One hot make-out session and this man has picked up some manners?
I snort softly to myself and rise to my feet. Mav withdraws his tail, leaving a space behind between the platters and wooden bowls in front of us. I use the little vacant valley to step across the space to him, thankful when Mavyx's hand shoots up for me to take, helping to steady myself on the short journey. When I'm close enough, he shifts to make more room for me at his side.
And, because this man makes me stupid, I ignore the space next to him and seat myself sideways in his lap instead.
Mav's skin lights up like a firework, and I can't help but notice that conversation around us has quietened down quite a bit. I'm probably making a huge spectacle of myself and just as I contemplate getting up again, Mavyx's wings close around us as though he'd sensed where my thoughts were going and my desire for escape.
For a few heartbeats too many, neither of us says anything. It's just us, staring at one another in the cocoon of his wings. And in the dark here, with his black feathers folded on top of one another, the glow of the heart-stars on his chest pulses so brightly it's like witnessing the birth of a universe.
"Am I too heavy for you," I whisper into our little cocoon.
Mavyx's brow creases a little - barely visible in the shadow of his wings. "No," he tells me. "Do not you dare try to make nonsense excuses to leave my lap now, Ah-Lanah."
"Oh, I don't know," I say, my lip curling up. "I think maybe I didn't mean to sit here at all. I think I fell by mistake."
There's a low growl from Mav's chest. Outside the fortress of his big black wings, where my feet are poking out the bottom on one side, I feel the flick of his tail tuft tickling against my soles. Yelping, I pull them into the safety of Mavyx's wings and slap his chest which only elicits a warm, quiet chuckle from the big idiot. "Don'ttickle me!" I command, pointing a finger at him.
Mavyx grins. "Say please, bossy little female."
Huffing, I cross my arms and wriggle in his lap, the underside of my thigh brushing up against something large and stiff. Mavyx groans, his eyelids fluttering closed. So I wiggle harder.
"Ah-Lanah," he whines, one huge hand grabbing my thigh to cease my movements. "You need to stop, my star."
Is it wrong that I enjoy the desperate, pained expression on his face? "Say. Please.Second Spear," I command, one brow raised in triumph.
Mavyx's golden eyes drop to my mouth where they stay, stuck there like he couldn't possibly look away. "Please,Ah-Lanah," he whispers to my lips, his voice a rasp of longing that stirs something low in me.
And then all I can think of is his kiss. Of kissing him. Of how I'd pounced on him back at the hut. Of how he so willingly went along with my lip's demands. Somehow, I don't think that 'please' was about me grinding against his monster erection anymore.
"I'm... we should eat," I say absently, my own eyes now fixed on his mouth too.
Mavyx's nostrils flare. "It is food you are hungry for?"
"Yes." My voice is hoarse, thighs clenching together as I remember he can scent my arousal.
Mavyx's pupils are blown wide like an excited predator, but he parts his wings enough to reach out and snatch a platter of meats, pulling it inside our little wing fortress and snapping them shut again so fast, it makes me giggle. "Here," he says. "Eat."
I can't help the smile stuck on my lips while I chew.
What can I say? This man makes me stupid.
***
We stay like that for the remainder of the evening gathering, with me sitting in his lap and him enveloping us both in his giant wings. I hate to admit, but I loved sitting in there with him. It felt like the rest of the universe had melted away. And watching the little lights on the tips of his feathers slowly blink in and out of brightness had such a hypnotic, soothing effect, I think I could have easily curled up against his firm chest and fallen asleep.
I might have done, too, if it weren't for the way one of his men approached us, clearing his throat very loudly towards the end of the evening.
Mavyx had growled, but the throat-clearing continued. Eventually, Mav relented and his beautiful wings retracted from around us, revealing the now empty feasting space, everyone else having retired for the evening.
"Second Spear, we await your command for patrol this night," the straight-backed, inexperienced male says, looking more than a little wary.
I almost got up to make my way to the girl's hut, but Mavyx caught my hand, murmuring low about escorting me back to my hut before he has to deal with his duties.
My hut.
How could I have forgotten?
And here I am in my hut now. My own space.
