21. Burning for Me

Lena swigsthe dark blue liquid from the small vial provided to her by the jewel's personal medic.

The heat suppressant should work instantly, or so I've been told. I'm still astounded such a thing even exists.

When the guard snaps the door shut behind us, I can't help but worry that maybe without the effects of my venom, she won't feel the same about me. I distract myself from that prospect of pain by surveying our surroundings.

The room is no better than a glorified cell, with no windows, and no furniture beyond the two plush, high-backed chairs that face each other in the small space. I almost wonder what this room is used for, but I'm preoccupied by the warm body that presses against me.

As if they know our mate needs to be soothed, the brothers instinctively reach for the weary-looking Lena. My arms soon follow.

As we stand, my mate slumps against me, her body as heavy as her heart, I think.

"What's the last test, Kitaico?" she mumbles into the crook of my neck.

"It doesn't matter, because I will win for you." I kiss her eyelids. The human gesture just seems right at this moment.

"I believe you, but my goal is to be prepared. I wasn't ready for most of what space has offered me. Some of it's been awful—but you, Kitaico, have been one of the best parts. Despite the heats, despite the situation we're in now, I love you." She grips her fingers into the muscles of my back, as if she's afraid she'll disappear.

My heart racing, I find the words to respond.

"I love you, too," I tell her, feeling completely surprised. "I never thought it was possible to feel this for someone without the mating sting. Even without the mark, or your venom, I know you're my mate."

I stroke my hand down her pink hair, which has faded since she first arrived.

"So, we both care about each other. You can't shoulder this fight alone. Tell me what to expect and how I can help you win." She pulls back, her brown eyes determined.

I suck my bottom lip between my fangs, trying to find the best way to break the gravity of our situation to this precious creature.

"The last test of the Great Proving is a gladiator battle against the hopefuls from my division." I lower my eyes. "The last Andjin male left alive will have the privilege to mate for life with one of the jewels."

"A battle to the death?" Fat tears are already cresting over my sweet Lena's lower lids.

"Yes, but save your tears for the others. Knowing you're what awaits me after victory gives me no choice but to succeed."

I know about my competition. For my entire life, we've been trained side by side, all while knowing that only one of us can complete the last challenge. They are, and always have been, my rivals, and for as confident as I'd like to say that I'm stronger…I don't know if I am.

So I must be more cunning and more ruthless than the other males. Knowing what I could lose is going to be the fuel I need to win.

"What happens if you—what if you don't come back to me?" The look on Lena's face kills me.

"I will."

"But I need to know, what happens to me? I don't want to be here without you." She puts her hands on my face, cupping my cheeks.

Pain, from her eyes, in my heart, pain is all I can feel.

"Y-you," I stutter, not wanting to think about the reality of a future without Lena. "You'll be treasured. As a jewel you'll be taken care of for your entire life. If you choose, in time, you can even mate another worthy male." The last part hurts to say, but I will be honest with Lena, because that's what she needs.

I will always give her what she needs.

The shaking starts in her shoulders until it takes over her whole body. My appendages wrap around her, trying to weather this storm of emotions my words have triggered.

I keep kissing her face, my tongue salty with the taste of her tears.

I'm taken aback when she clutches me, pressing her mouth to my lips, her tongue searching me for some kind of comfort.

Comfort is something I can give her.

I return her kiss, letting my hands run over the curves of her human form. We are different, but there's something so beautiful in the softness of her body and the slickness of her hair where tentacles should be.

Mine, always mine.

"I will win for you, to ensure we'll live a long and happy life together." I mumble between the clashing of our mouths.

"Forever?" Her hands run lower along my body.

"Until we're so old we can't move, until we decide to return to the Great Mother in the same second—I never want to be parted from you, even in death." The brother's cup her ass, lifting her body until I let my kisses trail down her chest.

I push the tattered woven top to the side, taking the hardening bud at the apex of her breast between my lips.

When Lena moans loudly, I muzzle my hand over her mouth.

"Quiet," I beg, "I need to comfort you. I need to give you this release. We can't let the guard hear. I can't leave you wanting."

Some faction of my psyche, no matter how much I don't want to admit it, knows this might be the last time we ever see each other.

"Won't you get in trouble? I want you, but I don't want to make this worse." She says warily as my hand slips from her lips, glancing at the door.

I don't answer her as my hands join my foretentacles at her ass. I carry her over to one of the chairs and set her down gently.

I promised the Chancellor that we hadn't mated, and it's true. I won't give her my seed until after I'm found worthy—and only if she'll accept it then.

I kneel at the altar of Lena, her arousal scent filling my nostrils and sending my blood to pump into the tips of every tentacle on my body.

