“No one would have to know,” she urged, past the embarrassment. I’m practically begging him!
His hand raised to her cheek, and he stared down at her. “If I touched you, I wouldn’t ever be able to stop. I won’t risk giving you up later for a few minutes of pleasure now.” He licked a fang and stared at her neck. “No matter how much I may want to.”
Lily’s heart stuttered. Screw this! “Does it work both ways?”
“Does what work both ways?” He leaned down and breathed a line of scalding air against her ear and neck.
Her mind took a moment to come back to the present. “Can…can I touch you?”
Verakko froze, his breathing becoming labored. She took his silence as an opening and slid her hand between them and around his shaft.
His body jerked, and he hissed out a curse she couldn’t understand. He was large and hot in her palm. The silky skin felt delicate, yet the hardness and sheer size of him was anything but. She began to slide her palm farther down, but he caught her hand, circling it with his own.
His gaze was furious, the muscles in his neck corded in anger, but she didn’t sense it was directed at her. After a few breaths passed, he removed her palm from his cock and silently shook his head.
Lily glared back at him, frustrated beyond belief before finally trailing her fingers down her own stomach. His attention snapped to the movement of her hand as it traveled lower, and his brows lifted as though he were in pain.
When she slid her index and middle fingers through her slick folds, he exhaled a miserable groan. “Show me what you like.”
Lily slipped two fingers inside her sheath, then removed them and ran the wet tips over her clit. Her hips twitched at the contact.
Verakko narrowed his eyes. “Let me see.”
She tilted her hips toward Verakko’s dark, intent stare and applied more pressure to the small circles she was drawing around her clit. He let out an appreciative hiss.
Lily watched breathlessly as his hand trailed down and he gripped his own shaft. She whimpered aloud, and her core clenched again. This isn’t enough! She was empty, hollow. She needed him inside her.
She pressed a finger of her other hand inside her core to combat the ache. The hard muscles of Verakko’s bicep bulged as he ran his hand up and down his length in slow, fluid motions. She couldn’t look away. She’d never done anything like this with another man, certainly not in front of a man.
“Lily, look at me.”
She met Verakko’s serious gaze. The quick movements of her fingers became more frantic. She moaned, and his eyes locked onto her mouth.
“Let me sway you,” he rumbled. His forearm rose a fraction, making her head to rest in the crook of his elbow. He lifted his forearm more, pinning her head against his bicep and forcing her to remain focused on his face.
Her rhythm faltered, and she peered up at him in confusion.
He ran a pointed tongue over his lips. “Please trust me. Open yourself up to it.”
Tentatively, she nodded, readying to let his sway through. Heat flooded her core anew, wondering what he might try to do.
Deep, velvety soft words echoed through her mind. “Imagine my shaft filling you, reaching all the places inside you can’t reach.”
Suddenly, Lily’s fingers felt larger, the sensation of being filled more intense. She arched her back, and her eyes slid closed.
“Keep your eyes on me. You want me to see you come.”
Lily’s eyes flashed open. Verakko hovered only a few inches above her, staring down into her eyes. Low moans and sighs poured out of her now. An electric current flashed between her clit and her inner walls with every swipe of her fingers. She could feel his fist pumping faster behind her thigh, the mere brush of his knuckles enough to make her tingle all over.
Lily’s hips started to jerk erratically.
“Come hard, mivassi.”
The sway echoed through her mind a split second before she broke apart. Her gaze, still focused dutifully on Verakko’s, grew watery. Suddenly he roared, and his body stiffened. Then, without warning, his lips were on hers.
She moaned into his mouth, shuddering as the last of her climax sizzled through her. For a moment, he remained still, just holding his lips in place.
Fearing he’d get ahold of his senses and pull away, she coaxed his lips open with her tongue. When they did, she deepened the kiss, sweeping her tongue against his until he gradually responded. Verakko drew her bottom lip into his mouth. She felt the faintest brush of fang and sighed, letting her lids drift closed. The sound seemed to spur him on. His chest rumbled with a resonant purr that traveled all the way to his tongue. He tilted his head, taking charge of the kiss.
