17. Tuft

Axel"s knot was as perfect as the rest of our mating. I hated to compare, but I couldn"t help myself. Weld"s knot had formed right at my entrance. I"d tried to hide the pain, and it got better, but that initial swell had always hurt.

Axel"s formed deeper inside me, shorting out my pleasure centers as it pressed against my prostate, and then it kept getting better as it continued to spread. I came again, so lost in my pleasure I didn"t know Axel had come at the same time until his knot receded a moment later.

I whimpered. I wanted it back. I wanted more. I wanted his knot inside me always.

"Soon." He kissed the sensitive skin of my neck and made me shiver. "I need a minute to recover, and then we can go again."

With Weld, I would have shied away and asked him for a rain check. With Axel, my cock was already rebounding, ready for more.

"I don"t know what you"ve done to me," I whispered, "but I am not a round two or three guy, and I feel like I could go all night with you."

He rolled onto his back and pulled me on top of him, tracing my jaw with his fingers. "I"ll take that as a compliment."

"The highest form," I assured him.

We stayed in that position, kissing, touching, and enjoying each other. With our first orgasms and our mating marks out of the way, we had all night, and I intended to learn every inch of my mate"s body. I kissed across his shoulders, his arms, and his sensitive torso. When I reached the scales at his thighs, his erect cock tapped me on the cheek.

"Ready to go again?" As fun as it would be to continue down each of his legs to his toes and thick talons, I was already torturing both of us by waiting.

"So ready," he agreed.

I slid onto his cock in one fluid motion, not bothering to coat him with slick first. I was even slicker than before, prepared to take his bulbous head and thick shaft all the way to the root. I bottomed out with a moan, and Axel grinned up at me with the sweetest expression I"d ever seen. I hoped it meant more than the incredible sex. I wanted my mate to love me beyond my slick, scent, and imprint.

I was projecting. I wanted Axel to love me, but he hadn"t said the words yet. Neither had I, too afraid he would think I was lying to him like his former fiancée. Worse, I worried he would think I was an idiot who didn"t know what love was because I"d thought I could love Weld, too.

I did not want to think about my ex while fucking my mate. I grabbed onto Axel"s shoulders and clenched down on his cock, making him sigh my name and close his pretty golden eyes.

I lost myself in the rhythm, too far gone to stop the wave of pleasure building, but not expecting Axel to grab my cock.

"I"m so close. Come with me, Tuft."

Tuft. Not Rosanna. Not sugar, as sweet as it was, or babe, or some other generic name for someone else. My mate said my name when he begged me to come.

"Please, Tuft."

"Fuck yeah, Axel," I shouted as my cock valiantly attempted to spurt like a fountain and instead dribbled with my release. My whole body felt oversensitive, every nerve ending zinging and buzzing as I came.

My channel was still quaking from my orgasm when Axel"s knot swelled inside me. As much as I enjoyed the rest of it, his knot was my favorite part. I rocked myself on the firm flesh, pushing past the feeling of too much to seek the next level of bliss.

My cock tried to spurt again as I came, but it was nothing more than a drip. I collapsed on Axel"s chest, and he wrapped me in his arms. It didn"t take many more thrusts before he came, too, shouting my name and kissing the mark he"d placed on my neck.

"You"re so amazing," he said. "I never thought it could be like this."

"Better than Earth women?" I knew the answer, but I had to ask.

"So much better," he said. "Better than Weld?"

Now it was his turn to question what we had. I didn"t regret what Weld and I had attempted, but "You"re my mate. He may be another alpha kobold, but you"re so far removed from Weld"s game, you"re not in the same ballpark."

Axel kissed my temple and chuckled. "Someone"s been spending too much time putting together sports teams."

I rubbed my nose along his neck and licked the mark I gave him, making him squirm. "Accurate statement. Once your knot lets go, I"m going to clean us up so we can sleep."

This time, it took longer for his knot to go down after his orgasm. When I complained, he gently bit down on the tip of my ear. "I"m holding all my seed inside you, letting it find your eggs and fertilize them."

"Not the time for a kobold sexuality lesson." My face was on fire from embarrassment. He kissed me, and it melted away, leaving me breathless and full of love for my alpha.

"We"re going to be great parents," he said. "I can"t wait."

Gods, I hoped that was true.

In our Monday afternoon meeting, Priestess Alma commended me and my beta assistants on a job well done. She suggested updates to two teams based on history between teammates that I didn"t know, and then she approved the final email.

"You"re a natural leader," she said. "The betas enjoy working with you. Do you need additional help when you"re on paternity leave, or can they handle your duties?"

"I"ll still be able to work from my phone and tablet," I offered.

"Tuft." Priestess Alma had a firm voice, but this was the first time I"d heard her take her sternest schoolteacher tone with me.

"Yes?" I hated when my voice squeaked.

"You can work through your pregnancy, but you will do no work in the months between laying and hatching." She paused. "I say months, but we"re still uncertain how quickly the eggs develop in the sunlight. I will check on you daily. If I catch you with a tablet in hand?—"

"All right, I get it." I sighed. "Kolge and Benz can handle the weekly admin duties. We should have our first season under our belts before I lay any eggs. I"ll send a follow-up survey and see if anyone wants to change teams."

She grinned at me. "You"re doing it again, always planning ahead. I"m so glad you found your mate. You need someone to take care of your body while your mind is running a thousand miles ahead."

"I take care of my body," I mumbled.

"You"ve been eating better since you met Axel, not skipping meals. You hated the gym, but now you"re starting a sports league. Don"t even try to pretend. He"s good for you."

"I know." My face burned from the truth in her statements. "I never said he wasn"t."

She stood and ushered me toward her classroom door, and we walked together to the cathedral. Her personal rooms were somewhere beyond the raised dais.

"I"ll be at the open house on Thursday," she said. "Who knows. I might join a team next time." She shook her head. "I didn"t mean to be hard on you, Tuft. We all need to spend more time in the sun, me included. I"m proud of all you"ve accomplished. It"s certainly not something I would have assigned to you. From now on, I"m going to let my omega students determine their own career paths the way you did."

"It was terrifying," I admitted.

"All the best things usually are." She patted my shoulder and entered the cathedral. I followed her inside, turning toward the giant dragon statue at the back above the array of unlit candles. This time, I lit only one. After my usual prayers for Statler and Waldorf, I whispered a little prayer for our first season. I wished for everyone to have a good time and for no one to get hurt.