Page 25

Iris

No orgasm has ever been as powerful as the one Kala just gave me.

My heart pinched with a minor pain when he bit off his claws.

Sorin has told me how important they are to Krijese because they make powerful weapons.

Although they no longer battle each other, I am sure it must have been difficult to remove them.

I do not wish for Kala to regret anything that happens between us.

I’ve avoided looking at his cock—other than the quick peek I took when he first removed his pants—but knowing we’re not finished I let my gaze drift down to it.

I hadn’t misjudged its size the last time I saw it.

Only up this close it’s even more intimidating.

But it also makes my core throb with need and want.

Without thinking I reach down to touch it. Kala sucks in a breath and freezes. I jerk my gaze up. “Did I do something wrong?”

He shakes his head sharply and only once. “No. Your touch is perfect.”

Already he is not always easy to understand, and his words are difficult to make out in their harsh, guttural gravelly sound, but I know what he says.

My cheeks grow hot with the praise, but a womanly pride fills me up that I’m able to please my man.

That I can make him teeter on the edge of control.

He says my touch makes him powerless, but for me, the opposite is true.

Gaining confidence knowing he likes what I did, I wrap my hand around his length and slowly stroke up and down like he had done to himself the other night. My fingers don’t touch each other and a small tremor ripples through my pussy.

“Am I doing this right?”

That rough sound of amusement he makes rumbles out of him. “Also perfect.”

Considering I’ve never done this before, I’m not sure that’s true, but I take the compliment and continue doing my best to learn what pleases Kala the way he studied which of his touches did the same for me.

I stroke his full length and wonder at the bulge at the base of his cock, above the two sacs.

Is that supposed to go inside me, too? Swallowing down my nerves, I keep moving my hand in an awkward motion.

Kala grips my hand within his. “Tighter. Faster. Like this.”

He clamps down and I worry I’m holding and stroking him too tightly, but his head falls back and a sound of pure ecstasy leaves him.

Since it’s clear he’s enjoying what I’m doing, I continue, but change the pace and pressure in which I stroke him while I try to find the combination that makes him lose control.

It isn’t long before I find the rhythm that brings the most reactions from him.

Guttural sounds rumble out of him and the vibrations travel straight to my clit, increasing my own arousal.

Together, we soar toward the clifftop. The tightening pressure within me mounts, but I push it away, because I want Kala to come first.

With only a few more strokes, he goes rigid and his cock jerks.

Ropes of seed erupt from the tip to splash onto his stomach and cover my hand.

The sight of it triggers my release and I let myself go.

My body trembles and shockwaves ripple through my core.

The air, otherwise warm, is cool over my damp, sweat-slicked flesh.

I drop kisses over Kala’s face, careful to avoid his tusks.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me tightly into him.

For several minutes, neither of us speak, merely bask in the afterglow of what surely is love.

I glance down and am shocked to discover he’s still hard and the swollen base of his cock pulsates. I lift my head to meet his gaze.

“What is this?” I reach for him, but stop just before I touch the thickened segment.

“It is my knot. Once I am inside you, it locks us together until it is ready to release us.”

I swallow, because I suspected as much, and I’m already not sure how Kala’s going to fit. He strokes my cheek with his now clawless finger.

“We will go slow.”

My hand goes over his. “Thank you.”

“Are you ready to become mates?”

“Yes.”

Kala rolls us so he covers my body partially with his, but he doesn’t enter me.

Instead, he plays with my breasts again, using all the knowledge he’s gained in such a short time to ramp up my pleasure.

It doesn’t take long before I’m panting and wetness pools beneath me.

Every time he plucks or pinches my nipples, there’s an echoing ping of pleasure between my thighs.

He drags his fingers away from my breasts and traces a path down my belly to my core.

I arch up to meet him, needy for the pleasure only he can give me.

A cry of desire falls from my lips when he makes contact with my clit.

As though Kala’s always known exactly how to tease and tempt me, he does so with precision until I’m right on the edge of another orgasm.

Before I know it, I’m falling and crying out his name.

I don’t have time to recover before he’s between my thighs. There’s a stretching sensation and burning. Tears prick my eyes and I stare into the swirling, dancing depths of his to give myself something else to focus on.

“I am sorry for the hurt I am causing.”

“It’s okay.” I stroke his face.

Kala pauses only briefly before inching farther inside me. He stops moving and I measure my breaths. I’m full in ways I never expected. Feeling him inside me is strange and yet oh so right at the same time. Like we were always meant to be one.

“Please,” I beg wanting us to take this last step in making us mates.

He hesitates, but then surges forward until he’s fully buried inside me except for his knot. I cry out and squeeze my eyes shut, a few tears escaping against my will. Kala tries to draw himself away, but I wrap my legs around him and lock my ankles at his lower back.

