“You look scared, little one.” Kol smirked.
His smirk might have been teasing, but the intensity in his eyes was anything but.
I swallowed. “I’m not scared of you, Kol.”
I wasn’t sure exactly when that happened, but my feelings towards Kol had changed. Fear was not something I felt towards him—not in the slightest—and like everything else, it freaked me out.
“Not scared of me?” he hummed, clearly amused. “Surely, a tiny female such as yourself knows an Elite warrior like myself can be very scary.”
I lifted my chin. “I also know that you, a big mighty warrior, will drop to your knees before me if I asked you to.”
Kol’s eyes locked on mine. “Is that so, shiva?”
“Yes,” I replied, noting my voice wasn’t as firm as I’d have liked it to be. “Surkah told me that a female mate is really the lead mate because her mate will do everything in his power to make her happy.”
His lips twitched. “Surkah talks a lot.”
I tensed. “So do I.”
Sarcastically, he said, “I hadn’t noticed.”
At that, I laughed. Kol smiled too as he lifted an arm from around me so he could brush the tips of his fingers over my cheek. His eyes followed the trail his fingers made, and when he brushed them over my lips, he audibly swallowed. His face hardened, his body tensed, and his sharp teeth dug into his plump lower lip.
“You’re supposed to be telling me about yourself,” I reminded him, my voice barely a whisper.
Kol lowered his hand, removed his arm from around my body, and stepped back. He was still tense, still biting his lip, and he still gazed at me as if we wanted to eat me.
“Go to the bed so you can relax,” he ordered, his hands flexing. “I will remain here and answer your questions.”
I raised a brow. “Why don’t you just come with me? It’s a mighty big bed.”
He growled in response.
“Okaaay.” I exhaled.
I quickly turned, scurried across the room to the bed, and sat on the edge of it.
“Questions,” Kol practically barked. “Ask them.”
He is so bossy.
“Surkah said you come from a family of sixteen children,” I began. “How many children did your parents have by the time you were born?”
“I am the twelfth born son,” he answered. “I have eleven older brothers, three younger brothers, and one sister.”
Wow.
“List everyone,” I said, amazed that he had that many siblings. “In order of birth.”
Amusement flashed in his violet eyes.
“Ryla, Silis, Kaiba, Aylee, Talin, Raze, Komi, Ezah, Killi, Arli, Arvi, me, Aza, Remi, Nesi, and Surkah.” At my wide-eyed expression, he said, “Killi, Arli, and Arvi are from the same pregnancy, and Remi and Nesi are from the same pregnancy, too.”
“Triplets?” I asked, amazed.
I had heard of such pregnancies happening in the past amongst humans, but I had never thought they were possible. I always thought my father and uncle were joking about multiple babies in a single pregnancy because they just didn’t happen in the time I lived in. Echo and Envi were the first human twins I had ever met.
Kol blinked. “Yes, that is what my brothers are, but we don’t have words for it like you do.”
“What do you refer to them as then?” I wondered aloud.
“Three offspring and two offspring.”
I giggled. “Maybe some human words should be adapted by the Maji.”
“We will see,” Kol mused.
I thought back to his siblings. “Are you close with them?”
Kol shrugged. “Some more than others but only because my five eldest brothers are in outer space.”
I frowned. “When was the last time you saw the five of them?”
I watched Kol as he thought of an answer to my question.
“Twenty-two years ago,” he eventually answered. “Ealra years, not Earth years.”
I gasped with surprise. “That is an awfully long time.”
“Yes, but they will be home soon enough,” he said, and he looked happy with that statement. “They have been returning home from their mission for nearly two years, and they will reach Ealra within the next two years. They’re on the final leg of their journey.”
I whistled. “I hope they found whatever it was they were looking for.”
That was a hell of a long time to be out in space.
“They didn’t,” Kol answered. “I did.”
At my raised brow, he said, “Their mission was to find compatible females.”
“Like humans?” I asked.
