11. Flesh and Stone
11
FLESH AND STONE
JADE
M y mind is still whirling from my kiss with Calder when Flint pins me to his chest and says to the phoenix, “I’m taking my mate to cement our bond. Tell the others I won’t be back until morning.”
“Oomph,” I breathe out as we launch into the sky. His massive wings flap effortlessly, and I envy his ability to escape so easily.
His thick fingers lace into my hair and feel my scalp, likely checking for injury since he thinks Calder pulled my hair. “Are you sure you’re alright? You can tell me the truth now.”
“I told you the truth. Calder was excitable. Yes, he was pinning me to the tree, but I enjoyed his kiss. Remember when I told you I don’t mind it a bit rough sometimes? Calder needs to get to where he can be gentle. Until that day comes, I’ll make sure he understands my limits. He didn’t really hurt me anyway, although it was surprising he even kissed me.”
“I didn’t think he liked intimacy with women, especially witches,” Flint says as he banks right and soars toward a hill that might be classified as a mountain in some flatter terrains.
“I suppose I’m the exception?” I grin at myself.
My gargoyle picks up on my delight. “You want him even though he is damaged?”
“He didn’t hurt me. Maybe he isn’t as damaged as he thinks. He definitely needs boundaries so he can feel safe, though.”
“You need to feel safe too. But enough of the phoenix,” Flint says succinctly.
Yes. Our bond. With each wing beat, I feel his hardening cocks rubbing against my center. “Is that Mount Shafta in your pants? Do I need to get my hiking gear?”
Flint gives me a lopsided smirk. “Don’t worry, I’ll fly you to my peak.”
I love that he’s picking up my humor more.
Then his face falls back into his stoic gargoyle mode. “Jade, if we don’t complete our bond soon, I fear it might slip away. I can barely hear your thoughts anymore.”
“Our bond can fade?” Fear shoots pain right through my heart. “How?”
“We initiated, but I haven’t been able to commune with you since then. Not with the attacks and travel and the others getting in my way.”
His endearing possessiveness makes my pulse flutter. Though I don’t like to hear he feels I’ve neglected him.
“Flint, you should have told me. With this whole arrangement, you’ll have to be forthcoming if you need my attention. I’ll try my best, but I wasn’t very good at having one boyfriend, let alone several mates.”
“Oh, I…” He stutters on his next thought. “I’m new to this as well. You just seem so naturally gifted at relationships and feelings. But you’re correct. I shouldn’t expect you will always know what I’m feeling or need.”
“I can’t assume you’ll know either, even if we have telepathy. We need to be clear with each other.” I squeeze him tightly around his waist with my thighs while I take a moment to admire the view he’s given me of the surrounding wilderness. “I’ll have to do better. I’m sorry.”
“Do not feel bad. Any other week and any other situation, I could wait for my alone time. But bonding is special and time sensitive for gargoyles and their mates.”
Flint dives right at the hill, and I screech a bit when he only slows down a fraction before a hard, jarring landing. “Sorry.” He rubs his huge hands down my back to calm me. “I’ve should have warned you. Gargoyles aren’t known for their graceful landings. I’ll have to work on that too if I plan to carry you around more.”
Keeping hold of me in his arms, he walks over to a mouth of a cave.
With a little giggle, I have a flashback to the monster story I was trying to write about my characters, Goliath and Nora, right before I met the guys.
Oddly enough, when we enter, it looks eerily like my scene from my unfinished book. Except my sweet gargoyle has soft blankets laid out neatly in the center and several unlit candles in a circle around the perimeter of the cave.
“When did you do this?” I ask as he places me down on the pallet of blankets.
“I scouted the location when we first arrived. And I’ve been modifying the structure to make it bigger and smoother inside, so it will please you.” He returns to the opening and places a thatched handmade door in front of the opening.
“What!” I gasp as the cave is cast in darkness. “You carved this cave?”
“Yes, I asked the mountain to shift for us.”
