Lydia
Maggie tells me not to do anything she wouldn’t do as Dalox stalks out of the clan hall and the other warlords come over to where we are, collecting their females, and as usual, looking like a set of excited puppies. The guards leave, and the entire hall is empty, save for Deus and me.
Deus approaches, rather like one would approach an unexploded bomb.
“They didn’t put you back in the cell then?” I raise my eyebrows.
“One small mercy.” Deus glares at the door where Dalox exited. “He was always one for the small mercies,” he growls under his breath.
“Can he really banish you?” I ask. “After all, you have your own sector.”
“He can if all the warlords agree,” Deus grumbles. “And I doubt any of them would put up much of a fight on my behalf.”
“What if you refuse to go?”
“They’ll take you away,” Deus says, huffing out a great cloud of smoke. “And burn my sector to ash.” He wrinkles up his nose and does one of his long blinks. “I do not want to lose you.”
“Do you still think you’re in rut for me?” I say, as casually as if I’m asking about the weather.
Underneath, my heart thumps against my chest so hard I feel like it’s going to batter its way out of my rib cage.
“I know I’m in rut for you,” Dalox rasps, moving right into my personal space.
He slides a finger under my chin and tilts my face up to him, his other hand gently gripping my upper arm.
“I didn’t want to believe it myself, but I have been reminded that no Sarkarnii ever takes the same path with mating, and no one way is right or wrong.”
I want to say her name, to see what he does, to find out if there is a reaction, but when I open my mouth, no sound comes out.
Instead Deus dips his head and kisses me. I’m so shocked for a moment I’m completely passive. His hand curls around the back of my head, his tongue…his forked tongue…sweeping over my lips, pushing through them, plundering my mouth.
My body is on fire, pressed against him wantonly, taking everything from this huge Sarkarnii, my mouth active once more, kissing him back. Kissing him like I will never kiss anyone ever again in my life. As if this is my one chance, and once it has gone, I have nothing at all.
Deus releases me and I am a complete mess. Soaked in all the wrong places.
“How did you know to kiss?” I ask him. “My friends said none of their mates knew about it.”
“I saw Dalox mate his mouth with his female. I wanted to try it,” Deus rasps, smacking his lips. “I like it very much.”
His gaze darkens as he looks down at me.
“But there is something I would like to do more, little ember.” His voice curls around me like the smoke he exudes. “I would like to kiss your cunt and make you come.”
My legs go to jelly. It’s a good thing Deus has hold of me.
“Here?”
I don’t know why I ask the question. It seems to be the only word my addled brain can get out.
“Anywhere,” Deus says. “But I must do it.”
Yet again, his lips meet mine for a long, lingering, spinetingling kiss as I’m scooped into his arms, and in a smooth motion, we are running.
Out of the clan hall, into the neutral sector, past warriors who stare at our progress, past the scorched walls and floors, through the airlock into Deus’s sector where the air is fragrant and heavy with humidity.
Like a gazelle, Deus bounces from rock to rock swiftly, easily, moving so expertly I hardly feel like I am being carried at all. The cabin rises up ahead of us, and in no time, we are inside, and I am kissed to oblivion once again.
“I will need you to remove your garments, little mate,” he whispers. “If I am to taste your nectar.”
Deus watches me with burning eyes as I initially reach for the catch on my pants then hesitate.
“I…haven’t done this for a long time,” I say in a voice which is barely audible. “You should know.”
“Sarkarnii males are schooled in pleasuring females,” Deus rumbles.
“It is what our ancestors want us to do. I can promise you pleasure and only pleasure, my Lydia.” He plants his hand on the wall above me, those incredible eyes mesmerizing in their beauty.
“But I will not do anything you do not wish me to do.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I say, panic rising in my chest.
Deus leans into me, his warm body and soft scales ever so close. He trails his hand up my side, gently sliding a finger under my top, skirting my waistband.
Making me freeze involuntarily.
“Whatever you want, my sweet mate,” he rumbles. “If not now, then whenever you are ready. But I will taste you, I will enjoy you, and I will pleasure you until you come undone on my tongue.”
I clutch at his arm, steadying myself, wanting to lean into this experience, wanting him more than anything.
But I can’t quite let go.
“I was…once…someone…a human male…he…forced me to do something I didn’t want to do.” I stumble over the outpouring of words. “And then when I was taken from Earth…there were times I didn’t know what was done to me.”
Deus’s eyebrows knit together. I expect he’s going to threaten to go to Earth and do something unspeakable, which is not what I want at all.
“Human males do this to their females?” he queries, lifting his lips to reveal vicious fangs.
“We can’t envenomate like your females can.”
“Envenomation is not about fending off a male. It is about displeasure at a poorly executed rut,” Deus says.
“No Sarkarnii male would ever force a female to do anything, regardless of her venom.” He gently brushes the back of his huge hand against my cheek.
“I will only ever do what you want me to do, my Lydia. No questions, no push back, nothing. It will always be you.”