But I canfeelhim.
A deep, relieved sigh saws out as I open my eyes, looking down through the blushed water lapping at the mark on my chest—a fading stamp of pinched, red skin covering the remnants of the hurt.
I lift my hand and press at it, running my fingers over the puckered skin.
“She healed me …”
Where is she?
I scan the pool’s harsh edge, seeing a pile of limp, blue crabs—some bigger than my hand, most smaller than my thumb nail. My stomach growls, stare stabbing up the ravine and the stream that feeds the pool, then along the edge of the sheer, crystal cliff where I spot her. Naked.
Her wild hair sweeps past the curve of her lower back as she reaches up, stretching her body, her hand lifting slower than the rising sun. She slaps it against the rock so fast I flinch, the corner of my mouth curling up when I see a tiny, squashed crab fall off the wall and into her palm.
She holds the thing up and inspects it from all angles before dropping it in her mouth and crunching down. Swallowing, her eyes widen, arm striking through a cleft in the cliff.
The swirl in my chest churns faster,faster …while every other piece of me settles.
She whips her arm out, hand laden with a huge crab snipping at the air, and she slams it against the ground by her bare feet, her beautiful breasts bouncing with the motion. She bends down, picks up the limp crustacean, then cracks the thing in half—slurping at the meat inside.
A warmth swells inside my chest as I drink her in from afar. Every soft curve, every raw, wild edge, the deep dip I want to explore.
A familiar prickle rises on my chest, and I look down, seeing a silver scale swell to the surface.
‘Zykanth … I thought I lost you …’
The surge of relief almost flays me, and my rusty laugh ripples across the water, spilling out in giddy torrents. Vicious whips her head around and stills, her face slathered in crab innards, a thick, severed leg hanging from her mouth as she looks straight at me.
My heart flips.
A shrill sound spills from her, and she spits the leg, drops the crab, then scrambles along the river’s edge on a flurry of steps that tumble over each other. She reaches the pool andjumps,splashing my face and chest.
She disappears beneath the ruffled surface, then rises between my legs, her white hair slicked back from her face, cascading down her shoulders as she straddles me, paws at me, dragging her fingers across the scale Zykanth just gifted me from within.
She tilts forward and rubs her cheek across it … like she’streasuringit.
My skin erupts with goosebumps.
Eyes glistening with unshed tears, she sets her hand upon the scale and nods. “Mmmine,” she murmurs through plump lips, the smooth curl of her watery voice spiraling through me, drilling down into my gut …
The urgent slither in my chest stills, and my throat swells as I cradle the wisp of her delicate voice in my heart like a jewel.
“Vicious—”
“Mine,” she repeats with the same confidence she had when she smashed that crab against the ground, nodding more fiercely now.
I thread my hand around the side of her face and grip tight, stilling the motion, looking straight into her sunshine eyes. “Yours.”
She blinks, a tear rolling down her cheek.
I lean forward and drag my tongue up the track of it, over her silky skin, tasting the burst of her emotions. Savoring them like the treasures they are.
A soft sound shudders out of her, and I feel it in my chest, dragging my nose back down, pausing with my mouth a hair’s breadth from hers. I swallow. Lick my lips. Feel the tremor of her breaths batter me as I cradle the side of her face, cherishing this moment—wishing I could set it in my trove and fawn over it for eternity.
“Yours,” I growl, then seal my lips against hers, taking her in a deep, crushing kiss. She moans into me, and I feed on her lush sounds, tilting her head for better access, delving, tasting her salty splendor.
My length hardens, throbbing, nudging at her spread entrance—bared and utterly exposed for me.
Pulling back, her eyes go wide like saucers, her full breasts rising with every sharp inhale, lips swollen, cheeks pink like the sky just before the sun crests over the ocean.
