“No,” he says aloud. His hand moves to my throat and holds me there. The pressure isn’t hard, but it’s enough to remind me that he’s powerful. “No forrrrce. No. I want. Not yourrr faullllt.” His thumb strokes over my pulse. “I wannnnted.”
I lay my hand over his wrist and squeeze. “Would you want to do it again? All of it again?”
He stares at me for a long time, then dips his head low, and his forehead touches mine. I’m suddenly bombarded with images, feelings, words, and song. It’s too much of a jumble to make sense of for a moment.
And then everything begins to clear, and I hear his voice. It’s Eretharian, I think, but I know what he’s saying.
“I want you, but I’m afraid to hurt you. I’m afraid seeing you in a heat will send me into a rut. I do not wish to be too strong for you.”
“You won’t be,”I send back.“I just need to know what you want. What you truly want.”
“You. To keep you as mine. To fuck you. To breed you?—”
I laugh. I can’t help it, though I’m not mocking him. The truth is, I get it. The feelings that herb created in me were…strange. Intense. Somewhere in the back of my head, while he was filling my ass with his cock, I felt the inexplicable urge to beg him to fill me with his seed. To show me off to the world, fat and heavy with an egg.
“I know we can’t, but I wanted it, too,” I tell him softly.
He hums, which turns into a purr, and before I’m really aware of it, he has me on his lap, legs spread over his. I can’t help but rock down over him. I’m hard again.
Maybe it’s the last bits of the herbs leaving my system.
Or maybe it’s just that I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anyone before.
But it’s not a feeling I chase. Not yet, anyway. I close my eyes as his hands ghost up my spine, claws dragging over my skin gently until they reach the side of my neck.
I tip my head sideways and lay my temple on his shoulder as he draws nonsense shapes over the beat of my pulse.
“Wannnnt. To biiiiite,” he whispers.
“Bite? Me?”
“Yes.” He presses one single claw to my skin. “Here.”
“Is that…does that mean something?” I ask him.
“Claimmmm. Mine,” he says.
I lift my head, and my gaze meets his. I hold it for a long time before I say, “Yes. I want that. Next time we…” I stop and take a breath. “Next time.”
He nods, just once, and I drop back down against him so I can feel his beating hearts against my chest. His tail slides down until it’s curled around my ankle, and I realize in this moment I’ve never felt so safe.
“Dante,” he murmurs. I say nothing. I’m not sure if he’s saying my name just because, or if he has more to tell me. After a moment, I feel another pulse in my head—a deep, intense ache of missing someone.
Something.
Tears well in my eyes, and my throat goes thick. “Cielo,” I gasp. There’s more to it than just being homesick. This pain is deep and intense.
I lift up again. “You’re hurting. I can feel it. You have so much grief.”
‘Miss home,’ he signs with one hand. ‘A lot. Family. Village. Want to show you. Take you there.’
I want that too, more than anything, but I don’t see how it’s possible. I hate that I can’t help take that pain away. I drop my forehead against his one more time.
“Show me. Like this.”
He lets out a little surprised trill, like he hadn’t thought of it, and then his massive hands curl around my waist. His fingertips meet over the small of my back as he holds me, and then he takes a breath.
I follow because I know what’s coming is going to be a lot.
