Chapter Twenty
Serenya
I almost couldn’t hear over the pounding of my heart as I faced Kael.
It might have meant nothing to him, but it was everything to me, to be able to choose to bare myself to him instead of it being required.
I shivered under his gaze. That predatory look was back, sharp and focused, roaming over every part of me above the waterline. He’d been reaching for towels but had stopped when I turned to him, and the way he stood frozen while devouring me with his eyes made my core clench.
I had no doubt my thighs would still have been soaked even if I hadn’t been in the pool.
His cock jutted up from his groin, thick and heavy.
It looked similar in shape to a Human’s.
His tip was wide and blunt, though a bit more teardrop shaped than round.
He had kethra going down both sides of the shaft, and there were small dark stripes across the bottom side that reminded me of an image I’d seen of a Jacob’s Ladder, but I couldn’t tell what exactly it was, although I had a guess it was ridges since the rest of him had them.
Kael straightened slowly, never looking away as he took hold of the towels and then stalked back to the edge of the pool. His kethra pulsed in quick flashes and his tail was moving in jerky waves back and forth, as if he was trying to stop it but couldn’t.
A shiver went through me at the thought that I was the cause.
“Come out of the water, veyrari.”
His voice was quiet but laced with a growl that had desire pooling in my belly. Even in the water I could feel the slick coating my lower lips, and I had the urge to let out a whine, although I managed to keep it inside.
He held the towel open for me but refused to look away. I was still trembling as I took a step toward him, but each time I managed to put one foot in front of the other, it got easier.
The way he looked at me made me want to reveal it all.
I bit my lower lip as I emerged from the water, leaving nothing between his gaze and my bare flesh. I startled when he let out a harsh growl, his kethra glowing a steady, bright crimson, but as the smokey pepper scent of him filled my lungs, my muscles relaxed.
Unable to hold his gaze as I stopped before him, I looked at the stone floor beneath us. His hands were gentle when he wiped my face with the towel, trailing the fabric down my neck and over my shoulders before spreading it to wrap around me.
With a finger under my chin, he lifted my face and forced me to look at him.
“You must dry yourself, veyrari, or I may go too far.”
My lungs stuttered and I gulped. I didn’t know what he thought was too far, but I wouldn’t have stopped him, and I wasn’t sure if I appreciated or hated that he had enough restraint to admit he was losing it.
Trying to distract myself as I took hold of the towel, I had to look away from him again when he began running a cloth over his own body. The way he smelled and the heat emanating from him already made me want to do foolish things, and watching him rub every inch of his body was too much.
“What does veyrari mean? You’ve called me that a few times.”
When I risked a glance at him his lips were pulled up on one side, canine flashing. His silver eyes caught mine, holding me captive, but I could see his hand at the edge of my vision as he wrapped it around himself, overtop the cloth, and stroked.
My body burned like I’d been out in the sun all day without using sunblock, and the wetness between my thighs wasn’t water. His nostrils flared, a growl rumbling from him again, and I realized he could smell it. He knew I was aroused.
“Veyr is blood. Veyrari is new blood.”
The pet name wasn’t as sweet as I’d hoped it might be, but I found I liked it. He’d started using it while we were still unsure of each other, so it made sense that it didn’t mean something romantic.
My stomach chose that moment to growl, Kael’s gaze jerking to my middle, breaking the spell. His slit pupils had already been wider than usual in the dim light, but they expanded more, and I couldn’t help chuckling at the way he reacted to the sound.
“Dress. Zorhen meyr’kal.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember the words I knew as I shook out my clothes. Meyr’kal was home, and I thought I remembered him using zorhen for food. Or was it meal?
“Food, home?”
His kethra had dimmed as he pulled on his pants, but it gave a brief flash.
“Common is… wordy. Yes, zorhen meyr’kal literally translates to food home, but it means, there is food at home. The Morrak are too impatient for the excess details and tend to use only the necessary words to convey meaning.”
Smiling, I didn’t think about it when I dropped the towel to step into my slacks. I had been sweating too much on the surface to want to put my panties back on, so his eyes were locked on my curls as I slid the material up my legs.
Blushing, I turned my back to him to button them and put on my bra. It was sweaty and gross too, but I wasn’t walking through Korvashan in a blouse with no bra to hold everything in place and stop the jiggle.
