Page 15 of Tempting Triton
Elena turns to Ichó. “What does he mean?”
“He is referring to when his family left for the cold season, before the barrier separated them from him permanently. Many other pups did not make it through the cold season, only Triton.”
Elena tries to hide it, but I see the way her fists clench at her side. “Well, you’re not surviving one cold season as a baby, just to die in another as an adult.” Elena climbs onto the clam bed beside me, scooching herself in as close as she can so that every inchof her body is flush against mine, before throwing an arm over my waist and resting her head against my chest.
“W-what are y-you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m going to keep you warm the only way I know how. It works for humans, and you’re half-human. Honestly, I should have figured that out sooner since, you know—” She waves her hand in a circle at the upper half of my body, the very much mostly human-looking portion of me.
I cannot see her face, but I can feel her body move as she talks, her warmth against my skin.
“It’s a long shot, but we can share body heat like this.” She throws a leg over my tail, so she is more on top of me than not. “Ichó, does this clam close at all?”
Ichó clicks at her and nudges the lid of the clam closed until we are encompassed in darkness. She rubs her hand over any spare inch of my body she can find in the dark, and while I know she’s trying to warm me up, I am not so cold that the blood flow is restricted from my cock.
“Is this helping?” she whispers, completely oblivious to my engorged pocket. If she were to move her leg a fractionmore to the left, the warmth between her thighs would be positioned right atop it. The thought does not help matters at all, and I grunt my response, not able to trust my words.
Her body heat is helping, though. She is still warm from being above the surface, and I could not be more grateful to my mate for taking care of me. The tremors that wrack my body begin to subside, and the muscles in my core gradually relax. We lay together in the dark until her breathing slowly trails off into a light and steady rhythm. I stroke her hair, and my chest aches at the thought that we could fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms every night if she let me.
15
Triton
The darkness is disorientating when I wake, but my Elena’s warm body, solid under me, reminds me of the previous day’s events. We must have shifted at some point in the night because our positions have been reversed, with her now nestled beneath me, my head cradled in the crook of her shoulder. Her arms wrap around my neck, fingers tangled in my hair, while my head rises and falls with each relaxed breath she takes. I scent her, that intoxicating hint of sea daffodils and sand from the surface lingers along her skin even beneath the water. It teases me, testing my resolve not to chase my instincts and run my tongue along her bare skin, to taste her like I wish to. My pocket is engorged once more where it rubs against her leg, my cock aching within.
“You’re okay?” My Elena sighs against the top of my head, stirring in the morning light.
“Of course, my mate. It will take a lot more than a cold snap to get rid of me.”
“What was that yesterday?”
“I… do not know. I have my suspicions, which is why I cannot delay checking the barrier any longer.”
The water temperature is back to the tropical warmth I am used to. The sudden shift in temperature from yesterday is not forgotten, despite my body being free from its effects. Elena absentmindedly strokes my hair, and I do not think she realizes she is doing it. The soft touch leaves an ache in my chest and a sting behind my eyes. My mate has unknowingly bestowed upon me more tenderness than I have experienced in my many years of life. With only Ichó at my side, and as much as I love my cetacean friend, flippers do not afford me the same comfort as being wrapped up in my mate’s arms.
I roll so that I am wedged between my Elena’s muscled legs, which fall open around me as if it is the most natural reaction in the world. I prop myself up on my elbows to meet her gaze, my still engorged pocket rubs against her at the junction of her thighs, and I stifle a groan as her body stiffens beneath mine.
“What is that?” Her eyes widen as her arousal permeates the water like perfumed oil. I lick my lips, eager to taste her scent, and her gaze tracks the movement.
“That is my pocket.”
“I’m sorry, your what?”
I lift my upper body off of her, which causes my pocket to rub against her in the same spot.
She lets out a short gasp. “Stop moving.”
I do as she says, worried I have hurt my mate. My cock aches desperately inside my pocket, and I long to let it free so I can fist it in my hand and have my release. But not with my Elena right here beneath me. I have already done the wrong thing by kissing her without her permission, a sexual act to humans that requires what she calls ‘consent’ first. The act of fisting my aching, hard cock in front of her might also offend her. Do human males also have a cock, and if they do, what do they do with it? Human female anatomy is much different to the Mer. Perhaps their mating is different, too? However, I cannot deny that my pocket rubbing against her lights a flame inside me, and my Elena, too, it seems, by the thickening scent of her arousal around us.
“What’s a pocket?” she grits out between clamped teeth. Her voice tells me she is in pain, but her scent tells me she is aroused, and I am very confused. I go to move off of her, and a low moan slips out of her mouth as her hand clamps around the back of my neck, halting my movements.
“Stop.” A small whimper escapes her as she wiggles beneath me, her eyes briefly rolling to the back of her head with fluttering eyelids.
“What is a pocket?” Her breaths come in tiny pants, and I am very curious about this physical response to my body against hers.
“It is what protects my cock.” She closes her eyes and nods while chewing on her bottom lip as if that was exactly what she was expecting me to say. “Do human males not have cocks?”
“Oh no, they do. Just not inside a pocket, as you call it.” She pushes herself up onto her elbows and cocks her head, trying to get a glimpse of the engorged section of my tail that is hidden between us, so perfectly enveloped by her warmth.
