Page 27 of Kael (Monsters & Mates #2)

“He’s disappearing,” Kael says, voice low, barely a whisper. “I had to sedate him. Iris helped.”

My mouth drops open. “You drugged your prince?”

“It was for his own good.”

I nod quickly. “Of course. It’s okay. You did what you had to.” But guilt is rolling off him, thick and oppressive. I step closer. “You shouldn’t be alone with that in your head.”

He shakes his head. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“Why?” My gut tightens. My heart aches for him—but I’m still me. Still deflecting, still grasping for something solid when the air between us turns heavy with everything unsaid.

He glances at me, and something fractures in his gaze, a quiet shattering that almost makes me look away. “Because I feel guilty,” he says, voice barely above a whisper, like guilt itself is sacred and should only be spoken of in a hush.

“About what?” My voice is steady, but inside, I already know.

“You,” he breathes. “That I get to have you. That our bond strengthens, becomes something undeniable… while his fades into pain. While he suffers.”

His words are a blade—sharp, precise, and unshakably kind. I raise an eyebrow, trying to hide the sudden ache swelling in my chest. “You wanna martyr yourself now? What, next you’ll tell me you’re off to live in a hovel and write poetry about forbidden love?”

A faint puff of air escapes him. Not quite a laugh—but almost. A moment of warmth in the ruin. “I just?—”

“Kael.” His name is a tether. I cut through the spiral before he can drown in it. “Sit down. Rest.”

He hesitates, caught in the limbo between guilt and surrender.

“Do you care for me?” I ask. The question lands heavily in the space between us.

His answer is immediate—like it’s been waiting, coiled and urgent. “More than anything.”

I press, softer but no less firm. “More than anyone?”

He flinches like the truth hurts him to admit, like it’s a betrayal even though it’s the only thing that’s ever felt right. Then he nods—agonising, but certain. “Yes.”

That’s all I need.

I guide him towards the bed, my touch light.

He lets me strip him, piece by piece, not helping, just allowing.

Trusting. The size difference between us is…

notable. He’s all breadth and height, solid muscle, his skin that deep, dark blue that gleams faintly in the dim light.

His bioluminescent markings pulse gently along the ridges of his arms and sides, hypnotic.

He sits, waiting. Still. Like I might change my mind.

“You okay with this?” I murmur, my hands at the waistband of his trousers.

He nods, breathless. “I want you.”

That’s enough.

I reveal him slowly, my breath hitching as I take in the sheer size of him. He’s… glorious. Sculpted and overwhelming. But I can take it. I want to. I encourage him to lie back, then reach for my own clothes, letting them fall to the floor until I’m bared to him.

His gaze devours me, reverent and hungry.

“Good,” I whisper, a smirk playing at my lips. “I was worried you might be missing a cock.”

He growls low, a sound that vibrates through me, and I can’t help but grin.

“I mean,” I add, climbing onto the bed beside him, “it wouldn’t have been a dealbreaker. But this is a hell of a bonus.”

Kael lies back at my urging, the lines of tension still coiled tight in his frame.

But he’s watching me now—no masks, no royal duties, no distance—just open, vulnerable need.

His markings glow softly in the dimness of the room, like a quiet storm beneath his skin, each flicker synced with the cadence of his breath.

I straddle his thighs gently, still in awe of the sheer scale of him beneath me.

My hands explore his torso first—his chest, broad and firm beneath my fingers, rising and falling with a rhythm that speeds with every stroke.

His skin is warm and smooth, slightly slick in a way that’s foreign but not unpleasant, and the subtle pulse of energy beneath his surface makes every touch feel alive.

“You okay?” I ask, my voice soft. “You can rest if you need to. We don’t have to?—”

“No.” His voice is a low, gravelly thrum, and his hand comes to rest lightly against my hip. “I want this. I want you.” His eyes blaze with honesty. “All of it.”

The way he says it—like I’m not just something he wants but something sacred—nearly undoes me. I smile, slow and sure, before leaning down to press a kiss to the curve of his collarbone. “Okay, then,” I whisper against his skin.

I explore him slowly, reverently, mapping out every inch with my fingers and mouth.

The ridges of muscle that line his abdomen twitch beneath my touch, his glowing lines flaring brighter every time I kiss along them.

The taste of him is different, too—clean and faintly mineral, like mountain air after rain—and something about that feels right. Other, yes, but also his.

Kael’s hands fist in the sheets, his chest arching slightly as I continue down, my lips pressing against the delicate trail of light that runs from beneath his ribs to the edge of his hip. The groan that escapes him is raw, primal, and I feel it echo all the way down to the soles of my feet.

