Page 39 of Their Human to Entice

I’m about to tell him as much when I feel his hand on my waist, his fingers wrapping around me in a loving caress that fills my lower abdomen with warmth and sends butterflies fluttering through my stomach. We haven’t been intimate since the day the storms started, but it hasn’t been for my lack of trying.

“What are you doing?” I suck in a breath before turning around, lying on my side facing Lyath so our faces are close. He places his hand back on my hip, his fingers traveling lower until he’s cupping the outside of my ass. I moan and arch my body into his.

“It has been many days,” Lyath murmurs. His fingers release me before running down my thigh, only stopping to grab me and pull me close to him. “Many, many days.” He sounds more like he’s talking to himself than to me.

I wonder if he’s having to work out what he wants with how he thinks he should act to avoid disrespecting our shared mate. Me? I don’t have the same problems as Lyath because I know Beren wouldn’t want us to make ourselves miserable.

“We can enjoy one another,” I say.

He keeps his gaze on my chest. He enjoys watching my chest heave as hard as his. We’re both trying to keep our bodies calm enough to make sure we both want this.

“We can be with one another and still be his,” I murmur, cupping his face and drawing his attention to my face.

“Yes, I think so,” Lyath says, his words sounding more sure. The fear in his eyes softens as our breathing begins to mingle and our heartbeats start to sync. “We need to discuss what happens if Beren is not safe.”

Lyath’s words are like a bucket of ice water on my arousal. His eyes go wide when he sees my reaction, and then he’s throwing himself onto his back, tossing an arm over his eyes. “That was not how I meant for that to come out.”

“He’s coming back,” I snap, anger taking the place of arousal. Lyath makes a groaning sound in the back of his throat but doesn’t look at me.

“I know this, but he told me I was to take care of you if anything ever happens to him. I feel like we need to discuss that before I make love to you. I have been thinking about it all day. It is only making my cock harden, even though I am more than worried enough. I do not wish to take on the responsibility of taking care of you because it is Beren’s job. I am not making love to you while it is the only thing on my mind, though. It makes me feel as though I am betraying him.”

“Shut up,” I roll my eyes, lie on my back, and mimic Lyath’s position by throwing my arm over my eyes. “Did he seriously tell you to watch over me if something happened to him?”

“Yes, of course he did. You are small and need much protecting, I imagine.”

I snort and then try my hardest to silence it because this should be a serious conversation since neither of us knows where Beren is or what’s happened to him. “He told me the same thing. You realize that, right?”

Lyath rolls onto his side, his eyes boring a hole into me, but I don’t move my arm to see the look he’s giving me. “No, you are much too weak to protect me. He most definitely would not have asked this of you.”

“Maybe I’m meant to make sure you don’t come too often,” I counter. Lyath sucks in a quick breath, a hiss rattling out of him as he exhales. “Yeah, so now that we both know Beren asked us to keep the other safe, what do you want to do about it?”

“Well, I just wanted you to know I was thinking about it all day, and my lack of lovemaking has made me think of protecting and having you in all ways.” Lyath’s voice gets small the longer he talks, but he doesn’t stop until he’s said everything he needs to say. “I do not wish to take Beren’s mate from him, and I most definitely do not want to take you if he is safe and sound in the great hall. Still, I needed to tell you all of this before I tried to woo you tonight. I did not want you to lay with me if you were unaware of what I was thinking. It feels wrong to me.”

“We’re not making any serious decisions until the storms slow, and we can go look for Beren.” I move my arm enough to see if he’s looking at me, which, of course, he is. I can feel his breath on me and his tongue lash against my neck in soft caresses. He swallows thickly when I look at him, and then he moves closer, wrapping his arms back around me and pulling me tight to him again like I am his lifeline in the confusing feelings he’s having.

“I understand that, and I agree.” Lyath nuzzles his head against the top of my curls, and his hands splay wide on my back to keep me close. “May I hold you close while we sleep?”

“You only want to sleep?” I ask. “After all of that, you don’t want to do anything else?”

“I think it is for the best if we just sleep tonight,” Lyath says, his arms tightening around me. “Maybe in the morning, we can think about lovemaking again. Tonight, I need to be close to you.”

I make a soft humming sound in the back of my throat and nuzzle closer to Lyath’s cool scales. I stick one of my feet between his thighs, and he squeezes it softly before speaking again. “Will you sleep well, or do you need me to take care of your female needs?”

I choke on a laugh, “No, no, my female needs are fine.”

“Okay,” Lyath says with a single nod. “You will tell me if they are not met.”

“I will.” I keep the laugh locked deep inside because I know Lyath’s being serious right now. He wraps the blanket tighter around his shoulders, making sure my head isn’t covered before he lets his body relax. Our heartbeats slow, and so do our breaths, until we’re both falling into a deep sleep with the storm raging outside.

Something cool traces a line from my forehead down my cheek to my jaw. I swat it away and bury my face back toward Lyath. I make a sound of protest when whatever I swatted away begins to trace down the side of my neck and over my shoulder.

Whatever is touching me doesn’t seem to care about my attempts to shoo it away. The blanket is dragged off my body, leaving my torso exposed to the warm night air. Lyath’s hands are still wrapped around me, but I can feel whatever it is moving lower down my back, over my sides, and around my waist.

I’m not awake enough to understand what or who it is immediately. In fact, he manages to wrap an arm around my waist before I finally wake up enough to let out a squeal that has Lyath startling awake and his eyes flashing red.

“Beren!” I twist in Lyath’s hold, which is now extra tight since he woke in the worst possible way. Thankfully, Lyath is a bit quicker about waking up, and he releases me so I can throw myself into Beren’s arms.

“My mates,” Beren says with a smile that lights his face up in joy. His scales are wet. His tunic and pants are soaked through. Not that it’s stopped him from crawling into the bed with us and soaking our blankets as well.

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