At Kol’s nod, I frowned. “Earth is only a few days away from Ealra, so with your warp speed, why have they been gone so long if Earth is so close by?”
Kol laughed. “Trust me, the rage my brothers and their crew feel at travelling for so long and going so far when we just had to search your galaxy is mind consuming for them.”
I frowned. “I bet they’re lonely.”
“They have each other for company.”
I flushed. “That’s not what I meant.”
At Kol’s grin, I blushed harder.
“They have sexborgs aboard their vessel. Do not worry.”
I felt my mouth drop open. “Aliens have sexbots, too?”
I thought it was just creepy humans who had those.
Kol laughed at my horrified expression. “It is required to have sexborgs aboard a vessel at all times. Maji males have very high sex drives, and if they did not share sex with a sexborg… I don’t even want to think about the fighting that would ensue between the males. We can get very… edgy if we go for long periods of time without sex. Short haul journeys like this are terrible, but any longer and a wing would be created to house the sexborgs.”
That was the most male thing I had ever heard in my entire life.
“Are your sexbots Maji-like?” I quizzed. “I’ve seen some broken sexbots on Earth, and they looked so lifelike at first, I thought they were dead bodies.”
“Our sexborgs look and feel just like a real Maji female. They offer pleasant company, too. They were designed to trick a male’s senses into feeling as though a real female is in his presence; it helps calm a space traveller, or a male in general, when a female is close.”
I raised my brow. “Your species sounds obsessed with females.”
“Very much so.” Kol nodded, not in the least bit ashamed. “Females are everything, and we males know that. They make everything better.”
I was doubtful.
“Does every male feel that way?”
“Yes,” Kol replied.
“Even the gay ones?” I quizzed.
At Kol’s puzzled expression, I said, “Males who are sexually attracted to other males.”
He choked on air. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
I didn’t know if he was disgusted or genuinely shocked.
“Meaning it doesn’t exist in your species, or you’re just too pigheaded to believe it does?”
“It doesn’t exist,” Kol said firmly. “Maji are definitely not like humans, Nova. We are driven by instinct, the need to mate and breed drives us. Males can’t produce offspring together, and our bodies are only in tune with females, so no sexual arousal could occur between males.”
“Oh,” I said, wincing. “Sorry, I thought you were being homophobic.”
“Being what?”
“Never mind,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Being gay on Earth is punishable by death. My species is backwards in more ways than one.”
“Where would a male even put his cock in another male?” Kol then asked, looking more confused than I had ever seen him. “They both have cocks so where—”
“I regret ever bringing this up,” I said, speaking over him.
“Where do your human males put—”
“Kol,” I cut him off, my face burning. “Forget it.”
He shook his head. “I’m curious.”
I covered my face and blurted, “The asshole.”
Kol sounded like he would pass out. “That is a waste canal!”
“Seriously,” I pleaded. “Change the fucking subject!”
Kol suddenly erupted with laughter.
“I can’t wait to tell Mikoh of this.” He chuckled.
I shook my head. “Let’s get back to talking about your brothers. Why didn’t they check my galaxy on their mission since it is close by?”
If six trillion miles is considered close.
“When they set off on their mission, nothing was known about your species,” Kol explained as he leaned against a column in the room and folded his arms across his broad chest. “We Maji don’t interact with many species unless on a mission. At a docking station on Vada, Vaneer’s home world, long away from here, my brothers searched different species, and an image of what a human looked like was incorrect. The creature they saw had no head, just a body and many arms and legs. It was not compatible with Maji, so my brothers blacklisted your galaxy as Earth is the only habitable planet then they continued their search which led them further into the cosmos.”
“Okay,” I began. “That’s understandable, but how is it that you came across humans? And how did you get Sera to join you?”
I had wondered about the augmented woman since my encounter with her, and I couldn’t figure out why she was with the Maji. I didn’t understand the benefit for her. She wasn’t defenceless on Earth. If anything, as augmented, she’d be pretty powerful. She was lethal, smart, and didn’t have to do the things I had to do to survive.
