Chapter Three #2
Tara was unable to disobey. Her body sang for Eliza, and she reached new depths of ecstasy as Eliza’s hands moved from her center to stroke over her entire body, rubbing her down and drawing the last few shivers from her.
“Holy smokes,” Tara panted when she could form words. “Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming.”
Eliza laughed and playfully pinched her hip. “No way, pretty girl. It’s real. I’ve heard it’s different for mates, but… I’ve never seen it before.” Another long, slow, passionate kiss. “I want to see it again.”
Tara rolled to her side, reaching for Eliza. “Show me how you like it.”
Eliza lay back and spread her legs, beginning to fondle her own breasts.
Tara lamented not having enough hands because she wanted to touch her everywhere, but settled for tonguing Eliza’s nipples and teasing her folds.
The other woman was dripping wet, a salty, musky smell filtering through the air as Tara stroked her.
“Yes, just like that,” Eliza moaned when Tara sucked her nipple into her mouth, dipping fingers into her entrance simultaneously. “Don’t stop.”
I don’t think I will ever be able to stop, Tara thought to herself as she crooked her fingers and made Eliza writhe beneath her. I’m already addicted to your taste.
“Fuck, fuck, I’m coming,” Eliza whimpered a few moments later, and Tara watched with awe as her new lover shattered around her fingers. It was beautiful, and her tan skin seemed to sparkle with an otherworldly glow.
They lay together, naked and sticky, draped over Tara’s bed and let the minutes pass by. Their hearts beat in unison, and it was the only passage of time Tara cared about.
“I suppose we should seriously talk about this,” Eliza said eventually, breaking the peace they’d established in Tara’s temporary home.
Tara sighed. “You want to be a responsible grown-up now? Lame.”
Eliza poked her. “Hey, aren’t you the one with a PhD?”
“Bully. That doesn’t mean I have to be responsible about everything.” Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her she hadn’t eaten yet. “Think we could get a bite first?”
“Is that a shark joke?”
Embarrassment flooded Tara, and she stumbled over her tongue as she rushed to apologize.
“I’m just pulling your tail, Tara,” Eliza said with a grin. Then she elbowed her and added, “That was a shark joke.”
Tara loaned Eliza some clothes and a pair of sandals and they walked down the road to the food truck for tacos.
“There’s more you should know about being my mate,” Eliza said after they’d each finished their first taco and begun on their second.
“Okay. Hit me.”
“The paperwork is a bureaucratic formality, but the real important thing Monty will probably expect from us is a kind of mating ceremony.”
“What, like a wedding?” Tara asked, covering her excitement by dipping her chip into the guacamole and popping it into her mouth.
“Yes and no… There’s… Well, it is a little more intense than a wedding. I’ll have to mark you as mine, stake my claim physically. Publicly.”
“If you’re about to tell me we have to bang in a room full of observers, we’re about to have a different conversation entirely.”
Eliza laughed nervously. “Not exactly. We don’t have to do anything in front of people—though there are the Old Ones who would want that… but most of the time the mating bite is done in private and the marks are just shown to multiple witnesses after.”
“Bite?” Tara almost choked on her shrimp.
Eliza winced. “Yeah. I have to mark you with my teeth.”
“Hot.” She was partly joking, but the other part of her was flushing deeply.
“Seriously?” Eliza was giving her a look Tara couldn’t read.
“I mean… Yeah, actually. That sounds way more intense than a wedding like you said but… We’ve been pretty intense about this since we only met on the dock a week ago. And… I like the idea of wearing your claim.” Her flush deepened even more. “I’ve never been a ring girl.”
The other woman scrubbed her hands through her hair and let out an exasperated noise. “This is bonkers. You realize you aren’t dreaming, right? This is real. This is irrevocable. You’d bear the marks of my shark teeth on your body for the rest of your life. There’s no undoing this.”
Tara set down her taco and wiped her hands before reaching across the picnic table to touch the woman who had shifted her world on her axis.
“Babe. I hear you. I don’t understand everything yet, and I’d like to talk about it more but…
I’m serious. I’ve never felt a connection like I have with you and…
” She braced herself for more vulnerability.
“And I’ve never loved anyone or anything as much as I love sharks.
So it makes sense that I’d mate to one.”
“You sound almost more insane than me.” Eliza was still gaping at her like she couldn’t believe what Tara was saying.
“Seriously though, all my partners have broken it off in past because I never gave to them as much as I give to the sharks. Sharks have been my whole life since I saw my first one at an aquarium when I was eight. I’ve been studying them religiously, fascinated and enchanted, since then.
No average person could hope to compete with that. ”
“Does this mean you only want to study me?” Tara could see Eliza’s hackles raise, her eyes darkening more than was accounted for by the bright Australian summer day.
“No, no, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course I want to understand the shark shifter thing, but…” Tara searched for the right words. “I’m explaining this badly. My point is… I’m drawn to you. And I’m already invested in the shark side. The rest seems like the next reasonable step.”
Eliza shook her head, a small smile stealing across her lips. “How did I get so lucky?”
Now it was Tara’s turn to be confused. “What?”
“My mate loves sharks as much as I do and isn’t scared a lick about being bitten.”
“Now, I didn’t say that.” Tara checked in with herself to see if she was actually scared about the idea—but the only thing she felt was a heat coiling in her belly.
“But you’re not, are you?” Eliza stroked her fingertips across Tara’s palm, making her shiver. “I can smell how it turns you on.”
Tara’s blush raged in her neck and cheeks. “I told you. Sounds hot.”
“You probably read monster romance books, don’t you?”
Could her face get any hotter? She could fry an egg on her forehead. “Um, yeah, actually. Love me some lady monsters.” She laced their fingers together and kissed the back of Eliza’s hand, the rest of her food completely forgotten as she stared into her lover’s eyes.
“So eager to be mine, pretty girl… You make my shark hungry.”