Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

T he question froze him. He wanted to be so much more than friends. He'd said the same things to Fortis, but the fear of what that meant for the two of them was hard to ignore.

She asked for him to let go of his own fears. He wasn't the male anyone ended up with. He was fun for a little while, but then females always wanted a male who could actually give them a family. Someone who didn't have the problem of being golden and all that came with his coloring.

But this one... This achromo had seen so much more in him. She had made him laugh. She trusted him to keep her safe, and when was the last time someone had done that? When had a female ever looked at him as anything more than just fun?

His hands clenched on her waist, and he wanted to do so much more. He looked into her pretty brown eyes, seeing the entirety of all the things he adored in them. Her bravery. Her honesty. Her loyalty.

All of those things and more made her so much more real. She wasn't just someone he shared a friendship with through messages that only the two of them saw. She was someone who meant so much more.

Breathing her scent deep into his lungs, he allowed his eyes to drift shut as she brushed her fingers over his gills again and again. He could feel her breath fanning across his lips. He heard the faint sound of her heartbeat and the little breaths that shuddered in and out of her mouth.

He slid his hands down her spine so slowly that they both stopped breathing. Pausing just before he touched anything that a friend certainly wouldn't touch.

"The gills of my people flutter when there is someone they are interested in. When they wish to create a show to entice a potential mate." His voice was deeper even to his own ears, gruff with need and desire that he still feared he shouldn't show. "Mine have never fluttered for anyone else."

"Does that mean you're interested in me, Maketes?"

"It means..." He licked his lips, watching her eyes widen at the sight of his black, ribbed tongue. Fuck, that did things to him. Already he could feel his cocks hardening, pressing against the scales that kept them hidden from her sight.

He rolled his hips, lifting his tail just slightly so he could press it against her heat. It was so hot between her legs he could feel her melting into his scales. He wanted to know what that heat was, to explore it far more than she might even let him. Everything about her called out to him. He was stuck in her siren call and there was no way for him to get out of it.

She moaned, the little sound echoing around them. Ace froze, her eyes widening a bit as though she didn't intend to make the sound.

"Again," he growled, rolling his tail between her legs a little harder this time.

The whimper she made was the prettiest sound he'd ever heard, and even then, he wanted more. It would never be enough to hear just the one little sound of her walls breaking down. Maketes wanted to swallow down every sound of pleasure she made. He wanted to press the scent of her desire into his scales so he would never forget this moment.

One of her hands slid down to his chest, bracing herself so his movements didn't knock her free from his tail.

"Do you know what a kiss is?" she asked.

"Yes." Of course he did. He'd seen both of his brothers press their lips to their mates, and though he'd thought it was rather odd, it was more than tempting. With Ace, he wanted to do everything.

He wanted to taste every inch of her body, even if these thoughts were perhaps too much. He couldn't devour her the first time she let him touch her.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked, and he could hear the vulnerability in that question.

And then he remembered what she'd shared with him. That no one else had wanted her. She was the one who everyone had overlooked. And though it was his luck that they had done so, he also understood that she might be a little nervous.

He couldn't let her do all the work. Not when she was the brave one who had initiated this.

With a deep growl under his breath, he let his hands wander where they wished. He grabbed handfuls of her ass, feeling the softness, just the right amount that he could grab onto. The plushness in his grip nearly sent him into a void of pleasure and desire from which he would never escape. That growl in his chest grew louder as he used the leverage of his grasp to thrust her even harder against him.

Her breasts flattened against him, pressing against his chest as all of her was suddenly against all of him. "Gods, there's so much of you I want to taste, kefi. But first, give me your lips."

That was all it took. She fell into him, the soft cushions of her lips pressing against his, and it unleashed an animal inside of him.

The sound he made was a moan of pure anguish. With lips and teeth and tongue, he tried to devour her. Her taste flooded into his mouth, the sweetest sunshine of her lips that only made him need her even more. He kissed her without skill or talent, only pure desire as he delved between her lips. Seeking more of that taste. Needing to touch her more.

She sucked on his tongue, the tip of her own tracing the ridges and bumps. His hands squeezed her ass, kneading it as his fingers slid along her legs. He wanted to touch more of her. Unknowingly, he drew her even closer. Drawing her legs up to his ribs and pressed her knees there, so she had slid up to his stomach.

He wanted to see her, he realized. Breathing hard, he drew back enough to stare into her eyes that were already half open. He pressed his webbed hand between her breasts, the softness of them already calling out to him even though he'd already laid his head on them. All it took was the slightest pressure to lean her back against his tail. To spread her out before his gaze so that he could look over all of her. Over the splayed legs spread around his hips, the heaving breasts that were right there, all of it hidden from his sight by clothing that shouldn't be on her.

"I want to see you," he rasped.

And there it was again. The flash of nerves that he should have guessed would come. She didn't want him to see her, but he desperately needed it. If it took him talking her through it, then he would thank all the gods a million times that he had been gifted with a voice.

She stared up at him, those brown eyes a little wider than before. But he could still see the trust in those depths.

Splaying his hand between her hips, he set his fingers against her soft belly and drew his fingers up her torso. The movement dragged her clothing up with him, revealing inch by inch of lovely skin. So much of it. So much lovely, warm-colored skin that looked like she'd been kissed by the sun even all the way down here in the ocean.

He stopped just before revealing her breasts to his gaze, waiting for her to look at him. Her eyes had been locked on his hand, watching his movement. They were both captivated by the sight of his hand on her.

And as she looked up at him, he could see she was waiting. Nervous, but waiting for him to do something and he... Gods, he needed to.

Maketes dragged his hand up and over the peak of her right breast. Just enough to reveal that there was another layer of clothing underneath her shirt. He let out a little huff of frustration, ridiculously needy, but also annoyed by the new barrier.