“My father led a mission to an unnamed planet ten years ago. It was home to another species, but it held some humans that had been taken from Earth’s trading posts over the years. My father went to the planet to trade for some samples of a new fuel the local scientists had created. It was dangerous, but fuel is vital to our space travel, and we’re always looking for reserves in case our current source dries up, so it was a mission that my father made a priority. My father met Sera, and he quickly realised that humans were very similar to Maji. He asked her what species she was, and they spoke a little. Sera was a slave to a docking master, so my father bought her for a small fee and offered her safety on Ealra. He wanted to help her and give her a chance at life, but he also wanted to have our healers examine her to see if we were compatible.”
I processed that, and though Kol had answered a big question for me, it only left me wanting to know more.
“It has been ten years since your father’s trade deal,” I said, blinking. “Why did it take ten years for you to come to Earth to make an offer to Earth’s government for us women?”
“We have tried,” Kol stressed, his lip curling in annoyance. “We tried and failed six times within the first two years of our discovery of your species, but your leaders wanted an exchange that we would not agree to.”
I felt a little sick at the thought of what my people would want from the Maji.
“What did they want?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.
“They wanted to come to Ealra with us, but we refused. Maji are not the only species to inhabit Ealra, and we did not trust your leaders not to ruin our planet, considering they greatly aided in destroying yours.”
The sorry image of the Earth I saw from the viewing pane of the bridge flashed in my mind.
“It was the right decision,” I said with a firm nod. “Our human leaders are filled with greed, and they wouldn’t have settled for living in harmony. Eventually, they’d have tried to take over Ealra as the dominant species, and Maji would have been slaughtered in the process.”
Kol nodded solemnly. “That was our fear, so we declined their offer, and in return, they declined us any chance of having human females.”
“Vindictive bastards,” I scowled.
“It was why my brothers remained on their mission to find compatible females because we did not know if we could ever come to an agreement with your Earth government.”
“I understand.”
Kol licked his lips. “My father decided that we would bide our time, and come to your leaders when we knew our offer was one they couldn’t refuse. My father ordered my brothers home two years ago because he knew the Earth government would yield to our wishes eventually.”
I eyed him curiously. “Because the Earth is dying?”
Kol shamelessly nodded. “It is no secret that Earth is soon to be no more, so we used that to our advantage. We waited and waited, and when we went back to Earth days ago and made the offer for your females once more, your leaders jumped to accept our deal when we mentioned the unnamed planet was liveable for humans. They accepted our deal in exchange for credits and its coordinates.”
I criss-crossed my legs and rested my elbows on my knees, completely invested in Kol’s tales.
“I shouldn’t be astonished that they opted to save their own hides but to turn tail and run without even informing the rest of us that our race had a chance on a new world is hard for me to believe. It just seems so… evil.”
Kol said nothing; he only watched me.
“I really shouldn’t be surprised, though, right?” I said aloud. “The evillest acts I’ve seen and heard of were committed by humans… maybe it wouldn’t have been such a tragedy for my species to become extinct. When you think about it, it’s really a kindness.”
I jumped at Kol’s growl.
“Do not talk about dying,” he snarled. “I cannot think of you not being in my life.”
That surprised me more than my leaders’ abandonment.
“A few days ago, you didn’t even know I existed, Kol,” I said softly.
“I am not human,” he repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Maji form bonds very quickly to those we care for because it is my nature. I can’t imagine you being dead. I won’t imagine it because it won’t happen for another thousand years or more. Thanas willing, I’ll go before you, so I don’t have to endure the pain of a mate loss.”
I felt my mouth drop open.
“A thousand years,” I stammered. “Have you lost your mind?”
Kol’s brows furrowed. “No, it is still inside my head… why?”
I shouldn’t have laughed at him, but when he took what I said literally, it was too funny.
“I mean, are you crazy?” I clarified. “My lifespan is very short, Kol.”
He clicked his tongue. “Once we mate, you will receive my essence, and that will keep you alive for a very long time.”
