33. Astraea
Chapter thirty-three
Astraea
Copper fills my senses. The bitter tang of it coats my tongue, and the iron rich scent makes each breath I pull into my lungs heavier than the last. Blood.
The warmth of it blankets me. It drips from my mouth and drops to Kyros’ chest. Not just any blood—his blood.
He looks up at me, his chest splattered in the proof of what I did, but I don’t feel horrified by it.
I’m elated.
As if driven by some primal and otherworldly force, I bend down and slide my tongue over the crimson stain over his pounding heart.
In response, he squeezes my hips in a punishing grip, pushing me down on his cock that is already hardening again.
He growls when my walls tighten around him on instinct.
Fuck. This is insane. Why am I so turned on by this? Did I really—bite him?
My hand comes between us, and I rub my fingers across my lips. The tips come away stained in the proof of it. My teeth were aching… I felt so good. It’s horrifying, but it felt right…
“Shula,” I blink, looking down as Kyros’ voice pulls me back into the present with the nickname he’s given me.
“Are you okay?” He asks, with his concern knitting his brows together and pulling his lips down at the corners as he scans my face for anything saying I’m not.
His hands ease their grip, and they slide along my sides in a soft caress as he seems content with what he finds.
“Me? You’re the one bleeding.” I choke out an incredulous laugh, and he has the audacity to smirk in response, despite my internal juxtaposition over what just happened.
My mind spirals at the sight of it. The memory of when Kyros claimed…
Wait, Kyros bit me when he claimed me… and I…
I have no idea what compelled me to do that, but somehow I needed to.
Something about the fact that we now share our lifeforce makes me feel somehow tethered to him even further.
He runs his eyes from my mouth and down the path his blood has taken on my chest with lust and awe in his coal eyes.
“For you—I would shed every last drop.” I can see the truth in his eyes.
I can feel it in my chest, his willingness to bare his soul and give everything for me.
The inescapable and familiar pull to Kyros feels stronger than ever, comforting in a way that I’ve never felt before.
The way he looks at me now, the way our magick feels alive between us.
This claiming took that invisible bond that felt like a thread and reinforced it, wrapped it in glittering onyx shadows and blood, and made it unbreakable.
For a moment, I almost feel myself wanting to retreat into my mind, to overthink what this claiming really could mean.
But I force myself into the moment, and I lean down and kiss him.
His strong arms wrap around my back, pulling me closer and anchoring my body to his.
It’s unhurried and beautiful. An apology, a promise, and an unspoken oath in a dance of our tongues.
I roll my hips in tandem to our mouths' movements. A growl vibrates between us through Kyros’ chest at the way I grind on his hips.
Everything about my body feels heightened, and the flame that has taken up residence in my chest feels like an inferno of raging fire.
Our eyes lock together as I continue the undulating movements on top of him.
The way he looks at me is devastation for the world around us.
He praises me with his eyes. Every breath consumes more of me, and I hope that mine portrays the same conviction.
The rough pads of his fingers travel along the side of my face as he guides my lips back down to meet his.
He kisses me with the same adoration before slowly rolling us into opposite positions.
His strong arms cage me between them as he looks down at me.
His long hair falls around his face, casting darkness over his hooded eyes.
Everything about him is hauntingly beautiful.
When he thrusts forward slowly, the sound that comes from me is all breath.
He pushes in deep, and my body bows as he touches a part of me that feels connected to my very soul.
His facial hair scrapes along the column of my neck, while his tongue teases the spot where he marked me with his bite not long ago.
The cold of my skin against the heat of his mouth feels like a hot blade searing my skin in a beautiful sort of pain.
“Nothing has ever felt…” My words barely register over my labored breaths.
My body coils again as he continues the slow rolling of his hips.
My fingernails dig into his shoulders, and he grunts with the sting it brings.
I moan into his mouth, my head tipping back as my thighs begin to vibrate with the coming release.
The delicious depth, the fullness that stretches me so fully as he sinks into me, combined by the friction of our slickened bodies and my oversensitive nerves, has me in a frenzy.
Each pleasured sound that he allows to slip… “Mmmm…” I moan at how good it feels.
“That’s it, Shula.” He growls. Another slow, deep thrust. His hips rolling, bringing the head of his cock to press against that sweet spot deep inside of me. My body constricts. Every muscle going taut as the release from that pressure rips through me.
“Mmmm, Kyros!” His name is a moan tumbling from my lips as my body convulses, choking his cock with the tightness in which my pussy clenches around him.
He groans in response. Each push of his hips coming faster through my release.
It extends the oblivion I feel consuming me.
Wrings every last drop of release from my body, and then with one more frantic thrust, he stills.
Our bodies, though, continue to pulse with each jet of his come as he fills me.
Each pulse of my pussy milks him for all of it.
He collapses over my body. It should feel suffocating with the weight of him pressing in on every inch of my body, but instead I’ve never felt more free.
He kisses my forehead, lets his nose trail the edge of my face, and then softly kisses my lips.
His mouth flutters along the skin of my neck, peppering me with kisses as he whispers prayers of contentment into my skin.
My eyes close as I allow him to continue his worship, and I too bask in the after of what we have just done.
He slowly falls back, settling in beside me on the bed, though never moving too far out of reach.
He pulls me to him, and I rest my head on his chest, listening to the still pounding rhythm and breathe him in.
I watch as he closes his eyes, silently appreciating his presence.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
My head is swimming. I attempt to gasp, but the noise is muffled, and breathing becomes difficult.
Every influx of air feels singed with heat and heavy as it fills my lungs with bitterness.
A cough racks the body of the person holding me, thick and moist, and I shake my head free of the gritty feeling that has invaded it.
The moment I force my dry eyes open, recognition flashes through my mind.
I know that this is another dream. My vision is bleary, and the scent of smoke fills my nose.
I know I am on horseback before I even register the repetitive jostling that always comes in this nightmare.
Everything is the same, yet somehow completely different.
“Shhh, we will be there soon.” A hand presses me closer as the person's unrecognizable voice caresses my senses, reassuring yet pain-laced.
“Who are you?” I manage to croak. The hood they wear conceals their identity from me, but the draped fabric tilts ever-so-slightly as they crane their head to the side.
I think whoever it is holding me heard my barely audible murmur.
Their head tilts further, and I can sense that whoever it is looks down at me now.
I peer into the darkness of the hood and am met by blue eyes that I’ve always remembered from previous dreams. “I know you,” I whisper.
I swear, even over the crackling wood of the burning forest, the beating of my tumultuous heart, and the thundering hoof beats from the horses galloping, I can hear whoever holds me swallow their shock of my words.
But I know it’s true. I don't know how, but this person is somehow familiar to me.
“Seeeennnnkaaaaa,” The voice from my nightmares hisses, and the hold I am in tightens as their head jerks to look behind us.
They lean forward, my body becoming smaller with the movement as I curl into myself and as the person holding me pushes the horse to speed their gallop.
A shadow casts over us, and I try to focus my eyes as I look up.
Far in the sky above us, beyond the ash that rains down on us like deadly snow, there is the silhouette of what looks like a bird.
Its wings span out farther than any bird I have ever seen.
At least the size of three men. Its body is even bigger.
Its deep umber and rust coloring make the creature easily recognizable, though.
Not to mention its giant barbed tail that is now visible, looking poised and ready to strike.
This is not a bird. It can only be a manticore.
It swoops down through the cloud of smoke, coasting through the air right above us.
It banks right, hard, and the horse follows.
Guiding us through the dense forest and easing our breathing by dissipating some of the smoke with each downward thrust of its wings.