Chapter 21
VENOM
Andrik-
The cabin is peaceful. She’s warm and tucked into my chest. For the first time all day, her body isn’t coiled in tension.
The lines of her face have softened, her lips parted slightly, her breath brushing against my skin. Her hand rests over my heart, fingers curled loosely in my fur.
I could stay like this forever. Just watching her, holding her, knowing she’s safe.
A scent slams into me, stealing my breath, flooding every sense I have. Sweet, thick, intoxicating.
It’s not a heat cycle. I’ve been around newly claimed Rhavari females before—bonded mates, their scents thick with estrous. But this? This is something else entirely.
My nostrils flare, and my entire body goes rigid. I inhale deeper this time, and the scent coats my tongue. It’s something her body is making. Something I’ve never smelled before.
Every instinct I have snarls in recognition. This devastating scent was made for me. Only for me. I turn my head to the side, attempting to breathe fresh air, but something warm spills across my leg.
My fur is damp where her thighs rest against my lap, and her shirt is soaked straight through.
When I look down—ves’thrahk. (Holy fuck.)
Shimmer glistens where I run a hand across my wet fur. A slick, iridescent substance. I stare at it for a heartbeat. The moment it touches my skin, it starts to dissipate into the whirls of my fingers. My body completely absorbs it, and reality fractures.
My mind... isn’t just mine anymore.
A rush of sensation floods through me, like lightning under my skin.
Her voice slithers through my brain like static. Her lips haven’t moved, but I can feel her voice. Inside me.
Her thoughts. Her feelings. Her soul.
Andrik...
My head snaps toward her. She’s still asleep, eyes closed, breathing softly.
I lurch forward with a gasp, claws raking through the floorboards to calm myself. My pulse hammers so loud it sounds like my heart is going to fall right out of its cage.
What is this?
Her voice floods me again, not a thought this time, but a feeling.
Are you there?
I slam a hand to my chest.
Yes.
I don’t know if I say it, scream it, or bleed it into the bond between us.
But she must feel it; her fingers twitch, reaching for me in her sleep. I crawl back to her and press my brow to her temple. I’m burning for the first time since I was created.
Andrik... please...
“Lumi?” I whisper aloud, even though I know she probably can’t hear me like this.
I can hear you.
I freeze.
Sael?n?
Yes. Her voice echoes through my mind. I can hear you.
I can’t make sense of this.
Are you... are you awake?
I don’t know. She pauses. Does it matter?
Yes. It matters.
Why?
Because I need—
I choke on the words, claws sinking into the furs.
I need to know you want this. That you’re choosing this.
I want this. I want you, she rasps.
Even like this? Even while you’re—
Touch me, Andrik. Please. It hurts when you don’t.
Vel’saev. (My heart.)
My hand trembles where it hovers over her hip.
Are you sure, Sael?n?
I’ve never been more sure of anything.
My palm presses flat against her hip. She makes a breathy sound, out loud this time, arching into my touch.
Better, she breathes into my mind. That’s so much better already.
My palm slides up from her hip, over the curve of her waist, feeling how her body trembles for me even in sleep.
More, please.
“Sael?n,” I rasp aloud. “You’re not even awake. This feels wrong.”
You can literally feel my soul right now... read my thoughts... tell me, Andri, do I want this?
My claws retract fully as my hand slides over her stomach, down to where my shirt barely covers her thighs.
Touch me, she pleads. I need you to touch me.
I push the fabric up slowly, fingers trembling when I find her warm skin. There’s no barrier. Nothing between us. Just her body calling to mine.
She arches with a broken sound, half in my mind, half exhaled into the air between us.
Inside, Andri. I need you inside.
I slide two fingers through her lunhae, and the sound she makes sends chills racking through my frame. (Lips.)
So wet, I whisper through the bond. Gods, Sael?n. So perfect.
My finger circles her kaelinae slowly, testing her... giving her a chance to back out. (Clit.)
Her thighs fall open wider, inviting me deeper.
Don’t stop, she begs. Please don’t stop like you did at the apartment.
I’m such a Thrakar. (Asshole.)
I slide one finger inside her. Thal?n, she’s so hot. So tight. She clenches around me.
More, she demands through the bond.
I add a second finger, stretching her slowly as she moans.
Thrahk. The word spills from my lips helplessly. She’s going to destroy me.
That’s it, snowdrop, I growl, take what you need. Thrahk’kai, Sael?n. Etra’ven.
Her hips start rolling, riding my fingers, chasing the pleasure I’m giving her. I’m mesmerized.
I watch her face as she climbs higher.
Andrik—I’m—
I know, I whisper. I can feel it. Let go for me, Sael?n.
