20. KVella

twenty

K'Vella

H oloth stares at me from the doorway with a crazed look. I'm used to his carefree smiles, playful smirks, and even the hot, lusty way his lips wrap around my marked pelt.

This look, with his hair falling out of his braid, his eyes wide, and his pupils so blown there's barely any blue left. I'm not used to it at all. It's not a look for me, or at least, I don't think it is.

"K'Vella." Holoth's voice is a deep growl as he takes a step toward me. his nostrils flare as he takes a deep inhale.

His eyes never leave mine, even though I'm frozen in place with the wooden club over my head. I might have stolen it from Helna's closet before I snuck out of her room.

After hearing the news about Holoth's scent matching someone, I made sure Helna and Sloane were okay, and then I let my emotions fill me. Those emotions were rage and a terrible feeling of being discarded again. So I came to his house, where I knew Holoth would most likely bring the female, and decided to destroy the nesting room.

I only managed to put a few holes in the wall. I tried to bash the nesting platform itself, but it's made of a large slab of white stone that didn't even budge when I brought the club down on it and screamed.

"K'Vella," Holoth growls again, this time right in front of me, so close that our noses touch.

I feel the rage still burning under my pelt. Not rage at him. He has no control over this, either. I have to be angry at someone, so I'll be angry at fate and, yeah, a little angry at Holoth.

He nudges the edge of my chin with his nose, his eyes wild with need. I do as he asks and bare my neck to him, something I've done frequently.

"Is she with you?" I ask, hating how I'm still baring myself to him even when we both know there's a Rytharian perfect for him.

"She is," Holoth growls against my neck as he trails his nose over the slope over and over again. His inhales are sharp and deep as he breathes hard against me. "She's right here with me."

My eyes narrow at his words because there's no one else here. Definitely not another Rytharian female watching as her scent match continues to sniff me.

Holoth's hands wrap around me. One of them pins my lower back, so I'm forced closer to him, our hips touching as he presses his length against me. I whine and wiggle in his hold, needing more of him.

I don't understand how he's able to fight off the scent match, but I don't want to question it either. His other hand splays wide on my back, rubbing up and down as he buries his face in the crook of my neck.

"What's going on?" I whimper. I need to know if he's with me right now and can stay with me or if this is prolonging the inevitable heartbreak we're both going to feel.

"What's going on?" Holoth repeats, smiling against my neck before pulling away just enough to look back into my eyes. "I chased the most delicious smelling female around the clan, all to find out she's been sharing a nest with me every night. I learned that the female I want to spend my life with is the same one I'm fated to be with. I went through all the stages of grief on my way to find you, and now I don't know what to do because you're here, and it's you. It's always been you." He growls low in his throat as he pulls me tighter against him. "You smell like soft florals, K'Vella. I've never smelled anything like it on a Rytharian female, but that's not all I'm smelling, is it?"

I whimper again, knowing he's talking about the babe I've kept secret from him.

"How long has my mate been keeping secrets?"

His nostrils flare as he takes another deep inhale. His eyes show how lost to his lust he is, but he's being patient with me, letting me understand what's happening. Allowing me time to figure out all of my emotions since I'm going through a lot of whiplash right now.

"How long has my perfect, wonderful, beautiful mate been carrying my babe?"

I clear my throat, my eyes avoiding his because I don't want to see a look of betrayal, if there is one. "The rutting stuck."

Holoth purrs long and hard as the words slip from my lips. He pulls my attention back to his face, where a smile is cutting through the crazed look. He places his lips against mine, soft at first until my arms start to wrap around him, and then he deepens the kiss, opening my lips with his tongue, claiming me, tasting me, devouring me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Holoth asks, stumbling backward with me.

I follow his lead out of the bedroom door, plastered to him. I don't want to give up his touch. Not for anything.

I take a short, shallow breath as Holoth steals the air from me again, and then I push at him, getting him to give me some space so I can tell him, "I didn't want to leave you."

Holoth's smile is even wider somehow, and I can practically feel his body buzzing with the lust he needs to sate. I grab his face between my upper hands and hold him close to me.

