“Still have twenty-three days to decide.”
“Yes. Twenty-three days of breeding. Of your belly swelling with deposits. Of your body reshaping itself more each time.” He settles beside me, clearly planning to guard while I recover. “Twenty-three days to pretend you haven't already chosen.”
I want to argue but my pussy clenches at the thought of tomorrow. Of being filled like this again. The empty ache is gone but replaced by something else—need for this specific fullness only he can provide.
“I hate you so much,” I say, but the venom is diluted by exhaustion.
“Good. Wouldn't want you tame.”
KASS
Iwake wrapped in serpent coils with my face pressed against cool scales.
The rage hits before my eyes fully open. That bastard carried me here. Again. I remember passing out at the pool's edge after last night's breeding, exhausted and overfull. Remember nothing after that. But here I am, surrounded by thirty-three feet of serpentine muscle that kept me warm through the cold swamp night.
“Let me go.” My voice comes out scratchy, throat still raw from screaming.
“Female can leave anytime.” His voice rumbles through the coils, vibrating against my skin.
He's right. The coils aren't tight, just... present. I could wiggle free if I tried. But when I attempt to sit up, the world spins. My muscles feel like water. The chemical aftermath of last night’s proto-eggs has saturated my system, creating a withdrawal that makes me weak without him, desperate with him.
“Fuck.” I collapse back against him.
“Food by your head. Water too.”
I turn carefully and find both within reach. The meat is fresh—something he caught this morning while I slept. The purplefruits that dull withdrawal symptoms. Clean water in a hollowed gourd. He gathered all this without waking me, without moving me from his coils.
“Stop taking care of me.”
“Female needs strength for breeding.”
“Female needs to be left alone.”
“Female was shivering. Skirlings were circling. Could smell them marking trees nearby.”
I want to argue but my teeth were chattering when I woke, even wrapped in his warmth. The swamp gets bitter cold at night, and my modified body runs too hot during the day to handle the temperature drop well.
I eat in sullen silence, still surrounded by his coils. Each breath he takes shifts them slightly, rocking me like a boat. It should feel like imprisonment. Instead, it feels... safe. Which pisses me off even more.
“I'm going back to my shelter.”
“Female can barely sit up.”
“Watch me.”
It takes three attempts to stand. My legs shake like a newborn colt's. The proto-eggs are doing their work, creating chemical dependency that makes me weak without him, desperate with him. I make it four steps before my knees buckle.
He catches me with his tail before I hit the ground. Doesn't comment. Just sets me on my feet and withdraws.
“I hate you.”
“Known fact. Shelter that way.” He points the opposite direction from where I was heading.
Bastard.
My hands won't stop shaking.
I'm trying to repair a trap the skirlings triggered last night, but I can't tie the simplest knot. The need crawls under my skin like insects. Every cell screams for what only he can provide. Theproto-eggs are almost fully dissolved now, flooding my system with chemicals that make my pussy clench on nothing.
