Chapter 5 Darrokar #2
My length dragged against her inner walls, and the flexible tip curled to stroke the spots I'd learned drove her wild. She gasped, her nails digging into my shoulders hard enough to draw blood. The small pain only heightened the pleasure.
I set a rhythm. Slow. Deep. Each thrust intentional, designed to build her pleasure gradually instead of rushing toward the peak.
My cock filled her completely, stretched her around me until I could feel every clench of her inner muscles.
My tail wrapped around her leg, holding her steady, while my hands framed her face.
I wanted to see every expression, every flicker of pleasure that crossed her features.
"You're mine," I said, the words falling from me without conscious thought. "Nothing changes that. Not tradition, not politics, not the opinions of fools who can't see your worth."
She opened her mouth to respond, but I angled my hips and hit the spot that made her lose her words. She arched beneath me with a cry that went straight to my cock.
"That's it," I encouraged. "Take what you need from me."
I increased the pace slightly, still controlled but with more force behind each thrust. The sound of our bodies joining filled the quarters, obscene and perfect.
The wet slide of my cock into her, the slap of skin against scales.
Her scent surrounded me, thick with arousal and satisfaction.
The mate-bond sang between us, pleasure feeding back and forth until I couldn't tell where mine ended and hers began.
When she came the second time, it was harder.
Her entire body locked up, clenching around my cock with enough force to make me see stars.
I followed her over with a roar, my cock pulsing as I came inside her, filling her with my cum while that clever tip continued to stroke, drawing out both our pleasure until we were both shaking.
I collapsed beside her, careful not to crush her, and pulled her against my chest. She came willingly, tucking herself into the curve of my body like she belonged there.
Because she did.
My tail wrapped around her calf. My wing draped over us both, creating a cocoon of warmth and safety. Her head rested over my heart, and I felt her breathing slow, steadying as the aftershocks faded.
For a while, we just lay there. No words. No need.
Then she stirred.
"I think I should do it. The Skalanth."
My hand stilled on her back. "Terra."
"Hear me out." She pushed up on her elbow to look at me. "I'm not saying I'd win. I know I wouldn't. But participating, showing that I'm willing to subject myself to the same trials the warriors face, that would mean something. Wouldn't it?"
"It would mean you're reckless."
"Or brave."
"Bravery and stupidity often look the same.
" I sat up, forcing her to move with me.
"You're talking about entering a competition designed for Drakarn warriors.
You don't have wings to navigate the vertical sections.
You don't have our strength to break through barriers.
You don't have scales to protect you when you fall. "
"I have training. Skill. Intelligence."
"Which won't matter when a warrior twice your size knocks you off a wall. You could die."
"People die crossing the street back on Earth."
"This isn't Earth. And you're not just anyone. You're my mate. The Warrior Lord's consort. If something happened to you—" I cut myself off before I could finish that thought. Before I could voice the violence that would follow if she was harmed. "You've already proven yourself. A dozen times over."
"To you. To the humans. Maybe to some of the Blade Council." She shook her head. "But not to the traditionalists. Not to the warriors who see me as weakness. Not to Karyseth and her followers who think I'm corrupting everything they hold sacred."
"Their opinions don't matter."
"They do if they affect how I'm treated.
How my people are treated." She moved away from me, putting distance between us.
"You can protect me from direct threats.
But you can't protect me from being dismissed, from being seen as less than, from being treated like I'm only here because of who I'm mated to instead of who I am. "
The words hit harder than they should have. Because she was right. I could kill anyone who tried to harm her. Could destroy anyone who threatened her directly. But I couldn't change minds. Couldn't force respect or acceptance.
"The Skalanth won't change that," I said.
"Maybe not. But I need to try something." She wrapped her arms around herself, a defensive gesture that made my chest ache.
"No," I said.
"No?"
"I'm not agreeing to this. Not tonight. Not without more thought.
" I stood from the platform and crossed to where she'd left her blade and picked it up.
The edge was sharp enough to split stone.
"Whatever brought this on, whatever happened to make you think participating in the Skalanth is necessary, we're going to talk about it.
Really talk about it. Not dance around it or deflect or seduce each other into forgetting the conversation. "
She looked away. "Nothing happened."
"Luvae."
"I'm serious. Nothing worth mentioning."
I set the blade down and moved back to her. Caught her shoulders gently, waited until she looked at me. "I thought we were done keeping secrets."
Something flickered across her face. Guilt. Anger. Fear. It was gone too quickly to name, but I felt it through the bond like ice in my chest.
