33
Finn
Our days in Gales Harbor pass too quickly.
This time is stolen, the hours fleeting, and somewhere in the back of my mind I know they won’t last.
I’d bet it’s in the back of Soleil’s mind, too, this looming decision, this uncertain future, the crossroads we’ll inevitably arrive at in just a few more days.
But in the meantime, we don’t talk about it.
Soleil works. I spend my days visiting my mother or my other friends in the city, and occasionally give the team of healers a helping hand when they’ve got some grunt work that needs doing.
These days are good, maybe some of the best I’ve ever had, and I keep reminding myself to savor every moment.
And each night, Soleil and I lose ourselves in each other.
“Finn, fuck,” she gasps on our last night in Gales Harbor.
Though, I can barely hear the words from where her soft thighs bracket my ears.
Knees on the mattress, hands on the headboard, Soleil lowers herself onto my face, but I’m impatient.
Impatient to taste her, to devour her. Impatient to have my witch fall apart above me. Impatient to be the one giving her pleasure, bringing her to bliss, reminding her how good it can be when we’re together.
Her cunt is heaven. Earthy and tangy and delicious, I could eat it for every meal for the rest of my days.
I could sustain myself for a lifetime with the sound of her cries as I spear my tongue into her, as I fuck her with my tail while I suck on her clit, as I bring her right to that edge and then over, drinking in the sweet nectar of her body.
Bringing her to her pleasure sends a fierce wave of instinct coursing through me.
I want to knot her.
I’ve been giving her a little more each night, stretching her with my cock and my tail and my fingers, getting her body pliant and ready to take all of me.
I’d be a masochistic bastard to do it, I’m well-aware of that.
Once I have my witch completely, once I sink myself into her, rut her, spend myself so deep in her body I’ll be imprinted there forever, there will be no going back.
Not that there’s ever been any going back, not really.
She collapses onto the mattress beside me, panting hard, eyes unfocused and glazed with pleasure, and I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
There could never be anything more beautiful.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something, to bring up the things that need to be brought up, but I can’t make myself ruin this last night of our paradise, so I swallow the words. I let myself forget them as my witch reaches for me again, and lose myself in the wonder of her, instead.
“Soleil, I can’t thank you enough,” Vayla says as she releases my mate from a warm embrace. “I don’t know how I would have pulled all of this off without you.”
“I’m just happy to help,” Soleil says, and Vayla shakes her head as the two of them part.
“So humble, as always.”
After a few last goodbyes, I take Soleil’s hand and we start off toward the designated spot where demons portal in and out of Gales Harbor.
Vayla’s staying behind for some ongoing service to the community, and to make sure anyone who wants a dose gets one. Most of the city has been covered, but there are always stragglers and demons coming into and out of town, so a small crew of healers will be here for a couple more weeks.
Soleil could have stayed too, I suppose, and perhaps some part of her wanted to. She looks back before we turn the corner that will put the apothecary out of sight and lets out a wistful little sigh.
“We could go back,” I tease, giving her a bump with my shoulder.
She leans her head against my arm and sighs again. “No, we can’t. But it’s a nice idea.”
The same familiar dread twists my gut. The same words slip to the edge of my tongue, and I swallow them.
Later. There will be time to talk later.
Now we’ve got a journey back to court, and as we reach the spot and take our places in the line of departing demons, I give her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“We’ll take it slow,” I tell her. “Let me know if you ever need to stop and take a break.”
Soleil gives the portal spot a determined little frown, then looks up at me. “Let’s try some longer distances this time.”
“Sunshine…”
“What?” She puts her hands on her hips. “You don’t think I’m up for it?”
“If you say so,” I say with a faux-exasperated sigh, though in truth, I love seeing my witch like this.
Facing challenges, holding her ground, putting me right in my place.
“I do say so.” She lifts her chin. “And besides, I’ll have to learn to do it myself someday, won’t I? When the two of us…”
Her words trail off, and the dread in my gut twists again.
When the two of us are fully mated.
It’s a little quirk of the bond—when a witch mates a demon, they eventually get some portalling magick as a part of the bargain.
But it only happens when the mate bond is sealed. When the pair commits to a lifetime together, sharing both their magick and their lifespans.
I squeeze Soleil’s hand again.
“Yes, that’s exactly what you would have to learn to do.”
She doesn’t say anything else as we reach the front of the line and portal away.
She doesn’t say much as we jump from spot to spot in the realm, even though she’s gotten remarkably steadier each time we portal.
We’re both mostly quiet as we approach the court and pass the guards, still walking hand in hand, but with a distance between us I have no idea how to bridge.
Soleil barely makes any sound at all until we reach the court’s central chamber.
A surprised gasp slips through her lips. She stops dead in her tracks as her eyes lock onto someone at the other side of the cavernous room.
The witch waiting in the atrium has a mass of flaming orange curls, and freckles spread all across her nose and cheeks.
Soleil’s face pales, and her voice comes out with a slight quaver when the other witch approaches.
“Marianne. What are you doing here?”