Page 86 of Heat Lightning

“Feel that?” he asked, words punchy and short.

“Wha—oh!” The tip of something hard moved inside me, forcing my belly to subtly distend. Was that… his cock?

“God, you’re perfect,” he growled, teeth dragging across my scent gland. At this point I was convinced the mask was the only thing keeping him from biting me. “So full of me already and you still have room for more.”

I gasped when he flipped me onto my back and thrust in again, dangling my legs over his arms.

“Wanna see it,” he slurred, eyes wild. While my heat took a natural course of peaks and valleys, Atlas only seemed to grow more intense, more feral as the days went on. “Wanna see my cock in you.”

I followed his gaze down to where his cock did indeed bulge out of me on every thrust. It was obscene. Forbidden. It looked monstrous, like he was a great big creature who’d caught me on a full moon and forced his way into me.

I fucking loved it.

“Wanna feel it.” He pressed his hand onto my stomach, right over the bulge. It shoved my breeding gland down, now a direct target for the head of his cock.

I cried out, eyes rolling as my orgasm slammed through me.

He was as far in me as anything had ever been. When his knot swelled, locking him inside, he continued to press down, rocking right into that spot.

Home. He was home.

My vision blacked out. I bared my neck, all logical thought about discussing the consequences of mating gone. I just wanted him to bite me.

“Do it,” I begged, unable to stop myself. “I want you. Claim me, Atlas.”

Claim us! My omega wailed.

He let out a broken sound. His teeth skated off my neck, digging into the pillow next to me. I wasn’t aware of anything after that, except the never-ending ache of a bond once again, unclaimed.

When the wave finally passed and his knot softened, he stumbled out of bed just long enough to grab a cloth, a bottle of water, and some pretzel sticks.

“Drink,” he said, passing me the water first.

I sat up, caught somewhere between needy omega goo and indignation at his bossy tone. “Well, hello to you, too.”

He smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They were bloodshot again, and he looked like he hadn’t slept the night before. “Sorry. I thought we’d already exchanged our morning greetings.”

I rolled my eyes and took the water from him, gulping down half of it before I came up for air.

“That’s what I thought,” he said, snatching it back and finishing it off.

The way his throat bobbed with each swallow made me forget whatever comeback I had planned. I was certain it would’ve been brilliant.

I let my eyes wander down the rest of his gloriously naked body—except for the mask, of course. I didn’t want to think about that itching desire to rip it off his face; I just wanted to drink in every inch of exposed skin I could.

Tentacles swirled up his arm to reveal the octopus’s body draped across his shoulder blade. Three hammerhead sharks swam in a line down his spine, their bodies curved as if fighting a current. Finally, and least surprising, he had a grim reaper skeleton tattooed across his right ribs, with the scythe cutting across his abs in a bloody gash.

I’d tasted them all, and would again, before this was over. Actually, I’d start now.

“Why do you like ocean animals so much?” I asked, crawling across the bed to run my fingers, and then my tongue, along one tentacle.

He rumbled and sat down, pulling me in to straddle his lap. Lifting the mask just enough, he dragged his cheek across mine. Those calm, soothing pheromones surrounded me, so overwhelming my eyes drooped.

“Always have, since I was young,” he said.

I peered into his eyes, waiting for him to continue. He did that a lot, giving just enough of an answer to address the question without adding anything of depth. Sometimes, if I waited patiently, he’d expand.

Other times, he wouldn’t.