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“Give her some air.”

“She’s got plenty of air! There’s a whole world of it around her! She just has to breathe it!”

“She’s breathing, Jack. She’s OK.”

“She’s not OK. This should never have fucking happened.”

“This is an alien world. Shit’s gonna happen. We need to?—”

“RAWRR!”

My eyelids fluttered at the sound of the godawful roar, trying to open and assess what new danger awaited me.

My brain refused to comply, my face falling lax.

It stayed limp as I was scooped up and hauled away from where I’d passed out at incredible speed.

I groaned faintly, frowning at the dizzying swirl in my head as we went.

When we came to a stop and I was delivered gently to a firm surface, I found my body was slightly more compliant. I forced my eyes open.

“Jules…”

“Aaron?”

To say I was surprised to see the man leaning over me—his breath coming in shuddering gasps that weren’t brought on by exertion, and his eyes glowing green—was an understatement.

I reached up to touch his face, and he grabbed my hand, bringing it to his mouth and depositing a rough kiss on the palm.

His eyes closed for a moment as he rubbed his nose across my wrist, and when they opened again, they had returned to hazel.

“You OK, big guy?” I croaked.

“Don’t worry about me, worry about you. Jules, what the fuck?”

“I know, I know, my reputation as a trouble magnet is maintained. In my defence, the little purple guy looked so cute.”

“What?”

“And then there was this big rock lizard thing…”

I was scooped up and held tight to his chest.

“Just…stop talking. I’m holding on by a thread, and listening to this isn’t helping.”

His arms were tense around me, but he wasn’t content to simply hold me still, his hands moving restlessly, trying to draw me closer. His fingers buried themselves in my hair, his nose going to my throat as he breathed me in, his lips soon following.

My chest felt tight, not due to his constriction, more because I felt like I was right on the edge of something.

This wasn’t the reaction of a guy who liked fucking me, who liked performing with Brandon, showing me hot man on man sex.

This was something else. I carefully put my arms around him, a thing I’d done so many times before, but now felt strange and new.

It seemed like it was the right thing to do, his fingers digging into my sides, a low groan coming from his chest, something that turned almost into a purr when I stroked the short pelt of his hair.

“Fuck, Jules…” he said in a low growl, then he reached down and tugged my mouth up to his.

Kissing Aaron was always intense. Apart from the whole big and strong thing, he was always one hundred percent into whatever we were doing, and the breaks forced upon us by his military service made things that bit hotter.

But this was different somehow. It was like he was trying to memorise the taste of me by lips and tongue, moving slowly, slick and sensual, not rushing into anything.

Though I felt the effort that took in the faint tremble of his limbs.

“Jules…” He couldn’t—we couldn’t pull away long enough for him to complete the sentence, rather he panted my name between kisses that grew more and more open-mouthed and hungry, until I felt the shift of my fangs.

He jerked back, hand going to his lip where a small spot of blood welled.

His eyes were wild, staring at my teeth, as he reached out to capture a drop of venom when it dropped, where it sizzled on his palm as he rolled it around.

I want this one , my Tirian said.

I do too, but we haven’t had a chance to ? —

No, I gave you time to engage in your monkey rituals. We need this one.

And if you rush into something ? —

She disregarded me, not for the first time, taking over my body and making the decision for me.

She pushed Aaron back onto the leaf litter, and only then did I realise we were under a tree somewhere as his golden skin contrasted starkly against the grey-purple of fallen leaves.

My fingers went to claws, and I held them up in front of him, causing his hands to go to his buttons and undo his shirt in record time to stop me from slicing through his clothes.

The talons faded away as he shrugged out of his shirt, the mesmeric sight of his muscles bunching and shifting enough to settle my Tirian.

His hands went to his belt with a questioning look shot to me. We nodded, and he peeled them off.

We were rushing this, I felt that deep inside me, but damn the sun loved him. The golden dappled light seemed to soak into his skin, reflecting it back with a luminous radiance. He was this huge expanse of man flesh, and my mouth watered with venom saturated saliva at the sight of him.

