongues running over mine. Wetness flooded between my legs, my nipples aching. I didn’t know how badly I’d needed this. Needed him.
His chest shuddered under my hand, his breath coming ragged and hard. He dragged his mouth from mine, slicking his tongues along my cheek to my ear, then down to my throat. I moaned, keeping my head tipped back. It wasn’t difficult, and it didn’t hurt. Because his strong hand was still there, supporting me.
“I love you,” he rasped against my dampened skin. “I love you so much I can’t untangle it from obsession. I love your skin, your scent. Your anger and your joy. Your hair. Curse me, I love your hair so much I want to swallow it. Want to choke on it. Want to feel it slide across my cock. Get strangled by it.”
Holy shit.
His words sent desire slamming through my bloodstream. It grew even hotter, thicker, swirling through my core when he hoisted me onto my back on the bed. I half sat up, wanting to drag him back to me, but I didn’t need to. With urgent, panther-like grace, he climbed onto the bed, looming over me on his hands and knees. It was so much like the last time we’d been together in a bed. He’d loomed over me then, just like this.
But it was also nothing like that. Because I knew that things were changing between us. He was changing.
And so was I.
Under the feral heat of his gaze, I drew trembling fingers down to my tank top’s bottom hem and yanked it up and over my head, tossing it aside. I laid back down beneath him, and then, before I could lose my nerve, I pulled down my pants and underwear. They caught on my ankles (I was still wearing my stupid fucking boots) but a flurry of kicking soon had everything sliding off my feet and onto the floor.
I panted, completely bared to him, trying not to be afraid. Afraid of what he’d see when he looked at me. He’d given me something tonight – he’d opened up and let go. I could do the same. So, I forced myself to be still. To not curl up and roll away and hide.
It was hard, though. Because his sight stars lit my skin on fire.
They stormed over me, dragging up and down my form, over and over again. His cock jutted out from his groin, stretching his loincloth to its limits, and it twitched whenever his gaze passed over the place between my legs.
“How long are you going to keep staring?” I asked shakily after what seemed an excessively long time.
“As soon as I regain use of my limbs,” Errok wheezed.
A tremulous smile passed over my lips. He was adorable like this.
“Do you want to touch me?” I asked, feeling just a little bolder. Flushing, I drew my fingertips slowly over my breasts. My nipples puckered, and I arched, moaning.
“Skies help me,” he groaned, watching me touch myself with feverish eyes. “I’ve wanted this, wanted you, for so long, that just watching is pushing me beyond the edge of reason.”
His words squeezed my core. I licked my lips, my eyes dragging down to the evidence of his arousal – his throbbing cock.
“Can I take this off?”
He gave a strangled-sounding, “Yes,” then breathed some curse I didn’t quite catch.
I reached one of my hands down, tugging at his loincloth until one of the knots came loose and it fell away. His cock sprang free, hard and huge. It was a deeper indigo colour than the rest of him, with twin blue spears of flesh on either side. His balls were velvety, dark, and heavy. Under my gaze, they visibly surged upwards towards his body. At the same moment, a drop of wetness appeared at his tip, a shining bead that remained round and perfect, like a dew drop, against the slick dark hide.
That bead didn’t stay there long, though. When I drew gentle fingertips along the bottom of his shaft, that bead of semen dribbled down, pushed out by more seed. Every muscle in Errok went taut as a snare drum’s skin. He screwed his eyes shut, and his breath became choked. More seed ejected, this time in a small spurt instead of a dribble, making me gasp.
He’s about to come. Just from one touch...
That thought was shockingly arousing. It made me want to see more. To have him entirely lose control.
“You can come if you need to,” I whispered. My fingertips remained still against his hot, throbbing organ. It jerked against my touch at my words, forcing out another little spurt of pearly liquid.
“No. Not yet. Too fast... I can’t-” His words melted into a needy whimper as yet more seed dribbled, glistening on his skin, making everything wet. He ground his fangs, his neck straining.
I slid my index finger up to the dark slit at his tip, pressing it there like a stopper.
Errok’s eyes flew open. He straightened up onto his knees and his claws flashed through the air.
He raked them in a savage motion across his chest until lines of dark blood appeared.
I scrambled up onto my knees, too.
“What are you doing?!” I cried.
“Needed some pain,” he grunted. “To distract me. To... Regain control.”
I decided not to tell him that someone clawing their own skin until they bled just to avoid coming didn’t really seem like an indication of control. It seemed absolutely crazy.
But maybe I was crazy, too. Because I slid forward on my knees and kissed his wounds.
