Page 56 of Black Mamba

“Lukys?” I call out nervously.

What if he’s staying away… for my benefit?

I clasp my hands when he doesn’t appear, wringing them in worry.

I shift the vines and take a small step inside. “Lukys?”

A large shadow hits my back, blocking out the sun.

I gasp and twist around, pressing my body to the side of the cave when I catch sight of Lukys’s towering form. His nostrils flare and his arms stretch to either side, and I see the spear in his right hand. He rests it against the wall opposite me and further blocks my exit. “Elena,” he growls. “What are you doing here?”

His voice, so deep, so clear and upon me, makes me swallow thickly from the delicious sound of it. I hitch in a breath and catch his scent, stronger than ever before, mixed with musk and sweat. Heat explodes through me. My gaze drops to his middle only to discover his bulge is bigger than ever before.

“You were gone,” I whisper, looking up at him, my voice weaker than I’d like it to be. “I… I got worried. You were gone for days.” I also got frustrated and angry.

He moves a little closer, and I press into the wall. My stomach tightens and my sex quivers as I breathe more of him in.

Rich, complex dessert. So good…

“You are outside my nesssst,” he hisses, his voice lowering.

I scrape my teeth across my lower lip. “I… I need to talk to you.”

“About what?” His brow arches. “You are not within your ship and are here… You are either brave or stupid.”

I swallow again. “Yes… Well…” I glower and sigh. “I need to know why I’m so affected by you and what that means… I’m… nervous.”

He raises his hand and trails the back of his fingers down my cheek. A shiver courses through me, amplifying my neediness and reminding me of the hell I’ve been through these past couple of weeks.

“Do not be. Thissss is right. You are mine, can you not feel it? Can you not smell it? We could breathe each other in forever. Your smell fuels me like no other, a beacon to something I crave deeply.”

My next breath is a shallow one as my heart reverberates wildly. With his face right above mine, I lick my lips, half anticipating his own upon them, recalling how he demanded to be let in my ship. “I don’t want to submit to you,” I whisper but lean toward him anyway.

He pets my cheek. “Yes. You will. There is no other choice when it comes to your survival…” His nose lightly touches mine and the contact makes me jerk as my nerves sing with amplified anticipation. I nearly moan as my whole body shudders orgasmically.

He’s protective and nice. He’s… He cants his head and runs his nose along my jawline. Here. He’s here and that’s more than anything right now. I turn my face toward his and our lips brush.

His spear tumbles to the ground as he jerks and closes in around me, bracing his large, muscular arms on the rock. I tremble but don’t try to flee. His lips are hard, demanding, unmoving, and not being a great kisser myself, I slant mine under his, opening them slightly. As I do, I feel his tailtip coil around my ankle and slide up my leg.

I sink my fingers into his hair as I grasp the sides of his face. He lowers to deepen the kiss and his tail presses forward to spread my legs as he pushes me against the wall.

His kiss softens while mine fights briefly for relief, turning my head slightly from side to side. His mouth opens under my direction, and I caress him into a new kiss, a gentler one. “Lukys…” I mumble.

He’s a quick learner, being the first to sweep his tongue into my mouth. I tingle with pleasure as his hands run over my arms, my sides, eventually sliding into my hair to grip me the same way I’m gripping him. I’m gripping him hard.

“Incredible,” he rumbles. “I knew you were mine.” He releases my face to circle his arm around me and tug me into him. I press my cheek against his chest, feeling shocked.

His words have me quivering with excitement as much as they’re filling me with dread. But my misgivings ease as he leans down and runs his lips along my neck.

Needy, I gasp as he presses his mouth to my throat. His body shakes against mine as he inhales fervently. I take my own breath, sucking more of his pheromones in. Clenching and wet, I’m already more than aroused. I’m desperate.

I have no aversion to sex. It’s not something I’ve ever done despite being more than knowledgeable about it. But I was always afraid of contracting with a man when I wasn’t sure if he was after my inheritance. Or worse, my sister.

Lukys picks me up and carries me into the darkness of his home. My lips part as my toes curl.

The cave’s cold air envelops me as he takes me to his nest. His scent grows richer the closer we get to his hides. I forget about asking him where he’s been the last few days.

He’s quiet, and his heavy, almost tense silence, thrills me in a way I don’t understand. The anticipation—laced with fear of the risk I’m taking—is almost too much. All I have to focus on is his hissing, which is nonstop, low in its raspiness. It makes his body vibrate, which makes mine hum. I press into him, circling my arms around his neck, reverberating.