He hoped she would be able to regrow them, as he enjoyed their unusual texture and the way they clung to her heady scent. Though they were not as silky as the hairs on her head, he loved to stroke his claws through them. Especially given how she reacted whenever he touched her there.
They were told to embrace, and a low chanting rose from the acolytes as Jotahan took Sarah in his arms. Because she was so much smaller than him, he had to lift her off her feet and hold her firmly against his body to align their pelvises.
The moment had come for the passing of the seal, and the volume of the chanting rose as he lowered his head to claim Sarah’s mouth in a passionate kiss. This time, he would not have to stop. This time, he would be able to enter her heat and finally claim all of her.
He felt the temperature rising on his pelvis, going from bearable to scorching in mere grainfalls as his salavik eagerly shifted against his slit, seeking his drahi’s vessel as it had since the moment his seal had first activated.
Sarah tore her mouth away from his, screaming in pain as her skin was burned. He held her as she struggled, stroking his hands over her back, feeling the tension in all her muscles as her screams turned to agonized sobs.
The pain was excruciating, but his focus was entirely on his mate’s suffering. He wanted nothing more than to alleviate it, but he knew it was too late at this point as he smelled her flesh and his own scales burning between them.
The intense branding was mercifully brief, though the pain would linger until their pleasure swamped it.
His salavik was finally free to evert, and he shifted his hips so that it could find her opening, which was between her legs, instead of on the front of her pelvis like a yan-kanat female.
She was still whimpering as he moved into position, using his thighs to push her legs farther apart to expose her wet heat to his aching salavik. She no longer fought him, but he hated seeing her eyes shimmering with tears of pain.
Her hands clutched his shoulders as he entered her, and they both groaned as his length pushed inside her. Her inner muscles clenched tightly at first, despite the lubrication dripping from his salavik, but then the enhanced pleasure that the ceremony heightened began to fill them both, and her body no longer resisted his claiming.
He barely heard the chanting of the priests and acolytes as he filled her completely, until her legs were wrapped around his waist as she rode him with wanton abandon. Her head was thrown back, her neck exposed in complete surrender as he pumped into her heat, shocked by how different and incredible it felt to be inside her like this. Her vessel was so much hotter than her skin, and it felt as if he’d wrapped his mating spine with a warming stone—only, she was soft and supple inside, her muscles clenching and convulsing around him.
He moaned as she climaxed around his salavik, bending forward to nip at her delicate neck. She shivered in his hold, pressing her body forward so he could bite down on her neck where it met her shoulder. He was careful not to pierce any veins, but he could not resist breaking her skin, further marking her as his to show all yan-kanat males that she had already been claimed in the old way, as well as marked for him by Seta Zul.
This time, she appeared to feel no pain as he drew blood, because the euphoria was too strong for both of them. His climax came quickly after hers, and hers seemed to go on and on as his seed filled her vessel. He sank down onto the mattress, still holding her, her legs still wrapped around his waist. His thrashing tail brushed against her tantalizing calves with each flick.
Unconsciousness was coming for both of them as wave upon wave of pleasure swept through them, overloading their senses.
He welcomed the coming darkness, because he knew she would be in his arms when he awoke again.
45
Sarah awoke in Jotahan’s arms. She snuggled closer against his huge body, noting that he was still sleeping soundly—or passed out. She recalled the incredible, euphoric sensations of what seemed to be an unending orgasm driving her into unconsciousness, so she wasn’t surprised to see that Jotahan had also succumbed.
She sat up slowly, wincing at the ache in her inner muscles. It was an effort to push Jotahan’s heavy arm off her so she could move freely. She immediately missed its comforting weight, but she was already feeling restless, unable to lay there quietly. Zan Cyall had told her that the aphrodisiac qualities of the mating pellet would not fade for some time, nor would her restlessness when she and Jotahan weren’t mating.
She tried to distract herself from the big, enticingly nude body of her sleeping mate by examining their surroundings. As they’d requested, they’d been brought back to the house that Jotahan had originally intended for Farona. It had been drastically changed since Sarah’s first visit, both outside and in. The exterior hide walls and scaled roof had been painted in dark greens and browns to blend with the grove of trees beyond. All of Farona’s favorite things had been removed, including the plants she’d favored that were taken from their garden and donated to others who would appreciate them and not see them as a painful reminder. Sarah still had plans to plant her own garden but was in no hurry.
It was the inside of the house that had changed the most though. Large skylights had been carved into the scales of the ceiling and capped with crystals that spread their prismatic light across the tiled floor. They’d had wide windows cut from the hide walls to let in more of daylight and fresh ocean air. Most of their main living space and one entire wall in their mating room was formed of windows that could be shuttered if they didn’t want the outside coming in, but Sarah loved having those windows opened, and she and Jotahan both loved all the light that now filled their home.
She also loved the bright paint that she’d chosen for all the walls, and the new furnishings she’d had made that more closely resembled a modern human style. The craftsman who’d constructed that furniture had been very interested in her descriptions of human contemporary styles, and had created some beautiful designs from them, even offering to pay her for the privilege of using them to make furniture for others. Jotahan had made her decline the offer, so the craftsman had paid in a roundabout way by gifting them some of the furniture instead.
Jotahan had indulged her every request to make this home hers, and she appreciated the gesture as they both worked to wipe away all of Farona’s influence. Sarah loved this home now, because she and Jotahan had built it together for their future.
She looked down at her naked body, blushing a little at the realization that she’d been moved, along with Jotahan, through the skilev wearing nothing but the silken sitak to cover her nudity. She’d seen mating processionals before from a distance as the mattresses were carried through the town in a parade of family, friends, and servants from the temple, including the strong temple porters who bore the weight of the new couple upon their mattress.
Despite the fact that there had undoubtedly been a nice parade for her mating to Jotahan, since all of her “circle”—as her group of female friends were called—as well as many new friends she’d made since the tragedy, had promised to join the procession in celebration, she was grateful she’d been completely unconscious for the experience. The celebrants would have gone on to feast in their honor with many wishes for a fruitful seclusion.
She understood now how important nestlings and fertility were to the yan-kanat. Their population was declining rapidly, despite Seta Zul’s efforts to increase their fertility. Theia was not the world they had evolved to live on, and for some reason, it seemed that it did not foster the same level of fertility they had once enjoyed before humans chased them from Gaia—though they had never reproduced at the rate humans did. This made every true mating a celebration for all yan-kanat—even a mating with a human.