Page 16 of Breeding Season
“Didn’t you?” I repeated. She nibbled on her bottom lip.
“It wasn’t the greatest, no. I passed out,” she answered.
“It was pain. It was survival, Mát. Our souls are a sliver away from being one. She tried to cut you from me.”
She didn’t flinch.
“So if we’re split, I’m dead,” she repeated aloud. I nodded. “What happened to Jania?” she asked as she searched my face for the truth.
“Dead,” I growled.
“Why?” she asked. We were at the edge of a cliff. This was the moment things would shift. The life I’ve lived didn’t call for words of love, for tender touches, and sweet kisses. I fought the urge to stand up and walk away.
“She attacked the future of the Herd, my crown, and the one things that connects me to a greater fate. She attacked our bond, but none of that mattered when I felt that pain. I don’t want to lose you. The magic is blocked, Mát. We must release it, or you’ll lose the life force I gave you.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand. You’re not making sense,” she whispered as she grabbed her temple.
“We will be one, or you will die.”
Her eyes widened with fear and understanding. Her hand lowered to her stomach.
“How do you seal it?” she murmured, but her eyes shone with the truth. She knew, but there was something she didn’t. I moved my hand to hers, covering the hook mark.
“We must flood the trapped magic and provide a fresh binding energy.”
“Sex. You mean you have to fuck me again,” she murmured. The nervousness bled into fear.
I nodded. “You need the energy, and I need the anchor.” I moved my hand to her breast. “To seal it, I need the energy to flow into you for you to produce the essence the bond requires.”
“Essence? What does the bond require?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
I pushed against her chest. “When I claimed you last night, I gave you life. It has been compromised and it’s now blocked. We must draw it out and immediately flood the wound. This forces your body to produce the purest binding agent. It leaks from here. I won’t stop until I’ve milked you.”
I paused, leaning down until my snout almost touched her ear.
“And I will ensure that nothing, human or Minotaur, ever threatens you again. Your safety is my survival. Our defiance of the bond ends here. We are partners in this realm now. You will stop fighting me and I will… be better. There cannot be me with no you. Do you understand?” I growled.
She turned to look me in the eyes. She was tired and weak, but there was fight there.
“Yes.” The one word she spoke was a surrender built from strength. “I don’t know if you know this, but women can’t produce milk from fucking.”
“In this realm, they can,” I confirmed.
I watched her for a long moment, fighting the urge to move first, fighting my instincts that told me to claim her. She sighed, giving in to the powerful thrum of arousal that sparked between us.
“No more talking. I’ll submit today, but I need something from you.”
“Name it,” I breathed.
“Prove you can be different. Show me it can be. Will you… make love to me, Mát?”
Perfect
Taur
Her request—make love to me—was a challenge layered over surrender. The night before, she’d fought me tooth and nail. There had been an anger in her eyes that promised no matter how long she was restrained or chained, she wouldn’t give in easily. It hadn’t mattered to me. I’d wanted to claim her, make her mine, and fill her until my seed gushed from her. What stared back at me now was something different: a fire that I was compelled to feed, not extinguish.
She wasn’t asking for tenderness; she was demanding control over the terms of her own survival. She wanted me to claim her in a way I’d never claimed anyone—withlove. I had promised to be better. The whimper of the damaged bond was a physical pain that demanded I fill her immediately. I had removed the block.
