Page 136 of Given to the Black King

His cock remains fully swollen inside me.

We are still locked.

He does not withdraw the fangs immediately.

He waits until my body stops convulsing around them.

His hand stays beneath my head. His other palm covers my hip, claws curved away.

Only when my breathing steadies does he open his jaw.

The fangs slide free slowly.

Pain pulls through the wounds again.

He licks the bite at once. Tongue over blood. Once. Twice. Again. Venom and saliva seal the torn edges while his hand keeps my neck from turning.

The marks pulse with my heartbeat.

He lifts his head.

There is blood on his mouth.

His eyes are gray again.

Wet.

“Iona.”

I feel the word before he speaks it.

“I’m here.”

His forehead drops to mine.

“My jaw.”

“What?”

“It is quiet.”

Wonder moves through the bond, huge and unguarded.

I touch the hinge beneath his ear.

No tension. No tremor. The fangs remain long and sharp. Only the pain is gone.

He laughs once.

The sound catches halfway and becomes something else.

I pull his face into my neck.

He braces me against his chest because we are still joined.

The full swell has not begun to ease.

When I shift, it presses deeper and a shared aftershock tears through both of us.