Chapter 15
SUMMER
I thought his feathers would be hard, but they are surprisingly delicate. The thought floats through my mind as I’m dragged from the darkness into consciousness.
Wait, what happened?
I’m sore all over like I ran a marathon, then did a thousand squats, then let someone use me as a punching bag. As I focus on my aching body, a warmth spreads through me like a bath slowly filling with steaming water. After a few moments, I feel so much better. Was that my magic again?
So cool.
My eyes snap open. Oh shit! That enormous monster. Malicious’ house. Malicious!
His agonized voice comes from above me, his lips pressed to my hair. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Wrapping my arms around him, I stroke his wings. His chest shudders on a sob, and he hugs me tighter. “Summer, oh gods, Summer. I thought …”
“Are you okay? Is it gone? What was that?”
Mal keeps me in his arms but leans back enough to look at my face. He stares at me, tears making his silver eyes shine even brighter. “That was an ancient. They usually keep to themselves, but I …” I stroke his back as he swallows, dipping his head. “I messed up.”
I press a kiss to his chest, and he sighs with a shiver. “Let me guess. The gem you mentioned before?”
I feel him nod. Looking around as much as I can, I take in the destruction. “Oh, your poor house.” He waves me off, and I press a finger under his chin, lifting his gaze to meet mine. “Are you sure you’re okay? You shielded me, and—” As he lifts his hand to cup my face, I notice the blackened skin of his palm, and is that bone? I grab his hand, careful to avoid the burns. “Oh my god, Malicious!”
As I stare at his charred hand, the black edges flake and fall away, his skin knitting together until all the damage is healed. He rests his palm against my cheek, his thumb brushing back and forth as he says, “I’m fine, Summer. And I’m so very sorry. I promised you’d be safe, and mere hours later, you almost die. You would have if not for your magic. I am unworthy of you. I can’t?—”
I pull myself to him, pressing my lips to his. I kiss along his mouth, determined to break through the hard, tense press of his lips. I kiss his cheek, his jaw, this throat, and by the time I get back to his mouth, he groans, finally opening for me.
We devour each other, riding the adrenaline of surviving the ancient, of being alive and in each other’s arms. Malicious stands, shifting me so I can wrap my legs around his waist. We pepper each other with kisses as he picks his way through the wreckage. He has to flap his wings to carry us over the worst of the rubble. With the roof gone, the stars wink overhead, and I repress a shudder of fear as I recall how the ancient’s body had completely blocked out the sky.
Mal carries me into the room in the back of his ruined home. His bedroom. There’s still a small portion of the ceiling intact, and amazingly, as if protected by fate, his bed stands unscathed.
The room rotates as I fall. We fall together. Soft velvet caresses my back as we land on his bed. Tucking his wings, Mal looms over me, his thighs shoving my legs wide. His cock is back at my entrance, and I arch into him. My lips fall open as he squeezes my throat, sliding his length into me so slowly, I feel every stretched inch. He whispers, “You are my light, my joy. You are a breeze on a hot day. You are the sun breaking through the clouds after days of rain.”
He bottoms out. Pleasure explodes like a sparkler, sizzling tingles erupting across my body. My orgasm flashes so suddenly and violently, I don’t have time to scream. My back spasms from the deep arch of my body as I ride the bliss.
My vision comes back into focus as the shockwaves begin to ebb, but then Mal moves. Slow, rolling thrusts drive my orgasm back to its peak. I’m on a cresting wave that feels like it will never reach the shore. Mal curls around me, his hips driving his cock inside me in a delicious rhythm as he says, “You are so beautiful coming on my cock, mate. My mate.” He presses his chest to mine, and we both groan as the vibrations of his growl shiver throughout my entire body. “I love you.”
His wings flare out, curving around us, the feathers of one cupping the top of my head, the other draping over the side of the bed. I’m surrounded by him. It’s a beautiful moment. It’s overwhelming. But it’s more than his physical body. Everything that is Malicious, consumes me.
I moan, “Malicious. My mate.”
His pace picks up, and I cry out, another orgasm spiraling through me. He keeps me flying by grinding his pelvis against my clit with rolling thrusts. I’m sweaty and soaked from my arousal. I’m blissed out, and my muscles are beginning to shake, but I want to watch Malicious as he falls apart.
Wrapping my arms around him, I shudder as his feathers gently scrape against my skin. Lifting my head, I press my lips to his ear. “Malicious, I want to see what my mate looks like when he comes inside me.”
He releases my neck, threading his arms under me. He hugs me so tightly, it’s almost hard to breathe as he pumps into me, the wet sounds of our bodies slapping together accompanied by our gasps and moans and his growls. Malicious buries his face in my neck, chanting I think more to himself than to me. “Thank you. Thank you. Fates, thank you. T-thank … you.”
Tears roll down my cheeks as I’m overwhelmed by his words. I hug him as tightly as I can as everything crashes over me … realizing how close we came to death. My fingers dig into the muscles of his back as I whisper, “I’m here. I’ve got you. Yes, Malicious, yes. You feel so good. Just like that. Please.” My body coils again, and I clench around him as yet another climax approaches. “Malicious, I’m so close. Please. Please …”
Pressing his forearms into the mattress on either side of my face, he lifts just enough to look into my eyes. They glow like silver moonlight on a calm lake. He thrusts into me once, twice, then holds himself deep, grinding and rolling his hips against me as he comes.
He’s more glorious than I could have imagined. He keeps his intense, bliss-filled gaze on me as he grits his teeth. His growl intensifies, vibrating the entire bed. The heat of his release fills me, and an obscene moan floats from my lips as my orgasm unfolds slowly but with so much intensity, my toes cramp as they curl with pleasure. I’ve never actually felt a man spend inside me before, but I do now as Mal’s pulsing release hits my inner walls, driving my climax even higher.
His thrusts slow, and some of his seed leaks out, dripping down my already slick thighs. I’m sure we’ve ruined his velvet bedding.
Oh well, it goes with the rest of his destroyed house.