Page 34 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

Callie didn’t know how much time had passed since they’d entered the smaller tunnel, but it felt endless.

It was long, narrow, and winding. There were places where they had to climb up or crawl down, and though she was able to move with of room to spare, some spots were tight enough that Urkot barely managed to squeeze through.

Every time he had to contort his body to navigate some especially narrow or awkward passage, Callie’s stomach knotted, and her heart clenched.

But despite his broad shoulders, ample hindquarters, and large frame, he maneuvered through it all with a sense of calm and confidence she wished she could emulate.

Because she was feeling it here. Really feeling it.

Even if she hadn’t come close to getting stuck, this tunnel, more than anywhere else they’d been, made her feel trapped because it was so, so dark.

The only light came from the crystals she and Urkot held.

It felt like the tunnel was closing in around her, like at any moment, the ceiling would buckle and collapse upon them.

It felt like they would be stuck down here forever.

Like they would die here.

Callie clutched the crystal, and its jagged points bit into her skin. Her body ached, her legs were weak, her feet heavy. Her boots shuffled across the floor with every step. Exhaustion grasped at her from the darkness, threatening to drag her down into nothingness.

We’re going to die here.

No… No, we’re not.

Sweat beaded on her skin, trickling down her temples, along the back of her neck, and between her breasts.

Her skin felt cold and clammy, and her heart was thumping so fast and hard that its every beat echoed in her ears.

With each step, her chest grew tighter, constricting her lungs and making it hard to breathe.

We’re going to die. We’re going… We’re going to…

Die.

Die.

Die.

Her steps faltered and came to a halt. Trembling, she leaned against the rough stone wall as the shadows thickened around her and crept along the edges of her version.

“No,” Callie whispered. “No.”

“Callie?”

Urkot’s deep voice reached her through the encroaching darkness, full of care and concern.

But she couldn’t answer him. Couldn’t get any words out through the tightness of her throat. She couldn’t…couldn’t breathe.

Callie clutched at her chest as she gasped for air, tears spilling from her eyes.

Large hands clasped her face, tipping it up. “Callie! Look at me.”

Urkot.

Her name, spoken in his voice, so full of fear, broke the shadows’ grasp on her. His sapphire eyes came into focus, glowing bright. A beacon.

“Breathe.” He gently combed his claws through her hair. “Good, female. Listen to me. Come back to me, my suncrest.”

My suncrest.

Callie latched on to that endearment, that voice, that touch. With his coaxing, she took one deep breath after another. Not once did she look away from him. He was her rock, strong, powerful, and steady.

“Good, female,” he repeated, brushing his thumbs across her cheek and wiping away her tears.

With his lower hand, he gently pried the crystal from her stiff fingers, then slipped her pack off her shoulders with an upper hand, setting it on the ground.

Softly crooning, Urkot touched his headcrest to her forehead. “We will rest here.”

Releasing her, he eased down into a sitting position. He folded his forelegs in front of him, drew her down atop them, and tucked her into the crook of his left arm, allowing her legs to drape across his lap. His lower right hand curled around her knee.

Once she was settled, he opened her bag, took out the waterskin, and uncorked it. “Drink. It will help.”

Callie took it with both trembling hands, grateful for his help steadying it as she drank. The water was cool against her hot, parched throat.

Through blurry, tear-filled eyes, Callie watched him close the waterskin and return it to her bag.

And then the dam broke.

A cry burst from her, startling Urkot. It was followed by a series of sobs that she could not contain. Her shoulders shook and her chest convulsed as tears ran down her cheeks.

A distressed buzz emitted from Urkot. He tenderly cradled her jaw with his upper hand, forcing her to look up at him. “Ah, my suncrest.”

Callie clutched at his arm around her waist, trying to rein in her hiccups.

“I’m sorry. I-I’m so s-sorry,” she said, her eyes flicking between his.

“I don’t m-mean to be a burden. This isn’t like me.

I’m j-just so tired and scared, and…and it feels so hopeless.

I-I just had this thought that we were going t-to die here and I felt this…

panic. And I couldn’t let it go. Couldn’t stop it. ”

She drew in a shaky breath. “You’re probably feeling the same, but y-you’re holding it all in for me. You’re strong. And I…I’m just this blubbering mess.”

Urkot slid his hand up, wiping away her tears with his thumb as his fingers caressed the side of her face. The low, calming sound of his crooning vibrated into her through his chest, a slow, simple melody she’d heard from him before. That familiarity was another thing for her to grab onto.

She leaned into his touch.

“We fall,” he said gently, “and we stand back up. If you cannot stand, I am here, Callie. I will carry you until you can stride again.”

His hand slid down to her neck, circling it, his thumb caressing her collarbone. “You are no burden. You are strong, and you always have been. All of us break sometimes. If we do not stop to mend, to heal, we will break again in a small time, like stone being chipped away.”

Callie sniffled, and once more let out a deep exhalation, this one much calmer than the last. She did not look away from his brilliant blue eyes, which chased away the darkness.

When his fingers encountered the healing bite marks on her shoulder, he purred, lightly tracing them and sending tingles through her.

“I gave you my words, my bond. I will keep you safe, my sweet nyleea, my suncrest. I claimed you, you are mine, and nothing will take you from me. Not even the Eight.”

His hand moved down her chest, and his palm grazed her nipple through her top. Callie started and drew in a sharp breath as his touch sent an unexpected rush of pleasure straight to her core.

Urkot quickly lifted his hand, his eyes flaring as his mandibles sagged. “I am s?—”

Callie caught his wrist. “No. Please.” She drew his hand back to her chest, cupping his fingers around her breast. “Touch me. I…I need to feel you. I need to feel this.”

