Page 6 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

Urkot knew exactly what she was talking about.

During their trek across the swamp while fleeing from Takarahl and Zurvashi, an insect had landed on Callie’s hair.

After he’d plucked it off her, she had thanked him, calling him big guy .

But he’d wanted to hear his name from her lips. Had needed to hear it.

He recalled the give of her skin beneath his fingers as he’d held her jaw, recalled the way her soft lips had moved as they’d shaped his name. He recalled the shift inside him, the thrumming along his heartsthread, the still-fresh desire that had blossomed in that moment.

“Your mark,” Urkot pressed.

“You’re so bossy,” she said, lifting her hip to allow him a better look at her ass.

The blue-green light bouncing off the water highlighted her wet skin.

“It’s called a tattoo . It’s not something we’re born with, like your markings.

These are done with needles and ink to permanently mark our skin.

I got this one when I turned eighteen. It was…

a secret act of reebellyun against my parents. Not that they ever found out I got it.”

“ Reebellyun?” Urkot carefully repeated.

“Means to go against something. Like you reebelld against Zurvashi.”

A low hum sounded in his chest. “You made war on your parents?”

“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best comparison.

It was more that I was defiant. My parents were against me and my siblings getting tattoos.

They always wanted us looking our best because our appearances reflected on them.

So, the moment I turned eighteen, I got a tattoo where they’d never see it because I wanted it. ”

Urkot understood little of the world the humans had come from, and most of what he’d learned from Callie and the others had only left him with more questions.

Shadowstalkers sometimes adorned themselves with silk, gold, leather, and beads—much more often during Zurvashi’s reign—but had never intentionally left permanent marks on their hides.

“Humans choose to mark themselves this way? Why?”

“There are many reasons. Some people get tattoos because they’re cultural or spiritual. Others get them as a form of self-expression or just because they like something. It’s art.”

He ran his eyes over the marking again. Despite his curiosity, it was difficult to prevent his gaze from wandering to admire her ass in its entirety. “What does your tattoo mean?”

Callie let out a small laugh. “Um… Keep in mind I was young when I had this done and I wanted something on the naughty side. Kind of like a dirty little secret.”

“Tell me.”

“It…says spank me .”

“Explain.”

“Oh my God,” she groaned, letting her head fall back. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

When Urkot was about to ask what she meant, Callie lifted her head and shifted her body, showing him her profile while keeping an arm banded across her breasts. She met his gaze. There was shyness in her eyes now.

“I, uh, think it’s easier to just show you,” she said.

Then she slapped her hand down on her ass.

The impact produced a sharp crack . Her flesh gave beneath the blow, shaking visibly. Urkot could only stare and hold his hands at his sides, keeping his fists tight, unable to move.

Gods, he wanted to take her ass in his hands and feel it yield to his palms.

It took longer than it should have for him to produce any words. “You… want to be hit?”

She thrust a finger at him, and their gazes locked. “Don’t keenk shame me.”

Urkot’s mandibles fell. “I…what? I do not know keenk .”

Chuckling, Callie shook her head. “You’re killing me here, big guy.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “A keenk is something someone finds sexually arousing.”

That meant…

His eyes widened, and his cock stirred anew behind his slit. “Ah…”

She turned her face away, seeming to look everywhere but at him. “Spanking in this way isn’t really a hit that hurts. I mean, it can hurt, but it can feel good when done right.”

Her eyes again met his. “Really, really good.”

There was something in her gaze that Urkot could not name, something that called to him. Was he interpreting her words, her expression, incorrectly, or…or was she looking at him like she wanted to explore this kink with him?

No, it couldn’t be that. Why would she want that? Why would she want his big, rough, clumsy hands on her soft skin?

But even the tiniest possibility of her wanting it, of her wanting him…that was enough to amplify his longing, his desire, and make it hotter than the water in which he stood.

“I will…remember,” he rasped. How could his tongue feel so dry when the air was so wet?

Callie cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve given you enough of a show for tonight. Now…” She twirled her finger in the air.

Urkot blinked. “Now?”

She laughed. “Turn around, Urkot, so I can finish up.”

