Page 15 of Scales and Seduction (Monster Match #1)
T he front door creaks open, and before I can allow Ruby to fully step inside, a blur of brown darts past our feet. Noodles. The little fiend slips through the gap like an escape artist, his fluffy tail held high as he bounces down the steps and into the fading light of the evening.
“He’s so weird lately,” Ruby says with a sigh as she steps over the threshold. Her steps falter a moment as she glances over her shoulder at me, her lips curving into a smile that melts the building anxiety I’ve felt since the shop.
“What a long day,” she murmurs, tossing her bag onto the table beside the window.
I follow her in, shutting the door behind us with a click. Ruby moves to the couch, flopping onto it as if she’s exhausted, dropping the bags beside her. The tension from earlier still lingers between us. Avalon’s sharp, knowing gaze left a sour taste in my mouth, and I can’t shake the fear that she might have noticed that Ruby didn’t belong.
Ruby tilts her head back with half-lidded eyes. “You’re being so quiet,” she says softly. “Are you still in pain?”
“No, I’m alright.” When I slowly slip into the sofa beside her, the cushions dip under my weight. Ruby’s hair smells like soap from my bathroom, but on her, it makes my mind buzz.
She sighs, placing her hands on my scales, patting me as if she means to comfort me. “You don’t have to pretend.” Each second that passes with her hands there makes me aware of just how little space there is between us. She’s so close, the heat of her body radiates off her like her own tiny sun. “Should I be worried about you being sick? You’ve been stiff, and it looks like you’re in pain.”
A small smile tugs at my lips despite myself. “No, this is normal for me, Ruby. I have a medical condition.” I inhale as I unburden myself. “I have a lot of inflammation in my body. It causes issues with digestion and arthritis on top of other conditions. I often hide it and medicate it with Loran’s help.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me? Gideon, I told you I would sleep on the couch last night.” Ruby’s eyes teem with concern, and my heart clenches. I hate seeing her look at me like that. I should take care of her, not her me.
“I’m alright, really,” I say. “What really worries me is what happened in the shop.” I lean my back against the cushions, and as her hands slowly try to leave my tail, I place my hand on top of hers.
“What happened in the shop worried you?” Her voice is soft and insistent. “It felt really weird, like uncomfortable, but nothing bad.”
I sigh, running my other hand along my face. “It’s Avalon… She’s perceptive. I was terrified she might sense Silas’s magic on you or see through it.”
“I worried about the same thing, but I think it was fine until she knew you and I were together.” Ruby’s eyes peer over me, and in them, I see hesitancy swirling. “You were being sort of rude to her, and everyone was looking at us.”
My voice grows quiet as my heart feels squeezed in a vise grip. “I wasn’t rude to her; she was sparring with me on purpose. We’ve always spoken to one another that way.” Avalon and I aren’t gentle or sweet with one another. We enjoy getting under one another’s skin. It’s always made our dynamic more enjoyable. Slowly, I peer into my mate’s rich brown eyes. I hold her hand tighter, dropping the subject of my fiancée entirely.
“Ruby, humans don’t belong here. Since you got here, I’ve had this urge to protect you. I feel your fear like it’s my own and other emotions more strongly too. Before I saw you in the park…I knew exactly where to find you. I could feel you, sense you, and I ran there to you.” I pause as my breathing takes on a panicked state. “It’s maddening. I’ve never felt this in tune with another before. Even last night—gods above, last night I felt your desire and knew you were in the hallway long before I let on.”
Ruby’s lip’s part, and I can see the questions forming on her tongue, but I press on, not ready to stop. “You make me question everything.” I turn to face her fully, reaching out to cradle her face gently in my trembling hands. Her skin is warm beneath my fingers, and for a moment, the weight falls away as her breathing hitches at the touch.
“Gideon,” her voice is barely audible, but I hear it all the same. The way she’s looking at me sends my filthy, cursed mind into overdrive. She is so soft, so tiny and mine. I want her more than I have wanted air to breathe.
“I know you have to go home,” I say, my voice cracking slightly at the strain of what those words mean. “But the thought of not knowing what it means to have you fully, and to protect you… I don’t know if I can do it.”
