Chapter 21
twenty-one
OPHELIA
Shopping didn't take long.
We went to a boutique for immortals with wings, and another for everyone else.
He found himself some casual clothing, and insisted on buying me more things than I needed, which was becoming a pattern with him. A pattern I couldn't pretend I didn't like.
A few people tried to be discreet about taking pictures of us together. I was sure the photos would end up on the internet, but I wasn't going to look them up. People could say and think whatever they wanted.
Considering the way his shadows clung to me, there was no way the internet was going to think we were anything but mates.
Most of the immortals we met still seemed drawn to me, as we shopped.
It made Dante possessive, which made me warmer.
He put his hand on my hip when someone passed a little too close to me.
He silently moved me out of the way when someone almost "accidentally" bumped me.
His chest rumbled in warning when a man attempted to start a conversation with me. I was tucked behind his back faster than I could tell the guy I wasn't interested.
Dante really was right about both kinds of angels being magnetic.
And the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of being a dark angel, instead of fallen.
Logically, I knew he was right about light and dark magic. I'd said and thought the same thing many times before.
But it was different, hearing it from a man I respected and maybe even liked. From my mate.
Good different.
Really good different.
We picked up takeout food on the way back to my house—our house—and plopped down on the couch to eat together as soon as we made it inside. I was tired of talking, so I turned on a movie.
Our food cartons were empty pretty quickly, and my eyelids were getting heavy. I'd seen the movie before, but it had come out while Dante was in prison, so he'd seemed interested.
I slouched against the pillows, set up in my own spot, a few feet away from the vampire.
He was moving closer, slowly. I'd noticed, but hadn't said anything. It was honestly kind of cute, how clueless he was as far as instigating things between us. Now that I knew what his sex life had been like before, I understood why he was the way he was about it.
"It's not a crime to ask your mate to snuggle with you," I murmured into his mind.
I almost liked talking to him mentally, after spending all morning doing it. Yeah, it was intimate, but not in a bad way.
"Are you admitting that you're mine, now?"
"No."
He snorted.
My lips curved slightly.
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," he said. "That's the only reason I haven't asked."
"If I was uncomfortable, I'd say no or push you away."
"Alright. Let me hold you, Angel?"
"Sure."
Dante slid closer, pulling me away from the couch so he could tuck himself between me and the cushions. When he settled me back in place, the entire back of my body was pressed against his front.
We were both wearing way too many clothes, but it was still comfortable.
Really comfortable.
I only lasted another minute or two before dozing off.
Dante's discomfort woke me up a few hours later. Another movie was playing, and he was holding me to his chest in the exact same position I'd fallen asleep in.
I blinked blearily, looking around the dark room as I searched for the cause of his discomfort.
There was no obvious problem. Everything looked normal. His shadows were around us, and my magic was at its new normal level. I could feel it in the air, but I wasn't sure he could.
Even if he could, I didn't think he found it uncomfortable. He hadn't shown any sign of that when we were in the prison, and my magic had been much louder then.
"What's wrong?" I finally rasped, still trying to wake up.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep." He ran a hand down my arm. It felt better than it had any right to.
I started easing myself up to a sitting position.
He grabbed my arms, holding me where I was. "Don't."
"Why not?"
"Just give me a minute."
"A minute to what?" I looked over my shoulder at him, and suddenly understood what was going on.
He'd shifted.
His eyes were red.
His horns were out.
I was pretty sure I could feel his tail wrapped around my thigh.
He hadn't bitten me in two days or so, and his body was making its displeasure known. The fact that he wasn't actively digging his fangs in made me fairly confident the shift had been unintentional.
The discomfort I could feel was his bloodlust.
"You put off feeding for too long."
"Apparently. I didn't know this would happen. Sorry. I don't—"
"Are you really apologizing for needing to eat, Dante?"
"It's not just needing to eat. I'm aware that being bitten isn't always comfortable for you, so—"
I arched my ass against his very large, very obvious erection.
He gritted out a curse, tightening his grip on my hip. His tail squeezed my thigh, too.
"Have you ever had sex on a couch?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm not that bland."
"Have you ever knotted someone on a couch?"
His eyes flashed with heat. "I thought you were trying not to develop feelings?"
"I was."
His gaze flared hotter. "Keep talking like that, and you'll be wrapped around my cock in a fucking heartbeat."
"Sounds like fun."
His chest rumbled.
"Bite me, first," I said.
"I've got bigger plans than that."
"Bigger how?"
Dante pulled one of my legs up over his thigh, and had his hand between my legs a moment later. He dragged his fingers lightly over my core, making me bite back a groan and arch my hips again. I was still wearing clothes, but he didn't seem to care.
"I need you," I said breathlessly.
"You need to come, first." His lips brushed my throat. His fangs did, too.
I sucked in a breath as he almost bit me.
And arched again as he teased my clit, over my overalls.
I'd officially found one thing my overalls were terrible for:
Sex.
I could barely feel him touching me, and I wanted to feel everything.
I pulled the straps of my overalls, but with the position we were in, there was no way to get them off.
Unlike me, Dante was in no hurry.
The strokes of his fingers were slow.
Lazy.
His tail slid higher up my thigh as he continued teasing me.
I was about to curse at him when his spade-shaped tail finally dipped into my shorts.
My near-curse became a moan when the tip of his tail dragged over my clit. It wasn't sharp enough to cut me, but it wasn't dull, and god, I nearly came from the hot, slow drag of it alone.
Dante's hand lifted to the strap of my overall. The one I'd tried to shove down.