Hold up.
“Your essence?” I repeated. “Like your freaking soul?”
He barked a laugh before he nudged himself away from the column, crossed the room, and sat a couple of feet away from me on the bed. I turned to face him and waited.
“I’ve never had to explain this before, so please be understanding… okay?”
I gulped. “Okay.”
Kol inhaled and exhaled. “When a couple mates, we males have instinctual needs that must be acted on for a mating bond to be sealed for life. If our instinct is denied, we do not mate the female, and no bond is formed.”
“Okay,” I said tentatively.
“When a couple shares sex, before or after an orgasm, the male will… he will… he has to… Please, keep in mind that he doesn’t want to do it, but his instincts are telling him—”
“Kol,” I cut him off. “It’s okay; you can tell me.”
He watched me, and I got the impression that he was scared I would run away from him.
“He bites the female.”
I gasped. “He bites her?”
“On the neck.”
“On the neck?” I repeated.
“And… uh… he doesn’t release his hold on the female until his essence has entered her bloodstream and—”
“Wait, what?”
“When his body recognises the female as his mate, it has a strong urge to claim her. He bites her, and this releases his essence through the tips of his teeth.” Kol winced when he looked at me. “It sounds a lot worse than it is, shiva, I swear it.”
“Let me summarise,” I said, holding my hand in the air so Kol wouldn’t speak. “If we have sex—”
“When we have sex,” Kol corrected.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “When we have sex, before or after we come, you’ll bite me on my neck and won’t let go until your essence is in my bloodstream. Do I have that correct so far?”
“Yes.” Kol sighed. “But let me explain why.”
“Please,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Go ahead.”
“On a Maji female, my essence would calm her uva contractions, which cause her pain and force her to seek a male to mate for sex to conceive a young one. It would not completely take the discomfort away, but it wouldn’t be much more than small aches every month after she receives my essence. It is nature’s way of telling her body that a healthy male is present in the female’s life, and he will give her offspring, so there is no need to contract so much to remind a female to get pregnant. It also is a chemical bond between us; her scent is all a male would ever desire and yearn for, and his scent would be the same for her.”
I scratched my head. “That’s all fine and dandy for your females, but what will it do to a human? In this case: me!”
Kol hesitated, and I dangerously pointed my finger at him.
“No bullshit answers, be straight with me.”
“It is hard to say it in terms you will understand.” He groaned and shook his head. “We have no way of knowing for sure, but Surkah is positive that my essence would enter your bloodstream, then your heart, and… recode it. That is the best way I can explain it. My essence would be like… a life potion to you. Once you have it, it will always flow through your veins, and keep you and your organs healthy for a very long time. It will dramatically slow down your aging.”
This is too much.
I lifted my hands to my temples and rubbed.
“Stuff like this doesn’t happen, Kol. It just doesn’t.”
“Yet here we are.” He tentatively smiled. “Two different species intended to be the other’s mate for life.”
I lowered my hands and frowned at him. “I don’t want your chance at a mate to be ruined if this doesn’t go right.”
Kol tensed. “I’ve never doubted my sister, and I won’t start now. If Surkah says it’s safe, then it’s safe.”
“I’m not talking shit about Surkah’s ability, but this is a big risk.”
He scooted closer to me and took my small hands in his large ones. “I would never hurt you, shiva.”
Not intentionally.
“What if something backfires, though, and my blood makes you sick, and you die?”
The thought of Kol dying felt like a sucker punch.
“You cannot harm me, my human,” he mused.
I glared at him, which only made him snort.
“Okay, if I died during our mating, which I won’t, and my essence entered your bloodstream, then it will die, and then you will eventually die. My essence will only live in you and keep you alive as long as I live. Mates are nothing without the other, so it is a blessing when the female dies not long after her male does because it saves her pain. No one wants to experience a mate loss.”
“A mate loss is a bad thing?” I questioned.
“The worst pain imaginable,” Kol answered.
