Page 184 of Lost in the Dark

My wings curl around her within the shelter of the gazebo, the serenity of the lake surrounding us as Naomi lies in my embrace, her cheek pillowed against my chest. I feel her and only her, her energy weaving around and through me. I no longer feel more than the slightest memory of my old pain, but I would accept it readily if only she would remember and be free of this place.

I feel her sigh and glance down at her to see her peering up at me with a small smile, her eyes trailing over the pale flower petals dusting my hair and wings. Not even the shelter of the gazebo can keep them out entirely, but I don’t mind since she seems to enjoy it as much as she does.

“I really love it here,” she murmurs. “I wish we could never leave. I can’t imagine why any of your people ever leave your world to come to mine when you have something like this.”

I make a noncommittal hum in the back of my throat, my hand stroking over her hair. She likes being petted, and I find it immensely enjoyable having in the smallest physical contact. Though my desire for her is acute, with my years of training and providing care as a thanatos I find that I am able to ignore it to reap every bit of enjoyment out of this moment.

In the next moment, however, my hand freezes mid-stroke when I feel her fingers graze a path down the inside of my thigh toward my knee. My eyes dart down to her. Every muscle and even my breath has stilled as I wait, anticipating what she might do next. Her dark eyes stare back at me, the corner of her mouth inching upward. I’ve succumbed to kissing her, but I am uncertain in this moment.

Most demons have experience in this area, but it is rare among thanatos due to our distance from other realms that isolates us and our lack of females. There are those who enjoy the company of each other, but many of us wait to find our witch mate. I am of the latter disposition but where some would have jumped at the chance to experience physical intimacy, I have avoided any contact beyond kissing because I know I will not be able to keep myself from mating with her.

If I mate with her and lose her… it will shatter me.

“There are things of the meleth which possess unequal beauty,” I reply. “No thanatos can resist the allure of witches.”

Her smile turns impish as her fingers dance in small, teasing circles. “I doubt that a witch can compare with a demoness.”

A small breath puffs from between my lips as my cocks harden further. I am certain that she must be aware of it with how close her fingers dance to it. “I am not aware of the feelings of other demons on this subject, but among thanatos there are none with which to compare.”

Her hand stills, and I feel her shift away from my side as she sits up, the pliable feathers of my wing shifting with her, and meets my eyes.

“Wait, are you telling me that there are no female thanatos?”

“The gods did not see fit to design us that way,” I reply, uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation. “Those of us who wish to mate with a female must take mates from elsewhere.”

She exhales, sympathy on her face. “Ah. So that explains the whole thing with the fire king’s mate. Did you love her?”

I grimace. “No.” My gaze slides over to her, meeting her eyes. “It sounds terrible, does it not? That I would pursue a mate because tradition told me that it was my right rather than because I knew that she was the one.”

“It sounds to me like you were lonely.” She brushes back the strands of my hair that had fallen forward to partially conceal my face. “You’ve spent a long time alone and wanted love. Everyone deserves to find that. You just jumped the gun.”

“I would have waited happily had I known that you were out in the world all along.”

Her brow knots slightly as she searches my gaze, something unreadable flickering in her eyes. “Are you saying that you love me?”

“More than I have any right to,” I confess. “You have my heart.”

“You have every right,” she whispers, her eyes developing a misty sheen. “Because I give it to you and that is all that matters.” She leans forward, her lips brushing mine. “I love you too, Gralius.”

My eyes close as my heart wrenches with that simple declaration, and my entire world seems to come apart and reknit itself within the space of a breath. All the emotion I have kept tightly contained surges forth, and along with it a raw, fierce protectiveness that I barely throttle down as my wing clasps more firmly around her, drawing a small giggle from my mate.

Mine!It scarcely seems believable that she would honor me with such a gift. And now I shall be hers.

“I am yours completely, Naomi. I swear this on Styx, my shade is sealed to you and at your command.”

The formal words of the mate oath fall from my tongue, and even though I know it is forbidden to offer them to her at this time, I do not recant them. Instead, I allow their power to flow between us, merging as they spin forth link after link of the unbreakable chain of our bond. I know she can feel with the way her eyes widen, her chest heaving as she pants through the exhilarating rush of our energies melding. Every link forged sends white-hot desire arching through the both of us until it coils between us. I ache for her, and my wings tremble as I gather her close, unable to do anything less.

A wealth of emotion shines back at me from her eyes as she melts into me, her fingers digging into my shoulders. Her bottom lip trembles with the force of emotion and passion passing between us, and I groan as I feel the damp warmth of her cunt pressed against my lap. I draw in her scent on a ragged breath, and she shivers in reaction to my own escalating need as the symbiosis of our partially forged bond begins to work.

She shivers in my embrace. “Do I repeat the words?”

“No. Not yet,” I rasp, burrowing my nose in the sweetly perfumed crook of her neck. “You are not yet free to be with me. There is time yet.”

I had been unable to keep the words sealed inside of me. Only she can complete the bond on her side, but she cannot do it now, while she is still tied to the meleth. I will not have her suffer. I will be the only one to experience that pain if we part, though it is a price that I readily accept.

It is this price that makes it forbidden among the thanatos to do as I have done. The bond is only to be made when the claim can be secured. In truth, I have no right to court her at all until she crosses the veil. By our customs, I have no right to claim her or even to touch her as I am. Even the kisses we have shared would have been considered a breach of conduct among the thanatos, but I cannot find it within me to care.

I revel in the feel of the bond as she wiggles closer to me, sliding over the hard knots of my dual sex coming to life as they push up toward her heat. The instinct to join with my mate is overwhelming, and I groan against her neck as she fists my hair. I can feel her shiver, her skin heating beneath my mouth as I run my lips along her neck and capture her mouth with mine. Her indescribable taste floods my mouth, filling my senses, and I moan, my hands dropping to her hips to grip her to me as I rock against her, every movement sending blinding pleasure through me.

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