Chapter 8
eight
DANTE
Iwait for far too long for Cielo to get home, pacing the living room before trying to distract myself by cleaning out the small second room I have.
Like I said to him earlier, I want to clear it out so that Cielo has a place to sleep.
Though, the more I think about it, I might just want to slow my roll a little.
Maybe instead of the couch, he could sleep in my bed until things get back to normal. Granted, it’s an entirely selfish thing, but I know he takes comfort in being with me. If I didn’t go too far—if I didn’t cross any lines by kissing and touching him—I will ask.
And for now, I will clear out this room so even if he doesn’t sleep here, he at least has a space he can call his own.
I’m knee-deep in fabric, impulse buys, and unused sex toys when I hear the front door open and close again.
I know it’s not Luca since he’s away, and I suddenly know it’s not Gia or Amara because there are claws clacking on the floor.
Cielo. My Cielo. My breath catches in my chest as I wait for him to make an appearance.
I don’t want to spook him or make him run away again, so I’m going to pretend I haven’t been bothered by his absence.
He takes his time, but he does eventually step into the doorway and glances at me. His ears are drawn down, as is his gaze.
“Hello,” I say, and his eyes meet mine.
“Hello,” he replies on a breath.
“Where did you go? I was worried.”
He lifts his hands near his shoulders and replies, ‘The gym.’
“Oh. Did you work out?”
He nods and then sighs loudly. ‘I saw Q. We chatted about kissing.’
My eyes widen, and I try to keep the frantic way my heart beats in my chest from being totally obvious. I wet my lips, and he glances down at my mouth. I see the flare of his nostrils, the way his skin seems to darken.
‘What did he say?’ I sign.
‘That we should do it again.’
That makes my cheeks heat and my cock perk up between my legs as I laugh in surprise. I like Quilliyn, but I didn’t figure he’d become my wingman. Well, wing-monster. ‘Yeah?’
‘Yes,’ he signs, nodding his fist.
‘Okay, well, I’d like that. A lot.’
He takes in the words my hands are forming and nods again, his skin going even darker violet. But before I can take a step toward him and maybe get on with the whole kissing thing, he glances at the mess around me, and his eyes widen.
It is pretty appalling. I should have just locked the door and burned it all down.
“Yeah, I know this is a little much, but I’m working on it.”
His claws graze over an open box holding a cock sleeve and a dildo. ‘What?’ he signs with one hand.
I pick up the sleeve and hold it up for him to see. “Sex toy companies send me samples. And I don’t know what to do with them, so usually they make their way here. For research, to see if they’ll be a good fit for the shop.”
Cielo reaches out, a finger brushing along the sleeve I’m holding. ‘For-for?’ he asks, and I roll my lips between my teeth.
“Well, this goes around your dick. And you fuck into it.” I place it in front of my crotch and thrust my hips forward a few times so he gets the hint.
Cielo’s ears flutter wildly, his tail curling tightly around his waist.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever done that, I mean…obviously you don’t use sex toys, but I mean…put your dick in something?”
His claws poke out and retract before poking out again, and I bite back a grin at the slight malfunction.
“If this makes you uncomfortable, you don’t need to respond. It’s kind of an invasive question, but you know, if you want to, I’m all ears.”
He shakes his head, and he reaches out again, taking the sleeve and holding it up to his face. He examines it and then shakes his head once more.
‘Small. Tight,’ he explains.
I let out a small laugh. “You got a big dick then?”
He blushes slightly and shrugs.
“If you ever want to show me, you know, you can. I’d love to design sex toys for the Vyastil. From everything Everest told me, ya’ll are majorly repressed. I think some toys would make everything so much more…fun.”
The thought of creating something for Cielo makes my cock harden even more.
Thank god for the long shirt I’m wearing and the loose pants.
I clamp my mouth shut and turn around, shuffling through a box, but my attention is drawn back to Cielo, who is making a small trilling sound in the back of his throat.
I glance over my shoulder and see him watching me.
‘What do you need to make…sex toys for us?’
