He kept his gaze fused with mine as he slid back inside me.Then he wrapped his tail tightly around my leg from thigh to ankle, connecting us on that level, too.It couldn’t get more intimate than this.And with his massive wings outstretched on either side of me, I felt protected and safe.
He moved slowly, his thrusts shallow so as not to hurt me.The pleasure began building again but I didn’t close my eyes.I watched him move above me, mesmerized.While our previous coupling had been fast and primal, this one was slow and sensual,awakening something in my heart I couldn’t name.It was as though our very souls were connected, not just our bodies.
Inexplicable elation filled me.I raked my fingers down Xaniban’s biceps and closed my legs around his waist.I wanted to pull him even deeper inside me, to lose sense of where I ended and he began.
He growled and took my mouth in an all-consuming kiss.Then we were both coming, joined both in body and ultimate pleasure.
As the climax hit him, Xaniban threw his head back and roared, his large wings fully extended.
Magnificent.I let my eyes close as I finally succumbed to exhaustion.Post-coital bliss overcame me, or at least that’s how I interpreted the feeling of boundless joy and fulfillment that overtook me.I also felt whole.Complete.At perfect peace.Huh.Was this how it felt to be high?
“It isyou,” my personal drug said, sounding awed.“I should have realized it earlier… Myanima.”
I opened my eyes.His face hovered over mine.One arm and tail were wrapped around my waist possessively.Our lower bodies were still joined.His wings were closed around us, cocooning us in.The candlelight was barely penetrating the membranes of his wings, so I couldn’t see his face, but Xaniban’s words had carried tenderness in them I couldn’t comprehend.He hadn’t talked to me like that before.
Ah, it had to be the euphoria from his orgasm talking.I couldn’t blame him: I felt soft and mushy, too.He could say whatever he felt like saying, as long as he stayed exactly where he was, his arms, tail, and wings wrapped around me.
“Did you feel it?”he went on excitedly, forcing me to open my eyes again.
Did he have to involve me in his monologue?I was completely and utterly spent, in the best way possible.All I wantedwas to fall asleep, not a care in the world for just a little while longer.
“Feel what, Xan?”I found the strength to lift an arm and caress his face in an attempt to learn what my eyes couldn’t tell me in this dark and warm cocoon of ours.My fingertips traced the curve of his lips.He was smiling.
“The mate bond, how it clicked into place!… Gods, it was as smooth as my sword’s handle the first time I picked it up!I did not even sense when my wings folded around you, accepting you as part of me, mine to protect… I am yours, too,anima.”
Forget sleeping.“The mating what now?”Was my gargoyle getting funny ideas about us after this unforgettable experience, like us being married or something?
“Mate bond, little blessing,” he said, giving me a quick kiss.“The bond linking us for life and beyond.We are a mated couple now.”
– 16 –
Needle in a Haystack
“Excuse me?”I blurted.“Linkedforlife?”
“Yes, you are my mate, and I am yours.”Xaniban sounded beyond himself with excitement.“Animaandanimar.”
“No, no, no.”I tried to get away from underneath him, but he was practically molded around me, his wings like solid walls.“I haven’t married you.The sex was mind-blowing but with no strings attached, you told me so.You never mentioned a lifelong relationship–”
“I did not know you were my mate.”His hand cupped my cheek tenderly.“I started to suspect something the more time we spent together.But I did not dare hope for the greatest blessing of the Gods!When I tasted your honey and then when I accidentally bit you during the claiming, it all clicked into place.I had been blind.I should have known the moment you touched my wing on the battlefield and gave my regeneration a boost.You are myanima.”
“No, don’t youanimame!”I removed his hand from my face.“One night of otherworldly sex doesn’t make me your wife.”
“I could put a ring on your finger, if it would appease you,” he continued in a soothing tone.“But in time you will understand that the mate bond is not a marriage.Some mated humans here call it so, but it goes way beyond that.You will understand once I explain in the morning, when you are rested.”
Like hell.“I won’t understand crap and rest until you get off me.”
“I cannot let you out yet.”
“Dammit, Xan!”
“I really cannot,” he said apologetically.“My wings have to unfold on their own; it is a reflex triggered by the mate bond clicking into place.It has something to do with the fierce need to protect the newly found mate at her most vulnerable moment: a claiming-turned-mating.I could switch positions, though.Do you prefer to be on top?”
I dragged my hands down my face with a groan.This wasnothappening to me.
Xaniban’s response was to roll us both.I ended up lying on top of him, his wings now imprisoning me from above.
I let out a heavy sigh.“This is just as bad.”
