Chapter 47 Cradled in the Wings of Love
CRADLED IN THE WINGS OF LOVE
VALE
Iwake up in a warm cocoon, my body relaxed.
For the first time since I met Oliver, I didn’t dream about him.
I’d been exhausted from last night’s exertions, my mind finally able to rest. We got lost in each other last night, and it was perfect.
I tilt my hips, stretching my spine. Oliver’s still inside me, still hard.
I can feel his heartbeat there, throbbing in a calm beat. His heartbeat is comforting.
I’ve never seen him sleep, so I lift up to study his face.
Oliver’s long hair is wild around his head, spilling across his forehead and onto the pillow.
His eyes are closed, his thick, dark lashes fanning out and creating shadows.
His cheeks are flushed at the tops, his lips sleep-swollen and pink.
The angular shape of his jaw is softened by the peaceful look on his face.
He looks younger in sleep, innocent, though I know he isn’t.
He's back in his human skin, yet his wings are still stretched out, cradling me to him. The man, the monster, they both protected me, loved me. He held me captive in an embrace that I’d never want to escape.
Gently, I push his hair off his forehead.
I slide my fingertips over one dark brow, then down the bridge of his nose and across to his high cheekbone.
His cheeks and jaw, which are usually smooth, shaved close to the skin, are now dusted with stiff, dark hairs that tickle my fingertips.
When I get to his lips, they tilt up in a sly smile. He’s awake.
With his eyes still closed, Oliver opens his mouth and bites my finger. Of course he wakes up as beautiful as when we went to sleep. No marks on his face or drool on his chin, always perfect. I hadn’t expected any different.
He lazily opens his eyes, they’re half lidded and sweet.
“Sorry for waking you. You looked so pretty. I couldn’t help myself.”
Oliver moves so fast, flipping me onto my back under him, causing me to shriek. The movement takes him out of me. I jerk my head back and hiss.
“I want you back, please,” I beg him because there’s something about him being there, even when he isn’t fucking me. He tethers me in this world.
I watch as his beautiful, leathery wings sink back into himself. He sighs, arching his spine when they disappear. I reach one hand around his back, searching for them with my fingers. He laughs like I’m tickling him.
“How can you do that? Where do they go?”
“Here I thought you were going to beg for my cock again, but no, you want to know about wings,” he pouts.
“What did you think would happen? Those wings are impossible. I don’t understand how they sink into you and disappear.
You're bigger in your other form. Can you fly? What else can you do?” My eyebrows knit together and I frown as my sleep-addled brain tries so hard to make sense of what I’ve just seen.
“Don’t you know? It’s magic,” he says with an obnoxious smirk that makes my heart pound.
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s too bad. There are things stranger than me in this world.
I don’t have all the answers. It’s easier to say it’s magic.
You ask me how I change my body, but I don’t know.
It just is. I thought those wings were too heavy, and they sunk back inside me.
Do you know how your body changes? How it ages? ”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t know exactly how it happens. Maybe it’s hormones,” I say as I shrug my shoulders, giving him my best guess. “I was only curious. I love your body. I find you fascinating. I’m sorry if I ask too many questions.” I hope I haven’t offended him.
“When you’re not bound by mortality, it makes you seem different, otherworldly maybe. There’s no need to apologize. I know this is all new to you. Ask your questions and if I have answers, I’ll give them to you. ”
“Will you live forever?”
“Possibly, as long as I’m not damaged beyond my capability to heal. I can heal from most damage, given enough time and enough resources. I would need to feed more if I was damaged very badly.”
“Do you have any superpowers?” I ask, more excited by this question.
He tilts his head to the side. “I’m physically much stronger than a mortal man.
I’m faster. I can read the thoughts of most mortals and some immortals.
The older we are, the more gifts we gain.
I have a favorite gift though. People really want to fuck me.
I’m supernaturally hot, which makes feeding easier.
” Oliver smiles down at me, trying to hold in the chuckle, but he can’t.
“So you’ll be young and beautiful forever. Can you turn people into Lilu or a vampire?”
He doesn’t seem so amused now. He shakes his head.
“I’m a hybrid and unable to turn someone into something similar to myself.
