Page 48 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
Instead, I reached for her hand.Gently.Slowly.As if she might still change her mind.
She didn’t pull away.
The moment her fingers curled into mine, something inside me loosened.I hadn’t realised how tightly I’d been holding myself together – how every breath since that cave had been measured, calculated, restrained.For her safety.For mine.
I pressed her hand to my chest – not just to the place where one heart beat, but the other, too.Both.Fast.Alive.
“You calm them,” I said.“Both of them.It’s never happened before.”
Her eyes softened.“I think you calm mine, too.”
A silence bloomed between us.
“I’ve never shared a space like this,” I admitted.“Never invited someone into a nest.Into a… home.At some point, we might leave the Bloodstar and go elsewhere, but I have a feeling we might stay here for a while.”
“I kind of like it here,” she said.“Our own cosy cabin just for us and then a whole big spaceship with waffle machines and swimming pools and people who are on our side.”
Her fingers squeezed mine.My hood flared slightly, the instinctive signal of openness.Trust.
I didn’t kiss her.Not yet.Instead, I ran the back of my hand along her jaw – a slow, reverent stroke that saidI’m here.You’re safe.We’re real.
Her breath caught.
And then, just like before, she reached up, put a hand around my neck and pulled me down until our lips met.
22
Clare
The kiss started slow.Not tentative – we’d already crossed that line – but reverent, like he was tasting something he thought he might never be allowed to have again.
Venom’s lips were warm against mine, his fangs just barely brushing my bottom lip, careful and restrained.I cupped his cheek with one hand, the other pressed to the firm plane of his chest.He didn’t push.He didn’t rush.He let me decide.
And I did.
I parted my lips and leaned in deeper.
The low sound he made – something between a growl and a sigh – rumbled through my bones.His arms came around me, strong and sure, his coils tightening just enough to cradle, not trap.
“I’ve never claimed anyone,” he murmured against my mouth.“But I want to claim you.With teeth.With heat.With everything I am.”
My breath hitched.“Then stop waiting.”
But he didn’t move.Not yet.
His gaze burned into mine – not with heat, but with something deeper.Ancient.Sacred.
“There’s something you need to know first,” he said, voice low and reverent.“If I take you now, fully… if I bite you… it won’t just be physical.It’s not just sex for my kind.”
I blinked.“You said before that it is some kind of bond.”
He nodded once.“More than a bond.It ties us.Soul to soul.You’d become mine.My mate.My clan would recognise you as one of us.It’s not reversible.Not breakable.You’d be part of me, and I part of you.Even across galaxies.”
My heart thudded.“Is that what you want?”
His voice was barely a whisper.“Yes.More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
I swallowed hard.“And what else does it mean?Besides soul-bonding?”
