Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
LEIJA
“Eun,” I gasped out. “Fuck me. Please.”
He let out a growl that was positively savage.
He was up the length of my body in a flash so fast it tore a gasp of surprise from my throat. His hands went to either side of my head, and he loomed over me, looking down at me, his eyes intense, out of control.
He wasn't going to go slow.
I didn't want him to.
I was wet and ready, and I had him before. I knew what I wanted, and I wanted it right the fuck now.
I could feel him between my legs.
I lifted my knees, reaching down to grip him. He was slick, like his length had its own lubrication, and put him right where I wanted him.
The moment the head of him was settled against my opening, he pushed forward, sliding easily in the wet mess down there.
I gave out a gasp as my soreness melted away in the face of the bliss of him.
He felt so good. I could feel each bump of his ridges going in, and I tilted my hips up towards him, the ecstatic pleasure of being filled overwhelming my senses.
I wanted him so bad.
The touch of him inside of me was molten delicacy. It was heat and skin-on-skin. I reached up and dug my hands into his hair again, feeling the softness of him that covered the hardness of his muscles. He let out a grunt and then slammed all the way into me.
He was in, all the way.
I let out a gasp as the sensation of fullness overwhelmed me, driving all thoughts from my mind.
This was everything I craved.
His body pressed down on me, pinning me down so I couldn't move.
A thrill rushed through me, sudden and startling, a sudden awareness of his strength.
He pulled back out, not all the way, and I felt his bare flesh dragging inside of me.
He thrust in again, and I lifted my hips to meet him. He pressed his lower body against mine as he moved, his lower abdominals rubbing against the shifting grind of my body. We became a beast with two backs, moving together, our breaths heavy and gasping as he gave, I received, I clenched, he slid.
I wrapped my legs up behind his hips and felt the solid strands of his hair brushing against my calves and heels, massaging them.
His motions became faster, and I held on to him, every caress of his length inside of me lifting me up higher, each pounding peak a promise of an explosion that was building with the rhythm that we found together.
The rhythm of I want you, I need you, I’m here for you.
I clamped down on him, every muscle in my body clenching as he drove me over the edge of myself and into the cascading bliss of what we had become together.
I heard the tearing sound next to my head, and he snarled, thrusting into me as something thickened.
I tried to move, but his body covered me, his arms tucking into the side as he pushed deep, the pressure just inside my opening becoming more and more, and then another wave of pleasure knocked me away from my thoughts as his heat filled me.
He lay on top of me, his weight partially supported by his arms.
I looked over to see he had torn rips into the bed on either side of me with his claws.
“Eun,” I whispered, running my hands down his back, through the responsive strands along his spine.
I shifted, but I couldn’t quite move.
He was still hard inside of me, pulsing, and when I tried to wiggle upwards, both his body and a strange tugging inside of me prevented me from moving.
I'd felt the same thing when we had had our epic session the day before, but I'd been so blissed out from multiple orgasms I never really thought about it.
He turned his face to press it into my neck.
Then he licked me, his tongue following the path of my jugular.
I giggled, tilting my chin upwards to give him space, then I lifted my hands to his cheeks. I seized his face and moved him so that it was right above mine. I lifted my head to his, and I kissed him.
His lips parted, and my tongue traced the edges of his sharp teeth.
His tongue followed mine back into my mouth, and suddenly he paused, breaking off the kiss to lift his face away from mine. He used his finger to peel back the edges of my lips, looking at my teeth.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
He said something I didn’t understand, inspecting my canine teeth with an intense curiosity.
I pushed his hand away and attempted to wiggle out again from underneath him, but still, I couldn’t move.
“Let me up,” I laughed at him, pushing on his chest.
“Wait,” he said, pushing his hips against me, drawing another gasp as I felt the head of him press deep inside me. “Knot.”
I waited, staring at him as he closed his eyes and put a hand over his nose. He pinched his nose and took several long, deep breaths through his mouth.
I felt him soften, and the pressure inside me close to my opening let off.
He slid out of me and then got up, going to the ensuite bathroom.
He came back with a wet cloth and began carefully cleaning me. I lay there, languid and relaxed as he reverently swiped the wet cloth between my legs.
Then he began to get dressed.
My heart faltered.
Why was he getting dressed so quickly?
Had I misunderstood what this was? My thoughts spiraled.
What if the contract wasn’t a marriage contract at all—but something else?
Some kind of predatory-prey dynamic I hadn’t fully grasped, like a cultural kink agreement I had blindly stepped into?
My skin prickled with doubt. What if I had just given him what he wanted, and now he was done with me?
“We have to leave already?” I asked, pushing myself upright, frowning.
Was this just some kind of kink hotel? The contract, the paperwork, maybe none of it meant what I thought it did. I hadn’t seen any obvious interspecies couples in the city. Not ones that looked like us. And the shows I’d watched made it clear: this sort of thing was… frowned upon, at best.
“Yes. To finish the marriage contract,” he said, his voice calm as he handed me my clothes.
There were a few more words I didn’t catch, but I dressed as he waited beside the low table, where the last page of the paperwork lay waiting. He took up the pen and signed one of the lines, then turned and held it out to me.
This was it.
A final moment of choice.
But trust wasn’t something I could just decide to give; it had already been earned, piece by piece, in a hundred quiet ways.
I remembered the first moment I met him, the way he had thrown himself between the predators from that warehouse and me. He hadn’t known me. He had no reason to help. But he had.
He was the kind of man who would risk his body to keep someone safe.
To keep me safe.
So I signed the paper.
He reached for my hand, gently guiding my thumb to the inkpad before pressing it carefully to the page. Then he held out his own hand and the inkpad to me, waiting. I took it and pressed his thumb into the paper, our marks side by side.
Bound by ink.
Bound by choice.
He gave me a smile so wide it lit up his whole face, his tail swaying back and forth behind him in a joyful rhythm I’d come to recognize as unfiltered happiness.
Then he stepped toward me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and lifted me effortlessly against his chest. His body was all warmth and strength, the thrum of his heartbeat pressed close to mine.
He leaned in and kissed me, softly, reverently, as though I were something rare and fragile he couldn’t quite believe he was allowed to touch.
His lips moved over mine with aching gentleness, coaxing rather than claiming. His hold tightened just slightly as I kissed him back, and I felt it then, like a sun igniting behind my ribs, burning brighter with every heartbeat.
This moment, this feeling, it was everything.
When we made our way back downstairs, hand in hand, the world felt different. Like something in it had shifted to make room for us.
We returned to the same window, and Eun handed over the completed paperwork.
The woman behind the glass gave us a long look, then stood and motioned for us to follow.
She led us to a small, separate room where she gestured for us to stand apart.
Then she stepped toward each of us, inhaling deeply as if scent could confirm what signatures could not.
It was not my favorite thing, but this wasn't Earth, and if getting sniffed was what was required for me to formalize my relationship with Eun and get the paperwork I needed to get to the spaceport, then that was good enough for me.
She nodded once, scribbled her name at the bottom of the page, and stamped it with a final thump.
That was it.
I was married to an alien.