I almost stop breathing. For a moment, I think he means ‘us’ as in him and me, but then I realize he means the Vyastil. I can’t ignore the smallest punch of disappointment as I breathe out and shrug.
“Oh, maybe some measurements? Just need to know how big you really are. I mean, I have an idea, but you know…nothing specific,” I say aloud.
His fangs appear against his bottom lip, and he stares down at the small scrap of fabric between his legs. His tail loosens around him slightly, and I hold my breath. He’s not really going to strip down now and show me his dick, is he?
Oh god, I may lose my mind if he does.
‘Want see?’ he asks, looking almost shy.
And yep, okay. That’s exactly what he means to do.
“Of course!” I say a little too loudly, making him jump. He trills again in the back of his throat, and I make a face at how tactless I’m being. What the hell is wrong with me? Was it the kiss? Or is it just him?
I wish I fucking knew.
“Sorry. I mean,” I say and sign at the same time, my hands polite and soft, “I would love to see your dick.”
His eyelids flutter, and then his hand whips in front of him as he pulls the scrap of fabric from around his waist, revealing that long slit between his legs. No cock is visible yet, although I knew that about his species.
I hold my breath and then tell myself to breathe, to act normal.
Cielo is oblivious to my inward panic. He’s busy staring down between his legs and waiting for something to happen.
But it doesn’t. His cock seems determined to stay inside his slit.
His brow furrows, and he looks almost distressed. Maybe he’s having some kind of performance anxiety? I don’t know, but I mean, I get it. It happens to humans all over the world. Sometimes you get hard and sometimes…you don’t.
“Hey,” I say softly. “Hey. Maybe right here isn’t the best place to do this. I mean, it’s crowded, and you know…messy.”
His lips curl down, and I move toward him, my foot catching on a box and making me topple forward.
Cielo catches me without a second of hesitation, his arms wrapping around my waist, and he effortlessly picks me up and holds me against him. He’s warm, and so soft. I can’t help but tuck my face against his shoulder.
And it’s in this moment that I feel something nudging my stomach.
Leaning back, I peer down and see the tip of his cock protruding. His ears are fluttering wildly, and his tail wraps around my waist to hold me tighter against him. It takes me a second to realize what he needs.
Me. And friction.
“Oh. Oh, I see. Can I…” I glance up and meet his stare. “Can I touch you?”
His throat bobs, and he nods.
“Okay, then. Come to the bedroom. That way, you can lie down, and I can touch you. If you’d like that?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. He carries me across the hall and to my bed in four long steps. Setting me down gently, he flops backward onto the mattress and spreads out, his long frame taking up almost all the space.
I stare down at him, at his handsome face, his strong chest, at the cockhead poking out from the slit between his legs.
Fuck, he’s gorgeous, I think as I adjust myself and step toward him. His claws are sliding in and out of his fingertips, but he keeps them against the sheets, shredding them in the process, but I don’t care.
I want to get my hands on him. I want to touch him.
The kiss we shared earlier flashes through my mind, and I want to do it again.
And again.
But first, I’m going to do this.
My palm slides up the inside of his leg, and his velvet skin changes, looking almost like mossy scales in the light coming in from the window. My fingers curl slightly, and I drag them up until I’m right at his slit. I can’t help but touch it, feeling the wetness there.
I know Vyastil are self-lubricating, and for some reason, touching Cielo like this makes my lungs constrict.
Maybe because I know I’m his first. That he’s never had a human touch him like this.
It’s intoxicating.
“Can I?” I ask softly as I drag my finger around his cockhead. “Can I touch more of you?”
He nods, bits of the sheet shredded beneath his hands already.
By the time we’re done, I may not even have a mattress left.
I bite back a smile and drag my palm over the top of his cock.
It leaks profusely as Cielo lets out a soft trill full of surprise and shock, before it becomes a low and needy whine.
Oh. Oh, I love that.