He unlatched it—which had to be one of the least sexy ways to take clothes off a person—but his fingers were on my nipple a heartbeat later, while the tip of his perfect tail made love to my clit again.
I gasped, "Fuck," as he took me to the edge with his tail between my thighs and two fingers playing lazily with one of my nipples. I was almost fully clothed, and his fangs still hadn't pierced my skin, but I was close.
So close.
He pinched my nipple lightly, and I came with a loud, desperate moan.
It was good.
World-shatteringly good.
But I needed so much more.
"Give me—your—knot," I panted, coming down from the high.
"You're not ready for me."
"I really fucking am."
"The problem is," he said, pinching my nipple again and grinding the side of his tail against my slick, sensitive center. "I need to upstage whoever you last fucked on a couch."
I moaned. "Dante."
"Angel."
"Forget upstaging. Give me what I want."
"How many times did you get off on that couch?"
"I have no idea!"
"Two? Three? Four?"
"I definitely never came four times with anyone."
"Other than me." He nodded. "That's the best answer. I'll get you off four times. Then, I can knot you."
"I'll come more than that when we're knotted," I protested.
"You've been knotted before."
"It's not a competition," I moaned, as the tip of his tail found my entrance. It sank inside me slowly, hitting my g-spot and making me arch again before he slid it out. The slick, hard tip brushed my clit again.
I pulled on the strap of my overalls, barely making it budge. "I need these off. Now."
"Here." Dante rolled me over, pinning my stomach to the couch cushions. The front of his body was still braced against the back of mine.
He had the straps off and was tugging the fabric over my ass seconds later, his lips on my spine as he followed them down.
I started to roll back, but he stopped me with a hand on my ass.
"Stay."
The command probably should've been alarming, but it just made me hotter. And wetter.
Dante tossed my overalls aside. His shirt followed them.
My gaze was on him as he lowered himself toward my ass—then rolled over, sliding between my thighs with his face up.
He dragged his tongue through my slickness. The growl that escaped him was impossible to miss. So was the heavy hit of pleasure that cut through the bond.
His hands gripped my ass, holding me open as he ate me out slowly. I gripped the couch cushions as I tried not to lose myself to the moment completely.
I failed.
And I came so hard, I swear I left my body. Dante nicked my clit with the tip of one his fangs in the middle of my climax, dragging my pleasure out with the intensity of his bite.
My body arched and my legs shook. "I want your knot," I breathed, my cheek against the couch cushion.
"It's yours, after you give me two more climaxes."
I moaned.
Both at his words, and at the pressure of his fingertips meeting my entrance.
He slid two fingers inside me, slowly.
While he continued working my clit with his tongue.
His tail traced lines up the back of my thighs and ass, making me move against his mouth.
It was all too good, and too much.
I shattered again, crying out loudly as I moved with the pleasure, entirely under Dante's control.
He fucked me slowly with his fingers and mouth, dragging it out.
And out.
And out.
Until I finally unraveled again.
Then, he eased himself out from between my thighs, kissing—and lightly biting—my ass cheek on his way.
His sweats joined my overalls on the floor.
He grabbed my ass again before I could sit down and wrap my hand around him.
"I want you just like this, Angel. Can you handle me?"
"Of course I can."
His chest rumbled with satisfaction, and he spread me open before he lined the tip of his erection up with my entrance.
In one slow, steady motion, he sank into me.
My breath caught.
My hips tilted, changing the angle so I could take him deeper.
My body stretched, and my world fucking spun.
The base of his cock was already swollen. It hit me just where I wanted it.
"Taking you like this while I can feel your pleasure is everything," Dante gritted out, sliding his hands slowly over my front as he pulled out and thrust in again. "You've only got a few seconds before I'm lost to you. I'll probably take too much blood."
"It's all yours."
He drove into me smoothly, making all of my senses fire as he hit every one of my most sensitive places over and over again.
I was putty in his hands, meeting him thrust for thrust, giving him everything I had.
He finally hauled me up off my hands and knees, holding my back to his chest and sinking his fangs into my throat as he took me as deep as he could.
He swore against my neck as he came inside me, his knot swelling viciously.
My sounds of pleasure grew into wild, blissful cries as he sent me spiraling into another climax with his cock alone.
I was full.
So, so full.
And dizzy with pleasure, in a way I'd never been before, too.
"You're good at couch sex," I gasped, as I came down from the high. "Eleven out of ten."
"Don't fucking rank me if you ever want a chance of me letting you go," he growled against my throat, licking the wounds as they healed.
He hadn't taken much, but with his knot just inflated, we were only getting started. He would bite me over and over. We would both come again and again, too.
"It was a joke, babe." The word slipped out without thinking. I tensed, waiting for him to shoot me down, but he didn't.
"Not funny." Dante's hand slid over my stomach and down between my thighs again. I moaned when he toyed with my swollen clit while he was still locked inside me. Everything was more sensitive, with him taking me like that.
His touch was slow, and light. I was a long way from another climax, but he'd get me there. We both knew that. As soon as he bit me again, I'd be a goner.
"Start making the list, Ophelia."
"What?"
"The list of places I'm going to fuck you, to erase all of the other men from your mind. Go."
"Now?"
"If you want me to let you come again."
I huffed. "You're brutal."
"You can take me."
"We already did the car thing, kind of."
"We'll do it better."
"I had sex on the roof of a house, once."
He growled. "That's fucking dangerous."
"I have wings."
"They won't help if you roll off a roof."
I opened my mouth to protest, but his knot swelled again, and his fangs were in my throat a heartbeat later.
The pleasure was unreal.