Three days later, Fensa was beginning to wish he’d never told her he loved her.

It had only taken them two full sessions of heat sex before she became pregnant with Eos.

But for whatever reason, this time was taking longer. Way longer.

Fensa was only aware three days had passed because somehow, in the midst of all this, Xenon had been diligently tracking the time. And finding food somewhere. Likely from the tribe, she suspected, if the size of the offerings were any indication. Rabbits and birds. Plenty for her. Not nearly enough for poor Xenon.

Nevertheless, he handed over the most recent small animal offering as soon as she opened her eyes. “You must eat, Reverence. You cannot afford to become hungry in your condition.”

Fensa ravenously stripped and ate the flesh from an entire rabbit, leaving nothing but the bones. (Until her dying day, she’d remember how good that damn rabbit tasted). However, when her hunger was finally satisfied, she remembered her poor mate. “But what about you?” she asked, reaching up to push a lock of his now super long, glossy black hair behind one ear.

He’d reminded her of a pirate before, but not anymore. Whatever he’d been using to trim his hair had been left behind at the glacier station, and thanks to two years of unchecked growth, Xenon’s dark hair now hung in long, straight curtains past where his nipples would be—if he had them. Missing nipples aside (and webbed feet, and glowing red eyes), he looked resembled…well, the classic image of a Native American.

But then his overly formal style of speaking reminded her how not Native American he was. “You honor me with your concern, but Golden Son honored me with a sheep while we did sleep.”

She stilled, “He didn’t see us…”

“Forgive him, Reverence, for not honoring your belief that children should not see us in our naked forms.”

“It’s ok,” she answered, feeling both emotionally and physically drained. “Only, sometimes I wish he lived in my era. Where he could have access to an actual childhood, and be protected from knowing too much about adult life, too soon.”

“You speak of childhood in a way my kind do not. Golden Son has been a child for nearly four solars, and perhaps at this delayed rate of growth, he will enjoy another four or five rotations before he is ready to make his transition to adulthood. On Drakkon, childhood is but a very short phase of our lives, one which lasts a mere five solar rotations. It is so short a time that I rarely think on it.”

Her eyes widened. “Wait, Eos is only going to be a kid for less than ten years?”

She’d seen how fast he grew and noticed his closest friends in the tribe were boys twice his age. But she had no idea his childhood would be so fleeting. Or that Xenon’s had been even shorter. “And you were only a kid for five years?”

“I do not intend insult, Reverence, but your species is poorly designed. Although Fenrir did the best he could with his genetic splice, he wasn’t able to reduce the time your species spends in this weakened state.”

“Weakened state?” she repeated, realizing he thought she was protesting because she envied his much shorter youth. “But…childhood is one of the best times of our lives! It’s the only time we get to truly play and explore.” She thought of how everything fell apart after her imaginary sister decided to stick around long past the time when the adults in her life deemed it acceptable. “Everyone deserves a childhood. I’m just sorry yours was cut so short.”

“Please do not burn sad for me, Treasure. I cannot miss what I did not experience. What no drakkon has ever experienced before Golden Son.”

“But—”

But nothing…another burst of heat erupted between her legs and buh-bye to any further conversation about cultural differences.

Fensa barely had time to get clear of the leftover rabbit bones before Xenon was covering her back again, with his foot planted firmly against her thigh.

Three days had passed, and that conversation was about twice as long as any they’d had. This heat was different. More intense, more demanding. She’d often pass out while coming, only to awaken to a fresh heat, and the feel of Xenon sleepily fucking her from behind. For three whole days, all they’d done was fuck and eat. And when the sun rose on the fourth day, Xenon tiredly said, “I will mount you for one more day cycle, Treasure, but only one. If we wake to another sun and your heat has not left you, I must take myself away from here and never return.”

In an instant, Fensa went from weak and spent, to upright on one elbow beside her giant mate. “What? Why?!”

“The first day of your heat when I heard howls moving toward us, I flew into the air and spotted some Group 7 males coming this way. Without you there to manage them, their primal instincts took over when they smelled your heat on the wind.” His gaze darkened. “Two of our best hunters are now dead because they attempted to answer your mating call as the Royal Geneticist designed them to do. But I have no excuse for my mating rage. I am afraid I am little more than an animal when it comes to you.”

Oh, God… “I’m so sorry! I know you must feel terrible. But, well, this is wolf nature. Much of wolf history is littered with stories of wolves fighting to the death for the right to first mate. And right now, the species is still very young. Plus, like you said, if I’d been there that wouldn’t have happened. It’s as much my fault as it is yours.”

