Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Galaxies swirled and collided behind Nyte’s eyelids as pleasure coursed through him like waves of light racing across the cosmos. Never had he been so aware of his physical form, never had he been so overwhelmed by sensation. He felt heavy, lethargic, but sated.
If this ecstasy was the chains binding him to this flesh, to this mortal realm, he could muster neither the strength nor the willpower to shed them.
He collapsed forward, catching himself on his hands over Ember. Ragged breaths tore in and out of his throat. His arms trembled, and his cocks twitched with jolts of pleasure at every miniscule movement of her body.
The starlight behind his eyelids became decidedly warmer when Ember’s hands brushed up his chest. He smiled as her fingers stroked along his neck and traced his jaw, her touch so soft, soothing, and affectionate that he feared he would be lulled into losing hold of his current form if it continued.
By all the hells, fucking her had been rapturous, but these leisurely, tender caresses were something else entirely.
Her legs slid down from his waist, coming to rest atop the bed, and her body relaxed beneath him. Her hands slowed, their touch gentling further. She hummed. It was such a quiet, content sound. Nyte couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride and satisfaction at hearing it.
Too soon, Ember’s hands fell away, and she lay languid beneath him.
He could’ve eased himself down and lain with her, could’ve relished this intimacy, this stillness, after all that frantic motion.
Instead, he opened his eyes and looked down at his witch.
Her eyes were shut, her dark lashes resting upon flushed cheeks, and her brow was smooth.
Those full lips were ever so slightly parted, and her breaths were deep and even.
She was asleep. Soundly, peacefully asleep, not just in his presence but with him atop her.
With him inside her.
Nyte stilled. Cold crept through him in the wake of another echo of pleasure, and ice formed around his heart.
What had they done?
What have I done?
He pushed himself up on his knees, gritting his teeth against the torturous friction the movement created between their bodies.
Thoughts careered through his mind, quick and chaotic as a meteor shower lighting up the night sky. Carefully, he sat back, slowly pulling his cocks free from Ember.
It was all he could do to suppress a growl at that drag of flesh against flesh. Even in her sleep, her body seemed reluctant to relinquish its hold on him.
He knew better than to look, but his eyes dipped regardless. The delicate pink flesh of her cunt and ass glistened as his cum seeped from them, the glittering motes within it shining silver in the dim light. More silvery flecks were spread on her inner thighs and ass cheeks.
A powerful, primal urge rose inside him to press his essence back into her, to ensure none escaped. Though no child could be conceived between them, he felt an instinctual drive to keep part of himself inside her, to mark her even from within.
His hand had already moved halfway toward her sex before he caught himself.
Sunlight scorch him to cinders, had he learned nothing?
With a beat of his wings, he dissipated to shadow and reformed himself away from the bed. Away from Ember, from this witch, this…this temptress.
Nyte paced about the bedroom, finding little comfort in the darkness and less still in his thoughts. His tail lashed erratically.
All that denial, all that determination, all that resistance, and he’d succumbed anyway.
He’d given in to lust. Had let his desire to kiss her, to touch her, to rut her, become a driving need that refused to be ignored.
Even now he felt that pull toward her, and he could no longer pretend it was merely an effect of the binding spell.
No, this was of a vastly different and far more troubling nature.
What he and Ember just shared had been unlike anything he’d had with Sarnessa. This… This had shattered his soul into countless pieces and reassembled them with fragments of Ember mixed in. It had been so much more than sex, so much more than sensation.
He wasn’t just yearning, he was feeling.
And that was…unsettling. Deeply, deeply unsettling.
Unbidden, his hand rose to rub at his chest. Phantom pain radiated from his heart, ghostly whispers of soul-crushing agony, overshadowed by a much deeper pain that had been seared into his being.
Curling his fingers so his claws raked his flesh, he halted.
He was standing before Ember’s bed, his eyes already falling to behold her.
She lay naked atop the bedding, one arm bent so her hand rested near her head. She’d turned her face toward him, and her soft breaths made the hair spread beside it sway gently.
Nyte couldn’t stop his gaze from roaming over her. Her nipples remained pert, darkened by his attentions, and there was dried blood on her hips where his claws had scratched her. All that pale, supple flesh, all those generous curves… Her body begged for the touch of his hands, of his mouth.
His eyes fixated lower, where his cum glittered on her inner thighs and bare cunt.
