Immediately, he dropped flat on his stomach between my thighs. His arms looped over my hips. His skin searingly hot against mine. He rubbed his face against my inner thigh, and his entire body shuddered.
“Your Majesty,” he breathed out, lifting his head to look up at me. Blood smeared on his cheeks. Eyes blazing with heat. “How can I ever thank you enough for accepting me into your Blood?”
“You already have.”
VORE
You already have.
No. Nowhere close. Maybe she didn’t know how rare it was for a queen to welcome all of her Blood to her bed. Especially ones deemed disfigured or dangerously unstable.
Let alone when she was breeding.
All this blood. I couldn’t even comprehend how Rik endured allowing any of us close to her, let alone taste the magical flow meant to honor the Mother. A holy offering, a reminder of all the ways She sacrifices for this world, birthing not just Aima but humans and animals and all the various creatures in between.
Any queen would sacrifice her entire House to be able to breed like this. I would have sacrificed myself a dozen times over if it meant Nuri could have an heir for House Kijin.
So many queens couldn’t even come into season any longer.Yet I got the impression this was a regular occurrence for my new queen.
One drop of menstruation blood on my tongue… and power surged through me. Chaotic, raw life energy, the purest, most powerful magic of all.
Not just a drop or two, but a heavy, steady flow. Magic pulsed in the air, making my hair crackle with static. Goosebumps raced down my spine, and the ushi-oni bellowed. Head back, swinging horns side to side, wallowing in the rising firestorm. Sparks burned through me, painfully intense. My heart stuttered, my breath catching in my throat on a ragged groan.
I licked every bloody rivulet streaming down her thighs. Every crevice. Trembling with strain. Not to be gentle. Not to contain my monster. But to simply hold so much energy inside this body and not fly apart into a million pieces.
“That’s enough, Vore. You don’t have to?—”
:I want. I need.:
“But it’s hurting you. Your capacity is full. Your bond feels like it’s going to explode, and not in a good way.”
Despite her worry, her hips rolled up against my mouth, letting more blood spill from her center. I sealed my mouth over the flow and drank.:Fill me, my queen. Blast me apart. I don’t care.:
The blazing hum of magic in the air intensified, rising higher to a shrill pitch beyond my hearing. Beyond anything I had ever known or felt in this lifetime. She poured into me. All her love. All her blood. All her power. A blaze of light and love that sheared through me, blinding me to everything but her.
Red. Hot. Blast. The world turned to blood and heat. But most of all. Love.
“Vore? Come back to me. Please.”
Fingers in my hair, stroking my face. Anchoring me back in my body. My ears still rang like I’d been standing too close to a detonation, and the world moved too slowly. In a haze, I nuzzled my face against her stomach. She’d pulled me up higher so I lay sprawled half on top of her. My arms around her waist.
“I’m fine,” I finally managed to mumble despite numb lips and empty brain.
Rik’s bond gave me a mental shove that cleared some of the lingering fog. “You worried her. When she tells you enough is enough, listen, or by goddess, I’ll kick your ass out of this bed and never let you come back.”
“Sorry. Alpha.” I lifted my head but I couldn’t make my face look serious or contrite. Not with all the endorphins still pumping through my veins. In fact, I grinned like an idiot. “My queen.”
Her lips quirked. “What was that, anyway?” Her head tipped slightly, her eyes unfocusing as she replayed what had happened. “For a moment, I could almost see Nuri hovering nearby. I smelled her perfume, something sweet and delicate.”
“Sakura,” I whispered, eyes widening. “Cherry blossoms.”
Shara nodded. “Yes, that’s it. Can you check in with her and make sure she’s alright?”
“I don’t have a bond with her, my queen. I never dared feed on anyone in House Kijin for fear I’d simply devour them.”
“I thought maybe the overflow went down all your bonds with other siblings.”
“I would never steal such power from your House, my queen.” My mouth sagged open with horror. Though I had been thinking of my sister. Of sacrificing myself. So she could have an heir. “At least not deliberately.”
