24. Flight of Desire
Flight of Desire
Pearl twisted with guilt as soon as Driz withdrew from her. She managed to resist the need to follow long enough to add another log to the fire.
She crouched in front of the huddled goyle, a wing shielding her. “Driz, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“I do not want you to be angry,” Driz rumbled, her voice muffled.
“I’m not angry.”
“Is that another one of your lies?”
Ouch. Pearl deserved that. “I’m not angry. I’m jealous.”
Driz peeked at her over her wing. “Then why will you not kiss me anymore?”
Pearl wasn’t certain how to answer that question. “I kissed you earlier.” She knew it was not the right response.
“Yeah,” Driz breathed, the casual word and the defeat in it setting Pearl’s nerves on edge.
“I don’t owe you kisses,” Pearl snapped.
“I know that.” Driz’s eyes glistened as she let her wings drop, shifting backward, toward the mouth of the cave. “I am very aware you do not owe me anything.”
“Where’re you going?” Pearl pursued Driz to the edge.
“Hunting.”
“You’ll come back, right?” Pearl couldn’t stand the thought of Driz abandoning her. Not now. But Driz was already in the air.
Pearl watched her leave, forcing herself to trust Driz to come back. Not that Pearl could do anything if she didn’t. If Driz left, Pearl wouldn’t be able to stop her.
Pearl sank onto the hard floor of the cave and dropped her face in her palms. This was exactly why she was trying to hold back with Driz, because she kept screwing everything up.
Pearl couldn’t stand to hurt Driz more than she already had.
It would be easier to just be friends. Pearl’s heart and body rebelled at that, but they would just have to deal with it.
Pearl hadn’t moved when Driz finally returned. The fire had burned down and Driz’s large form loomed from the darkness, the force of her wings scattering grains of sand over Pearl’s boots.
“I brought this for you,” Driz said, holding out a buzzard, its plumage meticulously plucked. “Sorry it took a while.”
Pearl took the gift. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to. What is wrong?” Driz cupped Pearl’s wet cheek. “Do you not like buzzard? I will find you something else.”
Pearl threw her arms around Driz’s neck, pulling her close. She buried her face in Driz’s shoulder, wishing she could give her what she deserved. “You’ve got the biggest heart.”
“There are other goyles who are larger than I am.”
Pearl let out a shaky laugh.
The oncoming night brought with it the scent of rain, thrilling through Driz’s limbs. Her wings twitched, eager to fly as she edged into the cave.
Pearl waited, with several dead lizards and a tarantula warming by the fire. Driz paused, imprinting the sight on her soul, so she would always have it with her.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Pearl asked, patting the grass cushion beside her.
Driz nodded and joined her.
“I am well enough to carry you,” Driz said as they ate. “Do you want to go home?”
“No,” Pearl said immediately, and the response both relieved and disquieted Driz. She’d asked and received the same answer a few times now.
She dreaded when Pearl would say yes. When she would inevitably decide to go back to her people. Pearl was too caring, no matter how much she protested. Salt Bluff was Pearl’s home. She belonged there. Even if Driz wished Pearl could belong with her, she didn’t.
“You alright?” Pearl asked, running a hand over Driz’s restless wing.
“I was just thinking.”
“About?”
“You. Having you here with me. About how much I like it.”
Pearl smiled, the soft, gentle one Driz caught sometimes. “I kinda like it too.”
Driz laced Pearl’s fingers with her own, something she’d discovered Pearl still allowed, and which Driz loved. “Will you fly with me? I will take you anywhere.”
“D’you think the firefoxes are still around? In the canyon?”
The mention of the place made Driz’s smoldering, unquenched desire flare. “We can see.”
As Driz drew Pearl near, she took a moment to simply appreciate the feeling of Pearl against her. The curves of her breasts pressed into Driz’s chest. This curse was growing unbearable.
The night was darker and overcast in comparison to the crystal skies they’d had on their previous visit to the canyon edge.
