10. Gravod

Mine.

I couldn't hold back my ta'laps any longer, even if I wanted to. Wrapping my mate to protect her was an ingrained instinct. Already I was struggling against the ravenous urge to seal her, mark her, claim her. For now, I needed to hold her the way I was meant to, at least while she slept.

I would stay awake.

Lydaxians didn't need as much rest as humans. One day on Vytaris was longer than a day on Earth, thanks to our solar system's twin stars. Despite being on this planet for nearly a year, our sleep cycles hadn't changed. It was good. I could spend more time alert, watching out for my mate.

Holding her kept me calm as I imagined what I would do to the human male, Kevin, and how I would deal with Thylor.

The sudden scent of my mate's need put those unpleasant thoughts out of my mind. Jess squirmed in my hold, her back to my front, whimpering in her sleep. We were separated by the sheet, but as she rocked her hips against me, I could feel the gathering evidence of her arousal through the thin fabric, spreading between her legs.

Wet for me.

I groaned, barely restraining myself from giving her the friction she was looking for. If her dreams were anything like mine, I knew how close she was to release.

The noise I made must have woken her, and her eyes flew open. She rolled to face me, looking around blindly in the dark. I could see her, but she couldn't see me. Her gaze still found mine.

"Your eyes." Jess's voice quivered, with fear or lust. Both? She reached out and traced my jaw with her fingertips. "They're so bright."

"Our eyes take in more wavelengths of light than yours." If I could focus on biology, maybe I could get myself under control. Ignore what her light touch did to me. My cock was painfully hard, and my lithis was starting to swell with sagar.

Jess's hand drifted down from my face to her hip, where one of my ta'laps was wrapped around her over the sheet. She gripped it and stilled.

My heart raced. It was too late to retract it. But maybe I wanted her to feel them. To feel me.

It was foolish. She would be horrified, and I would lose my mate. At her sharp intake of breath, I knew I'd made a mistake in letting them wrap her. My instinct to protect her had overruled my good sense.

"W-what is this?" Her fingers trembled as she slid them over the smooth upper surface of my ta'lap. She paused when her fingertip brushed against a drol, one of the raised, rounded grips that lined the underside.

I held back a moan, but I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me at her touch.

"It's one of my ta'laps." I closed my eyes, preparing for her to shriek in terror when she realized my form was very, very different from hers.

A moment later, she stroked the ta'lap again, and this time I did moan.

"You like that."

I blinked my eyes open and saw that she wore a mischievous grin. Her sweet scent had only intensified. Could she actually want me? Even like this? The thought made me bold.

"I do. I'd like it even more if I could touch your bare skin with them."

Her brow furrowed, and again I worried I'd gone too far. Every second that passed in silence, her breath hot against my neck, was agony.

"I can't see you," she finally said.

"No. But you can feel me."

Maybe this was how it could work, by touch instead of sight. Or maybe I was kidding myself. But I had to try. I wanted her too much to be cautious.

Under the cover of darkness, I shifted entirely, relaxing into my natural form. I brought her hand up to my hair and let her feel the two horns there. She gasped and slid her fingers around them, her tentative explorations pulling another moan from me.

The base of my horns was sensitive, especially to a mate's touch. A Lydaxian male's horns gave his partner a way to steer, to set the pace, even to pull him back if needed. The strong instincts of the mate bond pushed us to always keep our mates safe and satisfied.

Our horns were one of the many ways in which males were built to give pleasure.

But those ways worked for Lydaxians. We still didn't know how human females would respond. My pleasure was dependent on hers. It would be the ultimate shame if I couldn't give her satisfaction.

Jess's scent grew stronger, as though my reaction to her touch excited her. She tilted her head back and found my lips with hers.

The kiss was careful, questioning. Then heat started to build, and she sucked on my lower lip, seeking more. With as much restraint as I possessed, I slipped my lithis between her parted lips, using the narrow tip to explore her mouth. Gently at first. But then the tart sagar started to loosen her jaw, and I took advantage.

I pushed in, my long, swollen lithis filling her mouth. Tapping at the back of her throat. It was how I would prepare her to take my cock here.

Later, I'd prepare her to take me between her legs in the same way. To accept the internal penetration of my seed. For now, I wouldn't fully seat my cock. When she was ready for my claim, then I would be able to seal to her.

In the meantime, the preparation was nearly as enjoyable. My chest rumbled as I groaned into her mouth, savoring her taste. She writhed and moaned, pressing herself closer to me. Her sounds of ecstasy encouraged me to go deeper, to stuff her mouth full.

It wasn't enough. I could excite her like this, but I wanted her to come.

Reluctantly, I pulled back. I withdrew my lithis slowly, licking and lapping inside her sweet mouth while I did. She wrapped her lips around it and sucked, and my resolve stuttered as seed leaked from my cock in response.

Finally, my lithis slid out of her mouth. Our lips separated and we could both speak again. I held her face in my hands, stroking her soft cheeks, as I caught my breath.

"Let me give you pleasure, Jess. Let me touch you in the dark. I'll stop whenever you tell me to. And if you can't speak, push back on my horns."

"Oh my god," she said on a breathless whisper, her arms wrapped around my shoulders. "I don't know. I want… I don't know what I want."

She shouldn't have any doubts.

"If you aren't sure, we can wait." I couldn't filter my words. "When you're ready, I want to lick between your legs. I want to explore your body. I want to feed my cock into your mouth and feel you come hard around my ta'laps."

Jess let out a low whine that had me aching to mount her.

"That all sounds good." She nodded forcefully. "Yes, I want that too."

Still, I hesitated. I worried she'd regret this, feared her reaction to my form. But then she ripped the sheet away as if its presence insulted her, and I felt her soft skin against mine.

I stopped thinking about anything other than making her scream with pleasure.