Chapter 55
I loved looking at him.
The strong lines of his body, the space where the muscle curved tight against his hip bones, delicious dips that carried my eyes down to the raging beast between his legs.
His osae writhed, reaching for me, occasionally wrapping around the base of his thick rod and tugging slightly.
He kept his hands by his sides, but I could see the need in his eyes as he stared at me like I was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.
He was mine.
My heart raced in my chest, a feral excitement that bubbled over with my own daring.
I'd never done this before, shying away from it in the club when men would beg me to order them around.
There had been a hint of rightness in those moments when I'd considered giving them what they wanted for more money, but I couldn't do it.
Now I knew why.
This part of me wasn't for sale.
This part of me was a fucking Empress.
"From now on, you will call me Empress," I ordered.
"Yes, my Empress." his eyes narrowed as he watched me.
The moment those words came out of my mouth, I felt a familiar rightness that settled into my heart, like coming home after a long journey.
This was a part of me that had been straining to get out my entire life.
This was a piece of me that had struggled against my own helplessness and my experience of victimhood.
This part of me was a truth I was ready to set free.
First, I wanted to know what he had to say.
"Stay there and tell me what you want to do to me," I commanded as I strode across the room over to one particular drawer with some clothing items I'd made a mental note of.
"My Empress, I want to run my hands along your body, feeling every spot of tension and stroke it, easing you into relaxation.
I want to trace the skin from the inside of your ankle all the way up to your inner thigh, watching as you squirm and writhe in my touch, wondering what is next.
I want to taste you, delve into that sacred space between your legs, and lavish it with all the attention you need," he said.
His voice dropped lower. "I want to lick, suck, and fuck you until you can't even speak full sentences.
Until you are too overcome with pleasure. I want to worship your body."
I glanced over at him, heat rising in me at his words as I pulled a long strap out of the drawer. I didn't know what it was for originally, but I knew exactly what I was going to use it for.
"Kneel on the bed," I said.
"Yes, my Empress," he replied. Keeping his eyes on me, he stepped up onto the bed and folded down onto his knees.
I stepped up next to him, my feet sinking into the soft surface. Even kneeling, he was so tall, but this way I didn't have to crane my neck to look at him.
I placed my hand on his shoulder and walked around him, letting my fingers lightly trace along the strong muscles of his deltoids, tracing the dips and curves, moving from the bare skin to the soft fur that lined the back of his shoulders and arms. I walked around to his back and caressed him.
Then I let my osae come out.
I wrapped them around his forearm and wrist, using their strength to pull them behind his back in one abrupt, strong motion. They reinforced me, giving me a physical power I could feel viscerally throughout my body.
He looked back at me over his shoulder.
"I'm going to tie you up," I said. "Then I'm going to do whatever I want to you."
"Yes, my Empress," he growled in response, his manhood twitching in response to my words. His tail curled around my calf, sliding along it.
He moved his other arm back.
I used the strap of fabric to tie them together, pulling them snugly. Once I was done, his muscles bulged as if he were testing the bond.I walked around to his front to find him watching me with an intent focus.
"Has anyone ever tied you up before?" I asked.
"No one would dare, my Empress," he replied.
A delighted little laugh bubbled its way up, erupting from my lips like lava, filling the room with the sound of my surprised joy. This man, this Emperor, was on his knees only for me. He was here for me to use, to command, to take, to have any which way I wanted.
He was pure, unadulterated power, and he gave me everything.
Slowly, sensually, I made every shift of fabric on my body a movement of enticement.
He watched as my fingers trailed along my ribcage, as they curved over the swell of my hips.
He watched as I moved in a way that I wanted to move, to showcase the beauty that I knew was my body.
He watched as he strained against the bonds, his muscles tight and bulging as his arms restrained where he could not reach out to touch.
After my clothes were strewn on the ground, I lifted one bare foot and pressed my toes into the underside of his manhood, pressing it up with the ball of my foot so it was against his lower abs.
