Theo curled his front paws around her and cradled her. She’d wanted to ride on his back but he’d refused to let her. He thought she’d fall off without a saddle. For tonight she’d let the argument slide. Despite his injured wing, he soared with powerful downbeats high above the ground.
The button down shirt she’d stolen from his closet hung off her frame, the arms rolled up all the way to her elbows. She hadn’t even tried to wear a pair of his jeans. With her hips, the damn things weren’t going to button even if she got them up over her ass.
He’d wrapped her in the comforter from the bed to keep her warm while they flew. It was the only piece of bedding that’d survived their lovemaking. Nestled in the soft, down-filled material, she relaxed as the landscape changed below. Soon the lights of the city faded into the background, and a thin strip of highway cut its way through the trees.
They landed in a cloud of sand at the edge of the ocean. The quiet rush of the water breaking on the beach crowded out any other noise. He snuffled at her hair until she laughed, and then released her. His enormous bulk blotted out the night sky, and she stroked his muzzle.
Scents of salt and seaweed crept up her nose. White caps danced on the waves, and the moon’s reflection lit a silver-white path across the moving landscape.
She sat up and let the comforter fall to her waist.“Isn’t it beautiful, Theo?”
He sneezed and folded his wings. The wind gusting from the ocean tore her hair back, much as the flight to the beach had. Her mate regarded her, his head canted to one side, and an immense wave of love flooded her senses through their bond.
The intensity of the emotions shocked her, knocked her breath from her, and she gasped. High pitched purring notes floated into the night air and joined with that of the ocean’s rhythmic roar. Compelled to join her own voice with his song, she sang notes to harmonize with him. The threads of their bond coiled over on each other, grew brighter as new threads joined the first. Different colors and thicknesses wove through each other to create a dazzling rope of magic.
Theo lifted his right paw off the sand and held it aloft. He slashed the tip of his ear, removing a small chunk, and held it out toward her. Waiting.
“Callianira, this is my token to you. When the Grotesques mate, they exchange a piece of their physical form. We incorporate these pieces of our mates into ourselves as an outward symbol of our bond. I will spend the rest of my existence proving that I am worthy of you and ensuring that every day you know, in my eyes, there is no brighter star in all the heavens. My love for you is without measurement.”
A strangled sob escaped her lips, and she launched herself into his chest. The stone of his mane caressed her face, hard, yet silken on her cheeks. When she stepped back, she took the chunk of rock from his paw, clenched her fist around it so tight it cut into her palm.
“Twelve hundred years ago, when I chose to join Poseidon’s harem, I took a stone from the bed of the stream I lived near.” The soft cord of her ankle bracelet cut into her fingers as she stretched it out tight. “I have kept it with me all this time, always somewhere on my body, even though I never knew why I wanted to. Can you cut this string?”
He crouched down until his belly touched the sand and used one claw to slice through the cord. The smooth oval of rock had been encased in a web of hemp cord. It popped through the space in the weave, out into her palm.
The quarter-sized piece of blue and gold stone gleamed in the moonlight. “Theo, can you change back to your other form?”
The winged lion disappeared and he stood naked before her. “Anything for you, love.”
“How do you incorporate your mate’s offering into your body? Your ear will heal, right?” The piece of his ear he’d given her turned hot and throbbing in her hand as she turned the small water smoothed rock over and over in the other.
“Grotesque magic allows us to absorb it into ourselves. Yes, my ear will heal.” He closed in on her; heat emanated from his flesh and warmed her. A gentle nudge on her lower back brought her closer to him.
“Can you crush it?” She opened her hand and caressed the triangular hunk with her thumb. A tug on the water striking the beach called a flow to her, and she formed it into a floating globe. White crystals drifted from the liquid to the sand as she forced the salt to separate from the water molecules. “I want to be able to follow your people’s customs.”
“Take this shirt off.”
The fabric of her shirt tightened across her shoulders and chest. Buttons popped off and pinged into the hard slabs of his pectorals. He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her until she thought she’d pass out.
The shirt slipped down her arms and puddled on the sand.
He closed his fingers around the stone he’d given her and when he opened them, only a powder fine residue remained. The granules flowed into her palm in a sparkling stream.
“Here.” She passed him the stone she’d kept for so long, a deep well of love overshadowing her doubt and fear. “Crush this one too.”
Dark strands of hair fell over his forehead and his eyes gleamed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” When he’d crumbled the rock, she formed a cup with her hands and waited for him to do the same. The globe of water cruised to them, and she directed it into two separate streams into their waiting palms to mix with the stone. “Now what?”
“Just wait a moment.”
