Chapter 2 #2
He took a slow step forward on his silent lion paws, closing the tiny gap I had made.
"Do not lie to a predator," he murmured, his voice dropping into a low, vibrating rumble that rattled right through the soles of my boots.
"I have the ears of a hunter. The moment I duck into your shelter, I hear your heartbeat double in your chest. When I lift you against my fur, your pulse races so fast under your skin it sounds like a trapped finch.
And I have the nose of a beast." His hooked beak dipped an inch lower, parting slightly as he dragged a long, slow breath of the warm air between us.
"I smell your arousal, Kelsy. It soaked through your clothes while we flew through the rain.
It fills my nest right now - sweet, hot, and dripping for me.
Your mind fights me out of stubbornness, yet your body recognized its mate weeks ago. "
A violent blush scorched my cheeks, burning all the way down to my breasts.
Having my humiliating secret laid bare in his deep, gravelly voice stripped away my last shred of armor.
Terrified, I took a hasty step backward toward the entrance hole.
Plumak stepped right with me, moving with terrifying speed for a creature of his bulk.
Before my heel even touched the woven mat behind me, the massive muscles in his back bunched, and his wings swept forward.
A rustling wall of copper, gold, and dark crimson feathers closed around me from both sides.
I gasped as the heavy appendages wrapped all the way around my back, overlapping behind my shoulders and sealing us inside a tight, feathered dome.
The amber light of the hearth vanished, replaced by a warm, shadowy twilight smelled of rain, clean plumage, and intoxicating male musk.
The stiff outer flight feathers formed an impenetrable shield against the world, while the softer, downy under - feathers brushed against my arms and cheeks like heated silk.
My heart slammed against my ribcage like a sledgehammer, beating so fast my vision blurred at the edges.
Inside the dark cocoon of his wings, Plumak leaned down until his harsh face hovered inches above mine, his golden eyes glowing in the dimness.
"I knew the second the portal dropped you into the leaves," he whispered, the raw, feral passion in his voice vibrating straight through my collarbone.
"While my father looked at your mother, I looked only at you.
You stood there in the mud with a rock in your fist, ready to fight an entire clan of predators, and my chest locked up.
I watched over you every single hour after that.
I circled the canopy in the fog so no other male would dare approach your hut.
I hunted for you. I caught you seventeen times when you ran into the dangerous wilds, holding back every instinct I had not to carry you straight up here and claim you on the spot.
" His breath washed over my parted lips, hot and clean, making my knees turn to water.
"I spent every night weaving extra layers into these walls to keep the draft off your skin," he rasped, the avian click in his throat quickening into a low, rhythmic purr that rumbled from his lion chest. "I hauled river stones up this trunk in my claws to build a hearth because I saw you shivering by your pathetic fire.
I took your clothes so my bed would hold your scent while I ached for you in the dark. "
Before I could draw a breath to answer, his large hands came up inside the feathered tent.
Keeping his sharp black talons curved safely away from my skin, he wrapped his heavy, furred forearms around my waist and my upper back, pulling me flush against his hard torso.
The impact of his body against mine short - circuited my brain.
I stood pinned against slabs of furnace - hot muscle covered in coarse tawny fur, wrapped in a double embrace of powerful arms and heavy wings.
My hands were trapped between our chests, my palms flattened directly over the thunderous, rapid beat of his heart.
Shock held me frozen for three full seconds.
My muscles forgot how to push, my throat forgot how to form an insult, and my heels stayed glued to the pelts.
And then, as the heat of his pelt soaked through my shirt and his deep, vibrating purr rattled through my breasts and straight down into my throbbing core, the shock melted away.
My fingers curled into the short fur on his chest instead of shoving him back.
I didn't want to push him away. The realization hit me with blinding clarity, knocking down the brick wall of anger and pride I had spent six weeks building.
I hadn't stayed in that muddy hut on the ground because I hated nests, and I hadn't screamed at him every day because he annoyed me.
I had fought him tooth and nail because some deep, terrified part of me knew that if I ever stopped fighting - if I ever let him hold me in the dry warmth for more than a minute - I would never let go.
I wanted him. I wanted his terrifying claws, his hooked beak, his ridiculous low -slung shorts, and the suffocating, protective weight of his wings wrapped around me.
I wanted him so badly my stomach cramped and my thighs shook against his furred legs.
I didn't care what my mother would say, what the clan thought, or what any of this meant for tomorrow.
Right now, inside this warm, woven nest, the only thing that existed was the monster holding me against his heart.
I pressed my palms flat against his chest and pushed.
My arms straightened, creating a narrow gap between our bodies, and I felt his muscles tense beneath my fingers.
For a heartbeat his grip tightened, then released.
He stepped back, his massive frame withdrawing with a grace that contradicted his bulk, and his wings swept open, unfolding from around my shoulders like a curtain parting.
The amber firelight rushed back in, harsh against my eyes after the shadowed warmth of his embrace.
I stood there breathing hard, my shirt rumpled where his fur had pressed against the damp cotton, my hair sticking to my flushed cheeks.
Plumak retreated two full paces, his lion paws silent on the woven mats, and stopped with his back near the curved wall of the nest.
His wings hung open at his sides, fully extended, displaying the full span of copper and rust feathers that blocked half the room.
The stiff primary feathers trembled slightly, catching the firelight like burnished metal.
He looked enormous standing there with his wings spread, eight feet of predator muscle and avian bone, and his golden eyes fixed on my face with an expression that carved something sharp through my chest.
Pain lived in those eyes. Not the pain of rejection, but something deeper, older.
A hunger held in check so long it had become a wound.
The round unblinking orbits tracked every twitch of my mouth, every rise of my chest, and his hooked beak parted on a breath that hitched in his throat.
"I will wait," he said. His voice scraped out rough and low, barely above a whisper.
"However long you need. However many seasons. I am not going anywhere, Kelsy."
The words hung in the warm air between us.
I stared at him standing there with his wings open and his heart exposed, this terrifying beast who had built me a fireplace and stolen my socks and learned to gentle his claws against my fragile skin.
My hands found the hem of my damp shirt.
I pulled it over my head in one motion and dropped it onto the mats.
The cool air of the nest kissed my bare shoulders.
I reached behind my back, unhooked my bra, and let it fall.
My nipples tightened instantly in the dry warmth, standing stiff and aching against nothing.
I kicked off my boots, shoved my pants down my hips, and stepped out of the wet fabric along with my underwear.
I stood naked in the center of his nest, my skin flushed and my thighs trembling, and I lifted my chin to meet his gaze.
His eyes changed. The golden irises seemed to ignite, the pupils dilating wide and black as his gaze swept down my body.
I watched his throat work, the feathers along his skull flattening tight against his skull.
His beak parted on a sharp, ragged breath, drawing in my scent, and a shudder rippled through the fur along his chest. The leather shorts strained at his hips as his body responded, and his talons curled into fists at his sides.
"Show me," I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt.
"Show me how gryphons do this." I was already shaking from a need so intense it felt like fever.
My knees knocked together. My stomach clenched around a hollow ache that pulsed in time with my heartbeat.
The air between my legs felt wet and swollen, my clit throbbing with every breath I dragged into my lungs.
I wanted him to touch me so badly my vision blurred at the edges, but I stood there waiting, my fingers curling and uncurling at my sides.