"I was so adamant about leaving as soon as I found out I was pregnant. But then I was, and I didn't want to leave yet." I press my lips to him, letting him stumble backward until we're on his front porch. "I wanted more time with you, to get to know you, because you, Holoth, make me feel safe. You make me feel desired and accepted, and more than anything, you make me feel loved."

"I would've never made you leave," Holoth purrs.

His teeth nip at my bottom lip as he guides us slowly back through the clan. Others are out and about as well, but none of them pay us much attention. They're all focused on getting their partners somewhere soft and comfortable so they can do more with them.

"I would've made myself leave," I admit, hating how uncertain I was of this when I first found out.

Holoth's been in it from the beginning and given me no reason not to trust that he would do anything to stay with me. It's been me who's been unsure and who kept us from being with one another.

He growls his displeasure at me telling him I would've left. I stop moving but keep my hold on him firm so he focuses on me.

"Can I bite you?" I ask, the words so quiet because this is big for my people.

Holoth has marked me repeatedly all over my body, but they don't have the same meaning as a Varon biting me would. He does it because males mark females in moments of passion. I want to mark him as mine, forever, for everyone to see.

"You want to bite me, K'Vella?" Holoth asks, taking my lower lip in his mouth and tugging on it while I whimper. "You want to make sure all these females know you've claimed me?"

"Yes, please," I whine, grabbing his shoulders to pull his lips back on mine.

This time, I lead, wrapping my fingers in his braid, pulling it from its tie until his hair falls around his shoulders. He groans into my mouth as I fist his hair and pull his head to the side. This time, it's my teeth scraping along his flesh, causing bumps to spring up across his skin.

"Not here," he growls, the authority in his voice sending a shiver down my spine. "I want you to claim me like a Rytharian." He grabs my hair just as hard, pulling me off his neck and smiling down at me when my lips pull back in a snarl. "You're going to be my good little Rytharian, aren't you?"

I growl at him, my teeth gnashing close to his face at being denied what I want. My lower hands go to his pants and start working on the strings of his leathers. His eyes narrow before he tugs me along, making our way toward the great hall where the party is still happening and sounds of pleasure are filling the air.

The doors are already propped open, so Holoth doesn't need to break our embrace as we stumble inside. One of his hands is on my lower back, keeping me close. The other is in my hair, keeping my teeth from sinking into him.

Now that I've got it in my mind to mark him as I would a Varon mate, I can't stop thinking about it. My wrists tingle, and my neck tingles even more. I go to rub at the sensation, and it draws Holoth's eyes to my neck.

"You're going to sink those teeth into me soon," he murmurs, pressing his lips against mine.

He stumbles backward, and everyone else gets out of our way. It isn't until we make it to an open spot at a table with no food or drinks on it or another female that Holoth backs me up against it and presses me against it until I'm falling on it. I tug him between my legs as I sit on the table.

"I have plans, K'Vella," Holoth growls.

He removes my hands from his neck even as I snarl up at him. He grabs the ties of my halter and pulls them both so the fur falls to my lap. I don't shy away from his gaze or the way his hands move to cup my breasts now that I'm bare for him. The part I'm not prepared for is the soft way he places a flat palm on my abdomen and the way it has his gaze softening.

"I have so many plans," he whispers before falling to his knees and wrapping my waist in his big hands. "Legs over my shoulders," he prompts, and I follow.

He places a kiss against my abdomen, and then another, and another, until there's not a spot on my pelt that his soft lips haven't marked. When he's happy with adorning my abdomen with kisses, he works his way lower, tugging at the ties of my lower garment to free the furs from their place around my waist.

"I'm going to let you bite me, sweet mate, but you have to come on my face first."

I stare down at Holoth as he pushes me back down on the table with one hand. I prop myself up on my upper arms, my lower hands moving to his head, running my fingers through his hair as he smiles up at me.

"Are you going to be, my good little Rytharian?" Holoth asks, his breath hot against my center as he speaks.

"Yes, please," I moan and buck my hips, trying to get closer to him.

"Be loud, little mate," Holoth growls, his tongue lapping up my slit, spreading me and warming me as my legs lock behind him.

