"Then why not just?—"
"Because the bond requires your full consent." He finished bandaging my elbow. Moved to my knee. "Not just your body agreeing, but your mind choosing. If I bred you now, while you're incoherent from what I just did? The transformation might not take. You might die." His eyes met mine. Solid gold. Serious. "I won't risk that."
"What if I consent? Right now?"
"You're not coherent enough to consent right now." His hand moved to my face. Cupped my jaw. Gentle. "Ask me tomorrow. When you're clear-headed. When you can say it meaning every word."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow you'll wake up and your head will be clear for a few hours. The orgasms I just gave you will buy you that much. Use those hours to decide. And when you're ready, when you know exactly what you're choosing, come find me. Ask me properly. And I'll give you everything."
Then he was gone. Wings spreading, dropping out of the cave entrance, leaving me alone in the furs.
I lay there for a long time. Body still humming. Mind slowly clearing.
He'd made me come ten times. Maybe more. I'd lost count somewhere around seven. And I was still empty. Still aching. Still needing what only he could give.
But for the first time in seven days, I could think. Could actually consider what he was offering.
Breeding. Transformation. Permanent bonding. Wings. Eggs. Never going home.
Was I ready for that?
Tomorrow. I would ask tomorrow.
HALLIE
Iwoke alone for the first time in days.
The absence hit me immediately. No sound of his breathing. No heat from his body. No weight of his presence watching me from the shadows. Just silence and the faint sound of wind moving through the caves.
My body noticed too. The ache was back, but different somehow. Not the screaming desperation of the last six days. This was quieter. Deeper. Like my body had shifted from panic to certainty. It knew what it needed and it knew exactly where to get it.
Sitting up took effort. I stretched carefully. My muscles didn't cramp. The withdrawal symptoms that had been crushing me yesterday were... gone. Or at least manageable. The ten orgasms he'd given me at The Weeping Wall had bought me maybe six hours of actual relief. Not just temporary distraction.
But now it was coming back. The need. The emptiness. The certainty that I couldn't keep doing this. Couldn't keep edging around the inevitable.
He's waiting for me to choose.
The thought came clear. Stark. No tonic-fog clouding my brain. No desperation making me irrational. Just clarity. For thefirst time since I'd drunk that vial in the Consortium facility, I could focus through the haze of arousal. Could actually consider what I was choosing.
I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. Not from withdrawal though. From something else.
Fear? Anticipation?
Both, probably.
I was going to do this. Going to find him and ask him to breed me. Ask him to claim me. Ask him to change me into something not-human so I could stay here forever.
The smart thing would be to wait. Test him more. Make absolutely sure this wasn't just the tonic talking.
But the tonic had worn off enough for me to know the difference between what my body needed and what I actually wanted. And I wanted this. Wanted him. Wanted the challenge of this vertical world. Wanted to know what it felt like to fly. Wanted to see if I was strong enough to survive the transformation.
Wanted him inside me so badly I could barely breathe thinking about it.
Sarah Dupre lasted eighteen days. Chose to stay. Died during transformation.
I'd read her journal. Knew the risks. Knew I might not survive this. But staying in the caves for thirty days and going home was dying too. Just slower. Just more certain. Going back to Sector 23, to underground housing, to factory work, to a life where the most dangerous thing I'd ever do was climb a shipping container.
