Page 15

Tori

I have so many things I want to talk to Marron about. I want to tell him I know what happened.

Joll and his friends knocked Marron out when he was on his way to the mating ceremony, roughed him up while he was still unconscious, and then tied him to a tree outside the tribe's walls. Best case scenario, he was just supposed to miss the mating ceremony. Worst case, he could've died out there.

I'm not thinking about any of that anymore, though.

Not when Marron talks to me in English, telling me he did it for me.

No, when he tells me that, I can't do anything but climb up his body and press my lips against his.

I don't care about the others around us.

I don't care that I'm not entirely sure if this is within the rules.

The only thing I care about is being as close to my male as I can.

" Can you leave the square? " I barely get the question out before I kiss him again, loving how he hisses against me and rattles our bodies. It's a much different sound than the one he made at Joll when he grabbed my arm, and that one was one of the sexiest things I'd ever heard.

Marron's fingers tighten where he's holding me. He's got handfuls of ass, and he's not hiding how much he's enjoying getting to support me.

"You lead." He manages to get out, telling me I can do whatever I want to him as long as I initiate it.

" I want you to sit, " I speak to him in English and moan my pleasure at him understanding me as he moves toward one of the tables with a handful of chairs around it.

I expect him to grab one, pull it out, and sit down quickly.

Instead, he shuffles my weight around to grab the back of one of the chairs and keep me in his arms. He pulls the chair back over to the little white square he was standing in and then turns the chair to face the wall before sitting with me in his lap.

"Now, what do you want me to do?" Marron asks.

I shift myself in his lap, my hands moving from his horns to behind his neck.

I grind my hips when I feel his cock pressing against me and sigh softly when it twitches against me.

I lean back, taking in how he is still the most handsome male I've ever seen, even with half his face swollen and bruises marring his cheeks and eyes.

He smiles at me, the motion causing him to wince, but he tries to hide it.

" I want you to sit back and let me do whatever I want to you. "

I grind myself against him in slow strokes. I wish we were wearing less clothing, but we are still in the dining hall. Even without the mating ceremony, there's an actual rule about no nudity in the dining hall. I never understood it, but now I think I get it.

"I can do that." Marron nods and then leans back in the chair, relaxing his body and letting his hands rest on the armrests. "I can be very good at that."

"If I hurt you, tell me." I look him in the eyes, making sure he understands I'm serious about it. I want to tease him since there's not much we can do out loud in front of everyone. What I don't want is to tease him so much that I end up hurting him. "I trust you to tell me, okay?"

His throat bobs as he swallows, and then he nods, his eyes flashing down my body to where I'm still grinding against him. "This is the opposite of hurting me."

I chuckle, my smile forcing my eyes to crinkle in the corners.

I lean forward, rising on my knees to press another kiss against his lips.

I move from his lips to his bruised cheek, down his jaw, to his neck.

When he hisses sharply when my tongue traces the scales where his shoulder and neck meet, I wrap my lips around the spot and suck on it.

He's relaxing in his chair, but as soon as I latch onto his neck, his hands come up to cradle me against him.

"Will you mark me?" Marron asks, his words tight as he forces them through clenched teeth. I don't move my mouth from around his neck to answer him. I know what marks he's talking about.

One of his blood has a mate who marks her male all over with scars from her teeth.

I never thought I'd be into it, but now that I have Marron's scales in my mouth, his hands holding me against him as if begging me to bite down, I'm finding that I want to know how it'll feel to break his scales.

I run my teeth over the sensitive spot, and Marron hisses a low sound, his cock never letting me forget it's still between us.

"I am not in pain," he assures me, as though I could mistake his sounds of pleasure for anything else.

I scrape my teeth against the same spot, trying to decide if I have it in me to bite down into him hard enough to mark his scales.

I press them against him softly and can feel how his body tenses in anticipation.

It's all the motivation I need as I bite down hard enough to split his scales.

His fingers tangle in my hair, holding my head close to him as I keep my teeth sinking into him.

" Such a sweet mate, " he groans as he leans his head further to the side, allowing me more room to get comfortable. " So good to me. My sweet mate. "

Marron's body begins to relax, and he relaxes his hold on my head.

His claws run through my hair in soft motions that have goosebumps popping up all over my arms and down my body.

His touches are soft and sweet as he waits for me to pry my teeth away from his neck, but he doesn't rush me, and I find it comforting to just rest against him, with him in my mouth.

I don't know how long we sit like that before Marron goes rigid and hisses loudly.

I don't look around to see what he's hissing about because his fingers are still tracing through my hair and down my back.

I close my eyes and rest my head against him, and his body seems to lose some tension.

Whatever had him hissing and upset must be gone because he fully relaxes again, this time moving my legs so I can curl up in his lap.

He makes sure my teeth can stay in him before continuing to trace lines up and down my clothed body.

" Sleep if you need, Tori, " he whispers.

I hum softly at his use of English and how proud I am to call this male my mate. I'll be even more proud tomorrow when we can make this official.

" I will keep you safe. "

My breathing slows, my mind wanders, and I feel myself drifting off to sleep before too long.

Neither of us seems to care that we're still in the dining hall, in a chair facing the wall.

We don't care that others could still be talking around us and trying to woo their mates.