I let my head fall back and open my mouth in a loud moan. It mixes with the other sounds in the great hall, making me unashamed of my reactions to my mate. His purr vibrates through him, relaxing me and adding to the sensations.

"Louder," he growls. The words have a bite of command in them. I don't have to follow it, but it feels so good to do what he wants. I moan out his name, loud and high-pitched, arching my back, begging for him to fill me with something, anything.

Holoth's tongue works over my sensitive entrance before he circles my core with a finger. I whine and jerk, wrapping my fingers tightly in his hair, begging him to fill me.

"More, Holoth."

A sigh of satisfaction escapes my lips as he sinks a long, thick finger inside me. He pumps it in and out, his tongue and lips working on my outside as he hooks his finger in a way that has me whimpering and shaking. He adds a second finger, keeping up a steady rhythm that has me tightening my hold on him with my legs, my fingers flexing in his hair.

He's not getting away from me, not until I've ridden his face hard. Holoth growls, his eyes flashing up at me, staring me down with a challenge. He wants me to fall apart as much as I want it.

When the third finger sinks into me, hooks into the soft flesh inside of me, I call out his name, back arching, brain short-circuiting as pleasure fills me and washes over me in waves.

Holoth speaks against me, but I'm keeping him too close to hear any of what he's saying. The words are muffled against my warmth. He doesn't seem to mind as I jerk my hips into him, milking every bit of pleasure I can.

It isn't until my legs go limp that he finally pries my fingers from his hair and places a soft kiss on my thigh.

"Are you ready to take my knot and bite me, mate?" he asks, the words heavy with his need.

The same need he's had since his blocker came out. I'm surprised he's being as patient as he is, considering the few males I've seen in here who scent matched were going feral with their need to rut and mark.

"Why aren't you more needy?" I ask, running my hands through his hair, not answering his question.

He's still kneeling in front of me, his mouth pressing sweet kisses to my inner thighs as he inhales deeply close to where I'm wet and aching for him. At my question, a look of surprise crosses his features.

"I'm the neediest male in here." He smiles up at me. "I plan on sinking into you many times. I doubt we'll sleep tonight. I won't rush you, though. You're carrying my young. The least I can do is be sweet to you while you work so hard."

His nose nudges at my entrance, inhaling deep as his tongue flattens against me to lap at me. I whine in the back of my throat, thrusting my hips up to his face. He chuckles before nuzzling closer, wetting his face with my juices and taking deep breaths like he can't get enough.

"I need to be inside you," he purrs, finally standing.

He presses my thighs back toward my chest, opening me up and putting me on display for him. I'm still propped up on my upper arms, my lower ones now moving to my abdomen to rub soft circles where our babe is growing. Holoth's eyes watch the movement for long minutes until he's snapping his teeth at me. His control finally slipping.

"Hold your legs open for me, present yourself for me, all for me." He purrs louder, and I move to do what he says. He works the strings of his pants, letting them fall down to his thighs as he fists his cock in his hand.

"How do you need me, K'Vella?" he asks, pressing himself against my entrance and leaning over me so he's slipping inside much too slowly. "Do you need a hard claiming? Need me to make you feel like you're back at home? I can get dead in the eyes, probably." He wiggles his brows at me, causing me to let my head fall back in a laugh that turns into a throaty moan as he slides deeper.

"You don't need me to be a Varon right now?" he asks, lowering his face to mine, taking my lips in his and nipping at the bottom one. "Mmm, maybe you need me nice and slow. Do you need me to take you like I love you, mate? Make sweet love to you, and thank you for being so good to me?"

I blink up at him slowly, shaking my head. He gives me a devilish grin, sinking the last few inches into me before pulling out and sinking in again faster this time.

"How do you need me, K'Vella?"

"I want to be a good Rytharian female," I moan, sucking my lower lip in and biting down on it. Holoth rewards me with a louder purr before slipping out of me.

"Good Rytharians do what their mate tells them," he growls into my ear, nipping at the tip before pulling me off the table and taking my place. "Ride me, bite me, and scream my name so loud everyone knows this beautiful female is mated. Let them know you're claiming me as yours, that you want me as much as I want you. That we are it for one another, K'Vella. No others. Just you and me from this moment on."

