I lowered my hand and turned my horrified gaze up to the solid black eyes that had returned to my face. I whispered brokenly, “Are you…knotted?”
King Athon’s frozen face of nothing—possibly in shock—nodded once with a jerk. No words came out of his mouth, the King of Shifters having turned mute suddenly.
He opened his mouth, but then shut it. Still silent.
I whacked at his left arm, frantically ordering, “Get it out! Get it out now!”
The shifter king blinked. In a choked, gruff tone, he said, “That’s not exactly how it works.”
Yes, I knew how it worked.
I shook my head. “We cannot be soul mates.”
When an elf found their soul mate, their skin turned the color of whatever their power might be. When a shifter found their soul mate, their skin turned the color of their animal. But if the male—all kingdoms—climaxed while knotted inside the partner, the deal was sealed. His climax would put a string of events into place: the male climaxes, the female climaxes, their Fae-sparks connect, they are soul mates—the only person they could ever have a child with.
“My body isn’t going to give either of us a choice soon,” he said neutrally, his features still frozen in time. “I can’t hold it back much longer.”
He wasn’t in shock. No. He was trying to keep from climaxing like his body was urging him to do. The shifter king was trying to stay in complete control of himself.
“What do we do?” I asked hysterically. Wait. My eyes widened with a thought. “I could burn your dick off!”
King Athon’s eyes rounded comically, and then hurriedly went back to chilly stone. “Do not even think about burning my cock off. That would not help the ultimate issue of me eventually creating an heir.”
Never had a baby been born of two different kingdoms.
Even when theoriginalshad tried, it hadn’t happened.
They’d killed each other over that, too. One of their many times of killing one another, before the Fae finally created a compatible mate for them. They still ended up killing each other, though—too many times.
It was entirely impossible for us to have children.
He was correct. But bloody Fae still…
“You thinkthat’sthe ultimate issue here?”
“It is for my people. Either way, they’re fucked if I can’t get my dick out of you safely.” He held still, thinking silently. “I could cut you open. You would heal as long as I didn’t permanently remove anything.”
“Do it.” I nodded sharply. “Just get the fuck out of me.”
“I’ll make this quick. I’m particularly good with my claws.”
“I don’t give a Fae fuck. Just get it done. I’ll heal.”
Ever so carefully, he turned only his torso so that he could see and get one of his hands down there. His white hair trickled over his shoulder and smacked me in the face again, the soft locks swaying ever so slightly as he situated himself.
I lifted my right hand to swat it away.
King Athon barked, “Don’t move, you damned fool! My body is fighting me. This is hard enough, so keep still.”
I kept my red colored hand in the air, not moving.
A white hair tickled my nose.
I twitched my nostrils to move it.
It tickled again.
I scrunched my nose to remove it.