He gritted his teeth. His cocks strained toward her, stiff enough to hurt. He could feel the blend of her slick and his essence drying on his shafts, could smell their combined fragrance on the air, could still taste her sweet release on his tongue.
Nyte’s skin tingled. That tingling rapidly became a thrum that permeated him. It felt as though his entire being was desperately seeking her out, as though all the shadowy magic that comprised him needed to be with her now.
Despite his unease and inner turmoil, he was sorely tempted to climb onto Ember’s bed, wedge himself between her thighs, and slide back into her delicious heat.
While their bodies were intertwined, he didn’t have to think, didn’t have to worry, didn’t have to do anything but feel pleasure beyond his wildest imaginings.
For all his years, for all the knowledge and language he’d absorbed, he had no words to adequately describe what he and Ember had shared.
That only made all of this more alarming.
Whatever else this was, it was a weakness. And he’d vowed never to be left so vulnerable again.
Magic rippled through the air behind Nyte in a familiar signature.
Instinctively, he wove a blanket of shadow, willing it into shape from the ether and draping it over Ember’s slumbering form, covering her nakedness from her upper chest down.
She stirred only to turn her head slightly with a gentle sigh.
“So thoughtful of you,” Starling said from over Nyte’s shoulder.
He grunted. There’d been only one thought behind the gesture.
None may gaze upon my Ember’s form but me.
Hells, he wanted to possess her, body and soul. Wanted her to be his in every way. But he feared that this little witch had already claimed possession of him.
Nyte forced his cocks to dissipate, unable but to mourn the loss of the essence that had clung to them.
Starling landed upon his shoulder, and her soft glow fell upon Ember to make that tousled silver hair shimmer. The sprite bounced in place. “Ooo! She looks like a woman who has been quite thoroughly satisfied.”
Clenching his jaw, Nyte turned and stalked away from the bed, taking Starling with him. Voice low, he said, “That is no concern of yours.”
Giggling, Starling plopped into a sitting position, swinging her legs to kick him with her tiny heels in a quick rhythm. “What of you, Nyte? Have you been thoroughly satisfied as well?”
No. Never. I need more of her, more, more, more!
“Do I sound satisfied?” he grated as he glided down the stairs.
“You sound grumpy, just as ever. But you rarely sound how you feel. Did you not enjoy your witchling?”
Enjoy? I was utterly shattered.
“Whatever you hope will happen here, sprite, it shall not. There is nothing between myself and the witch.” An ache tore through his chest, nearly making him flinch; the sensation was fire and ice all at once, burning and freezing.
“And it shall remain so until your accursed spell has run its course.”
Starling darted off his shoulder and hovered before him, both sets of arms folded across her chest. Her three eyes narrowed in a glare. “You will not convince yourself with such words.”
He halted, eyebrows angling down toward his nose. “I’m not trying to convince myself, Starling.”
She impatiently waved a hand.
Nyte balled his fists at his sides. Tumultuous emotions roiled inside him, more volatile than a collapsing star. Energy blazed through him, but it left him feeling unsteady and off rather than invigorated.
His throat was tight when he finally spoke. “I’ll not risk suffering that again.”
Frowning, the sprite lowered her arms and tilted her head. “So you will just hide instead? Blessed with eternity and determined to waste it away?”
Nyte closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He couldn’t ignore the traces of Ember’s scent perfuming the air, however much easier it would’ve made his life at that moment. “I’ve no wish to fight.”
“Yet it seems you must. With yourself.”
He shook his head. “Again you—”
“Hush, demon. You are so near to something wonderful, and you are ever the obstacle barring your path. You have a great deal to ponder, Nyte. Do not flee from it.”
“Damn it, Starling.” He opened his eyes, but the sprite was already gone. She always ensured she had the last word, with no consideration for how infuriating that was for him.
His tail whipped the air as he twisted to glance up toward the top of the stairs. That ache persisted in his chest, even more raw and potent than before, and he massaged it distractedly.
There was nothing to contemplate, nothing to consider. The only thing he was drawing near to was the next full moon and the end of this summoning.
All he’d shared with Ember was…sex. Nothing more. And that was all it would remain. They’d granted one another mutual release, and they would not do so again. A couple more weeks of resolve and he’d be free…
He would not again submit to temptation, would not open himself to the potential pain.
Not when so much of it lingered in him after four centuries.