Kael was still staring at me when I turned to face him again. He’d slid his arms into his uniform and had his belt around the ends that hung over his hips, but the front was still open. My mouth watered even as I fought the urge to walk over and tug the fabric across his muscles.
Something must have given me away. His pupils narrowed as he smirked, but he grabbed the edges of his top and crossed them so only a small bit of his sternum was exposed beneath his collarbone instead of a full strip to the top of his pants.
Wetting my lips, I glanced away, only then realizing an amber glow lit the space around me.
“Damn, traitorous, mood-lights.”
I didn’t miss Kael’s smothered laugh, and I couldn’t help my little smile when he reached out and took my hand to lead me home.
That thought didn’t seem as strange after seeing more of Morrakan and making the decision myself to remain.
Going to bed also wasn’t as intimidating as it had been, and I figured I was ready to face the nudity-at-home tradition.
Spending time with Kael had helped tame the fear that I was going to end up miserable.
I tried to pay attention as we walked back, looking for signs or anything I could use to help me get around. I knew it wasn’t likely that I would go out alone for a while, but the sooner I learned to navigate, the sooner I wouldn’t be useless.
That thought reminded me of another concern, and once we passed through a level that was bustling with activity into the quieter tunnels of the High Ledge, I decided to ask.
“Kael?”
He turned to me, his face mostly shadows and faint red streaks since the sun had set and the bioluminescent moss on the walls didn’t put off much light.
“What concerns you, veyrari?”
I huffed.
“I don’t know how you seem to read my mind.”
I caught a glimpse of his canines as he grinned.
“I’m reading your scent, not your mind. Emotions alter your pheromones. I can smell your uncertainty.”
That caught me by surprise, and for a moment I was distracted from my original question.
“Will I be able to do that too?”
I’d noticed smells seemed to be stronger since we arrived, but I’d thought it was something about Morrakan, not part of my change.
Kael dipped his chin, pulling me to a stop outside a door. It looked like others we’d passed, but I assumed it was the one to our home, I just couldn’t figure out how to tell it from others.
“Draw in a breath. It may help to pull it through your mouth.”
Parting my lips, I sucked in air until my lungs felt stretched.
“Think about what you smell and taste in the air. What does it remind you of?”
I let my breath out slowly, trying to focus as I breathed in again. The air was dry, the gritty feel of sand coating my tongue, and there was a smell I associated with heat and summer.
Stronger than that was Kael’s scent of spice and smoke, like black pepper sprinkled on embers. It was masculine, and something that only made me think of him.
Then there was the scent of honeyed peaches, and maybe a hint of jasmine. I’d always loved the smell of the jasmine that grew in the beds alongside my father’s house, but I knew it shouldn’t be here on Morrakan.
“I get the heat of the stone and sand from above, and you always smell like a spicy campfire, but I can’t figure out how I smell flowers from Earth here.”
Chuckling under his breath, he reached for my hand, gripping my wrist and lifting it to the datapad beside the door.
He pressed my palm to it the way I had on the other side to let the Karzhari in, and the door slid open, but he didn’t immediately release me.
Leaning closer to my ear, he drew in a breath before letting it out with a quiet hiss, making my hair tickle my neck.
“That’s you, Serenya. That thick, sweet, fruit and floral scent is all you. And the closer you get to your heat, the sweeter you’ll smell, until every alpha will know you’re ripe and ready for breeding.”
I shuddered, almost choking on my own spit as my nipples tightened into painful points.
I wasn’t a virgin, but none of the men I’d had relationships with had been dirty talkers, and while most of what Kael had said wasn’t explicitly dirty, his tone had my mind circling the gutter even before he uttered the word breeding.
That time I couldn’t stop the whine that slipped from my throat. The heat of him soaked into me from all around due to the way he practically enveloped my body with his, and there was no mistaking the touch of his tail as it glided down the side of my leg before wrapping around my calf.
“Come. You need to eat.”
My core spasmed when he said the word come, and it took me a minute to realize he hadn’t meant it that way. There was a distinct sense of loss when his tail released me and he moved away, and when I drew in a breath, there was definitely a musky note to my scent.
As if glowing like a lamp wasn’t enough, even my scent betrayed me.