“Ah, yes. Modesty.” He turned away from her and strode to the edge of the pool, where he’d left his things. He would not allow himself to look back, no matter how tempted he was to do so. The glimpse he’d had earlier had to be enough.

He collected the cleanleaf and, forcing himself not to glance in Callie’s direction, walked to the spot where she’d been standing when he’d first arrived.

Urkot leaned his head back and let the falling water cascade over him.

When he straightened, he crushed some cleanleaf and used it to scrub his hair.

All the while, he heard the quiet sounds of Callie moving in the water, washing herself.

He would not look. But in his mind’s eye, he saw her hands move over her body, caressing her skin, kneading her breasts.

His palms tingled with the craving to grasp her.

To slap her ass like she had, to feel that flesh give beneath his touch.

He longed to witness her reaction—to see just how arousing a spanking would be for her.

And though he did not act upon them, those thoughts had consequences. The heat in his blood surged, pulsing through his entire body, and his stem ached, pressing forward. He pinched his claspers around his slit, but he could not trust them to keep him from extruding. This was too much.

Uncertain of what else to do, he lowered himself, ensuring that his slit was hidden beneath the water’s surface. But the new warmth around it did not ease his desires.

Steady and unmoving as stone. That was what he needed to be, for his sake and for Callie’s. But it was difficult. So, so difficult. Even if he managed to keep himself outwardly composed, there was so much happening within him, a storm building, raging.

Clenching his jaw, he leaned back into the falling water to rinse his hair. He closed his eyes, plunging himself into darkness as the water overwhelmed his hearing. But Callie still shone in that darkness. She was too bright to be snuffed out.

Tension coursed through him. Even the times he’d been stricken by the mating scents of female vrix had been easier to resist than this. Did she have any idea how wholly she was tempting him, how greatly she was testing his self-control?

Urkot released a heavy breath through his nostrils and inhaled slowly, focusing on the feel of his chest expanding as he filled his lungs.

The odor of the water battled the crisp, sweet fragrance of the cleanleaf, but there was a hint of something else in the air, something familiar, something he could never have ignored.

Callie’s scent.

It was at once delicate and earthy, with a hint of morning dew and a sweetness that was all the more alluring in its subtlety.

He’d breathed in her scent many, many times before, but this time was different.

This was the first time he’d smelled her while his desire was roaring, while his control was tattered.

And it was nearly enough to convince him to cut the last threads of his restraint and give in to instinct and need.

After taking several slow breaths, holding each until his chest burned, he finally leaned forward. The echoing sounds of water flowing in the large chamber returned to him.

Keeping his back toward Callie, he opened his eyes and scrubbed his body.

Fortunately, the feel of his own rough hands on his hide did not stoke his inner flames, but he took no risks.

He worked as quickly as he could, lifting his lower body from the water only long enough to clean himself before sinking back down to keep his slit and claspers hidden.

“Can I…” He lifted a hand and twirled his finger like Callie had earlier.

She chuckled. “You can turn around, Urkot.”

He did so to find Callie sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs folded up and crossed.

She’d wrapped herself in white cloth, concealing much of her flesh from view.

As much as he craved another look at her body, he thanked the Eight she was covered, because even the tiniest glimpse would’ve severed his control.

She smiled at him and dipped her fingers into the open jar of vineroot oil beside her before running them through her curls. “Feel better?”

Better didn’t seem like the right word. He certainly felt…strongly, felt different, but did he feel better? Not while this desire consumed him. Yet he did not have the words to express his true feelings to her, and he did not know how she would’ve taken them if he had.

“Yes,” was all he could bring himself to say.

Callie swept her gaze around the chamber. “I think I’ve grown uhdikted to this place.”

Urkot strode toward her, water quietly sloshing around his legs. “ Uhdikted ? I do not know that word.”

“Sorry. It means that you like something. A lot. So much that it becomes a habit that you can’t break. An…obsession.”

Was he becoming addicted to her ?

He stepped over the pool’s edge and plucked up his own cloth to dry his hide. “Why are you addicted to this place?”

She gathered more oil on her fingers and slowly combed them through her hair, working out the tangles. “Because it’s like…like nourishment for the soul in a way I never understood before.