Chapter 32
AVA
Gravel crunches under our tires as Valen rolls up to our date spot. Snow dusts the ground and continues to fall from the sky. I’m bundled up in the winter attire he pulled together for me, and as breeze picks up outside, I wrap the scarf tighter.
“Trees?” I peer out the windshield wide-eyed.
Rows and rows of pine trees fill the lot in front of us. A few have string lights decorating them, and the setting sun is the perfect contrast against them.
Too busy being distracted by the picture-perfect scene in front of me, I miss Valen getting out of the car and opening my door. I accept the hand he extends and jump out of the car.
“I thought we could check off another item on your list and pick a tree together. The tradition seems funny to me, but upon further research, I determined it is a staple for the holiday season.” We walk along while he talks, and I try not to giggle at how matter-of-factly he speaks about a fun holiday tradition.
I slip my arm through his and he looks down at me. The spark of life in his eye has continued to shine a little brighter, and I reach up on my tiptoes to nuzzle my nose to his.
“Thank you for indulging me and my silly human traditions.” He kisses my temple, and I hum at the contact. “We need to find the perfect tree.”
It hits me now that I said human tradition. It still doesn’t feel like I’m not, especially with my powers refusing to manifest.
Rubbing my glove-covered hands together, I stick my tongue out in concentration and survey the rows.
“How do you determine the perfect tree, oh wise one?” Valen quirks a brow because he doesn’t understand this is serious business.
“Don’t make light of tree picking,” I chide.
“First, we need to know the max height it can be based on the apartment. Lucky for you I have that information since I wanted to buy a tree soon anyway.” I pull up the note on my phone.
“Then we need to see how wide we want it to be. I like mine to be taller with less girth.” I wink at him, then smile at his bashful expression.
We continue to stroll along, and I pull him over to a tree.
“See the needles? They should feel soft, not brittle.”
Valen takes in everything I say and reaches out to feel the tree. He gives it a shake, and needles scatter across the snow-covered ground. “This seems like a bad tree. Let’s try this one.”
“Look at you already learning,” I praise and watch him flit from tree to tree, inspecting them from all angles and shaking the branches.
“Ava, I think this is the one,” Valen calls from behind a tree. He’s so tall I can see his brown hair peeking over the pine, but otherwise he’s hidden.
As I inch closer, I look at the tree and see it checks all the boxes. Testing the branches and needles, it looks fresh and strong.
“Winner, winner chicken dinner!” I pat Valen on the back, and he shoots me a concerned glance.
“I already had blood. Why are you talking about a chicken dinner? Are you hungry?” Valen peppers me with questions, and I laugh.
“Figure of speech, baby.” His eyes crinkle around the corners and my breath is taken away at the sight. “What?”
“I like that nickname. It makes me happy,” he responds softly and gives me a sensual kiss. I hold him to me to make the kiss last longer and sigh while pressing our foreheads together.
“Let’s go get this tree so I can jump your bones later.” I pinch his butt through his jeans.
Cutting down and tying the tree to the top of the car is fairly easy. I was worried about getting it all the way up to our apartment, but Valen handles it like a pro. Sometimes I forget what he is, and then he heaves a tree over his shoulder and vampire speeds it up the stairs.
“Isn’t it adorable?” I admire the tree where it now stands proudly in front of the balcony window. “Now for the best part—decorating!”
We stopped at the store beforehand to snag decorations.
I have some in storage I could pull out, but this year I want to start completely fresh.
I let Valen decide what color combo he wanted to do with ornaments.
He picked varying shades of blue because it reminded him of my eyes, he said.
I snagged a silver tinsel strand and shiny star to finish the look we were creating, and then we headed home.
“How does the bulb go on the tree?” Valen tries to stick the bulb between branches, but it slips through. He looks like a toddler trying to make the ornaments stay.
“You have to put these little hooks on them so they’ll hang.
Here, I’ll show you.” I take the piece of metal and loop it through the hole before closing the end.
Valen watches as I find the perfect place on the tree and step back.
“Ta-da! Now you keep going, but strategically place them so it’s not too crowded in one area. ”
While he starts to put hooks on the ornaments, I turn holiday music on and feed Pom Pom his dinner.
The Pomeranian wolfs it down and then joins us by chewing on a bone on the couch, overseeing his domain.