The sight of the twisting dead tree had the memories of being wrapped up inside Pearl flooding back.
She wished to be there once more, especially when Pearl pulled away, dodging Driz’s attempted kiss.
Pearl walked to the lip of the canyon and stared down as Driz stared at Pearl, frustration mixing with lust in her belly. Keeping these thoughts and words in her mouth was eating up her insides.
“Pearl, I—”
“I don’t see them.” Pearl gazed pointedly at the dark canyon.
Driz came up behind her. She lowered her face beside Pearl’s, willing her to turn and look at her. Pearl kept her face straight forward.
“I am remembering last time we were here,” Driz tried. Had Pearl forgotten somehow? That beautiful night was seared onto Driz’s soul, but perhaps it had not been special to Pearl. That fear dropped into the pit of Driz’s stomach when Pearl said nothing, her gaze still downcast. “Do you remember?”
“I remember,” Pearl whispered, her shoulders set in a tense line.
“I want to mate with you again.” Driz’s heart hammered. “Do you?” There, she had said it. Pearl’s answer terrified her, but at least she would have it.
“We didn’t mate, Driz.”
“You know what I mean.” Driz refused to let Pearl misdirect or misinterpret her words. She knew Pearl understood. Driz was the one who didn’t understand why Pearl had pulled back.
“We shouldn’t,” Pearl finally said.
“What changed your mind?” Lightning flashed across the sky, promising a storm, but it didn’t soothe Driz tonight.
“You got hurt.”
“And now I am healed.”
“I didn’t mean like that.”
Driz boldly placed one hand on Pearl’s arm and one on her hip as she swayed near the edge of the cliff. Was she trying to get away?
“I’m scared.” Pearl’s whisper was almost inaudible.
Horror gripped Driz. “Of me?”
“Of myself. I’m no good, for you or anyone.”
“I do not know why you say these things. You are everything.”
Pearl covered her face with her hand. “I’m not, and you saying that won’t make it true. I’m a closed-off piece of shit who’s done nothing but hurt you.”
“That is untrue.”
“Driz…”
“You have hurt me,” Driz agreed. “But you have made me happy too. With each night, I want you more. I did not know that was possible. But I do.”
Pearl’s breathing quickened.
“I want you, Pearl. In every way.”
Pearl stood frozen, a coiled viper. “Fuck,” she muttered, and then she whirled and struck with her lips.
Driz welcomed the attack, and wasn’t about to let her go. Pearl wasn’t hesitant anymore, however, as her hands tore open Driz’s shirt and fumbled desperately at her skin, finding her breasts and her ribs and her arms—anything in reach.
Driz’s heart soared. Pearl still desired her.
As their worn clothing fell away, Driz’s gaze raked over Pearl, newly stunned by the perfection of her form and the patterns of more freckles she had yet to memorize.
She reached out, relishing the heat and smooth skin that met her own, but Pearl slipped from her hold, sinking to her knees.
When Driz started to follow her to the ground, Pearl stopped her with a firm palm on her abdomen. “No. Stay there.”
Driz frowned, but she obeyed. Then she choked when Pearl leaned forward, running her tongue between Driz’s legs. Her wings snapped open in shock. Her thighs tensed and she curled her fingers behind her, not sure what to do with her hands.
Gazing up at her, Pearl did it again. Driz almost came apart just at that.
Pearl braced her hands on Driz’s hips, pressing her hot, exploring mouth closer. Pleasure hummed and gathered in Driz’s belly.
Before it could resolve, Pearl sat back on her heels with a wicked grin. “Alright. You can come here now.”
Driz dove on top of her, tasting herself in Pearl’s mouth. She liked it. She wanted more.
Rain started to fall, dampening everything around them and Driz’s overheated skin, adding to the desire filling her. She wound her arms beneath Pearl’s back, protecting her from the earth as she rocked into her. A need continued building, her body seeking it on its own.
