Sikthand raised his palm to Sophia’s. He didn’t know what she was doing, but his throat bobbed at the near contact. She was so close. Less than an inch away.
He’d been here for hours now, just staring and trying to get this screaming lighting every nerve to calm before he went to her. Even watching her, which usually soothed him, had only managed to muffle the scream to a fuzzy roar.
She’d almost died.
And worse, she’d almost died at the hands of two people he hadn’t been suspicious of at all. It felt like a personal failure. His instincts were too disordered as of late. Did he no longer have the skill to sniff out dissension within his city? How could he ever hope to keep his fragile human safe?
A vise had wrapped itself around his chest as soon as he’d understood the danger she’d been in. The only peephole in the Heroes Hall had been far away. The minutes it had taken him to dash to the secret exit a few halls down were the worst minutes he’d ever experienced. Each crunch of his boots against the ground had filled him with fear like he’d never known.
He’d prayed they’d question her, torture her, anything to give him more time to get to her. Luckily, they had.
She was alive and whole and standing right in front of him. Less than an inch separated their palms. His body nearly shook just from looking at her.
If he hadn’t been so overcome, so mindless, he would’ve spent more time ripping those two apart.
He would’ve made it last.
He would’ve made it hurt.
Tail wrapped around his thigh to keep it from thrashing about, it squeezed his leg, sending spikes of pain through his bones. All he wanted to do was walk into her room, but he didn’t know that he was safe for her right now. He felt too out of control. What if he dragged her into his arms too aggressively and hurt her?
He’d wondered before whether his mind would break without her. He had his answer.
Even now, with her standing right in front of him, his mind was close to unraveling. She couldn’t see him like this. He’d scare her away.
Her eyes lifted to his, and his breath froze.
No. She wasn’t seeing him. She couldn’t be.
Sophia’s palm slipped away from his, and his fingers curled against the mirror. It took much more willpower than it should’ve for him not to punch through the glass and pull her hand back.
Confusion filtered in through his chaotic thoughts as she stepped purposefully around her room. She grabbed two glass bottles from her desk and crossed to her door.
Misery carved out a space in his chest when she angled one bottle against the door the way she had on her first night here. As a booby trap to alert her to unwanted visitors.
She was scared again. Not able to feel safe even in their wing with him just down the hall.
She placed the second bottle against the door that led to his room, then stepped back to her mirror. Sikthand’s brows knit. Her expression didn’t look scared.
Her breaths were coming fast, a rising flush hit her cheeks. What was she doing?
He had to bury a choked growl when her fingers slipped under the hem of her sleeping gown and she pulled it over her head, baring herself. A pop sounded from his hip as his tail constricted, pulling his thigh in an unnatural direction.
Sikthand blinked. He shouldn’t look. He should turn his back or run to his room. Anything but look at her naked body while she was unaware.
A purr rumbled in his chest, the allure of her body no match for the battle waging inside. He was unable to move, unable not to look. His cock swelled beneath his armor, and his heart throbbed at the sight of her exquisite body.
What are you doing to me, my love?
Though she was only a foot away, it might as well have been another galaxy. His fingers brushed over the glass, tracing along her curves.
“Are you watching, Your Majesty?”
In that instant, there were statues more capable of movement than he was. Had she just…
She must have been talking to herself.
Her eyes lifted again and landed eerily close to where his were. Sophia’s chin raised in challenge, and she turned away. His shock still rocked through him, his mind torn between working out whether she knew he was behind her mirror or admiring her round backside as she sauntered away.
His growl broke through when he realized where she was headed.
Sophia stopped in front of the door to his room. His heart thundered to life, but he was still too enraptured to breathe. Her hand lifted—not to the latch of the door, but to the switch that would send a bell dinging in his room.
A bell that meant she wanted him to come to her. His fangs pulsed in time with his shaft. A bell that meant she wanted him to fill her.
She didn’t pull it right away, and Sikthand thought he might die of anticipation, but then she peered over her shoulder, at the mirror…at him, and pulled the switch.
Sikthand’s mind whirred. The bottles, her words, her focused stare.
