Page 90 of Echoes of the Tide

“I know you do, Maketes. Because I love you, too.”

“Fuck,” he groaned, tilting his head back slightly before looking back at her.

By the gods, she was perfect. Those blush stained cheeks. Her lips were already red and swollen from his sharp teeth and little nips he couldn’t stop giving her. She was breathing hard, those perfect breasts heaving with every single breath.

Spread out in front of him like this, she was a feast for the senses. Just the scent of her, that sunshine touched skin, drove him wild. But hearing her? Seeing her like this? All it made him want was to know what she tasted like right now. He wanted her desire to coat his tongue, and then he wanted to never leave that taste behind. He wanted her with him forever, every moment he dove into the water and every moment he was parted from her.

“Maketes?” she whispered.

“Yes, kefi?”

“I don’t want to stop this time. I want to know what it feels like to have you inside me. I know that maybe that’s rushing things, but...” Those cheeks burned even darker. “I want this to be forever, you know? Why not now?”

He blinked a few times, the words sinking in before he blurted out, “But I haven’t brought you a gift yet.”

Fuck, he hadn’t. He was so stupid! He should have found one before bringing her here, because he was going about this all wrong. She needed a treasure. That was how it worked.

Kidnap, feed, treasures. It was always the same for every male and every pairing. If he didn’t do all that, then would the sea even bless their union? He might bring about an age of storms underneath the sea if he did all of it wrong.

And he wanted this to be real. So badly. He wanted every ounce of her need and desire and want to be for him because he’d earned it. She deserved that much from him.

But she was looking up at him with a grin on her face that was so wicked it gave him pause.

She didn’t usually look like that.

At least... Not without good reason. She’d looked at him like that when she’d sucked on his cocks and just the memory made him harder than he’d ever been in his life.

“What?” he finally asked. “What is that look for?”

“What look?”

“That look on your face that you usually only get right before you’re about to do something mischievous.” He leaned closer to her, nipping at her chin in the hopes to get her to talk. “What is on that beautiful mind of yours? Quickly, because I need to go find you a treasure that will convince you to say with me forever.”

“I have a treasure in mind,” she said, those talented fingers dancing down his chest. “And it’s one that you don’t have to leave to give me.”

That... wasn’t possible. Treasures had to be found. That was why they were treasures. A simple rock wouldn’t do. If it was that easy to just grab whatever was nearby, then people would be mated all the time. But it wasn’t that easy. It wasn’t meant to be that easy.

But he couldn’t focus all that well when her fingers were now at his stomach, toying with the grooves between his abs. “The treasure I’m thinking of is something only you have.”

His breathing grew ragged. He was trying his best to remember he knew how to talk, but her fingers were at the edges of his scales now. “Do you want one of my gold scales? I can rip them off for you, but they grow back. I don’t think they’re worth all that much, either. It’s not a treasure.”

She waited for him to stop babbling before her fingers played over the largest scale that hid his cocks. She knew exactly where they were now, it seemed. Clever girl.

“No, Maketes. These. I want these as my gift.”

These?

What were these?

He stared down at her, hoping his expression wasn’t one of pure panic. He didn’t know what she wanted and he could only pray that she would tell him soon, because he felt like he was falling apart at the seams.

A soft laugh escaped her, and then her fingers were toying with the seam that held him away from her.

She wrapped an arm around his neck and jerked him closer to her. Then she whispered in his ear, “Give me your cocks as a gift, undine. I want to feel them both inside of me.”

By the sea, she always made him see stars.

CHAPTER 36

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