Page 19 of The Arrival
Haruka lifts his head, understanding in his eyes. Nino tilts, brushing their lips together and whispering against his mate’s mouth, “Make love to me, tesoro. Make me come.”
The softness in Haruka’s eyes shifts, intensifies with a familiar heat and resolve. The panther takes over. Without another word, Haruka tangles his long fingers within the back of Nino’s hair and brings their mouths together. They collide in a decadent fury of lips and passion, their mouths open as their tongues twist together, tasting and exploring.
The rhythm of their movement is slow but concentrated. Nino gasps, trying to keep up and match his mate’s energy as he always does. But when he senses Haruka’s luscious, intoxicating aura surrounding him and filling the small space of the room, he doesn’t want to think or keep up anymore. He closes his eyes, intentionally letting go so that he can only feel his mate’s hands sliding down, undressing him as he trembles from the cool brush of fingertips against his skin.
Something in his mind shifts to where his sense of Haruka’s vampiric energy intensifies—his mate’s body and soul manifested and cocooning him in a gauzy web of mist, sweet roses and earth.
Somehow, the sensation of it deepens, like free-falling into a black hole for hours until suddenly, everything brightens. The scene around him slowly takes shape, richly swirling with color, light and ambience.
He doesn’t understand how, but he’s making love in a rain-soaked garden, inhaling the scent of blooming flowers in the damp air. He feels the wet, sticky grass pressed against his naked back and the delicious weight and slickness of his mate’s body on top of him. Lush green hedges surround them, tall and protecting in a secluded space. Isolated. Just the two of them together.
When Nino opens his eyes, Haruka is there. His beautiful, glowing red gaze is focused on him and backdropped against a steely-gray sky rolling with frothy clouds.
Nino reaches for him, needing even more, threading his fingers into the thick of Haruka’s hair. He pulls him down into a kiss but his breath hitches. His body, nature, everything within him spikes. Tenses. The rain falls even harder around them, drenching his hair and skin, pelting him and puddling at his shoulders, hips and spine as he writhes against the earth.
Every sensation is pure ecstasy, and he welcomes it—allows it to take his body and have its way. The release is liberating but serene. A soft but overwhelming pleasure he’s never known before. At least, not until Haruka. This vampire with ancient blood—an eminent, powerful force completely devoted to and protective of its mate. The singular creature that it has chosen to love and rely on.
The elaborate scene dissolves in his mind—gently darkens and fades to nothing as if he’s waking from a dream.
When he opens his eyes, he’s met with dim yellow light and plain beige walls. He’s sitting upright on the edge of the examination table (not on his back, not in wet grass), and he’s only half dressed. Haruka is staring at him from underneath furrowed brows, his hand frozen on his naked thigh as he stands in the gap of Nino’s legs.
There’s concern in his voice. “Are you with me?”
Inhaling a breath and blowing it out, Nino nods. He runs his hand against the back of his head. “Yeah… o-of course.” Taking inventory, his body feels limp, utterly satiated, and his mind blanketed in a profound sense of serenity.
That sensation… the experience has never been so strong. So vividly clear. There have always been inklings of it when he’s fed from Haruka—like tasting a hint of something in a recipe. Notes of cherry and cocoa in a glass of wine, or a hint of lemon in a marinade. But never like this. Never truly transcendent, as if he were hallucinating.
Nino blinks and realizes Haruka is watching him with concern. He lifts his palms to hold his mate’s face. “I’m fine, Haru, I promise.” He leans in, kissing his mouth and lingering there until Haruka responds. After he returns the affection, Nino raises from the kiss, chuckling. “We didn’t even bother grabbing the—”
“It is done,” Haruka says, eyeing him with the same hesitation.
“Oh…” Nino looks down, and Haruka is holding the sealed cup in his hand. Nino meets his eyes, grinning. “Indeed it is.”
* * *
Inside the parked car,Nino flattens his palms against his cheeks as he sits behind the steering wheel.
That sumptuous scene. The garden, heavy rain and hedges. The scent of roses in the air and the damp weight of Haruka against him—it keeps replaying in his mind, but faded. A shadow of something that’s stirred him deeply within his core.
His cheeks are hot. He keeps blushing.
“What happened to you inside the clinic?”
Nino turns to see Haruka watching him with that same concerned expression on his face as he waits for an answer. The entire time he was getting dressed, and even as they walked to the nurses’ station to finish the appointment, Haruka kept staring as if he were expecting him to sprout horns and a tail.
“I don’t know.” Nino takes a deep breath, then exhales, still patting his face. “Why? What did I look like on your end?”
“You seemed… euphoric. But when I spoke to you, you were not as responsive as you usually are. It was unsettling, so I finished the task and waited for you to come to your senses.”
“Huh…” Turning forward, Nino stares out the windshield, noticing the flutter of pale pink flower petals littering the glass. His entire body is still relaxed. Maybe even a bit spellbound, as if he’d been under some kind of soothing hypnosis and he’s gradually waking up. “I don’t remember you saying anything.”
“Nino,what happened? I didn’t do anything differently than normal, please tell—”
“Calm down, tesoro. I’m fine—better than, honestly. I… I don’t know what exactly happened, but I think it was me. Not you.”
“Go on.”
He rests back against the seat, dropping his hands into his lap and closing his eyes, recalling the situation to his mind to pick it apart. “I always tell you that when I feed from you, the taste of your blood reminds me of a rose garden and rain. It’s what I see, vaguely.”
