“That may be true, but when I wake up feeling like something stabbed my back all night, that’s when we’ll have to talk.”
“We will.” Axel gently lowered me onto the floor, and I felt the coolness of the black marble floor beneath my bare feet.
I couldn’t believe it, and yet, I should have expected this opulence by the sleekness of the villa outside and inside.
He had made this vessel his home, his sanctuary—his paradise.
“Your beauty amazes me,” my avian male purred, combing a stray braid away from my ears.
“Is a room like this common for your species?” I’d never seen a nest until I met him, and yet, here was a massive room with the most enormous bed I’d ever seen taking over a whole corner. There were two sets of sliding doors which I assumed led to a bathroom and his office. Except for a wall with multiple vidscreens and a window that took up the entire wall, the rest of the room was open. “I’m not sure what I imagined your room to be, other than a larger version of my guest room, but my room didn’t have a nest like yours.”
“If the flock isn’t well off,” he replied, turning me to face the long, floor-to-ceiling mirror beside the closet panel. “But if someone in my position hadn’t provided you with a room like this, it would be an insult to not only you but to my character, too.”
He leaned in and pressed his beak against the top of my head. I watched him through the mirror as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. A satisfied purr erupted from him as his calming scent of coconut and sunshine wrapped around me like a warm blanket.
“I highly doubt many others can afford something like your villa.”
“Are you sure?”
His piercing amber eyes jerked open and found mine in the mirror. There was something about our position that I found erotic, but the tone of his voice—so guarded—as the question escaped his beak had stabbed a dagger of concern straight into my heart.
Had I offended him?
“What do you mean?”
“Almost every leader, politician, scientist, or middle-class businessman could afford a villa like mine,” he explained, grabbing a few of my braids and focusing his gaze on the beads woven into them. “Up until the most recent events, the galaxy has been in a stage of peace for a long period of time, which allowed our citizens to build their estates and pass it down from generation to generation. Despite the fact that my location is unique, because I have a connection with the locales, there are many other homes that are much larger and have more features.”
I stood there in shock, unable to move as I watched him watching me through the mirror.
“It astounds me how much everything has improved simply because every species within the IPA decided to live in peace.”
“You’re honestly not upset about not having the very best?” He was breathing heavily, waiting to see whether I would change my mind.
Yet how could I?
“Why should I be upset with you about that when I am completely satisfied with this villa?” I shrugged, already over the dark path of this conversation. “You’re the same kind and caring male, regardless of what you own. It makes no difference if you lose your position and we have to live in a tree to survive. I still want to spend time with you.”
“Thank you, Ami.” I watched him place his beak next to my ear through the mirror. “You’re too perfect for me.”
Leaning back, I pressed myself against him and enjoyed how we looked standing beside each other in the mirror.
“Are you ready for us to seal our fate?” His deep voice made his words sound like unspoken promises, making me shiver. “You know I’m more than willing for us to do it and make you scream my name in pleasure.”
A part of me wanted to be defiant and put him to the test to see what he would do, but I resisted. I’d play with him another day. Right now, I wanted him—and for us to complete our bond so that we could be considered married under his species’ traditions.
“Then do it, Axel,” I whined, not wanting to wait any longer. I could feel my arousal starting to pick up in the anticipation as wetness developed between my legs. “Claim me as yours.”
“Stand still,” he trilled, his eyes darkening as his tropical aroma engulfed me, setting my body on fire with need. “I want to savor you.”
I nodded, unable to speak as I watched him wrap his wings around my body without saying anything. His dawn-feathered hands pressed against me, one on my stomach, the other on my breast. His heavy breaths and tongue tickled my skin as he ran his beak along the juncture of my neck.
I watched him through the mirror as he squeezed my breast, and I could feel the familiar warm tingle of arousal shooting up my spine. My mind was reeling as my body responded to the stimulation. I didn’t know if it was his aroma engulfing me, flooding my senses with promises of pleasure, or the thundering purr-like trill radiating from him wherever we touched, but I couldn’t move.
All I could do was stand there and watch Axel’s hands hypnotically massage my breast and rub gentle circles below my belly button. I wouldn’t have known it could feel so good, but his comforting gesture kept me from becoming overwhelmed.
As I stood naked in front of the mirror, I watched in a trancelike daze as my avian male studied every inch of my body.
Holding my gaze through the mirror, he dragged his hand from my stomach to my chest and grabbed both of my breasts, shoving my bare behind against his feathered pelvis.