Only vampires can do that, Lilu cannot. The vampire must be very old and near the original line, close to Lilith.
Though it’s not done often, only in rare circumstances because the made vampires lose much during the transition.
They lose the sun. They lose the ability to bear children.
Some of them lose humanity all together.
It’s not a good thing necessarily to be turned. ”
“Are there more than vampires and Lilu?”
He nods his head. “There are witches, which are higher in number than most other beings. There are fae as well, although they are exceedingly rare. There are many different beings. Probably some I don’t even know about. Nothing in this world is impossible, Vale.”
“I see that now.”
I grin up at the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. I’m grateful he’s willing to talk to me about it. “Does everyone fall madly in love with you?”
He gets in my face, our eyes meeting. “Only you.” I don’t believe that answer. Not even for a second. I bet everyone falls in love with him. He’s so easy to love.
“I love you.” He kisses my chest between my breasts. “I love you,” I say again as he kisses my neck. “I love you,” I moan as he runs the tip of his nose along my jaw, breathing me in.
When he’s back in my face, I grab his waist with my legs and pull him closer.
“Say it again,” he growls as he pushes his cock inside my body, taking his precious time to fill me.
“I love you, Ashmodai. I love you, Oliver. I love all of you. I love every single inch.”
“I love you, Vale. I love all of you. You’re mine.” His words make me so unbelievably happy. Every time he says it, the words ring true. Oliver Byron loves me!
“Tell me you need me to fuck you.”
“Oliver, sweetie, would you please fuck me. Then you need to feed me because I’m starving.” I laugh as the words leave my mouth, but he pulls his hips back and thrusts so deep my laughter stops and he makes me sing.
#
Oliver dries my hair with a fluffy towel as my stomach rumbles. I smile up at him awkwardly as I sit on the counter where he put me. I laugh as he twirls the towel over my head, then leaves it there covering my eyes so I can’t see. When I get it off, I throw it at his chest as he laughs.
“Do you understand how beautiful you are?” he asks as he steps forward and runs his fingers over my messy hair. I lean my head into his hands and close my eyes in pleasure.
“I didn’t think anyone could see me as beautiful. It didn’t matter though, not until I met you. Then I thought I was completely inadequate compared to you. It hurt, how much I needed you to say it.”
“Do you believe me when I tell you that you’re beautiful? I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he says, then steps forward between my legs. He tilts my head up with his hands, desperate for me to believe him.
I blink my eyes to stop the tears from spilling over when I look up into his earnest eyes. “I believe you think so.”
“It’s the truth, Vale. I’ll tell you so every day for the rest of our lives. I’ll do anything to make you believe it because it’s the truth. You’re so lovely, sweetheart.” He presses a gentle kiss to my lips.
“Do you believe me when I say you’re the hottest piece of ass I’ve ever seen? It’s true, you know? You’re super fucking hot. So hot you make me wet when I look at you.” I struggle to say the last bit as my cheeks burn.
“If you want to eat, you have to stop saying things like that. You realize when I get hungry, your pussy will do just fine, but you actually need to eat food. I can’t believe you’re still upright to be honest. You need to let me take better care of you,” he says as he lifts me from the counter and carries me out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
“The thing is I believe the best way to take care of me is to give me, many, many orgasms.” I pretend to be serious as a silly grin creeps onto my face.
“I succeeded last night. Don’t you think?” he questions, one eyebrow cocked up as he waits for my reply.
“Oh, Oliver, you know how I am. I’m ravenous for you, absolutely starving.
You could give me a thousand orgasms”—I lean in closer to his ear, nipping at his earlobe with my teeth—“and I’d still need more.
I’ll never get enough of that beautiful cock.
I’ll never get enough of you. See now, I’m all wet again. ”
“I try to be good, but you don’t want me to be good, do you?” He’s right. I don’t want him to be good.
He sets me down in the middle of the landing, and I watch as he shakes his head.
He’s breathing deep, forcing my monster down, or at least I think that’s what he’s doing.
They seem closer somehow, as if they’ve accepted each other a bit more.
It seems like Oliver’s natural response to Ash is to hold him back, pushing him down, but that part needs to stop.