Salt to Her Sea ✔️

11. a trip

AKESIS

I awoke to someone taking me into their arms. The warmth that spread along my exposed skin let me know just who it was. I had finally fallen asleep against the window in the corner, my temple resting against the wall, a blanket over my legs.

Eyes blinked open, adjusting to the pure blue color of the sky outside the windows. The morning was misty and unseasonably pleasant. It was the first freeze of the year, marked by the white frost that clung to the grass and boughs. The world seemed to have fallen into a pause and my bleary eyes couldn't get enough. I felt as if I had been blind my whole life. Nature never failed to take my breath away. I was deprived of it.

"I'm sorry." Came his husky voice. He smelled of salt from the Sea and also sweat. His skin was slick and bronze. I wasn't sure if he was apologizing for waking me or last night.

"You're alright," I replied instead, touching his jaw. The beard was in the making, dark black and scruffy. "You need a shave." 

My mate gave me a half-hearted smile with no teeth and laid me down on the bed. It was cold and smelled distantly of the two of us.

"About last night..."

A look was thrown my way, a mix of regret and unease. "I know, I reacted badly. I couldn't help it." His body slumped next to mine and he drew me into his arms. "I'm not... Proud of it."

"It's just how I was brought up."

"I know," he grumbled without belief in his voice.

I rubbed his chest with the flat of my palm, an act I would do whenever he got riled up, he grumbled with appreciation. My forehead rested against the side of his jaw. Tilting my head back, I kissed his cheek softly. "I'm willing to do some tests if you're worried."

"Tests?" His reply was dubious.

"Yeah..." I thought back to the Lab. "Alpha Romanov used to administer things like that all the time. Fertility checks or something."

A growl from him made hair raise on my neck and arms. His sound was terrifying and dominant, curving my spine in the need to submit. "No. None of that."

I looked up at him, his tone was deadly.

"Nature is medicine, female. The Moon and Earth provide us with all we need. We do not use his methods here." Two rough hands pushed me gently onto my back. "I have a different way of telling."

"How do you-" My voice caught in my throat when I realized what he was doing. His nostrils flared as he leaned down, backing up along the bed now on all fours. Thadal's nose traced down my chest as he hovered over me. Dipping between the valley of my chest covered by a thin cotton shirt, down the soft slope of my rib cage to the sunken hollow of my belly. Goosebumps traced his movements, a shiver wracking up my spine in a delicious manner. "Tide..."

My mouth was dry, I couldn't speak as his nostrils flared and the tip of his nose grazed the apex between my legs, my virtue protected by a flimsy piece of cloth. Breath held tightly in my lungs, unmoving. Eyes didn't stray from the beast between my parted legs, inhaling my most private scent with his eyes shut.

In a blink, they were open and staring straight at me. His golden irises deepened in color. A growl rumbled low in his chest, the vibrations sending a wave of sweet pleasure over me. I released the breath I held hostage and slumped back on the bed, eyes squeezed shut. My cheeks felt hot.

Tide pressed a soft kiss to my inner thigh, a nip of teeth to the other.

"Why did you do that?" I covered my face with both hands, closing my legs as he reluctantly pulled away from the heat of me.