“Holy boulders! That’s fucking amazing.” I shake my head in disbelief and watch while Flint uses a long match to light the candles in the space.
“I suppose I forgot to mention my ability to connect with stone. It’s easier when the land holds magic. I believe the witch Amira has helped keep this land alive in that way.”
Flint finishes with the candle lighting that gives our hideaway a romantic vibe. “I thought you would be more comfortable if you could see during our communing.”
“Communing?” I ask. “Is that what a bond is called for gargoyles?”
“The process is done through communing, but the bond is known as a merge.” His thick fingers slide under my shirt and skim over my waist, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “Are you cold?”
“No. Excited,” I admit. “Nervous.”
“Are you nervous about bonding with me? Do you not want to?” He leans down and his beautiful pale gray eyes search my face for the truth. “I will not force a bond on you if you’re uncertain.”
I snatch his horns in my hands and pull him to me, kissing the heck out of him. He moans and meets my passion with his.
“I want you. I’m nervous because I don’t want to mess up,” I explain. “And I guess I’m worried part of the reason our bond is fading is because of my bonding with Arran, or what I am now that my magic-containment spell has been undone.”
“Arran’s bond shouldn’t affect our bond.” He strokes his thumb over my cheek. “I will guide you through the process so you can’t mess it up. Or do you worry that being a witch will make our bonding impossible?”
“Apparently, I’m half witch, a quarter Elven, and a quarter demon.”
His thick brows rise. “Demon?”
“Oh, no!” I shake with anxiety. “Is that going to ruin things?”
“It doesn’t ruin things.” To ease my fears, he pulls me to his broad, hard chest. “Only surprising that you have such an unheard-of combination.” He shucks his pants and kneels on the blankets in front of me. “My sweet love, will you be my mate?”
He’s so large in his full gargoyle form that he’s now my height when he’s on his knees.
I wrap my arms around his neck. “Yes, I want that very much.”
Slowly, he lifts my shirt over my head. His hands slide down my arms and over my bra covered breasts. I help unlatch it at the back. He drags the shoulder straps forward and intently watches the show as my full breasts are revealed.
“I’m very lucky that my mate is so beautiful,” he murmurs as he dips his head to suck each nipple. His large tusks brush over my sensitive skin, and my pussy becomes slick with need.
He slides my pants down along with my underwear, and I help him by stepping out of them when they get to my ankles, kicking off my shoes as I do.
His hands move up to cup my ass. “So soft.” Then one hand slides to my front and dips between my thighs. “Open for me?”
I move my feet apart and give him better access.
He slides a finger through my wetness and rumbles with happiness that I’m already needy. He bends lower, lifts my left thigh, bracing me from behind. His long tongue snakes out to fondle my clit.
I suck in a breath. With his solid hold, I cant my hips and grind into his face. “Flint,” I whisper on a moan.
“Come on my face, sweet mate,” he purrs, and it’s better than any vibrator I’ve procured in my many years of flying solo. “You will come again on my cocks as we commune.”
He takes me right to the edge, then I’m falling, clenching on nothing, but imagining his thick length inside me. I’m still panting and whimpering as he pulls back and shucks his pants.
With a grace I don’t expect from such a huge male, he sits back cross-legged. His large wings are unfurled at his sides, taking up the width of the cave.
He offers his arms for me to fall into. His hard, thick cocks are standing at attention and begging for relief.
I step over either side of his thighs and prepare to sink down onto him. But before I can near his cocks, he captures me by my waist and hovers me over them.
“With this body, I merge with you, my fated heartstone, my center. I will protect you from harm. I will be the bedrock to bring you stability. I will devote my life to bringing you joy. I offer you all that I am. My body, my soul, my love.”
Tears flow from my eyes as I hear his sincerity and devotion. I take a moment to absorb his vows. Then I panic because I didn’t know I had to prepare for a ceremony.
“That was so beautiful. Do I repeat it? Or am I supposed to make up my own?” I ask, feeling silly and unsure.