This will hurt , I thought, belatedly dragging my consciousness away from what was before me and back to reality, but even as I thought the words, I craved it—that deep, stretching sensation that let me know I was getting seriously fucked.

There were no tricky angles, no special sexual positions to get him to hit my g-spot.

That dick would smash into every sensitive spot and then some.

My mind struggled to function, a haze of lust clouding my thoughts.

Are you putting me back into heat?

You’ve never really known what it is like to mate as a Tirian , she replied, shifting forward to straddle Aaron’s hips. His eyes fluttered shut as we took him in hand, slowly working up and down his length. You have always been a vessel, but not fused with us.

And I’m not now.

But you’ll need to be. You fight this, him, the bonds, wanting sureties and guarantees, waiting and waiting until this mythical perfect moment comes. There are no perfect moments, only this. This one wants you, needs you, waits for you to see him.

And I’m only just starting to! Give me time!

We don’t have time , she said, almost sorrowfully. I can shelter you from this, but I do not advise it. Join me in joining with him.

When I put a hand on his chest, it carried both my power and hers.

I looked down into those hazel eyes and saw him, Aaron, shining through.

We hadn’t had enough time to really get to know each other, with him being tugged away by work commitments, but what did I know?

I thought of him taking me into the showers, carefully washing me clean and caring for me, even when he ached to be with me.

I thought of his gentle strength, his devilish smile, his arms around me, pulling me close and breathing in my scent.

I thought of the sweetness with which he touched Brandon, always careful, making sure the other party was comfortable, right up until the point it all went to hell.

I think we relished it, Brandon and I, forcing those shuddering, gasping releases from him, tearing his composure apart until something wilder and truer burst out.

It was me that bent down to kiss him, my Tirian pacing impatiently inside me, but she recognised that while we were two souls, I had my own way of connecting.

He panted against my lips, my hand still stroking him in long, sure movements.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked, my heart in my throat as I asked the question.

I smiled, masking the doubts and the fears and the joys and the need that swirled inside me.

My Tirian wanted to do it her way, take what she needed, but I couldn’t.

This was me reaching out, waiting for him to take me up on my offer.

“Jules…” He pushed me backwards onto the soft, sweet-smelling leaves, his eyes beginning to take on a green cast again. I wondered if he was feeling the same push from his beast as his hand slid up and over my breasts.

“Aaron…uh!”

I’d been about to suggest I sit up, dispense of the clothing altogether, but his mouth closed around my nipple, and I went limp under him.

The rhythmic suckle felt like it was taking part in two places on my body as my clit throbbed in time with his movements.

When he pulled away to lavish the same care on my other breast, I pulled back slightly, and he watched with bated breath as I reached for his clothes.

If this was going to happen, I was going to rush towards it.

I was sick of prevaricating and overthinking.

Aaron seemed of the same mind as he laid his body over mine the minute he was naked.

“You gonna be OK?” he asked as his hand snaked down between us, skimming up my thigh. My nod was jerky as his fingers slunk through my wetness.

“Oh…oh yes!”

My head flipped backwards, and I dimly stared up at the purple leaves of the tree above us as his thumb circled my clit once, twice, then his fingers speared inside.

He kept pushing me higher, his movements growing faster.

I felt the frantic scrabble as he tried to force more inside me, my body stretching to take it with surprising ease.

This is what it is to be Tirian , mine said to me.

What? You can take monster cock without a whimper?

We can alter our bodies to suit any given situation.

She shifted inside me, and we pushed Aaron back, his fingers disengaging with a rough tug that had me wincing, but she showed nothing.

He seemed to sense the change in mood, his eyes flashing greener, watching us prowl over his body.

When we clasped his dick in our hands, he gasped, and I saw fangs poking through as he panted, his eyes trained on our mouth as it came closer and closer.

We licked the head of his cock like it was the most delicious thing in the world, making sure the soft swipe of our tongue slid across the entire swollen crown, filling the indentation on the top and tasting the salty residue, then swirling around to trace the flared edges.

“Jules…” His voice was strangled, forced out between pants that only grew more pronounced as our hand dropped lower. We carefully caressed his silky scrotum, then cupped them as our mouth slid down.