“All mine,” he warned, claimed. I felt those words sink into me, burrow beneath my skin. Hope unfurled in my chest that, after this, he’d want to keep me as much as I wanted to keep him. His passion was too powerful for me to pick up the nuances I sought, so wild that it burned into my brain and claimed me there, too.
His thumb sank deeper, testing my wetness and tightness. I arched, seeking more, but the warning in his eyes made me freeze in place again. “This, it was untouched before me?” he asked, and when I nodded, his thumb slid in all the way, then came back out, stroking against all the sensitive inner nerves. “I am the only male you’ll know.” I nodded again, because no matter what happened, I knew that was the truth. There would be no one else after him, no one I could share this with. There would never be anyone like him.
“Good girl,” he snarled, and then he lunged, adrenaline rushing through my veins. His thumb was replaced by his tongue, and a hint of teeth pressed against sensitive skin. He lapped, stroked, filled me as he made sounds like a beast in pleasure. He loved my taste; I could feel that so clearly that there was no part of me that could feel worry or shame. He devoured me as if I were his last meal and he intended to savor every morsel.
The pleasure he created buzzed through my veins, spiraling tighter and tighter until I burst into pieces. Drifting on a cloud of sensation, I felt him continue tasting me. “Jaxin,” I moaned, helplessly trying to close my legs around his head as the sensations became too intense. Boldly, I pushed against his head with my hand and clawed at the roughness of his skin. One leg curled by instinct, my heel digging into the side of his back fin—abruptly, he raised his head, his eyes glinting at me, mouth shiny from my juices.
“Do that again, little one,” he demanded, so I obeyed, my foot stroking his fin. He shuddered, eyes sliding shut and head tilting back. Poised above me, I could see his cock jutting toward me between my thighs, too far away to pierce me, but so temptingly close. Using my heel, I pushed against his fin again, up, urging him higher.
He moaned, and then, suddenly, it was too much. I could feel his emotions pulse around me, then snap. With rough hands, he pushed my legs wide, cupping my ass and yanking me across the sheets toward his waiting erection. The head was soft but so warm, brushing through sensitive wetness and then shoving inside me in a rough stroke. Firm, thick, but my muscles squeezed him tight, making him fight for each inch he wanted to push into me.
It stretched me, and I knew this was only the more flexible head. He pushed me against him with his hands, forcing more of him into me, and I shook from the effort. Only the slickness he’d already created eased the way, but it wasn’t long before he secreted that oily substance I recalled from last time. It tingled, smoothed out the burn, and in he went a little more.
He had himself braced above me with his arms, and I discovered I’d curled my fingers into his biceps, nails biting into tough skin. “You can take me, little one, my Dani. You can take more; you did it before.” I had, with much less preparation. Last time, his invasion had been so fierce he’d bowled through all my physical resistance in a heartbeat.
I raised my eyes to his face, saw the possession and pleasure in his expression, and melted for him. A few more pushes and his cock began to swell at the base, the lines along his shaft expanding like fins, rounded at the edges but hooking us together, sealing us in place. I was so full, stuffed by him and by the way he still kept growing.
Then he rocked into me, lifting me by my hips to press me close, and I shuddered. Pleasure radiated from each point of pressure until it all blurred together. His tip shifted, pushed, pulsed, and the seal stretched me beyond my limits. I came for him so hard and fast that it swept me away, tumbling me through a tide of pleasure. It was only his arms and the deep, languid pressure of his locked cock that anchored me. That point between my thighs, that’s where I was me, that’s where I began.
His hand slid under me, lifting me up until I found myself sitting in his lap, on his cock. I felt him so deep then that I knew he’d left a permanent impression. “Feel us,” he growled, and he pushed my hand between our entwined bodies to where his cock split me wide. My folds opened around his turgid organ, thicker than my fingers could ever close around. Wetness seeped out—mine and his—but no seed.
“You’re never going to forget this, Dani,” he warned, and he surged with his hips. His base stayed locked in place, but it sent pressure through my flesh; his tip shifted, stroked me deep. Then he lowered his head toward my shoulder, opened his maw wide, and bit down. Pain and pleasure collided, his thrusts sending me into another orgasm. I lost myself then, but it was okay because I reveled in the pleasure of him as he erupted with gush after gush of seed. Primordial satisfaction, possessive claim, I felt how much he wanted to own me, make me belong to him. But I didn’t have the words to tell him I was already all his.
Slowly, as the pleasure began to ebb and I settled back into my body, he lifted his head from my shoulder. He’d bitten me—but not hard—just pinpricks in a line, front and back, where blood began to bead. I was limp, exhausted, and held up only by his firm rod inside me and his hands on my back. Rocking us, we tumbled until I was back on the bed, horizontal but still connected to him. It would be a while before he’d be able to withdraw, and I wasn’t sure if the sleepy haze descending over my brain would allow me to stay awake that long. I kind of relished the thought of being that connected to him as I slept.
Chapter 20
Jaxin
Dani slipped into a deep slumber not long after I’d filled her with my seed. I could not stop admiring the dotted line I’d created along her shoulder. I’d never before had the urge to bite a partner during sex, but with Dani, it had struck me the last time, too. Then, I’d managed to hold back, but the need to claim her had been too powerful tonight. She hadn’t acted like I’d hurt her, but I wanted to make sure she was all right by using the scanner from my med kit anyway. She’d brought it with her tonight to check our food. It had to be somewhere in the pile of shredded clothing.