The water and stone mixture sank into her skin, absorbed right through her pores. A cold, heavy weight traveled from her palms, up her arms, into her shoulders and torso. Red and gold lines twined around and through her flesh, glowing bright from within. Theo’s magic sparkled up from under her skin like seeing sunlight from underwater. When it wrapped around her heart, the muscle stuttered before beginning to beat again at a slower pace than before. The light brush of Theo’s mind on her own she’d grown accustomed to amplified.
She knew him.
The weight of his long years trapped by the aerie’s magic, the love and regard he had for his long dead parents, the bond he shared with his brother, how much he adored the look on her face when he’d observed her drawing. With little effort she could speak to him, mind to mind, share all the things she’d tried to express, the loneliness and empty places in her heart that he’d filled with his presence.
When the last drop of the mixture passed into her, a deep resonant gong sounded in her head, and the bond she shared with him exploded in a blinding shower of sparks. She stared at him, amazed to see aqua blue energy flowing and shimmering on his form.
“Oh Theo…how blessed I am to have you.” The stubble on his cheeks scratched at her palm, and she ran the pad of her thumb over his lower lip.
“You honor me.” He kissed her hand, and in a burst of motion, grabbed her under each arm and lifted her from the ground. Her legs twined around his waist automatically. The hard head of his cock nudged her pussy and she gyrated her hips over his length.
“What now, mate?” The silken strands of his too-long hair twined around her fingers and she gripped him tight.
“I’m going to fuck you senseless. Then I’m going to make love to you until you beg for mercy.” Arousal turned his eyes into twin dark flames, gray swirls and twinkling lights washing through the brown.
“I like the sound of that. But first, you’re gonna have to catch me.” Energy, hot and electric thrummed in her veins. She was more alive than she’d ever been, high on love, exhilaration, and a new magic she sensed cascading through her veins.
“I’ve already caught you.” His long fingers burrowed into her ass and he buried his face in the valley of her breasts. Blunt teeth bit into the mounds and sharp spikes of pleasure zinged to her pussy. “I can smell your arousal. You’re wet.”
“And you’re about to be.”
“What?” He glanced up at her, and a moment later she released the water she’d gathered to her from the ocean on his head. His mouth popped open and he dropped her on her ass.
The sand cushione
d her fall, and she gained her feet and ran down the beach as fast as she could. Her laughter rang out across the waves, and the pure joy of the sound called to the sea creatures nearby. Dolphins and whales broke the surface of the waves and crashed back into the watery depths to share in her happiness.
Faster and faster she ran, with a speed she’d never known she was capable of. The night sky stretched above her, sprinkled with stars, and she wished she could rise high enough to see them the way she’d been able to thousands of years before modern civilization overtook the globe.
A rippling sensation flowed over her, a tingling sheet of magic and light. Instinct took over, and with a great heave, she launched herself from the ground and into the air.
“Don’t stop flapping your wings, love. You’ll crash.” The low tones of Theo’s voice filtered to her through their link.
Flapping her wings? Callie started and plummeted twenty feet before being caught by her mate. The lion chuffed with laughter, and she examined her body.
Paws, not hands or feet. A long swishing tail. Blue skin?
By Hades’ balls!
“Theo. Am I…a lion?” He moved her around in his paws. Her perspective changed, and instead of seeing his mane and chin above her, she faced forward with the ocean below her and the night sky above, his paws wrapped around her tummy. They climbed to a higher altitude.
His surprise and amazed delight at her new ability enfolded her. “Yes love. A very pretty blue one, at that. My magic has given you wings. This is how we teach baby grotesques to fly. I’ll let you go and catch you if you falter. Are you ready to try again?”
Fear almost crippled her, but his assurance and confidence bolstered her. The bitter sadness she’d experienced in Poseidon’s castle over the Fates giving a water creature a mate who could fly now seemed a dim episode that belonged to someone else. Theo showed her what to do with her new wings through their bond, and she stretched the huge membranes out below him.
With a blast of love and confidence enveloping her, he let go. A fierce updraft caught her wings to carry her higher. She raced away from him, as high as she could go, daring him to try and catch her.
Suppressed laughter and delight traveled along their mental link. He captured her far sooner than she’d thought he would. One moment she raced high above the water, and the next he wheeled into her from below, trapped her wings down tight, and sent them plummeting into the sea.
When they broke the surface of the water, Theo swam around her in a circle, dog paddling.
Her grotesque could swim.
They headed for the shore, and when her feet touched the sandy bottom, she focused on being in the form natural to her, walking toward land until the water was only ankle deep. The change happened with little effort, the red and gold striations of Theo’s magic—now her magic as well—faded from her skin as she watched.
“Hey, Callie.” Theo stood a few feet away, a huge grin on his face. A glimmer of mischief flared in their bond, but he closed his side off before she caught what he planned.
