ARIANA

I delicately caress his spur, learning it with my fingertips. It feels hard, but not so hard that it would hurt me like bone would. It's mystifying looking and I'm not entirely certain why he would have such a thing, but there has to be a biological reason. "Does this do anything?"

"No." He sounds strained as I caress it. "It is just…my spur."

"Ah. Does it feel good when I touch it?"

"My Air-ee, everything feels good when you touch it." He reaches out and caresses my cheek, and there's such intense affection in his eyes that I feel loved and cherished, even though we've only known each other for a few days. Funny how that works. Funny how wonderful it is. Here with him, I don't have to be anxious. Zolaya will take care of me. It's a relieving sort of feeling, and I smile up at him. I wonder if it's too early for me to tell him I love him. Probably. That's likely just the cootie talking, so I'll wait a little longer. Until then, though, I can pleasure him. I rub my cheek against his hand, leaning into his touch. My cootie's purring wildly, and it's so loud and frenetic that it actually feels like I've got a vibrator going in my chest. It's a good feeling, but it's also frustrating, because it's not hitting any of my pleasure points, and those are flaring with need more with every second that passes.

I slide my hand up and down his length again, watching his face. His gaze is riveted on me as I kneel in front of him, but tension emanates from his body. I want a different kind of tension moving through him. The kind where he pushes into my mouth and fucks it because he can't control himself. Just thinking about that makes me suck in a breath, shocked at how aroused that one little thought makes me.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Just thinking about something," I whisper. "Want me to show you?"

I love his groan of response, his quick, jerky nod.

I move my hand up and curl my fingers around the shaft, below the head. I tighten, just a little. And then I lean in and give the head of his cock a long, sultry lick.

The breath explodes from his lungs. He cries out, the sound so guttural and intense that I'm positive anyone in one of the nearby rooms would have heard that. And just knowing I can wring that sound from Zolaya makes me so incredibly turned on. I'm wet between my thighs, and when I shift my weight, I can feel the slickness between my legs. It feels good and leaves me aching both at once. For now, though, I want to hear Zolaya make more of those sounds.

I take one of his fisted hands, clenched at his side, and move it to my hair. "You can touch me," I whisper, then lean in to taste him again.

Zolaya groans again and begins to caress my head even as I lick his cock. I take my time, teasing with every touch of my tongue, exploring him and seeing what motions wring a sound from him and which ones make him utterly still. He's so warm and musky and the feel of him is so hard and appealing that I can't help myself. I nibble on his shaft and tease him with my fingers, but I'm drawn irrevocably to the head of him again, and I take him in my mouth. I slide my tongue along the underside of his cock-head and then draw in, sucking on his length as I feed him deeper. His responses encourage me until I'm pulling him as far back into my throat as I can, trying to make every drag of my tongue as pleasurable as I can. His hips move in a subtle thrust, pumping into my mouth, and then he goes still.

I caress him with my hand and make a noise of encouragement, letting him know that I like that. I love that he's losing control over the pleasure I can give him. He moves again, his breath stuttering, and then I feel heat spurt against the back of my throat. He jerks backward, even as my mouth floods with his come, and then he pulls away.

"I—" He draws a ragged breath and turns away from me. It's clear he didn't mean to come that quickly. My sweet Zolaya. I'm filled with such adoration for him that I want to giggle—but I don't dare.

I reach out and caress his tail, even as I swallow. "It's all right," I whisper to him. "Don't turn away. I liked that."

He lets out a tortured grunt, then turns back to me, caressing my cheek. His eyes are dazed. "I wanted that to last longer."

I smile up at him, the taste of his release still on my tongue. "We'll just have to practice."

Zolaya closes his eyes and gives a little groan. "My mate, your enthusiasm will leave me so spent I will be bedridden."

I giggle at that, because it's the weirdest—and cutest—compliment I've ever gotten. "Thank you, I think."

He drops to his knees in front of me and cups my face. "You have given me a gift of pleasure, my sweet Air-ee. Thank you."

I reach out and tickle his sides, just to break the serious mood of the moment. "You can't thank me for blowing you, silly. Just like I can't apologize when I cry. These are things that just happen."

