mine, silencing my shout, the tip of his tongue tracing the very edges of my lips. The shifter king rubbed, rubbed, rubbed at my clit, pulling me even closer to that beautiful peak of falling from existence into pure ecstasy. He held me even closer, tighter, and brutally, not letting go while his own body began to tense over me.
My climax teetered on the edge, and his rhythm became frantic and messy, driving me closer, almost there…
King Athon groaned and pressed his forehead against mine, closing his eyes while his fingers dug into my skin, almost there…
His thrusting cock suddenly grew larger—too large—and his rhythm stuttered to a complete halt when he tugged his hips back, but his cock wouldn’t move.
I screamed.
The reason was worthy of the bloodcurdling noise.
King Athon’s warm russet skin tone disappeared. Orange, black, and white stripes painted his entire masculine body, including his face. No fur showed, thank the Fae, but his coloring had just morphed into his tiger’s hues.
The shifter king’s pure black eyes popped open, his head jerking back to stare at me in shock and horror. He bellowed, “What the Fairy is going on?”
“Your body,” I screeched, trying to explain.
“No, your body,” King Athon growled.
I stared for an overlong moment, a ball of dread dropping hard in my gut and making me stall at the inevitable. I moved my right hand to the side and glanced at it.
I whimpered, “Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.”
My hand—my entire body—was fiery red.
King Athon’s expression blanked. He peered down at his arms where they were blatantly tiger striped. He blinked. He blinked some more. He hesitantly moved his hips back from mine, but they weren’t going anywhere, his cock stuck inside my vagina.
I lowered my hand and turned my horrified gaze up to the solid black eyes that had returned to my face. I whispered brokenly, “Are you…knotted?”
King Athon’s frozen face of nothing—possibly in shock—nodded once with a jerk. No words came out of his mouth, the King of Shifters having turned mute suddenly.
He opened his mouth, but then shut it. Still silent.
I whacked at his left arm, frantically ordering, “Get it out! Get it out now!”
The shifter king blinked. In a choked, gruff tone, he said, “That’s not exactly how it works.”
Yes, I knew how it worked.
I shook my head. “We cannot be soul mates.”
When an elf found their soul mate, their skin turned the color of whatever their power might be. When a shifter found their soul mate, their skin turned the color of their animal. But if the male—all kingdoms—climaxed while knotted inside the partner, the deal was sealed. His climax would put a string of events into place: the male climaxes, the female climaxes, their Fae-sparks connect, they are soul mates—the only person they could ever have a child with.
“My body isn’t going to give either of us a choice soon,” he said neutrally, his features still frozen in time. “I can’t hold it back much longer.”
He wasn’t in shock. No. He was trying to keep from climaxing like his body was urging him to do. The shifter king was trying to stay in complete control of himself.
“What do we do?” I asked hysterically. Wait. My eyes widened with a thought. “I could burn your dick off!”
King Athon’s eyes rounded comically, and then hurriedly went back to chilly stone. “Do not even think about burning my cock off. That would not help the ultimate issue of me eventually creating an heir.”
Never had a baby been born of two different kingdoms.
Even when the originals had tried, it hadn’t happened.
They’d killed each other over that, too. One of their many times of killing one another, before the Fae finally created a compatible mate for them. They still ended up killing each other, though—too many times.
It was entirely impossible for us to have children.
He was correct. But bloody Fae still…
“You think that’s the ultimate issue here?”
“It is for my people. Either way, they’re fucked if I can’t get my dick out of you safely.” He held still, thinking silently. “I could cut you open. You would heal as long as I didn’t permanently remove anything.”
“Do it.” I nodded sharply. “Just get the fuck out of me.”
“I’ll make this quick. I’m particularly good with my claws.”
“I don’t give a Fae fuck. Just get it done. I’ll heal.”
Ever so carefully, he turned only his torso so that he could see and get one of his hands down there. His white hair trickled over his shoulder and smacked