Kylo's first instinct was to freeze up. That only made her teeth sink in harder.

Oh she pierced his skin alright. Her teeth may have been blunted by her human form, but that didn't stop her from leaving her mark. He'd been bitten before by her kind before. This time felt very different.

"Rey!"

He grits the words out, grabbing her by her shoulders and trying to push her off. He could throw her, use the Force on her to make her let him go, but that might hurt her. Kylo's not sure if he could stand himself if he hurt her.

"Let go!" he grunts again.

She doesn't. Rey grips his shoulders right back, holding him in place and he can feel her jaw pulsing, working hard to sink her bite in deep.

Kylo wants her to let go on her own. He needs her to, if only to prove to himself that she hasn't just turned against him.

If she was trying to eat him, she would be chewing, right? Not just closing her teeth down and not letting up? This wasn't some wild angry attack. Whatever she was doing was very purposeful.

"Rey," he fists a hand in her hair, "for the gods woman, let me go!"

Her arms wrap around him then, holding herself to his chest. Her head rocks from side to side, doing everything she can to bite as hard as her jaw possibly can.

"Enough!"

The pain is nothing. He's suffered worse on a nearly daily basis. It's her arrow-like precision and focus that's entirely bewildering to him.

"I said enough, Rey."

Kylo steadies his voice and pulls on her hair. She moans. For a second time seams to stutter.

Then her jaw releases. She sags against him, resting her forehead on the center of his sternum as Kylo's grip on her goes slack with his astonishment.

"Rey."

That hadn't sounded like the moan of a hungry animal looking for its meal. Or had it?

He picks up her chin, jerking her head to look her in her eyes.

Human eyes. A flush to her cheeks and his blood pinking her lips.

"Rey."

She smiles. Her hands leave his back to run along his chest. He glares down at her as she opens his shirt again, pulling it to the side to admire her handiwork.

The soft flesh where she'd just bitten is red and swollen. A little blood can be seen, but for all her efforts she hadn't been able to bite him too severely. His shirt had absorbed most of the drops that she'd spilled. She leans her head forward then, aiming to return to that spot, and now Kylo holds her back.

"No."

He says it firmly. Resolutely. Rey blinks, her eyebrows pulling together. She's starting to learn that word, seemingly.

"What in all the gods is going on in that head of yours?"

He's missing something. A critical piece.

She watches his lips very closely as he speaks. For some reason that makes him feel more uncomfortable than her bite had done. She relents for now, though, settling herself further back on his legs before glancing down between them and frowning. It's not until she shifts again, her weight rocking from side to side over his legs, does Kylo suddenly realize that he's laying here with a naked woman straddling his lap.

"M'Lady."

He bucks slightly, trying to hint for her to get off of him. Her smile grows again as his hands close around her waist. She slaps them away, tossing her messy hair over one shoulder as she leans in.

And then she waits. There's something she clearly wants.

"Tit for tat, is it? Your means of apologizing for biting the hand that feeds you?"

Or neck, technically, but Kylo doesn't have time to dwell on that before she grasps him by both fists in his hair and yanks his head forward, burying him face-first against the side of her neck.

Suddenly he feels it. A faint wave of her current emotions. It reaches his mind clearer than it ever had before.

Excitement. Annoyance. A touch of fear that's almost completely eclipsed by…

By desire.

Kylo sucks in a breath at that. She jumps slightly, her heartbeat pounding in his ear.

She desires him.

Kylo is no stranger to the feeling of lust. It was ordinary, natural, and something that he had chosen to only ever act upon in complete privacy. And, even in those moments when he gave in to his body's own impulses, it was something he only halfway had thought about experiencing with another person.

A gentle nudge of the Force against her hands and he makes her let his scalp go. Kylo pulls back to look at her and she's biting her lower lip, staring at him with eyes darkened.

"My Lady."

He keeps saying the same words over and over, but the pieces just aren't making sense. This can't be happening. He has to have been wrong about this.

Kylo picks her up by her waist again, using a little assistance from the Force to lift her as he stands. To his surprise, though, she latches on. Her legs wrap around his waist, holding her to him forcefully. She claps her hand against that spot on her neck, directing his attention there as her other hands grabs and holds on to the front of his shirt. The last time he had picked her up like this it had been to lock her out when she had been misbehaving. Something about the pleased but sharp look in her eyes tells him she's not going to let that happen again.

"M'lady, you know not what you're doing."