She knows.
He finally sucked in a breath as he watched her walk to the center of the room, stopping under the bright beam of light that made her skin glow.
An odd calmness spread over him as he gazed at her. She was not staring at either door. Her focus was utterly and completely on the mirror. Sure, he could leave, go to his room, and make a show of entering through the passage, but he didn’t want to.
“I need to see you, Sikthand.” There was a desperation in her voice that clawed at his chest.
This was the end.
His hand lifted to the latch. The control he’d been scratching and clawing for with bloody fingers and bared fangs was dissolving before his eyes. He couldn’t fight anymore.
She was inevitable.
If he’d ever had any power, it was hers now. He was hers now.
***
Every cell in Sophia’s body was lit with electricity. Apprehension, arousal, love, excitement. They all swirled and sent shivers through her. Was he here? Would he reveal himself?
Staring at her own naked body in the mirror built up her edginess. Her nipples were tight and sensitive in the cold air. She shifted from one leg to another, her limbs too restless to stay still. She felt her pulse thrum through her all the way to her toes.
The mirror shifted.
Sophia wobbled on her feet. Was she about to pass out, or had the mirror actually moved?
Her inhales shallowed as the mirror swung open inch by inch. Her reflection warped, then disappeared from view. Goose bumps raced over her exposed skin as the towering frame of Sikthand filled a black cavity where her mirror once was.
Ever so slowly, he stepped through the threshold. She was so sensitive that she jumped as his heavy boots hit the ground and sent vibrations through her bare heels.
Once he was through, he straightened again. Her fingers went numb as she caught sight of his black eyes.
“You called,” he rumbled in a deep, otherworldly growl.
Heat sliced through her belly and pooled in her core. She took in a shaky breath through rounded lips. “I knew it.” The whisper was for her, but it seemed to spur him on.
Eyes black, he prowled toward her. Each light clink of his armor sent electricity skittering down her spine.
The king stopped right before her, and though she couldn’t tell for sure when his eyes were black like this, she thought he was running his gaze over her figure. Her pussy throbbed.
The fact that she was completely naked and shaking under his black stare while he was clad to the neck in thick armor made the difference in their size even more unnerving. She had to crane her neck up to meet his eyes.
His sharp weapons glinted at his hips, and her gaze locked onto the sticky blood splashed across his chest.
He hadn’t even changed. He’d come right to her mirror.
Though the sight of Madam Kalos’ blood should unnerve her, it didn’t. She licked her lips and felt the insides of her thighs dampen. This alien king—her mate—would slit anyone’s throat if they threatened her. The knowledge was as heady as any aphrodisiac.
Though she didn’t mind the blood, she needed to get to him, and from the rapid rise and fall of his chest, she thought he needed the same. With shaky fingers, she undid the straps and ties holding his armor in place.
He remained still, a muddled purring growl reverberating through him as he watched her undress him with greedy molten askait eyes. Each time she freed a piece, the rumble in his throat would deepen, and he’d slip it from her fingers, then toss it aside. She jerked every time the clang of metal thundered through the room.
When his upper body was free, she knelt to work on the armor on his legs. His ragged groan had her peering up. He stared down from his towering height like the vulnerable sight of her kneeling at his feet while he presided over her was filling his mind with horribly indecent thoughts.
Her mind filled with indecent thoughts of her own, and she pushed her thighs together to ease the pulsing in her core. He’d taken care of her, kept her safe, and now she’d take care of him.
After the last of the metal was removed from his tail, Sophia rose and watched with uneasy breaths as he slipped off his cooling suit. He kicked it to the side, and his impressive, beautiful dick bobbed.
Sikthand stepped toward her slowly, the tip of his cock pushing against her belly as he moved in close. Already slick with a bead of precum, the head of his shaft slipped up her skin when he drew her against his chest.
The scalding bar of his cock burned a line down the middle of her torso where it lay flat and hard against her stomach and ribs, the tip resting just below her sternum. His tail wrapped around her spine and forced her closer.
Running her palms over his sculpted pecs, she craned her face up to him. She studied his dark eyes, trying to hide the tears threatening to rise at the overwhelming fullness in her chest. “You saved me.”
