“You're awake.”
He stands by the thermal pool, both cocks already emerged and hard. The breeding cock is massive, angry-looking with its ridges flared. The pleasure cock beside it writhes like it has its own consciousness, those patterns glowing from within, pulsing urgently.
“How long did I sleep?”
“Through the night rain. Into morning sun.”
“You didn't sleep?”
“I watched you. Waited.”
The way he says 'waited' makes me shiver. His control is gone. I can see it in how his scales have darkened to almost black, how his claws are fully extended, how his tail lashes behind him like a separate predator.
“The storm's over,” I say carefully.
“Yes.”
“We could check the flood levels?—”
“No.”
He moves toward me, and it's not walking. It's stalking. Every step deliberate, predatory. My body responds with a flush of wetness even as my mind starts calculating escape routes.
“Khor—”
“You've been empty for six days. Begging for my cock. Spreading your legs every time I'm near.” He's close now, looming over me. Seven feet of alien predator focused entirely on me. “You came through the portal for this. Took the tonic knowing it would make you need this. No more waiting.”
“Maybe we should eat first?—”
His hand wraps around my throat. Not squeezing. Just holding. Possessive.
“You'll eat after. When you're dripping my seed. When your belly is swollen with it. When you finally understand what you've been begging for.”
My heart races. This is different from his controlled teasing. This is feral. Dangerous. This is what I chose when I threw rocks at Vek.
“I need the bond bite,” he says against my throat. “Need to mark you permanently. Make you unable to leave.”
“No.”
The word comes out without thought. His hand tightens slightly.
“No?”
“Not the bond. Not yet. I can't—I need to think about it. The portal. Lily. I need time.”
“Your body has already decided.”
“My body isn't my mind. Please. Everything else, but not the bite.”
He pulls back enough to look at me. His golden eyes are almost entirely black with pupil. But he nods.
“No bite. But everything else. You're mine to breed today. As you agreed when you entered my territory.”
Before I can respond, he flips me onto my stomach. His weight presses me into the furs—all three hundred pounds of him. I can't move. Can barely breathe.
“Spread your legs.”
I try to close them instead. Some instinct for self-preservation kicking in. His knee forces between mine, spreading them roughly.
