There was a hot and unexpectedly sweet taste in my mouth, and I nearly scrambled out of his arms to apologize, when suddenly the world turned and I was on my back in the nest, Khell rutting wildly on top of me.

"Petal! Sunny!" he snarled, his hips bucking and clapping into me. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. My mate. Mine!"

His urgency was shocking, but the grind and pressure of him on top of me only added fuel to the fire of my release, and I came again. I arched this time, releasing Khell's throat from my bite, only to find my shoulder pinned in his jaws.

The flood of hot bliss rushing through my veins, and spilling into me from Khell's release, sharpened with the sudden strike and burn of pain, Khell's tusks and teeth breaking my skin. His roar was buried in his bite, and the little twinkle lights overhead flared and glittered as the dizzy turn of the orgasms swept through me.

Khell continued fucking me, but his strokes grew softer and slower as I caught my breath. His throat was wet against my cheek, and my shoulder ached in his grip. His tongue swiped around the edge of his teeth, and I sighed at the warm tingle that soothed the bite.

"What—You didn't—" My chest was heaving, brushing against Khell's, and he pulled away slowly, licking the wound he'd made again. When he sat up above me I found the largest, brightest smile on his face. I blinked and stared up at him. "That was…bonding?"

He laughed, gaze glittering, and rocked into me a few times, the easy and gentle pace as soothing to my aftershocks as his licking had been to the bite.

"We were already mates," Khell said, ducking to lick me once again, nuzzling his head against my cheek. "Bites like these are…proof of pride. Proof that I please you as a mate. I should've asked, but you caught me by surprise, petal. Does it hurt?"

He was licking me again and no, it didn't hurt. It felt…explicit, like his tongue was actually on my cunt. I squirmed and he chuckled, guessing my answer.

"Not now," I said. "I didn't actually—" I paused, and Khell leaned back to meet my eyes again. Did I want to say biting him had been an accident? I was proud he was my mate. He definitely pleased me. He pleased me to a point of feral desperation and urgency that left me…biting him. It made sense now, in an orcish way. I hadn't bitten him to prove my pride, he'd earned the mark. And so had I. "I didn't even realize. Does yours hurt?"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to lick the wound, if I were honest, but if it would help the way his tongue did for me, I'd do it.