She cocks her head to the side, listening but he knows she doesn't understand. Anger flashes across her face and Kylo can't help but wonder if he hasn't just committed some sort of terrible mermaid faux pas by not biting her back.

For a moment they lock eyes and time seems to stand still. Kylo can feel his heart beating faster, nearly pounding out of his chest. Or perhaps that's her own and he's merely left breathless at the reflection of it? Truly he must be mad to even consider these thoughts he's still not allowing himself. They are too different, he and his mermaid. Two ships passing in the night like star crossing across an ocean of black skies on a path that will-

The allegory of the moment is destroyed as she starts to hump against him.

"M-"

'Lady' never leaves Kylo's shocked lips before Rey swallows her name with her own tongue. Her kiss is a frantic, messy thing. All teeth and slip and slide.

She effortlessly pushes him down flat onto his back, her liplock stunning him rather effectively.

When she pulls back there's a string of saliva connecting them. Kylo stares dumbly at her. She's flushed. Panting, her breath warm against his wet lips. Her freckles are darker.

And Rey yips when she sees the new shape to the front of his trousers. She scoots down, shimmying down his legs in a way that only aggravates the situation.

He kisses her again before she can do whatever she's thinking about doing.

Rey moans into his mouth, the sound reverberating against his teeth. She had been clumsily smooshing herself again the broad plane of his left thigh and she pulls away long enough to look down at his lower half.

Kylo's mind may still be uncertain as to the best course of action through these new, uncharted waters, but another part of him has risen to cast its vote of approval.

"M'Lady..."

His hand falls over her own, stopping her own as she moves to reach for him. She links their fingers together, or perhaps its Kylo who does that to her, and he can't stop himself from wrapping his other arm around her back and pulling her close into another locking of their lips.

He's a Knight, for kriffssake. He should act like one.

With that thought in mind he takes charge, raw determination to not get bested by a girl taking over his failing sensibilities. It's not like Kylo's never kissed before. There was this time long ago when he was still in training and a game of 'spin the flask' had broken out late at night.

That was different, though. Then was then and now is now. He has an image to uphold.

Again his hand tangles in her hair and again he jerks on it, mindful not to be too hard with her. Or not hard enough, apparently, because Rey growls into his mouth before firmly nipping his tongue.

Kylo's eyes pop open- he hadn't realized that he'd closed them- and he's met with a very cheeky, very assured glare from his guest. She pulls his hand next to her face and nibbles on his fingertips, a daring challenge all but glowing in her eyes.

"Payback for me not biting you, M'Lady?" His voice is steady, at least, even if his head can't quite tell if this is truth or a bizarrely debauched dream. "I was trying to be a gentleman. I would have thought, would have assumed, that- are you mocking me?"

Rey had rolled her eyes and started to mouth mute shapes at him, mimicking the way he was talking to her. She picks up two of his fingers, his index and his middle, and straightens them out before biting down at them to the first knuckle. Kylo huffs and tries to draw away but her jaw holds tight, a low growl echoing from her.

"You test my patience," he grits.

She starts to rock her hips, circling her lower half against where he's still chafing for attention. He catches her jaw with his other hand and draws it down, drawing his captive digits free.

"Bad," he says, shaking a chiding finger at her.

She snaps at him, her teeth gnashing in the air. Rey holds his arm firmly in place with one hand while the other grips the back of his head and tries to draw him to her neck.

"You must think me a vampire," he mumbles, words distorted by her skin.

He placates her with a kiss to that spot instead.

"M'lady, you're a madwoman."

Rey hums in answer. She loosens her grip to snuggle herself closer and this time Kylo can't resist the urge to kiss her forehead. She smiles and he swallows.

"You might be the most beautiful creature I've ever seen."

The fact that Kylo's newfound sentiment for his guest's appearance also dawned at the same time he's gone significantly farther with her than anyone else was purely coincidental. Mostly purely coincidental.

Kylo knows he must be a complete fool. Somehow, not only did his guest's feeling for him go completely unnoticed, but so did her raw beauty until this moment. He'd felt thrums of lust for her before, but he'd never allowed himself to think the obvious.

Rey nuzzles his neck, peppering the corded muscles there with. She pulls back to grin fiercely down at the mark she'd made on him, but he wraps his hand around her forehead and holds her back when he senses she wants to go in for a second taste.

"M'Lady," Kylo huffs. "I'm not for eating."

Her eyes are hidden by his palm, but her lips curl up into another toothy smile. She bounces again, her weight pressing on a very neglected area of Kylo's body.