A hungry grin made his fangs flash. “Are you my reward, then?”
“Yes,” she answered seriously. “You can have me any way you want.”
His smile faded, but his grip around her back tightened.
“I knew you’d be there.” Her voice came out breathy. “You’re always there, aren’t you?”
Sikthand’s palm lifted to her cheek. A line formed between his brows as he scanned her face solemnly. “I shouldn’t be,” he whispered back.
She laid her palm over the top of his and urged, “But you are.”
He stared at her, pain that mirrored the ache she felt in her heart, tightening his eyes. “But I am,” he agreed.
Sophia lifted to her toes and brushed her mouth over his. He let out a deep sigh as if he’d just slipped into a hot bath before he kissed her back. His hand on her cheek tightened in time with his tail.
His lips were slow at first, sensual and firm, but as soon as his tongue slipped through her mouth, his movements changed.
His steel cock pressed into her belly so hard she could only suck in quick gasps. The soft fingers on her cheek snaked into the hair at her neck and firmed, his grip tight and commanding. Sophia whimpered when he forced her head to tilt to the side so he could deepen the kiss, consuming her with rough swipes of his tongue while his hips rolled, sliding his trapped shaft between their bodies.
His left palm came down hard on her ass, kneading until she cried out against his mouth. Nails sliding across his muscular back, Sophia wriggled in his hold. His cock was not where she needed it, and the slippery liquid leaking out of him had fire shooting through her veins.
He snarled at her attempts to wriggle free and bent further over her, forcing her back to bend. He spun them in place, then guided her back with deliberate steps. His relentless kiss rendered her a limp mess and she could only stumble backward in the direction he walked. Only his coiled tail kept her upright.
Suddenly, he pulled away. His hands, his mouth, his tail—they were all gone.
Sophia swayed forward with a whining moan. The black in his eyes swirled and darkened. He bared his fangs as he raked his gaze over her.
He reached one palm toward her chest, and her back arched in anticipation, her nipples crying out to feel his rough fingers. But he pressed his hand to her upper chest and sent her an evil grin.
With a firm push, she fell back. She cried out as she tried to get her balance, but his tail had wrapped behind her knees, and she tumbled over it. With a soft thump, she landed on her back in her bed.
Her heart thundered through her, then pulsed a steady maddening beat in her clit. She lifted to her elbows and watched his dark figure loom in the narrow opening of her bed. His face and body were nothing more than a backlit shadow from this angle. An enormous, hulking shadow that blocked her only escape from the bed.
A deep pulsing growl rumbled from his outlined form, and she trembled. His fingers slid behind her calves. He wrenched her toward him, kneeling simultaneously, so by the time her ass had slipped off the edge of the bed, his waiting tongue impaled her.
The cries and moans that burst from both of them at the connection fused and rang through the air. Sophia’s knees pulled up and fell wide when his thick tongue dragged deep through her core. His rough fingers scraped up her ribs and flicked at her nipples until her eyes rolled back.
She lifted to her elbows again so she could watch him devour her, and moaned at the sight. Her hips jolted and rocked in time with his rolling tongue. Sikthand flattened a palm to her belly to keep her steady, and the pressure almost made her climax burst out of her.
“Y-Yes. Sikthand, yes. Please. That f-feels…” She couldn’t take in air fast enough to get her words out.
Her shoulder curled in, and her hand reached down to grip his hair. She rode his tongue, her thighs clenching around his ears. He purred, and the vibration shot through her.
It was as if she were being electrocuted with pleasure. Her muscles seized, freezing and spasming as the vibration from his lips and tongue zinged through her clit and deep within her cunt.
Her thighs jerked around his ears as she came, and she let out a long high-pitched cry.
The two hard curves of his fangs pressed against her mound while he lapped up her come. Sophia fell back against the bed, running her hands down her face while letting out breathy whimpers. She jerked every time his tongue swept over her sensitive clit.
“This bed is too dark.” His purr made his words choppy.