His mating tentacles writhed, wrapping around my heel and ankle, caressing them with the promise of what they would do once I let them between my legs. They tugged lightly on me.
I knew that light tug was deceptive.
If I moved my hips close enough, they would wrap around me, pulling me to him, trying to put us together like pieces of a horny puzzle.
It wasn't time for that yet.
I wiggled my toes against the length of his shaft, gently massaging it with my foot before I lifted my foot higher to press it against his chest. I leaned into him, bending my knee as my back leg lengthened, stretching out the front of my hip flexor.
He didn't budge.
It was like pressing against a wall.
"Lie down," I grinned, unable to keep the laugh out of my voice, giving one more push with my foot before I lowered it back to the bed to regain my balance. I couldn't even push this man around. I had to command him to do it himself.
He shifted backward off of his knees and slowly leaned his back down to the bed.
He didn't fall backward; he inched, uncoiling with perfect muscular control until he was flat on his back, his arms tied and pinned underneath him. I stepped forward and knelt down on top of him, my knees pressing into the thick meat on the front of his shoulders.
He groaned and lifted his head towards me.
I almost fell off of him as he shifted, his body strong enough to lift me fully in the air just from a small upward crunch.
I giggled and leaned forward over him, pressing my breasts into his face to smoosh him back down on the bed. He rubbed his face against them, his tongue flicking against my nipple as his sharp teeth grazed the sensitive edges of my flesh.
I gasped as the pleasure raced through me like electricity, igniting all of the nerves in my body.
I ran my fingers through his hair, gripping the back of his head as I lifted my chest away from his face and held his head down against the bed in the same motion.
There was something I wanted that was more intimate than touch, more erotic than the knowledge that his hard rod was so close to me. All I had to do was slide down his ripped abs, and his mating tentacles would grab me and force me down to take that thick length inside of me.
I wanted him to fully bare himself to me, to make himself vulnerable in a way that required the brain instead of the body.
"Tell me what you love about me," I commanded. "Tell me why you wanted me as your Empress."
He stilled, holding my gaze with a softness that surrounded his eyes.
"My desire for you was inflamed the moment you fought back against the Izanbur who had taken you captive," he said.
"You were entrancing. So vulnerable, your chance of succeeding was so small, and yet you didn't let it stop you.
You refused to give in, to allow others to dictate your fate.
Instead, you chose to fight. That is what I love about you. "
I hesitated, feeling that old flash of shame.
"I haven't always chosen to fight," I said softly as I lowered myself, sitting down on his chest. He didn't seem to even notice my weight.
"Haven't you?" He disrupted my mental spiral.
"The will to fight doesn't mean you come out swinging in every scenario.
Sometimes the will to fight means to wait, to observe, and to develop your skills and your body so that you are ready for when fighting will serve you.
Sometimes the will to fight is also the will to wait until you can fight. The will to learn how to fight."
I took a deep breath, letting the air sink down fully into the depth of me, expanding my lungs until there was nothing left in me to fill but the aching, needy space between my legs. Zale shifted underneath me. He pulled his hands out from under him and placed them on my bare thighs.
I glanced down to see the shredded remains of the fabric ties on his wrists.
The jagged edges made it clear he simply cut them with his claws.
His thumbs ran along the insides of my thighs.
Heat followed his touch, and the space where my lower lips touched the skin of his chest began to feel slick with my body's craving for his touch.
But it wasn't just his touch I craved. It was the way he saw me down to my core.
The way the woman he saw when he looked at me was the kind of woman I always hoped I could be but couldn't see for myself through the layers of self-doubt I'd painted on over the years.
His hands slid higher.
I needed more.
I reached down and grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands the rest of the way up my thighs until both of them were at my juncture.
He slid one of them around the back of my thigh as I lifted up off his chest to give him greater access.
He ran his fingers over the outside of my lower lips, gently teasing me with soft caresses as his other hand began to stroke around the edges of my opening, his claws fully retracted.
I let out a gasp and began to shift my hips, wanting more, needing more.