There were a million reasons why they should stop here, but Kylo knows that first and foremost is that they can't speak with each other, they're not wedded, and they're in his bathing room."

He keeps his house clean, thank you, but there still were limits. Rey must sense this on some level, because she wraps her arms around his neck and sighs against him as he lifts her up. There's a growing hint of tension in her spine as he crosses the threshold into his main living quarters, and her grip on him tightens to the point that removing her from his proximity would no doubt involve losing a good section of his skin as well.

When she sees that he's taking her into his bedroom, however, she giggles and starts to kick, swinging her legs merrily in his grip.

"I need to find you some clothes," he explains quickly. "You've lost everything I've given to you, so something of mine will have to do for now."

The idea of her running around naked after what just transpired… Kylo trusts himself implicitly. He won't take advantage of her. Not anymore than what's already happened.

"Here," he sets her down on the bed, grimacing when he realizes it's still in a state of chaos from the day before. "We'll get you dressed and then I'll make dinner."

He should distract her with a meal. That's his best bet. His girl is always hungry, and perhaps if he occupies her attention with food he'll be able to slip away to attend to his own uncomfortable needs.

The sound of her weight shifts on his bed but Kylo shakes his head, trying to banish the tangle of thoughts that keep trying to snarl their way through his sense of decency. He goes to his closet and spends much longer than necessary contemplating the choices.

A soft hum comes from behind him and he warily glances over his shoulder, half expecting another sneak attack. Rey is sprawled out on his bed, tossing and turning and rolling about against his sheets like a cat marking its territory. When she sees him watching her she stills and smiles, her gaze drifting from his face to his chest and then farther down where they linger.

Then she arches her back and angles her head to the side, baring her neck at him. Kylo swallows, his mouth suddenly uncomfortably dry. Indeed his girl does look hungry, he was right about that much. Ravenous, actually, and the site of her lounging like this, her lower lip being nipped between her teeth as she contemplates him, is almost too much to withstand.

Quickly he turns his attention back to his wardrobe. It's much harder this time to fight back the images that his mind keeps tempting him with. Black. He needs something black. Black is somber, serious. It's the right color to bring balance back.

Luckily, it's also the color of nearly every piece of clothing that he owns. He pulls out his most modest tunic and extends his arm backwards, not daring to look at her.

"Put this on, please. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

Unlikely because it's suddenly far too hot in here. He can feel the weight of her stare. She's watching him, impatience for something he dares not name echoes out from her mind.

"You have some real strength to you, M'Lady," he says softly. "Next time, perhaps, you should-"

Kylo stops himself before he finishes either the sentence or the growing thought behind it. Next time. Next time.

His eyes widen when he hears her moan. It was an unmistakably lewd sound and his still extended arm retracts, pulling back tight against himself.

When he looks back- because he has to look back doesn't he?- his guest is tangled amongst his ruined sheets, her lips parted, eyes half-slitted as she watches him, and both her hands disappearing between her legs.

Kylo gapes. Rey sighs. Her shoulders move languidly with the movements of her arms, and again she arches to present her neck for him.

"I can't bite you, My Lady. That's not how things work."

He starts to walk stiffly to the door, an odd buzzing sound in his ears as he feels his heart start to pound with renewed determination. A pillow flies through the air closing the door in front of him.

The bed creaks and Rey crawls to him. Slowly, seductively, and so clearly stalking her prey. Indecision washes over Kylo in hot and cold waves. He shouldn't. He wants to. He really shouldn't. He really wants to.

When her arm extends, hand reaching out to him, he lets her.

No one else is here. No one ever has to know. Gods, she's so beautiful.

She grabs him by the front buckle of his belt and drags him close. Kylo's hands fall to her shoulders, neither holding her back or guiding her forward but rather simply resting and feeling her warm skin against his palms. Rey almost slithers up his body, rising to kneel on the edge of his bed and that brings her face to the same height as his.

She coos, tipping her chin forward to bump the tip of her nose to his. The urge to kiss her is strong, and made even more so when she darts her tongue out to wet her lips, her face so close to his that he can feel her breath as if it was his own.

"Hungry, M'Lady?"

Blood pounds through his veins, all seeming to settle in one particular spot now pressed snugly against her stomach. Feeling her so close like this is what finally brings the truth home. Yes, he has a naked woman in his bed. Yes, this is really happening and not just a vivid fantasy to ease a lonely night.

Rey's hand snakes between them to cup and cradle him and Kylo kisses quickly her to hide any sound he might make. She smiles so wide against his lips, apparently pleased with what she's found.

