by Haven, Rose
“Run now, Skye,” he said. “Daiki and I will give you time.”
He shoved me towards the door before I could protest. A sharp cry of pain cut through the air. Ichiru and I both turned to see Daiki fall from the ceiling, landing hard on his back. One of the hunters had finally hit him. Ichiru threw his head back and let out an inhuman screech so high and loud that I had to cover my ears. Without another word he turned and flew at the hunters like a rocket, seizing the closest one and flying up to the ceiling, and then dropping him to the floor with a sickening thud.
The second hunter fired at Ichiru as he circled around. The third, the one with the knife in his hand, stalked towards Daiki.
I was running before I even realized what I was doing, sprinting towards the third hunter and tackling him from behind. All those years of watching football with my friend Annabeth Casey had finally paid off. We fell together in a heap and I rolled away before he could grab me. Daiki was clutching his arm and shouting for me to run. Regaining my footing, I stood between Daiki, laying prone and helpless on the ground, and the hunter who wanted to kill him.
“Come on, sweetheart,” the hunter said, standing tall and brandishing his knife. “All we want is the shifters.”
Over his shoulder, I could see Ichiru picking up the second hunter and dragging him, screaming, up to the ceiling.
“You want him?” I asked the hunter, tossing my hair out of my eyes and staring him down. “Come and get him.”
The hunter lunged forward and I felt the electricity again. I felt my arm come up to block his attack while my other hand jabbed forward, hitting him hard beneath the solar plexus. He winced and came at me again, but my fingers curled into fists and thrust into his neck. I tried to stop myself, tried to pull away, but I couldn’t. My hands were moving without my consent.
I turned to stare at Daiki. His eyes were glowing gold and burning into mine.
The link, I thought. Before I could react, I heard a scream behind me and turned in time to see Ichiru seize the last hunter. His dark wings, not quite as luscious and strong as his grandson’s, beat wildly as he dragged the hunter high into the air. When he’d almost reached the ceiling, Ichiru let him go. I turned away before I could see the hunter land, but the hard squelch of his body hitting the concrete floor made me cover my mouth and heave.
“Skye,” Daiki said, still clutching his arm in pain as he pushed himself to his feet. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
I laughed, almost hysterically. “I’m fine,” I said. “You’re the one who got shot.”
Ichiru landed next to me and said something in rapid Japanese. He took Daiki’s injured arm and rubbed it, muttering. I watched in awe as Daiki’s bullet wound slowly faded away.
“What?” I said, staring at the patch of flesh where the bullet wound should have been. There was nothing there. “How –”
Ichiru nodded towards me and said something else. Daiki answered, then he took my hand and led me towards the doors, which were still smoldering from the dragons’ attack.
“Oji-san will take care of this,” Daiki said. “I have to get you home.”
“He healed you!” I said.
Daiki shrugged, glancing back at his grandfather. “Some shifters can do that,”
“Can you?”
He shook his head as, behind us, Ichiru began burning the bodies of the hunters who’d taken me.
Chapter Five
Daiki drove me to my apartment in the hunters’ van. He left me there with strict instructions to take it easy, and promised to return when he and his grandfather were done ‘taking care of things’. I wondered how many times him and his grandfather had needed to take care of the bodies of hunters who’d tried to kill them.
I should have been upset. I should have been horrified that Ichiru had killed those men, and was probably disposing of the evidence while I sat in my kitchen with a glass of water in my trembling fingers. I just felt relief. In a way, I was glad. Those hunters had killed Terry, and although they’d claimed that they didn’t plan to hurt me I’d known on some level that I wouldn’t make it out of that warehouse alive. Daiki and Ichiru had done the world a favor. Now, they couldn’t hurt anyone else.
That didn’t stop me from grimacing every time I thought of the sound their bodies had made when they’d hit the ground. Or feeling a sudden shiver run down my spine at how easy it had been for Daiki to take control of my body. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that one bit.
The sun hadn’t even set yet. There was a low, golden hue to the sky outside my window, and I realized I hadn’t eaten all day. No wonder I was so shaky and tired. I could just imagine what Mama would say if she knew I’d neglected to feed myself: “Now you listen here, Skye Louis, no man wants a girl who’s all skin and bones. It’s bad for childrearin’. Now you pull your head outta those sketchbooks and put something in your belly like a good girl.”
I quickly made myself a sandwich and chewed on it without tasting it. I thought about calling Mama and Daddy, just to hear their voices, but I didn’t know if I had the strength to hide my problems from them. Everything that had happened that day came rushing at me like a tidal wave. The police coming to my door, Terry dying, getting kidnapped by hunters, watching them get slaughtered by an elderly dragon, seeing Daiki hurt. I couldn’t believe it had only been one day. It felt like a lifetime.
Someone knocked on my door. I sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that it wasn’t more police. I pushed myself off of the kitchen counter and trudged reluctantly to the door.
“Who is it?” I called.
“It’s me.”
Daiki. I opened the door and ushered him inside. “How did it go?” I asked.
“Alright,” he said. He smelt a little of smoke and ash. There was no trace of the bullet wound on his arm. “There’s nothing left of that warehouse, though.”