“No. Stay.”

He freezes and gives me time to adjust, all while murmuring sounds in a language that isn’t translating.

Slowly the burning and aching eases, but the sensation of being full doesn’t.

I run my hand and forearm over his shoulders and there’s so much tension in him.

I glance at his face and it’s visible there too.

“I think you can move now. But go slow, please.”

“For you, anything,” Kala says through a tight jaw.

He shifts and I wait for the sharp, stabbing pain again, but it’s dull.

I can tell how careful he’s being as he slowly withdraws.

Not far enough to slip out of me, but close.

He thrusts forward and pulls back, setting up a calm and gentle rocking motion with his hips that drives him deeper with each thrust. The pleasure I felt before is just out of reach and I don’t know how to recapture it.

“Touch my clit. Please.”

Kala does so immediately, not once pausing his thrusting motion.

The dual sensations are just what I need, because I can feel the tension building again.

It’s like a slow burning flame that needs careful tending or the fire will be snuffed out.

My mate must sense the same thing, because he pulls out all the tricks.

Soon, the maelstrom of sensations swirl like a gathering dust storm.

Behind them is still a burning ache, but it’s overpowered by the tsunami that grows within me, soon reaching a pinnacle so high I’m afraid of how it will feel to fall.

Yet, I know Kala will be there to catch me.

“You are taking me so well, sweeney.”

More wetness spills from me at the praise. He rubs my clit perfectly and I relax enough that he sinks a little deeper and I stretch more around the still thickest part of him. I want everything he has to give me, even if it hurts.

“Give it to me.” I tighten my leg grip around him and try to force him farther inside me.

“Stop, Iris, you will hurt yourself.”

I rattle my head. “I don’t care. I need you, Kala. Please.”

He fights against his instincts. It’s in the way the muscles in his neck, shoulders, and arms bulge.

I don’t give an inch though. Finally, in a single, powerful move, he jerks his hips and embeds the swollen base of his cock inside me, stretching my flesh around him.

Warmth fills me and he roars out his climax.

Tears spill out the corners of my eyes, but beyond the pain is the most beautiful feeling ever.

The feeling of being whole. No one else could complete me like Kala.

He doesn’t move, but holds himself perfectly still as his entire body covers and surrounds mine.

Kala’s breath is hot against the side of my face. I turn and kiss the knobby protrusion of skin where his tusks grows from. He lifts his head and stares down at me. The blurred vision of him through my tears is the most perfect sight.

“We are truly mates now,” I whisper harshly.

“True mates.”

I don’t know how long we lie there connected, but through the smoke-hole in the roof of the tent the second moon appears at last. Only then does Kala soften within me.

Carefully he withdraws, but still I wince with the pain of it.

I know the first time hurts, and I suspect it will again even the second time, but it’s worth it to be this close to him.

He sniffs the air. “You bleed.”

There’s a twinge of panic in his voice and I clutch his arm. “I’m okay. It’s to be expected.”

Regardless of my reassurances, he scrambles to light what he calls a fire stick and rushes over to examine me. “I knew I should not have.”

“Kala, stop. I’m fine, I swear. It’s common for women to bleed during their first time no matter how much we try and prepare ourselves. I’m not going to die from losing my virginity, I promise.”

“May I at least tend to you?”

“I’d like that.”

He wets one of the cloths we used to clean each other before we began and comes back over to gently wash away the blood and his essence that is slowly spilling out of me.

I suck in a breath and flinch when he hits an especially tender spot and the tiny speck of silver that’s been present in his eyes since he entered me dims.

Once he’s thoroughly cleaned me he tosses the blood-tinged water outside and returns to the furs to pull me into his arms.

“I am sorry, but we can never do that again,” he announces.

Tonight is our wedding night and I don’t want to argue so I let it go for now. We’ll have the rest of our lives for me to change his mind. Instead, I snuggle closer to him and rest my forearm on his chest. My heart is overflowing with emotion.

“When I left Earth, I didn’t know what to expect when I got to Tavikh.

But this place is more than I could have ever hoped for.

” I lift my head and wait until our eyes meet.

“Kala of the Krijese, you are more than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you for giving me a son and for being the best mate and father. You make my life complete.”

“Iris of Earth, I thought that I was claiming you, but in truth you have claimed every single part of me including both of my hearts. They are forever yours.”

Kala leans down and presses his mouth slit against my lips in his best version of a kiss. I sigh with the simple pleasure of it and lay my head on the crook of his shoulder. Before long, my eyes grow heavy and I drift off to sleep finally knowing what it feels like to love and be loved.