I sucked in a staggered breath. “Do males naturally die first out of a mated pair?”
“Always.” Kol nodded. “It is cruel to us males, but if our female dies, we can survive. But if a male dies, the female never survives for much longer.”
“But… why?”
“Our essence becomes part of them, and when the male dies, so does that essence. When it comes to death, even nature shows mercy to the females. We believe that Thanas does not want our females to suffer, so when her male dies, she will follow.”
I frowned. “Aren’t males important to Thanas?”
“Of course.” Kol smiled softly. “But males need to protect the people, and Thanas gives them the strength to live on after a female’s death. I think it is futile, though, because if a male lost his female, he would crumble from the inside out. His world, his life, his everything would die with his female.”
A shiver shot up my spine
“Could a male not find another mate?” I asked, feeling sad for any male who had ever suffered a mate loss.
“Never,” Kol instantly replied. “Even badly matched males and females still become the other’s everything. My aunt and uncle once hated the other, and I mean hated each other, and though their mating started out unstable, their bond is one of the strongest I have ever seen. We mate for life, shiva. Even if one life ends, the mate bond never does. The need for the other is instant after a mating, and love follows eventually.”
I was shocked at the knowledge, and my heart hurt knowing if I successfully mated with Kol, that he would eventually die, and I’d exist on my own without him even if only for a short time. It didn’t take long for tears to fill my eyes.
“Shiva,” Kol hissed. “I have saddened you? I beg your forgiveness.”
“I thought a royal never begs?” I whispered.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “You make everything possible, my Nova.”
My tears fell and splashed onto my cheeks, and right away, Kol leaned in and kissed them away.
“Please,” he rasped. “It causes me great pain to see you like this, Nova.”
His words wrapped around my heart like a blanket.
“I’m sorry.” I sniffled. “I’m sad at the thought of you dying and leaving me.”
Kol placed his hands on my face, brushing his calloused thumbs under my eyes.
“We will have many centuries together, and when it is my time, your time will follow. We give our hearts to our mates, which is why a male’s female joins him so quickly in death. She cannot live without her heart.”
This is it.
At that moment, I felt I was beginning to lose my heart to this male.
“This is crazy,” I said with a shake of my head. “How can I care for you so much in such a short amount of time?”
“We’re destined mates,” Kol answered. “I believe you were made for me, and me for you.”
“Kol,” I whispered as a fire ignited in my core and spread to between my thighs. “I want to be your mate.”
He growled in response, and his hold on me tightened. “Can I have that taste of you now?”
Yes.
The need for him to taste me, to do something to relieve my body of the ache it was experiencing became my prime focus.
“I’m yours,” I told him.
The words were barely out of my mouth before Kol moved to his knees in front of me, and he did something I wasn’t expecting him to do. He kissed me with so much hunger it sent a jolt straight to the aching spot between my thighs.
This is what he means by tasting.
The force of his kiss pushed my body flat on the shockingly comfortable mattress, and he held me in place with the added weight of his body as he moved over me. I was grateful he used his elbows to hold most of his weight, but what I could feel of him was enough. He was toned, muscular, and hard all over… harder in one place more than others.
“Kol.” I gasped against his mouth when he wiggled his hips and pushed my thighs apart.
He didn’t answer; he only kissed me deeper as he pressed his pelvis against my throbbing core. I didn’t know what to focus on, his kiss or the feeling of him rubbing against me. The kiss won when he suddenly sucked on my tongue before he lightly bit it. He tore his mouth from me and attached his lips to my neck. He left no patch of skin un-kissed, and when I involuntarily moaned, he put all his weight on his left elbow and used his right hand to cup my breast, the friction of my clothing rubbing over my now hardened nipple caused me to shiver with delight.
“Shiva,” Kol rasped.
I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his hips, squeezing him as an ache pulsed between my spread thighs. I arched my back when goosebumps broke out over my skin, and a tingling sensation covered the breast Kol held in his large calloused hand.
“Almighty,” I panted. “I need to see you. Take off your clothes.”