"It was nothing," she said again, but her voice was quieter now. Less certain.
"Tell me anyway."
She pulled away from my grip, moved to where her clothes lay scattered on the floor.
She started dressing with sharp, jerky movements.
"A couple of novice warriors were idiots.
On my way back from the human quarters. They wanted to make a point about how I don't belong here.
It's not the first time. It won't be the last. I handled it. "
Each word landed like a blow.
Novice warriors. Confronting my mate. Making her feel unwelcome. Threatening her.
The rage that flooded through me was immediate and absolute. My vision narrowed. My wings flared. The urge to hunt, to find these fools and tear them apart for daring to approach her, it consumed every rational thought.
"Who?" The word came out as a growl, barely recognizable as language.
"It doesn't matter."
"Their names. Now."
"I don't know their names." She pulled her shirt over her head, still not looking at me. "I didn't exactly stop to exchange introductions."
"Describe them."
"Darrokar …"
"Describe them." I was moving before I'd made the conscious decision, heading for the door, ready to tear through Scalvaris until I found the warriors stupid enough to threaten what was mine.
She caught my arm. Small hands on my forearm, not enough strength to actually stop me but enough to make me pause.
"Don't," she said. "Please."
"They threatened you."
"They talked. That's all. Just words." She stepped in front of me, blocking the door. "If you go after them, you prove them right. You prove that I can't handle myself, that I need you to fight my battles, that I'm exactly as weak as they think I am."
"You're not weak."
"Then let me prove it." Her grip on my arm tightened. "Let me handle this myself. Let me show them that I can stand on my own without the Warrior Lord rushing to my defense every time someone says something I don't like."
"This is more than words. This is harassment. Intimidation."
"This is politics." She moved closer, her body pressing against mine. "And if you retaliate, it becomes a bigger problem. The traditionalists will say you're choosing me over Scalvaris. That you're willing to punish warriors for speaking their minds. That I've corrupted your judgment."
I knew she was right. Hated it, but knew it. If I hunted down these novices, if I made an example of them, it would only fuel the narrative that Terra was a weakness. A distraction. Something that made me unfit to lead.
But knowing she was right didn't cool the rage burning through my veins.
"I want names," I said. "Descriptions. Everything you remember."
"Why? So you can track them down later?"
"So I know who to watch. Who to keep away from you." I caught her face in my hands, careful of my claws. "I won't hunt them. Not unless they approach you again. But I'm not going to pretend this didn't happen."
She searched my eyes, looking for something. A promise I wasn't sure I could make.
"One was purple," she finally said. "Dark purple scales, yellow eyes. The other was red. Smaller. Faster-looking."
Purple and red. Novices. That narrowed it down to maybe two dozen warriors currently in training. Not enough to identify them specifically, but enough to start watching.
"Did they touch you?"
"No."
"Threaten you directly?"
"They implied things. They talked about the Skalanth." She paused. "That's where I got the idea."
So the whole conversation, her sudden interest in participating, it all stemmed from a confrontation she'd tried to hide from me.
Warriors had challenged her, had made her feel like she needed to prove herself, and instead of coming to me immediately, she'd sat alone, sharpening her blade and building walls.
The thought made something crack in my chest.
"You should have told me," I said. "Right away. The moment you got back."
"I handled it."
"That's not the point." I pulled her closer, needing the contact, needing to feel her safe against me.
"You are my mate. That means when something happens, when someone threatens you, I need to know.
Not because I think you can't handle yourself, but because your safety matters to me more than anything else in this world. "
"And that's the problem." She pressed her forehead against my chest. "Your need to protect me, it's going to smother me if we're not careful. I can't live my life worrying that every challenge I face will send you into a protective rage."
"Then don't get challenged."
She laughed, but it was bitter. "That's not how this works. I'm human in Scalvaris. I'm mated to the Warrior Lord. I'm everything that some assholes in this city hate wrapped up in one very breakable package. The challenges aren't going to stop."
I knew that. Had known it from the moment I'd claimed her. But knowing something intellectually and facing it in practice were different things.
"I'm asking you not to participate in the Skalanth," I said.
She pulled back to look at me. "Are you ordering me?"
"Would it matter if I was?"
"No."
I'd expected that answer. Still hated hearing it.
"Then I'm asking," I said. "As your mate. Not as Warrior Lord. I'm asking you not to risk yourself this way."
She kissed me then, soft and sweet, and I tasted apology in it. Or maybe understanding. She pulled me back toward the sleeping platform, and I went willingly.
No one touched my mate.
Except me.