Chapter 24
ELAINA
When the intense pleasure finally weakens, Xaren climbs into bed beside me and gathers me into his arms. His lips are still shiny with my juices, and he licks them slowly, like he’s savoring the taste.
“You really liked it that much?” I ask softly, still breathless and trembling from what he just did to me.
He licks them again and lets out a low, satisfied sound in the back of his throat.
“Fucking love it, little dove. You taste sweet and salty and perfect.” He strokes my lower lip with his thumb. “Here—kiss me and find out.”
A little thrill runs through me, and I lean up to kiss him.
I hesitate for just a second—some tiny, unsure part of me wondering if I’ll find the taste strange—but then his mouth meets mine, and everything melts away.
His lips are soft and warm—still wet with my arousal, and his tongue parts my lips gently, then slides in deep.
Goddess…
I moan, tasting myself on his tongue. It’s not strange like I’d feared. It’s… delicious…intimate…wildly erotic. My own secret flavor mixed with his cinnamon taste. I love it.
I suck lightly on his tongue and he groans into my mouth, the sound vibrating all the way down to the core of me. But then I feel it again—I feel him. The hard, hot ridge of his arousal, pressed insistently against my belly.
This time I’m determined not to be selfish. He keeps giving me pleasure—he deserves some too.
I reach for him, but he catches my wrist.
“No, little dove,” he murmurs. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I frown up at him.
“But you gave me pleasure and took none for yourself. What if I want to taste you the way you tasted me?”
A muscle ticks in his jaw.
“I don’t think you’d want to taste me if you saw what I have below the belt,” he says, his voice rough. “As I said before, I don’t look like other men.”
“I don’t even know much what other men look like,” I admit, shrugging. “I mean, our stable boy back home showed me his, uh, equipment once, but it just looked like a grubby worm.”
Xaren lets out a startled laugh, his eyes lighting with amusement.
“A grubby worm?”
“Well, that’s what it looked like to me,” I say, trying not to laugh too.
He shakes his head, a smile tugging at the unscarred side of his mouth. “Well… I guess I can show you. But you can’t be shocked.”
“I won’t be shocked.” I reach up and brush his hair back from the scarred side of his face, letting my fingers linger. “Please, just show me. Let me see you—let me know you.”
He studies me for a long moment, then nods once.
“As you wish.”
He reaches down and unfastens his trousers, tugging them open. And gods above and below, he’s huge—so big it’s almost frightening and unlike anything I’ve ever imagined.
His cock isn’t human—not even close. It’s thick and long, the wide head a deep purple that fades to sleek, inky black at the base.
The entire length is covered in small, gleaming scales that shimmer in the candlelight like polished obsidian.
Raised ridges curve down the top and underside, making it look both elegant and dangerous.
My eyes go wide and I feel my breath catch in my throat.
“I told you I wasn’t like a regular man,” Xaren growls.
He starts to pull his trousers closed again, his face like a thundercloud, but I stop him.
“No, wait,” I breathe. “Let me see it.”
I lean closer, fascinated. His scent is stronger here—dark and spicy, like hot cinnamon and fire and salt. It teases my nose, making me dizzy.
“Can I touch you?” I ask, looking up at him.
His voice is husky.
“If you truly want to.”
“I do,” I breathe.
I wrap my hand around him—or try to. He’s so thick I can’t even come close to encircling him completely—my fingertips and thumb won’t meet. His skin is hot to the touch, the scales silky-smooth under my palm. The ridges beneath my fingers make me shiver, imagining what they’d feel like inside me.
Xaren hisses through his teeth, his muscles tensing.
“Gods, little dove,” he growls. “Your hand is so soft.”
“I like the way you feel,” I whisper. “But… I don’t think you’d fit. You know, inside me.”
“Yes, I would,” he assures me, his voice gone low and serious. “My Drake makes a special kind of precum that would help you to open for me.”
I glance up at him.
“Is this your Drake’s, er, equipment?”
He nods once.
“My face is not the only place he comes out. Does it bother you?”
“No… it’s a bit intimidating,” I admit. “But it’s not bad. Better than the stable boy’s grubby worm.”
He lets out a rough laugh, breathless this time, because I’m still stroking him, slow and curious.
I meet his eyes.
“Can I taste you?”
His brows lift.
“You really want to?”
“Yes,” I say, sliding down the bed and positioning myself between his thighs. “I want to taste you the way you tasted me.”
He leans back against the pillows, chest rising and falling hard.
“Very well then, little dove,” he murmurs. “Do what you want with me.”
I don’t hesitate. I lower my mouth and run my tongue along the underside of his cock, tracing one of the thick, velvety ridges. His taste floods my mouth—spicy and hot, like cinnamon candy melting on a heated stove. It tingles against my tongue and coats my lips in heat.
Xaren groans, one big hand stroking my hair.
“Fuck, Elaina… that mouth… your hot little mouth feels so good. So sweet and wet and perfect.”
I slide my lips over the broad, mushroom-shaped head, then slowly begin to take him in deeper. It’s a stretch, but I don’t want to stop. I want to feel him against my tongue, in my throat. I want to give him the same pleasure he gave me.
He growls low in his chest, hips tensing.
“Gods above, yes… Just like that. Such a good girl, taking me so deep…”
His fingers tighten in my hair, not pushing, just holding.
I suck him slowly, savoring the way he throbs against my tongue. His heat, his taste—it’s addictive.
“I’m close,” he warns, voice strained. “You might want to stop. You—fuck—Elaina, pull away—”
But I don’t.
I want to know what he tastes like when he comes. I want to taste all of him, the way he tasted all of me.
The next moment, he lets out a roar, his hips bucking.
And then his release hits my tongue in hot, pulsing waves. It tastes like fire and sugar—like spicy cinnamon candy—and I swallow every drop, loving the way he moans, the way his big body shudders beneath me.
When it’s over, I crawl up to him and he pulls me into his arms.
“Come here, little dove,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “My sweet, brave girl. Can’t believe you swallowed it all.”
“It tasted good—like candy,” I confess.
He gives a breathless laugh.
“I’m glad you liked it.”
Then he kisses me and pulls me closer.
I curl against his chest, still tasting him on my lips, still breathing in his scent.
Lying in his arms, I feel completely content for the first time since I came to the Citadel. But if I had known what was coming next, I wouldn’t have been quite so peaceful.