His pointed, strong tongue flicked against hers, making heat pool in her belly once again. She ran her tongue along one of his fangs, marveling at how they scared her and turned her on at the same time.
Verakko pulled away, breathing hard, and stared down into her eyes. “Careful. You might cut yourself.”
“Has that ever happened before?” Lily exhaled, unable to keep a grin from spreading across her face. “Have you ever accidentally bitten someone while kissing?”
His hand reached up, brushing her hair from her damp forehead. “I’ve never kissed anyone like that before,” he said quietly.
Lily stilled and pressed her cheek to his bicep, the muscles jumping at her touch. “Never? You didn’t even learn about it in that school?”
“Kissing on the mouth isn’t often done on this planet.” Verakko smirked, then pulled a section of leaf from between them, forcing her to lie on her side once again. She felt heat rise on her cheeks. He was cleaning up after himself, she realized.
He wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and tugged her snuggly against his chest. She stretched, curling into him, and just about melted. His warmth enveloped her, and the odd purr still rumbling through his chest soothed her even more. The scent of cedar smoke clung to their bodies.
Verakko swept the hair from her neck and inhaled deeply. She felt the slightest trace of his fangs over the sensitive flesh. “Do you ever… Never mind.”
“Do I ever what?” he crooned, gripping her more firmly around the waist.
Lily bit her lip. Did she really want to know? “Do you ever bite people?”
She felt a chuckle rumble through him. “Still worried I’m going to eat you?”
She brushed her fingers up and down the forearms resting on her waist. Hairless? How weird. The vibration against her back increased. He must’ve liked that. “You keep looking at my neck and licking your chops. What else am I supposed to think?”
He grunted, and his hot breath fanned over the skin below her ear. Goosebumps erupted on her arms, and she burrowed deeper into the warmth of his chest. “We do. During marriages. Or with mates.” She jumped when he playfully snapped his teeth together at her ear and rasped, “Or enemies.”
Lily shivered. “Does it hurt?”
Verakko settled behind her and released a contented exhale. “Only if you’re an enemy.”
Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask. “Verakko?”
“Hmm?” he murmured into her hair.
“You’re touching me and…and we kissed. Isn’t that breaking the rules?”
She felt him stiffen and cursed herself for ruining the moment.
He let out a defeated sigh and relaxed against her again. “It is, but I couldn’t help it. I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time I saw you. And the rest of this touching? Well…” He gently rocked his hips into her ass. She gasped at the semi-firm erection trapped between their bodies. “This is for survival. No way around it.”
“Oh really?” she chuckled, arching her bottom toward him and making him hiss. “I think our clothes might be dry by now.”
His arm around her waist tightened. “Definitely not.”
Lily giggled and gazed into the crackling flames. An old memory played through her mind again, and she smiled. “When I was younger,�
�� she began, stroking his arm, “my family went on a trek through Turkey. I met a boy on our way. He was my first kiss.”
Verakko’s other arm, crossed in front of her shoulders, pulling her against his chest even more. “Why are you telling me this?” His voice was almost a growl.
Lily flushed at the thought he might be jealous. “In that part of Turkey, a lot of the wood you use for campfires is cedar. The one and only time we kissed, I remember it felt like every part of my body was tied in a knot. I couldn’t catch my breath or slow down my heartbeat. My stomach was hollow and full at the same time. It was wonderful. I’d never felt so alive or nervous or excited.” Verakko’s muscles tensed under her hands. If she listened closely, she thought she might even hear his molars being ground into dust, but he remained silent. “And the one thing I remember from that night,” she continued, “other than the kiss itself—which was terrible by the way—was the smell of burning cedar. Whenever I smell that scent, I instantly remember how I felt that night. It makes me happy and nervous in the best way.”