She needed a distraction. Needed to forget that they were trapped, needed to forget that their lives were at risk.

She needed him.

Urkot’s fingers flexed, both on her breast and on her knee, and his mandibles rose. He released another low purr. “Ah, Callie…”

And then his hand moved. It wasn’t gentle; it was firm, purposeful. He squeezed her breast, kneaded it, and Callie was like clay, yielding to his touch. She arched her back with a sigh.

“So soft,” Urkot rumbled.

He lifted his hand. Hooking the string of her top with a claw, he tugged it down, cutting through it. The fabric parted, freeing her breasts.

Urkot touched the tip of that claw to her nipple, making it harden. Callie’s breath hitched.

He crooned and circled the nub with his claw. She shivered at its light scrape over her sensitive skin.

“Urkot…” she whispered.

“I love the way your lips shape my name.” Closing his fingers over her nipple, he pinched it hard.

Callie gasped, body bucking as her clit twitched. But his arm around her waist kept her in place. Heat pooled low in her belly, and she could feel her slick gathering, could feel it seeping her from pussy.

“And the way your body sings for me, my suncrest.” His claspers curled around her thigh.

She clenched his arm as he rolled her nipple between his fingers over and over, creating a maelstrom of pleasure and pain. Her heart raced with the delicious torment he was unleashing upon her.

Urkot drew in a heavy inhalation and released it in a long, low growl. “I smell your desire.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “I need you to touch me more.”

Cradling her breast, caressing it, Urkot slowly ran his lower hand up her thigh.

Her skin prickled in the wake of his touch as it moved closer and closer her to her pussy. Breath rapid with her growing desire, Callie spread her legs, opening herself to him.

His fingers were light on her sex, almost delicate, as though he were afraid to hurt her. He traced her labia in gentle strokes, exploring her, and Callie’s channel clenched as shivers of delight swept through her.

She needed that finger inside her.

His finger dipped to her entrance. Urkot groaned as he spread her slick around and pumped the pad of his finger shallowly in and out of her. “Your pussy is so wet. Wet for me.”

“It is,” Callie moaned, undulating her hips. “It’s all for you.”

“It is all mine. You are mine.” He nuzzled her hair as he circled her entrance. “Give me more.”

Whispers of pleasure spiraled through her, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. And God, she was so wet her slick was dripping down her ass. Whatever chill had overcome her before had long since been banished by the fire burning beneath her skin.

When his finger trailed up and grazed her clit, Callie cried out with the shock of ecstasy. “There! Oh fuck, Urkot, touch my clit.”

“Clit,” Urkot repeated, moving his finger back to it and pressing down. “This?”

Callie dug her nails into his arm and frantically nodded. “Yes.”

He circled her clit slowly, reverently, and she moaned, lashes fluttering as her head tipped back and her toes curled. “Keeping going. Please don’t stop.”

“Ah… So this brings you much pleasure. This tiny bud.”

“So, so much. And it feels better when you’re touching it.”

And it was true. Her fingers couldn’t compare to the firm, rough hide of his. Perhaps it was also the connection she and Urkot shared, the bond they’d formed, that made her hypersensitive to every little touch. Because she’d never felt anything close to what she felt with him.

His upper hand fondled her breast, twisting and squeezing and plucking her nipple as his lower hand continued its leisurely ministrations on her clit. Her body hummed. Reaching up, she slipped her fingers into his hair and clutched at it as she spread her thighs wider, reveling in the sensations.

Urkot trilled low. “Your pussy blooms like a flower. And it took my stem so deeply.”

Panting, she rocked her hips in time with his strokes as pleasure coiled within her core. She remembered how it felt to have him inside her, stretching her, filling her, which left her core with an empty, yearning ache now.

“I need your cock inside me again,” she begged.

His claspers tightened on her thigh, making her aware of the bulge pressing against it.

“Not yet,” he said in a gravelly voice. “Not here.”

He quickened his strokes on her clit as his tongue trailed over her jaw and traced her mouth. “But I will bury my cock in your body again soon, my nyleea . I will feel your heat, feel you squeeze my stem sweetly. And I will fill your pussy with my seed.”

“Yes,” she rasped, voice growing higher in pitch with her pleasure. “I want your cum. In me, on me, on my tongue. I want it all.”

The growl he released was absolutely bestial and undeniably arousing. “I love having your pleasure in my hands. Love the sounds you make, love you coming unraveled at my touch. Love that you are all mine.”

He pinched her clit.

“Urkot!”

Callie shattered. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, body going taut as ecstasy crashed through her.

He released her breast and covered her mouth with his palm, muffling her escalating cries. Pleasure consumed her, taking over her body as she wildly bucked against his fingers. Her sex contracted around nothing, feeling so, so empty.

Urkot touched his headcrest to her forehead and cupped his hand over her pussy. She could feel the prick of his claws against her ass. Breathing heavily against his palm, Callie opened her eyes and met his as her body quivered, riding out the waves of pleasure sweeping through her.

“Ah, my suncrest,” he whispered, “how you shine for me.”

His fingers stroked her slit slowly, gently, as she came down from her orgasm. Only when her breathing eased and she relaxed in his hold did he stop.

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he lifted his hand, extended his tongue, and licked his glistening finger with a groan. The way he did it, the way he sounded, made her sex throb anew.

But there was a heaviness weighing down her body, weighing down her consciousness.

Lifting his hand from her face, he rubbed his mouth across hers with a purr as he gathered her closer against his chest. “Sleep, my Callie. I have you.”