My breathing halted, stuck in my lungs. In response, the gills on my neck flared wide, but they could not draw in air any more than my frozen lungs could. How could she ask that? How could she not? She did not know Rummicaron history; she was not that kind of scholar. She had not sensed the truly beastly thoughts running through my mind, the ones I’d had when seeing her naked form.
“I know you feel, Jaxin,” she said when I didn’t answer. “And I know you ache.” Her fingers gently stroked my chest, a sensation I knew was there but did not quite feel through the armor I wore. She had unerringly touched the long muscles that ached with strain after days of hard labor.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” I told her with a shudder, because at least this I could answer. “Old injury from months ago, but it won’t affect my ability to protect you.” I tried to force myself to move away, but she had too much power over me; I couldn’t move a muscle. I tried to tell myself I needed to check where the giant was, that I was failing in my job by not doing so, but it did not help.
“What happened?” she asked—a simple question. She leaned in and studied my chest with her all-black eyes, theirshiny surface reflecting myself back at me. If she could, I was certain she’d peer straight through my armor and skin to see the bone and muscle beneath. I didn’t want to answer; it was still too raw and still made me feel too much like I wasn’t strong enough. I’d failed. I’d nearly died from that claw, would have, if not for the sacrifice of my poor Bex.
Withdrawing took a great amount of self-control and at least six repetitions of one of my most effective mental exercises. I rose to my feet and paced away, then came back to pick Bex—but not-Bex—up. “I’ll check where the giant is. You can rest until I’m back.” I did not check if she agreed with that, but left her kneeling in the grass by the small stream, surrounded by tall grass and flowers, the silk of her hair still heating the palms of my hands.
The giant was exactly where he’d been since we’d gotten to this clearing. When I scouted a little closer, he did not back away, and I appreciated the guts it took to stand his ground that way. He was no idiot; he knew that not-Bex could kill him in a heartbeat. We stared at one another, one warrior to another, and when he inclined his head, I knew he was telling me we did not need to be enemies.
I backed away then, circling the clearing as I tried once again to clear my head. Any equilibrium I had managed to restore shattered when I caught sight of Dani. Her sleek body, so much smaller than mine, gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight. She was dancing. There was no other way to describe the slow, gentle motions her body made as she swayed through the clearing. A leg went up in an athletic lift, arms going wide like a bird’s before she lowered into agraceful curl.
She flowed from one graceful motion to the next, some slow and simple, others clearly about balance and strength. I had never seen anything quite like this before: a dance without music, and not even with a particular rhythm. She seemed enthralled, her expression serene. She also knew exactly where I was, because as her motions returned her to a normal standing pose, her head tilted my way. “Hi, all still well?”
I did not mean to close the distance between us so rapidly, but when alarm crossed her face, I realized I’d scared her. My hand caught her chin, lifting it so I could gaze into her intriguing eyes. “All is well,” I told her in a rush, and then my instincts got the better of me, and control crashed and burned. My mouth covered hers, a claiming kiss that scorched me to the bone. She tasted like fire and summer, like the heat of the warm sun and the flowers she’d harvested for her cure. She tasted like she was mine.
Her hands clung to my shoulders, and not-Bex swayed against my back on her strap. I felt like chaos was about to rain down on us—my world shattering—but it didn’t. It was just me and Dani, swaying together as I tasted her mouth, her skin. She shouldn’t be so willing, but she was. Her desire was slick and sweet, dancing in the air between us, and I wanted to taste it so badly I ached.
“Jaxin,” she moaned. “Take me, please. I don’t care if you’re rough. I just know that I want you, I’ve never known that before.” Her words made very little sense to me; all I could gather from them was that she was consenting. That she wanted my claim, and she wanted it right now. The rational parts of my brain—the Rummicaron conditioning—no longer existed. I felt it then: the primal urge that livedbeneath our facade of civilization. I became the beast I’d warned her existed beneath my skin, a primal growl rattling from my aching chest.
I backed her up until we were beside the stream, then swept her off her feet and laid her down. Pinning her beneath my body, I dragged Bex’s strap over my head and placed the cannon in the grass next to us. Then I covered her mouth again, licked her skin, tasted the hollow at her throat. She had already taken off her shirt earlier and wore only a small, tight top that restrained the modest spill of her breasts. I recalled the soft, anthracite mounds with their dark tips from last night and desperately wanted to see them again.
“He’s watching us,” Dani said on a husky moan. I didn’t know if that meant the giant had gotten closer; I just knew I didn’t care. Let him watch, let him witness my claim to my tiny scientist. I felt deeply satisfied by the idea that another male would witness how thoroughly and truly I was about to make my female mine—all mine.
“I don’t care,” I told her, and my claws curled around the edge of her top. At the last moment, I allowed her to change my action from shredding to undressing. Her small hands guided me to lift the top over her head. It tangled with the long braid I’d made, but I liked that too. I might enjoy a witness to my claim, but he did not get to see her naked body the way I did. That was all mine.
“Jaxin,” Dani squeaked, as if she meant to protest the presence of our witness some more. I silenced the sound with another kiss, this one with a hint of teeth, so she knew what kind of danger she tangled with. Her gasp became a shuddering moan, and the scent of her heat filled the air. “Jaxin,” she said again, but this time it was a sound of surrender, of encouragement.
It was the last bit of tinder thrown onto the flame. I lost it then, I knew I did. A white haze descended on my brain, and every action after that small sound was instinct, beastly desire, and passion beyond any I’d ever known before. The pleasure she and I created was so intense that I knew it was forever changing me. Through it all, my eyes were locked with Dani’s black gaze—mirrors that reflected myself back at me. A small voice at the back of my mind gave shape to what I saw: beast, teeth, monster, raw power, and domineering control. This was wrong… I was wrong… but Dani, she never turned me away.
