Chapter 29

She’s bound against my rib cage, tucked beneath my arm, beautifully naked—her cheeks flushed with a glorious glow that makes my heart thump with satisfaction. That makes a different part of me thump with the swelling warmth of deep, ravenous want.

I groan as my cock tents the furs. I’m just reaching over to brush the back of my hand across her cheek when Zykanth slams his tail against my ribs—like a chastisement.

My hand whips back, and I bare my teeth at him, releasing an internal growl that rattles his cage. ‘What in all five seas was that for?’

‘Little man let soft little mate sleep big sleep. Soft little mate tired.’

Frowning, I reach back, slipping my hand under my head instead of traversing it over her curves, looking up at the crystal ceiling that’s ablaze in a riot of color from the moonlight shafting in through the window. Wondering when Zykanth became the voice of reason.

Not sure how I feel about that.

He’s right, though. She’s probably exhausted. But just the thought that she’s exhausted from me gets me fucking harder, and that’s not going to fix anything.

I should get up, get some air. Maybe … go for a walk.

Zykanth rumbles his approval. ‘Yes, walk little legs. Down track, over grass, down track, down stairs. Down, down, down …’

‘I know what you’re up to,’ I mutter, easing off the snowy furs. Rolling another, I fold it around her like a nest before I press a kiss against her temple. I pull on the patchy shorts—far too short and tight—and, with a groan, tuck my throbbing cock into the constricting material. Threading the buttons into their holes, I steal another glance at Vicious …

Maybe just a quick—

Zykanth snaps his maw around my rib, and I wince, deciding it’s best to take this tussle outside.

I head out the door, snipping it shut behind me.

“You’re acting weird,” I growl, the crisp night air a refreshing nip to my skin. Working wonders on my hot, hard want as I weave down crystal trails, escorted by ribbons of color hanging low in the sky.

‘Soft little mate need rest. Little man blind.’

‘And you’re a pain in my balls.’

I tell myself I’m just going to check on the vegetable patch the young ones planted earlier today—at least until I pass the vegetable patch and can no longer continue lying.

I had no idea there was a trove beneath this island. Some lucky drake must have camouflaged the entrance very well all those years ago. It’s impossible to fathom what unlikely treasures such a cunning beast would have hoarded … until they no doubt became a feast for the beast that now roams these waters.

An uncracked trove over a thousand years old …

Salivating, I swallow.

‘Just one look,’ I warn Zykanth, who’s practically dragging me forward by his bitten grip on my spleen. ‘No touching.’

‘Little touch?’

‘You never just touch.’

‘Steal instead?’

Exactly.

I jog down the quiet tunnel bathed in filtered moonlight mottled with every color of the rainbow, spilling into the cavern, coming to a stop a few steps away from the well I watched the young one drop that sparkly rose into.

‘Why stop?’

‘I don’t know,’ I murmur, a shiver running the length of my spine as I look at the skewed rift, something tapping at me that I can’t quite put my finger on. ‘Something feels … wrong.’

‘Little man turned soft man.’ Zykanth thrashes against my rib cage so hard I grunt, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps going, going, going, making it hard to draw breath—like I’m taking fisted blows to the chest. ‘Forget how to drake.’

‘How about— I shove a— clam in your— mouth?’ I grit out between violent blows.

‘Big talk for little man with tiny legs.’

Sighing, I ease forward, looking down the sheer drop to the glimmering water below, feeling my eyes glaze.

Zyke stills, charmed by the sight, sending a tap-tap-tap down into the abyss as I swallow thickly, the urge to have and hold and cradle and steal boiling in my chest …

‘Yes! Yes! Yes! Steal treasures. Build big trove for little chosen one. Much work. Zykanth only one who thinks important things. Little man think with wrong head.’

Actually, he has a point. We absolutely need a bigger trove. More treasure to impress her.

‘More seaweed for soft bed.’

‘Okay, you’ve convinced me,’I concede, praying there’s an exit that doesn’t spit me out in the ocean. Or that I can find a way to climb up through the hole again afterward. ‘It would be nice to get my tail out …’

Anver’s right—it’s been too long.

‘Yes. too long. Exercise tail in trove. Swirl, swirl, swirl!’

‘If we find anything good, I guess we can just take it back to the hut and store it amongst Vicious’s pile of knickknacks.’

‘Yes! Impress little savage one,’ Zykanth trills, churning round so fast he’s a scaled blur. ‘Steal, little hands! Go now.’

Heart thumping hard, I take off the shorts, happy to toss them aside as I move to the pinched end of the hole. Shifting to the edge, I plant one hand on either side of the jagged cleft and ease forward, drop all my weight into my shoulders, then lower my feet toward the depths.

A tingling sensation kindles at the tips of my toes, rippling up my legs. My skin tears, scales peeling to the surface, bones extending—blunt tips tapering off. My feet elongate, stretching out like curling waves that swish and sway to the flexing dance of my mighty muscles.

A smile spreads across my lips as the point of our frilly tail brushes the surface of the water far below, euphoria flooding my veins—

The words whisper up from the water’s depths, sharpening, spearing through my heart and making my stomach convulse. Making Zykanth still so fast my arms buckle.

‘Treasured one …’

My smile drops as I cling to the edge of the well, her voice raw and halting. Churned out on a sob. Her words not an admission, but a plea.

I swallow the bile rising in my throat, releasing a pained groan …

Orlaith needs me.

* * *

Her words haunt me, her chilling whisper pulsing up and down my spine as I look at Vicious sound asleep coiled within the nest I bound her in.

I study her beautiful lines, aching at the thought of leaving her.

Knowing I have no choice.

It’s too dangerous for her out there in the big wide ocean. I may not make it across the abyss myself, so I can’t risk taking her in Zykanth’s mouth.

Won’t.

She stirs, blinking up at me, her eyes like sleepy suns that glow in the dark amongst her whitewash of hair.

“Mine,” she says, reaching for me with one arm.

I give her a melancholy smile. “Yours, Vicious. Always yours.”

She frowns as I push my pants off and tuck into the furs beside her, lengthening her body so the plump curve of her ass is pressed against my thighs. She stretches around, twisting at the waist to set her hand upon my cheek, then searches my eyes in slow sweeps, like she’s trying to delve beneath the waters.

“Mine,” she repeats, lifting my hand off her hip and coaxing it down the slope of her belly.

Farther.

Easing me toward her wet, swollen entrance.

I groan, running my fingers through her, swirling around that nub that makes her jolt against me.

Her lids flutter closed as she squirms, arching her neck, baring a stretch of beautiful sun-kissed skin to my hungry mouth. I lave at her, feeling her skin burst with goosebumps beneath my lips, grazing my teeth along her delicate flesh.

“Mine,” she cries, tilting her hips so she’s splayed against my hardening cock, rocking, lifting her leg and draping it over my thigh—telling me exactly what she wants.

I raise my left leg and split hers apart. “Yours, Vicious,” I whisper upon her throat as I open her with my fingers, coaxing the head of my thick, aching cock against her entrance. “Yours,” I growl, and drive up into her clamping depths with a spear of my hips—wishing this could fix everything. Wishing this could shift the heavy guilt from my shoulders.

Devastated by thoughts that she won’t understand.