Kol growled, and before I realised what he was doing, he was standing up off me and stripping out of his clothes at a rapid pace. I leaned up on my elbows so I could watch him. I wanted him to slow down, so I could take his body in leisurely, but when he was naked as the day he was born before me, my pussy throbbed.
His cock was huge as it was thick and hard. The tip of it glistened, and a milky white substance seeped from the tip and slowly trailed down the length. The urge to lean forward and lick it away frightened me.
“You’re perfect,” I whispered and sat upright, moving my attention to his chest.
I reached over for him, and without my having to ask him to move, he came closer to me. My hand instantly went to his muscular chest and skimmed over the white claw marks that were slash across it.
“What happened to you?” I whispered.
“A borak attacked me when I was forty years old,” he rasped. “I was on my first hunt with my father and brothers; it marked my entrance into malehood.”
The deep slashes made me wince.
“How come you didn’t heal?” I quizzed, my hands now sliding over his stomach, feeling the curve of each abdominal muscle.
Kol kept his hands at his sides as I explored him with my touch.
“Boraks are nasty creatures,” he said, tensing more with every passing moment. “Their talons hold a poison that prevents the body from clotting a wound. The purpose is to bleed out their prey. My older brother, Ezah, is a healer like Surkah, and he was on the hunt with us. His ability helped seal my wounds, but did not prevent scarring.”
“I’m sorry.” I frowned.
“Why?” Kol chuckled, tipping my chin up with his fingers. “Scars are marks of honour to the people; it means I survived a great beast. It makes me even more desirable to females.”
I playfully rolled my eyes. “You males are such idiots.”
“Is that so?” he mused.
I squealed with laughter when he dove forward and pressed me back against the mattress. My legs automatically went around his waist. Without kissing me, he had shuffled his way down my body and gripped the hem of my trousers, pulling them down to my knees in one fluid motion. I sucked in a startled breath and stared with wide eyes as Kol lifted my legs from around his body and pulled my trousers down the rest of the way off my legs. Kol’s eyes locked on the centre of my thighs as he threw my pants over his shoulder without so much as a backward glance. It was when he bent forward and brought his face level with my pussy that my hips bucked involuntarily.
“What are you doing?” I cried out with embarrassment and tried to scramble up the bed away from him.
Kol’s hands clamped down on my thighs and, not so gently, pinned me in place. He brought his mouth to just below my belly button and planted kisses over my skin.
“Tasting you,” he growled against my abdomen.
He moved his mouth lower, and lower, and I nearly lost my ability to breathe.
“You can’t mean to taste me there!” I shouted in dismay and tried desperately to shut my legs.
Kol angled his hands and applied pressure to my thighs, forcing them apart as wide as they would go. I felt like I was frozen with shock, but it only lasted for a moment because the second I felt Kol’s soft, hot, wet tongue slide over my aching pussy lips, my body nearly sprang up from the bed.
“You’re hairless,” he commented.
“I had it removed,” I panted. “My father won some credits, and paid for it. I couldn’t bathe often so having no hair made things easier.”
He made a sound somewhere between an appreciative hum and a vicious growl. He unhooked an arm from around my right thigh and spread it over my stomach, using it to pin me down like an anchor. He kept the elbow of his other arm placed against my inner thigh and used it and his right shoulder to keep my legs apart. With his fingers, he spread my pussy lips apart, and after he had inhaled deeply once more, he brought his mouth down to the very spot that ached so badly and sucked the hardened throbbing bud into his mouth.
I screamed as a sensation I had never experienced shot up my spine.
It was pleasure, raw pleasure, but it was too much for my body to handle. I couldn’t control my limbs. It was like they had a mind of their own and moved with every flicked of Kol’s hot, wet tongue. He did a good job at keeping my ass on the mattress, but he had no control over my hands that had buried themselves in his hair and tugged on the strands that were tangled around my fingers.
