KELLIN
“No matter what,” my true mate whispered over and over as she nodded for me to enter the room. “No matter what, no matter what, I cannot fuck the handsome selkie prince.”
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold back a smile. I’d never been called the handsome prince when Lachlan was around.
I wanted to show her how beautiful I found her. I finally felt like I might be able to speak the words out loud, but I had to go slowly. She’d only mated me to save my life, and had no idea that she was more than my chosen moon mate. She couldn’t feel my emotions in her soul, like I could hers. That should have bothered me, but seeing her unease with Lachlan’s bond made it seem like a stroke of luck.
I would prove myself to her, as moon mates did. If I earned it, she would complete the bond, and I’d spend my life making sure she didn’t regret it. I’d shower her with affection.
And gifts, of course. I thought about the maps I’d made over the past several years. I’d given some to Goran, but kept the more detailed pages in the library here, along with my supplies. I’d bind them into a book and give them to her at the end of themonth. It wasn’t jewels or silks, but maybe she would see what I’d hidden in every line, the care I’d taken to give her something that might be helpful.
Her gaze was so intense, I shivered. “Are you cold?” she asked. I shook my head. She fanned her face, still staring at me, appreciating my calves, my thighs, my pelt… or more likely, what was beneath it and rising fast. “I’m hot. So hot, all of a sudden. Open the window?”
“The storm…” I replied, but moved to the small window and pushed it open a crack, the cool air racing in on a whistle, before it slowed, turning to a far gentler breeze. “Better?”
She nodded once, still not blinking. “No matter what, no fucking,” she whispered as I stepped to the side of the tub. The rose petals floating on the surface of the water half-obscured her nakedness from my vision. All she wore was her nautilus pendant, and for some reason, my eyes slid away from it every time I focused on it.
Magic, I knew. But everything about her was magical.
“Of course not, my queen. I’m not here to claim you.”
She grumbled, until I let my pelt fall away. Then she went very quiet, her gaze fixed on my body below the waist. She licked her lips—unconsciously, I thought—and my already-hard cock stiffened even more. I let her stare for a moment, wondering what she thought. Like all selkies, I was hairless below the neck, and though I had the same equipment as a human male, I knew Goran was built differently. But from the flush on her cheeks, she didn’t disapprove of my body.
I stepped into the tub. “I’m not here to bond with you. I’m here to convince you that we should.”
The bathtub was large, giving me room to slide closer without touching her more than the slightest bit. I moved her legs to one side with my hand, and pressed along the wall ofthe tub until we were side by side, our faces turned toward each other.
Her silver-gray eyes shone like hematite, and her dark hair floated on the surface of the water among the petals and herbs I’d gathered that day from the garden. I lifted a hand to push a few strands away from her face, marveling at its perfection.
“How do you mean to do that?” she asked. The skin above her collarbone was as flushed and pink as her face, and her breathing slightly too fast. She licked her lips again, her own gaze resting on my mouth as I answered.
“Selkie males study the arts of lovemaking for many years.” I moved to sit behind her, her back close to my chest. I set my hands on her shoulders, feeling the smoothness of her skin, only slightly marred by marks from cuts here and there, but more from what could have been old beatings lower down. She stiffened as my hands passed over them, then relaxed as I massaged her muscles with enough pressure to elicit a groan. “My favorite part of the lessons was learning to give all the kinds of massage.”
“There are kinds?” She gasped as I found a knot of muscle and began to work at it slowly. Both of us ignored the way my cock stiffened against her buttocks, and I made no move to press it closer. I did let it brush against her from time to time, and after a few moments, she pressed back into it, unconsciously perhaps. The water began to smell of mint as well as the traditional sensual blend for the mating bath.
“Many kinds. Massage to relieve pain, to console, for alleviating tension. Massage to wipe away fear.” I moved my hands to her nape and worked the base of her skull, lifting her hair away. My breath ghosted over her shoulder as I stroked the tension away from her scalp with both hands for a long while, until I thought she might have fallen asleep.
“That feels incredible,” she muttered, her hips rocking back toward me in an unmistakable rhythm. “Wish we could.”
“No fucking, you said. Is this acceptable?” I scraped my teeth gently on her neck, and she moaned louder.
“Yes, please.”
I nibbled and stroked, the massage turning decidedly sensual as I explored all the places on her back, shoulders, and arms, noting which ones gave her the greatest pleasure, knowing I would return to them many times over the next month.
I peered over her shoulder. She was very responsive, her nipples beaded tight. I slid one hand around to her front, holding her waist. “Lean forward, please.” She obeyed instantly. I pressed lower on her back now, using my knuckles to release the tension along her spine, my hand in the front resting a bit lower on her abdomen as I went for counter pressure.
Of course my hand ended up an inch above her mound, and she moaned. “No fucking,” she whispered. To herself, I thought.
I answered anyway. “I hear you. I will not penetrate you with my cock, my fingers, or my tongue, not for the next twenty-eight nights. I vow it on the moon and my line. Relax, my queen.”
Her body bloomed like a flower, unfolding in the warm, fragrant water. Her arms and hands relaxed, draping over the sides of the tub. Her thighs parted, her head falling back against me. I lifted one of her arms and placed it behind my neck, and then the other. “Hold onto me,” I murmured. She did, lacing her fingers together behind my neck.
The first lesson I’d been taught when I was old enough to begin to learn the selkie ways of lovemaking was that every touch told a story. I allowed my fingers to speak for me, lingering more than moving, slowly learning her sensitive places, telling her without words that if she needed me to, I would wait forever to do anything more than touch.
“More,” she groaned as my hands glided over her slick limbs. I hummed in reply and rolled her tight nipples gently between my fingers, blowing on her chest as she arched her back to meet my touch. I kept the pressure gentle though, the movements teasing, until she broke, sobbing, “Please, Kellin,please.Touch me.”
“I am touching you, my sweet Omega. I’m touching you—” She arched her back harder, and her lower abdomen contracted slightly, her orgasm tantalizing her. Evading her. “Oh, you mean here,” I whispered softly and let one hand drift lower, to the top of her mound, where I pressed gently over her with the heel of my palm, making one small oval, then another.
