Chapter 24 Brux
brUX
Brux came back to himself fully in a rush. One moment there had only been need and heat and the desperate, terrifying sensation of himself slipping down into the void again. The next, reason returned all at once—clear and bright and shocking in its suddenness.
And the first thing he became fully aware of was Kiera…Kiera on top of him…Kiera warm and flushed and panting, her beautiful body trembling above his as the last waves of strain and urgency slowly began to ebb between them.
Her braids were half—loosened and damp from the steam of the bathing room.
Her cheeks were glowing, and her gorgeous, big breasts were rising and falling with every breath.
And her eyes—those deep brown eyes he loved so much—were fixed on his face with such fierce relief that his heart nearly stopped in his chest.
Gods, he had come back.
No, he corrected himself–she had brought him back.
The realization hit him with almost painful force.
He was still joined to her, his knot swelled inside her pussy and that fact sent a rush of emotion through him so powerful he barely knew how to contain it.
She had given herself to him–not out of fear and not out of obligation, but to save him. To keep her with him in his humanoid form.
Brux stared up at her, overwhelmed by love and gratitude and an emotion so tender it made his heart fist in his chest. She was so beautiful–so perfect and right, riding him…caring for him.
“Kiera,” he began, and then couldn’t go on.
“Yes?” She looked at him anxiously. “Are you okay?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You gave yourself to me, to save me—did I hurt you?” he asked, concern rising at once now that his mind was fully his again. He should have prepared her more–should have licked her and helped her pussy to open before shoving his cock inside her.
But Kiera shook her head, still panting a little.
“No—you’re really big but I can take it.” She stroked his cheek, her touch so gentle it nearly undid him. “I couldn’t let you go. I don’t think I’m ready to Bond just yet but if this is what you need…” She nodded down to where they were still joined and tied together. “I can handle it.”
Brux’s throat tightened. She said it so simply–so matter—of—factly. As though what she had done was not an act of incredible trust and generosity.
As though she hadn’t just given him one of the greatest gifts he had ever received.
He lifted his hands to her waist and then higher, sliding them over the warm curve of her back.
“Come here,” he growled softly. “I want to kiss you.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that.” She leaned down at once.
Brux met her halfway and caught her mouth in a kiss that was urgent from the first instant—not rough or greedy, but full of everything he didn’t know how to say. Relief…gratitude…love. And wonder, that she was real and in his arms and still willing to be here after all of this.
Kiera made a soft sound against his lips and kissed him back–Gods, she tasted good!
Warm and womanly and sweet, with the faint lingering taste of the steam from the bathing room still on her skin.
Brux kissed her again and again, unable to stop, until the need to hold her more closely became too much.
He shifted them carefully then, rolling them so that he was above her.
Kiera let out a little gasp at the movement and then looked up at him with wide, dark eyes.
Brux held very still for a moment, braced over her on one arm while the other slid under her shoulders to gather her close. He loved the sight of her beneath him…loved the feel of her around him, warm and close and impossibly tight.
But most of all he loved the simple, breathtaking fact that she had let him have her like this.
He wished—Gods, how he wished—that she was ready to Bond. He wished he could claim her fully and feel the Soul—Bond grow between them.
But if this was what she was willing to give him now, then he would accept it with every ounce of gratitude in his soul.
He bent and kissed her again–slower this time–drinking in the little sounds she made and the way her fingers slid into his hair. Her body remained warm and responsive beneath him, and every tremor that went through her seemed to travel straight into his own.
He hadn’t known it could feel like this–not only the physical closeness, but the emotional weight of it. The sweetness…the almost painful tenderness that made his heart fist in his chest when he looked into her eyes.
This was Kiera–his Kiera. The woman who had rescued him from a cage and then from the prison of his own primal form.
The woman who had fed him and spoken kindly to him and let him sleep beside her.
The woman who had stood between him and his grief and the void and refused to let him be swallowed by either one.
And now she had given herself to him in the most intimate way she could manage without making the final promise of a Bond. She had allowed him to fill her pussy with his shaft and knot her and flood her womb with his seed.
There was no greater sacrifice…no greater love.
Brux lowered his forehead briefly to hers, breathing hard.
“I love you,” he said before he could stop himself.
The words fell into the warm air between them and for a second he thought perhaps he had moved too fast—said too much.
But Kiera only looked at him with an expression so soft it made his chest ache. Then she reached up and touched his face again.
“Oh, Brux,” she whispered and just hearing her say his name was enough to make him come again inside her…which triggered another orgasm of her own.
Brux kissed her once more–slow and deep–as he held her through the first shuddering waves of release. Through it all, his knot held firm, keeping him buried deep inside her clenching pussy, their bodies locked in an intimate embrace.