"Rey."

His hands tighten. So do hers and his eyes widen as he sucks in a sharp breath.

She must like it when he says her name. When he repeats it she lets go and leans back just enough for her hands to slide up to the collar of his shirt. Before he can stop her she rips it wide open, tearing it clean down the front.

"M'lady, you truly like to demolish-"

His objection is cut short by her closing down upon his neck again, her teeth finding their way right into the same grooved intents of his flesh they'd cut before.

Kylo groans then, an uncomfortably heady mix of emotions flashing through him. Rey matches with a sound of her own, but hers is something closer to a low purr.

His patience is very close to breaking. He wants to warn her of that. Her hand reaches down, squeezing him again and he gives in.

With both hands he drags her head away, tipping her face up so he can kiss her with full force. Rey makes an exceptionally happy sound low in her throat, and she falls backwards, her arms wrapping around his back to bring him laying down on top of her.

Predictably the next few moments go by in a blur. Hands are everywhere, Rey's nails raking welts across his back and shoulders as she at first claws then tears free the tattered remains of his shirt. It's not until she wraps her legs around his waist and starts bucking up, dry humping him with feral enthusiasm, that Kylo gives one last attempt at falling back into reason.

"M'Lady, we hardly know each other." He whispers it close, his kiss swollen lips ghosting over her won. "It would be highly inappropriate for us to continue."

She bites the tip of his nose. A quick nip. Then she pulls back and looks up at him with a pointedly raised eyebrow.

Kylo clears his throat and fixes her with a stern glare.

"Challenge accepted, M'Lady. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Their next kiss is messier than before, all teeth and tongues dangerously mingling together. It's interrupted only by the occasional awkward thrust of his hips as he struggles to get his boots off without separating from her.

Well that's just not happening. "One moment, M'Lady."

He tries to sound gallant as he pulls away to undress. The effect is rather ruined by the way she clings, allowing herself to only be pulled off him far enough that he can start to unlace his boots with uncharacteristic fumbling. Rey drapes herself over his back then, rubbing her bare chest against him while growling into his ear as she waits.

"Impatient, my dear guest?"

It would be impossible not to feel a surge of masculine pride at his guests wanton display. A shaky sense of confidence fills him as he kicks off his boots and turns, pushing the now hissing and snapping mermaid onto her back underneath him.

This is going well, right? Or well enough. He's the Master of the karking Knights of Ren, for goddsakes. Bedding an eager maiden should come naturally.

The longer they play the more animalisitc his mermaid seems to become in his arms. By the time he finally takes his pants off, opting to undress this last layer himself when she starts to claw at it like she had to his shirt, Rey is growling almost continually. It's a low, wild sound, and he has to hold her back with his hand in her hair to keep her teeth from closing around his shoulder for a third time.

Then the growing tension falters when he tries and fails to find the right spot and instead rams his hips against a solid bone of her pelvis.

Rey stills for a moment, a frown darkening her face. Mercifully, her confusion lasts only a moment. Realization dawns quickly, her scowl replaced by a highly inappropriate beaming grin.

She giggles and it's Kylo's turn to be annoyed.

"Yes. Fine. I've never done this before. Feel free to lend me a hand, M'Lady."

He fumbles again between her legs, frowning into the darkness of the late evening shadows because he can't quite see what he's looking for. Rey laughs then, her whole body shaking with her mirth and making his task all the harder.

"M'Lady-"

With a twist and buck of her hips she aligns them and takes care of the final decision on her own accord. Kylo's eyes widen, his hands gripping the wadded up sheets as so tight his knuckles turn white as Rey uses the mechanical advantage of her feet crossed over his butt to drive him forward.

Slick. So slick. Incredibly warm. Kylo was the universe's biggest fool for not doing before.

Rey jerks with her legs, shoving him deeper, but she suddenly cries out and stills.

Kylo blinks. Wet. Tight. She looks upset. Does he really need to stop now?

Rey reaches between them. When her hand comes back there's a speck of blood on her fingers that they both gape at.

"You are… also? As well?"

With as forward and handjobby as she had been Kylo had swallowed his dejection and assumed she had been previously experienced. His silent delight at being proved wrong is short lived, however, when she strikes him hard about the back of his head.

"Did you just hit me?"

Of course she did. Of course his feral girl would hit him the moment she lost her virginity to him, why else wouldn't she?

He offers her a kiss to soothe her and Rey makes an angry snort into his mouth before settling down.

