Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Mina awoke cocooned in warmth. The blanket was drawn up around her shoulders, her arms were tucked against Sevik’s side, and she had one leg hiked up over his. It seemed they had barely moved from the position they’d been in when she’d fallen asleep, though his hold on her had slackened. She snuggled a little more firmly against him.
He was her own cuddly, toasty warm teddy bear.
She almost snorted at the thought, but she held it in for fear of waking him. Sevik, a teddy bear? He was anything but soft. And she doubted anyone would ever consider him cuddly. Dangerous, lethal, beautiful, but not cuddly.
Smiling, Mina opened her eyes, and she was surprised to find gloomy daylight spilling in through the windows. That meant it had to be at least eleven o’clock. Had they really slept that long? She couldn’t remember ever sleeping this late, not even on her birthday. But lying here with Sevik, in his embrace… She’d never felt so safe and secure, so comforted and cared for in her life.
She tipped her head back and looked up at him. His face was turned toward her, features relaxed in repose, eyes closed. Mina ran her gaze down to his chest. It rose and fell in a steady rhythm with his deep breaths.
Mina’s smile faded as her eyes stopped upon a scar near his shoulder. Moving carefully to avoid disturbing him, she eased the blanket down.
His body was a mapwork of scars. It wasn’t her first time seeing them, but it was her first chance to study them closely. They told the story of a violent, dangerous life. Gunshots, stab wounds, cuts, burns…the variety was as startling as it was heartbreaking. Many were faded, paler than his white skin, but one—the one left by Brekker—was tinged gray, making it stand out from the rest.
She lightly touched her fingertips to it. This was the scar that had brought him here. The scar that had brought him to her.
If Sevik hadn’t been betrayed by Brekker, he would never have come to Earth. Mina would never have met him, would never have fallen into his arms, would never have known the feel of his kiss or his touch. She wouldn’t be lying beside him now.
It was a what-if she didn’t want to contemplate. She didn’t need to. Because he was here with her.
Mina caressed each of his scars, wishing she could make them disappear and erase their hurt from his memory, wishing she could ensure he never received another.
It wasn’t until her fingers traced a thin scar low on his belly that she realized how far down her hand had traversed. But she also realized that she’d never actually had a chance to explore his body, especially down there . And oh, how curious she was about a particular part of him…
Or rather parts of him.
She peeked up at his face. His eyes were still closed.
A wicked thought came to mind, and Mina bit her bottom lip.
Could she be so bold?
Turning her attention to her hand, Mina drew the blanket farther down. Sevik’s sweatpants were low, revealing his toned adonis belt and his black markings, both of which pointed toward the top of his slit that was just visible above his waistband.
She glanced at his face before she slipped her finger under his waistband and slowly, soooo slowly, peeled it down, exposing more of his slit. It was dark along the seam and bulged slightly.
Carefully releasing the waistband, Mina hesitated. Was this wrong? Here he was sleeping, and Mina was about to touch him so intimately. Of course it was wrong. But more than anything, she wanted to explore this alien part of his body and wake him with pleasure.
She caressed his slit with her fingers.
Sevik’s hand caught her wrist in an iron grip and forced her hand away. Mina started with a gasp, looking up at his face.
His eyes were open, alert, showing no signs of grogginess despite him having been sound asleep an instant ago. His pupils were narrowed to razor-thin slits.
“I’m sorry!” she said quickly, propping herself up on her elbow. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve waited, should’ve asked. I?—”
“Mina,” he rumbled, pupils expanding. His grip loosened, and the pad of his thumb brushed along her inner wrist, its soothing motion in harsh contrast to the speed and strength he’d just exhibited.
She turned her face away, ashamed, and frizzy curls fell over her brow. “I shouldn’t have done that. You were sleeping. It was wrong.”
“Ah, val’syra .” Gently, he brought her arm up and placed a kiss on her palm. “I’m not used to…this. Sleeping with someone. Being vulnerable.”
Sevik had reacted similarly yesterday morning, when her failed attempt at sneaking out had startled him awake. He’d instantly had her on the floor, a hand around her throat and claws poised to kill, as though anything that had awoken him must’ve been a threat. But as soon as he’d realized it was her, he’d released her.
Mina looked back at him. “I’d never hurt you.”
“I know, Mina.” Sevik guided her hand to his chest. “Touch me. However you desire. I want it.” He smoothed her palm down his abdomen, letting it glide over the ridges of muscle, until her fingers once more rested over his slit. “I crave it.”
Mina’s breath stuttered, and warmth bloomed inside her at the sound of his husky voice. Her fingers twitched.
His pupils expanded into inky, gleaming pools of lust, and he released her wrist. “I’m yours, val’syra .”
Sevik was giving her free reign. Anticipation and excitement swept through her.