I led him into the kitchen and offered him a glass of water. “How’s Ichiru?” I asked.
Daiki sipped slowly and frowned. “Alright,” he said. “I think. It’s not the first time he’s… well,” He paused and looked at me carefully. “Sometimes it’s kill or be killed, you know? Those three weren’t the first. I think it does affect him on some level. I just can’t say for sure,”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
He shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. He tore his eyes away from me and stared into his glass. “You must think we’re monsters,”
“You never hurt anybody who didn’t try to hurt you first,” I said.
He still wouldn’t look at me. I set my glass down, took his glass away, and held his hands in both of mine. The sharp spark of electricity filled me with a familiar warmth as I tilted my head to catch his eye. I smiled when he finally looked at me, but he didn’t return it.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For leading them to Terry,” he replied softly. “Leading them to you. I never – ever – thought hunters would target humans. I should never have gotten so careless… I’ve never seen Oji-san so angry,”
I pressed my forehead against his and he didn’t pull away. “It’ll be alright.”
“He wants to leave,” Daiki said. “I told him about what I’ve been doing at night and how you figured out what we are. About the link. He was furious.”
“He said the link was useful,” I said.
“It is,” Daiki replied. “That’s the one thing Oji-san isn’t blowing his top over. No shifter would ever regret a link. But still, he wants us to run away before more hunters come.”
I kept my voice neutral as I replied: “And what do you want?”
“You,” Daiki said. I’d never realized how much pleasure a single word could bring. “I just want you. I know we haven’t known each other long, but –”
“I feel it too,” I told him. “It’s the link, isn’t it?” He nodded and I paused. I didn’t want to ruin the mood, but I had to bring ask: “Before, at the warehouse – you were contr
olling me, weren’t you?” He nodded again and I took a deep breath. “I’m not okay with that.”
“I’m not okay with it either,” Daiki said quickly, pulling away so that I could see the sincerity in his eyes. “It felt so wrong. I didn’t even – it was the lesser of two evils, and I swear if I could have thought of a different way –”
“I believe you,” I said.
He still looked unsure. “Are we okay?” he asked. “After this morning?”
I squeezed his hands and held his gaze. “Yes,” I said. “We’re okay.”
“Because you could still be in danger –”
“I’ll manage.”
“And Oji-san really does want to leave –”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“And you have every right to be upset about Terry, and the link, and what I did –”
“Daiki,” I said, squeezing his hands again. “We’re okay.”
His eyes flickered between mine, as if he were trying to catch a lie, then he let out a sigh of relief. “Good,” he said. “That’s good,”
“So the link only works when we’re in danger?” I asked.
Daiki frowned. “I’m not sure. Oji-san used to tell me stories about shifters who had empathetic links with humans, but it’s really rare and personal – most don’t talk about it, so the stories don’t get passed on.”
“So we’re special, then?” I asked.
His lips quirked at the corners and a light shone from his eyes. “I think we are,” he said.
I seized the front of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. Daiki gasped and grabbed at my waist, grinding our hips together and licking and sucking at my lips until I could only whimper desperately. He pulled away, and it gave me the chance to brush my lips against his neck and bite down hard enough to drag a cry from his throat.
“Bedroom,” I muttered.
He didn’t answer, but he picked me up and carried me there. I kept kissing and nibbling at his neck as I felt the blazing heat from his body melt into me.
Chapter Six
Daiki paused at the bed. He kicked off his shoes before tossing me onto it. I laughed as I bounced on the mattress. Daiki grinned at me and unzipped his jeans without ceremony, sliding them down along with his boxers. He let his erection spring free. I knelt up on the bed and took the hem of his shirt, tugging at it until he pulled it up over his head. When he was completely naked, I pulled back and admired him at my leisure.
“Do I pass?” he asked, chuckling when I nodded emphatically and reached down for the hem of my own shirt. He stopped me, moved forward so that he was kneeling on the edge of the mattress and asked: “Can I undress you?”
It was a simple request, but I would have given him anything he’d asked for at that point. He pulled the shirt over my head, throwing it into a messy heap with his own clothes. He reached around and made short work of my bra. My breasts fell free and he paused for a moment to admire them.
“Do I pass?” I asked, pushing some bravado into my voice to hide how vulnerable I was, kneeling there half-naked in front of a work of art.
“You broke the curve,” he replied.
I leaned down so that my backside was in the air and my lips brushed against the head of his penis. I’d never enjoying oral sex before, but with Daiki I found the idea more thrilling than anything. I glanced up to see him licking his lips, watching me with anticipation. I rubbed the head with my thumb.
The gesture earned me a sharp gasp. I leaned forward, keeping my eyes locked on his, and swirled my tongue around the head. I lapped at the slit before running my tongue down to the base. Then back up again. Then back to the base. Daiki reached around and buried his hand in my hair. Not to hold me down or guide my actions, it seemed. He just held me gently, as if to remind me that he was there. I decided that I would keep my hair long after all, if it meant he would keep doing this. He didn’t even pull when I finally took his whole member into my mouth.
