“Don’t—” he gasped, but his wing pressed into my palm, betraying him. “You don’t know what you’re—fuck?—”
I stroked along the leading edge, feeling the thrum of magic beneath my fingers.
“Sensitive?” I whispered, dragging my fingers through the feathers.
Varyth’s answering growl was feral. His hips snapped forward with renewed violence, fucking into me like he was trying to crawl inside my skin.
“Sensitive doesn’t—gods—doesn’t begin to cover it,” he panted against my throat, teeth scraping over my pulse. “Touch them again and I’ll?—”
I did.
Both hands this time, sliding along the powerful arch of his wings. Varyth’s back bowed, his head thrown back as a sound of pure ecstasy ripped from his chest.
His thrusts turned savage. Like touching his wings had snapped the last thread of his control.
“Fuckfuckfuck—” The words tumbled from him in a breathless litany. His wings spread wider, trembling beneath my touch as I traced patterns along their surface.
“I can’t—” he gasped. “I can’t hold back?—”
The desk gave up entirely, one leg splintering with a sharp crack that sent us sliding. But Varyth caught me before I could fall, his arms wrapping around my waist as he lifted me clear of the collapsing furniture.
My back hit the wall with enough force to rattle the shelves, books tumbling around us in a cascade of leather and parchment. But I barely noticed. Varyth’s mouth was on mine again, swallowing my gasp.
“Better,” he growled against my lips, his hands gripping my thighs as he held me pinned between his body and the stone wall. “Much fucking better.”
The new angle sent him deeper, and I cried out, my nails raking through his feathers as he shuddered beneath my touch.
“You’re going to kill me,” he panted, his forehead dropping to rest against mine as his hips moved. “Touching me like that?—”
The pressure building inside me was overwhelming, white-hot and demanding.
His hand slipped between us, fingers finding that aching bundle of nerves.
I came apart.
Black fire erupted from my skin in ribbons of shadow and flame that licked harmlessly across his wings, wrapping around us both like a cocoon of midnight. Varyth snarled as the flames caressed his feathers, his thrusts becoming erratic, desperate.
“Yes,” he growled, his voice breaking on the word. “Burn for me—burnwithme?—”
The fire spread between us, dancing along our joined bodies without scorching, feeding off the pleasure that tore through me in waves.
Varyth finally shattered.
His wings snapped tight around us as he drove into me one final time, his release tearing through him. My name echoed off the stone walls as he spilled himself inside me with shuddering thrusts.
For a long moment, neither of us moved. Varyth’s face was buried in the crook of my neck, his breathing harsh and uneven. His wings had folded around us like a protective shield, trembling faintly with aftershocks.
“Fuck,” he breathed against my skin.
I let out a breathless laugh, my hands were tangled in his feathers. “That’s one way to put it.”
He lifted his head to look at me, and something had shifted in his expression—softer somehow, though no less intense.
“That,” he said quietly, his voice still rough. “Was not how I planned to handle a diplomatic crisis.”
Another laugh bubbled out of me. “I think we handled it perfectly,” I managed, still catching my breath. “Very... thorough negotiations.”
His chuckle was low and dark, vibrating through his chest where it pressed against mine. “Remind me to let you handle all future diplomatic meetings.”
