If Luna had not been used to this world that rendered hunger a force of nature, she might have mistaken his gaze for cruelty. Instead, she saw the trembling edge of desperation his, not hers.
She padded in on bare feet, ankles brushed by the cool cave floor. The children in her belly gave a low, fluttering kick, as if aware she was walking, alone, into the den of the great black dragon. She didn't slow. Ash's nostrils flared, breath deepening to match the heavy, wet sound of the river beyond the cave's mouth. Even in human form, his teeth looked designed for rending.
She wore nothing but a pelt laced hurriedly across her shoulders; the dusk outside painted her skin blue and cold, but it was heat gathering behind Ash's eyes that made her shiver. When she reached the firepit's circle, he stood abruptly, the motion so abrupt it rattled the bones in her own chest.
"Sit," he rasped, but she remained standing, tilting her chin high to meet his stare. For the smallest fraction of a second, his mouth twitched uncertain, almost pained. Then: "You're late."
Luna let the pelt slip down. It pooled at her heels, and her tail, full and gold and trembling, swept behind her calves. The pink of her nipples, the thin blue map of veins at her wrists, the slight swell above her pelvis all of it exposed, and in that moment, all of it his.
She kept her voice soft. "Was I expected?"
He crossed the space in two strides, caught her by the forearms, and forced her back hard enough that her spine met the cave wall with a dull sound. His hands held her there, immovable, but the first thing he did was lower his nose to the hollow between her neck and shoulder, breathing her in. The rumble in his chest was more than a purr, less than a growl a warning, or maybe a plea.
"Expected," he whispered. "Needed. I thought of nothing else."
She could feel him every inch of him pressing against her so there was nowhere left to retreat, not even into herself. He stayed there, breathing her scent, as if it was more vital than air.
Abruptly, he stepped back. His jaw moved, working thoughts into words, but none came. Ash's hand, enormous and callused, lifted to her cheek. He brushed a strand of pale hair aside, thumb tracing the fragile orbit of her eye. His other hand drifted to her belly, and he hesitated, palm hovering, uncertain whether he was allowed to touch.
"Ours," Luna said, so quiet it was almost nothing. But beasts like Ash heard everything.
The next instant, she was on the floor. It wasn't a fall, but an inevitability; he had picked her up and laid her, gentle as dropping a flower, onto furs beside the fire. The heat licked at her back and thighs, and she watched as Ash knelt above her naked save for the hair that shadowed his chest, the black down trailing his belly, the thick line of his cock already straining with intent.
He slid his hands to her thighs, squeezing the muscle there as if testing for ripeness. Then he bent, tongue lapping at the sensitive hollows above her knees, then higher, until the space between her legs was slick with his mouth. Every touch was controlled, slow, like he was teaching himself her taste. Luna arched and gasped, fingers tangling in the furs, heart bucking with something not quite fear.
Ash's hands lifted her hips, and he grazed the blunt tips of his teeth along the crease where her thigh met her mound. Luna felt a pulse of something primal; she wanted, suddenly, for him to bite, to leave his mark. As if reading the shape of her mind, he nipped, very lightly just enough to make her flinch and then melt. She moaned, the sound small and bright.
His voice was hoarse. "Tell me. If it hurts, I'll stop."
"It won't," Luna said, and she was right.
He mounted her with a shuddering reverence, the head of his cock nudging at her entrance, then sliding in slow and unrelenting. The stretch burned, perfect.
He watched her face the entire time, as if he'd miss some hidden sign if he blinked. When he bottomed out, he caged her against the furs, both arms braced. Luna felt his trembling restraint, the way he held back even as his hips began to piston, gentle at first, then faster, fucking her with a purpose that was holy.
"You're mine," he growled into her ear. "You're my first. I took you first, and now there's others but ill always be first. Do you understand?"
Luna's world narrowed to the rhythm, the weight and warmth of him, the scent of smoke and male and salt. "I understand," she said, and meant it.
He angled his body, found the spot inside her that made her wail, and drove into it over and over, unrelenting. One hand gripped her breast, thumb rolling her nipple until it peaked, then softer, kneading, as if he was learning its shape forever. The way he fucked her was not just to seed her she already carried, and he knew it, but to brand her, to ensure that her body would never forget.
When she came, it was with a yelping cry that echoed in the stone. Ash held himself deep, unmoving inside her, and Luna felt the pulse of him, hot and claiming. For a long, shuddering moment, neither moved.
He pulled out slowly, dragging every inch from her with a groan, then thrust back in, harder, making her gasp. And again. Again. Each time a little rougher, a little less in control, he took her hands and pinned them flat above her head, his own body a fortress, a furnace, a thing built to ruin her with pleasure. Luna's voice rose, each thrust tearing another desperate sound from her lips; she was split wide and filled to the core, and every inch inside her screamed for more. Her legs locked tight around his waist, heels digging desperate tracks down his back.
Ash panted, breath gone ragged. "You can take it. You can take all of me." Every word vibrated through her chest, through the stone, through the lonely air of the cave. She felt his cock, impossibly hard, stretching her, pushing so deep she saw colours. His hands, once careful, now bruised her thighs, anchoring her as he drove in full and impossibly thick. The pressure inside her was tidal; she was flooded with it.
"Full," Luna gasped, the sound breaking on a sob. "You're so big..ah!"
He snarled, and she felt it, not in her ears but in the slick, trembling center of her. "Look at you. You're gods, you're mine, birthed mine."
He bent, mouth hungry for her breast, and when he caught her nipple in his teeth, he groaned so loud the cave answered back. "You're even softer now. These… perfect. You were made for this. For me."
His tongue flicked, coaxing her nipple, and then his lips sealed around it, sucking hard. She arched, back bowing, and something in her shifted, a wet heat blooming at the tip of his tongue. Ash pulled back with a strangled gasp, eyes wild. A thin, pearlescent drop beaded at the tip of her nipple milk, already, from a body transformed by his need. He licked it, then went back with a ferocity that bordered on savage.
"Again," he demanded, voice guttural, and his hips began to slam into her, relentless and unyielding, his cock so deep she was sure he was breeding her all over again. With every thrust he suckled, drawing more of the milky sweetness from her, and Luna could only moan, the sensation a spiral of pressure and release that left her mind reeling.
He pulled away, lips wet, and rumbled, "You taste like the new moon. Like you belong to the world." Then he slid his hand between her legs, thumb circling the swollen, aching bud he'd ignored until now. The shock of it sent her over, body convulsing under him, all the pleasure blooming at once. She screamed, a wild, high sound, and he kept going, milking every last shudder from her.
Ash growled, losing the last of his self-control, and pounded into her, his own orgasm a violent, trembling thing. She felt the hot rush of him, the way he held her so tight she thought her bones might break, and he didn't stop kept moving, even after he emptied himself, as if he could carve his shape into her forever.
When it was done, she could not move. She could only lie there, limp and shaking, as he gripped her hips and pulled her flush to him, not letting a drop escape. His mouth pressed to her ear, his words the only language in the world.
"Never leave. I'll kill the world for you, if I must. I'll burn the sky and eat the sun"
She believed him.