6. DANTE & OLLIE Want to See My Birds?
DANTE & OLLIE: WANT TO SEE MY BIRDS?
OLLIE
Ollie stirred, slowly waking up to the smell of peppermint. He smiled into Dante’s pillow. Soft feathers tickled his bare back, and Ollie snuggled closer to his mate.
“Good morning,” he whispered into Dante’s ear.
Dante’s eyes fluttered open. He lay naked on his stomach, his wings draped over the bed. Ollie didn’t need a blanket when they slept like this. Dante kept him snuggly and warm, and there was nothing Ollie like better than Dante’s feathers against his skin.
Ollie pressed closer. “I was having a dream about you.”
“Oh?” Dante’s lip quirked.
Ollie brushed a kiss to Dante’s cheek. “A very good dream.”
Dante hummed, his eyes fluttering closed as his scent flared. “Tell me.”
“What if I show you?” Ollie slipped a hand beneath Dante and found his cock, giving it a squeeze.
Dante gasped. “Ollie… Yes, but I’m hardly awake.”
“You don’t have to do anything except enjoy it.”
The bond opened between them, and Ollie was overcome with Dante’s affection and growing arousal.
Dante’s hips rocked into Ollie’s strokes. “Tell me what to do. What you need from me.”
Ollie nipped Dante’s ear. “Let me out from beneath your wings.”
Dante’s feathers ruffled and his wings disappeared. Ollie missed their warmth, but the heat growing inside him more than made up for it.
With a departing kiss on Dante’s cheek, Ollie climbed over Dante and settled behind him, spreading his legs and lifting his hips into the air.
Dante moved easily, letting Ollie guide him, his tail flicking back and forth. He was so pliant, so relaxed. Ollie loved it. Loved this. He wrapped his hand around the base of Dante’s tail and stroked, moaning as the muscle quivered in his hand. The bond sparked, and Ollie’s erection twitched.
“That feels so good.” Dante arched his back. “You’re spoiling me.”
“I like spoiling you.” It was Ollie’s favorite thing. His sweet demon deserved to be pampered.
Taking their relationship at a human pace didn’t mean Ollie held back.
He’d never dampened his affection. They could give each other everything even if they didn’t see each other every day or move into the same house right away.
Ollie was all in.
“I’m a lucky demon,” Dante murmured, a soft smile playing on his lips.
Ollie’s chest ached. “My lucky demon.” He gave Dante’s tail one more stroke, then leaned across him to grab the lube from the side table.
He slicked his fingers and worked them into Dante, resuming stroking the base of his tail. Dante shuddered and moaned, thrusting into Ollie’s touch. Feeling Dante’s pleasure alongside his own gave Ollie a sense of urgency that was nearly impossible to ignore.
Dante must have felt it too. “Please, Ollie. I’m ready.”
Ollie slicked his cock. “I’ve got you. This what you need, baby?” He lined up and thrust forward, pushing into Dante’s demon-fire hot body with a moan.
“Yes.” Dante’s tail quivered in Ollie’s hand, his tattooed back glistening with a slight sheen of sweat. “Yes, Ollie.”
Ollie gripped Dante’s hip and thrust, biting his lip in an effort to hold it together and not blow his load immediately.
But Dante’s moans were too sweet, and Ollie lost himself in his mate.
In their bond and shared pleasure. He stroked Dante’s tail in time with his thrusts and Dante cried out, his hole constricting Ollie’s cock as he came, his orgasm shooting down the bond and into Ollie.
Ollie came with his mate, pleasure exploding and sending shivers down his spine. He collapsed against Dante’s back.
Ollie trailed his lips along Dante’s neck, kissing and nipping. “I might need to fall back asleep. You always feel so good, it scrambles my mind.”
Dante chuckled. “I know exactly what you mean. Stay right where you are and fall asleep inside me.”
Ollie moaned, pressing his hips harder against Dante. They drifted and dozed.
It was the perfect Sunday morning.
Eventually, they got up and had breakfast. Well, Ollie had breakfast and Dante had a chocolate milkshake.
“You sure you don’t want one?” Dante asked, pausing as he put the ice cream away.
“I’m good. Coffee needs to come before dessert in my world.”
“Suit yourself.” Dante poured the milkshake from the blender into a tall glass, and topped it with whipped cream and a cherry. “Would you like to see the birds today?”
