“It gets hard when I’m aroused… or cold.” She struggled to pay attention to the words coming out of her mouth as his other hand pulled aside more of the dress fabric, most of which was now hanging off her. “The drug…it isn’t going to hurt you, is it?”
“I don’t care if it does at this point,” he said, one hand skimming down her belly to dive beneath the last swath of fabric that still covered her pelvic area, while his other continued to massage her breast.
She tried to pull his head away from her breast, even as his tongue and lips continued to shoot delicious pleasure to her core, but he wasn’t interested in stopping. “You’re not telling me it’s safe.”
A soft cry interrupted her words as his fingers stroked over her folds, the texture of his scales raking over her clit in a pleasurable way that had her tensing. She fought the urge to pull him closer even though she wanted to make sure that this wouldn’t ultimately harm him.
He did lift his head, but only to shoot her a dilated glance, a wicked smirk tilting his lips. “You like this.” His hand shifted over her folds again, drawing a long moan from her.
“Jotahan,” she said weakly when she could manage to speak.
His mouth cut off her next words when he silenced her with a kiss. His fingers moved over her clit again, as if testing her response. He learned quickly about her clit, and the next stroke of his fingers targeted it, drawing forth another moan that he consumed with his hungry kiss.
“Shhh,” he said when he broke the kiss, his breath whispering against her swollen lips. “Let me please you. It’s too late to worry about the utiva. Let’s not waste it.”
With that, he dropped to one knee, kissing his way down her body, one strong hand supporting her by gripping her waist just above the curve of her buttocks, the other still rubbing over her clit.
He pulled the last bit of fabric away from her folds with his teeth, then he nuzzled the manicured strip of hair that she’d very carefully cultivated using a sharp blade, since the yan-kanat didn’t have razors. She was grateful now for learning to do that without injuring herself. The time and patience spent trimming those curls seemed worth it as he toyed with them.
She clutched the top of his head, feeling his spines shifting against her palm in response to her cry of pleasure when his tongue flicked over her clit.
“Your arousal is delicious.” His tongue trailed down her clit as she gasped. It sought her slit, which was soaked with her desire.
He pressed his face against her mound, burying his nose in her curls. His tongue delved into her, making her stumble as her knees gave out from the pleasure.
He steadied her with both hands, withdrawing his tongue long enough to lift his head to look up at her face. “You really like this.”
At her wordless nod, he rose to his feet in a blindingly fast movement, then swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Once he had her on her back, he returned to his place between her legs, pushing her knees apart. For a long, breathless moment, he paused, studying her. Then his claws traced her slit seconds before he lowered his head and she felt his tongue delving inside her.
It didn’t take long for him to bring her to an orgasm as she begged for mercy. She writhed on the bed as her hips bucked, until one heavy arm pinned her in place as he explored her with his tongue while his free hand teased her clit.
As she arched her back with a loud cry, her entire body tensing as her inner muscles convulsed with the waves of pleasure from her climax, Jotahan lifted his head to watch her.
She heard him call her reaction “vemazu”, but had no idea at that moment that he intended to draw more “glorious” moments out of her.
In fact, he would do it for most of the night, exploring her body with a focused commitment solely to her pleasure that no lover had ever shown her before.
It was only after many sandfalls that the utiva wore off and Jotahan had to leave the housing pod because the scent of her arousal caused a powerful response from his salavik. His seal put out enough heat that Sarah had felt it burn next to her skin as he growled in pain right before he left the bed.
36
The only place Jotahan wanted to be in that moment was in his bed with Sarah. Unfortunately, a side effect of pleasuring her all night was that the scent of her arousal lingered after the utiva’s effects wore off. Once freed of the numbing effect of the drink, his salavik responded with predictable eagerness to her scent.
He was driven from his bed and the warmth of his drahi because of the damned seal, and frustration filled him that he would have to wait even longer for the ceremony to bond Sarah to him. The evening they’d spent together—the things he’d done to her—made him hunger for more—made him want to claim all of her, in a way that his tongue and fingers couldn’t.
Her body was as exotic and beautiful as he’d imagined, and her taste was the most incredible one that had ever flavored his tongue. Different, alien, and yet so perfect, as if she was created just for him. Everything about her felt different, from the silken softness of her skin, to the barely visible fibers that furred her body, to the way she behaved during climax.
A yan-kanat female practiced ir’meku—personal serenity—when making love, so their climax was always calm and sedate. Traditional yan-kanat beliefs claimed that the Inferno lay dormant in their blood. After the Ajda had gifted the very first yan-kanat their divine blood, they had warned their chosen people that if the inferno was sparked to life, it would consume them and everyone around them, because their mortal bodies were not built to contain it.
Sex and violence were the two most likely sparks to the Inferno, so yan-kanat practiced meditative mantras to control their high emotions in both situations. Those mantras were how he was able to calm the glow of his body when he needed to be stealthy, using deep breathing and repetitive words to cool his emotions during violent encounters. The female yan-kanat were the ones who practiced the mantras during sex, afraid that revealing their passion might spark that of their lover and end up burning them both to ash.
As a result, even in orgasm, they laid nearly unmoving on the bed, sighing softly with their release. Sarah’s reaction to her climax had been both beautiful and surprising, making him feel powerful in a way that none of his successful battles ever had. Watching her back arch as she screamed with the intensity of her orgasm, then feeling the muscles of her vessel convulsing around his tongue had been an almost spiritual experience.
If there was ever a chance that the Inferno of the Ajda could spark inside the yan-kanat, then it would have happened for him in that moment. His salavik might not have been able to respond, but his heart had felt the powerful emotions between him and his mate.
Younger generations were not so convinced that they would truly burn up if they experienced powerful emotions, given the fact that it had never happened before, and there had been many yan-kanat who had lacked full control over themselves. Yet old traditions died slowly, and most still practiced the rigid controls over their passionate feelings, feeling a certain sense of pride about their self-control—especially in the mating chamber. It was yet another reason to appreciate his nixir mate, who allowed herself to express her climax openly, without fear of being judged for losing control of herself.