That, and the arousal scent that thickens the air around us.
She moves a little closer to me, curling against me as I press my lips to her hand. My free hand settles on her back, a ripple of fabric in the way of me touching her skin. I pull on it until I canwork my fingers under the sleeve of cloth that covers her torso, and I’m rewarded by a patch of bare skin at the base of her spine, which I decide is mine to stroke.
Dakotah makes another one of those sultry little gasps when I do. “Murr,” she whispers.
“Mouth kith?” I ask again. Because I have to ask. I desperately want more of them. I need Dakotah to be my mate. My fangs are throbbing, filling with the venom of the mating bite, but I need her permission. I am a flawed male, a loner with no one to rely on, and I cannot claim her as mine if it will be detrimental to her.
But that does not mean we cannot enjoy a mouth kith…or several of them.
I know now to be quiet for a mouth kith, and when she nods in silence, I take my cue from her. I put my claws on her chin, angling her fascinating, soft mouth towards me. I know how good it will feel when our lips touch, but I am still taken by surprise. It is as if that graze of her mouth against mine becomes the only thing that exists.
Her small teeth graze my lip, a mere suggestion of a bite, but it sends a thrill through me. Do human females bite their males? I try to imagine her blunt little teeth doing any sort of damage and suspect not…but the mental image is arousing all the same. Dakotah’s tongue brushes against mine, and I forget all about teeth entirely. Tongues. Tongues are the important part of a mouth kith.
They are what change it from fascinating to all-consuming obsession.
Our kith deepens, mouths entwined as if we are determined to devour each other. I have never felt anything like this. My fangs ache and ache, throbbing in time with my pulse, making me desperate to grab Dakotah and pull her head back, exposing her neck for my bite. Even as my tongue drags against hers, Ienvision this bite, the gasp she would make, the connection of our minds?—
My fangs drip. Just a drop of venom, but it is enough.
Dakotah draws back with a stifled hiss, her hand going to her mouth. “Why ith my mouf burnnin?”
I can guess what she is asking—something has happened and she does not understand. How do I explain the mating bite? Frantically, I stab my thoughts at hers, but it is as frustrating as ever. There is no response, no reaction, no nothing. The mental web that once connected me to the other drakoni has vanished as if it had never been. I am left without the words to express myself.
So I just pat Dakotah on the cheek.
She gives me a puzzled look before drawing away, tightening the blanket around herself. “Ok dat wz weird ofu.”
“Murr…” I trail off, struggling to think of her spoken sounds that will explain how I feel right now. How I want to keep touching her, my fingers trailing along her spine even as I tease her mouth with my lips. How I want to rub my tongue against hers again, but my throbbing fangs are demanding more from her and I do not know if I will be able to control myself if we continue. Yet I only have words for things like “meat” and “car” and “sun,” and I give up with a growl of frustration.
Dakotah touches my chest, as if she understands. “S’ok, Murr. We tokk mr tmorroh.”
Then, she settles in against me, tucking her head against my neck. I normally do not sleep in my two-legged form, as it is far more comfortable to stretch out in my battle-form, to spread my wings and curl my legs up around my large body, to let my tail slither free.
Yet with Dakotah pressed against me, I will happily remain where I am.
CHAPTER 43
DAKOTA
“I’m just saying, Mom,”Rabbit says as we walk. “If you wanna date him, I’m totally cool with it.”
“We’re not dating!” I tell her for what must be the eleventh time that morning. “It was just sleep!”
It’s my fault she caught us this morning. I’d sworn to myself last night after the kissing session that I’d wake up early, make sure no one saw that Murr and I were bunking behind the customer service desk and snuggled up.
Did I wake up early as planned? I did not.
My daughter found me, wrapped in Murr’s arms, drooling on his chest. I haven’t slept so well in years, and even after Rabbit woke us up, Murr just pulled me tighter against him, as if he was in no hurry to let me go. It was nice. Too nice. I’m still warm and giddy thinking about it, hours later.
Rabbit’s giddy about it too, but for the wrong reasons. “Just know that I approve if you want to settle down.”
Oh dear god. “No one’s settling down! There’s nothing to approve of!” She wiggles her eyebrows at me, and I clasp her facein my hands, holding her still. “Go find Aggie and see if they’re ready to put the plan into action.”
She races off, practically skipping across the parking lot, as if she’s having the best day ever. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen if I got caught kissing Murr…but somehow in the light of day, it’s not so terrible. Rabbit has been razzing me, and Aggie won’t shut up about big meat, but all in all, I’m in too good of a mood to care that much. Maybe if I had time to sit and stew on my feelings, but today is a busy one.
Today, we’re going to catch our nomad.
This morning, over a breakfast of smoked meat and a few mouthfuls of freshly plucked dandelion greens, we talked about the plan to capture Curtis. Aggie and Dottie have a signal that they are supposed to give Curtis when all is clear. It’s a green triangle flag, like the kind a kid would have sticking off the top of their bike. The green flag tells him all is clear, and in the trunk of the car, they’re supposed to leave a bank drive-thru canister with instructions on where to meet. It sounds convoluted, but Dottie explained to me that he won’t want to meet them near the bookstore, because it’s not a “neutral” location. He’s too worried that Murr will come back.
