Page 108 of Something Handsome This Way Comes

“Grievance…” Milo said weakly without turning his head. Perhaps he felt the shudders building in Grievance’s chest, spilling down his arms and legs until there wasn’t a part of the Chimera that wasn’t trembling. “Are you okay?”

And he asks if I am okay. After enduring my brutal mating. He worries for me.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Grievance lifted Milo onto his lap, so that his knot remained inside and didn’t pull at his tortured hole. Milo winced, but eventually found a more comfortable position on his lap.

“Grievance?” Milo asked, eyes barely staying open, like he was on the verge of passing out.

Grievance didn’t respond. Couldn’t. It was like his tongue had forgotten how language worked. His mind had forgotten words. All he knew was instinct. Touch. The tender connection between him and this incredible creature, currently filled with his seed.

Grievance sniffed at Milo’s neck. His mate was spent. Perhaps pushed too far.

His mate spoke—but Grievance could no longer understand his tongue. Only the worrying timbre of his tone.

Grievance let out a long whine, like a wounded wolf. He smelled again, his nose filling with the tang of iron. Of pain. He looked at the wound on his mate’s shoulder, at his own teeth marks still dripping with blood. He leaned down and began licking the wound. Milo hissed, flinching, but a moment later relaxed into his ministrations.

He said a few more things, and his voice sounded pleased, so Grievance continued. He licked and held his mate. Doing everything in his power to ease his discomfort as his knot held them in place.

Instinct told him to do this.

Instinct told him that this was the carrier of his cubs.

And as their mating sealed with the scent of blood and semen, instinct told him that this was the most precious creature in all the world. That he would die to protect him. That he would live and breathe only to be with him.

Grievance nuzzled his head into his mate’s neck.

He didn’t need instinct to tell him that.

He already knew.

CHAPTER FIVE

milo

Grievance went into a sort of trance after his knot locked them together. Milo supposed he did, too. They just sat there, connected in both mind and body. Just… breathing. Listening to the fire slowly die, the pops of wood growing quieter and less frequent.

Milo wasn’t sure if they fell asleep like that, or maybe it was just the incredibly soothing way Grievance’s hands seemed to unconsciously roam up and down Milo’s body. Save for the occasional whimper or twitch, Grievance was like a hulking statue. Or maybe more like a bear—deep in hibernation. Whatever the spell of calm was that descended over the Chimera, Milo was glad for it.

He’d always thought he’d like to be fucked to near unconsciousness, but now that he’d experienced it—well, yeah. He still wanted it. But fuck.

That was intense.

Almost too much.

Almost.

Milo was roused when Grievance finally softened. The Kava cock slipped free of him, slapping wetly onto the Chimera’s thigh. Milo couldn’t help but cringe at the feeling of being suddenly so… empty. It was almost as painful as being penetrated in the beginning.

And it was as though he sensed Milo through some invisible connection between them—one Milo couldn’t understand, but Grievance felt instinctively, recognizing his pain and seeking to soothe it. Grievance worked three fingers back inside Milo, easing him down slowly as his body readjusted to the empty sensation.

Milo let out a relieved sigh, relaxing into his mate’s touch. Grievance massaged Milo’s hole gently, coaxing him down. Caring for him in the afterglow of their mating. Milo smiled, placing a kiss on his mate’s hairy chest.

Slowly, Milo felt his mate shrink under him. His tricolored coat receded, and soon he was regular Grievance once more.

“Are you feeling better?” Milo asked, hoping the effects of the drug were over.

His mate didn’t respond. Just sniffed Milo’s hair, then purred.

“Grievance?”