Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter 27
K elyn strolled through the forest behind his house. Valor skipped ahead, dazzled by the moonbeams that seemed to light her path. She didn’t even notice the hand-size night moths that flittered by or that the underbrush harbored curious hares, ferrets and smaller animals.
Everything he had lost was now back! He took in the world like a blind and deaf man who had regained those missing senses. He could read the air and earth as he had done since he could remember. It would rain tomorrow, for the humidity combined with the color of the sky told him so. The oak tree to his right had lived for seventy-five years and had many more years ahead. And he knew the elk family that often lingered outside his home was grazing about a quarter mile away, closer to his father’s land. The earth seemed to rise beneath him and welcome his every footstep, marking each step he took as familiar.
As well, he felt the ley-line energy. Two such lines crossed ahead at the clearing. Ancient and ever sending out vibrations, the lines hummed in the sigils at his wrists, veering him slightly to the right until he stood directly on top.
Tapping a fingertip against the violet sigil below his left pec, he turned his finger around the circle design, testing his magic. Ahead, the fallen branch that blocked Valor’s path lifted into the air and landed in a crop of thick brush.
Valor glanced back at him. He gave her a thumbs-up. Yeah, he had his magic back, too.
The witch turned and raced toward the clearing he’d told her about. No witches disallowed here in this woods; she was as welcome as she was in Kelyn’s heart. And, actually, this forest was his heart. Why had he believed that Faery would welcome him with open arms and that he actually belonged there?
Here was home. Standing alongside the most amazing woman he had ever known.
With her long brown-and-violet hair streaming behind her, Valor shouted in awe as the mossy clearing opened before her as if stage curtains were being pulled back to reveal the glorious set. She bent to tug off her boots and tossed them aside, then wandered across the moss as if testing new carpeting.
An emerald hummingbird buzzed up to Kelyn. He nodded. “She’s cool. Just excited.” The bird fluttered off. He’d sensed its uncertainty, but as quickly as it had left, it returned and hovered around Valor as she stood in the center of the clearing and gazed up toward the tree canopy. Moonlight sparkled on her face, hands and bare feet.
“This rocks,” she said as he gained her side. “That bird is so cute! I never see hummingbirds. Wow.”
Orbiting her a few times, the bird then zipped away toward the tree canopy, its wings flashing in emerald winks.
Each footstep across the moss released fresh and verdant perfume. Combined with the dry oak and pine resin, and the subtle sage that wisped in Valor’s hair, the night smelled abundant and welcoming. Kelyn bracketed his lover’s face. Excitement lived in her deep brown irises. And trust. Yes, he was thankful that the Unseelie king had forced him back here to the mortal realm. How he would have missed staring into her eyes had he remained in Faery.
“You are so beautiful, Valor. Breathtaking,” he said. “I’m glad I gave my wings away for you. And I’m glad I trusted you enough to work with you to get the spell ingredients. And I’m glad that you fell in love with me. I love you.”
He kissed her, deeply, abidingly. Every sigh, laugh and tear she put out he wanted to be there to receive it, enjoy it, wrap his arms around her and be the man she needed him to be. A man who did, indeed, see her as a real woman, not one of the guys.
Her fingers glided down his bare chest to his waistband. She unbuttoned his jeans, which alleviated the pressure on his erection. They both knew the reason for coming out here tonight. There was nothing more either wanted right now than to make love. Faery-style.
He pulled off her T-shirt and bent to kiss each breast. How her body undulated to meet his kisses, to show him how good his touches felt to her. And her moans spoke a language of passion.
“This moss is cushy and thick,” she said. “Almost like a bed, if you get my hint. Oh, don’t stop that. I like it when you do that.”
He put an arm behind her back and pulled her close as he sucked in her nipple through tight lips. She squirmed sweetly. Using his free hand, he pushed down her leggings and she wiggled them off. She attempted to push down his jeans, but his hard-on prevented it from being a smooth action, so he stopped what he was doing and shoved them down.
“Wait!” Valor said as he aimed for her breasts again.
He stepped back, spreading out his hands in question. How the moonlight danced over her pale skin! It was almost as if she were coated with faery dust, it was so soft and magical.
“Wings out, lover boy. I came here for the big reveal.”
“This isn’t big enough for you?” He shook his hips to waggle his cock.
“Oh, it is. I’m talking wings, faery.”
“You’ve already seen them.”
“Oh.” She crossed her arms over those delicious breasts. “Fine. I guess you don’t want me to touch them. You don’t want me to run my tongue all over them, either? Suit yourself.”
The witch didn’t actually think she could stand there, naked, and expect him to pass on such an intriguing challenge?