Her body moved like jello as Sikthand dragged her off the mattress and spun with her in his arms. He laid her on the soft rug beneath him and pinned her thighs open with his palms. “I will see your eyes roll as I split your little cunt.”
Sophia nearly choked on her tongue. Her hips heaved forward with a mind of their own.
Sikthand stared down at her pelvis and released a dark chuckle. “Such a needy thing.”
He scooted forward and gently but firmly replaced his hands holding her thighs open with his knees. Sophia’s ass muscles clenched as her core gripped around nothing. He tilted his head, watching her body squirm under him as he palmed his shaft with his now free hand.
An ache built within her body again when she took in the sight of the thick head of his cock bulging out from the rough grip of his palm. She fondled her breasts, squeezing to relieve some of the pressure.
He pumped his hand over his shaft, swirling his palm across the head to spread his thick precum over the rest of him. His intense gaze seared into her pussy as he did this, his hips pumping slowly into his hand like he was imagining himself sliding into her core. He was making himself slick for her, she realized.
A desperate moan broke from her chest. She rose to her hands, but she could only lean so far forward with her legs trapped under his knees as they were. “Let me.”
***
Sikthand took in Sophia’s wide pupils. Let me?
A groan quaked out of him when she licked her lips, and he followed the direction of her gaze to his cock. His balls tightened painfully. He was practically strangling his dick to keep himself from shoving inside her like he wanted to.
“Stay put,” he demanded, forcing her back down with a hand to her chest. The thundering beat of her heart pulsed through his palm, and his own heart seemed to change its tempo to match.
Lifting his knees off her, he lined up the head of his swollen shaft with her entrance. She was so small there, his tongue barely had room to delve. Her thighs shot up, her heels digging into his ass to spur him on. He slipped forward just barely and felt the first touch of her hot soft cunt.
Sikthand shuddered and let out a low growl. She lifted her hands, but before she could touch him, he wrapped one palm around her left bicep and the other around her throat and held her to the ground. “I said stay,” he barked, his control slipping when her hips jerked, and she tried to press herself further onto his shaft.
Tension knotted his belly when he backed his hips up and she cried out. “No. Please. I need your c—”
Sikthand bared his fangs and squeezed her throat until her words cut out. He loosened his hold and watched her silently breathe. The scent of her arousal burst more heavily into the air, and Sikthand’s arms shook. This female would be the end of him.
His words were guttural and groaned out of him. “Bride, I’m going to squeeze my cock inside you. Do not move until I’m done. You need to adjust before I fuck you. You understand?”
Sophia’s head flapped up and down wildly. Her palms flattened against the ground and her muscles tensed as though she were going to try with everything she had not to move. Sikthand grinned at her enthusiastic submission.
He rewarded her by pressing against her core. There was a moment of resistance before her lips spread around his head and the wet heat of her cunt greeted him.
He hissed in a breath as he ever so slowly drove his cock deeper. Unable to tear his eyes away from the spot where their bodies connected, he watched as her soft belly trembled. Sweat lifted on his skin while he worked to keep his hips moving slow, waiting until her insides relaxed then clenched as if they were ready to drag him in further. Sophia’s throat flexed under his palm as she whimpered and moaned.
If she had claws, they’d be buried in the stone floor from how hard her fingers clenched. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and a tear slipped down her cheek. He sank an inch deeper, and her body began to shake, her small breasts jiggling so exquisitely his fangs ached to bite into them.
“Just a bit more, then I’ll make you come. Would you like that, my queen?”
“Y-Yes.” A sob ripped from her throat, and her core gushed with liquid, making his cock slip into her more easily. Her head tipped back, her throat pressing more firmly into his palm. “Please, Sikthand. I can’t keep still anymore.” Her brows knit, and she opened her eyes to plead up at him.
He shoved into her the rest of the way with a growl, and her legs tensed as her eyes rolled back. She released a long throaty moan that made a knot tighten in his belly.
He needed her more slick before he fucked her. He needed to know he’d done everything he could to keep her from being hurt when he finally allowed his hips to move. His tail unwrapped from her leg, and the tip settled over her clit.