I swear the familiar really thinks he’s the king of the castle.
It doesn’t help that Valen does whatever the little dog wants.
“Get ready, buddy,” I address the dog, who tilts his head much like Valen does sometimes. “When it really starts to snow, we’ll see how you feel about your paws on the concrete.”
“While I was using the internet the other day, I came across dog boots,” Valen supplies. “I should get him a pair. And perhaps a coat.”
Kissing the side of Valen’s mouth, I smooth an errant hair behind his ear. “Aren’t you the best dog daddy there is?”
The music plays as we go about decorating. The tree begins to shape up quickly, and I decide to ask him a few things since my curiosity is getting the best of me.
“Can I ask you about your time as an angel?” I test the waters and notice him stiffen slightly.
“Why do you want to know?” Valen peers at me from around the tree and I hand him another ornament.
“I want to know everything about you,” I confess. “I haven’t wanted to push, though, so I haven’t pried up until now.” I shrug, biting my lip. In the past, I’ve never been one to hold back. I can be rather pushy, but with Valen’s trauma, I don’t want to push him for too much, too soon.
Valen sighs and puts the ornament on before sitting down on the couch. I guess we’re taking a break for this one. Turning down the music, I sit next to him, and he grabs my hand. It must be a nervous tic, but he rubs my hand in comfort.
“You already know I was a warrior. I helped control the border and made sure nobody entered the realm that wasn’t supposed to.
Occasionally, a riot would break out where beings attempted to overthrow Virtue to get to Heaven, and I’d put a stop to them.
” Pom Pom worms his way over into Valen’s lap, and Valen begins to pet him.
“I did not feel strongly either way about what my job was, but it was monotonous at times. My sister and I were on the same battalion, although right before she disappeared, she had been assigned to a task I wasn’t aware of. ”
I wait for him to either tell me more or tell me to fuck off.
“I wasn’t notified right away of her disappearance.” He swallows past a lump lodged in his throat. “By the time I was, it was too late for me to detect any trace of her.”
I squeeze his hand. “That’s awful. Do you think that was done on purpose? The not telling you?”
“At first, no…” He pauses, his eyes distant.
“I trusted my kind too much to believe they’d do something uncouth, but when I was sent here …
I think it’s entirely possible they had a hand in her death and the demon involvement.
Even with the feather I found, I need to …
I need to know, whether she’s gone for sure. ”
“Oh, Valen.” I cup his cheek, and he leans into my touch, brushing his lips over mine in a caress. I gasp, and he uses that to his advantage, his tongue invading my mouth.
The next thing I know, he’s hiked my leg over his and has me straddling his lap.
I gasp his name at the hard, insistent press of his erection. “How are you hard that fast?”
He nips my bottom lip and pulls back. His eyes are hooded as he takes me in. I have no doubt that my cheeks are already flushed. He swoops his hand through my hair and holds the back of my head.
“I cannot help it with you. I’ve been hard since we got home and I pictured taking you beneath the tree.”
“Oh,” I gasp. “Oh.” Intrigue fills the word the second time.
“Yes.” He leans in and kisses me. “Even when I shouldn’t be turned on, as serious as our conversation was, I can’t help it.”
“I think that’s how the mate bond works,” I whisper, my lips brushing his with every word. “It’s a bit uncontrollable.”
“Yes,” he agrees in a deep, sultry voice.
“I find that I quite enjoy sex now that I’ve discovered how heavenly it is to sink into your body.
” He brushes his lips over my neck, and I roll my hips against him.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to beg him to bite me.
After last time, I’m eager for the painfully pleasant sensation.
“I am glad, though, to have waited for you.”
I want to pound my fists against my chest Tarzan style—that this man is mine, and I’m the only person to have ever known him this way.
Caressing his cheek with my fingers, I say, “I don’t want you to use sex as a distraction, though, from deeper conversations.”
“I am not,” he says in a tone that suggests he’s offended that I would think such a thing.
“Just making sure.” I smile, tracing my finger over his lips. “So, underneath the tree, huh?”
He smiles and wraps his arms around me, standing with me effortlessly in his grasp.
Laying me beneath the tree, he makes quick work of unwrapping me like his very own present. He explores every inch of my body with his mouth until I’m begging him to fuck me. Only when he knows I’m about to lose my mind does he sink inside me.