Kiahn wets his lips. “You know, I could just grant you protection in my court without the contract. If- if that is what you’re worried about. You don’t need to let me touch you at all for that.” His eyes flick briefly up to mine, but they can’t help but fall back down to where I’m guiding his hand lower still.

I’d mulled this thought over before. But now, with the clarity of Kiahn’s venom on my tongue, I can clearly see the problem with that line of thought.

I don’t belong to him, I belong to his aunt.

And I was bought for one purpose, and one purpose only.

Would she make sure me and my friends are safe if I don’t uphold my end of the bargain?

I can’t guarantee that.

So, my hands continue to urge his slow descent, until his large palm engulfs my left breast. This elicits a choked-off sort of groan to escape the prince, and I can’t lie; that noise makes little ol’ me feel quite powerful right about now.

“But, I want the contract,” I tell him, pressing his touch more firmly to my flesh. “And you want to breed me. Don’t you?”

“Fuck,” Kiahn hisses, biting out the curse. “Uh-” he stalls, his big chest starting to rise and fall more visibly now. “Yes,” the prince admits with a strained voice. His gaze flits from meeting my own, to being drawn beneath the waters where he starts to gently knead my breast with my encouragement. “I want that.”

“Well, then… don’t fight it. I trust you.”

Kiahn still looks torn, and almost… guilty.

And, it’s then that I get an idea. “You know, I think your venom has helped me to see clearly that I really am comfortable with your earlier suggestion.”

Kiahn’s brows crease together while his eyes keep darting to where he’s still cupping me, oh so gently. “My earlier suggestion?”

“Mm-hm,” I nod, tugging him forward as I step back before turning us, and urging him to sit on the ledge of the pool. He sits without much prompting, the warm waters swirling around us as he watches me carefully. I finally push his hand away from my breast, as I climb onto his lap. Straddling Kiahn’s thickly muscled thighs, I feel somehow powerful in my vulnerability. I don’t know if this is some kind of high from taking his venom, but it feels like he’d do anything I’d ask of him with the way he’s looking at me right now. I’m still mostly covered by the lagoon water, but I can feel the movement of the water’s surface play around my nipples, so I know he’s getting a peek every now and again. “I think we should try your suggestion from before,” I repeat, using one hand to keep myself steady, propped against his chest, and slipping the other lower, and lower down my body. “I think we can prove that you can control yourself.”

Kiahn drinks me in, and I see the exact moment he realizes I’m touching myself again. His head falls back and he lets out an almost pained groan. “Nissskaahh,” he rumbles, dragging out the sound of my name like he’s caressing each syllable with his husky voice. “You have too much faith in my restraint, little female.”

I laugh then. I can’t help it. It was Kiahn who came up with this whole idea in the first place. His head pops up again and the look on his face is almost incredulous, like he can’t believe I’d find any of this amusing. “You’re not even wearing a collar,” he protests weakly with a tone to his voice that is definitely related to a whine. “Do you know how easily I could bite that pretty little exposed neck of yours right now? You wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

His eyes are fixed on my throat, so I reach out and take his hand, placing it right around the center of his focus. “Cover it yourself, then,” I challenge him, his palm cupping my neck and his long, thick, dark gray fingers curling around one side, his thumb resting at the hinge of my jaw, right below my ear.

Kiahn’s fingers flex where they gently hold me by the throat, and I never thought I had this particular kink, but I’m starting to see the appeal. Besides, with the clarity of his venom still running through my mind, I know I need this man to trust himself with me, or he won’t go through with this contract.

And anyway, this thrills me.

It thrills me to let him be in such a dominant position with me, and yet knowing, deep down, that I still have power over him. I can see it in his eyes. He’s desperate for me to let him take me, but he’s equally desperate that I come to no harm.

It’s a delicious dichotomy that does nothing but wind me up, and urge me on.

“Touch yourself, too,” I tell him, my voice much more breathy than I had intended.

The muscle in Kiahn’s jaw ticks as he stares at me, but he carries out my instruction. His bicep bulges where he moves to take his cock in his hand, the other flexing around my throat. I keep my fingers gliding around and around my clit as I watch his slow movements. I can’t see anything clearly beneath the water, but with the way the surface starts to slosh around us in a particular rhythm, I know he’s obeying my request.

“You will wear the finest of collars when we arrive at Xaavia, little human,” he proclaims, his gaze devouring me as his thumb slowly swipes back and forth along the line of my jaw. His eyes quickly flit down to where my nipples sometimes peek above the water’s surface with our movements. Groaning, Kiahn’s head drops back again, but he continues talking. “It will be designed with gold, the newest systems in breeding technology,” he pauses, taking in a ragged breath, “and… encrusted with Goddess gems…. the highest grade glowstones from the capital… everyone will know you are my bride.”

“Is this normally how you do dirty talk?” I ask, grinning when his movements beneath the water pauses, and his head pops back up to look at me again, “by telling the girls what you’re going to buy them?”

Prince Kiahn blinks at me, his gaze dropping briefly to my chest and then back up again. “Is it working?”

I can’t help but smirk at that. Once again, I never thought I’d be into that kind of thing, what with normally being pretty damn independant, but…well… yeah. “Kinda,” I admit, jerking my chin at him while my eyes fall to the distorted view of him touching himself below the water. “Keep going.”

His bicep starts to move rhythmically again, and I start matching his pace with my own touch between my legs. “You want me to tell you of how I am going to spoil you, little Niska?” he asks, his voice low and raspy. God, why is he so hot? He’s so big, and powerful, and dangerous. His black ridged horns sweep back along his head, ending in two, sharp looking points, only serving to remind me how different we are.

And I like it.

Maybe more than I should.

“Tell me,” I nod, my gaze boring into Kiahn’s like a challenge.

He huffs out a breath through his nose, his lips parting, showing me a hint of his sharp fangs as he stares right back while stroking his cock.

“Are you gonna look after me, Kiahn?”

“Yes,” he chokes out. “Let me. Let me provide you with everything you would ever wish for.”

Why do I like this so much? My tongue rolls out to wet my lips, and I’m pleased to witness Kiahn’s eyes catch on the movement as he watches me, raptly. “And what else do you want to do?” I ask, shifting my body closer in his lap, our busy hands bumping into each other while we pleasure ourselves. Kiahn pauses again, sucking in a breath at the contact - the back of my hand to his knuckles. So I press closer still, giving him a look and a nod that I hope conveys to him that I want him to match my movements.

He flexes his grip around my throat, and I wonder for a moment whether this is the line that he won’t cross. Is he going to put a halt to this just as that deliciously tingly feeling of oncoming bliss starts to build between my thighs?

Instead, he shifts beneath me, moving forward a little so that I can wriggle further up his lap in return, my thighs now bracketing his hips and our individual pleasure now pressed more firmly together. His eyes flash as he starts stroking himself up and down again, his knuckles moving in time with where my fingers press to my clit in tight circles.