I glance around the great hall, suddenly nervous because I'm bare, and he wants me to be on top of him, riding him. As much as it warms me up inside, it's also embarrassing.

A few people look over, but they're most interested in the fact that Holoth and I are still together, even though his blocker is out. At least, I assume that's why. A few females and a couple of males smile before turning to speak to one another.

"Crawl up on this table, and slide that pussy all over my knot, K'Vella," Holoth growls, the command in his voice dripping with need and lust. I curl my toes, my core clenching. When I move to lift my knee onto the table, Holoth purrs his approval. "Good girl, climb up on your mate."

"None of the others do this," I murmur, feeling self-conscious at all the females bent over the tables or lying on their backs with their males between their legs.

"None of the others need their mate within biting distance."

He takes one of my upper hands and brings it to his lips. He drags me further up his body until I'm straddling his hips and then moves his hands to my waist, easing me down on him and then removing his hands so he can lean his head back against them.

"Bounce on me and ride me hard."

I run my upper hands over his chest, tracing the lines of his markings before testing my ability to ride him. I lift myself off, tilt my hips around, and find a rhythm that works for me.

I can feel the roughness of his knot before it swells, but I'm more so watching his face. The way his eyes drop down my body, hovering over my breasts, my abdomen, the bites on my neck, and up to my eyes. He makes soft grunts when I move my hips a certain way, so I keep doing that and am rewarded with his biceps flexing and his hips bucking into me.

"That's right, that's my good mate, riding your male so well." Holoth continues to purr even as he clenches his teeth down hard.

I gasp as pleasure bubbles up under my pelt and ride him faster. My breathing catches in my throat, my braids whack against my back and chest, and my flush is so dark and so large it covers the entirety of my chest. It doesn't stop me from taking my pleasure, from finding what makes me feel good and chasing it.

Holoth growls, lifting himself up. He helps me keep the pace of my bouncing on him as he tugs my head into the crook of his neck. He moves his hair to the side, tilts his head, and purrs.

"You bite me when you come, K'Vella. You bite me hard." Holoth grips my hips, making sure I don't slide down to take his whole knot. Not until I've come. Not until I've taken my pleasure.

I suckle on his neck, the pain in my wrists starting to blister even through Holoth's purr. I whimper. The sound makes Holoth growl low in his throat like he might be able to command the pain away. It's enough. I cry out, his name the only thing that leaves my mouth before I sink my teeth hard into the soft place where his neck and shoulder meet.

He slams me down on his knot, a growl rumbling through him so loud it overshadows all the other sounds of pleasure. I keep my teeth locked in him, the pain in my wrists and elbows, knees and neck finally easing and softening until it's gone. I hold Holoth tighter, tears pricking at my lashes as I keep my teeth in him while he's buried deep in me.

"That's my good, sweet mate. You did so good. You rode me hard. Made sure everyone knows I'm claimed. Now you've got your pretty marks, too. What a good, wonderful mate." Holoth murmurs into my ear, singing my praises over and over.

I don't know what he means by my pretty marks, but I assume he's talking about his bites. My eyes start to feel heavy, my body going limp at all the emotions that I've gone through in such a short time.

"Sleep if you need." Holoth runs his fingers down my hair and tilts his chin upward at someone behind me. "Pull that chair over."

He shifts around with me in his lap, and we stand for a second before plopping down in a chair. A blanket is thrown over me. "I'll get her to the nest once we're not locked together."

He's speaking to someone near us, but I don't open my eyes to see who it is, and I don't remove my lips from his neck. Instead, I listen to their conversation, or as much of it as I can, while I try to fight off my sleep. I can't make out the words of the female he's talking to, but Essa's voice is soft and distinct, so I know it's her.

"I'm sorry for making you get all scary."

"No, she's mine. She'll always be mine. You guys were worried about nothing."

"How many of you knew about the babe before me?"

"No, they're beautiful, aren't they? I don't know why I never thought of having her bite me. I mean, it makes sense looking back at how Jovi and Alik got theirs."

"I don't know what the plan is, but I know I'm going wherever she wants to be."