Thankfully, they weren’t deep, so they weren’t bleeding too much. But there was enough blood that I felt it smear over my skin, could taste the tang of it, as I kissed along each torn strip of flesh.
“Zuh-Tephanie,” he gasped. His hands snapped to the sides of my head. But he didn’t exert any pressure one way or the other. As if he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to push me away...
Or pull me closer.
My hands slid along his waist as I pressed into him. His cock was trapped between our bodies, its sticky underside twitching against my stomach.
“Beloved, you’ll get filthy. You – ah!”
My lips grazed his nipple. His cock twanged with tension.
I fastened onto the taut bud and sucked.
Errok’s fingers tightened. His tail twisted in the hides. His voice disappeared into a harshly fractured howl.
His cock unleashed a torrent against my skin. It bucked wildly against my abdomen, coating me with desperate spurt after spurt of seed. I jerked back from Errok’s chest, helpless to do anything but watch his untouched shaft unleash all his pent-up need. And apparently, there had been a lot of need. Every time I thought he had to be finished, he shivered, and another hot jet coated me. Finally, his cock still half-stiff, the explosion tapered off and ended. We both breathed heavily, staring down at the mess. The undersides of my breasts, my ribs, all the way down to my belly button – all of it was slick with Errok’s viscous fluid. It dripped down my skin the way it had dribbled over his sensitive tip, rolling in shining beads towards my pubic hair.
Between that and the blood I now remembered was streaked across my face, I probably looked like a disaster.
No doubt Errok thought the same.
Because his fingers fastened around my waist.
And then he dragged me into the heated water of the pool.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Errok
I’d told her I would cherish her. And instead, I’d made a mess of her.
I sloshed into the heated pool, pulling my mate right along with me. Her knees buckled, or maybe she slipped. I scooped my arms under her, cradling her against my chest. The pool wasn’t deep at this end – a little past my waist. At the other end, it was so deep that I could swim, my claws not touching the bottom.
I didn’t go into the deep end. Instead, I deposited Zuh-Tephanie onto a natural bench of stone. The water sloshed high on her small body, all the way up to her delicate collarbones. That will take care of the spilled seed, at least.
I still could not believe I had climaxed like that. With so little control. She’d barely even touched me. And then, seeing all that spill on her pale skin had made me want to both clean her with manic effort... And do it all again.
Zuh-Tephanie watched me from her seat on the stone. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink, her eyes large and bright and even more reflective than the water of the pool. Her lovely hair was mussed from my touch, falling in tangled waves around her shoulders, the steam dampening the brown strands. The lower half of her face – her pointed chin, her perfect temptation of a mouth – were smeared black with dried blood.
I fell to my knees before her. Like this, our gazes were level. My motion sent a small tidal wave of heated water sloshing towards her, crashing over her neck and drenching her skin. I used that wetness, dragging my thumb through it and up over her chin to her lower lip, smearing the blood further. The scratches on my chest burned.
“We’re going to need some Vrika’s blood,” she murmured, her gaze dropping to my chest. Her lips parted, letting my thumb in. My cock was already murderously hard again, as if I hadn’t just ejaculated all over her with the untapped force of a virgin warrior.
“We don’t,” I assured her. “These are barely wounds at all. Besides, this water has some healing properties.” The heated water in the pools of my mountain could not entirely heal wounds the way Vrika’s blood could, but it had mild antiseptic properties that made it immensely useful for moments like this. Because I had absolutely no interest in leaving my mate’s side to track down a jar of Vrika’s blood right now. Not when she was naked with me, her eyes alight, her bare skin wet and silken and begging to be touched.
I pulled my thumb from her mouth. The slick popping sound made hot pleasure curl around the base of my spine. I cupped water in my hand, then propped my hand against her cheek, letting the warmth dribble down. She closed her eyes and smiled contentedly, leaning her head against the stone at her back while I poured careful streams of water down her cheeks and neck.
That first annoyingly quick orgasm had calmed me somewhat. I was no longer so overwhelmed by the beat of desire that I could hardly bear to touch her. My hands no longer shook, thank the cursed skies. I’d begun to worry that I would shake every time I got near her and that possibility was too humiliating to even contemplate.
I was still run-through with need, but it had slowed, turned thick inside me. It let me calm down, just a little. Let me realize just how lovely it was to watch water run over my mate’s skin while she gave little sighs of pleasure.
But I wouldn’t take too long with this. Even more humiliating than the fact I’d trembled was the notion I would not please my mate after I had spilled. Ideally, her pleasure would come before my own but... Well... I would just have to improve upon that for next time.