“You’re beautiful,” I murmur, tracing the flare of light along his side. “It’s ridiculous.”

His breath hitches. “You… mean that?”

“Kael,” I say, meeting his gaze, “you’re like a walking, glowing wet dream. You know how long I held out thinking I hated you?”

A small, stunned laugh breaks from him, and it’s like watching thunder soften into sunlight.

“I thought I didn’t deserve to be seen,” he admits. “Not after I abandoned you.”

“You do,” I say, firm now, the gut punches I’ve previously experienced nowhere in sight. “Every piece of you.”

When I finally reach for him, he shudders.

His cock is long and thick, a darker shade than the rest of his skin, the tip already slick with a pale, faintly glowing fluid.

The difference in anatomy should freak me the fuck out—but it doesn’t.

Not with the way he looks at me, not with how his body trembles under mine.

I stroke him slowly, curiously, watching his head fall back and the markings across his chest shimmer in response. His hands grip the sheets again, his breath coming in ragged gasps now.

“I—” He tries to speak, but his words melt into another groan.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper, leaning down to kiss the centre of his chest, where his heartbeat thunders under my lips. I swear I can feel the bond tugging at me again—not painful, not overwhelming, but real. A tether. A promise.

Kael reaches for me, pulling me up with surprising gentleness. “Come here,” he murmurs, his voice thick with emotion and want. “Let me touch you.”

I let him. I want him to.

And wrapped up in heat and hunger and something dangerously close to love, I realise I would give this man, this Glowranth, everything. Even the pieces of myself I thought were long gone.

Kael cups my face like I’m made of something sacred, and there’s an admiration in his gaze that nearly undoes me.

His hands—broad, strong, careful—trail down my neck and over my chest, fingertips brushing over the lines of my collarbone, the curve of my pecs.

He studies each shift of my breath, each flicker of my muscles like I’m a text he’s only just learned to read.

“You are…,” he breathes, almost to himself. “Bright. Alive. I never knew what it meant to want something so much and fear it all at once.”

His fingers skim my abdomen, and I shudder. I guide his hand lower, letting him touch the hard, aching evidence of how much I want him. He swallows thickly, his expression raw as he strokes me slowly, carefully, like he’s terrified he might break me. But I’m the one breaking apart under his touch.

“You feel…,” he whispers, shaking his head, like there are no words in his language—or any—for this.

“You’re doing good,” I manage to say, half breathless, half undone. “Too good. If you keep that up, I’m gonna embarrass myself in about three seconds.”

Kael grins softly. “Embarrass? You would not.”

I huff a breath, catching his wrist and pulling his hand gently away before I go off like a firecracker. I shift lower, eyes locking onto the thick length between his legs—impossibly flushed, glistening at the tip.

“Can I…?” I glance up at him. “Use my mouth?”

Kael blinks. “Mouth?”

I pause. “You don’t do that?”

His ears tint a shade darker. He shakes his head. “No. The Glowranth do not. It’s… not our way.”

“You’ve never…?” I sit up a little straighter, blinking. “You’ve never had this done to you?”

“No,” he admits softly. “Royal guards are meant to remain chaste until they leave their service after at least three decades. Focussed. We’re trained to protect our mark, not to seek pleasure.”

His confession hits me like a bolt of lightning. “You’ve never—” I blink, leaning back slightly to study his face. “Wait. You’re actually a… virgin?”

Kael frowns, that familiar furrow pulling between his glowing brows. “I do not know that word.”

I blow out a slow breath. Apparently the romances he read weren’t full of blushing virgins. Got it. “You’ve never been with anyone? Never had sex?”

A pause. Then, softly, “No. The royal guard are sworn to chastity while serving. Focus. Discipline. My body has always belonged to my duty. Until now.”

I stare. My brain goes offline for a second. “But before we left, you said”—I mimic his low, flirty voice “— ‘For what it’s worth, you were right about one thing.’ You were teasing me.”

His markings flare. Not just glowing—they ripple in a cascade of soft bioluminescent pulses. His embarrassment brushes against me like a wave, all through the bond.

“I said it because of you,” he murmurs. “I had never said anything like it before. But… I remembered your words. The way you spoke of me. Of my body. Of… what we might do.” His voice dips to a rumble. “I wanted to be part of that. I wanted to try. For you.”

I’m speechless for a long moment. Then, gently, I say, “You flirted for the first time in your life… and nailed it?”