Page 58 of Finn's Solace

All I remembered was gazing into Levi's eyes and feeling like the whole world had fallen away until it was just us. All I remembered was his skin against mine, sharing the samebreath, kissing him as his scent filled my lungs, as the very air I breathed was filled with him.

The orgasm was barely more than an afterthought compared to everything else I felt, and if this was what sex felt like when it was with your mate, it was no wonder my dads kept kicking me out so often.

Even my basilisk side had gone all quiet and peaceful after that, which rarely happened. He was feeling downright giddy, and it was strange but not bad. It would keep him from bothering me for a while, hopefully.

"You okay?" Levi murmured, and I turned my head—more like it lolled over like there were no bones in my neck—to peer at him. He was on his side facing me, his hair sticking to his face, his blue eyes a little hazy as he gazed back at me.

I hummed, then reached over to tangle my fingers with his, the only movement I had the energy to make.

"That was..." I shook my head, a half-smile tilting my lips. "I feel like I got hit by a truck. And like I'd enjoy being hit again."

Levi gave a snort, his lips curving in a smile that I could only describe as fond. "That's about how I feel. Has it ever...?"

"Felt like that? Never."

"Yeah, for me neither. I thought maybe it was because of the whole 'first time bottoming' thing, but it feels like more."

"It was more. It was everything."

Levi smiled, then gave my hand a squeeze. "Yeah, it was."

For a few minutes, we just lay there, coming down from the high and slowly getting the feeling back in our limbs.

When Greta started scratching at the door and demanding we come out, Levi slowly sat up with a sigh.

"Shower?" he asked, and I nodded quickly, starting to feel the cum drying on my skin. Things like that felt great in the moment but got icky real fast. Something to remember for the future.

"Your basilisk side seemed into it," Levi murmured when we were under the warm spray, and I hummed as he rubbed the loofah over my chest, both in reply to his words and how good it felt.

"He likes the closeness."

"I like feeling close to him too. And you. Do you shift often?"

I tried to remember the last time I'd shifted. Shit, had it really been that long?

"Not really. I'm pretty... big in that form, and there's not really a safe place to shift. We used to do it at the packland, but with the ongoing construction nearby, that's not possible anymore."

Levi's brows furrowed as he rubbed my abdomen, washing off the dried cum. "That sucks. What about the park? I heard it's not open to humans."

I winced as I remembered the last time I'd shifted there, which had been my first shift ever.

"Yeah, I shifted there once. But the trees are far too close together, and I may have felled some, which made the forest spirit who owns the place very unhappy. I can't do that again."

Levi frowned, and I leaned down to kiss his pursed lips.

"It's okay. I don't really need to shift all that often. It doesn't hurt or anything." It just made my basilisk side all fidgety and annoying, but he'd been doing better since Levi came into the picture, so I was hoping his presence would keep him from driving me crazy.

"If you say so," Levi said, giving me a smile, and I smiled back before taking the loofah from him.

"My turn."

We took our time washing up, then returned to the bedroom, where I put on my own underwear—I'd 'remembered' to pack those—and another of Levi's t-shirts, this one with potato chips with sad faces and the words 'the chips are down.'

"Where do you even find these?" I asked with a laugh as I pulled it on, and Levi grinned.

"Online, mostly. Sometimes in gift shops. You really like them, huh?"

"They're very you."

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