Page 41 of The Unseelie War
“Beautiful,” he breathed, his hands hovering just above her skin, not quite touching. “So impossibly beautiful.”
“You can touch me,” she whispered. “I want you to.”
His hands made contact with her bare skin, and the sound he made was almost anguished in its intensity. His palms were warm and slightly rough, sending sparks of electricity through her everywhere they touched. Behind him, his spider legs shifted restlessly, and she could see golden threads beginning to form in the air aroundthem—not binding, just beautiful patterns that spoke of his emotional state.
“Ava.” He said her name like it was the only word that mattered.
She reached for him then, her hands moving to the strange boundary where human merged with spider. Where his hips would be, following down in the V shape. The claspers were to either side, and there was a…
Well, she wasn’t quite sure how itwassupposed to work, but now she was deeply curious. It seemed he—well—to answer Izael’s question, the answer wasmermaid,and his bits were stored internally.
Part of her was deeply relieved that she wasn’t going to be flat on the ground underneath a ten-or-fifteen-foot long spider body.
There was a small slit in the fur of his lower abdomen where she assumed his manhood was, well, kept. Gently, curiously, she ran her hand along it. There was a hard, rigid shape within that twitched beneath her palm. The texture was unlike anything she'd ever felt—warm and smooth but with an underlying strength that spoke of power barely contained. At her touch, he shuddered violently, his multiple eyes falling closed.
“Is this…?” she started to ask.
“Yes—” The word left him in a rushed exhale. “Voids, please…don’t stop.”
The claspers near his hips were reaching for her now with obvious intent, and she could see that his control was hanging by the thinnest of threads. Everything about his posture, his breathing, the way his hands trembled against her skin—it all spoke of someone on the very edge of losing himself completely.
“Have you ever…made love like this before?” She stroked her hand still over the hard length still hidden within his body. It had those same strange ridges she had felt inside herself when they’d had sex. Inhuman and bizarre—but certainly not unpleasant.
“No.” The confession was quiet. Barely audible.
She didn’t press for details.
Leaning forward, she kissed the center of his chest. “That changesnow.” She undid the clasp of her bra and tossed it aside. Her shoes, socks, pants, and underwear followed suit a moment later. When she was fully naked in front of him, she went back to her task. This time with both hands, she stroked her hands over the skin of his chest before trailing lower, to the fur of his lower abdomen, where he was clearly struggling to keep himself contained.
“I know you’re still hiding from me.” She kissed his chest again, slower that time, savoring it, feeling his muscles twitch beneath her. “At the very least, let me touch you…”
He let out a low groan, everything in him tensing up as if he were a rabid animal at the end of a rope that was ready to snap. Each second that she was touching him was one more thread of his restraint visibly popping loose.
“I do not know if I will…” He grimaced, his fangs already dripping venom. “I do not know if I will attempt tobreedyou, Ava—” The word sounded loathsome to him. Disgusting. Heinous. “If I lose control of myself, that base animal within me may seek to mate with you…I do not know what I will do…”
The length of him still concealed within his body beneath her hand twitched at his words, clearly excited by the prospect despite how much he clearly hated the idea in his mind.
As for her? The thought of him, pinning her down, filling her, claiming her,breedingher—twisted something up in her and lit it on fuckingfire.God damn it. Every time she was around him, she learned something new and twisted about herself. She let out a wavering breath, and nipped at his skin, dragging her teeth along the smooth, soft, peach-fuzz surface. “Do we even know if I can get pregnant? Being that I’m not really human anymore?”
His answer was ragged, thick with lust. “I do not think anyone would have the answer.” He shuddered. His claspers were once more desperately reaching for her. She felt one brush against the bare skin of her thigh.
“Well, you’re science-minded…right?” She stroked her hand harder over his concealed length. “Consider it research.”
“Ava—” He snarled, almost angrily. His hips bucked forward, clearly of their own accord. “This is not agame.I am not playing with you?—”
“Neither am I.” She met his golden gaze. “I love you, Serrik. I am here with you. And I am going to accept what happens—all of it. And I…I want this. I want you. I don’t know if that’sme,or the Web, orwhat.But I do. I wantall of you.The beast. The fae. Serrik. Both halves that make the whole. I want you to finally—finally—snap the leash you’re on.”
His eyes flicked between hers in a mix of disbelief and hunger. “And when you wake from a poisoned stupor, twelve hours from now, ravaged, mauled, and possiblypregnantwith—” He broke off, unable to even finish the words.
“Thenwewill raise our children in whatever world we wind up in. This one. The Web. Earth. Tir n’Aill. Or whatever bizarre new fucked up pseudo-reality we create instead. If that’s even a thing thatcanhappen. Which we don’t know.” The idea of having his children was such a wild idea it would’ve made her laugh if it weren’t for the dire expression on his face. But, all things considered…she knew in a weird way? He’d be a good father. If he didn’t try to, y’know,murderthem all for being quarter fae. Or…whatever.
She wanted to focus on thenow.
Children were later.
Right now, she had a very large,veryattractive,veryangry,veryhorny spider-fae-monster standing in front of her.
One she very, very much wanted to make good on all the threats he was making at her. “Serrik…” She took his hand and ran it up along her side, encouraging him to touch her.“Please.Believe me when I say I love you. Believe me when I say I want this. But most of all, believe me when I say that I trust you.”
