Her scream nearly pierced my ears, but it was nothing compared to the roar that burst forth from me.
The entirety of our shelter shook with the force of it as my saroque exploded deep inside Juniper’s heat.
One hand kept my mate pinned in place, while the other tore past the animal hide and dug deep grooves into the ground.
Something about it made me want to mark Juniper, and I pulled out of her sex, my saroque still dripping seed.
I covered her stomach and breasts with it, the pearlescent drops shining against the velvety smoothness of my mate’s skin.
The sight made me shiver, and I reached down to rub my seed into her flushed form, but Juniper stopped me to scoop some up with her delicate hands.
She lifted them to her mouth and licked my essence clean from her fingers. To my surprise, another spurt of seed flew out of my saroque onto the dusky circle topping one breast.
Juniper and I both moaned.
“Feel free to do that again any time you want,” she panted.
I licked at her breast, cleaning the tip. Juniper whimpered. Apparently, she liked when I tasted myself as much as she enjoyed her own flavor.
Every time we joined, I learned something new about my mate and what she liked. She never ceased to amaze me, and the pleasure she gave me was beyond words.
We collapsed into our post-mating hugging that I adored, and I held Juniper more tightly than normal, grateful after what happened.
“I’m tired,” my tiny human mumbled.
“Then go to sleep. I will watch over you.”
“Tomorrow, I want to do what we did tonight, but with me on all fours.”
At first, I didn’t understand, and then, my mind blanked at the image she created. My saroque stirred inside of my pouch, where it had just retreated.
“Sleep, my mate. The darkness is quiet. You’ll wake it into a frenzy if you say things like that.”
Juniper giggled. “I guess I shouldn’t tell you the other things I want…”
“Yes—but tomorrow.”
“Deal. Karvik…”
“Yes, little one?”
Instead of saying anything, Juniper nuzzled her face into my chest, and even without words, I knew what she wanted to say because I felt it in my bones.
In no time, Juniper was asleep, her chest rising and falling in the peaceful rhythm of slumber. Juniper.
The fragile human woman who had captured my heart and soul, who had dared to see beyond the monstrous exterior to the being within, was my whole world.
And I was hers.
She had tamed the best inside of me. Her presence alone had the power to soothe the savage tempest of my inner blackness.
Juniper brought a sense of serenity and unity that defied the primal instincts clawing at the depths of my soul.
Slowly, I reached out and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face, my claws tracing the contours of her cheek with a feather-light stroke.
She sighed softly, leaning into my caress even in her sleep, as if sensing the unspoken tenderness from my touch, and the tightness in my chest eased.
My mate accepted me and believed that I was something good. I would never fail her again. From this day forward, I would release the beast that lurked in the darkest corners of my being.