Chapter 47 #3
His smile only grew wider as he guided me towards the bed with the same care he’d shown me since the moment we’d met. He laid me down like I was something precious, something chosen.
I sighed with content as he kneeled before me, spreading my legs with his confident hands.
“My turn,” he whispered against my skin as he kissed a trail up my thigh, unhurried . . . attentive.
My breath caught and I came apart with the first touch of his tongue on my warmth. The world narrowed to the sensation his mouth offered as he lapped, sucked and circled my clit.
I buried my hands into his hair, bucking my hips as my body responded to his touch. “Nik,” I cried out breathlessly.
He pulled back, pressing a single kiss to my centre. “I’m obsessed with you.”
I laughed, grasping at him with an urgency that no longer frightened me. “And I, you.”
His lips marked a trail up my stomach, and over my ribs until he found my nipple. Taking it between his teeth, he flicked his tongue over the hardened peak and I arched my back with the waves of pleasure ripping through my body.
At some point, laughter slipped free—soft and breathless—as I rolled us, straddling him, our foreheads touching, our eyes locked. There was no room for fear there. Only want. Only us.
Reaching between us, I guided his cock to my warmth and sank down. I stretched around him, revelling in the way it made me feel. He’d shown me what touch could be, safe, kind, commanding but gentle. And I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Oh, Nik—”
His hands gripped my hips. “You’re so beautiful, my love.”
I tipped my head back, letting my hair fall behind me. The tension inside me coiled tighter and tighter with every thrust of my hips. Every nerve felt alive, pulling towards the place where his body met mine. Where heat and trust blurred into something unbearable and sweet.
Nik reached out to squeeze my thigh. “I look at you and it terrifies me. It terrifies me what I’d do for you.”
I’d known men who used fear as a weapon. Nik spoke it like a confession. Like a vow. The difference mattered more than I could ever explain.
I rocked my hips again, falling forwards to claim his lips in a hungry kiss. All teeth tongues and shared passion. I craved the taste of him even though we'd kissed many times before.
When I pulled back, he was smiling. “Would you like to go to the ocean again?”
I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth picking up. I nodded. “You don’t even need to ask.”
He laughed, and the sound reverberated through me, straight to my core. I moaned at the vibration and Nik picked up the pace, his hips slanting up. Each thrust had me gushing all over his length.
“Blythe—” he breathed.
I clutched at his chest, my fingers digging in as the world narrowed to sensation and sound and the way he said my name like it was a prayer.
Heat coiled, low and tight, and with one more thrust, I broke.
The release rushed through me all at once. I cried out, my back arching and breasts heavy with pleasure. My orgasm was sharp, and overwhelming, stealing the strength from my limbs as my body gave in completely.
For one suspended moment, there was no past. No fear. No darkness waiting to close its hands around me.
There was only light—flooding, radiant—burning through me from the inside out.
Nik thrust a few more times, then he groaned, his eyes rolling back as pleasure ripped through him. I felt his stomach muscles clench beneath my palms, and when the intensity finally softened, I collapsed against him, trembling, breathless, undone in the safest way I’d ever known.
His arms closed around me immediately, holding me together as our heart beats slowed, and the world settled back into place.
I pressed my face against his neck, overwhelmed not by what my body had done, but by how whole I felt. “I love you,” I whispered, the words easy now. True.
He pressed a kiss into my hair, his breath steady against my temple. “I love you.”
His hand slid slowly down my back, not searching—just tracing—and then paused. His breath caught, subtle but unmistakable.
“Blythe,” he murmured.
I lifted my head slightly, drowsy and warm, following his gaze. Moonlight spilled across the bed, soft, washing over my wings where they lay unfurled against the sheets.
They weren’t grey anymore.
Not dark. Not bruised by shadow.
They gleamed—pure silver, luminous in the quiet light, every feather catching and holding it like something reborn.
I stared, my chest tightening as the truth settled in.
He brushed his thumb along the edge of one wing, reverent. “They’re beautiful.”
One wing curled over our bodies, a striking contrast against our naked skin. I reached out and dragged my fingers through the plumes. Even they knew I was finally safe.
I turned to look up at Nik, his gaze was already on me. “Thank you,” I said softly, the words rising from somewhere deep and certain. “Thank you for showing me that the light is within, and that darkness cannot touch it.”
He pulled me closer, wrapping me tightly in his arms. “It was all you, Blythe. I just helped show you the way.”
I nestled closer, letting sleep slowly claim me.
I was finally home.
And it was here . . . in Nik’s arms.