I do it again, cupping him in my hand, waiting for more of him to appear. And it does. Slowly. Inch by inch, his cock fills my palm, the base so wide I can barely wrap my fingers around it. The ridges, which circle his length, bulge over the blue skin of his cock. The tip is almost purple.
He’s gorgeous like this, spread out and exposed.
Cielo’s throat clicks as he gasps for breath, his tail tight around my thigh, and his eyes open and close as I start to stroke him. My grip is tight and sure, and suddenly the goal of this is lost to both of us as Cielo thrusts his hips up into my fist and I watch him do it.
I can’t look away.
I can’t stop.
Fuck, this was supposed to be about measuring him. About trying to get the information I need for the sex toy. I should pull my hand away.
My movements falter slightly, but Cielo lets out a frustrated moan that burrows deep beneath my skin, making my cock twitch.
I’m so turned on.
I want to crawl up on top of him, slot our cocks together, and stroke.
I could measure his that way. I could—I should—fuck it.
I let go of him, and his tail grabs onto me tighter, pulling me close, his eyes almost wild. They’re almost purely black, his lips raw from biting them. A bit of blood sits where his fang pierced his lip
“I know, baby. I know,” I say as I crawl up onto him and pull my pants down slightly. Cielo watches me do it, his nostrils flaring. “I’m going to do this, okay? I’m going to make it so good for you. Is that okay?”
He nods and then whines when I reach down and pull both of our cocks together.
Words tumble from him, spoken in his singing language. It’s beautiful, foreign, otherworldly.
I stare down at him, his cock pulsing in my hand. He’s twice my size, and from stroking him, I know his girth.
“You’re so big,” I say. “I bet you’d feel so good inside of me.”
He arches his hips up, wanting friction. Those ridges that wrap around his dick are almost vibrating with need.
“I have the information I need. I can…well, I can get off of you, or I can get us off? Together?”
“Yes. Pleaaassseee. Dahhhnteee.”
Fuck yes, I think as I clasp two hands around our hard lengths and work us toward the edge. It goes quicker than I thought. The sight of us together does me in almost immediately.
It’s so different, and yet he’s such a perfect fit. Cielo must think so too because he doesn’t tear his eyes away from where our bodies meet, his breathing quick and almost raspy.
And then suddenly I feel his cock vibrate, and he lets out a cry, cum bursting from his tip.
There’s so much of it, spilling down his length, flowing with a force I know humans don’t possess.
There’s so much it coats my own cock, and the sound from my hands moving up and down our dicks becomes even more obscene.
“Fuck, so hot,” I moan, squeezing us tighter, milking him even more. How much does he have in there? How much can he give me?
The thought of tying him up and making him come over and over has my head arching back and my own release spilling with his.
It’s much less, but just as potent.
Cielo is still coming by the time I’ve come down from my orgasm, and I work him through it, stroking him until he’s dry.
It’s only then that he lets out a relieved breath and closes his eyes.
I take stock of the mess we made. Of the odd color of his cum mixed with my own white-opaque spill on his stomach, the way his cock slowly retreats back into him, the way his slit glistens.
My torn sheets—and probably destroyed mattress underneath—sit beneath us, and fuck, it’s so worth it.
His tail loosens around me, and I hear the soft purr he makes when he sleeps. My lips twitch, and I find myself smiling down at him. His eyes are closed, his face relaxed. He’s resting in a way I haven’t seen him do.
With any luck, I think as I get up to grab a wet cloth, he won’t have nightmares tonight.
With any luck, the zitha will continue to work on me, and together, we can have peace.
I wipe him up with a few passes of a damp cloth, and when I slide against the sheets, he rolls over and takes me into his arms, an absent, possessive gesture.
Resting my ear against the beating of his hearts, I let the rhythm lull me toward sleep. My limbs are heavy, and there’s a weight lifted off my shoulders. This could be something. Something important. Something that belongs to us that neither of us has had with anyone else.
I just don’t know if I’m brave enough to hope for that.
We’ll sleep, though. We’ll reset, and with any luck, we’ll wake up and both be ready to do that again.