I stroked my thumb, my fingers, along Zuh-Tephanie’s chin, jaw, and neck. When her skin was soft and clean and free from the ugliness of my blood, I tucked her now wet hair behind her round, low ears. I kissed the tender place behind each ear, groaning at the way she tensed, her pulse jumping in her throat.
Beneath the water, my fingers slipped, cupping her breasts. In the heated wet, her nipples had grown puffy and swollen. It made me want to suck them. They contracted under my touch. And that made me want to suck them even more.
But I had an even more pressing urge than that. My fingers looped around her tiny waist and I lifted her up onto the stone edge. She gave a startled cry, her eyes opening. My hands clamped down fiercely on her dripping thighs, silently letting her know that she could not escape. Not from me. Not anymore.
I stared up at her, adjusting my position until I was kneeling on the bench she’d just been sitting on. My head was at the perfect height – directly between her knees.
She tried to slam those knees closed, but I hissed, my thumbs digging into her inner thighs.
“You said I could not hide from you,” I reminded her hoarsely. “Now, you must not hide from me.” As I spoke, my hands slid slowly up her legs, my thumbs coming to a stop at the place where those pretty thighs met her groin. I didn’t look between those thighs. Not yet. Not until she eased the tension in her muscles and let me in because she was as desperate for me as I was for her. I wanted her to want me.
Please, perfect creature. Want me.
Her breath hitched. A red flush stained her cheeks, her neck, and her chest. She met my gaze, and I could see the fear there. Fear, perhaps, that matched my own.
But even more than that, in the glittering depths, I saw the desire.
Her thighs quivered, then relaxed under my hands.
She spread her legs.
And gave me a gift greater than any mountain, any expanse of sky.
Dark, drenched curls glistened around a seam of dark pink skin. Silken folds lined each side, begging to be tasted, teased, and parted. At their apex was a little nub of flesh that sent dark curiosity spiralling through me. So many secret places to discover...
I skimmed a thumb inward, gently parting her until her hot, wet core was revealed. A dark, inviting entrance, pretty as a dark rindla bud at dawn. When my thumb bumped that taut nub at the top, I watched in lurid fascination as her entrance constricted, her hips pulsing upward.
I wanted to see it happen again.
Experimentally, I brushed my thumb over the nub once more. Zuh-Tephanie made a sound low in her throat, her hips rocking against my thumb. More luscious moisture appeared below.
I became aware of a sudden, terrible thirst. The sort of thirst that turned me inside out with need, made me feel like I might die if I didn’t quench it right now.
And I knew there was only one thing that would quench this sort of need.
My tongues were out of my mouth before I even dove, desperate to taste her. I fell upon her in a chaotic tangle of tongues, fangs, and lips. I’d assumed that I’d be able to impress my mate with at least some semblance of skill during our first time together.
That assumption was proving to be naïve at best, asinine at worst.
I was shaking. Again. And I was already close to coming. Again. Her taste and secret softness were undoing every bit of control I’d clawed my way back to. I groaned, rubbing my face back and forth, soaking myself in her wetness as my tongues circled her entrance. I wanted to be so drenched in her goodness that every male would be able to smell her on me for days to come. So that everyone would know that I had pleased her.
And everyone would know that she was finally, inarguably, irrevocably mine.
When the centre tongue nudged inside her, I got to feel that glorious clenching for myself. I thrusted deeper, stroking against every pulsing wall while my other two tongues slipped back up to that little nub that seemed to make her go as mad as I felt.
At least my hungry, feral mess of a technique seemed to be pleasing her. Her fingers buried themselves in my hair, digging blunt claws against my scalp as she writhed.
“Errok, this is, oh my god.” Her fingers drifted out of my hair, pulling away as she wriggled down to lie on her back. My jaw went tight, my tail slicing through the water as she draped her lovely legs over my shoulders and down my back. I stroked my tongue along the front wall of the inside of her wet sheath, and her heels dug into the muscles along my spine.
“Oh! Right there,” she mewled.
I never thought I would enjoy being told what to do before. I found I enjoyed it immensely now. I prodded my two outer tongues along her swollen little nub, and rubbed up and down that front wall of her with my centre tongue once more. I couldn’t get enough of her taste. Of every slick frill of texture inside her. I grasped my cock, pumping hard, when I thought about putting it inside her.
I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself entirely. But I forced them to stay open. I’d waited so long – too long – for this. I would burn the image of her – flat on her back, skin flushed red, breasts shaking, mouth thrown open in an ecstatic moan – into my brain. I would not even blink for fear of missing a single beat of her beauty.
Part of me worried that my vexing little mate would soon come to her senses, kick me in the face, and never let me do this again. So, I had to make it count.
