He cups my head. “You are already exhausted. And so am I. As much as I need to fuck you, it feels like a waste of energy for both of us.” As he speaks, he’s rocking his hips, fucking my mouth with short strokes as if he can’t help but move.
I wrap my fingers around his shaft and enjoy every drop that spills on my tongue. Never in my life have I wanted a guy to cum in my mouth so badly. I know it won’t be enough to quench my thirst, but it’s something. And I like the way he is watching me, as if the world could end and he wouldn’t notice. As if I am everything to him.
That’s when I realize that I am.
I am the mate he never thought he’d have.
That makes him my…mine. I wear some of the blame for this happening. He closes his eyes, and his shaft hardens, then he is spilling into my mouth with a soft groan. I swallow and suck, wanting every drop.
18
ALDIT
Iwatch her sleep, reluctant to wake her up, even though this was not meant to be an all-night stop. I napped, but my conscience is as uncomfortable as my meq. Neither will let me find peace. My thirst is starting to claw at my throat, and I need water more than I need sleep. Which is why I am wake, not because I need to touch her.
Or because I want her to ask if she can suck my meq again.
More than that, I want her to open her eyes and look at me as if I am the warrior she wants. Which is stupid because I know that’s not going to happen. Instead, her eyes will be filled with concern. I won’t refuse.
I gently shake her awake, and she sits up, ready to go like a true warrior. I smile.
She blinks up at me. “It feels like I’ve only just fallen asleep.”
“I can assure you, you have not. The moon is high, and it is the middle of the night. If you want to reach the river by daylight, we should move.”
It’s not a case of wanting to reach the river by daylight. We need to if we are to survive. I kick dirt over the fire while she stretches.
She glances at me. “Are you okay?”
I think she is asking about the rut and if I need to fuck her. I can only answer honestly, though I’m disappointed that she hasn’t offered to suck me. “I think thirst and starvation are dulling the edge.”
She nods, but doesn’t seem happy. “That’s not a good sign.”
“No,” I admit. “So now we need to press on.”
We start off walking together, but it’s soon apparent that I am slowing my pace so as not to leave her behind, and she cannot go any faster. I allow it to continue as I deliberate what to do next. If I carry her, we will move faster, but it will also tire me. And if I don’t carry her, it’ll take us till mid-morning or even noon to reach the water. I’m not sure which is worse. Probably the latter.
I pause and drop one need to the ground. “If we are to get there quickly, which I feel we should, you need to climb on.”
She stares at me. “I don’t want you to fall over from exhaustion.”
Without water, proper rest, and food, that will happen anyway, but I don’t need to say it, and Ruby is aware she is failing faster than me. I don’t mention that, either, because her pride will bristle, and she will refuse my offer to carry her. “The sooner we reach water, the better.”
She nods. “Okay.”
She climbs onto my back and I stand, giving myself a moment to become used to her weight, and the way it changes my center of balance, but also to appreciate the way her arms and legs are wrapped around me. I walk for a little until I am sure that she won’t fall—and neither will I—then I begin to jog at a pace I feel I can sustain for hours. One thought drives me on: water is not far away.
I keep checking the stars to be sure I haven’t drifted off course while following the trail. Eventually, I’m forced to slow to a walk again.
“Do you need me to get down?” Her voice is raspy in my ear.
“Not yet.” We must be almost there. The clawing in my throat has overtaken the raw lust in my blood. I thought it would be the rut driving me mad. How wrong I was.
I don’t know if I’m walking any faster than she would be, but I keep going. I keep carrying her, needing to get there as quickly as possible.
The sky lightens to a soft grey, and then I smell it. Water. I sense the serpents and other lives within it. And I quicken my pace.
She moves as if sensing the changes in me, her head lifts from my shoulder. “Can you see it?”