He gave Sophia’s neck a little shake until she aimed her bleary lust-filled gaze at him. “My fangs will be inside you before this is through,” he grated. “Do you understand?”
Her eyes widened. “Bite me,” she begged breathlessly. “Bite me everywhere.” Sikthand could feel his purr rising at her words, and his hips began to rock. She grinned wildly. His chest heaved. “Bite me so everyone can see the marks.”
His control snapped at that. His purr thundered through his chest, and he pounded into her with hard heavy slaps. His tail, vibrating with his purr, curled and flicked over her clit, and he felt her insides clamp down as she came.
Her nails scratched over his arms as she screamed and shuddered in his hold. Her back bowed off the ground, her legs squeezing where they cradled his hips. He shot his hand under her back, gripping her ass to keep her body stable as he drilled into her. With his other hand he fisted her hair and lifted her head from the ground.
He pulled her neck to his mouth and buried his fangs in her tender throat. She writhed in his hold, her core convulsing around him again as though his bite and his vibrating tail slapping against her slippery clit had forced another orgasm to tear through her on the heels of the last.
The coppery tang of blood exploded on his tongue, and he groaned. She clutched his head to her neck, gripping his hair to keep his mouth in place. He lifted her hips a fraction higher so he could drive down deep into her.
With one hand still in her hair, Sikthand pulled her head back to take in the sight of her beautiful bloody throat and the angry evidence of his teeth. Her eyes were wide, and her lip was pulled in between her teeth. Her attention was rapt as she watched his cock slam in and out of her cunt.
He groaned down at the vision beneath him. She was more perfect than he could have dreamed. Whimpering and bloody and using her toes on his calves to gain purchase and meet his driving hips as though she couldn’t take him deep enough.
His mouth came down over hers. She didn’t turn her face away from the blood on his tongue—she licked and nipped and nearly drew blood of her own. He weighed her down, his chest crushing her into the floor, but she merely clutched his back and moaned under him.
“Come inside me. Bite me and come inside me. I need to feel it.”
He groaned out a string of curses, his hips growing jerky. He pulled her head to the side with one hand in her hair. He gripped her hip with the other, pulling her down as he rammed up into her. His tail wrapped around her other thigh, holding her in place.
He purred and growled and panted against her shoulder as his cock pistoned into her. The knot in his stomach tightened and his dick swelled, her tight core clenching so hard it almost pained him.
He bit down on her shoulder, purr building at the sensation of his fangs dipping into her supple skin. She stiffened underneath him, then screamed as she came. His mind dimmed at the added pressure of her cunt spasming in time with her climax.
With his tail and his hand, he wrenched her down and buried himself as far as he could go. Sikthand quaked and roared against her shoulder, his cock shooting jets of cum into his bride’s squeezing cunt.
His breaths shuddered out of him as the waves of pleasure tore through and made his vision go spotty. Curling forward, then relaxing, he softly pumped in and out of her.
When she began petting his back and gently moaning, his purr reemerged soft and nearly keening.
If he was to die, let it be now, while he was still buried in such paradise.
***
Sophia awoke to the sensation of being carried. The king’s scent and his strong chest under her cheek had her insides fluttering. She was so happy she barely registered the soreness running through her body.
He crawled into her bed with Sophia tucked in his arms and laid her down. He crouched over her, his silver eyes just bright enough for her to see them within the dark confines of her malginash canopy. Brushing his fingers over her cheek, then smoothing her hair back, he rumbled, “Sleep well, Sophia.”
Panic had her shooting out to blindly grab his hand when he made to leave. “No, stay.” Her heart clenched. “Please. Will you stay?”
He remained silent and unmoving. She wished she could see his face, read his expression. After a nauseating amount of time had passed, his hand relaxed. He crawled into bed beside her, and she curled against his chest. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Sikthand pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pulled her close, running his fingers gently up and down her thigh draped over his hips.
His hand flashed in and out of a small bit of moonlight as he caressed her, and she frowned down at it. No marks yet.
She put her disappointment out of her mind and closed her eyes. She would wait an eternity for them to appear if that’s what it took.