Kol growled, but he didn’t slow the movement of his tongue or lessen the suction he applied to my clit; if anything, he increased them. My breathing was laboured, my heart was pounding erratically, and my screams were so loud I was sure the entire ship could hear me… but I didn’t care. All I could care about was the pleasure I felt, and whether it would kill me.
“Oh, oh!” I cried out a moment later when the pleasure built up to a point where it almost felt like searing hot pain.
My body fell apart the second Kol’s teeth scraped over my clit, which was the final nudge my body needed to be flung over the edge of sanity and into a pool of bliss. I held my breath as a new pulsing overtook my body. Instead of the pulse aching, it sent ripples of satisfaction over my body, soothing my tense joints and turning them into soft, relaxed pieces of flesh.
Almighty.
“Need you,” Kol suddenly snarled, his voice breaking through my cloud of desire. “Now.”
Even through my haze of pleasure, I knew what that meant.
“Oh, Kol,” I trembled beneath him. “I’m so scared.”
Kol surprised me when he said, “Me too.”
“But you’ve had sex before.”
He slowly nodded, his eyes now aglow with a ring of light as he said, “Yes, but I’ve never had sex with you before, and I desperately want to make it special for you.”
His words touched me and wrapped their way around my pounding heart.
“I trust you,” I told him in a shaky breath. “No matter what, I trust you.”
“Shiva,” he murmured as he reached between us. “I’m so sorry.”
He didn’t give me a moment longer to worry about our impending lovemaking as he gripped his shaft, rubbed it up and down my pussy lips, lined it up with my entrance, and with one more whispered apology, he thrust forward. I arched my back and screamed out when pinching hot pain cut through me. Above me, Kol went deathly still.
“I’m so sorry, shiva,” he rasped.
I looked at him, and it looked like he was in pain too. His face was twisted, his eyes were squeezed shut, and his body trembled.
“Are you hurting?” I asked, alarmed despite my own pain.
“Not like you,” he growled. “A different kind of pain has me in its clutch, shiva.”
A different kind of pain?
I couldn’t focus on what he meant because sensation became me. I was acutely aware of the length inside me; it was thick, long, and to be honest, it hurt. I tried to focus on my breathing, but the foreign sensation of being filled and spread to within an inch of my life was I could think about, all I could feel.
“It hurts,” I moaned when I involuntarily moved my hips. “I don’t like it, Kol.”
The sound he made in response sounded close to a whine.
“It will ease,” he rasped.
I worried for him. He was struggling greatly with something, and I wondered if the pain he felt was worse than mine because it sure looked like it was.
“Breathe,” I told him. “My papa used to always tell me to breathe through the pain.”
Kol tried my method, and it didn’t escape me that he looked so adorable whilst doing so. I focused on him and felt my body shiver when I adjusted my hips once more. It wasn’t pain I felt. It wasn’t exactly pleasure either, but it wasn’t pain, and that was enough to calm my spiked nerves.
“You can move,” I whispered to Kol. “Slowly.”
“Slowly,” he repeated.
It took twenty whole seconds for him to withdraw from me, and before he withdrew completely, he moved his hips forward and stretched me once more. It still hurt, but the pain wasn’t as consuming as before. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around Kol’s trembling body. I lost count of how many times he thrust in and out of my body, but when I opened my eyes, I felt no more pain, and Kol’s cock was sliding in and out of my body with so much ease it began to feel… good.
“Oh.” I gasped when my insides involuntarily clenched.
Kol’s growl startled me, and I brought my attention to him once more. His eyes were still squeezed shut, and he was so tense that the veins in his arms and neck were bulged and sticking up from his skin.
“Are you okay?” I asked, acutely aware that my voice was husky.
“I’m going to die.” He choked.
I tensed my insides once more, and it only caused him to growl, which drew a lazy smile from me.
“Faster,” I told him, knowing it was what we both needed. “Go faster.”
“Thank, Thanas,” he almost roared as he began to thrust in and out of my body at a rapid pace.