“You told me goyles mate in the sky, right?” Pearl breathed against Driz’s neck, her teeth skimming tantalizingly along the skin there.
“Yes,” Driz managed.
“Take me flying.”
Heat swept through Driz, every part of her singing and screaming in consent. “Are you sure?”
Pearl bit her neck. Hard.
Driz didn’t need any more encouragement. She launched them into the sky, climbing upward as Pearl continued to grind their bodies together. Driz moaned in delight, every raindrop colliding with her in blissful ascension. Clouds surrounded them, embracing them as they tangled.
Pearl gripped one of Driz’s horns while curling fingers inside her, and instinct took over. They were not two beings anymore. They were the sky, and the storm.
Driz closed her wings, cocooning them from the world. And they started to fall.
Pearl’s grip on her horn tightened and she gasped, her movements faltering as they plummeted back toward the earth, but it didn’t matter. Driz’s pleasure overflowed as they tumbled, the rain falling with them.
Pearl’s insides lagged behind the rest of her body as the earth rapidly approached. She tensed, but she had no reason to be afraid. Driz caught them well before they reached the ground, snapping out her wings to slow them with a few powerful flaps.
She lay Pearl on her back gently, even as she continued to pant and shudder. Pearl held her close, stroking a soothing hand along the damp, leathery joint of a jittery wing as the rain hit her face. She wasn’t cold with Driz blanketing her.
Driz kissed her for long moments, her tongue still somehow tentative as it nudged at the seam of Pearl’s lips. Asking. So polite. Pearl nipped at her and then inhaled Driz’s soft gasp.
Driz stared, an answering smile creasing her face. She kissed Pearl’s cheek, and her throat, down her chest, erasing the rain with the heat of her mouth. And she didn’t stop, moving lower over Pearl’s belly and hip until she reached where Pearl needed her most.
“Yes,” Pearl breathed, arching, glad she had prompted this when she couldn’t resist tasting Driz earlier.
Large palms spread Pearl’s thighs apart, the rumbled words unintelligible, but the meaning was clear. Driz’s intense eyes locked on Pearl as she lowered her mouth. The blunt fronts of her fangs pressed into Pearl’s flesh as she lapped her tongue up Pearl’s center.
Pearl bucked, the mix of sensations already dangling her at the edge of control.
She reached down and grabbed both of Driz’s horns, shifting her attention a little higher and holding her in place. Driz rumbled louder, the rough sound adding to Pearl’s pleasure and quickly plunging her over.
Pearl panted, her skin slick from rain. She slid her touch to Driz’s cheek, tugging, urging her up to meet Pearl’s kiss.
Even now, she wanted more of Driz. But her body started to cool and she shivered. And Driz noticed.
“I will take you back to shelter,” Driz promised, her own skin warm as she gathered Pearl close.
Their discarded clothes lay scattered on the ground where they’d dropped them in their passionate haste. Pearl didn’t mind. She nuzzled Driz’s neck, licking over the spot she had bitten, and biting it again.
Driz moaned and gripped her tighter. “You are cold,” she stated.
“You’ll keep me warm.”
“I am trying.”
Driz adjusted her hold on Pearl and collected their sodden clothes, not bothering with redressing before she launched back into the air.
This time, however, when Pearl wasn’t writhing with impending orgasm, the wind and air chilled her skin.
She was warm where she was pressed to Driz’s body, but everywhere else soon grew numb.
Driz landed at the mouth of their cave. When Pearl fumbled to restart the fire from earlier, Driz’s hands covered and supported hers, hot torso pressing against her back, and damp wings shielding her.
Pearl started to rebel against it. To push her away. She didn’t need Driz’s help. She was quite capable of taking care of herself.
“I am not finished keeping you warm,” Driz whispered.
Pearl relented and leaned back. Soon, the steady drum of Driz’s heart lulled her to sleep.