“I’ll bring them out for a kiss,” he coaxed, wanting to play the teasing moment out longer.
She shrugged. “Seems like me touching your wings is an advantage for you. So I should be the one getting something for that. Yes?”
Her logic was...almost there. And the little quirk of smile at the end of her statement made him wish it had ended with her snorting laughter. Man, he loved her laugh. He’d get it out of her before the night was through.
Bending and falling to his knees on the soft moss, Kelyn kissed her belly and glided his fingers over her skin. Up, toward her breasts, where he lightly brushed her nipples and stirred a wanting gasp from her. Her long hair swung over his knuckles and he swept it purposely across her breast.
Then he kissed her mons, tickling his tongue within the soft nest that topped her sex. She wobbled a bit, but he caught her hip with a sure hand.
“You want to stand for this?” he asked and gave her hip a little shove with two fingers.
She toppled backward, and as her feet gave out, he tapped the sigil at his hip, which activated his air magic. A sweep of wind caught Valor and gently cradled her to lay her on the moss.
“You trying to show me up?” she asked.
“Admit it. That was impressive.”
“Eh.”
He blew out a mock-frustrated breath. “You are one hard woman to please. Guess I’ll have to go deeper.”
He bowed over her and moved his tongue along her sage-scented folds, and with his fingers traced her salty wetness. She spread her legs, inviting him in. With a leisurely sigh, she splayed her arms up over her head and wiggled her hips. Settling in.
He knew she loved it when he tongued her clit quickly, so this time he worked slowly, tasting all of her in long sweeps, then using more abbreviated yet intense pressure, memorizing her tiny whimpers and noting each specific tilt of hip or tense of thigh muscle as his tongue mastered her breaths.
If all he had to do for the rest of his life was make Valor happy, sign him up for the long haul. He’d never tire of her moans, her giggles and that awful yet strangely sexy snorting laughter.
“I love you,” he said. A kiss to her thigh and then a deep tongue kiss to her clit. Pushing two fingers inside her, he curled them forward.
“Oh, yes,” she growled.
A good clue she was ready to come. He made all his touches more focused, intense and so slow...
With a shout and a clutch at the moss by her hip, Valor orgasmed, her mons thrusting against his hand until she shivered and settled into the wild carpet with a gasp and a sigh.
Overhead the hummingbird flittered. And a family of chipmunks watched from within a fallen log. Kelyn smirked at that. They had an audience.
“Again?” he asked and licked her swollen clit.
“Give me a few minutes to catch my breath. And quit stalling! Let out your wings, lover. I want to see them.” She sat up, tugging up his head by his hair as she did so. “Time for me to show you how much I love you.”
He was good with that. “You ready for this?”
She nodded, her grin curling into a wickedly gleeful giggle.
Kelyn stood, pulling her up with him. He stepped back and tilted his head to catch the moonlight on his eyelids, cheeks and mouth. He could feel la luna ’s cool presence shimmer in his veins. And his sigils hummed with recognition of the immense power he gained standing there. Spreading out his arms, he took a moment to honor the moon and this forest and his home. This was the only place he’d ever existed and held in his heart.
And now his heart had made room for the witch.
As he willed his wings out, they materialized in a sparkle of dust and unfurled behind him. He extended them as if stretching his arms, and it felt so good. The air whispered across the satiny-sheer wing fabric, and the bone-like cartilage that stretched along the tops of the four sections tightened until the wings were taut and at their full spread.
Valor whispered a soft, “Wow. I like those much better when they are not black. They fit you so well. You are like a regal forest prince. Goddess, you’re my hero.”
The admiration that seemed to surprise her rippled over his skin like a warm tongue teasing up his pleasure. He held out a hand to her and she took it, but didn’t step before him. Instead, she dropped his hand and walked around behind him. He had never allowed a woman to touch his wings. Never had had the reason or chance to reveal himself so completely until now. So he was as curious and excited as Valor seemed to be.
“I wish you could see how the moonlight looks on them,” she said. “It’s like liquid stardust. I think I can even see the ichor moving through the veins. So cool!”
She hadn’t touched them yet, and Kelyn shrugged. He never felt his wings at his back, just as a man did not feel his arms on his body. They were appendages that worked without needing command and were as airy and light as his very bones.
He would allow Valor her curious fascination. He trusted her completely. With her, all his secrets were safe. And even the not-so-secret stuff he wanted to share with her. Always.
The first touch of her finger to the top of one of his uppermost wings sent a shiver through that wing and tingled at the point where it met his back. Kind of like wind brushing his nipples. She trailed her palm along the top of it, drawing it to the curved end, which was at least five or six feet long. Between both hands she pressed the end of his wing, and then he felt her lips against the sheer, delicate fabric.
