“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice lower still. A rush of warmth courses through me.
My stomach growls again. My face flushes. “We should eat. I haven’t seen you eat once since…”
“Since you first saw me?”
“Y-yes.”
Kaos rises off me, pulling the sack of food toward us from where it rests at our side. He pulls out two fruits and hands one to me. Even in the waning light, I can tell they’re bruised. But food is food and should never be wasted unless rotten or diseased.
He watches as I bring the fruit to my mouth and bite in, moaning as juices sluice over my tongue. Lifting my hand to my chin, I catch a couple drops. His gaze follows it.
He groans. “I am very hungry.”
An embarrassed sound escapes me as he leans forward and licks my chin. “What are you doing!?”
“Eating.”
For the next few minutes, we share the fruit. When I bite, he bites the same fruit, his face directly before mine. It’s so intimate I don’t know what else to do but finish quickly. His tongue slides out between swallows and licks my face, cleans the juice off of me, before another bite is taken.
Never have I ever shared food like this with anyone. Nor have I seen anyone, not even the merfolk eat so closely. Sensations run through my body, and his mossy scent returns to my nostrils. Sharing food with Kaos is making me wet. When we’re done with the first, he puts the other fruit to my lips and we start anew. But this time, his hand presses against my throat, caressing it each time I swallow.
“Mine,” he rasps. “I will fill you with food as I have filled you with my seed.”
Licking my lips, all I can do is nod. After throwing aside the second fruit core, all that’s left between us is a hand’s width of space.
Is this what it’s like having a male? Is this what it’s like mating? It can’t be so. I’ve never seen the males act like Kaos does. His mouth moves closer to mine…
Please kiss me. I suck in a breath.Please.
But he stops his lips a hairsbreadth from me, his hot breaths fan my mouth. My soul is ready, my body willing, and all else fades from my mind.
He jerks back, his stare grows angry. He’s on his feet with my spear in his grip, glaring down at me with fury, as if I brought this all on myself.
“We will sleep here tonight,” he snaps. “Do not leave this spot. I am going to scout the area.” I watch as he turns away, only for him to jerk back, slapping me with his gaze. “And bathe again. Your scent is everywhere.” He’s off the side, out of sight the next instant.
Moments pass before I’m able to move, shocked by his reaction. Fisting my hands at my sides, snapping my mouth closed, I finally shake the lust from my body, returning to my senses. Hurt crowds my heart as I crawl to the pool, slowly slipping in.
He still hates me.
Will it ever stop?
I wish more than anything now that there was something I could do to make him forgive me. Dumb, weak tears flood my eyes. Dipping beneath the water, I wipe my face clean before he comes back and notices them—smells them.He smells everything else, why not tears?
Scrubbing my skin clean again, washing the arousal away from between my thighs, I vow to make it up to Kaos.I can’t give him back his power or his immortality, but I can give him all of me.Wiping my palm over my belly, I can give him young. They’ll be my children too.
And if young are all I get back from him, I will be content.My heart hurts.I’ll never ask for anything more.
A short time later, I’m lying back in the grass, curling my limbs inwardly to keep warm, hating how much I miss him already.
We are bonded now, you and I, for as long as we both live. Do you realize what that means?
Our bodies have woven us together, irreversibly. There is no escape!
Sleep finally comes when his words finally, painfully hit home.
17
