Each thrust is a claim.
A reminder.
Mine.
My body adjusts, the pain fading into a background hum, overtaken by pleasure so intense it borders on pain. I meet him thrust for thrust, my legs wrapping around his waist, pulling him deeper.
The firelight casts shadows across the tent, painting our moving bodies in a dance of light and dark. The world outside the furs ceases to exist. There is only this. Only him.
His fangs descend, a primal response to his arousal. He doesn’t bite me, not yet. He just lets me see them, a silent reminder of the predator he is.
A predator who has chosen me.
A predator who loves me.
“Kaiven…” I breathe, my head thrown back, exposing the long line of my throat.
A growl rumbles in his chest.
He shifts his angle, hitting a spot inside me that makes me cry out.
“Yes,” he hisses. “There. Right there.”
His movements become more demanding, more urgent. The control is there, but it’s a different kind now. Not the restraint ofa male holding back, but the focus of a hunter closing in on its prey.
My pleasure builds, coiling tighter and tighter. It’s a tidal wave rising inside me, threatening to pull me under.
“Come for me,” he commands, his voice rough with his own impending release. “Now, Keandra. Sha.”
The wave breaks.
My body arches off the furs, a silent scream on my lips as my orgasm shatters me. It’s a violent, all-consuming pleasure that leaves me trembling and breathless.
Kaiven follows me over the edge with a roar, his hips slamming into mine one last time. He buries his face in my neck, his fangs scraping against my skin in a gesture of possession that is both terrifying and thrilling.
He stays inside me as we both come down from the high, our bodies slick with sweat, our hearts beating in a frantic rhythm.
“My Anari,” he whispers, his breath hot against my skin. “My veli.”
I run my fingers through his hair, my body trembling from the aftershocks.
“My Kai,” I murmur back.
Later, as the fire burns down to embers, we lie tangled in the furs. My head rests on Kaiven’s chest, the steady beat of his heart a soothing rhythm against my ear.
His arm is wrapped around me, holding me close, a silent promise that he won’t let me go.
Nothing in me feels simple.
But for the first time since I left Mars, none of that uncertainty feels lonely.
Kaiven touches my hair once, then my shoulder, then settles his hand at my waist as if making sure I am really here.
I smile against his skin.
“What,” he asks quietly.
I close my eyes and let myself rest there fully. “Nothing.”