"Mmm, not just happen." He gives me a speculative look even as he kisses my nose. "I think my mate planned on seducing my cock the moment I dropped my loincloth."

"Well, you were rather unashamed about it," I tease back. "How was I to know you'd be so shy once I put my mouth on you—" My words break off into a squeal when he grabs me by the waist and pushes me backward into the furs. "I'm joking, I'm joking!"

The smile on his face is fierce—and full of mischief. "Shall I show you how hard it is to keep control when your resonance mate takes you in his mouth?" He puts a hand to my stomach, holding me down on the furs, and his other hand goes to my knee. "Shall we see how good your control is then, my mate?"

This time, I'm the one that's moaning, because I'm so aroused that he's bound to notice. I’m squirming with need and waiting for him to realize that.

He tugs at my clothing and I suddenly feel far too clothed, and far too unattractive in the borrowed, cinched-down leathers. I want to make my own clothes so they can be pretty and fitted and show off my figure. I want to be sexy for him, and because it makes me feel good about myself to look sexy, too. "Take my pants off?" I ask him, breathless with excitement. I think of the ridges on his tongue and I'm practically moaning just at the thought.

Zolaya pulls on my leathers, undoing the drawstring of my waistband with a practiced motion and then sliding them down my hips. He gazes down at me and looks surprised at the curls between my thighs. I remember how hairless his body was and squirm a little underneath his gaze. "There a problem?"

"I have never seen you like this before. I am enjoying." He pats my hip absently, not taking his gaze off the vee between my thighs. "Do not interrupt."

I bite back my nervous laugh. "Let me know when you'd like for me to participate," I joke.

That gets his attention. "You already participated," he tells me in a sultry purr. "Now it is my turn. I am just enjoying the sight of you. Our females do not have this." He gently brushes his knuckles over my curls and then leans in to rub his face against them. It's a little awkward, but when his lips brush along the seam of my pussy, I forget all about that. A moan escapes me and my thighs slide farther apart, a silent invitation for him to move between them.

Zolaya takes his sweet time, though. He's more interested in learning me, just as I explored him, and now I'm starting to regret all that teasing I did. He carefully peels the leathers off me, one leg at a time, until I'm bare from the waist down, and even then, he doesn't dive right in. He caresses my knee, the inside of my thigh, and then moves his mouth to a spot the moment his hand vacates it. It's lovely and relaxing and infuriating all at once. I want him to keep going, and I want him to stop and get down to business.

"You smell so good," he murmurs as he rubs his nose along the inside of my thigh. "I could drink of your scent every day and never tire of it."

"That's…nice." I put my hands on his head, feeling his horns and the thick fall of his hair around them. Would it be rude of me to push him between my legs? Or does my virgin need a little prompting? I debate the thought. I don't want to seem too pushy, but every sweep of his breath against my bare skin is maddening. I'm practically ready to come out of my own body. I arch my hips, undulating in a hopeful motion. "Zolaya, I need you."

"Mm, do you?" He looks up at me, and his gaze is so sultry-eyed and confident that I realize this is all part of his game. He's not shy about this at all. He's doing it deliberately to drive me wild. There's a confident little smile on his mouth that tells me he knows exactly what he's doing, and I moan at the realization.

And then I grab his horns and gently steer him lower.

He chuckles. "My mate is demanding."

"Very," I pant. "She's all turned on because of you."

“Then I should give in to her demands,” Zolaya tells me in the sexiest damn voice, and with his eyes locked on me, he leans in and flicks his tongue against my pussy.

My gasp echoes in the room. For a virgin, he’s sure got good instincts for this sort of thing. My nipples are tight and aching, and every rub of them against the leather of my tunic is sweet torture. I want him to strip me naked…but I don’t want him to stop what he’s doing either, not when he’s just now getting to the good stuff.

He makes a sound of pleasure low in his throat, and I can feel his fingers part my folds. Then he gives me a long, slow taste with that ridged tongue and I’m whimpering.

“They were right,” he murmurs.

“What?” I’m having a hard time concentrating. All I know is that I need him to keep going.

“There is no taste sweeter than a resonance mate on the tongue,” Zolaya says, and then he licks me again.