For the first time since we met, I don't have to worry if my venom is what's making her crazy for me.

Lena burns for my touch right before my eyes, and every bit of her emotion is natural. She wants me, and I'll perish if I wait any longer to taste her.

The sound of her moans cuts through my concentration and one brother drags his tip right through her wet slit—lifting her skirt. Without warning, the other foretentacle covers her mouth once more.

"Shhh…" I whisper before I trail my tongue up her thigh. Lena bucks but stays quiet—despite needing to bite into the flesh of my tentacle to do so.

I don't even flinch because I will always give Lena what she needs, even if that's a bite of me.

My mouth waters as I lift the woven skirt I wrapped her in before the elder's arrival. Her scent intoxicates me, and I can almost feel my pupils dilating as I inhale.

"Lena, I want to use my mouth on your cunt, please let me." The smell of her alone has my cock hard and weeping. As she gazes down at me, my voice is filled with longing as I beg. "I need this, I need to taste you."

Lena pulls the brother from her lips, her voice quiet and as desperate sounding as I feel.

"Promise me you'll come back to me," she says as a chunky tear rolls down her cheek.

"I promise." It can't be a lie if you mean it with your whole heart, can it?

"I trust you, Kitaico."

The words feel weighty in the room. This is her answer to my promise and my request.

"Your trust is my honor to hold." I pull her slightly forward in her seat and whisper, "Will you open yourself to me?"

She pets a hand through my head tentacles before putting her hands on her knees and spreading them wide.

There must be no sight more enchanting, not even the promised afterlife by the Great Mother, than Lena on display before me.

My willpower breaks at her beauty.

I firmly grasp her hips, drawing her closer to my eager lips. As my tongue slides over her pearl, I can feel her body tense with pleasure, her breath quickening. I apply pressure, gently moving my rough tongue over her delicate sweet spot.

Lena bites her lip, suppressing the melodic sounds that I adore.

My hands grip into the flesh of her ass as I work my jaw over the apex of her sex. I can feel the left brother forcefully push past my chest and settle itself at her dripping entrance.

"Yes," she mutters softly, pressing her hips forward.

My Lena, without my venom, wants me.

I give her precisely what she craves—one brother penetrates her fervent and drawn cunt with haste. I replace my tongue with my fingers.

"So tight for my tentacle, I yearn for the day I earn your companionship. To have you milk my cock with these same muscles, I'd spill into you endlessly. The thought of you full and dripping with me, I can't imagine a sight more lovely."

As I speak, I can feel her motions become more frantic.

"So take me Kitaico, make me yours." Her whispers are rushed, her eyes hooded with pleasure as she looks down at me. "I trust you, I love you, give me everything."

"When I return, if you want me still, I will deny you no longer."

Lena's eyes roll back in her head as my tentacle balls up inside her, pushing against the spongy spot along her inner wall.

"Until I can make you my mate, when I return victorious, this moment of pleasure will sustain us both. You are the only sustenance I need."

I dive back to her pearl, stroking it slowly until I feel her shake.

"You'll come back," she mumbles, her body bouncing. "You'll come back and give me all of you."

I suck on her pearl, bringing it deeply between my lips. When my teeth graze the overstimulated flesh, she comes undone.

As she throbs and pulses around me, I gather her up in my arms.

"I will always come back to you," I whisper as I nuzzle the column of her throat. "Always."

I want to stay here with her forever, to put off our inevitable separation, but I know she'll be safe in the care of the other jewels. So I'll leave her after this bliss—boneless and content.

Using my knee, I knock on the door. When the guard opens it, his skin shifts to a bright orange, his eyes blowing wide on his inhale.

His mouth moves, words unwilling to spill from them. I know he smells what we just did, but I don't care.

"I will take my mate to the jewels" quarters, for her to be in their care until I'm victorious," I tell him before he can get a word out. The male is flustered.

"Put the jewel down, you have no right?—"

"She is my mate. I have every right," I say calmly before making my way down the hall. The bumbling guard follows, telling me how wrong I am for touching a precious jewel. How he'll rat me out to the council of elders.

But how could Lena in my arms feel anything but right?

"One day, you'll have a mate. Then you'll understand how I can fear nothing but her loss. Do what you must," I mutter.

The guard stops at my response, maybe not used to a hopeful's insolence. As he watches me stroke my mate's hair, something snaps into place. He sighs, defeated, and shoos me down the corridor.

"Get her there quickly and join the other hopefuls for tomorrow's battle in the holding tanks. They should arrive tonight." He frowns deeply and turns, making his way back to his post.

Looking at an almost sleeping Lena, I know that I have no choice but to return. I will spill my opponent's blood in the stadium tomorrow.

"I love you," I tell her one more time, just in case it's my last.