Atria was all warm skin and curves. Her hips were luscious, her breasts heavy and tipped with dark, puckered nipples. Her stomach sloped gently into a dimpled belly button and a triangle of dark curls. Her thighs were soft, her calves defined, and her feet delicately arched.
And then there were the tattoos.
Kaz’s jaw clenched. It was impossible to say whether he loved or loathed those shackles. One one hand, he hated that they represented the possibility of her being out of his reach. On the other, helovedthe idea that he’d claimed something that never should have belonged to him.
Atria was his. No god, no man, no force of nature could tear her away from him now. If he was a man prone to outbursts, he might have beat his chest and roared his victory over the blighted universe. He wasn’t, though, so he settled for fucking his mate until the only word she could remember was his name.
Leaning in to breathe in the scent of her hair and all that warm, sweet desire, Kaz smacked his palm against the control panel, activating the shower. His bulk shielded her from the initial chilly spray, but he barely noticed the temperature.
He was too distracted by the way his mate trailed the tips of her fingers down his stomach. “You don’t seem weak to me.”
Kaz braced both hands on the wall and dipped his chin to watch her progress. “I am where it counts,” he rasped.
There was nothing sexier than the sight of her rapt expression as she traced a vein from the root of his cock to the tip. Her hands were small and soft, her skin a gorgeous dark gold against his green, and the sight of those tattoos so near his throbbing cock? Obscene. Gorgeous.The stuff of godsdamn dreams.
She took him in hand and tilted her head back to look up into his eyes. The room had begun to fill with steam, but he was certain the heat wasn’t what made her cheeks darken. His mate lookedhungry.
Only then did he recall what she’d said to him in the motel bathroom what felt like a lifetime ago:“I’m an empath. We need to be touched.”
He’d kept contact with her all day, but maybe he’d actually been neglecting her. Was it enough to hold her hand? Did all that hunger stem from a desire to escape her worries or was it something deeper?
Does she need me as badly as I need her?
Kaz’s heart thumped wildly against his ribs. He desperately wanted her to need him the same way he needed her. It was imperative that she feel that crushing, liberating desire that had reshaped him, and it was equally important that she knew he would always, always give her what she needed.
“Is this what you wanted, princess?” He rolled his hips slowly in her loose grip. “Do I need to take care of my pretty empath? Have you been starving for me as much as I’ve been for you?”
He watched Atria’s pupils expand. Her lips parted on a deep breath. “Yes. Gods, yes.”
She released him, but before he could complain, Atria pressed her palms against the tops of his thighs and began to slowly lower herself onto her knees. When she finally settled, the position left her arms stretched up and her head back against the wall — a supplicant on her knees, begging for anything he chose to give her.
There wasn’t a single drop of blood left in his brain, but somehow Kaz managed to tell her, “You never need to give me something you don’t want, princess, and you never need to beg. You want to suck my cock? I’d love that. You want to straddle my face until you come without ever touching me? I’d fucking love that, too. Clear?”
And there it was again, that soft look that made him feel like he was more than a madman’s bastard.
Atria smoothed a hand down the contours of his thighs and back up again to gently cup the underside of his cock. She leaned forward to press a kiss to the flat plane below his belly button. Whispering against his skin, she said, “We’re clear, big guy.”
Those plush lips trailed down to nip, lick, and kiss his skin. Kaz held his breath, claws curling against the wall, as she began to lavish attention on what felt like every blessed inch of his cock.
“I love looking at you,” he panted. “I love watching you explore me.”
“There’s a lot to explore.” Atria met his gaze as she swirled her tongue around the darkened head. He hissed through his fangs when she delicately flicked the piercing on the underside, then, seeing his reaction, proceeded to torture him with it.
Most women gave it a cursory coo or were too nervous to touch it at all, but not his mate. Atria gave every single part of him her attention — every vein, ridge, and bit of metal. She pressed sucking kisses all over, rolled the metal ball ends against her tongue and teeth, licked hot stripes and even dared a nip or two. It wasn’t just a blowjob. It was arevelation.
At some point, he couldn’t tell what was water and what was sweat running down his skin. It felt like every muscle was drawn tight, every nerve crackling, by the time his mate finally allowed him into the hot well of her mouth.
Kaz grunted as he slid over the slick muscle of her tongue and then savored the blissful suction of her lips and cheeks as they hollowed out. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but at some point his hands ended up wrapped in her long, damp hair. He loved the way it looked knotted around his fingers as she took him gradually deeper, deeper, until he felt the ring of muscle guarding her throat relax.
Atria didn’t flinch once even when his cock, large by any standard, threatened to choke her. When he tried to pull back, she sucked harder. When he tightened his grip in her hair, she wrapped her fist around him and worked him with synchronized, twisting pulls that made his toes curl.
She was greedy with him, demanding everything, and he was utterly helpless to refuse her.
Weak,he thought, feeling the pressure build and build until he was forced to claw at the wall, her hair still tangled around his fingers. He’d pinned her head still, but when she stared up at him through wet lashes, he didn’t see discomfort or anxiety — only raw need.
“I’m going to come,” he warned her, hips rolling erratically.
Atria’s only response was to grip his ass and try to drag him forward, her eyes locked with his.