Kelyn shivered. Now, that felt amazing. Almost as if she had touched her mouth to his cock. Wow! He’d never anticipated that such a simple touch could make him feel that sensation. As he felt her fingers move inward toward his spine, he curled back his wings, for he could move them much like arms, and touched the ends of them over her hair and arms and legs. His wings were so sensitive he could determine where and what on her he touched. Even a flutter of her eyelashes!
“That tickles a little,” she whispered, then blew on one of his lower wings. “How do you like that?”
“Oh, yeah.” That breath moved over all his skin and landed right at his core. And with each breath that followed, he moved closer to the edge. His toes dug into the moss. His hands, he didn’t know what to do with, so he put them at his hips, then, no—that didn’t feel right, so he... Ah, hell. He stretched out his arms, grasping nothing but air. This was awesome.
He wasn’t sure what she was doing, but now it seemed as if more of her body touched his wings. So he curled them back and wrapped them about her waist and chest, and she moaned as he knew that sensation was her nipples gliding across the sheerness.
But when she turned and pressed a palm against the base where his four wings met his body, perhaps to steady herself, Kelyn lost it. The pressure building in his cock released and he came. Just like that. Body shuddering, and muscles tensing and relaxing, he grasped at the air and hissed a sweet cry. Dust sprinkled out from his pores, falling gently to the moss.
Valor twisted under his wings and walked around before him. Her eyelids glittered with dust and some glinted on her lips. She kissed him even as he gasped in elation. Crushing his body against hers, he drew his wings forward and around his shoulders to wrap her tightly against him. She wrapped her legs about his hips. And the kiss did not end, nor did the second orgasm that swiftly followed.
And not wanting her to miss out on all the fun, he found her wet clitoris with his fingers, gently easing over the sensitive flesh. But a few dashes coaxed her to surrender.
There beneath the moonlight, the two of them had wing sex. The night air coruscated with dust. And all the creatures hidden in the shadows chirped or cawed or even bellowed in an approving chorus. And Valor and Kelyn would never again be the same.
Later, they both lay on the moss, bodies panting and skin glinting. Kelyn spied the shadow fly overhead and followed it as Matilda circled.
“See?” he asked quietly, and sensed Valor stir from what had been a reverie.
“Matilda. Oh, she dropped something—I caught it!” Valor lifted her hand, which held a leather strap, and turned to her side to show Kelyn.
It was the cipher that had bonded them. Matilda had dropped it to land specifically on Valor’s hand. Had she returned to Faery to steal it back from the demon?
“It’s yours,” she said, offering it to him.
“No, you keep it for now. She wanted you to have it. She approves of you. I want to deserve her trust. And I will. String it next to the moonstone so every time I see you I’ll know Matilda is not far away.”
Valor kissed him and tucked her head against his shoulder.
* * *
When they returned to Kelyn’s cabin, Valor suggested they drive to her place. She wanted to shower, change clothes and check on Mooshi. Twenty minutes later, he joined her in the shower at her place. Mooshi sat on the closed toilet seat waiting for them to come out.
“That cat doesn’t like me very much,” Kelyn said as he dried himself off.
“He is cautiously optimistic of you.”
Kelyn lifted a brow at that one. “Sure. Whatever you say.” He glanced at the cat, who eyed him and revealed a fang with a lift of its furry lip. So much judgment in that tiny movement. “It’s still early,” he said, leaving the bathroom as quickly as he could to avoid a possible cat attack. “Only eleven. You want to do something?”
“Like what?” Valor teased at his nipple with her fingernail. “More sex?”
“I actually don’t want to do anything that will make Mooshi uncomfortable. I was thinking...dancing.”
“Yeah?” She kissed him quickly. “Yes! Let’s do it.”
“There’s this place I want to take you to.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s a faery nightclub Up North.”
“Really? Cool. But Up North? That’s like a three-or four-hour drive. The place will be closed by the time we get there.”
He waggled his brows. “Not if we fly.”
She thought about it a few seconds, then thrust a victorious fist above her head. “Let’s go dance our booties off! But I can’t wear that.” She glanced to the piled heap of clothes that she’d worn to venture into Faery.
“Find something that makes you happy. I’m good with jeans and a shirt.”
Valor sorted through her clothes rack with the glee of a girl who had gotten invited to the prom by her secret crush. Only it wasn’t a secret anymore. And the guy had told her he loved her. And he meant it. She knew that he meant it because he loved her stupid laugh and he’d showed her himself with his wings out and had allowed her to touch them. Never had she felt more like a woman in those moments when they made love on the moss beneath the moonlight.
