Page 65 of Sway's Peace
“Yes,” she breathed, her eyes shutting, a smile stretched across her face. “Yes, I will.”
“Thank you.” His lips hovered over hers, hesitating a moment before saying, “You should know, my father won’t know me by the name Sway. That’s the name I use now because I can’t use the name I was born with any longer.”
Her eyes parted again, focusing back on his face. This close, he could see the dark lines through the gray rings of her irises, and they were lovely. “What will your father call you?”
He hesitated again, just because he didn't want to say it. The echoes of his past, the screams of his victims, hated hearing that name. “Eefwan. My parents named me Eefwan.”
“I see.” She looked him over carefully. “And what do you prefer I call you?”
“Sway.” He didn't hesitate at all this time. “Eefwan is a name I have no more attachment to. And it’s a name I can’t legally go by any longer. All my crimes are attached to that name. I just thought you should know before…”
His voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, but she nodded in understanding. “We’ll take it slow. We’ll check out the colony first. And if you change your mind at any time and want to bail, before or after you meet him, I’m with you.”
Warmth rushed through him at her reassurance. His tail feathers still didn't spread, but his crest was straining at his scalp as it tried to rise with pleasure. The stretch was nice after a lifetime of caution and guilt keeping it down.
But the warmth of relief quickly transformed. It ran through his body before focusing into a heat in his lower belly, becoming a steady, throbbing burn that made him long to hold Grace closer. To press her body against his, to kiss and caress and squeeze her until she was singing for him.
It was a foreign desire. And maybe it was because he’d never experienced it before, but the feelings were heady, dizzying. All the more powerful for being unknown. The fires of lust were scorching him from the inside out, changing him in a way he was eager to embrace.
Sway’s pressed his cheek against hers, his spine arched over to get him closer to her. Their bodies were moving together. A soft swaying that was only serving to bring them closer together as his lips neared hers.
He wanted to kiss her. To taste her. To hold her. The sheer strength of the urge itself was what made him hesitate. He didn't want to overwhelm her. To frighten her with the power of his need.
But when she turned her head, seeking his kiss, he was helpless but to give into her.
It started so gentle. So sweet. Just a brush of her lips over his.
But it shocked through his nervous system like raw electricity.
Sway grabbed onto her with both hands, one to the back of her head, one to her lower spine, pushing her into him. Taking immediate control of the kiss she started. The warm softness of her lips, the subtle curves of her body, the way she arched her back up, her arms wrapping around his neck, only made him want more.
The warmth of her. The pressure. The heat burning through his veins was remaking him. Searing away everything he thought he knew, and awakening things he never imagined before.
Her tongue darted out, tapping against his lower lip. Requesting entrance so sweetly. An action that he’d once considered gross, invasive even, whenever his previous partners forced it on him, was suddenly enticing and exciting.
Just the simple change of it being Grace, of himwantingthat closeness with her, made it not only bearable to entwine his tongue with hers, but sensual. Sexual in a way that it had never been. A disgusting chore suddenly turned into thrilling closeness.
It only made him hold her tighter. Exploring this new act with her. The taste of her, the harmony of her body moving with his, the heat in his groin as his cock threatened to extrude. It was an overwhelming riot of sensations that were sweeping him up in a storm he was afraid might break him.
But he longed for that destruction. He yearned for it to unmake him, so he could put himself back together in Grace’s name. For her pleasure. Just for her.
He-
The door chimed, alerting him that someone was requesting entry. He tore his lips from Grace, glaring at the offending door. Genuinely considering for a moment assaulting whoever was on the other side that dared to interrupt them.
But then he realized that his thoughts turned violent again, and he quickly cut that line of thinking off. He was not a violent person. Whoever it was probably had a reason to chime. It might even be important.
It better be important.
With obvious reluctance, he pulled himself from Grace’s arms and went to answer the chime. When the door opened, he was rather surprised to see Loyalty on the other side.
Aside from trips to the galley, Loyalty rarely left the guest room. Goldie had given it up without complaint, sleeping in the medbay where she now lived and worked like she was used to such a thing. Perhaps because he didn't want to bother anyone, Loyalty kept to himself and didn't wander around. Considering how most people reacted to his kind, Sway wouldn’t be surprised if he just didn't want to give the others a chance to be afraid of him.
The 108’s nostrils flared slightly, no doubt scenting their arousal. Sway had to, again, suppress the immediate urge to punch him directly on the muzzle for daring to smell Grace’s desire.
“Can I talk to you?” Loyalty asked. To Sway’s surprise, he was looking at him, not Grace.
He was highly tempted to deny him. Or send him away to speak to him later. But the look on his face was surprisingly serious.
