Chapter 49 The Blood-Binding
THE BLOOD-BINDING
AMARA
TWO MORE DAYS pass before I feel confident in my decision.
Tossing one of Vexar’s giant shirts over my head, I walk into the galley and find my hulking alien holding a mug of steaming tea and looking absolutely edible in all his naked glory.
My stomach flips as I take him in. Is it crazy to want to tie myself more tightly to someone who was a stranger just a few weeks ago? Probably, but I don’t care.
Every moment we spend together, I find myself loving him a little more. He’s a beautiful enigma. A flower growing in a cement parking lot.
He’s kind when he was raised to be ruthless.
He’s courageous when he should be afraid.
He trusts even when he’s been betrayed. And he loves harder than anyone I’ve ever known.
It’s an all-encompassing, unwavering, full-bodied devotion kind of love, and when I think back to the time we spent in his cell—before either of us knew about the bond—I think he already loved me then.
When he said I was “magnificent,” I felt it.
I was a complete stranger, and yet, his love was already there. Like he knew what we would become.
“We should do it,” I say.
He lowers the mug of tea from his mouth and swallows. “What?”
“We should complete the blood-binding … uh, exchange … thing.” Damn, this man is distracting when he’s naked.
“Is that what you want?” he asks carefully.
“Yes.”
A ripple of excitement tickles the back of my mind, but his face stays calm. “When?”
“Now.”
Instead of setting down his tea, he drops the mug and walks through the splash of steaming liquid without so much as a flinch. Goosebumps rise on my neck as he runs the back of his fingers over my cheek. “You are certain?”
I nod. “Very.”
His pupils expand until I’m staring at two obsidian orbs. Heat pulses between my thighs. A deep, satisfying sound vibrates his chest. His fingers curl around my chin and he kisses me before gripping the hem of my shirt. “I both love and hate seeing you in my clothes,” he rasps.
“Sounds tough,” I say, feeling my nipples pebble as I raise my arms and let him pull the fabric over my head.
“I enjoy ‘tough’.” His gaze roams my body, and then his mouth is on mine, fingers knitting into my hair, and desire surging between us.
I slide my arms around his neck, and he straightens up, lifting me off the ground and guiding my legs around his muscled torso. As hard as I try, my legs aren’t long enough to lock my ankles behind his back, so I just grip him with my thighs as he walks us to the bedroom.
“You’re a mountain, you know that?” I ask.
“I am your mountain.”
Smiling, I kiss my way down his neck, tasting the salt on his skin and feeling his pulse beneath my lips. “Yes, yes you are,” I whisper.
He detours to a cabinet on the bulkhead, pulls out a knife in an ornate leather sheath, and climbs onto the bed with me still in his arms. The head of his cock brushes between my legs as he sets me down, and I let out a gasp that makes him grin.
With a quick move, he tosses the knife aside, pushes me onto my back, and buries his face between my thighs. I gasp and manage to say, “I thought we were going to complete the blood thing…”
He shushes me and says, “I am hungry,” before grinning and returning to his task.
I can’t stop myself from laughing. His fingers cling to me as I relax into the moment, wrapping my hands around his horns, and enjoying the pleasure he gives so freely. When he resurfaces, I run my thumb down the deep scar on his cheek, mesmerized by his perfect imperfection.
“You’re beautiful,” I say.
He kisses me, long, deep, and so full of emotion that my throat tightens and burns with unshed tears. I don’t know how we found each other, or what planets had to align for this to happen, but I feel blessed in a way I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe.
“Do not be nervous,” he says as he rises to his knees and pulls me up with him.
“I’m not,” I say casually. He raises a brow, and I sigh. “Ok, fine. I’m a little nervous.” We have no idea what’s going to happen, and that’s both terrifying and exciting.
He picks up the knife and smiles gently. “I am glad it is just you and me. No crowd, no rules, nothing between us.”
I push up onto my knees, scooting closer as he settles back on his heels, dick rock hard and bobbing against his stomach. My mouth waters, and the urge to climb into his lap becomes overwhelming. It’s one of those instinctual urges I’ve learned not to ignore.
I glance up. “Do people usually fuck during these ceremonies?”
He laughs. “Not that I am aware of, no.” Then he sees my face and goes still. His gaze heats, and it’s clear we’re on the same page.
“You said no rules. We can do whatever we want, right?” I ask.
“No rules,” he whispers.
The knife makes a soft thump as it hits the bed, dropped from Vexar’s relaxed hand, and a second later, I’m standing and pulling his mouth to mine.
Claws trail down my back, teasing my skin until the sharp sensation disappears and the warm pads of his fingers find my ass. Like Pavlov’s dog, my body reacts, knowing what comes next. A second later, his fingers dip between my thighs.
