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“He will not have you,” Ketahn said. “She will not have me.” Ivy swallowed hard and lifted a hand to touch Ketahn’s arm. “Ketahn?” He stiffened for an instant; that stillness offered no warning of what came next. She was only vaguely aware of the sound of Ketahn’s spear falling as he spun around, swept Ivy into his arms, and pulled her against him in a crushing embrace. Ivy wound her arms and legs around him as though it was the most natural thing in the world, as if she’d done so a million times over a thousand lifetimes.
Catching a fistful of her hair, he tugged back on it, angling her chin up as he strengthened his embrace. “And she will never have you,” he rasped against her throat. “No one is taking me away.” Ivy closed her eyes. “I’m yours, Ketahn. No one has me but you.”
“But she will never know of you. She must never know. I will keep you safe, my heartsthread, from the queen and everything else.”
Ivy won out. He’d known it even before he’d thought about any of it, had known she would always be his first choice. He cared immensely for his sister and friends, but Ivy—sweet, fragile, compassionate Ivy—was his mate. She was his everything. She came before all else.
furrowed. “Are you all seriously going to ignore the fact that she’s fucking that thing? It’s a damn spider!” “Not spider,” Ketahn growled, leaning toward Cole with his mandibles flaring. “Vrix.”
“I do not want to scare,” he said with gentleness in his deep voice, “only to protect. Ivy is my mate. You are her kind. So you are my kind, too.”
He purred gently and dropped a hand to cover hers. “That does not trouble me, my nyleea. I have you, and you will always be enough.” You will always be enough.
Ivy inhaled his earthy, mahogany-and-spice fragrance. It was like an aphrodisiac; it flowed through her, making her nipples harden and her core heat and clench. “I belong to you. Not Him.” “Yes,” he rumbled, turning his face toward her. His eyes were fierce. “You are mine. And I will make sure none can question it. I will roar my claim to the entire jungle.” A giggle escaped her. “Don’t you already do that?” His gaze softened, and he chittered, dropping a hand to run along her calf. “Ah, my nyleea. I will do it again and again until the sky falls upon the jungle and this world is no more.”
“She is my mate. My heartsthread. Her safety is all that matters to me.” There was a rawness in Ketahn’s voice that Ivy had rarely heard—one part possessive, one part protective, one part aggressive. But there was vulnerability in it too.
He was stricken again by a sense of being tiny and insignificant in the face of all this, as though no vrix could ever hope to compare to what the city’s first queen had wrought. As though all their struggles mattered not, for only queens were worthy of remembrance. Had Ivy and the other humans ever experienced similar sensations on their world? Did powerful humans go out of their way to make those they ruled feel weak, small, and pointless? Had it played a part in their choice to leave?
“Our heartsthreads, our spirits, are all that matter, and they are bound. Fate brought me to you, my heartsthread, and even if it tried to turn me away, I would defy it. Nothing will come between us. So long as the sun, moons, and stars make their treks across the sky, you will be mine, Ivy.”
Perfect. Meeting my sister-in-law with cum running down my leg.
Ivy tipped her forehead against Ahnset’s headcrest. “Thank you, sister.” Ahnset’s mandibles twitched as though with uncertainty, and then fell. A soft trill sounded in her chest. She closed her eyes and released a long, shallow breath. “It…has been too long since I have had a sister. I am glad to call you one now, Ay-vee.
“Not spider,” Ketahn corrected. “Vrix.”
“We have many to do,” he told them. “There is not time to make tears.” “He just told us to quit crying, didn’t he?” Will asked Ivy. Ivy chuckled as she raised her arms over her head and stretched. “Yeah, basically.”
Our souls see what our eyes can’t, and they connect no matter what’s on the outside. Our bodies…they’re just shells.” Our souls see what our eyes can’t.
“Do it,” Ivy breathed. “Fuck me. Claim me. Take my body.” Like you’ve taken my heart.
Protector, let me be their shield. Hunter, let me be their provider. Delver, let me be their guide. By your eightfold eyes, watch over my new kin... Or stand aside that I may do so myself.
