Chapter 28
When we arrive at Finn’s room, my knuckles rap urgently against the weathered wood of his door. It takes every bit of willpower I have not to scream for him to answer me.
The sound swells in the air.
A moment passes, in which I can barely breathe. I need to tell him what happened. I need to show him what happened.
Finally, the latch clicks and the door swings inwards with a creak.
“Alana...” Finn breathes my name like a prayer, ushering me inside. It has been too long since we saw each other, and the need to be close to him is so strong I can hardly stand it.
He is uneasy, and ashamed, and I cannot bear to have him feeling this way.
As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I notice the way he is standing – beside the wall, gaze cast down towards his feet. Tendrils of embarrassment snake through the air around him. His wings, so delicate compared to Lord Eldrion’s, twitch nervously at his back.
“It’s not much,” he says, looking around his chamber.
“I don’t care.” I move to take his hands but then I change my mind. “Something happened.”
He tilts his head, examining the way I’m standing. “What is it?” Concern softens his eyes.
I hesitate. Suddenly, telling him doesn’t feel right. Not when he’s like this... Humiliated and broken by Eldrion’s display.
Smoothing my palms over his chest, I move them to his neck, up to his face, and stroke from his chin up towards his ears. He leans into my touch and closes his eyes. “I can tell you later,” I whisper. “For now, I want to take away the hurt.”
Finn presses his forehead to mine. “I’ll be all right,” he mutters.
But I stand back, drop my arms to my sides, and drop my gaze to my feet. “I’m yours, Finn.” I stand completely motionless. “Do what you want with me.”
Finn stares at me for a moment. His tongue moistens his lower lip, and he inhales deeply. The muscles in his jaw twitch. His gaze has darkened. “Alana...”
“I want to help you the way you helped me, but you don’t need me to take away your feelings. You need me to give you something back.” I tilt my chin up, presenting myself to him. “I know what it’s like to need to seize control.”
Breathing heavily, anticipation shimmers in the air between us.
Finn draws closer. Now, his eyes gleam with something untamed. Something feral. Something that makes my skin prickle and my breath quicken.
And it is not just his gaze that has changed; the air has changed, too. All around him, I feel longing, lust, and an edge of adrenaline. It is the adrenaline that excites me the most – his desire to take back what Eldrion just took from him.
“You are sure?” he asks, trailing an index finger across my collarbone.
My response is a breathless sound, barely audible over the blood rushing in my ears. I close my eyes and let his newfound dominance wash over me.
Finn nods slowly, then unfastens his mask and sets it down on the mantel above the fire. I smile when I see his face, but the look in his eyes takes my smile and turns it into breathy, open-mouthed anticipation.
“Strip,” he commands. “Stand here. Hands flat on the stone, legs apart, facing the wall.”
I hesitate for the span of a heartbeat before complying, peeling away layers of silk and leather, feeling the cool kiss of the air on my skin. My wings tremble with anticipation. My entire body craves his touch.
Beneath my fingertips, the wall is rough and cold. I press my palms flat against it, aware only of the sound of my own breath and the faint flicker of candlelight casting dancing shadows.
Finn moves behind me, the subtle chime of bells announcing the presence of his wings. Then he brings something to my face. A blindfold. He pulls it tight over my eyes and fastens it gently. “Can you see?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No. I cannot.”
“Retract your wings.”
I hesitate. I thought he was going to tie me up. I pictured him looping the rope between my breasts, binding my wings tightly, then fucking me while I cannot move.
“I said, retract them.” He gives my left wing a sharp tug that causes me to moan with both pleasure and pain. When I do as he asks, he whispers, “Good girl,” then slides his hand between my thighs and cups my pussy. Applying pressure – hard but not moving – he blows warm air on my neck, then grazes my flesh with his teeth.
I flex my fingers, scraping the stone with my nails.
“Don’t move. Unless it becomes too much.”
I swallow hard. The power emanating from Finn’s body and mind seeps into my skin and turns to liquid heat in my core.
He steps away from me. I hear him removing his clothes, then feel him draw closer once more.
With my sight removed, everything feels heightened.
His back meets mine. I wait for him to turn around so his cock is pressed against my ass, but he doesn’t.
If he’s not going to fuck me from behind, what in the stars is he going to do to me?
For the longest time, he doesn’t move. His presence becomes a column of heat. And then I feel his wings emerge. At first, they caress my back, fluttering gently. A pang of sympathy swells in my chest because I know how badly he wishes they were bigger, bolder, stronger.
But then their pace changes.
He is beating them harder.
The gentle stroking begins to sting. I wince, but he beats harder still.
And harder.
And harder.
The motion sends whip-like ripples through the air, each stroke needling my exposed flesh. Notes of pleasure and pain rise from the core of my being. I give in to the pain. I slam my hands against the wall but do not move.
I can take it.
I want him to know I can take it.
“Finn . . .”
He stops for a quivering, pulsating second, but does not answer me.
Panting, I rest my forehead on the wall. My back burns. Pain radiates down over my ass to the tops of my thighs. My legs tremble.
There is a heavy pause. Finn releases a guttural roar. I expect to feel the thrum of his wings on my flesh but, instead, his hands are on my hips. He pulls the blindfold from my eyes, spins me around, and strokes my face.
Pressed against the cold stone wall, my back sighs with relief. “You took them so well,” he whispers.
All I can do is nod, and hook my legs around his waist as he lifts me onto his cock.
He thrusts upwards. I grip his shoulders, then release my wings. As they push through my sore skin, I cry out but then I beat them gently, using them to keep me suspended in the air so he can fuck me while I kiss him and stroke him and moan into his mouth.
When he comes, he grabs my ass and I let his orgasm wash over me, coaxing mine through the haze of pain and pleasure to swell in the deepest crevices of my body.
For a long time, we remain suspended in the middle of the room. Slowly, my wings calm, and Finn lifts me down. I lean against his chest, shaking. And when he tucks his finger beneath my chin and turns my face up towards him, I hear myself whisper, “I love you, Finn.”
He stares down at me. His beautiful features are emphasised by the glow of the candles. “I love you too.”