"What is this?" he muttered, curving his hand so he could follow the strange contraption around her ribs.

"A bra," she replied, amusement tinging her words.

"A bra? What reason is there for such a torturous thing?" It seemed to go around the back of her, and was cutting into her skin. She wasn't bloody, but there were red welts beneath the tight band of it.

"I don't actually know," she replied, arching her back and presenting him with the prettiest picture. She was so delicate and lovely like that. Spread out for his taking. It made it hard to focus for a second before he felt her fingers brushing his at her spine and suddenly there was a pop.

And oh.

Oh, he had known there was so much to worship, but he hadn't realized there was more. Just the barest hint of her breast had released from the fabric that hid her from his gaze. But the rosy tip made his mouth water.

"Kefi," he growled, the words rumbling through him before he could catch them. "I need you to trust me."

"I do."

"Because I know you think I'm an animal, perhaps capable of hurting you even after all that we have done together."

"I trust you," she repeated, her words breathless.

"Good, because for a few minutes, it's going to feel like I'm trying to consume you."

Then he descended upon her. His hands grabbed onto her sides, holding her in place as his tongue traced along her skin. He licked to the peak of her breast, drawing that rosy tip into his mouth and swirling his tongue along the sun kissed taste of her. The tip beaded against his tongue, and the more he touched her, the more she moaned.

Her hands came down into his hair as he licked her, sucking hard enough that she arched against him again. He switched to the other breast, tasting her as he had been begging to do for such a long time in his mind. And still, it wasn't enough.

Maybe the problem was his hands. He grabbed onto her ass again, yanking her against him so she could roll like she had done before. Then she did. She ground against him, rocking against his scales with her head thrown back and her throat bared. He wanted to bite that lovely column. The taste there must be even better than here. So he did. He licked his way up to her throat, looming over her so he could capture her lips again. Those hands grabbed onto his hair hard enough to sting, and still, it was perfect.

He was so caught up that he didn't notice his cocks had been released. Not, at least, until she leaned back and was pressed against them. They both gasped, eyes meeting and chests heaving to breathe.

Should they stop? He didn't want to. But he knew it had to be startling.

He knew nothing about her anatomy, but he knew that two cocks weren't what the men of her people had. And she could definitely feel them. Because as she stared into his eyes, she shifted. Her spine sliding against them, parting them so they were both pressed against her lower back.

She bit her lips, and he couldn't look away from those tiny, blunt teeth pressing into the softness of her mouth.

"How do I please you?" he asked, not sounding at all like himself. "I want to make you scream, kefi."

She opened her mouth, closed it, and then appeared lost for words. But she shifted on him, rolling those hips again until she was a little higher on his tail and his cocks were cushioned by the softness of her ass. Divinity. That was all he could think.

Her hand grabbed his and slid it down the front of her pants. His fingers were met by short hair, distracting him until he then found a soft wet heat that was so intriguing. Her head had tilted back again, pressed to his tail even as her mouth dropped open.

Sliding his fingers through the wetness to her core, he drew them back in the same path and listened to the deep groan form in the center of her body, then release from her mouth. It echoed in the cavern, the sound of her need making him wild.

She pushed her pants halfway down her thighs, giving him more room and more sights to see. His cocks kicked against her bottom, and suddenly she was grinding against him. Rocking against the heat of him from behind, while also rocking against his fingers.

He had to be careful with his claws. Vowing to bite them all clean off, he pinched his fingers together so there was more texture from his webbed fingers for her to ride. He helped her along the way, easing his fingers back and forth.

But it was her movements that captivated him. Pressing against his cocks so that they were rubbing against her. Faster, harder, rougher, until one of his cocks slid up between them. And now he was pressed against the core of her. The heat that had captivated him from the very first moment she'd been close enough for him to realize where it was coming from.

The sound he made was somewhere between a groan and a hiss. He started to shift away, not wanting to overwhelm her with the feeling of him, but she gasped out a rough, "Don't move!"

And then that wonderful, magical woman did something he never expected. She reached her hand between them and planted her palm against his cock. Pre-cum dripped out of the tip, making it so easy for him to slide against that talented little palm. Her fingers pressed him harder between her legs where his own hand was. He could feel the two of them so easily. Her heat, his hand, his cock, her hand. All of it was nearly too much.

He hissed again, knowing that he must look crazed. His gills were fluttering so hard he could feel the wind of it. A bead of sweat rolled down between her breasts even as she opened her eyes to stare up at him. And maybe she didn't think of him as a monster, because the moment their gazes met, he could see only her desire.

"Move your hand, little one. Stroke me," he rasped. "You feel so good."

Those eyes rolled back again, and then she was holding him harder, rocking her hips faster. He stayed still, shifting his fingers, moving them in a wave so he could press against every part of her that rubbed against him. He wanted to know what would happen next. His people enjoyed sex, but it was always so bloody. He wanted to know what it was like to watch her kind fall apart.

And then... Then it happened. He felt her tense against him, felt the throb against his fingers and webs even as her mouth fell open in silence. Then there was the little groan, the aching need that boiled out of her throat and he lost himself as well.

He came hard, both of his cocks twitching against her as he shot over both her belly and up her back. His cum coated her, and something deep inside of him clicked into place. Like this was right. Like she should be coated in his scent so that no other male would ever dare to come near her.

He felt a little undone as he stared down at her. The looseness of her hips, the release of tension that had been bothering her. All of it was his doing. He'd done this.

Maketes gave her a few more pets that had her twitching before he freed his fingers. Even then, he watched her as he pressed his slick hand to the glimmering cum on her stomach, smearing their pleasure together and gliding his hand up to frame her breast.

"So pretty," he murmured, running his thumb over her nipple. "But next time you'll scream for me. We both know you can be louder."