Chapter 17 #2
After rinsing her hands in the sink, Macy rummaged through the other items. There were bottles of teeth cleaner, a brush and several combs, cans of some sort of cream, and sticks with thin, horizontal blades at their ends.
Though these blades were rather different than the straight razors men used to shave in The Watch, she guessed they served the same purpose.
She picked up one of the cans and read the label.
Removal of body hair? Wasn’t that what the razors were for?
After replacing the can, Macy returned to the main room and searched the dresser. The clothes in the drawers were plain — pants, shirts, undershorts, jumpsuits, and even an overcoat, all in shades of white, gray, and dark blue. They were clearly tailored for a man.
Macy stepped back and looked around the room. There were no personal objects in sight, no further clues as to who had lived here. “Do you know if your people removed anything from these rooms?”
Jax watched her from the doorway to the lavatory. “I do not know. The likely have, over time, but it’s been many, many years since humans lived here.”
She walked into the hallway and entered another open room. It was in the same condition as the last, but the clothing stored in the dresser was closer to Macy’s size.
“I can choose any room?” Macy asked.
“Out of what’s accessible. Some of the doors are locked, or stuck.” Jax leaned his shoulder against the doorframe.
“You’ve never tried opening them?”
“I’ve tried opening each one, many times. But I have never been curious enough to try breaking them open.”
Macy grinned and approached him. “You’ve never been curious enough? Aren’t you the same Jax who’s filled up a cave with interesting things you found in the ocean? Who has spent his entire life seeking out new places, even when it puts your life at risk?”
“Kraken larger and stronger than I have tried to open some of those doors. It is sometimes used as a test of strength, and the result has always been the same for everyone who has tried.” His eyes shifted, following the border of the door up and around.
“Arkon once spent four days asking the computer to open them, when we were younger. My curiosity was better directed elsewhere.”
She brushed her fingers over the markings on his shoulder. “Do you have anything in your den you’d like to bring here?”
“Is this the room you have chosen?”
“Yes.”
Jax nodded and cupped her cheek, brushing the pad of his thumb over her skin. “All that I need is here already.”
Macy placed her hand over his and turned it to kiss his palm.
“Then I suppose we should get settled in.” She walked toward the lavatory, glancing back as she slowly drew the suit off her arms. At the doorway, she paused, wriggled the PDS down over her hips, and kicked it aside.
Jax straightened, pupils dilating, and approached her. That now-familiar hunger had entered his gaze. “When you say get settled in…”
She stared at him from over her shoulder, trailing her gaze down his body and back up again. “I suppose we could really get settled in before I take a shower.”
He stopped just behind her and ran his hands down her back and sides until they came to rest at her hips. His tentacles caressed her legs with tantalizing, feather-light strokes, sending waves of pleasure and anticipation straight to her core. She closed her eyes and sighed.
His tentacles stopped their teasing and wrapped around her legs, widening her stance. He tugged her hips back and Macy’s eyes flashed open as his shaft slid along her folds.
“Jax!” She flattened a hand on the wall to brace herself.
He slid one hand over her belly and cupped her breast. Macy moaned, leaning into his palm. Her heart raced as Jax shifted his other hand to cover her sex. Carefully, he parted her and stroked her clit with the pad of his finger in small, leisurely circles.
Macy bucked her hips; between his hands and the slide of his erection over her folds, it was nearly too much. She tried to rise, but her back met his solid chest, and his arms caged her in. His tentacles held her legs firmly in place.
“Macy,” Jax growled, his breath tickling her ear. “My mate.”
“Yes,” she rasped. With her free hand, she clutched his forearm, urging his finger to keep moving.
The sensation swirled and flourished, dominating her senses.
An explosion of pleasure drew nearer as he built her higher and higher.
She strained toward it, rocked against his touch, but she needed more. “Please, Jax.”
“Say it, Macy.” He brushed his lips along her neck, down to where it met her shoulder, and increased the pressure on her clit. “Say that you are mine.”
He’d never been so vocal during their lovemaking; the low, seductive tone of his voice, paired with what he was doing to her body, ignited an inferno inside her.
“Yes! I’m yours! I’m yours, Jax!” she cried as rapture blazed through her.
He lifted himself and hooked an arm around her middle. Body thrumming, Macy barely perceived the head of his shaft against her quivering sex before he thrust into her, filling her, stretching her, sending her into another frenzy.
Jax gritted his teeth as Macy’s inner walls gripped his cock, their fluttering nearly pushing him over the brink. He held her against him, stilling her hips; the slightest movement would be the end for him, and this was too soon.
