Chapter Twenty-Two

I woke up in the middle of the night to movement. As in, someone was moving me. Moaning sleepily, I opened my eyes. Vax had me in his arms. He shifted me onto the bed beside him.

"Go back to sleep," Vax said.

My eyelids fluttered shut again with a sigh. But I didn't go back to sleep. I couldn't. Not with him touching me. And oh, Gods, was he touching me.

Vax tenderly trailed his hands over my face, smoothing back my hair before tracing my eyebrows. Then he was fascinated by my cheekbones. My jaw. My lips. I knew if I opened my eyes he'd stop, so I kept them closed and pretended to be asleep. I let my breathing go deep and even. My limbs loose.

"My Zixin," the King murmured, then his fingertips were replaced by the brush of his lips. "Zix."

Vaxarion's head lifted, but he didn't stop touching me. He must have been sitting up, kneeling beside me, because his adoring hands swept down my neck and over my shoulders. They outlined my pectorals but didn't flick my nipples. No, this wasn't about sexual pleasure. It was deeper than that. More intense. I knew it because he touched me as I longed to touch him. Reacquainting himself with my body. No. Reclaiming it.

His deep sighs made my chest ache. I wanted to go into his arms. To hold him and touch him in the same adoring way. But I remained still, my chest rising and falling steadily. I had no idea I possessed such strong willpower. But for him, to keep him touching me like that, my will was as strong as the Gods.

His hands branched out, tracing the line of my arms. Trailing over my fingertips. He cataloged every inch. Every scale. Down to the tips of my nails. Inward he went. Over my belly. He dipped into my navel, then brushed the bones of my pelvis. After outlining my hips, the King wound his fingers through my nether-curls.

My cock, a far worse actor than me, twitched to have him so near. The King's hand moved away, and I nearly groaned. With that cage around me, I wasn't sure if my groan was out of frustration or relief. But then Vax was back to stroking me, and I didn't care. I wanted this far more than sex. It almost felt like a ritual. He worshiped me with his broad palms, skimming them over my thighs. The way he cupped my knees, then trailed his fingers down my shins became something sacred. It awakened my soul, drawing it to the surface to follow Vaxarion's path. My body tingled until I felt both detached and irrevocably bound. I floated, but a tether held me to him.

Interspersed with those holy touches came the brush of lips and cheeks. The Sea King nuzzled me like a cat scent-marking its owner. By the time he got to my feet, I was completely his. Scent-marked, claimed, branded, whatever you want to call it. There wasn't a single doubt left in my mind that we were meant to be. Whatever he demanded of me, I would do it. Because I knew how much I meant to him now. And I wasn't giving this up. Not for anything or anyone. Not even Vaxarion himself.

Finally satisfied, Vax snuggled in against me and pulled me into his arms. Pressed my head to his heart. I pretended to nestle closer in my sleep, and this won me a rumble of pleasure that vibrated through his chest. He covered us with a blanket and curled around me, his arms both a shield and a cage. But I found that I craved the Sea Dragon King's cage.