The closeness between them remained intense, almost dizzying. Lykans were built this way—their seed was thick with compounds that ensured their mates came when they did. Several times more, the pressure built in him anew, his hips giving shallow, helpless jerks as he spurted deep inside her.
He groaned against her neck as he flooded her again—hot, thick ropes of cum erupting from his knot—locked shaft, filling her womb.
The chemical rush hit Kiera at once. Her eyes flew open, a sharp cry escaping her lips as her pussy spasmed around him, milking his shaft, her orgasm triggered by his seed alone.
“Brux, oh God!” she gasped, trembling in his arms, her inner walls fluttering in ecstasy.
He kissed her forehead, then her eyelids, whispering,
“That’s right, baby, again–and again and again and again until my knot goes down. Take it all… feel me claiming you as mine.”
The second time came soon after, his body demanding more. Another deep groan, another flood of creamy heat filling her to overflowing. Cum leaked out around his knot, slicking her thighs and Kiera moaned and shuddered against him, the compounds in his seed igniting her nerves like fire.
“Oh God, it’s making me come… your cum… so hot inside me…” she moaned.
“Perfect,” he rumbled, nuzzling her throat. “My mate… coming on my knot… taking my seed…It’s all right, baby–just let it happen.”
The third time left her sobbing with pleasure. Each orgasm pulled him deeper into her, their bodies intertwining with every shared pulse of desire and need.
At last–after long, trembling minutes–his knot softened, and he knew all his seed was spent.
“Going to pull out of you now, baby,” he murmured in her ear. “Just relax and let me do it.”
With a gentle movement, he slipped free, a gush of his seed flowing over both their thighs as he pulled out.
Kiera whimpered at the sudden emptiness, but Brux was there instantly.
He gathered her in his arms and lowered his head between her thighs.
Tenderly, he licked her clean—long, loving strokes of his tongue lapping up the creamy flood from her swollen pussy.
He loved the taste of them together and even though she hadn’t gotten pregnant from this breeding–she couldn’t since they weren’t Bonded yet–he knew how much it had cost her to give herself so fully.
“Thank you for giving yourself to me,” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. “My heart… my mate.”
She carded trembling fingers through his hair, tears making her eyes bright.
“You’re welcome. Just don’t do that to me again–you scared me, almost going primal for good like that.”
“Never,” he promised, sealing his vow with a final, possessive kiss to her clit. “You’ve found the way to keep me with you–even if you don’t want to Bond yet. I swear I’ll never leave you if you keep me by your side.”
“I will,” she whispered, stroking his cheek. “Never going to let you go, my big, bad wolf.”
In her words, Brux found pleasure and reassurance. Every touch of her skin to his reminded him he was still here–still himself–still sentient and humanoid.
And Kiera was with him every step of the way.
His beautiful mate lay back against the warm stone edge of the bathing room, flushed and drowsy and looking at him with that same softness that had been in her eyes ever since he came back to himself.
“You’re very sweet for a big scary wolf—man, you know,” she murmured, her voice half teasing and half sleepy.
Brux smiled against her skin.
“I’m only sweet for you. Most of the other Monstrum are scared of Lykans, you know.”
That made her laugh softly, and the sound tugged at his heart and filled him with an emotion he couldn’t name.
Later, after they had washed and dried and made their slow way back to the bedroom, both boneless with exhaustion, Brux finally understood the feeling. The day had been long and frightening and difficult, and what had passed between them afterward had left him wrung out in the best possible way.
But more than tired, he felt…anchored.
For the first time since losing his first mate—perhaps for the first time since the Darklings destroyed his world—he felt truly grounded in himself.
Not perfectly and not permanently. He and Kiera were still un—Bonded and he knew better than to trust too quickly in his own stability.
But for now it was enough…enough that hope, which had been only a fragile flicker inside him for so long, now burned a little steadier.
In the bedroom, Kiera climbed under the coverlet with a sigh and held out her arms to him without a word.
Brux went to her at once, just as he used to in his primal form. But now, he could hold her and it was the best feeling in the world.
He gathered her close, curling around her with all the instinctive care of his species, one arm under her shoulders and the other around her waist. She tucked herself against him as though she belonged there, fitting her soft curves to his harder, larger body with a sleepy little sound of contentment.
The living mattress adjusted beneath them and the dome lights dimmed to their nighttime glow. Outside, the sanctuary settled into evening quiet.
Brux pressed a kiss to the top of Kiera’s head and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair.
She hadn’t Bonded with him–not yet. But she had given him trust as well as warmth and comfort and a glimpse of what a future with her might be if the Goddess was kind and Kiera, in time, chose him fully.
It was enough to make Brux dare hope.
And so he held her all night in his arms, listening to her breathe and letting the steady warmth of her body soothe all the ragged places inside him that had once seemed beyond healing.
For the first time in far too long, he slept with hope in his heart.