Page 14 of The Wish

“Of course,” Gehj agreed, his smile warm as he looked over at her. “Besides, we should address the meal that brought us here before the hour grows any later. Why not go inside and prepare what you need while Agrel and I prepared the hares?”

Delilah nodded, relieved to have everything shift back to some sense of normality. Preparing dinner in her kitchen was definitely more within her comfort zone.

“Come on, Lily, give me a hand.”

The sigh her daughter sighed was telling. It was clear that she would much rather be out there with the Atlavans.

“We do not mind if she assists us,” Agrel offered. “If you do not mind leaving her here in our care.”

Leave her alone with them? An uneasiness descended over Delilah and momentarily stole her breath and her ability to think. The males halted all activity and watched her, their body language and calm and relaxed while waiting on her decision. She could say no and demand that her daughter go inside with her, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would accept it without further comment. But she also knew that her instinctive reaction was born out of years living with little protection in the village and unable to trust anyone. It wasn’t fair to the males who were inviting them into their family.

“Please, momma,” Lily whimpered.

“We will watch over her and keep her safe. We could do no other,” Gehj quietly added.

“You are certain she won’t get in the way?” She glanced at them uncertainly. “Lily can be a bit much when she would rather play frivolously instead of pay attention.”

Agrel chuckled and shrugged his wings in response. “Such is the way with fledglings. There were once many in our clan and we were often called upon to teach them. That was before the sickness. One little wingless female will not be too difficult. A young male trying out his wings and unable to sit still is far more burdensome,” he added.

Her lips twitched with amusement in spite of herself and she let her breath out in one slow, steady sigh. She could just imagine how troublesome Agrel was as a nestling. His poor mother. “Alright. Just call if you need me.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Agrel replied, his voice lowering to a husky pitch that sent a shiver of awareness through her and her blush rising once more into her cheeks.

She was still blushing several minutes later as she stood in her kitchen, fanning her cheeks with one hand as she began to pull down the pans and spices that she was going to need. She thankfully managed to get control of herself by the time Gehj returned and set the hares where she directed on the freshly wiped chopping board. She had a feeling that he would have lurked there at her kitchen table if she let him, but she shooed him back outside so that she could cook and think without his eyes caressing her, bringing heated memories back to her of their time at the pond.

It wasn’t that his eyes touched her in an unpleasant or lascivious way, but rather that they moved over her with true appreciation and admiration that made her blush anew. And she absolutely was not going to sit there and spend her entire time cooking, blushing like a schoolgirl. Still, that didn’t stop her from glancing frequently out the kitchen window as she worked, her eyes following the males as they fanned their wings and tail feathers in their play as they allowed her to chase them around with a large plush beast that had seen better years. To their credit, the males seemed to find it a great game and allowed her to torment them with a plushy as she ran with little Nimh at her heels in hot pursuit.

Shaking her head in amusement, she headed back to the stove. Dinner would at least be eventful. And having the two alien males for company oddly made it the most enjoyable meal she’d had in some time.

Chapter

Eleven

Agrel wanted to moan with the pleasure of being sufficiently filled with a satiating meal. He had eaten better than he had at any time in his most recent memories. The truth was, he couldn’t recall even a single time he had enjoyed his meals so much, except maybe when he was still in his mother’s nest. His tail-feathers fanned where they rested on the other side of the bench he was seated on, his tail shifting as the little sharp-clawed furbearer—Nimh—swatted and pounced on the long, trailing ends. She was easy enough to ignore and was entertaining, though troublesome. In any case, his attention was fixated elsewhere because now that one hunger was satiated, the other had flared back to life.

He wanted to investigate once more the bountiful flesh that lay beneath the layered clothing she wore. It concealed so much compared to what female Atlavans wore. His admiration of the female for how quickly she had conquered her fear of them, and her strength as a mother alone in the world, had swiftly returned to lust over the course of the meal. He did not know if it was the meal itself inflaming the passion of his internal fires or sitting across or whether it was watching the subtle movements of herlittle, delightful body as she ate that had him so enflamed. But he was.

He was constantly drawing in sharp breaths over his receptor plates on the roof of his mouth that allowed him to smell and taste her in the air all at once. He was also glad that he was sitting because his cock had fully extruded and was already thick with his need to mount and claim. Just the thought of it made him bite his lip as he strangled on another moan for an entirely different reason. He might have even let one inappropriately slip if little Lily had not chosen that moment to give a sharp, experimental tug on one of his feathers.

He winced in pain, his eyes lowering to the little female who clung to one of his long crown feathers.

“It’s so pretty,” she cooed. Her eyes lifted to meet his gaze, and she smiled widely. “May I have it?”

He blinked slowly. “You want a feather from my lower crest?”

She nodded eagerly. “I don’t have any feathers on me, so I would have momma tie it into my hair so we can look like a family. I still have the two feathers you left before, but this one would be special.”

That was… adorable. He beamed down at the tiny female, utterly taken in. He had not believed it was possible to adore her more, but it seemed that he was mistaken. It was a fabulous idea. An Atlavan’s feathers were treasured, and each clan bore distinct genetic markers on the patterns of their feathers carried down from their mother’s line. His feather would identify Lily as his to any of his people who saw her.

“Lily, no. That’s part of him. You can’t just ask for part of his body,” his female chided, but he shook his head.

“No, it is fine,” he assured her. “We do not give our feathers to just anyone, but Lily is special, is she not?”

“Won’t it hurt?” His female grimaced sympathetically, and Gehj chuckled.

“It does, when they are pulled,” Agrel teased as he gently removed Lily’s fingers from around the long feather. “But if you recall, we have other ways… easier ways that will also help it grow back quicker than it would if being plucked. It is convenient too because we use this method to decorate the nest upon first mating,” he replied, his lifting intentionally to meet the gaze of his mate, calling to memory the feathers that they had laid out on the grass before mounting her. “And we layer them in the nests of any young she births. Those feathers serve as keepsakes for the nestlings and used to decorate their nests until they mate. As we accept Lily as ours as if we had sired her from our own loins, it is her right to have them”

Turning his attention back to Lily, he leaned forward with a conspiring smile, eager to see her reaction. “Watch closely.”

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