“Don’t,” she cries into my skin.
I grin against her neck, a feral baring of teeth she cannot see. As you wish.
I move faster. Harder.
“Mih-kay-lah,” I snarl against her ear.
That is all it takes.
She breaks.
I did not expect it, did not know what to expect, but she convulses around my fingers, muscles clamping and releasing in waves that feel almost like milking. Heat floods my palm.
Her release slams into the thin mindspace like a lightning strike, white-gold and blinding. My glow surges so bright the tunnel lights up like Ain has found us here.
I keep her pressed tight against my chest until the last of her tremors fade into the stillness. She melts against me, her forehead resting heavily on my shoulder, her breathing ragged and loud in the quiet tunnel.
Slowly, reluctantly, I slide my fingers free.
Mih-kay-lah makes a small, lost sound at the absence, but I am distracted by the sensation on my hand.
It feels heavy. Wet.
I bring my hand into the golden light of my skin.
My claws glisten, coated in a thick, clear sheen. Fluid trails along my knuckles and gathers to drip slowly down my wrist.
I stare, my mind stalling.
Water.
So much water.
Drakav do not waste moisture. It is life. It is the lifeblood of the planet. We fight wars for less than what is on my claw right now.
And this… this came from her.
From her pleasure. From the fire I lit inside her.
It feels like an offering. A sacrifice of the body’s most precious resource, given only to me.
A tremor moves through me, older than any story. I cannot let this fall to the dust. It would be a crime.
I lift my hand to my face, inhaling the scent—musk and salt and her—before I close my mouth over my fingers.
I suck the wetness from my skin.
The taste explodes across my tongue. Salty. Deep. Potent.
It tastes like something made only for me.
A low rumble tears out of my chest. I clean my fingers slowly, thoroughly, chasing every drop. I do not stop until I have stolen every trace of her essence and swallowed it down.
When I lower my hand, Mih-kay-lah is looking at me.
Her lips are parted, chest heaving. She saw me. She watched me do it.
And the sharp spike in her scent tells me she liked it.