Kelyn saw her for the woman she was. The man was her hero.
She pulled out a particularly bright blue spangled minidress that she had borrowed from Mireio years ago and hugged it to her chest. She could do the sexy when she wanted to. And her man deserved it. But would it look as good during flight?
She thought about soaring over the treetops for miles, hundreds of miles, in the spangled dress. “Yeah, it’ll rock.”
Five minutes later she wobbled into the kitchen and Kelyn turned with a big smile on his face. The guy looked amazing, his hair always tousled and emphasizing his gorgeous bone structure. He wore the same T-shirt he’d worn into the forest, but it was still clean and the dark jeans hung low on his hips. Sex personified.
“You look...” His eyes dropped to her feet, and she turned out one foot in display. “Uncomfortable. Amazing. But...not right.”
“Ah, come on. I actually like this dress. Makes me feel sexy.”
“The dress is dazzling. I love it on you. Goes with the faery dust sparkling in your hair. And these are the best of both of us.” He tapped the moonstone and cipher that dangled before her breasts. “But the shoes?”
“I’m trying to do the sexy.”
“And you do it well. But five-inch heels are not my kind of sexy. I prefer the combat boots.”
“You do?” Her heart thudded in relief as she clasped her hands before her and spread her legs to manage her balance. “You’re saying that because you don’t want me to fall and break my neck in these things.”
“There is that.” He glided his hand up along her neck, sending delicious shivers over her skin. “I like the boots. Valor, you were right. You’re not a real girl.”
She wasn’t sure where he was headed with that statement, but her giddy heartbeat took pause.
“You are a strong, confident, gorgeous, real—” he kissed her “—woman. And you’re mine.”
“You mean it?”
“That you’re a woman or that you’re mine? Both. Now get rid of the stupid shoes and put on some dancing gear.”
* * *
The flight Up North was a dream. The night was warm and the sky fluffed with clouds, which they flew well below. They remained as close to the treetops as possible to avoid a late-night driver picking out the large unknown flying object in the sky.
Valor kept her arms spread out most of the journey, eyes to the moon and cheeks kissed by the brisk sky. Kelyn held her firmly against his chest, but when at one point he grasped only her hand and flew out at her side, she couldn’t believe it was actually happening. She was flying! With the man she loved.
It took less than an hour of flight to land before the secret club plopped in the center of a dense forest. Pine sap and cicada song filled the night. Kelyn said it was another thin place, but not specifically Faery—it also served Daemonia—so she would be welcome there, as were any and all. So long as they were not human.
The three-story gray brick mansion sported black-tiled turrets at two corners. Light from inside flashed out from the high turrets, turning them into neon lighthouses. Entry was gained with a fist bump from Kelyn to the slender bouncer with long pink hair, green eyes and six arms. Fortunately, she only lifted one fist so Kelyn didn’t have to figure which to meet with his knuckles.
Valor followed eagerly, taking in the bright walls, which seemed to undulate and glow in neon. The floor beneath her boots was lit in squares of pink and violet, and littered with faery dust, confetti and spills of iridescent drinks. Scents of alcohol, candy, earth and the ocean filled the gigantic ballroom. Splashed in neon and dazzled with faery dust, the people undulating, bouncing and dancing were stunning.
The faeries were an easy call for Valor. Most had violet eyes, wild hair colors and clothing that barely covered their skin. Their multishaded—and colored—skin glittered with dust. Demons sported red eyes and dressed a little darker, though not all of them. A horned woman with an undulating spotted tail had a reason to show off her steel abs and high breasts. Valor had never seen blue areolae on a woman before. Fascinating.
A few sets of eyes glowed as Kelyn led her through the melee and toward the center of the dance floor. A sniff of faery dust signaled to Valor that she’d probably get high from this experience. Awesome!
Her lover danced away from her, but not too far, finding the beat in his bones and swaying his hips in time with another dancer who Valor wasn’t sure was male, or female, or perhaps both. Chrome scales moist with perspiration grew along the dancer’s hairline, and down its neck and most of the exposed skin that was covered by a simple black sheath.
It was a different crowd from the folks the Decadent Dames served. And standing amid the crazy wildness made Valor shout in joy and end with snorting laughter.
“This rocks so hard!” she shouted over the noise.
Kelyn’s wings swayed in time with the beat as he bounced up to her and, taking her by the fingers, twirled her like a ballet dancer. He spun her up to him and grasped her tightly across the back, bowing to kiss her even as he dipped her beneath a fall of iridescent faery dust.
“I love you, witch!”
“I love you, wings and all!”
Wings, witchery...and combat boots. It would keep them together for a long and wondrous time.
* * * * *