She sat up on her knees, and with a blush, gave his sweatpants a tug. “Could you, umm…remove these?”
His lips spread in a sultry grin, and he hooked the hem of her shirt with a claw. “Will you remove this?”
“I guess it’s only fair.”
“Are you still sore?”
Mina shook her head.
He hummed, released her shirt, and ran his big palm over her thigh and down to her knee. “Good. Now take it off, female. Let me see you.”
Liquid heat pooled between her thighs at his touch, his voice, his command. When Sevik took control, whether by word or action, it aroused her. Were she not so eager to explore his body, to touch him, she would’ve begged him to shove her face into the bed and fuck her from behind right then and there. She wanted him to dominate her.
The flare of his nostrils and the darkening of his eyes as he watched her told Mina that he was well aware of his effect on her.
Grasping the hem, she drew the T-shirt up and over her head and tossed it aside. The chilly air made her skin break out in goosebumps and her nipples harden into tight little nubs.
Sevik brushed the back of a finger across her nipple. Mina drew in a sharp breath as pleasure whispered through her body.
“You are beautiful.” He skimmed his claw over the soft skin of her breast, then turned that finger to trail it down the center of her chest, toward her belly. “So fucking beautiful…”
Mina caught his finger, halting its descent. As much as she wanted him to continue, as much as she wanted to part her thighs and let his clever fingers delve between them, it was her turn to touch him. “Your pants are still on.”
Sevik smirked. “So they are.”
She raised her eyebrows as though to say, Well?
He laughed, grasped his waistband, and lifted his hips, shoving his pants and boxer briefs down. He used his feet to kick them off the rest of the way. With a grin, he gestured at his body before interlocking his hands behind his head. “Do with me as you please, val’syra .”
Mina narrowed her eyes. Sevik was toying with her, playing up his arrogance and pretending that he wasn’t just as affected as her, that he wasn’t consumed with desire. He was acting like he was giving her the reins, but he remained in control. Like he’d make her beg for what she wanted.
But his eyes—and the glistening moisture of his slightly parted slit—said otherwise.
And Mina intended to have him begging.
She smiled and settled her left hand on his hip as she shifted to kneel between his legs. He widened them to accommodate her.
Bending close, Mina flicked her eyes up to his and lightly touched the tip of her middle finger to the top of his slit. “Is it sensitive?”
He held her gaze. “It is.”
“So if I stroke it like this”—she slid her finger along his seam, through the moisture, and back up again—“like I do my pussy, it feels good?”
His body tensed, and his slit parted just a tiny bit more as the bulge beneath grew. “It does.”
Mina lifted her other hand from his hip and placed it over his mound from the bottom, positioning her fingers to either side of his slit to pinch it closed. She was met with a surprising amount of resistance.
“Mina…”
“Hmm?” She slowly brushed her fingers along his slit again and again; they glided easily due to the oils seeping from his seam. Sevik’s gaze didn’t waver, even when the cadence of his breathing changed, even when the force pushing against her hand increased.
His arrogant smile had faded. His jaw was tight, its muscles ticking, and his lips twitched erratically as though on the verge of peeling back in a snarl.
Responding to his reactions—and the pleasure she was giving him—Mina’s core clenched. She caught her lip between her teeth, dipped her fingers into his slit, and stroked what was inside it.
“ Vazk ,” he growled, baring his fangs. Sevik’s entire body flexed, back arching and knees rising on either side of Mina. His arms trembled, undoubtedly against the strain of keeping them in place behind his head.
Keeping a firm hold on his mound, she thrust her fingers in and out. His hot slick coated her fingers, and its heady fragrance filled her senses, flooding her with need.
Sevik’s toes dug into the bedding. With a breathless chuckle, he said, “I underestimated you, val’syra .”
“Mmm…” She continued pumping her fingers, curling them to stroke the rigid head of one of his cocks. “What did you think I’d do?”
“Submit to me.” He shuddered, and his fangs caught his lip.
Mina smiled. “I will always submit to you, Sevik.” Withdrawing her fingers, she ran his slick over his slit. “But I want you to submit to me also.”
“Haven’t I already?”
“Beg.”
“I don’t beg.”
Keeping the hand on his mound firmly in place and his cocks trapped, Mina lifted her fingers from his slit.
Sevik snarled.
“Beg me.” She brought her oil-coated fingers to her mouth and slipped them between her lips.
She’d tasted Sevik’s cum from his fingers, and it had been a shock. She’d expected saltiness, perhaps even bitterness. Instead, its spicy flavor was reminiscent of cinnamon and cloves, with just a hint of sweetness, and oh, was it delicious.
She craved more.
His eyes were fixated on her hand and mouth as she sucked on her fingers and slowly pulled them free.
“Release my cocks, Mina,” he grated.