“Whatever you say will be perfect.”
“With this body, I merge with you, my fated heartstone. I will also protect you from harm. I will be the softness you crave. I will devote my life to bringing you joy. I offer you all that I am. My body, my soul, and my unconditional love.”
Still bracing me, Flint’s huge hand cups the back of my head and pulls me forward for a loving kiss. Gawd. My heart is always melting around this giant sweetheart.
The apex of my thighs presses against his ten-pack abs. I don’t mind if I do as I grind along his sculpted washboard on the way down to my impalement. The friction is delicious.
He uses one arm to hold me in place while he lines up his second cock with my vagina. The one that juts out closest to his stomach glides over my drenched clit. I groan with relief at the contact.
Inch by thick inch, Flint slowly guides me down his shaft that’s hard as stone, filling me up until I’m panting again.
He lifts and sinks me down on his massive cock a few times before I’m fully seated. I shift and grind against his second cock and feel myself heading toward the orgasm I’ve been waiting for.
Large wings close around us until we are fully encased. Candlelight filters in through the space at the bottom of his webbed wings and the floor.
“I feel like a butterfly in a chrysalis,” I say in awe, running my fingertips over his wing.
He groans with the intimate touch that apparently is an erogenous zone. “We are like them in many ways. We will leave the safety of my wings changed forever.”
I swallow down the strange emotions this idea stirs in me. I don’t know how many more transformations I can handle. I’ve gone from lonely author to psychic medium to witch to wolf-mate to part-fae to part-demon, and now to a heartstone mate to a gargoyle.
Or is it I’m only revealing more and more of my true being, and I haven’t changed at all?
“I need to come inside you,” he whispers, then rocks me on his cock.
I sway with him to create the most friction. The cock outside of me gives me the perfect sensation over my clit.
His hand slides down around my ass, helping to lift me up and down his dick. He moves his hand lower and stimulates my rosebud, taunting me with his fingertip.
With his size, he has to crane down to kiss me.
I claim his mouth with my tongue, licking into him and making him moan with need.
“Goddess, I love you.” His free hand grazes over my breasts, kneading them. Then, as if cherishing me, he smooths his palm over my heart and sternum before going back to pulling on my hardened nipples.
“I love you too.” I don’t know how it happened in such a short time, but it did. I look forward to feeling that grow with time as we deepen our relationship.
With the perfect amount of stimulation on my clit and breasts and the rhythmic stretch of my pussy around him, I’m close to coming.
“I’m about to…”
“I know, Heartstone. Milk my cum now.”
“Fuck, Flint,” I curse with his naughty talk as I feel the tingle up my spine and my cunt contracting around his cock. My body spasms, and I’m floating in bliss.
Flint floods me with his release, and his top cock splashes cum over my chest.
Then, as I focus back on him, I watch as he turns to stone.
What the fuck?
“Flint! Are you okay?” I ask.
“I’m okay,” he answers inside my mind. “I should have mentioned this. I’m locking my essence inside you.”
I feel his cock swell at the base, much like a shifter’s knot.
“We now must commune via our telepathic link to solidify our bond.”
I have no idea what communing might mean to a gargoyle during this ritual. My pussy is still clenching and fluttering over his cock. Shouldn’t that be enough?
“Commune?”
“I will share with you my emotions and thoughts. We might be able to share images too.”
I take a deep breath and press my forehead to his broad brow.
“I’ll go first,” he says and then a flood of images and emotions hits me like a semi-truck.
I’d fall back on my ass in shock if it weren’t for me being locked in his embrace and cocooned in his wings.
After a moment, the dizziness passes.
“Oh no. I was too excited when I shared.” I sense he feels like he’s messed up.
“It’s okay, sweetie, just give me a moment to process that download.” I stroke his sides and he seems to relax, although it’s only a feeling since his body is currently stone.