I tightly wrapped my legs around his hips, and my arms around his neck. I adjusted my hands to his shoulders when each powerful thrust sent a spasm of ecstasy up my spine. I dug my nails into is flesh, and it drew a roar from him and only encouraged him to pound into my pussy harder, faster, deeper. So much deeper.
The build-up of bliss was different from the pleasure I felt with Kol’s mouth on me; it wasn’t just body consuming, it was mind and soul consuming too. It was like my very existence was on the line, instead of a soul-shattering orgasm. I tried to pay attention to Kol, I desperately tried to, but my body had a mind of its own, and its only focus was getting to the bliss that was promised as soon as possible.
“Kol!”
Seconds after I gasped his name, my breathing halted, my mouth opened in a silent scream, my back arched off the mattress, and for a moment, I felt numbness before a bliss I had never experienced flowed through my veins and touched my every nerve ending. Molten heat fell over me like a blanket, and it covered me completely. It soothed away every ache, every pulse, and every worry I had ever had.
Heaven.
I was vaguely aware of a sharp sting pinching my neck, but that soon turned to pleasure. Though it was nothing like the wave to just wash over me, it was nice and caused my toes to curl in delight. I hummed for a long moment and wondered how long I would feel like this.
I feel so good.
I heard soft male laughter.
You do feel good, shiva.
Kol’s comment would normally bring a blush to my cheeks, but now it only drew a lazy smile from me.
Do you feel like I do? I hummed. I hope you do because it’s so good, Kol.
I gasped when the pleasure that started at my neck suddenly burned hot and drew a hiss from my lips.
Hush, shiva, only a few more seconds and our bond will be in place.
I didn’t realise my eyes were closed, so when I opened them, and my surroundings came back to me, I was wondering why Kol was flush against me with his face buried against my neck. I had the intention of asking him, but the burning heat I felt at my neck suddenly attacked my core and spread outwards. It dragged a strangled cry from my lips.
“Kol,” I whimpered and dug my nails into the skin of his firm back. “It hurts. Please, stop, it hurts.”
Kol, who was still between my thighs, and still inside me, didn’t move a muscle. When I positioned my hands on his chest and began to push him away—to no avail—he growled, and it vibrated against my neck and quickly after a sting followed. Now that I wasn’t swept away in pleasure, it didn’t take me long to realise the sting I felt was because of Kol’s teeth … they punctured my neck with a bite.
Please, shiva, let the bond take place. This is just my essence you’re feeling.
His essence fucking hurt.
For a moment, I wanted to tell him to go and fuck himself, but then it dawned on me that not only was Kol biting me, but he spoke clearly to me, and I heard him when I shouldn’t have because his mouth was a little preoccupied.
Calm, Kol suddenly ordered. Do not panic; this is our bond. Our mental link is normal, shiva. I feared telling you we’d share a mental link because you were so worried over my essence. I didn’t want to scare you further.
The burning pain in my core continued to spread outward to my limbs, and like my mind-blowing orgasm, it touched every nerve and filled my body completely. I had heard my scream before I felt myself let it loose, and what was even more odd was I felt how torn up Kol was that I was hurting so badly and he could not stop it.
I felt his emotion, and I heard his voice in my head.
Why are you doing this to me? I am your intended!
For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I asked the question aloud or in my mind.
No, Kol growled as he slowly withdrew his teeth from my flesh. You’re my mate.
One moment, I was hurting so badly that it caused all my joints to lock into place, and then the next, I was pain-free and more relaxed and physically satisfied than I had ever been in my entire life. I closed my eyes and fought off the urge to fall asleep, but it was extremely difficult.
I was vaguely aware when Kol withdrew his still rock-hard length from me only a few inches before he thrust back inside my body, causing the pleasure I felt earlier to leer at me with jealousy. The new sensation felt more heightened and more toe curling. My eyes flew open, my legs tightened around his hips, and my hands gripped Kol’s muscular biceps.
“Our bond is in place, shiva,” he said as he hovered over me, panting, but had the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face. “You’re mine. Forever.”