Lily turned her upper body so she could look at Verakko. His lips were thinned, and his jaw was set in a harsh clench.
She took a chance and leaned in. To her delight, he didn’t move away. She pressed a soft kiss to his firm lips. “That’s what you smell like to me. Cedar.”
Verakko’s eyes widened for a moment, the bright green irises darkening until they almost looked black. The corner of his mouth slowly lifted, the tension in his body evaporating. He kissed her again, and a sudden purr vibrated through his lips, tickling her.
Heat rose on her cheeks at the intimacy of the moment. She rolled to her side, grinning privately. She’d never told another living soul about that night or about how she’d been searching for that feeling every day of her life since. “I just thought you should know.”
“Thank you for telling me, mivassi.”
Lily frowned as the word rang through her translator again. He’d said it earlier as well, but she’d been distracted to say the least. It was one of the words that didn’t have a direct translation, which meant the voice that echoed in her ear stuttered its closest approximation, out of time with the speaker.
Mivassi. My alternative.
Chapter 12
Alternative? Alternative. Freaking alternative! The word kept replaying in Lily’s mind over and over like a broken record. What did it mean?
She’d attempted to cool the immediate hurt and anger she’d felt when the meaning of Verakko’s pet name had settled in her mind. After lying awake for hours, sour and confused, she’d finally drifted to sleep, only to have one unpleasant dream after another rouse her.
A dream of Verakko marrying someone else while she watched from the sidelines had been first. Then had come a dream of her on her knees, begging a faceless, statuesque woman for a marriage contract. The woman had cackled in Lily’s face for what seemed like hours before Verakko had joined her, pointing and laughing at her ridiculous request.
Her last dream had involved a spiky-headed purple alien sitting down in her chair and asking for the usual cut and color. She’d stood frozen, gazing at its glimmering black spikes and wondering what to do until finally, it’d sneezed, shooting its head spikes into her face.
She’d bolted awake, naked, alone, and feeling vulnerable in far too many ways.
Verakko had returned soon after with a stick he’d guessed she could use to make a new toothbrush. All she could see when she looked at it was an image of him marrying another woman.
While brushing her teeth, she’d pondered whether the translator could be malfunctioning. As they’d bushwhacked their way through dense forest clinging to the edge of the river for hours, she’d decided alternative must be an odd phrase for someone not from his city.
Then, as the first drops of rain had begun to fall on their heads, she’d nervously wondered if it meant how it sounded. He would never marry her, so she was known as an alternative. An alternative to his wife. A second choice. Maybe even a mistress.
Her stomach remained tight and hollow, a shaky, timid urgency to shut down her emotional attachment before it was too late kept gnawing at her every time she caught Verakko’s gorgeous gaze.
It wasn’t really his fault. She’d made it clear she didn’t want to participate in a typical marriage. But she’d had every intention of asking Verakko whether they could agree to fake it. They could date by getting married but would only pretend to try for a child so he wouldn’t be looked down upon if they didn’t work out. After hearing that nickname, though, she wondered again if marriage was even an option. How hard would she have to work in order to be considered by his mother? Would she always be thought of as an alternative because she wasn’t “marriage material” or maybe because she was human?
Verakko had noticed her shift in mood and, after a few rocky attempts at conversation earlier in the day, had stopped attempting to speak with her. His eyes had been alight that morning when he’d presented her with her new toothbrush, but every time she’d avoided eye contact or had given him a forced smile or one-word answer, the light had dimmed a little more. After the trail had morphed into an overgrown mess and walking side by side became impossible, Verakko had taken the lead.
Lily winced as another tiny green insect nipped at her ankle. The slick, muddy ground was bringing out the creatures in droves. She wrapped her arms around herself for warmth and worried her lip while staring at Verakko’s back. His black shirt was soaking and clung to his broad shoulders as he sawed through vines and hanging saplings with his small knife, occasionally becoming frustrated and ripping apart the dense flora with his bare hands.