Her soft brown eyes search mine, and in them I see my own turmoil reflected. I lean in slowly, allowing every chance for her to pull away, but she doesn’t. Instead, her hands lift to rest gently on my forearms.
My breath ghosts along her lips as I press a chaste kiss there, but the moment my lips touch hers, there’s an electric surge of warmth. My heart races with exhilaration as it travels through my body and down to my tail. Ruby’s lips are soft, yielding against mine. They fit perfectly, as if they were made just for me.
The intensity of the moment unravels everything I’ve been trying to hold back. My fingers thread in her hair, pulling her closer until she’s straddling me. My tongue enters her mouth, and I allow it to move in opposing motions around hers. Something inside me stirs to life, with a roaring intensity that feels just as electric as the first moment I swiped on the app. It starts as a low, steady hum until it builds into a crescendo of heat between us.
I’m greedy for her as she clutches me tightly, pulling me to her as if there’s too much space between our bodies. My hand applies pressure to the pulse point of her neck, and when I squeeze, a whimper gathers in the back of her throat and her eyes close.
“Ruby…” I mutter against her lips as if it’s a prayer. My cocks are begging to extrude, but her gorgeously bare ass is nestled just above them, pressing on the seam. “Sit higher unless you want cocks in your ass,” I say, trying to hide the smirk that’s etched across my lips.
Ruby clears her throat as she peels herself back enough to give me a clear view of the redness of her cheeks and neck. Kissing her has become one of my favorite hobbies, especially if I see her face become this red.
She squirms slightly to move herself, but that only stokes my burning desire as her bare pussy and thighs rub against my scales. Images of her writhing against me as my venom courses through her veins flit through my mind. If I don’t have her now, I’ll combust.
My hands fit so perfectly around her waist. I’ve decided we’re made for one another as I jerk her up my torso until she’s closer to my chest. I want her consent and her begging for me. I want her on my both of my cocks now.
“Two?”
A devious smirk stretches my face as I simmer with amusement. “Yes, two.”
Ruby’s eyes grow wide, but her adorable pink tongue darts from her mouth to lick her bottom lip. I know it’s not to tease me; I know it’s not meant to appear as seductive as I find it.
Her arousal permeates the air. I can taste it as my tongue peeks from my lips, catching the flavor. It’s subtly spiced with something akin to cloves. There’s something tangy that reminds me of grapefruit as well.
“I want you, Ruby. From the first time I laid eyes on your photo, I’ve thought of nothing but fucking your pretty little brains out.” My hands hold her neck taut, my other hand still gripping her waist, pressing her to me.
A breathy moan gathers in the back of her throat. But I don’t stop telling her all I want from her. After last night, I know she wants to be a good girl. I know she’ll play the submissive little slut, all for me.
“I want you writhing beneath me, begging to take both my cocks at once. I want you chained to my bed, so I can make you come repeatedly until you’re a drooling shell.”
Ruby’s eyes glaze over, and her fingernails grip my forearms. Her bare pussy, which, God, I’d nearly forgotten about, throbs against my chest. “Then have me. Take me and fuck me…” She hardly manages to say the words between her teeth as if she’s holding back another moan.
“Do you want to be my little fuck doll tonight, tiny morsel?” I ask her, feeling my sharp, acrid venom pool under my tongue. It burns faintly as I swallow the liquid back down.
“Just be gentle?” Ruby’s eyes flicker to my mouth, watching my teeth. Her breathing catches as she leans backward with hesitancy flickering in her eyes.
“It won’t hurt. My venom will make it all so much better, I assure you.”
“You’re going to bite me?” Ruby swallows roughly, her pulse against my fingers hammering like a tiny hummingbird.
My hand comes up to cup her cheek, my thumb brushing against her jawline tenderly. “Naga venom acts as an aphrodisiac. When I bite you, you’ll feel euphoria. Everything I do will feel ten times better than you’ve ever imagined. There will be no pain at all, I promise you.”
Ruby catches her bottom lip in her teeth as if she’s mulling it over. Her eyes flit around the room, restlessly searching, as if there’s a hidden answer in the corner of my living room.
“I’ll stop the moment you tell me to,” I reassure her with another stroke against her jaw.
Her lips part, but no words come out for several seconds until she finally nods. But there’s a hidden smile that teases the corners of her pretty bitten lips.