Her snug heat still clenched tightly around me, and the moment I shifted to try to look for that scanner, pleasure lanced through me, hard and fast. Damn it, that was sodistracting, I could barely think straight as I rode the wave. She was tiny, but she took me so beautifully. I could not get enough of looking at the way her body grasped me, any more than I could keep myself from looking at the bite mark.
Fine, she was asleep and looked peaceful, who was I to disturb that? The party outside was winding down, the music fading away, voices growing dim and silent. The cave beyond our little house was growing dark too, and the candles inside were burning down to their wicks. It had taken that long for my cock to stop clasping her sheath. I’d never stayed thick that long before, and I took great satisfaction in knowing Dani made my body respond more powerfully than anyone else. That was only right.
Once I grew flaccid enough to withdraw, I did so very gently. Seed, thick and creamy, came along as I pulled out, painting her delicate anthracite folds. The impulse was as new as the desire to bite her had been, and I’d given into it before I could think better of it. Fingers dipping into her to coat themselves with my seed, I raised them between us—over her sleeping form—and rubbed it into the pinprick marks my bite had created on her shoulder. I stared at the silver streaks I’d made and, finally, for the first time since I’d met my little scientist, felt a calmness settle in my gut. There. Now she was truly mine.
After that, we slumbered together, deeply, without dreams. It was the kind of sleep I’d never before experienced while on dry land—frankly, perhaps never even when I was submerged. She woke me with kisses and nibbles along my chest, her tiny tongue licking the scars that marked my thick gray skin. Immediately, my cock grew hard, and my eyes sought out her shoulder. To my surprise, the seed I’d paintedher with had melted away, and the small nicks had all closed while we slept. Now, each tiny mark was a silver dot or small slash, and it was beautiful.
Something in my feelings must have given it away, because she abruptly sat up to look down at her shoulder. Her all-black eyes grew wide then, catching sight of the markings that decorated her pretty anthracite skin. “Whoa, when did this happen?” she asked, and then she answered the question herself. “Last night, when you bit me.” Her fingers trailed over the silver dots, and my cock twitched eagerly. She sensed that too, her eyes dropping to my groin and thick length, and then she licked her damn lips. It was too much for a male to take.
Rolling us over, I pinned her to the bed, and after that, it was just a lust-filled, passionate haze of pleasure—our bodies tangling, her heat taking me, my clasper locking us in place. Beautiful female. Mine. Mate. It was at least an hour later that we finally separated, panting, sweat-soaked, and pleased. My hand found hers on the sheets and held on, unwilling to forgo a physical link between us.
The knock on the door came next, polite but definitely insistent, followed by the hum of my comm signaling an incoming call. I swore, Dani smiled, and the two of us rolled out of bed. She shrugged into the dress from last night and padded to the door to open it, while I just yanked the sheets from the bed over my lap and answered the comm call.
“Status report, Jaxin,” Asmoded demanded, sounding grumpy, but that was just to mask the worry he always felt for all his people. Dani was letting a giant into our guest quarters, a male, but probably a young one. He carried a tray laden with food, which he left on the tablefor us, and then he set about refilling the massive bathtub with hot water he lugged in bucket by bucket.
“All is well. We found safe haven with the locals, but will resume our journey today. We should reach the extraction point in…” I flicked to the map on my comm to check our coordinates and smiled. “Just a few hours, sir.” It wasn’t far, and I felt strong and well-rested. We’d easily make that last trip—unless, of course, Koratalin’s mercenaries tried to hassle us again. Perhaps they would not dare, so close to a Kertinal base and landing strip.
“Make sure you do,” Asmoded said, followed by a much kinder: “Mandy wants me to remind you that an Aderian scientist is not a grunt you can boss around.” The comment surprised a laugh out of me, and I half-swallowed the rough, unusual sound. My grin was wide and genuine, and it made Asmoded raise one nubbed black brow in surprise. I ended the call before he could ask any questions.
Not much later, Dani and I had both washed up and eaten. Now she was insisting I pack the damn flower garlands from last night into her already bulging bag of samples. We were haggling over the amount, but only because I enjoyed seeing her so fiery, when Taktak arrived. As the giant greeted my mate, she turned her back. I stuffed all the garlands she’d insisted on, and all the other flowers I could see, into the damn satchel.
We were ready to go, and it was clear Taktak was here to escort us back to the surface. He wore the same leather and leaf loincloth as before, rather than the fancy white fabric everyone else seemed robed in. A large jar of red clay also hung from his belt, along with a knife and a thick-handled ax. He looked like a warrior ready for war, and when he metmy gaze, it was with a solemn look of understanding. There might even be a hint of regret, but I was not sure enough of my ability to read expressions to be certain. Dani would know.
The impressive underground town of stone and pillars looked very different this morning. Children, as tall as we were, ran amok in the streets, and not a single shop or stall was open. When we reached the square where the main celebration had taken place last night, giants lay sleeping everywhere—passed out where they had stood when the party wound down. It must have been a very wild, very happy party from the looks of things.
There was a party of a very different kind waiting for us by the entrance building: more giants dressed the same way Taktak was, and one giantess in pale robes, flower garlands in her long hair. She greeted Taktak with a kiss that was long and passionate, making the watching warriors guffaw and thump their fists on their thighs. “Aw, they made her blush,” Dani whispered, when Taktak’s lady rushed away without a backward glance. It had to be the same one our giant friend had danced with last night, and the very same lady who had helpedusget dressed yesterday, but the paint on her face was all in different shades today, so I couldn’t be sure.
