Page 111 of Song of the Abyss

Arcing over a plateau, he paused on the outskirts of a vented area. It was warmer here, the water almost too hot for him. But she would be able to float comfortably. And then there were the bubbles. Every time a vent released, it scattered a thousand bubbles that at this time of the day... Ah. There it was. They all turned into a thousand rainbows the moment the sun hit them.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, his mouth against her neck. “Just like you.”

She let out a little sound, a moan that filled him with hope. Then suddenly she was twisting in his arm, grabbing at him. Gripping his hand and dragging it to her waist, to her breasts, to anything she could get him to touch.

“I’m better now,” she whispered, her lips finding his and pressing the words against him. “I’ve been waiting for a week and you’ve been gone and I... I’m okay. I just need you.”

He groaned, the sound part need and part relief. He had been feeling the same way, but he wasn’t certain that she wanted to be pushed. After all the things he’d done, all the things they had both been through, he wanted to give her time. He wanted to let her breathe. He wanted...

Her.

Fuck, he just wanted her.

Arm banding around her, he dragged her against his chest so her breasts were crushed against him. He kissed her like he was a starving man. Trying his best to press into her very soul all the things that he’d been afraid to say in the past week. He wanted her. He needed her. She was everything to him, and he would give up the entire world if that made her happy. He would give up the sea itself to see her smile.

Breathing hard, he bit at her bottom lip. “I need to see you, kalon. I’ve been dying to see you for too long now.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Anya twisted in his arms, dragging the fabric of her nightgown up over her head. He had seen nothing like her before. The ivory beauty of her skin reflected the colors of the thousand bubbles behind her. The sunlight beaming through the water heated her flesh and warmed it even more to his touch.

But even better, beyond the soft curve of her waist and the pretty softness that gave underneath his fingers, were the scars that marked her head. Like braids, they twisted along one side of her skull and just barely kissed where her face began. They were the marks of the woman he loved, and of the strength she possessed to survive.

He touched his fingers to the patch of circular scars underneath her eye. Lingering where the new lens just barely covered before he heaved her up in his arms.

She gasped, but then her head fell back as his claws parted her lovely folds.

“Look at you,” he praised, his mouth already watering. “Already so wet for me, kalon. Gods, I have waited to taste you for too long.”

He allowed the water to buoy her upward until her legs were tangled around his shoulders. With one long lick, he finally had his mate’s taste back on his tongue. His eyes rolled back in his head as he did it again and she let out that little moan that always made his heart race and his blood thunder in his body. This was what he had needed. This was what he had been missing his entire life.

A groan vibrated through him, his gills flaring wide as he licked and sucked at her skin. If he could crawl inside her, he would. He planned to. Fuck, he needed years to explore the woman writhing in his arms.

He glanced up the long line of her body. She’d lifted her arms above her head, all those soft curves his to claim if he wished. Her hands were sunk into her hair, the coiled tangles of gold catching in the light and fuck, she was beautiful. Every inch of her. Her eyes squeezed shut, her cheeks just slightly blushed. She was everything he had always wanted and more.

“You taste so fucking good,” he growled, sinking his tongue deep inside her. This was what he had discovered she enjoyed. Her legs locked around the back of his neck, squeezing tight as he slowly rolled the entire length of this tongue inside her body.

When he had her writhing so hard he feared for her heart, he pulled back just long enough to growl, “I’m going to fill you up, Anya. And then I’m going to watch my cum seep out of that pretty little slit of yours. And you’re going to take me, aren’t you? All of me.”

She whimpered, looking down at him with those heated eyes. She nodded, but that wasn’t enough for him. Not at all.

“Say it,” he growled.

“Yes,” she croaked.

And so he feasted. He licked and sucked and tasted until she came apart in his arms. Until her tiny claws dug into his arms and she dragged him even closer at the same time as she tried to push him away.

Pleasure pounded in his chest. His cocks were so hard he thought a single touch would send him off the edge, but he’d never been happier in his life. He’d never known that a woman like her could exist.

He thought he’d pleasured her speechless until those warm blue eyes looked him over and she suddenly twisted. Locking herself around him, she moved down his body until he was poised right where he wanted to enter her.

“I won’t be able to stop like last time,” he said, his voice still low and guttural. “There’s two for a reason, my kalon. Last time was just the beginning.”

“Last time was learning,” she replied. Her gaze was just as heated as his as she reached between them to cup him. “This time is for me.”

He didn’t have the faintest idea what she meant until she guided him inside her.

Clenching his teeth, now he was the one who had to close his eyes as she slid him up and down her wet slit. By the gods, she was hot. So hot that it warmed him all the way into his depths. He wanted, no, needed, more than this. He wanted to thrust into her as she’d taught him. He wanted to feel her surrounding him and clenching as he moved.

And then she was. She sank her hips over him and drew him down until she bumped against his scales.