The noise he made sent heat directly to my groin. The link sparked between us as Daiki gasped out: “Skye.” The desperation in his voice only made me more eager. I wrapped a hand around the base of Daiki’s penis, using it to reach the parts I couldn’t get with my mouth, and sucked harder as I felt Daiki’s leg muscles contract.
Then Daiki’s hand tugged at my hair and he pulled me away. I looked up to see his eyes blazing gold. He reached down my back, under my rear, to the backs of my knees. He pulled sharply and I landed hard on my back with my legs spread. He nestled himself between them.
“May I?” he asked, his hot breath sending a shiver up my spine. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I nodded all the same.
He crawled down my body, kissing each of my breasts and working quickly to unzip my jeans and slowly slide them down my legs. My underwear was white cotton – if I’d known what was going to happen tonight, I’d have worn something sexier. It didn’t seem to matter either way. It would all end up on the floor. Daiki pulled my underwear down my legs and flung it away. Then he got to work.
I wasn’t afraid to direct him. I’d always believed that the best way to make sure men did the job properly was to give constant feedback. Luckily for me, Daiki was a good student. My fingers tangled in his hair as I whispered ‘to the left’ and ‘harder’ and ‘don’t stop’. Once he found his rhythm, he could carry on without my guidance. It wasn’t long before I rested on the edge of climax. Daiki’s wings had expanded out of his back, filling the air above us and cocooning us in a sense. Then Daiki curved his tongue and I toppled over the edge.
My legs shook. My stomach muscles contracted as my back arched. I must have pulled his hair but he didn’t seem to mind. He held me down at the hips and kept working until my body was jerking and my whimpers bordered on painful. Then he kissed his way back up my body.
He captured my lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss. My head spun. I reached up and ran my hand over one of Daiki’s wings, feeling a tremor run through it at my touch. Daiki didn’t break the kiss, but a wing tip travelled down and brushed across my breast, sending little jolts of electricity through me. I whimpered again and cupped Daiki’s neck, coaxing him down until our bodies were pressed together.
I felt the warm leather sweep around me as Daiki’s wings gathered me up. They curved around under my back, over my thighs, until we were both wrapped up within them. I felt safe, and warm, and unbelievably turned on.
“Wow,” Daiki said, in a rough, husky voice. He pulled back to press his forehead to mine and gasping for a moment. “This is…”
“I know,”
He ran a hand over my hair and down my throat. “I have a condom,” he said. “May I?”
“You’d better.”
He chuckled at that. I thought he would pull away, but he just leant back a little to gaze over his shoulder at the pile of clothes he’d left on the floor. One of his wings reached back. I felt bereft at the loss of its heat, but I watched breathless as the tip of it dug around in Daiki’s discarded jeans. Eventually, Daiki grunted in triumph and the wing returned with a silver packet, dropping it into his outstretched hand.
“Oh, I’m keeping you,” I said.
He laughed again. He pulled open the condom packet with shaking hands and, still keeping as close to me as possible, pulled back to slide it on. The wing came around to wrap me back up again. I felt both wings trailing up my spine, rubbing across my shoulders and down to my thighs.
I felt Daiki’s penis brush against my entrance and I thrust into him, desperately seeking friction. Daiki’s eyes flashed gold again as he lined himself up and pushed in one quick movement. He buried himself inside of me and let out a long groan.
It hurt a little bit. It had been a while since I’d done this. Daiki noticed my wince and went to pull out immediately, but I wrapped my legs around his hips and held him down.
“Just give me a minute.”
Daiki lay frozen above me with his elbows on either side of my head to support his weight. When I gave him the all clear,
he hesitated. Then he started thrusting and, oh good lord, it felt incredible. I twisted my hands into the sheets thrust back, letting out a low groan every time his pelvic bone brushed my clitoris. Everything was Daiki – his scent filled my head, his breath mingled with mine, and I felt every muscle in him tense and relax as he fell into a deep, steady rhythm.
There was an odd moment when the world seemed to catch in between heartbeats. Then pleasure flooded my senses and I gasped and keened, bucking beneath Daiki and almost throwing him off in my haste to chase whatever it was that was making me feel so good. Daiki’s eyes were glowing so brightly that I thought I would burn up just by looking at them. But I kept the eye contact. I couldn’t blink. I needed to keep seeing him.
Daiki surged forwards, driving himself into my body, faster and harder than before. He clutched my hips as his wings flattened around us, pulling us closer together until I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began. Electricity rippled through me, setting every nerve on fire. Daiki was chanting something in between breaths. It took me a moment to realize it was my name. I wanted to say his name too, but I was far beyond words at that point.
Daiki tensed all around me. Then his thrusting slowed. He kept going, his eyes never leaving mine as he rode out his climax, until finally he stuttered to a halt. He slumped down on top of me, his wings jerking before settling around us in a warm embrace.
There was a moment where we could do nothing but clutch at each other and try to get our breath back.
“Wow,” I said.
“I agree,” Daiki replied. He pulled his wings out from under me and let them collapse back into his shoulder blades. He rolled off of me and I felt the loss, so I rolled with him and curled up with my head on his chest. Daiki wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, and let out a contented sigh. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Whatever happens, I’ll figure something out.”