Carefully Kylo starts a slow rhythm. This was bliss. If he were someone else he would be bragging to the world achieved something that everyone else assumes he had years ago. Now, though, Kylo has no intention of ever sharing this moment. This is strictly between the two of them. Locked eyes, fingers laced together, a steady pace as they both get used to the feel of each other.

It's a soft, beautiful few moments.

Then his girl apparently gets impatient. She smacks him upside his head again and the motion reminds Kylo of the way he'll tap his horse's backside to break it out into a run when he's riding it.

Romance deteriorates from there as primal need takes over. Kylo grips her hips then, lifting her butt up slightly to get a deeper angle. He tries to be gentle at first, but apparently nothing he can do is too rough for his mermaid. She squeezes him with her thighs, setting a pace that starts fast and rising to nearly breakneck, the whole frame of his bed creaking and shaking with their shared movements.

And then comes the clawing and growling again. If Kylo were a passerby to overhear their performance he would swear that someone was being mangled by a particularly crazed loth-cat.

Kylo tries so very, very hard to hold himself back. He can easily withstand the sting of the welts she's decorating him with, but its the way that she clenches with each thrust… He has truly no chance at all of delaying the inevitable, but he can in the least try to bring her along with him.

Bite me already damnit, you karker!

She doesn't say the words in any way clearly in his mind, but the intentions comes through nonetheless. Kylo is already teetering on the very edge and, why not? She's treated him like her favorite chew toy more than once, perhaps he can skip being a gentleman for just this one special occasion?

With a firm grip he drags her head to the side, sucks in a bracing breath, and bites down hard on that same spot as she'd bitten him.

Rey shrieks like never before. The sound has edges of pain to it but a core of something very much its opposite. She immediately clamps down, locking his hips deeper with both the strength of her legs and other muscles squeezing him as well.

Kylo grunts, his face still buried against her marked flesh, as he follows her blindly over the edge. Vaguely he can feel her nails rake deep along his back. It doesn't matter. He could hardly care about anything else but the feelings of pure pleasure etching themselves into his soul.

Then, as soon as it started, Kylo starts to come back. He collapses against her, pinning the girl's sweaty and now slack body to the bed. He'd thought he was tired before when he'd gone on the hunt and slain countless many of her kind, but that paled in comparison to the deep languor that fills every part o him.

Dimly he feels a trickle down his spine. Could be his sweat, easily his blood, but he's just too darn sleepy now to care.

Until Rey pinches his ear and pulls. Apparently she had been squirming underneath him but he'd already started to nod off on top of her.

Kylo rolls to his side, the ghosts of apologies trying to leave his lips but the need to sleep it off instead drowning them to oblivion.

Rey makes some sort of displeased noise and she pokes at his shoulder. His eyes drift closed and, after a moment, she seems to give in and snuggle up close.

Sleep claims him within seconds.

author's note:

Well then! Guess we all saw that one cumming, right? It's been a long time since I've written any sex scenes, probably at least half a year and that's crazy! Gods know I've written some really E-rated filth in my day, the kind of stories I couldn't put on FFN, but for this one I tried to hold myself back and keep it milder. No need to get too-too graphic, right? I hope it was good. I agonized over this chapter quite a lot, writing and rewriting parts of it again and again to try and get the tone right.

So now we've just crossed over the 50% mark with this story's Middle Moment! If you've heard me ramble about plot and structure before you know that this s a very pivotal moment in a story, and certainly Kylo and his mermaid's relationship has changed.

The next chapter will be delayed a little bit as I get caught up with The Path that Moonbeams Make as well a few new projects. But rest assured I'll be getting back to this story soon. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and, if you did, I'll be ever so happy if you leave me a comment and let me know! :D

comment replies:

.Feathers – Ha, glad you liked the cliffhanger! The Knights will definitely get a chance to get to know Rey better, though each in their own way. Rey really could use a girlfriend, couldn't she? Not sure if that's going to be Ria, though. They didn't exactly get off to the best start. Definitely more scenes with the Knights coming up in this last half. Thanks so much for commenting!

Czokolate – A little pain doesn't bother Kylo too much. Lucky thing that! Rey's very much in touch with her wild side, lol. Thanks for commenting and I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter!

Lipwig- Oh don't worry about Rey, girl's gonna be fine! Thanks for commenting!

Coesa Rudo – Oh I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying this story! I've been having a lot of fun writing it! Next chapter will come as soon as I get caught up on my other works, I promise! Thanks so much for commenting :)