My thumb finds her clit, circling in time with the fingers thrusting inside her, and she screams.
Her orgasm crashes through the bond between us. Her pleasure ricochets back and forth until I can’t tell which one of us is feeling it.
She cries out, her back arching as she clenches around my fingers like she never wants to let go.
Beautiful, I breathe. You’re so thrahking beautiful.
She goes limp in my arms, aftershocks still rippling through her.
I slowly pull my fingers free. They’re glistening in her release, covered in the scent that’s been driving me mad.
I slip my fingers between my lips and taste her. Something similar to vaelrin explodes across my tongue. (Sacred nectar.) She tastes like snow melting over sweet berries. I think the gods may have cracked her open just so I’d know the forest was always meant for me.
Her saelith drips down my throat. (Her body's creation specifically for her true mate.)
I’d fall to my knees and worship her if I weren’t already kneeling between her thighs like a faithful disciple.
My vision swims, and my thoughts scatter like ash on the wind.
Everything narrows to one sensation: Her.
On my tongue. In my blood. Consuming me from the inside out.
Thrahk. Thrahk. Thrahk.
Heat surges through my body, not just arousal, but something primal. Something I’ve never felt before.
I glance down at my hands and freeze. My fur is changing.
White bleeding into silver. Silver darkening to obsidian. Not just black… I’m glowing with each pulse of my heart.
It spreads up my arms. Across my chest. Down my legs.
I’ve never—
This has never happened before.
I don’t have time to process it, all I feel is need.
Claim. Mate. Mine.
The rut slams into me like a physical blow, overwhelming and feral.
I need her.
I need to take her to the mating circle so the bond can snap into place.
She’s still boneless in my arms, drifting in that space between waking and dreaming, unaware that I’m changing. That my fur is black and glowing, and my control is gone.
I can’t do this here.
I scoop her up in one motion, cradling her against my chest. Her head lolls against my shoulder, her fingers curling weakly in my fur.
Andrik? Her voice in my mind is sleepy. What’s happening?
I’m taking you somewhere, I rasp through the bond. Somewhere, we can finish this.
Okay, she whispers. I trust you.
Those three little words nearly break me. I grab the furs she was lying on, throw them over my shoulder, and run.
Lumi-
Movement. That’s the first thing I register. Fast, jarring movements that make my body bounce with each impact.
Wind whips at my face. Cold air floods my lungs. My eyes snap open, and the forest blurs past in blurry streaks.
Andrik’s carrying me, his strong arms locked around me like iron.
“Andrik?”
I try to reach through that strange connection we had, that voice-in-my-head thing, but it’s fading, slipping through my fingers like water. I tilt my head up and freeze.
His fur... it’s black and glowing, like moonlight caught in ink, flickering with every heartbeat.
“Andrik?” My voice comes out breathless, confused. “What—your fur—?”
He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t even look down at me. Just keeps running.
His breath is ragged and desperate.
He smells different. It’s so good, I can’t get enough. It’s heavier than before. Something overwhelmingly male that makes my thighs clench involuntarily.
Ice spreads through me. Whatever was building in the cabin, whatever I was dreaming about, is nothing compared to this.
My body aches. Everything in me is screaming for him.
“Andrik,” I gasp. “Where are we going?”
A growl rumbles through his chest.
“Kaemorin,” he finally rasps. “Vel?n. Sael?n.”
Mine. Circle. Soulmate.
I’ve heard enough Vraks?n by now to recognize the words. His voice is slurred and rough, like he’s drunk.
“Are you okay?” I reach up, fingers tangling in his fur. “What happened to you?”
“Ves’thrahk—” he stumbles slightly, corrects himself, and keeps running. “Need you—can’t wait—”
Oh
He’s not okay. He’s barely holding on. I think whatever I was making. Whatever made he tasted on his finger is what caused this.
The heat in my belly coils tighter. My hips shift against him, and I feel how hard he is.
A whimper escapes before I can stop it.
“How much further?” I manage. He doesn’t answer, just growls and runs faster. The movement jostles me against him, friction and pressure in all the wrong, or right, places. My breath hitches.
“Andrik, slow down—”
“Nai’thahk.” (Can’t stop.) His voice breaks. “Kai’lunaeth” (Your heat.)
I blink. Heat? Moon?
Why can I understand his words sometimes, and not others?
He’s trying so hard not to stop and take me right here in the snow. And maybe I’m a terrible person, because I kind of want him to.
“You’re not going to make it, are you?” I whisper against his throat.
He shudders hard.
“You’re drunk,” I continue testing him. “Whatever you tasted… is in your blood now, isn’t it?”
A sound rips from him, half-growl, half-moan.