“That’s a command, not a plea.” She coated her fingers with his slick again and slipped them between her thighs, stroking her clit, mingling their essences. A pleasure-filled moan spilled past her lips, and her words were breathy when she said, “Beg me, Sevik. Beg your mate.”
The cords of his neck stood out, and the strain in his arms left their every muscle sculpted in perfect definition. Ragged breaths sawed in and out of his lungs. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse, bestial, desperate. “Please, Mina. Please, fucking release me.”
Removing her hand from her sex, she braced it on his hip. “Good boy,” she said sweetly before lifting her other hand from his mound.
His cocks emerged, thick and erect, throbbing and glistening.
“Fuck,” Sevik rasped.
Mina ran her gaze over them. Such a deep, pure black, ringed with prominent ridges. Alien. But God, they were beautiful. Curling her fingers around the bottom one, she stroked it, and those ridges slid along her palm. This was exactly what she’d felt when it’d been inside her, what had brought her so much pleasure. And she yearned to feel that again.
Soon.
Sevik slapped his hands on the bed, sinking his claws into the bedding as he lifted his hips to force more friction along his shaft. A groan sounded from deep within him.
“Do you want more?” Mina asked, squeezing his cock.
“Need more.”
She smoothed her other hand toward the base of his upper shaft, caressing the inside of his slit along the way. Seeing him like this—his long hair in disarray, his composure shattered, completely at her mercy—was more arousing and empowering than she could ever have imagined.
Mina wrapped her hand around his upper cock and stroked, slowly, leisurely. Her core ached. She wanted him inside her, needed him. But not yet.
“Tell me, Sevik,” she said. “How much do you need me?”
“So much it hurts,” he growled through his fangs. Only the thinnest rings of white remained in his eyes, and the black held blazing, hungry fires that threatened to consume both him and Mina at any moment.
“It hurts me too.” She dropped her head, wrapped her mouth around the head of his bottom cock, and sucked.
“ Fuck! ” Sevik snarled. His fingers delved into her hair, grasping her head as his hips bucked, pushing his shaft deeper into her mouth.
Mina made a sound of surprise and tightened her grip on his cocks, holding him down so he couldn’t force himself too far. Her jaw was stretched wide around his girth. She swallowed, and he moaned.
“Your mouth feels so fucking good, val’syra .”
The praise and pleasure in his voice spurred her on.
Though he held her hair, he didn’t restrain her movements. She lifted her head, relaxing her jaw as she moved her mouth to the head of his cock, her tongue gliding over his ridges. When she reached the tip, she flicked her tongue over the slit there and sucked.
As her mouth worked his length, she pumped her fist up and down his other shaft, strengthening and easing her grip, matching the unhurried pace of her mouth and the shallow thrusts of his hips.
Sevik groaned low and deep, the sound reverberating through his body. His fingers flexed, and his claws grazed her scalp, sending tingles through her. The sensation added to the arousal thrumming within Mina. Her clit throbbed with need, and her pussy was so wet that her slick was trickling down her inner thighs.
But this? This brought her pleasure too. Feeling the strain in his body, hearing the hoarse sounds from his throat, tasting his delicious oils on her tongue.
Quickening her hand, Mina moaned around his cock and took him deeper, sucking hard.
“ Zekt’al , Mina!” Sevik’s hips bucked faster and more erratically, and his harsh breaths faltered. Tension gripped his whole body. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
His cocks thickened and pulsed, and a flood of heat filled her mouth. Mina’s eyes rounded, and she squeaked, but she swallowed his cum as quickly as she could. Sevik’s other shaft twitched in her grasp, and warm wetness coated her hand, but she didn’t stop stroking as jet after jet of seed shot from it.
Sevik grunted and growled, clutching her hair until his body eased. Slowly, Mina lifted her head, dragging her tongue along the underside of his shaft, licking away cum that had spilled from her mouth. A shudder racked him.
Straightening, she looked down at what she had wrought. Seed covered both his cocks and her hands, which still gripped the bases of his shafts, and had pooled within his slit. Her eyes followed a trail of it over his abdomen and chest, where it glistened on his pale skin.
Mina met his gaze.
He stared at her with a fervent, possessive gleam in his eyes. If she had expected to see him sated and languid after what she’d just done, she would’ve been wrong; he looked only hungrier now. His cocks continued throbbing in her hold, remaining just as hard.
Sevik’s lips curled into a devilish smirk. “I smell your desire, Mina. Your cunt’s fucking dripping, isn’t it?”
Her core clenched, achy and hollow. Lust burned hot and bright inside her; it was a craving she could no longer deny.
A whimper escaped her. “I need you.”
“I won’t make you beg.” Sevik’s hands caught Mina beneath her arms, and he pulled her atop himself with no apparent effort. “This time.”
