My legs trembled, and I was so close to coming again that I nearly cried when he slowed.
“Dio!”
“You need a mark before you shatter on my cock.” He leaned forward and sank his teeth into my shoulder, the opposite one that had my tattoo.
I yelled, partially in pain, partially in pleasure. My body came apart, orgasm ripping through me.
Dio grunted his own release, shuddering into me. He licked the wound on my neck then eased us both down onto our sides, still bound together by his swollen cock.
We lay there for a bit, floating in our endorphin-induced haze and enjoying each other’s arms.
“See? A little different than real cats,” he murmured after a while. “They don’t get to enjoy being stuck together, either.”
“Too bad for them.”
“They don’t get this, either.”
When he slid out of me, my body shattered again from the rub of his barbs inside me.
“That’s a hell of a perk,” I managed to get out.
He kissed my cheek. “Having you is the best perk.”
Ember
I hadn’t felt this good in weeks. A great deal of worry had eased from my mind. We knew where Baz was, and he was relatively safe. Dio was mine, Nic and Geraint were mine, and we knew what was going on with the attempt to destroy the Dream realms. While we didn’t know how to stop it, we were quite a bit closer to that goal.
Dio and I walked hand in hand as we traveled deeper into Nightmare. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my increased connections with Dio and Nic, and my practice with my shadow powers, or something else, but I could tell the instant we crossed from the boundary lands into Nightmare. It felt like coming home.
Despite the danger of the realm, tension eased from my shoulders and the muscles around my neck loosened.
Dio took a deep breath. “It feels good to be home.”
“Yeah.” My thoughts turned toward Ash and Casey and my joy faltered.
“What’s wrong, dearest?” Dio stopped and looked at me. Geraint touched my shoulder.
“I’m worried about Ash and Casey.”
“If your jester friend is half as honorable as he seems, he will make sure Casey adjusts well to her new home. Ash, well, I suppose we’ll have to take care of her.”
“Dio, Ash is engaged. She’s supposed to get married in a couple of months. They were talking about having a baby.” I fought off tears.
Dio wrapped his arms around me. “It’s done, Ember, and I don’t know any way to fix it, but we’ll try.”
“Thanks.” I let him comfort me, let him make me think everything would be okay.
“How is she doing?” Dio squeezed me tight before letting go.
“Actually, she acts fine, but she’s good at hiding her feelings when she wants too, so I don’t actually know.”
“Let’s focus on the most immediate problems first. Then we’ll see what we can do for Ash. We’ve got to wake up Baz before we can do much else.” Dio kissed my forehead.
“You’re right. And right now I’m going to enjoy being back in Nightmare, as strange as it feels to say that.”
“Speaking of.” Dio grinned at me before dropping to his knees.
I watched in fascination as he melded into the winged panther. It wasn’t like a movie werewolf’s transformation, but more of a melting from Dio the man, to Dio the feline.