Dante had closed off their bond once they got out of bed, but Ollie didn’t need it to tell him how much meeting the birds meant to him.
“I’d love to.”
Dante beamed.
Once breakfast was done, Dante led Ollie outside and away from the house, his feathers shimmering in the morning light. “Most of the shearwaters will be out at sea right now, but I can always call them back if all the nests are empty.”
Dante always flew around the reserve, so there were no clear walking paths. Ollie scrambled along. It was like being a kid again, exploring nature, and he smiled.
After a few minutes, they cleared the trees and the cliff’s edge came into view.
“The birds won’t mind if you call them home?” Ollie asked as he navigated the underbrush and came to a stop.
“No, they won’t.” Dante took Ollie’s hand, but didn’t lead him closer to the edge. He pointed to the left. “See, there are some empty nests there. Most of the others are nestled into the cliff face. We’d have to fly to see those.”
A few birds soared in the distance.
“I’d like that. Flying with you is less frightening than standing near the edge of a cliff.” Ollie’s relative fear of heights was much stronger now than it was when Dante carried him over the city.
Dante wrapped a protective wing around Ollie. “We won’t get any closer. I’ll call these shearwaters over.”
Dante didn’t make a sound or do anything as far as Ollie could tell, but the birds soaring over the ocean turned toward the cliff and headed over.
One bird remained circling high above, looking down at them, while the other two landed at the edge of the cliff. One cocked their head in Ollie and Dante’s direction. The other hopped closer without hesitation.
“I’ve told them you’re my mate,” Dante explained.
Ollie’s brows rose. “They know what that means?”
Dante nodded. “Shearwaters mate for life. They understand mates better than they understand most human concepts.”
“That’s so sweet.” Ollie’s heart just about burst.
Dante kissed the top of his head. “Sweet indeed.”
A few more birds landed, all their attention on Ollie and Dante. One had come near enough that Ollie could have reached down and stroked their soft feathers, but he restrained himself.
More birds hopped over, and the first one pecked gently at Ollie’s shoe.
“They like you,” Dante murmured in his ear.
“They do?” Ollie tore his eyes from the birds and looked at his mate.
“Your energy soothes them. I wonder if they can sense our bond. They’re used to detecting magic, and recognizing mine. They see me as part of the flock.”
“That’s so cool.” Ollie was unexpectedly touched that the birds liked him.
“Now that these birds have seen you, the rest of the flock is interested.”
“How do you know?”
“I can sense it.” Dante blinked and his eyes turned white. “When I connect to them like this I can see everything they see, and communicate directly to every individual at once.” He blinked again and his eyes returned to normal, black irises full of warmth. “More are coming.”
Sure enough, a large flock of birds was headed their way. A shiver of excitement wound through Ollie. He could only imagine what it was like communicating with a group of animals.
Shearwaters landed all around them, squawking and inspecting Ollie and Dante with cocked heads. Even more flew overhead.
Ollie shielded his eyes against the sun. “There’s so many.”
Dante hummed. “The whole flock is here.”
“Wow.” Ollie spun around, taking it all in. “Can we fly with them?”
Dante scooped Ollie into his arms, and he gripped Dante’s shoulders. “They’d love that. So would I. Flying with my birds always relaxes me. Grounds me. I’d love to share that with you.”
Ollie captured Dante’s soft lips in a kiss. “I’d love it too, mate.”
Dante chased his lips, their kiss as sweet as the milkshake Dante had for breakfast. “My mate. Damnation, I’m so happy I found you.”
Ollie hugged Dante close. “I’m happy you found me too, baby.”
Dante spread his wings and launched into the air, the birds soaring alongside him, moving as one. They flew over the edge of the cliff, any birds that hadn’t landed falling in line with the flock. Sea air kissed Ollie’s cheeks, the shearwaters’ cries and distant sound of waves filling his ears.
They soared out over the ocean, birds on all sides, and Ollie laughed with delight. This was worth everything he’d been through, learning about magic and fate. Even that dreaded day at the beach couldn’t taint this.
Pure happiness broke through the bond, and Ollie felt all of Dante’s love for him, and for the birds—his joy at sharing this with Ollie—and Ollie felt at home here in the sky, surrounded by a kind of family he’d never imagined.