It doesn't matter that at some point, someone is going to stumble over here and see me passed out with blood staining my lips and chin and a fresh wound in Marron's neck.

We don't care about any of that because we have one another.

For the first time, I don't worry about whether or not we'll have communication issues because we'll figure it out. Or we'll try to out-learn the other to be the first to understand.

"Someone should wake them."

I don't know which male is talking, but it's the first thing I hear when I come back to reality.

There's still a taste of the coppery tinge of blood in my mouth, but I must have released Marron's neck in my sleep.

Now, I'm curled against him with his arms wrapped around me, tightening like he just woke up.

"Just leave them to sleep," another male says, sounding more irritated than anything else. "I have been out here all night. They are in no more danger of breaking the rules now that more are awake to see them than they were through the night."

My lips tug down as I listen to the conversation. The second male must be Kal because he's in charge of watching over the male side of the mating ceremony. It would've been him if a male were to watch us all night. I don't know why he didn't wake us up and tell us to return to our rooms, though.

"I do not care if others see them like this. I just do not want them to be embarrassed," the first male says.

" Sleep, " Marron whispers the word to me, his arms tightening again.

I keep my eyes closed, but can't keep the smile from my lips when he whispers to me in English. Thankfully, the two males talking about us are behind us, so they don't see my smile or how Marron's thumb begins to move over a patch of my exposed abdomen.

"They will not be embarrassed," Kal says. "She jumped on him last night and then sank her teeth into his neck. He almost lunged for me when I came to make sure they were okay. So, if anything, they will be more than proud of what they have accomplished while still following the rules."

"Fine, fine," the first male says. "I will stay until they wake and take Marron back home."

My brows rise, but Marron doesn't seem surprised that it's Toron here to check on us.

In fact, his thumb starts to slow again, and he might have fallen back asleep.

A chair moves behind us, making Marron tighten his hold on me for a second before relaxing again.

I follow his lead and try to fall back asleep.

Unfortunately, just like the first time I woke up in his arms, I can't seem to fall back asleep. Instead, I keep my eyes closed and listen as everyone else wakes for the day.

It starts with cooking ware being moved around and olack being roasted. Then there are plates being set out and food being served. Slowly but surely, more and more women wake up and filter into the dining hall.

For the most part, the great hall is filled with unmated females, but mated males are allowed inside if they have business to attend to. And this morning, quite a few of them have business in the form of coming over to where Toron's watching Marron and me sleeping to see if he needs help.

"How is your ward?"

"Is he asleep now?"

"Did you notice the marking on his neck?"

"I do not think that was one of the injuries he sustained the other day."

"Was your ward attacked a second time?"

"We will need to banish a female next, it seems."

I don't know how many brothers are behind us now, and Toron doesn't seem to be entertaining them. They're able to entertain themselves well enough.

I can't say I hate their teasing because, if anything, it makes me feel more confident that everyone here is happy that Marron and I are finally getting together. Most of them were probably there the night I got drunk and wandered off with Marron, all but begging him to go skinny dipping with me.

"Is she our blood now?" one of the males asks, his voice sounding closer than the others.

Marron tenses, and a hiss escapes his lips.

My eyes open, and I look up to see what's happening.

Marron's eyes are still deep black, but he's pinning a male to our right with a glare that tells him to back off.

Yril holds his arms up, the sleeves of his tunic sliding down, revealing all of the scars his mate has bitten into his scales. He smiles at us and backs away.

"She has claimed you," Yril says, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiles. "You have been blessed."

"I have," Marron responds, relaxing back in the seat when Yril is far enough away. "Now bless me more and leave us alone."

Yril barks out a sharp laugh before turning on his heels and returning to the group behind us. At least with them back there, we can pretend they're not here. Or we can pretend until they all begin talking again.

"They slept out here all night?"

"Must have been uncomfortable."

"They should gift Kal something nice for being a good male."

"I would not have slept in a chair all night for any of you."

"You have slept in chairs to watch my mate before."

"That was different. You scared me then."

Marron lets out a frustrated sound, apparently unable to find sleep now that there's a small crowd behind us with absolutely no care about how loud they're being or how uninterested we are in their conversation.

He nuzzles his face against my hair before helping to shift me to my feet.

I stand in front of him, and he gives me a once-over.

" How do I look? " I ask.

" You look like you have claimed a male. " Marron brushes his fingers across my chin as he says it.

He wipes at the dried blood for a few strokes before remembering the wound in his neck.

He presses the same fingers against the bite, and I can see his entire body shudder in pleasure.

He closes his eyes, clenching his teeth as though not to let a hiss out, and I'm sure he's coming yet again at the memory of my teeth sinking into him.

I wait until he looks back down at me before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips.

"I want to look like yours," I whisper against his lips in his language.

His eyes go wide, and his hands reach out for me again. As much as I'd love for him to mate me right now, we still have an audience, and we need to wait until tonight. I stand up straight, ignoring how Marron's hands have found my ass yet again.

I address the others, knowing it'll be our best bet not to have sex with each other in the middle of the dining hall. "Do any of you know where my wardens are?"

The question is barely out of my mouth before Marron drops his hands from me and looks up at me as though I have betrayed him in such an awful way. I give him a playful wink, hoping he knows this is for the best. Then, I mentally prepare myself to wait until tonight before my mate can claim me.