Page 186 of May: Bloom & Bane

“I need you to wake up, so you can touch me,” I moan as he stretches me, my walls fluttering around his shaft as I start to rock my hips in slow circles. The petals of his bloom-collar weakly reach for me, brushing lightly over my clit.

“Wake up, Sage,” I whimper, rolling my hips harder, riding him with desperate bounces. “I need your hands on me.”

His cock twitches inside me, swelling thicker as I clench around him.

“Please.” I lean forward, his cock sliding out of me while I position my breast above his parted lips. My swollen nipple brushes against them, my warm níva dripping steadily onto his tongue. His lips twitch against my skin as the first drop hits him. Nectar flows freely now, filling his mouth with each slow drip. His throat works, swallowing every bit I give him.

“That’s it, Sage. Drink it all. My body made this for you—every drop you swallow makes more.” An animalistic noise fills the clearing as his hands clamp down on my hips. He slams me back onto his cock.

“Mm.” My fingers dig into his chest, his fever dimming from a wildfire into a warm glow.

“D-don’t stop,” he stammers.

“There you are,” I sob, rocking my hips a little faster, drawing the magic through both of us. “Stay with me, Vaelí.”

The gray slowly retreats from his jaw, green flooding back into his skin. The brittle vines on his shoulders plump back up, going soft and supple, tiny buds swelling along their length.

“Does it help when I talk to you like this?” I grind harder along his shaft, clenching around his girth. “When I tell you how you make me feel.”

He lets out another whimper as my walls pulse around him. His throat tightens as his broad chest rises and falls erratically.

“Y-yes,” he chokes out, his eyes locking onto mine. A tear of relief slips from the corner of his eye, disappearing into his long dark hair. “Gods yes. Tell me—tell me everything.”

His hands flex around my hips, gripping, releasing, testing whether his strength is back. His thumb drags inward, trying to set the rhythm. But he’s not there yet. His body is still too weak, still trying to remove the excess magic flowing through him, and the frustration twists his beautiful face into something between agony and ecstasy.

“I want—” He gives me another failed thrust. He lets out a snarl of pure need. “I want to flip you. Want to—vresh, Eden, I can’t—why can’t I move?”

“You know the day in the nest?” I whisper, leaning down to catch his lips. “The day I saw Ash’s shadow, and we never finished? We needed you to put all that extra fertility magic from my nectar back into me… like this.” I grind harder against him.

The swollen buds on his shoulders burst open.

“That’s what this is?” he breathes, his eyes clearing by the second. “I was—I thought I was failing you.”

“You sweet, stubborn male.” I cup his face, rolling my hips and drawing another pull of the golden heat from where we’re joined. “You could never fail me. You were protecting me. And you let yourself fall apart trying to keep me safe.”

His hands tighten on my hips.

“Eden, I think I can move now.”

It happens between one breath and the next. The world tips. Green and gold blur across my vision as he moves. His arm bands around my lower back, his wing sweeping around me to flip us in a single fluid motion. He pins me against the thick grass, his body caging mine. Long dark hair falls in a curtain around our faces.

He looks down at me, and my heart leaps into my throat.

It’s safe to say the lethargy is gone.

His eyes are no longer glazed. They are blazing with intensity. The gray shadow has completely vanished from his jawline, replaced by the rich, healthy shade of his normal green skin.

He looks resurrected.

“You scared me,” I whisper, reaching up to push his hair behind his ears. “Welcome back.”

A devastating smile curves his mouth.

“You brought me back,” he murmurs. “You poured yourself into me until I remembered how to breathe.” He rolls his hips, sinking deeper. “Now let me thank you properly, Saevúra.”

He catches both of my wrists and pins them above my head. My chest heaves against his, the friction making nectar leak between us.

“Is this for me?” he rasps, his gaze dropping to where the golden liquid is sliding down my chest. He dips his head and drags his tongue up the curve of my breast, catching the trail of níva. A shudder rolls through his body.