Page 10

At some point in the night, I find myself in his arms, my face pressed into his neck. My senses are flooded with the musky, woodsy scent of him. I start to roll away, but he makes a sound of protest in his throat, wrapping his wings around me and blocking out the light of the bedside lamps.

As I drift back into sleep, my mind is bombarded with images of naked skin, mouths open and panting, hips thrusting rhythmically.

Consciousness swims back through me, and I feel him all along my body, my leg wrapped around him, his breath fluttering my hair. I can’t tell if he’s asleep or not, but I don’t even have the awareness to feel ashamed for the way I’m practically climbing him again before unconsciousness sucks me back under.

When I wake again, it’s with full awareness. Aware of where we are, of who we are, of the way our limbs are intertwined. I’m slick between my legs, throbbing. I’m breathing heavy, feeling desperate with want, even as I try to shove away from Fitz. This is so inappropriate. Not only because we don’t know each other, don’t even speak the same language, but because he’s clearly just as drowsy and unaware as I was, his hands holding tight to my hips. I’m horrified to find myself rubbing against him, rocking into his leg once and then twice before I pull away with more force. I can’t dry hump a guy who doesn’t realize what’s going on!

“Fitz,” I say, both hands planted on his chest, trying to dislodge myself.

But then suddenly, I’m on my back. Fitz hovers above me, pressing me down into the mattress, his yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. He doesn’t seem drowsy or delirious or unaware. He just seems…

Like he can read my mind, he presses his pelvis into mine and grinds.

I let out a high-pitched screech, and like I’ve activated some sort of reaction, his wings fly out, spreading wide over us like an umbrella. My brain takes in the image before me: a fearsome creature with glowing eyes and horns, black as midnight perched over me, broad shoulders and majestic wings.

He’s the stuff of nightmares. And I want him so bad I feel like I’ll die.

But we can’t, right? We can’t even communicate.

Fitz lowers himself on top of me, and in the silence, I can hear him sniffing. First, he presses his face into my neck, sniffing along my skin, but then he lifts his head, yellow eyes meeting mine. He sniffs again and says something in his language, something that sounds like a question.

Oh god. Reality sets in. He can smell me. He can smell that I’m wet, that I’m turned on. His hand comes up between us and wraps gently around my throat. I feel the tips of his claws pressing just barely at the back of my neck, right under my hairline.

He seems to be watching me intently, and I think maybe he’s feeling my pulse, that he’s examining my heartbeat.

Is he trying to determine whether or not I’m aroused? Or is that wishful thinking?

Just knowing that might be what he’s doing makes me more aroused. My clit is positively pulsing.

And then I feel something there, something sliding along my inner thigh. I try to look between us but it’s dark and he’s pressed tightly against me, but process of elimination tells me it’s not his hands or his wings. So it must be…

The tip of Fitz’s tail flicks open the button on my jeans, and I gasp.

“Wait,” I tell him, even though he doesn’t understand me. Now that I know he’s definitely into this, I’m desperate for it. But not through my pants. I need to feel him, skin on skin. Reaching down, I undo my pants the rest of the way, shoving them and my underwear down. I don’t really care if it’s weird or what. I need to come, and I need it now.

Fitz watches me without uttering a word, and when I’m wearing nothing but a shirt, the tip of his tail find me immediately. It’s like a heat-seeking missile, sliding long and insistent right up the center of me to my clit.

I bow off the bed, mouth falling open, and Fitz immediately covers me with his body again. He presses his forehead to mine, his tail starting a rhythm against me that makes me squirm and scream and buck my hips.

“Yes!” I shout, feeling his tail get slicker and slicker as I rut against it. And then something changes. He seems to shift his tail higher, and I think I almost lose consciousness when some kind of barb or nub bumps my clit. My eyes roll back into my head.

Fitz has clearly caught my reaction because he shifts his tail even higher, and now, whatever ridges line his tail are running over me one after another, and I spasm, grabbing onto Fitz’s arms and rocking my hips. Nothing has ever felt this good in my entire life. All coherent thought has left my body, my only focus chasing my orgasm.

When Fitz lowers his head, setting his cheek against mine, and I hear him moan into my ear, I come apart. The world explodes, leaving me floating in the stratosphere, where pleasure I never knew could even exist has taken over.

Holy hell, he didn’t even penetrate me. This is the thought that comes to me when my brain has pieced itself back together. Or maybe his tail is just how he fucks. I don’t have any proof that he has a penis to speak of.

And this is what I’m thinking when Fitz wraps himself around me, surrounding me in warmth and comfort and safety, until I’m out cold.

7

As soon as the sun is up, I crawl out of bed, where Fitz is still snoring gently. I'm not really sure what to do. I know I can't keep him in this hotel room forever, but I'm not sure what our next move should be. And after what happened last night…

While he's still sleeping, I go next door to the truck stop. I buy up all the hot dogs they have, much to the chagrin of the person working the register, who is most likely responsible for restocking. For good measure, I also buy beef jerky and some turkey sticks they have, and several more cupcakes. He may not have been interested in the bread, but he seemed to be interested in the sweets.

On my way back, I stop at the hotel’s front desk and pay for another night. I figure we have to have an answer by tomorrow, especially since I don’t exactly have the money to keep paying for a hotel room. We can't stay still for very long. No matter what happens, they're going to come after us. And I don’t know who they are.

When I get back to the room, Fitz is up. I'm surprised to see him coming out of the bathroom. He's all wet, like he's just showered, which is surprising. I don't know anything about where he comes from or his people, but I guess I didn’t know forest monsters took showers. The thought of him squishing his hulking form into the shower is an amusing thought.