“Do you not like the kiss?” he asks, his voice edged with frustration.
“I very much did.”
“Then why didn’t you respond?”
“I don’t know how.”
He stares at me, blank faced, then says in a low voice, “Unmated.”
My cheeks flush pink, but instead of calling me weak, his hand slides to the back of my head, and he brings his mouth to mine again.
His tongue is thick and firm, like his body. He presses it into my mouth, gliding it along my tongue slowly, encouraging mine to come out and play.
Which it does. It seems to take on a mind of its own. I lean into him, pressing my hands to his chest, which is solid, harder than I thought possible.
His hand finds my hair as his lips work my mouth, his tongue filling me again and again like his cock will eventually fill my insides.
I’m still not sure how okay I am with that, but there’s little hope I’ll survive Melgrim on my own, and having a big, strong exile interested in keeping me safe and well certainly increases my odds of survival.
God, I sound like Nori.
My gut twists when I think of the girls stranded on the island with barely any water. Meg and Asha had been kind. Many others, indifferent. I genuinely like Nori, as she’s smart and level-headed. I can’t bring myself not to care.
I pull away.
Grixis pants desperately, clearly wanting to resume our intimacy, but there are things I must ask him first.
“Are you going to help me?”
He swallows, his eyes trained on my mouth. “I will, provided you are strong.”
“What if I want to help some of the girls on the beach?”
“The weak ones?” he snaps.
“Strong in different ways, remember?”
He rolls his eyes. “I thought they didn’t like you.”
“Many don’t, but some aren’t so bad. I don’t want to kneel or grovel to them, but a part of me wants to help them.”
“I will have to talk to my people about that.”
I smile, knowing they are a group of men that will probably be happy to assist a group of desperate women, despite us being outwardly weak. If Grixis came around, surely the others could.
If the girls play nice.If…because I don’t know how many of their unmated asses would be willing to do what I’m about to do.
“Do you have some kind of leader I can appeal to?”
“I am tribe leader.”
Startled, I nearly fall off his lap.
“You mean you lead them?”
“Yes.”
“Like a lord?”