Chapter Eight
Lilith
I wake up wrapped in warmth. For a moment, I’m disoriented. This isn’t my bed. The sheets are softer than anything I own, and the weight around me is comforting and unfamiliar. Then I remember and smile.
Theron.
Heat floods through me at the memory of last night. The tentacles. The overwhelming pleasure. The way he made me come apart again and again until I couldn’t think anymore, couldn’t do anything but feel. The way he worshipped me as if I were a goddess.
I open my eyes slowly. In this pocket realm, the morning light is softer than natural sunlight, tinged with blues and greens as if we’re underwater.
Theron is beside me, still in his more human form, with one arm wrapped around my waist. But his tentacles are also everywhere.
They’re draped over my legs and loosely curled around my wrists.
One of them is even tangled in my hair. It should feel claustrophobic, being held like this. Instead, it feels safe.
His eyes open. “Good morning,” he says.
“Morning. Did you sleep well?”
“I’ve been awake this whole time.” His hand moves to my face, and his thumb brushes over my cheekbone. “I like watching you sleep.”
I should probably feel weird about that, but I don’t. After everything we did last night, his watching me sleep seems almost quaint.
“Are you sore?” he asks.
“A little, but in a good way,” I tell him.
It’s true. There’s a pleasant ache between my legs and a tenderness in my muscles from being suspended and used so thoroughly. But it’s not painful.
He smiles. “Good.”
One of his tentacles trails up my thigh, and despite everything, despite how thoroughly he wrecked me last night, my body responds immediately.
“Again?” I ask in surprise.
“I could spend days worshipping your body and never tire of it,” he says, leaning in to press a kiss to my shoulder. “But I also don’t want to overwhelm you. You’re still adjusting.”
His consideration makes my chest tight. This gorgeous, powerful being is being so careful with me.
“I’m okay. More than okay,” I tell him.
“Then let me take care of you again.”
I grin and let out a contented sigh.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmurs as he kisses my neck. “Every inch of you.”
His mouth follows the path of his tentacles. My shoulder, the hollow of my throat, the curve of my breast, and then his lips close around my nipple. I arch into him with a soft moan.
When one of his tentacles finally slides between my legs, I’m already wet and aching for him. I need to feel him fill me again, just like last night.
“Please,” I breathe.
He doesn’t make me beg this time. His tentacle slides inside, and my body welcomes the now familiar stretch. But instead of the intense, overwhelming rhythm from last night, he takes it slow. Slow, but oh so fucking deep. Another tentacle finds my clit, and I can’t stop moaning.
“I want to feel you come like this,” Theron says, his lips against my ear. “Slow and sweet. Let me savor you.”
“What about you? When are you coming?” I ask, breathless.
“We have time, Lilith.”
I close my eyes and let my orgasm build while his tentacles pleasure every inch of my skin. I come with a soft cry, my body clenching around him as pleasure rolls through me in waves. Theron holds me through it, his tentacles and arms wrapped around me like an anchor.
When my breathing slows down, I crawl against his skin. I want to stay here forever, but I know I have a life outside this room and will have to return to it. I have a business and friends. And responsibilities I can’t just abandon.
“What are you thinking?” Theron asks.
I trace the dark, iridescent markings on his shoulder.
“I have to head back home eventually, Theron. I have backorders to fulfill, and my friend May is going to start a search party if I don’t text her back soon.”
Theron goes still. The tentacles that had been lazily stroking my hair stop moving. The silence in the room suddenly feels heavy.
“Lilith,” he says. He doesn’t look at me. Instead, he watches the way his own hand rests against my skin, as if he’s trying to memorize the sight of it. “There is something I should have told you before I brought you here. Something about the way our blood has begun to hum together.”
I sit up, pulling the soft, dark sheets to my chest. “What do you mean?”
“The bond we started forming last night isn’t just physical. By accepting me, you’ve started a transition. My essence is tethered to yours now.”
Wait, what?
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“You have seventy-two hours, Lilith.” One of his tentacles reaches out, the tip trembling as it brushes my jaw.
“Three days where your body will still recognize the human world. After that, the anchor to your realm will snap. You won’t be able to stay there anymore.
Not without feeling like you’re being torn apart. ”
The air leaves my lungs, and I feel the blood drain from my face. Seventy-two hours. Three days to… what?
“You’re saying I have to leave everything behind? That I can’t go back to my life?” I ask in a shaky breath, suddenly feeling nauseous.
“I’m saying your life is changing,” Theron answers. He reaches for me, but I instinctively flinch back, my heart hammering against my ribs. “I wanted you to choose me because you wanted me, not because you were forced. But I need you to know the truth about what choosing me means.”
I’m trembling now. The room, the candlelight, the bed, even the beautiful monster beside me, all feel like they’re tilting.
“I need to go home,” I manage to say. It’s the only thought I can hold on to. I need my apartment. I need to see May. I need to know that the world I’ve lived in for my entire life hasn’t vanished because of one night of magic.
“Lilith, please wait and—”
“I need to go home, Theron.” I scramble out of bed, my legs like lead. I grab my clothes from the floor, fumbling with my jeans, my fingers suddenly clumsy and useless. “I need to think. I can’t be here right now.”
He doesn’t stop me. He gets up too. His massive, dark form is silhouetted against the window, and I see how his tentacles coil and uncoil in silent agony. He looks like he wants to roar, to grab me and never let go, but he stays perfectly still.
“The door will be open for you,” he says. “But the clock has started, Lilith. Please. Don’t wait until the last hour to come back to me.”
I don’t answer. I can’t. Shoving my feet into my shoes, I bolt for the door, my heart screaming the only thing it knows.
Home. I just want to go home.