I press my fist to my forehead, because this is agony, but the best kind possible. I want to rise up on the bedding and shove my hips into his face, but he clasps my wriggling hip in one hand and holds me down, then begins to lick me again in earnest. Each brush of his lips over my flesh as he learns me is both the best thing I’ve ever felt and the biggest torture ever.

And then he discovers my clit. His tongue sweeps up against it and my choked cry is so loud that I slap a hand over my mouth in embarrassment.

“Ah,” he breathes. “The third nipple.”

The what?

It doesn’t matter what he’s calling it, though, because he decides that it’s his new favorite spot, and that means lots of licking and sucking. I’m writhing underneath him with every flash of his tongue over it, and I’m nearly out of my mind with delirious need when he rubs a finger against the entrance to my core in the perfect tease.

A brutal climax rips through me, and my cries fill the room as he thrusts one finger deep and relentlessly laps at my clit with his tongue. It doesn’t matter that I’m clenching with release—he’s determined to wring more from me. And more. And more.

It feels like I’m coming for ten minutes straight before I can’t take any more and push at his head. “No more,” I pant, trying to pull air into my lungs. I’m the most wrung-out woman on the planet. I’m a puddle of mush. I’m boneless and noodle-like. My knees are jelly. My thighs quiver with aftershocks.

I feel amazing.

Zolaya presses a few more kisses to the insides of my thighs, as if he’s reluctant to leave his spot between my legs. He lifts his head again and the look he gives me is the smugly proud expression of a man who’s given his woman a really great orgasm. “You are very noisy when you come, my mate.”

“Am I?” I pant, pressing my hand to my forehead. I don’t even care. If I heard Nora getting spanked, the others can hear me making a few noises of my own. “That was…damn.”

“Damn is good?”

“Damn is amazing,” I tell him as he crawls up the furs and comes to lie next to me. He slides alongside my body and I roll on my side to press against him. I can feel his cock is hard and ready again despite the fact that he came a short time ago, and I reach for him.

Zolaya grabs my hand and pulls it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to my palm.

“Don’t want me to touch you?” I’m confused.

“I love it when you touch me,” he admits, and then leans in to rub his nose against mine. “But you have had a long day. You are tired.”

“Of course I’m tired. You just made me come for a half hour straight.” A slight exaggeration. Possibly.

He chuckles and puts my hand on his chest, then moves his to my bare butt, squeezing it. “And yet you still tremble. You are tired, my mate. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging this. You have had a long day with your mind-avalanche.” He presses a light kiss to my forehead. “You should sleep now.”

I am tired, he’s not wrong about that. I’m also feeling delightfully languid with the heat of his body against my bare thighs and in the aftermath of my orgasm, but it feels strange to stop now. “We’re not going to fulfill resonance?”

“We will,” he reassures me. “But not tonight. Our khuis have waited this long. They can wait one night more.”

Can they? Can he? I curl up against him and rest my head on the crook of his shoulder. It feels like I should argue that particular point. I think of Haeden and his unfulfilled resonance and how unpleasant he is. I’d hate for Zolaya to turn into that. I love how teasingly cheerful and confident he is. He’s a good foil to my nervous self.

But gosh, I am tired. Just the thought of lifting my arm feels like effort. I yawn against his chest and close my eyes, feeling protected and comfortable in his arms. Something slithers against my knee and when I glance down, I see his tail slide down and curl, ever so slightly, around my ankle. I’m trapped against him, his arms and tail wrapped around me.

I love it.

“Tomorrow we go hunting together, remember,” Zolaya tells me softly, brushing my hair back from my face. “The weather will be good and there is more meat needed to feed the mouths here.”

“Sounds good. You won’t leave in the morning without me, will you?” I mumble, half asleep already.

I love the low sound of his chuckle as it rolls through the room. “Never. I have promised to take you, and I will. I can show you how strong a hunter I am and ease your fears. Then you will not worry when I go out on the trail.”

“Sounds fun,” I say, yawning. Actually I’m not sure if it does sound all that fun, because I’m really not an outdoorsy girl and I’m already tired of all this snow.

But being with him is worth it.