I sift through what is four hundred years of longing. Pain, both physical and emotional. Loneliness. I know that even though he had a pack, he always felt like the odd one out. He didn’t participate in their sexual explorations and bonding. He’d risk his life for them without hesitation, but otherwise, he was distant.
He had no one to share his emotional side until I came along and shook his heart. He began to fall in love with me the moment our eyes inadvertently locked when he was invisible and guarding my home. He felt seen when I sensed him beyond the mask. I brought back his curiosity and joy at just being alive.
I blink and feel tears dropping off my cheeks.
“Did it hurt?” he asks.
“No, not like that. I just feel badly that you were lonely for so long.” I sniff and wipe away the tears off my face. “I’m more than honored I helped awaken something in you. Your happiness. It feels like a big responsibility.”
“I don’t expect you to do anything but be yourself. I am responsible for my happiness. Although you’re the one who inspired me to live again. And I will love you no matter what you do.”
I sense I’m meant to share my feelings now. What do I share? How do I do it?
In my mind, I think about my gargoyle and all the sweet moments, our late night chats, and snuggling. I love his sincerity, earnestness, and his nurturing nature. With his solid strength of character and loyalty to his pack, I feel myself healing. His absolute acceptance of me that embraces me by just being in his presence. The unconditional love he offers is a cure to all the assholes who rejected me before him. His virtuous and brave nature stirs in me a desire to be the best version of myself. I treasure his immense trust in me, and I vow to never betray it. I think about how he had made me feel like the most beautiful creature alive when we first made love. He makes me feel that way every time he’s looked at me since.
I take all that and visualize offering it to him through our telepathic link.
He mentally gasps when it enters his consciousness.
“Goddess, I can feel your feelings for me,” he says in awe. “You really do love and accept me.”
And now I’m fucking crying again. Damn the big sweetie.
“I do,” I confirm.
A powerful pulse of my love radiates out from my body and meets his. Our bond swirls like a tangible thing between us, glowing and tying together in an intricate pattern. My body lurches to meet his, my soft flesh molding to his hard muscles.
Then there’s a strange ache in every one of my bones. It’s almost painful. I whimper, wondering if something has gone wrong.
Has his gargoyle magic rejected me?
I want to ask what’s happening, but I’m overwhelmed, and I sense he is, too.
The pain increases until finally it breaks just as Flint returns to his non-stone form.
We both gasp and grasp onto each other. Asking at the same moment, “Are you alright?”
Something feels off. I grab his sides, and I’m able to grip more than I could before, like his skin is softer—more flexible.
More human.
“Flint!” I cry. “I think I made you weaker!”
“No. Softer,” he whispers. “What I’ve always dreamed of.”
“It’s a good thing?”
“Yes.” His huge hands palm along my ribs. “You… your bones… I sense they took my stone nature. They are stronger—less likely to break or weaken.”
“I’m… unbreakable?”
“Close enough.”
“I’m Wolverine,” I say with utter delight. “I’m an X- woman .”
He shakes his head in confusion. “No. I didn’t make you into an animal shifter. And you’re still a woman, just reinforced with stone .”
I suppress a giggle because I keep forgetting like most of these guys. He doesn’t have a clue about most pop culture.
“Wolverine is a character in comic books who has bones plated with the strongest metal.”
“Oh, then yes. You’re like this Wolverine.” He strokes my cheek and then cups my jaw. “Are you alright that I changed you? I didn’t know that could happen. When gargoyles mate, they share part of their stone, but I didn’t think it would work like that for us. I thought it would only be a sharing of the hearts and minds.”
“I don’t mind. But I’m worried that you will be more prone to injury with softer skin.” I run my hand over his massive arms. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
“I heal fast, and I’m still hard.”
I wiggle on his engorged cock. “Yeah, you are.”
He blushes peach. I notice it’s a deeper shade, as if he is more human because of me. “I am hard, and I want to make you come on my cocks again.”
As an answer, I lean forward and kiss him while grinding into his massive knot inside me.