“Yes,” I panted.
“Good. You’re truly not afraid of my demon?”
“Still you,” I argued. “I want all of you.”
He moaned and bent, biting along the top of my shoulder as he pushed as far into me as he could go, his cock throbbing inside my walls. His forked tongue licked up my neck.
“What promises should we make to one another, Phin? It may not be the best time, but I want to remember this moment always.” The fingers of his free hand dipped, and he began toying with my clit as he held eye contact with me in the mirror. His tail wrapped around my leg and pulled, making my stance wider. “I promise there will never be any other for me. Only. You. Forever.” He punctuated with thrusts, stealing my breath and my thoughts. He drew out of me infuriatingly slowly, making mefeel every piercing both as he pulled out and as he pressed back in. My thighs trembled, a climax hovering just out of reach.
“Yes,” was all I could manage. It was breathy, desperate, but I meant it.
“I will give you anything you crave,” he promised, dipping to suck at my neck. “And the freedom to live as you please.”
I shook, the words unlocking something deep inside me. “Tap.”
“I will love you, Phin. In this lifetime and the next. I.”Thrust. “Am.”Thrust. “Yours.”Thrust. “Understand?”
“Yes.” I nodded as much as I could against the tension of how he was holding me, the back of my head against the top of his shoulder. “Please,” I begged, tears nearly overflowing my eyes as the need to come overwhelmed me. I ground out the words slowly, having to search for the shapes of them before they could be vocalized. “I want nothing else but this. You. My mate. Forever.”
His head fell back and his rhythm increased. The wave of pleasure in my blood finally crested, washing over me as I cried out, unable to control my body any further. Tap held me steady as he found his own release, his moan hot against the back of my neck. He turned my head with his hand, kissing me with a ferocity I’d not yet seen in him, which seemed significant given what we’d already been through together.
“Let’s clean you up, beloved.”
Boneless, I allowed him to pamper me all over again with a quick bath, water, food. Soft kisses and gentle hands cradled me, fed me, made sure I had what I needed.
I’d been terrified of what having a cycle meant for so long, I’d never considered that under the right circumstances it could lead to me feeling so utterly loved.
The next coupleof days passed in a blur, a similar pattern repeating.
Tap was always there, constantly aware of my needs and unerringly ready. He napped in short bursts and snuck out for more supplies while I rested. He made sure that I at least took the green elixir once a day, but also the blue when he remembered and the pain reliever when I needed it. I saw every side of him and adored him more for it all.
We feasted on well-aged wines he unearthed from somewhere in his endless eclectic stores, cheese, fruit, bread—anything that could easily be eaten with one hand. He brought us cakes and other sweet treats in the sleepless hours of the night, then we fortified ourselves with tea and hot grain cereal in the morning when he began to fret that I was going to suffer from lack of real food. He brewed tea that grew cold before it ever got poured a few times and brought me endless pitchers—ones from his later batches with spouts—full of water. I started to wonder how we even had any groceries left for his creative finger foods at all.
Mostly, we explored one another in the quiet moments between heat flares and sleep, hands and mouths mapping skin until there wasn’t a single inch left untouched, untasted.
I requested to see Tap’s full demon form several times, and each time he grew less timid about it. He spread his black, bat-like wings for me and showed off his whiplike tail. The red eyes were still thoughtful behind his round spectacles, still wholly him, and we both knew that his forked tongue was good at plenty of interesting things. His horns were perfect crescent shapes and shockingly sharp at the tips, which pointed behind him. Therewas nothing scary or unattractive about that version of him, and I told him so, as well as several new and creative ideas I’d had about his tail. We’d ended up tangled in the bedding with half a plate’s worth of fruit or crackers smashed between us and the mattress more than once.
At one point, Tap asked if he could see my wings. It took some focus, but I was able to bring them out. I flexed and even flapped them, a gust of wind washing over us both. The feathers seemed to be regenerating and healthy, which was hopeful. When I pulled them back in, he gently kissed along the place on my shoulder blades where my wing ways were and traced down my spine.
“What is this scar from?” he asked, touching a spot along my lower back.
“I wish it were something far more interesting than what the truth is,” I chuckled, chewing on an apple slice.
“No battle with rogue wolves then? Or a tragic swordsmanship lesson gone wrong?” he teased. “You did say you didn’t do very well in your weaponry classes.”
“Nothing so valiant, I’m afraid, though I have plenty of little marks from the short time I took lessons.” I smiled, the old, mostly painful memories of failing my courses in Heaven suddenly no longer nearly as hurtful. “I was hiking in the woods near our house and lost my footing going along an embankment for a creek. There were rocks and broken tree limbs the whole way down. I caught a particularly sharp stone as I slid is all. Didn’t bleed much, but it was the most hideous bruise for weeks. Took forever to fully heal.”
“Mmm.” He ran the tip of his tongue along the silvery line and then kissed it, making me shiver. When I glanced over my shoulder, he was grinning at me with obvious intent and that was enough to spike my temperature and need all over again.
Tap was dreadfully good at inciting the same desires he was masterful at satisfying.
“How are you so good at this?” I asked him while still panting, the white glow that had started to come from my skin when I was at the height of pleasure slowly fading.
He chuckled darkly. “I appreciate the compliment, Feather. Bringing you pleasure is truly one of my greatest accomplishments. It’s also very nice to have a tangible guide letting me know when I’m doing something right.” He ran the backs of his fingers down my cheek.
“Not going to tell me then?” I teased, reaching for a drink.
“I might never have taken a lover, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have ages to do… independent research.”