Mina yelped and flailed her hands, uncertain of what to grab hold of. Her struggles sent her tipping forward. She grabbed his horns and stared down at him with wide eyes. Her belly was flush with Sevik’s, covering her in his cum.
“Sevik! You’re… My hands…” Her hands, sticky with his seed, were now curled around his horns. “We’re a mess! I’m a mess.”
He thrust his fingers into her hair, grasped the back of her head, and tilted it back.
“I don’t fucking care.” That long tongue of his dragged up her throat and over her chin before he captured her mouth in a crushing kiss. When he broke the kiss, he grinned up at her. “I want you covered in my cum. Covered in me.”
He was right. Why did she care if they were messy? Sex was messy. It was messy, dirty, and raw. And…she actually loved that she was covered in him. That she bore his scent.
“Now”—Sevik dropped his hands to her hips and scooted her down his abdomen until she felt his cock against her ass—“take what you want. What is yours.”
Releasing his horns, Mina sat up. Sunlight was now streaming through the window, brightening the room and setting his alabaster skin aglow. The black lyros on his neck and hips stood out in stark contrast, as sleek and alluring as ever.
Take what you want. What is yours.
Because he was hers.
Placing her hands on his chest, she lifted herself, easing back farther until his cocks stood beneath her. Grasping his lower shaft, she poised its tip at her entrance and lowered herself upon it. The head parted her, stretched her, and she felt each and every ridge as they entered her body. Mina moaned.
“ Ornyr valaas duun , you feel so good,” Sevik said. “Take my cock into that pretty pussy.”
Rising slightly, she pushed back down, taking him deeper.
His fingers flexed on her hips, pricking her with his claws and gripping her tight enough that she was sure they’d leave bruises. And Mina wanted those marks. She wanted everything, every reminder of the pleasure they shared.
He bared his fangs, focusing his gaze between her thighs, where his cock was entering her.
Not wanting to endure this torture any longer, Mina rose again and slammed down. She gasped his name as his full, thick length filled her. Her pussy clenched. The sting of being stretched so quickly, so completely, was chased by a hot ache of pleasure.
Sevik groaned and grinded her upon him, burrowing even deeper. “I would burn a thousand worlds for just one more second inside you, Mina. Let the whole fucking universe come apart. You are my everything.”
Mina’s chest constricted. Part of her still couldn’t believe that this was real, that he was real. Couldn’t believe this wasn’t a dream. But if it was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. She never wanted to lose this. Never wanted to lose him.
“Sevik…” Locking her eyes locked with his, she began to move. A slow, steady glide, up and down, up and down. The ridges of his upper shaft stroked Mina’s clit, while those of his lower rubbed her inner walls, sending electric currents through her, each stronger than the last. They pushed her to take him faster, harder, deeper. And she did.
Her movements were wild, unrestrained, selfish. All she wanted was to take—to take every bit of sensation Sevik offered, to take every bit of him. She wanted everything. Her breath came in quick bursts, and she curled her fingers, digging her nails into his chest.
“Yes, female, just like that,” Sevik growled. He raised his knees, making Mina moan as the position forced him deeper. “Use Me. Fuck me. Take your pleasure, val’syra . Make me yours.”
“You are mine,” she rasped. “Mine. My mate. Mine, mine, mine.”
The words came with every drop of her pelvis, with every thrust of his cock. A low, whimpering cry built in the back of her throat, and her legs trembled, threatening to give out. The pleasure coiled inside her, growing hotter and hotter, like a star about to burst, about to consume her.
Close. She was so…so…
Mina’s body went taut. Rapture seized her, stealing her thoughts, her sight, her breath. She fell upon Sevik, burying her face against his neck as her sex contracted. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, his hips thrusting with bestial urgency.
“That’s it, Mina,” he said as throaty cries tore from her. “Let me hear you. Let me feel you.”
She shuddered through the spasms, lost to ecstasy, lost to the feel of Sevik. As Mina clung to him, something visceral took over. She clamped her teeth down on his neck.
Sevik roared, slamming into her harder than ever, seating himself impossibly deep. One of his hands slapped onto her ass, pinning her in place as his body convulsed and hot seed erupted from his cocks. It filled her and sent her over the edge once more.
Their voices blended in ragged, animalistic cries of pleasure as they rode the waves of ecstasy. For those moments, Mina felt as if she were one with him, felt the sort of connection that wasn’t supposed to exist outside of stories.
He held her as their bodies eased, as the pleasure faded, as her pounding heart gradually slowed. She closed her eyes. There was no other place she wanted to be. Were it possible, this was where she’d stay for the rest of her life, safe in his embrace, feeling wanted, feeling…loved.
Breath still ragged, Sevik pressed a kiss to her forehead. The kiss lingered until he tipped his head and rested it against hers. “Never letting you go, val’syra .”