He skimmed his gaze over her slender, arching back, over the golden, shimmering hair swept over her shoulder. Her eyes were shut, her lips parted in ecstasy. She was beautiful. Radiant.
His.
“Mine,” he said, drawing his hips back, “and mine alone.”
Jax slammed into her. He kept a hand on her hip, fingers flexing as he hissed through his teeth. From this angle, her sex was tighter, and drew him into her very center.
Pleasure surged through his limbs with each slow, measured thrust. Every time he pushed forward, he pulled her against him, sinking deeper and deeper into her heat. The room was filled with nothing but the sounds of their flesh meeting, her high, ragged panting, and his low, grunting breaths.
One of her hands clawed at the wall; she trembled around him as though she was about to come undone.
Suddenly, Macy reared up and wrapped an arm around his head, twisting to capture his mouth in a fierce kiss. Jax moved his hand down to stroke her swollen nub. She came instantly, her sagging body held upright only by him, her cries muffled by their unbroken kiss.
Macy had surrendered to him, given herself to him, become his in all ways. He would not allow her gift to go unanswered.
For a fleeting, agonizing moment, the pressure within him was too much; it would destroy him, tear him apart, leave nothing in the aftermath.
Macy’s sex clamped around his shaft. His feelers trailed over her slick flesh, stimulated by her vibrations, and forced his overwhelming pleasure higher and higher.
He braced two tentacles against the doorframe.
He would give himself to her, without regret.
Jax exploded.
He growled against her mouth, quickening his thrusts as his muscles tensed and his seed flowed into her. He didn’t stop until only the echoes of his climax remained; even then, he didn’t withdraw from her body, wanting to maintain their connection for as long as possible.
Macy tilted her head to one side, eyes shut, and smiled. Jax leaned down and grazed his teeth along her throat, to her shoulder.
His interests had often been fleeting — he’d chase them until his curiosity was sated and move on. He’d left behind countless places, countless objects, but Macy… The more he had of her, the more he craved. The more he needed.
“Mmm…I don’t know if I can move,” she mumbled.
“Do you want to?” He slid the tip of a tentacle along her inner thigh.
Releasing a soft moan, she lowered her arm, brushing her hand along his cheek before dropping it to caress the base of his shaft. Her light touch teased his feelers.
“Do you?” she asked, and there was laughter in her voice.
“Very much.” Jax pulled back, withdrawing from her, and turned her to face him. His tentacles coiled around her legs, raising them to either side of his hips. He slipped back into her welcoming heat.
Macy looped her arms around his neck, and Jax lost himself in the passion of her half-lidded gaze and the ecstasy that was her body.
Macy slept in Jax’s embrace, their limbs entwined. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, marveled at the serenity upon her face. She’d used the shower after their joining. It was too small for them to fit in together, so he’d contented himself with observing.
His eyes had repeatedly shifted to the bruises on her chest.
She had said they were from her fall — when Dracchus first tugged her toward the water. While Jax was grateful that the bruises seemed to be the full extent of her injuries, he was still furious.
He could no longer direct all his anger at Dracchus alone, and that only added to his rage.
Macy didn’t deserve this — she didn’t deserve the pain, the anxiety, this imprisonment.
Jax’s throat constricted when he recalled how she’d begged him for freedom, how she’d bargained for it.
Though Dracchus had set into motion the events that ended with her freedom stolen away, he hadn’t been the one to ultimately take it.
No, that decision belonged to the others.
Jax lifted a strand of golden hair with the tip of his claw and wound it around his finger. He couldn’t understand why she seemed more beautiful to him with each passing day.
She loves me.
He didn’t fully understand that, either, but he’d recognized the weight of her admission, the power of her words, their depth of feeling. Just as joining held a different meaning for humans, love likely meant something more.
Looking at her in that moment, he knew the truth in his hearts.
He’d do everything and anything to keep her safe.
He’d never tire of her, would never cast her aside, would never betray her.
Jax couldn’t imagine his life without her anymore.
Every taste of Macy, no matter how minor, made him want more.
Now, he was sure — he would give up anything for her, his people included.
Macy sighed, brushing her hand over his chest and up to his jaw.
“You okay?” Her voice was soft and slurred with grogginess.
“I am fine, Macy. Rest. I will be here.”
She hummed. Her hand relaxed, and her breathing slowed.
He unwound her hair from his claw and held her, leaning his face close to take in her scent. After so many years of wandering, he’d finally found his place — not the Facility, but Macy. Anywhere she went would be his home.
And he wouldn’t remain idle while she was forced to dwell in this place.
“I love you, too, Macy,” he whispered.