A small hand landed on his upper thigh, squeezing gently.
He looked down, following the slender arm up to her face, finding dark forest eyes watching him. “Patience isn’t one of my virtues either, but this is essentially our wedding week, so I don’t mind taking a back seat if it means we get to be together.”
The crawling sensation under his skin dissipated as her words sank in. He placed his secondary hand over hers on his thigh and smiled. “Thank you. You are right, as usual. I’m sure whatever punishment the Queen has planned is even worse than whatever I could do to those responsible for your attack.”
He glanced at the Imma, who met his eyes and nodded. He would be included in the punishment. The tension may have lessened, but his need for retribution remained strong. When he glanced back at Patty again, she had raised her eyebrow at him, her mouth ticking up at one corner. He felt his face heat under her scrutiny, and cleared his throat.
“While the Queen tortures her guests with her silence, perhaps we could take this opportunity to continue getting to know one another?”
It might ease the tension he felt gathering in the room, pressing into him from all sides. He wanted to fidget in his seat but a long fought for discipline kept him still.
Patty leaned towards him, using her hand on his thigh for balance, until he could feel the heat of her breath on his shoulder. “Mmm we could do that, sure,” she said, placing a kiss on his shoulder. “What topics haven’t we covered?”
He swallowed hard, his face burning. By the ancients, this female could rile him with a look, and yet she insisted on touching him at all times. His cock strained against the cloth of his pants, and he had never been more thankful for the long tunics that were custom to the Rijiterans. Had he been in one of the lighter fabrics favored by his own people, the whole room would be getting a show.
Patty’s soft smile widened into a grin as she watched his throat move. She glanced down at his lap, her eyebrows raising. “My, my, Rema, you are a groweranda shower, aren’t you?”
His body wanted to tremble at the soft purr he heard in her voice, but he suppressed it enough that all that happened was a shiver. “I am not entirely sure what either of those terms mean, but I am large, yes.”
He felt a pinch of worry that he would betoo large. What if they couldn’t? Or even worse, what if they could, but it hurt her? There was a function of his cock that Patty hadn’t discovered yet, and he worried that it would push large into the unmanageable area.
He sucked in a shocked breath, his mind blanking of all thoughts as Patty ran a single claw over his cock. It felt electric, even through his tunic and pants.
“Stop worrying. It’ll fit. We humans are pretty accommodating.”
He frowned. Damn his expressive face. It was becoming the bane of his existence.
Patty smoothed the line between his brow with her fingers, chuckling softly at him. “Don’t look so put out, Rema. I can taste your emotions, remember? I wasn’t reading them on your face. I was too busy admiring your dick for that.”
A laugh was cut off across from them, and he looked up to find Dhenea wiping her mouth with a linen napkin, avoiding his eyes. He narrowed them at her before looking at Imma, who met his eyes with a smile, her dark brow raised in challenge.
“Ignore them. Tell me what you’re so worried about. I’ve held your cock in my hands, Rema. I know how large you are, and I’m telling you that while it might take some extra care and work, you will fit inside me."
He did fidget in his seat then. The timing of the question made him uncomfortable, especially since there were females in this room he hated with every fiber of his being. Still, he should warn Patty… especially since he didn’t want her running from him during the Presentation. Perhaps if she knew what to expect, it wouldn’t come as such a shock. But was now the time? Embarrassment heated his skin, and he darted a look at Sira and her daughters, but they were having their own quiet conversation, their worried eyes flicking to Imma every few moments. Sythia was watching him though. He raised his chin, showing her a single fang before turning his attention back to Patty.
He fidgeted again, shifting in his seat as Patty watched him with calm patience, her smile never leaving. He sighed, pulling a breath in and letting it out slowly, and then leaned over, so that it would feel more private.
“I have a knot.”
Patty blinked, her mouth parting.“What did you just say?”
He sucked in another breath, closing his eyes. “I have a knot. At the base of my cock. It will swell, locking us together. It is a feature on very few males of the Neldre. A remnant of an old bloodline. Another undesirable trait,” he grumbled under his breath.
A soft whimper came from Patty, almost a squeak. “Oh. My. God.”
He opened his eyes, his heart in his throat, and risked a look at her.
Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back. Her teeth were biting into her bottom lip, and her legs were pressed tightly closed. Flowers had bloomed in her hair, and on her forehead, releasing the mouth-watering scent of her arousal into the air.
His muscles locked, his breath freezing in his lungs when she opened her eyes to look at him. Raw desire stared back at him.
“That’s the best news I’ve ever gotten in my life, Rema. Ohfuck, you’re gonna knot in me,” she said on a moan, her hand coming up to touch her throat as her head fell to his shoulder.
She was trembling. Flowers bloomed on the side of her throat, and in front of one of her ears. “Why didn’t I feel it when I was touching you on the ship?” she asked, lifting her head.
His face and ears were hot, and his cock felt like it was going to rip through the fabric of his clothes, precum dripping from him in response to the desire he heard and smelled from his Patty.
“You didn’t go down far enough with your hands.”
