"Shut up," I gasped, focusing on the exquisite fullness, the impossible heat. "I can take it."
When I finally settled fully on his lap, both of us were shaking. I'd never felt so stretched, so completely filled. And yet I felt the swollen area pushing against me, and I wondered if he was right. Could I take all of it?
"Move," I commanded, bracing my hands against his chest. "Please, Kazmyr, move."
He didn't need to be told twice. His hands guided my hips in a slow, deliberate rhythm, lifting me up and pulling me down with careful control. Each stroke sent sparks cascading through my nervous system, pleasure and pain blurring until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
"My flame-born," he growled, marks blazing across his chest and neck. "My chosen. Mine."
The possessive words sent a fresh surge of heat through me. I increased our pace, riding him harder, chasing the building pressure at my core. His knot pressed at my opening, trying to push inside, the pressure adding another layer to the overwhelming sensation.
"Yes," I gasped, nails digging into his chest hard enough to leave my own marks. "Yours. Make me yours."
Something wild flashed in his eyes. His control snapped, hips driving up to meet mine with brutal force. The new angle hit something deep inside me that made my vision blur. I cried out, clinging to his shoulders as he took over, setting a punishing rhythm that should have broken me but instead pushed me higher.
"You will carry my mark," he snarled, one hand sliding up to grip the back of my neck. "My fire. No one will ever question our bond."
The ember marks along his body blazed brighter, heat pouring off him in visible waves. Where our bodies connected, the glow transferred to my skin, temporary patterns blooming across my thighs and stomach in molten gold. The sight of his marks on me pushed us both closer to the edge.
"Come for me," he commanded, voice rough with need. "Let me feel you claim me."
My orgasm hit with devastating force, white-hot pleasure exploding outward from my core. I screamed his name, body convulsing around his impossible girth as I took the thick base. The world narrowed to nothing but sensation.
The fullness was indescribable. My brain shut down and just embraced the mindless pleasure. Through the haze, I felt his release… hotter than should be possible, liquid fire filling me as his roar shook the chamber walls.
The marks on his body flared blindingly bright, transferring to my skin in elaborate, pulsing patterns that spread from my thighs to my chest. Where they touched, I felt our bond solidify, something fundamental shifting between us on a cellular level.
We collapsed together onto the moss, which caught us eagerly, cushioning our tangled limbs. Kazmyr's arms wrapped around me with reverent care, cradling me against his chest as aftershocks rippled through both our bodies. He gradually dimmed to a steady glow, but the patterns on my skin remained, pulsing in time with our shared heartbeat.
"You are..." He seemed to struggle for words, fingers tracing the golden marks on my hip with wonder. "I did not believe a human could withstand such bonding."
I laughed weakly, too spent to move. "Never underestimate human stubbornness."
We lay in silence for several minutes, his hand stroking lazy patterns along my spine as our breathing synchronized. Slowly his cock softened inside of me, the knot shrinking until it dislodged. The moss beneath us hummed with contentment, occasionally reaching up to brush against our cooling skin.
A thought occurred to me then, unwelcome but impossible to ignore. "Kazmyr," I whispered, not meeting his eyes. "If we survive this... if this bond means I can never go back to Earth..."
His entire body tensed beneath me, marks guttering like candles in a draft. The fear in his reaction was so raw, so unexpected, that my breath caught. This powerful being, this warrior who could crush stone with his bare hands, was terrified of losing me.
"We can discuss your return when Asset P is defeated," he finally said, but the words rang hollow, at odds with the desperation in his ember marks.
Before I could press him, before I could extract the truth or make promises I wasn't sure I could keep, a chime interrupted our peace. The moss beneath us contracted in distress, tendrils curling protectively around our bodies as emergency lights washed the room in pulsing red.
"The prime time to launch our attack is approaching." Silvyr announced over some kind of intercom system.
The moment shattered, intimacy giving way to immediate danger. As Kazmyr carried me through the doorway, I caught my reflection in a crystalline panel… skin still glowing with his marks, evidence of our bond visible for all to see. Whatever happened next, whatever choice awaited me regarding Earth and my future, I belonged to him now.
And judging by the ferocity in his ember marks as he carried me toward the bridge, he belonged to me just as completely.
CHAPTER 12
KAZMYR
The fortress node loomed before us, a grotesque titan scarred by a thousand battles, its hull bristling with defense drones like parasites feeding on a corpse. I guided Heartforge through the debris field, my hands fused to the control panel, marks blazing across my skin in patterns of rage and possession. Jenna pressed against me in the command seat, her smaller frame fitting perfectly against mine, the golden marks of our bonding still pulsing across her skin. Each beat of her heart echoed through my ember marks, reminding me what I fought for, what I would burn worlds to protect.
"Targeting systems locked," I growled, marks flaring bright enough to cast shadows across the bridge. "Reality cloaking stable."
Silvyr's voice crackled through the comm array, his digital presence flickering beside us as a half-formed projection. "Cloaking maintaining at eighty-seven percent efficiency. They cannot see us, but they'll feel us when we breach."