Page 76 of Heart of the Deep

Dracchus clutched his mate to him, burying his face against her nape, and breathed in her scent. Her words hit him like a harpoon, tethering he and Larkin together irreversibly, finally completing the bond he’d longed for. A forever mate.

He released her and reared back, reaching for her clothing; he needed to feel her skin against his. Larkin was faster. She grasped fistfuls of her shirt and yanked it off over her head, her motions thrusting her chest against his. He lowered his face to her breasts and captured one in his mouth, sucking the hardened peak, careful of his teeth. She moaned, hands skimming his shoulders, sending small jolts straight to the tips of his tentacles.

Dracchus settled his hands on her sides and slid them down, tracing the curves of her hips and backside as he hooked her pants with his thumbs. He dragged the garment toward her feet, reaching up with two tentacles to finish removing it. His nostrils flared as the heady scent of her arousal permeated the air.

He raised his head and looked upon his mate.His. Her red hair was spread around her on the bedding, with tendrils of it draped over her pale, slim shoulders. His gaze drifted down her body, over her beautiful breasts, her flat stomach, and stopped on her scars. She had suffered, but he would allow her to suffer no longer; he would do everything in his power to make her happy. Everything to make her understand that, even in her lowest moments, even when she doubted herself, he would always believe in her.

Everything to make her understand she was the most valuable thing in his world.

His eyes dipped to the patch of hair between her legs, already damp with her desire. Curling his fingers around the inside of her thighs, he pried her legs apart. The glistening petals of her sex opened to him.

Dracchus groaned, clenching his teeth, and tilted his head back. His cock burst from his slit, throbbing, aching, eager to fill her. He wedged himself between her thighs, the bedding rough as coral to the oversensitive skin of his shaft.

“Oh, wow,” Larkin breathed.

He looked up to see her propped on her elbows, peering down the length of her body, her wide eyes locked on his cock.

“So that’s where it’s been? How the hell did it fit in there?”

“Female, now is not the time for such questions,” he growled with a smirk.

“I think now is definitely the time. And what are those…those things?” She leaned forward, extending an arm, and brushed her finger along one of the feelers at the base of his shaft.

Dracchus shuddered as pleasure flowed through him. He placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her back onto the bed, looming over her. The head of his cock slid between the wet folds of her sex. He gritted his teeth. It took every bit of his willpower to avoid thrusting against her.

“You will find out soon enough,” he said, voice strained.

Larkin opened her mouth as though to ask another question, but he silenced her with a kiss. She moaned into his mouth, matching the caress of lips and tongue, and undulated her hips to glide her sex over his shaft. Tearing his mouth from hers, he hissed through his teeth and clawed at the bedding. He took hold of her hip with one hand and pinned her to the bed.

“Not yet.” He lifted his torso and slid his pelvis back, breaking the contact between his cock and her sex. He needed to be inside her, but she wasn’t ready to receive him.

He smoothed his palms along her inner thighs, spreading them wide, and wrapped a tentacle around each of her calves. He lowered his face, stopping just before her sex, and looked up. Larkin watched him intently, her eyes hooded with desire. She shivered when he exhaled. He didn’t look away as he dipped his head, took in her scent, and slid his tongue over her silken folds.

She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and released a throaty sigh as her fingers clutched at the sheets.

Fierce need swept through him. Her reactions drove him to give her more, to learn every sensitive point on her body and discover how best to touch them, how to caress them, how to worship her. His cock ached, and he forced it against the bed to alleviate some of the pressure.

His tongue explored her; it delved between her folds, dipped into her channel, and teasingly flicked the small nub that seemed to send her into a frenzy. He drank from her, unable to get enough of his mate’s unique taste. It was his, and his alone.

“Dracchus,” she breathed, cupping her breasts and kneading them as her hips rocked against his mouth.

The sight of Larkin touching herself sent his desire to new heights. His seed seeped from the tip of his cock.

He clenched a fist, ignoring the bite of his claws into his skin.

Not yet.

“I’m so close,” she moaned.

Dracchus closed his lips around her nub, sucked it into his mouth, and growled. Her entire body tensed as she filled the room with a cry of pleasure. Her back arched before she sat up suddenly, wrapping her arms around his head, and pressed her sex hard against his mouth.

He grasped her backside with both hands and lashed her nub with his tongue and lips. Larkin screamed, her blunt nails biting into his skin, as a rush of hot nectar flowed from her.

He lapped at her until the involuntary undulation of her hips eased, until her cries diminished into panting breaths and her hands glided soothingly, lovingly, over his neck and shoulders. Before she could settle fully, he resumed his attentions, bringing her to another crest — slowly, leisurely, coaxing every tiny reaction he could from her body.

He brushed his lips over her inner thigh and worked his way up to her lower stomach, tenderly kissing her scars. Her abdomen tensed, but she relaxed it quickly, running her fingers over his head. Dracchus drew himself up, pushing her gently onto her back again. He shifted his tentacles up from her calves, wrapping them around her thighs and under her knees, and guided her legs to encircle his hips.

“I want you,” she said, brushing her hand down his chest.

---