Page 84 of Tracked and Taken

A warm feeling turns over in my core. My smirk rebuilds — not the cocky version, the other one, the one I have not used on anyone in years. The quiet one. The one a Draelith male deploys when his mate has asked for something only she is going to get.

“Copy, sweetheart. You are going to see it every time you ask.”

14

Before We Go

Tael

I’m not sure how long I lie against her.

My forehead against her collarbone. My breathing is audible. The purr settling back from the peak register to something close to ambient. Her hand in my hair. Her other hand tracing the rosettes at my shoulder. I am still inside her. Neither of us moves.

“I am not done with you, Tael.”

“I hear you, Natalie.”

“Roll me over.”

I lift my head. I look at her.

She is — dark eyes still blown, mouth still swollen, hair still across the pillow — not kidding. There is come on her thighs. She wants more.

“Sweetheart, you have come apart for me three times in the last hour. Your nervous system is—“

“My nervous system can take one more round. Don’t insult me. Fuck me again.”

The smirk rebuilds. The cocky version this time.

“Noted.”

She reaches up. Her hand at my cheek.

“How — how do you want me?”

Something turns over inside my chest.

She has handed me the running of this. Not because she has surrendered. Because she has decided that she wants me to run it, and she is asking me how.

The word for it in the Draelith language is the word we use for a mate who has given us the small operational trust of how, when she could have given us none. There is no human translation. I will not translate it for her. I am going to show her what it means.

“On your knees, sweetheart. Ass up. I want to watch my cock go into you.”

I turn her over.

Her elbows at the mattress. Her hips lifted at the pitch my tail is setting — wrapped at her waist, holding her exactly where I want her, the same tail that has been positioning her all night.

I wrap my fist around her hair.

Controlled. My grip is not pulling, just holding. Her head tilts back enough that her throat is exposed over her shoulder, and her dark eyes find mine.

She makes a sound.

“Tael — I can’t take more—“

“Yes, you can. You asked for it. You are going to take it.”

“Tael—“