Page 8 of Wings of Desire

Echo makes a soft sound of awe, her eyes wide as she takes in its beauty.

“Wow...what is this place?” she asks, spinning slowly to glance at the rows of empty homes. “Do people live here?”

“They did in the past,” I say, splaying a hand on the center of her back and guiding her toward the door. “Many things have changed since then.”

She turns to look up at me, worry etched on her face. She pulls her brows together and her lips twist in a frown. “Everything in this place is trying to kill you, huh?”

If only she knew how accurate that statement was.

I urge her forward again until she finally complies and steps cautiously inside the shadowy interior of the house. Echo appears hesitant, biting at her lower lip as I find the moss-covered door shutting us inside.

My body towers over her in the small space of the home, forcing me to tuck my wings in closer to me so she has room. I step towards her with a single-minded purpose, so eager to press her to me. Grabbing her around her waist, I love the little hitch of her breath as skin touches skin. “I desire your hands on me,otoki...” I whisper into the edge of her neck while my hands rove her delicious little body.

Echo twirls around to face me, nervously chewing her lip. “Xakiras?”

What can I say? Since the moment I felt her hands and tasted her mouth, I have wanted nothing else. Hearing the sweetness of my name from her lips has my body trembling. I should not want aukolist—an outsider—to touch me. Somehow, I cannot get the thought from my mind.

“I told you I would finish what was started.” My hands splay against her back, tangling in the coiled tresses of her tawny hair before I wrap it around one of my hands.

“What did we start?” Her voice has a breathless quality to it, which only fuels the yearning I feel.

What indeed.

A rough tug pulls her head backward to show me the column of her neck. The gasp that gusts from her lips is like music to my ears. I want to taste it from her lips as she whispers my name. Instead, I hold back my lust, realizing she needs an explanation of what fueled this passion in me.

My lips graze the delicate skin behind her ear. “Otoki, in my culture, we only stroke wings during intercourse.” It is a highly erogenous place, and yet you have touched mine twice now.”

I wait for the moment it dawns on her. “Oh, no” Echo blinks as realization hits her, “...I didn’t mean to.”

“I know, and yet when I tasted your mouth, you clung to me as though I was your very breath.” I lick the shell of her ear as another of my hands feels up the inside of her thigh under her skirt.

Echo’s moan and the scent of her arousal make it clear she desires my touch, but I want so much more. The desire to hear her begging plays in my head.

Echo’s tiny hand grabs my wrist, halting my tongue. “What about taking me back to my camp?”

“As soon as I am allowed, I will, but first...” I kiss the crux of her neck and shoulder dismissing her questions with a flick of my tongue.

“This won’t mean anything else to you, then? I know certain species take sex very seriously.”

I heave a sigh, halting my lips and fingers for the briefest of moments. Nocris chooses their mates very seriously, but she will not be mine. We would dance under the starlight, touching oneanother’s wings, and ourtunsavriwould tangle together. Echo is not a Nocris, there is no mating withukolist.

“Nothing else besides making your knees quake and hearing your sweet keening sounds as I ravage you like the delicious little thing you are,otoki.” My hand on her thigh finally reaches the edges of her mound, and I press against her undergarment, leaving my finger damp.

Curiously, these creatures self-lubricate. That may make her pleasure easier than Nocris females are used to. Interesting...

Her hips tilt toward my finger, and she sighs out, “What if we don’t fit?”

“Do not be concerned; Nocris males are designed with females’ pleasure in mind.” She nods, and I feel a renewed sense of excitement at her eagerness.

“Your tongue felt amazing. Will you use it on me now?”

I find myself entirely unable to answer. It is as if she has taken my tongue and tied it in a knot. My hands leave her aching wetness, and the one in her hair lets free. She sighs out a breath, and I kneel, slowly kissing down the front of her body. Each press of my lips makes her create tiny little noises in the back of her throat until I shove the hem of her skirt upward over my head.

“Ah!” Echo’s fingers grab at the ruff of my neck, pulling me closer to her as she cries out. I realize she’s so eager for me, too.

I take my time kissing the insides of her thighs, waiting for the subtle moment I hear her breathing pick up and her scent grows headier. Two of my hands are holding her thighs apart for me while I make my way to the place she wants me most. One slow, languid lick against the wet fabric has her hands clutching on to me, and I instinctively know she’s ready.

“Take these off so your sweetness drips onto my face.” I stop everything, waiting for her trembling hands to leave my neck.

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