That wasn’t the case now. His muscles ached, but still pulsed with restless energy, as though it could only be released in a very specific way.
But Shay didn’t want that. Not yet.
He leaned forward, meaning to rest his elbows on his knees and take a steadying breath, but the shifting of his weight only reminded him of the tenderness in his groin. Groaning, he dropped a hand to his hard cock and pressed down on it. His balls felt swollen, ready to explode. Yet he knew that nothing he could do—at least on his own—would provide any relief.
He growled again and stood up. This time the growl was prolonged, lengthening into a snarl through his bared fangs. He stalked toward the running platforms positioned along the far wall. As tired as he was after nearly an hour of lifting heavy weights, his body refused to quit, and his instincts…
They were even stronger than before.
How didthatwork?
He was throwing himself into this physical activity, pouring all of himself into it, and yet his mind constantly shifted back to Shay. Every thought led back to her no matter how tenuous the bridge seemed; she was unavoidable.
Because our mating is inevitable.
“Vrek’osh,” he grumbled as he stepped onto one of the running platforms—a two-by-two-meter square topped by an omnidirectional tread.
A holographic control screen appeared in the air in front of him. He slashed theoncommand with the tip of a claw, wishing there’d been something physical there just so he could feel his claw tear through it.
He started walking, and quickly increased his pace to a jog and then a run. The platform’s surface moved in accordance with his speed, keeping him centered. His ears flattened, his heart thundered, and his blood flowed hot as lava through his veins. Shay’s face, her lips tilted in a smirk and her eyes flooded with heat, flashed in his mind’s eye. Drakkal’s cock strained against his pants. For an instant, it seemed as though it’d be strong enough to break free.
Releasing a sharp, annoyed breath through his nostrils, he pushed himself faster, tilting his upper body forward as he pumped his legs. The platform trembled under his weight, and the ache in his groin deepened, spreading to his lower abdomen. He welcomed the discomfort. Soon, his breath wasragged. Heat radiated from his core and skittered across the surface of his skin.
The lingering smell of Shay’s sweat wafted from his fur and shirt. Drakkal spat a curse, torn between his appreciation of that scent and his wish thathecould sweat, too, if only to overpower her aroma and shift his mind away from her for a few seconds.
He pushed himself harder still, intensifying both his internal heat and the beating of his heart. There was a limit to how much of that heat his body could handle, but he didn’t care about it now. It didn’t matter. He needed the exhaustion it would eventually bring.
When he squeezed his eyes shut, he meant to do so for only a moment—just long enough to center himself—but his imagination seized the opportunity offered by that brief darkness. Against his will, he pictured himself chasing Shay—not through the streets of the Undercity but through a forest on his home planet, following her scent between the trees. Hunting her. Instinct drove him to claim his prize, and the longer she ran, the more determined he grew. The more excited he grew.
In that impossibly vivid imagining, he passed between two large tree trunks and entered a clearing to find his mate awaiting him. She was naked, bent over on her hands and knees with her delectable ass in the air, presenting herself for the taking—for his claiming. And she was staring at him over her shoulder with that maddening fire in her eyes.
His cock throbbed, and suddenly the friction between it and his pants had him on the verge of spilling his seed.
“Kraasz ka’val,” he rasped, forcing his eyes open. His breath sawed from his lungs, burning his throat, each exhalation underscored by a growl. He slowed his pace and straightened, lifting his hands and clenching hisfists as though he could catch all this frustration and discomfort between his fingers and squeeze it down into something manageable.
Drakkal’s chest and shoulders heaved as he turned off the platform and stepped down. He felt his heartbeat in every centimeter of his body, a frantic pulse that refused to quiet, refused to slow, and each of its rapid, heavy thumps increased that internal heat just a little more. It felt as though there were a furnace burning in his chest.
He walked forward, lifted an arm, and braced it against the wall, leaning his forehead against his wrist. His insistent pulse strengthened the ache in his groin, pronouncing the agony of his need, and created a new discomfort behind his eyes. He’d never built this amount of heat without pushing his body to brink of collapse, and yet his limbs hummed with fresh stores of strength.
Swallowing thickly—his mouth was dry, his tongue as rough as hard-packed sand—he pushed away from the wall and left the gym. He’d been a fool to think he would find relief here. He’d known from the beginning that there was only one means of release, only one thing that could satisfy him.
His fur, already tousled from his exercise, stood on end in agitation as he strode down the corridor toward his room. His tail whipped ceaselessly as though fighting off unseen attackers, and his ears restlessly lifted and fell, over and over. Despite the pace of his walk—which was glacial compared to his all-out sprint a few minutes before—the heat in him continued to build.
He paused as he reached the door just before his own—Shay’s door. His chest swelled with a deep inhalation; for several seconds, he could not release it. The pressure within him grew along with the heat, and it was all too much, it was impossible to bear, and he had to act, or it would tear him apart. She was on the other side of that door, probably in her bed. Herscent was fresh in this hallway, and it lingered on him; he wanted that scent embedded in his fur forever. He wanted her slick oils coating his cock.
Drakkal reached toward the door’s control panel. He stopped himself before he touched it, curled his fingers into a tight fist, and pressed the side of his hand against the door. Tension gripped his every muscle. He’d been in low places before, had faced more struggles over the years than he could count, had known consuming rage and sorrow. Nothing in his life compared to this. Nothing in his life had been this hard; that was the truth, as absurd as it seemed when held against the challenges he’d faced in the past.
Gritting his teeth so tightly that he swore they would shatter, he pushed away from Shay’s door and walked the most harrowing six meters in all the universe to reach his bedroom. The sound of his door sliding shut behind him once he was inside was a soft and fleeting—and it wasmocking, questioning his devotion to his mate, doubting his strength, needling his pride.
“Fuck you,” he growled at the door before hurrying into the bathroom.
He didn’t allow himself to consider the implications of snapping at inanimate objects as he tore off his clothes. Once his pants were down, his cock sprang free, fully erect, to throb in open air. He shuddered at the relief—though that relief was miniscule, and even the gentle caress of air along his shaft was nearly too much to bear.
Precariously balanced on the edge of explosion, he clamped his right hand around the base of his shaft just beneath the knot, squeezing mercilessly to alleviate the discomfort, and moved to the shower. His thighs brushed his oversensitive balls, which were tight and heavy with unspent seed.
He turned the water on cold and entered the shower,immersing himself. The chill was jarring but welcome, immediately chasing away the heat crackling across the surface of his skin, but it didn’t penetrate deep enough, didn’t extinguish the source of the fires raging within him. Shay’s scent remained strong in his nostrils despite the water streaming over his face.
Releasing his cock, he grabbed his soap and scrubbed his fur to a furious lather, wishing more with each second that it was her hands touching him. When he washed his throbbing cock and aching balls, it produced an immense wave of pleasure-pain unlike anything he’d experienced. He clamped his mouth shut and willed himself to hold it together. If he came by his own hand now, it wouldn’t provide him any relief. He’d only be hungrier.