Page 125

“Your pet is dead. Let this be a lesson for you so you never forget your place or to whom you belong.”

I sit up with a gasp and realize that I have tears pouring down my face. I can still feel Eissa’s agony—not from the whipping, but from the pain of knowing that Kori is dead and he blames himself for it.

A tender hand lifts, and Eissa’s impossibly soft fingers gather my tears away before he leans forward and licks my cheeks clean with his long, thin tongue. The piercing traces over my jawline, and I allow myself to feel a comfort that I’ve never felt before.

‘How did you survive it?’

He must know what I mean. Not being whipped raw, but the loss. I’ve felt grief before, but nothing like he did. How can he possibly take the risk on me now? God, it’s no wonder he shoved me away like he did.

Eissa gathers me back against his chest, and I feel a low rumble. His purr eases some of the ache I still have lingering in my chest, and eventually he kisses slowly and carefully over my temple and my forehead.

Resting my ear against his chest, I trace a line over his bare, exposed arm. He’s the only Vyastil I’ve seen who covers themselves from head to toe, and now I get why. I’ve seen his scars before—but now I understand them.

My finger traces over a particularly thick one that wraps around his forearm from his elbow to his wrist. He flinches, but he doesn’t pull back. With a heavy breath, I lean forward and start to kiss each one.

‘Luca,’ he signs in my periphery, where I can see him. ‘You don’t need to do this.’

I lift my head. ‘Yes. I do. You deserve tenderness. Jyrion was wrong. You do not belong to people who would make you suffer for the crime of being in love. And I will kill anyone who hurts you like that again.’

His face does something strange, his eyes large, his rainbow irises all but floating on the pitch-black pools of his sclera. He is, in this moment, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I open my mind to let him feel that.

He sucks in a breath as he takes that thought in, and then his claws tighten on me, and he yanks me up into a searing, powerful, possessive kiss.

twenty-six

LUCA

The kiss goes on for ages, our tongues twisting together, my body grinding against his. I’m hard, aching even. I can feel his pleasure from my movements, can feel the tremble under his skin as I run my cock through his slit.

I know he won’t fuck me, but maybe I can fuck him. He’s wet, dripping even. I can feel his cocks extending, and I grind mine against them, feeling the rumble in Eissa’s throat with each thrust upward.

His claws are digging into my skin, his skin flushed a dark purple as we move against each other. Then his legs spread, wrapping around my waist, and I stare down at him, feeling what he wants.

He wants me to fuck him.

I reach between us and slide two fingers into his slit, dragging along his ribbed lengths. He groans, and I do too as I continue to slide my fingers in and out of him. His eyelids are fluttering, his mouth opening and closing as his cocks drip onto his stomach.

It’s not enough. I want more.

I bite and lick down his chest, lapping up his slick with my tongue. When I push his legs wider, he arches up. My mouth lands on his slit, my tongue pushing inside of him. I can feel his pleasure wind around me, the way his entire body is vibrating, making my own cock leak.

I feast on him, tasting the sweet slick of his slit.

Fuck, he tastes good.

I moan and feel Eissa shiver beneath me.

And when I’ve driven him to the point of near completion, I drag my body back up his. Our eyes meet as he pulls me into a frantic kiss, biting and licking inside of my mouth. I push my cock into his slit. It’s wet and warm, my dick sliding against his. It’s different, new, and I love it. His legs wrap around mine, his tail possessively curling around my neck as I fuck him.

I’m terribly close to release, and so is he. I can feel it, am experiencing it with each frantic thrust forward.

I have never felt like this, my Luca. Never. Need. I need.

His broken words in my mind float in and out, growing more incoherent the faster I fuck him, and when he arches up, his tail tight around my neck as his mouth opens, I feel it more than I hear it. But it’s a roar, deep and rattling, shaking the bed and walls around us. His slit tightens, his cocks leaking. It’s not a full release, not quite, but it’s enough to have him sag against the bed, his eyes closed as he exhales shakily.

The sight of him satiated is too much.

My head falls back, my arms trembling as I try to keep myself upright, and I explode, filling him with my cum.