Her words struck a soft note in my heart, like a chime that pierced through the heat of my desire, spearing it with an arrowof what could be possible. I knew I would cherish her because she was my mate, but her words turned that abstract concept into a present-moment reality. She longed for me to come to her just as I longed to find her.
"Let's make our dreams come true," I growled, and took a deep breath in.
Chapter
Three
BRIELLE
He let out a guttural moan as his head tilted back with his deep inhale, his oiled muscles flexing in a way that sent shivers of heat through my entire body. When I walked into the room, I was expecting him to be in a suit or some sort of alien fashion, but all he wore was a loincloth that looked like it was made of synthetic fabric. It hugged his hips, matte against the deep bronze of his skin. He was tall, all clean lines and stacked muscle, the kind that looked like it should have been carved from marble instead of being made of flesh and blood. Black hair fell around his ears, a slight wave to it, a dark curtain that shifted as he tilted his head back.
He lifted his chin. The tendons in his neck stood out, cords under smooth skin. His ribs expanded against the light, the slow inhale pushing his Adonis abdomen firm, then softer, if any part of his body could be considered soft, as he released it. The first change came in the eyes. Brown darkened to glassy onyx as they fell on me, pupil thinning to a vertical slit. I caught the reflectionin the shape of that new black, the whites of my own eyes visible as he took in another deep, audible breath like he had been drowning and just came up for air. A low sound rolled up from his chest, not a word, a resonance. It vibrated in the dirt under the low heels I wore that were a lot less sensible than I thought now that I knew I had to run across a field.
Run, right, I was supposed to run.
I took a step to the side, away from him, keeping my eyes on him as his entire body rotated to face me.
Heat gathered. The hair on my forearms prickled. His back flexed, and the shoulder blades rose like stones under water. Vertebrae pressed along his spine, pronounced and orderly, then spread. The skin there glossed, then textured, then scaled. Each scale formed as if poured, a black so dark it drank the light, edges beveled like tiny shields.
I took a step back. I was supposed to run, but I couldn't look away.
He bent at the waist and planted his palms. Fingers lengthened, nails thickening into curved hooks that dug into the grit with a dry scrape. The knuckles split and reformed with more joints, skin, and scale flowing to cover them. His forearms broadened, muscles sliding under the skin like ropes pulled tight. The sound of it was sinew and pressure, a series of wet clicks, then several pops that echoed in the empty space around us.
His chest widened. The sternum rose and spread, a black keel forming beneath the skin before the skin followed. Scales laddered over his ribs, small to large, overlapping like roof tiles painted on by a paint brush. His jaw pushed forward, his skull changing. Teeth showed in a clean white line, then lengthened. Incisors drifted down, canines tapered into ivory knives, as his tongue darkened, lengthening into a deep charcoal as it swiped the air, stealing my scent from it.
The loincloth tore at the hip. Fabric thudded to the ground with a dull slap. The thick log between his legs grew, lengthening into something that made me glad I had so much practice with the oversized dildos I kept locked up. My own desire dribbled down the inside of my leg at the sight, enhanced by the aphrodisiac cream I was given before I walked into the room that was supposed to help my ligaments loosen when they were pressed against. There was no underwear to contain it. I didn't want any of them ruined, and it was clear from the contract that this mating was going to ruin every part of me exactly the way I desired.
The monstrous male member turned a light grey color even as it lengthened, bumps prickling along its length as a second protrusion appeared at the top of its base, curving up and over like a thumb. The slit at the end wept a glossy, shimmering cream. His thighs thickened, quads bunching into cable as his knees shifted backward with a muffled clunk. Calves lengthened, tendon shining for an instant before new skin slid over it. His feet reshaped on the ground, toes separating, nails erupting into talons that pressed small half-moons into the dirt. Each new claw clicked once it set.
Wings came next. The skin over his shoulder blades bulged, then parted along thin pale seams. Membranes unrolled with the whisper of oiled leather, black and nearly sheer at the edges, thicker near the bone. Spines rose through them, jointed and elegant, each segment locking together. He flared them half open, and a soft breeze stroked my face, the low thrum of stretched membrane shivering like a caressed drumhead.
His torso lengthened, the waist pulling narrow then extending and thickening, growing in size as vertebrae multiplied under the skin. A tail slid free, black and heavy, scales overlapping and catching the light along their edges. It dragged once, carving a shallow line through the grit, then lifted andbalanced a foot off the ground as if it had always been there. He tested it with a slow, even sweep.
The skin at his temples scaled over. Hair withdrew, sucking into his skull as each strand surrendered to the glossy armor forming in its place. Silver horns pushed out above his brow, graceful and lethal, curving back along his skull before arcing slightly outward. They held a muted sheen, a satin glow.
A rumble rolled through my bones, the sound he made now a layered vibration that resonated at the base of my spine.
He lowered to all fours, scale over scale, joint over joint, as he snaked out his long neck and sniffed the air, his glossy, depthless eyes focusing on me like I was a treasure, gaze held steady. I felt the heat of him, not painful, simply present, like I was standing at the perfect distance from a warm fire on a cold night, the flames reaching out to lick their way up my thighs with sensual strokes. I listened to the minute sounds of him settling into his new shape. Membrane creaked as wings eased, talons adjusted with precise clicks, scales whispering against each other as his tail moved gently through the air.
"Gorgeous," I whispered as he stared at me like a cat stares at a toy, his slit like pupils widening to focus utterly on me.
Run, I was supposed to scream and run, it said so in the contract.
I didn't want to run away from him; I wanted to run towards him. I wanted to reach out and place my hand on that graceful muzzle, feel the power of his massive size through the gentleness of our touch, but I needed to honor what I agreed to. It was important for the mating, and oh, did I want to mate with him. I wanted him so badly it hurt between my legs, a gaping chasm of need that only that massive weapon that still hung between his legs could fill.
I slowly kicked off one shoe, then the other, and let my bare feet find the dirt beneath my soles. I couldn't run in them if Iwere going to give it a good effort. He shifted as he watched me, sitting up and back on his huge haunches, his wings spreading out into the air, beating once as if to test the power of his lift.
I took a deep breath, and let out my best blood-curdling scream that ended in a giggle, grabbed my tits with both hands to secure them as best I could, then turned away from him and ran towards the white dome that nestled on the far end of the room, a curving archway large enough to fit the beast behind me.
He let out a roar that rumbled the ground beneath my feet, and I tried to scream again, but all that came out was laughter.
I heard and felt the woosh of air behind me as I let my legs stretch out in front of me, wishing I'd worn a sports bra, not that any sports bra worked for running. I held onto my bouncing globes with my hands, trying to keep them from wrenching too hard while the rest of my body slapped and jolted with every impact of my feet on the ground. I huffed, grateful that I had danced on my treadmill, speed walking style, to allow me to not be out of breath instantly, even if my overly ample bosom wasn't cooperative with full-on sprinting. They had gravity technology in this room, something about the plants needing it to know what direction to grow in, so I didn't bound like I would have if I were out doing a moonwalk on the surface.
Then I saw him, over my head, ahead of me.
He was passing me?
"HEY!" I stopped in my tracks and let go of my chest, waving both my hands in the air. "I'm right here! Come and get me!"