***
Danitalin
The passion was just like last time, a crashing tidal wave that washed over me and awakened an answering, primal passion within me. I had not lied when I told Jaxin that, with him, for the first time I knew exactly what I was feeling. I felt his passion break around me, but it did not overwhelm; it incited my own instead. It was exhilarating, it was powerful, and it was better than anything I could have ever imagined.
He’d bared my body to his eyes, stroked rough hands over my aching breasts, and flicked a finger over one nipple until I felt wetness gush from between my thighs. The scent seemed to drive him wild, and I loved the feral expression in his eyes, the grin that bared his dangerous teeth. Was Iwilling to tangle with the beast? Yeah, I was. I still didn’t regret it for a minute. Knowing I’d made him slip his leash—the tight control that kept a lid on his feelings—made me feel powerful.
The drawstring on my pants tore when he pulled them down my hips, and grass whispered against my skin. It all felt good, and I eagerly spread my legs to receive him. I knew what to expect when he started pulling, or more like yanking, on the fasteners of his armor. At least, in theory. But when he freed his cock, I wasn’t prepared for its daunting size. There was only one, while Aderian males all had two, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.
He’d barely bared his upper body at all, but I had eyes only for his cock anyway. Two parts seemed to form the long shaft: a head area and the base. The head was about as long as my fist, with a rough split down the middle of the purplish-gray, fleshy parts. It was secreting an oily substance that made him look shiny and slick. The shaft was the daunting part—lighter gray than the rest of him, but marked with several straight, dark lines. I struggled to recall what those did, but I was fairly certain they were signs that his cock was really a clasper: designed to lock us together and prevent escape.
Seeing it, a wave of apprehension washed over me. I’d never even slept with an Aderian male. Any partners I’d fooled around with had overwhelmed me with their own feelings. I had not wanted to experience something only through them and later regret it. The fact that I even felt that shiver of apprehension meant I was fully here, in the moment, and able to feel my own feelings. It made me able to make a choice, and I found that—even if it was terrifyingly big—at least I only had to dealwith one cock. I rather liked that, but most of all, I liked how much Jaxin had slipped his tight control.
He was spreading my legs with his palms, the texture of his skin rough against my flesh and sending tantalizing flashes of pleasure up my spine with each brush. He’d spread me wide and was staring at my soaked folds as if they held all of life’s answers. His mouth spread wide, revealing sharp teeth, and I thought perhaps he was going to take a bite out of me. Not really, but he seemed to be inhaling the scent of my arousal in eager gulps, his mouthwatering as if he wanted a taste. I wanted him to have a taste, if I were being honest, even if the thought of that many teeth so close to my folds was a little daunting too. I knew he’d never hurt me.
The long stare made more wetness seep from my opening, and with a groan, he finally moved. My leg was pulled wider, hooked around his hip, and he leaned forward on one arm, bracing himself above me. “You want me?” he said. “Then you’ll have me, Dani. I’m going to fill you, and yes, it’s going to be rough. You understand?” I nodded, pleasure and fear spiking through my veins. It was his feelings that eased my mind, told me I had nothing to worry about. He was in a primal mating rage, desperate to have me, to claim me. All his feelings were powerful, but they also felt...protective.
“Do it then,” I dared, and I wriggled my hips just a little. The head of his cock brushed my folds then, kissing the wet heat of me with heat of his own. Pleasure instantly spiraled through me, and I shuddered in surprise. I had no idea my opening could be that sensitive, and now I was desperate to feel more of him brush against the even more sensitive skin inside of me.
He pushed the head in first, and he did it with shallow, rough strokes. My body had no chance to grow accustomed; each push slid him deeper into me and stretched me wide. Each push was an assault on my senses. The ache of being invaded mingled with the pleasure of his cock rubbing nerves never touched before. Then the oily substance on his skin began to work: my flesh tingling, growing slicker, muscles softening.
With a growl, his jaw clenched tight, he lunged forward as if possessed. My body clamped down, resisted, but the pressure against my opening was too much, something even thicker and bigger than the head of his cock was trying to push into me: the clasper part of him. Contrary to what should have happened—my body resisting, letting him in, and responding with pain—pleasure burst forth, and an orgasm crested. I didn’t know why, only that the thought of him taking me, claiming me as his, the primal heat of the moment, all of it drove me over the edge.
Was it rough? Yeah. Just like we’d both known, my body didn’t easily want to surrender to the massive size of his shaft, but he gave no quarter. Pushing, retreating—with that oil and my wetness, the orgasm—everything combined to allow him to sink deeper and deeper. It was too much, his length all at once, and I felt like I’d been spread so wide it shouldn’t have been possible. It was, though. The female body was flexible like that, I knew it. I just hadn’t realized how that would feel until now.
A moan rose from my chest, tangling with the growl that rattled through the air. Then he swelled, his shaft growing thicker as the clasper locked us in place. The lines along his shaft thickened like fins, sealing us together. Hisdeep thrusts became limited, but he still rocked us together, tugging and pressing with his thickness on my walls. Locked—his—stuck on his cock with no escape. Pleasure rocked through me, the orgasm crashing hard and fast. A tidal wave that crushed my senses, made my breath stall in my chest, and sent my core clenching tight around him. That only enhanced the pleasure, drawing each shudder and gasp from me as my muscles twitched.