Alternative. Her heart clenched.
Not even the discovery of another flimsy flag and carved message from Alex had worked to lift her spirits.
“I hate nature” was all it had said. Lily agreed.
Verakko stopped abruptly and cursed, shaking his hand as though he’d hurt it. Lily tried to catch a glimpse of what had happened, but he continued on almost as quickly as he’d stopped. A few bloody drops on fallen leaves was the only evidence that he’d hurt himself.
A pang of guilt hit her. He was working so hard, trying to clear a path for her to traverse through, and all she could do was stew about something that was really her fault in the first place. He’d told her he couldn’t be with her. Told her how relationships in his city worked. She was the one who’d pushed for more, not him.
It scared her how close she felt to him. She’d only known him for a few days, after all. She could understand it if she’d been a little put out at the idea that they could never date. But this gut-wrenching sadness that made her want to tie him to a tree and never return to civilization? That was a reaction she’d never expected.
“Hold up,” she called over the sound of slowly building rain.
Verakko spun to her, second lid in place to guard his eyes from the rain. His hair fell to one side, and small droplets of water trailed from the pointed tips of his ears to his lobes and then down onto his slick biceps.
She pursed her lips. What right do you have to look so damn good! This isn’t a photoshoot.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
“It’s nothing,” he said automatically, balling his left hand into a fist.
Lily let out a defeated sigh and walked toward him, her soaking flats squeaking and squelching in the mud. She grabbed his hand and sent him a stern look until he uncurled his fingers, then winced. A deep gash ran through the center of his bright-green palm, leaking dark blood. “We should stop and find shelter until the rain lets up.”
“It’ll heal quickly. Don’t worry.” Verakko studied her, his shielded green eyes glowing faintly through his second lid. He looked as frustrated as she felt, except underneath it all she could also see longing and something that looked suspiciously like sadness.
Lily had never let the word impossible stop her. It was just a word. Nothing was impossible. But what if this truly was? What if she was giving her he
art to a man who could never be with her?
A loud crash of thunder overhead made her jump and throw her hand over her chest.
Verakko’s lips curled inward as though he were smothering a grin.
The corners of her mouth twitched. “That wasn’t funny.”
He transformed his features into a comical display of serious agreement.
Lily released a quick chuckle then sighed. She stared up into Verakko’s eyes and smothered the nasty urge to lift onto her toes and press a kiss to his smirking lips.
My alternative.
Verakko’s smile faltered, and his dark brows drew together, the silence between them heavy.
“I think we should keep going if you’re able.” Verakko slipped his shirt off and shoved it over her head before she could protest. The fabric was soaking, just like her own clothing, but the heat from his body still clung to the wet shirt.
Warmth spread through Lily’s chest despite the icy rain.
“I’m confident this river leads to my home city. I’ll ask my mother to send a group of her soldiers out to search for Alex if she isn’t already there.” He gave a weak smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of living out here.”
“Your mother’s soldiers?” Lily asked, unnerved. “Why does your mother have soldiers?”
Verakko licked a fang with his tongue, and his gaze darted. “She’s the queen of my city.”
Lily blinked. The queen? “You’re a…a prince?”
A crease formed on his forehead, and he scanned her face. Was she as pale as she felt? “I suppose.”
“You’ll be king someday?”
Verakko scrunched his brows together in confusion. “No. The people will choose her successor with her input. As her child, I’m excluded from consideration.”
Alternative, a voice whispered in her ear, making her stomach flip. No wonder he’d told her it would never work! Her breathing hitched, and she turned away from him, then back. This would be all they could ever have. Stolen moments in a forest, away from prying eyes. Alien planet or not, a queen was a queen. Lily deflated. She’d never had a shot.
Saving Verakko: The Clecanian Series Book 3 Page 15