“Gods, I will never tire of your body,” he says, as his teeth nip my stomach and his fingers continue their gentle movements. “I will never tire of this need for each other. Of this hunger. I will never tire of you.”
I run my fingers through his hair and whisper, “Until the very end.”
The most intense sensation of love floods me as he repeats, “Until the very end.”
With slow movements, I straddle his lap, gripping his neck and pressing my chest to his.
Heat spreads from the head of his cock as he guides it to my entrance.
I tremble. Taste his mouth. Run my tongue over the sharp points of his teeth.
His hands move to my waist. Our eyes lock.
And in a slow, deliberate motion, I lower myself onto him, letting him watch every reaction on my face as he overwhelms my senses.
My thighs tremble, heart races, and the rest of the world disappears.
His forehead presses to mine as he gasps for every breath. “It is both agony and bliss,” he whispers.
And he’s right. It’s the kind of pleasure that’s so absolute, it digs at your very soul, and in this new position, the intensity is dialed up even further. Thrusting is out of the question. There’s no way I could handle that, so I start to rock.
He hisses out a breath and his fingers dig into my hips, stilling me. “Please,” he begs. I guess this position is intense for both of us.
A second later, his virga finds me, and a fever-like sensation spreads over my skin as I whimper against his neck.
When I asked about how much control he has over his virga, he told me he has less control over it than his own heartbeat.
So, despite the overwhelming sensation, I lean into it instead of fighting back.
“Are you ready?” he asks, his voice gentle, but strained.
“Yeah,” I say breathlessly.
“Wrap your legs around me so your hands are free.”
I do, and the slight change in angle leaves us both gasping. “Holy shit,” I groan. I can’t move at all now. Don’t need to. Just existing like this is pure, overwhelming ecstasy.
Vexar’s hands leave my hips, metal rasps over leather, and he asks a final question, “Are you sure?”
I lean back enough to see him. “Very sure.”
Light bounces off the blade as he drags it across his right palm, releasing a bloom of crimson that pools in his hand. As if my body already knows what to do, I offer him my left hand. The anxiety I felt earlier is long gone. The burn of the blade barely registers.
His black eyes lock on mine and he nods. Our hands meet, fingers interlock, I feel the warmth of his blood against my palm, and—
Time stops. My vision blurs. Heart slows.
And then I see images. So many images, filling my mind’s eye.
Entire lifetimes flashing by in the span of seconds.
People I’ve never seen. Places I’ve never been.
I’m lost in a rip-tide of memories that don’t belong to me.
Then the images slow, ticking by one at a time before coming to a complete stop.
It’s not an image anymore. I’m outside somewhere, massive trees tower over me, and …
I’m staring at Vexar. But it’s not the same man I know now.
He’s young. Maybe a teenager? But it’s definitely him, standing in the middle of a sand circle, holding a blade.
There’s a woman, too. I can’t see her face.
Vexar looks over his shoulder, and our eyes meet.
At first, he looks confused, but that confusion quickly turns to determination.
The woman speaks to him, but I can’t hear her.
She has a blade too. Her blade flicks out and slices into Vexar’s forearm.
My hands fly to my face, stifling a silent scream.
I don’t know what’s happening. Vexar looks at me again, but this time an awareness passes between us, as if he’s acknowledging who I am—or who I will be.
That’s when the woman cuts him again, from the base of his ear to the top of his shoulder, and a second later he’s gone, washed away by another rush of images that eventually fade to nothing.
Slowly, the present comes back into focus. Vexar, my Vexar, is holding my face and looking at me like I’m the center of his entire universe. The answer to every question he’s ever had. The only thing he’s ever truly wanted.
“I saw you,” I whisper. I don’t know how else to communicate what just happened, but he seems to understand. I drag a finger down the scar that runs the length of his neck, the one I just saw carved into his skin, before meeting his gaze again.
“I know,” I hear him say. But his mouth doesn’t move.
My eyes go wide. I heard him.
He smiles and kisses me, soft and tender at first, but growing quickly into an unrestrained celebration.
His emotions flow through me easily, no longer a stray thought at the back of my mind, but a deep knowing in my body.
It’s everything I’ve ever needed, filling me all at once.
Safety. Love. Desire. Connection. Belonging.
Certainty. And above all else, purpose. A desperate, hopeful purpose.
I’m moving again, rocking against him, deepening our physical connection while the threads between us pull even tighter. His fingers slide up my spine and into my hair, tugging me closer.
Every sensation is heightened. Every touch, smell, and sound, a broadcast of pure intention, growing and coalescing into an unimaginable peak.
Existence blurs as our minds lock, and a thousand thoughts and emotions cross between us in a single breath.
Then, we fall together, off that cliff of uncertainty and into something entirely new. As one.