He shook his head. “You honor me with your words of solace. But it does not change my mind. I cannot stand by while you suffer from this mating heat. If I must go away from this place so another of your species can mate you, I will. Even if the thought of living without you burns my flame the reddest of black.”

“Xenon—” she started, then stopped and for the first time said, “Reverence, no. You are my mate. My treasure. I will have no one but you. I will die before I mate with anyone but you.”

His usually expressionless face softened. “Treasure, you have no idea how it yellows my flame to hear you call me by this title. But—”

“Don’t but me, Reverence. I won’t let you hand me over to someone else cuz you feel bad. That’s not a call you get to make.”

She could feel his next words about to push into her mind, but she cut them off my mounting him in a swift, decisive motion. Even though another heat wave hadn’t taken her over yet, she impaled her pussy on his first dick, and spread her butt cheeks as she eased back onto his other penis.

“Reverenccccee,” he hissed inside her mind. Both a chastisement and a plea for mercy.

Neither of which she paid attention to.

“Mine,” she hissed back in her speaking voice, attempting to match his dragon accent.

Though she couldn’t understand what he was saying, when Xenon hissed back at her she felt sure it was Drakkon for “mine.” And as if it had been called forth by their mutual claiming, her heat came down just as his body began to move in tandem with hers.

The heat, or maybe the idea of him leaving her, turned Fensa into a crazy woman. She shoved her hips into his, over and over, bouncing above him with abandon. All the while, a series of unbidden images flooded her mind: her parents leaving her behind in that shitty Arizona center… leaving her together, but returning separately. First her mother with the news that they would be divorcing. Then her papa, stinking of alcohol and looking emaciated and gray where he used to be muscular and thick.

No… no…

“We do not give up on each other. We stay together!” Fensa shouted at her mate. “I love you. I revere you. You are MY DRAGON, and I am YOUR WOLF. If I die fucking you, so be it. But do not ever try to pull this bullshit with me again. Do you understand?” She paused momentarily, straddling his hips, panting and slick with their combined sweat and fluids.

“I… I…” he croaked as if trying to find the words. She began riding him again, and as their hips rolled together, he reached up and curved a large hand around the back of her neck. Pulling her forward and down. Towards him.

His kiss was hard and sharp with teeth. Unreverent as all fuck, and God…she was sure it drew blood. But Fensa was too crazed with lust, love, and heat to care. They kissed, and then kissed again. When the orgasm finally overtook her, she released a muffled cry into his lips rather than let him go. And perhaps he was in a similar state. Because soon after she came down, he deftly flipped them both over, their bodies still joined, and began fiercely driving his hips between hers in a fast roll.

Xenon’s voice appeared in her head, as dark and unhinged as hers. “Yess, Fenssa. Mine…mine to mate…mine to hold…mine to ssseed. My one and only love…mine everlasssting!”

Then he emptied himself into her in one hot gush, spiking just moments after. The pleasure blasted through Fensa, once again doing its level best to make her lose her fucking mind before knocking her right the fuck out.

But this time, Fensa refused to let the back-to-back climaxes overpower her. Hanging on to her consciousness, if not her sanity, she did something she’d only heard about from other mated wolves. She bit into his shoulder and hung on to her dragon by her teeth. Hunkered down hard inside her mind, as she weathered the blizzard of pleasure that came at her when her hungry cunt began furiously milking his spiked penis.

She hung on…only to be shocked a few moments later when he simply rolled out of her and fell onto his back beside her.

“Wait, you can just pull out? Whenever you want?!” she said, hardly believing what had just happened. A male wolf was usually forced to remain embedded in his mated female anywhere from twenty minutes, to an hour after knotting.

“I am drakkon, not lupin,” he reminded her. “We do not stay within our mates after the seeding is done.”

“Wow. I guess I would have known that if I’d ever managed to stay awake.”

Xenon shifted beside her, then said, “I am sensing an unusual response to your words. It’s as if…air is pressing upon my lungs, trying to push out.”

Fensa slid him an amused look. “Huh. Either you’re about to burp, or laugh at me. I’m hoping for the latter, in case you’re wondering.”

“Laughter,” he repeated, ignoring her burp comment. “The chortling sound you and Golden Son often make. Yes, perhaps that is it.”

Xenon let out a sound, somewhere between that noise people make when they clear their throats, and a gasket blowing. She winced, grimacing. “Uh…that’s your laugh? Did it hurt? Because it sounded painful!”

He responded with another throat clearing gasket blow.

Which made her giggle, even as she snuggled her face into his chest and murmured, “I require holding.”

Before she dropped off into a contented sleep, she couldn’t help but think, Maybe a burp wouldn’t have been so bad…