It didn’t matter, because she knew seconds later when salt water splashed over her head and sent her heavy sheet of hair into her face. She sputtered and coughed.
“Oh, so now you think you’re up to a water fight with a nymph, is that it?” It took both hands to shove the locks out of her eyes and from around her neck. She called on her affinity with water and smirked as a huge wave gathered behind Theo.
Her mate, however, had more practice with mental communication, and foiled her plans. He bounded to her, caught her up in his arms, and sent them both careening into the sea.
She broke the surface first, and he yanked her under again, kissing her with all the love and need and pure bliss overtaking him. Neither needed to come up for air, but he tugged her up, showing her through the bond he was unnerved by his new ability to survive below the surface without falling into Dormancy. Eventually it wouldn’t bother him; especially after she showed him all the fun they could have in the ocean together.
The water lapped at their necks. His white teeth gleamed, exposed by a huge grin. “Our mate bond has brought wonders to me I never thought I’d experience. Thank you, Callianira.” He traced her eyebrow with one finger and slid his lips over hers, speaking with their mouths touching. “I knew we would incorporate parts of each other, even expected the telepathy, but this…”
“Theo. I can fly Theo.” The excitement and pure happiness of their joining overflowed her. “I am a flying. Fish.”
He laughed at her exclamation, and slid his hands down her back to cup her ass. “You have a lovely grotesque form.” The hard length of his erection poked her in the belly. “But this form will always be my favorite. The soft skin between your breasts, the curve of your waist, the gentle roundness of your belly,” he squeezed both cheeks, “this wonderful ass, the delicate, pink flesh of your pussy…”
“Well thank you, sir.” The gruff rumble of his voice and the words he spoke combined to send liquid heat pooling in her breasts and tummy. An ache coalesced in her center that she knew only one way to cure. She clapped both palms down on his shoulders and jumped off the bottom to snake her legs around his waist. “Since we’re mated, does that mean you won’t be such a grump?”
“Well, I think I’m already improving on that. I didn’t yell at you for dousing me in cold water then running away instead of having sex, did I?” The dark line of his eyebrow crept up his forehead toward his hairline.
The plump flesh of her lower lip protruded in a mock pout. “I was just having fun. Besides, you did get me back.” Her nipples hardened into tight buds and she inched her hips lower. “And I got to fly!”
“Ah-ah-ah. Flying or not, I’m thinking a punishment is now in order for your naughty behavior in the middle of our mating ceremony.” Thick fingers probed her entrance from behind and she squirmed as he slid one, then a second inside. “I’m thinking you’ll have to make do without my cock tonight.”
“Have you forgotten what I can do with water?” Bubbles rose in a rapid froth around them, sliding along their skin. She directed some of them directly to his testicles and cock, increased the pressure of the water until it became a grasping, sucking appendage. “You might have been able to splash me, but don’t mess with the master.”
“I have other ways of obtaining your compliance.” He plunged his fingers in and out of her channel, stretching and teasing as she tormented him. The nipple of her right breast disappeared into the wet cavern of his mouth, and his tongue moved over it in a series of flicks and circles. The pleasure stole her concentration, and she shuddered, the water frothing erratically.
“Oh gods, please give me your cock, Theo. I give. I surrender.”
A third finger made its way between her pussy lips and inside. She threw her head back and groaned. “Theo. Please.”
The deep growling purr rolled from his throat and in a lightning fast move he replaced his digits with every inch of his rigid dick. Water splashed into their eyes and on their cheeks as he used his strength to aid her in riding him. Tension coiled in her belly, and her muscles grasped at him. The friction on her clit took her to the edge of orgasm, but wasn’t enough. She used a thin sliver of concentration to swirl a small current around the place their bodies joined. The water circled his balls and traveled over her clit in a fast thrum.
His fingers dug in tighter, and he slammed her up and down his shaft. “Callie…fuck…come for me baby.”
A sob escaped her lips, and the coil finally broke, orgasm loosened her hold on his shoulders but he caught her around the back. Her pussy tightened around him as he spilled his cum into her, his cock jerking.
She licked and kissed his shoulder, too exhausted to move her head and reach his mouth. He carried her to the sand, still buried deep inside her, and went to his knees on the comforter.
His dick hardened again inside her. “Callie.”
“Hmm?” Fuzzy images danced in her head, and she wriggled her hips.
T
he soft fabric of the comforter brushed her back, and she realized he’d lowered her down. She opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. Water trickled from the wet strands of hair trailing over his shoulders to pave thin lines across the planes of his muscles. He rested on his knees, their bodies joined at the groin.
“I’m not done with you yet.” With his huge hands, he grabbed her waist. Possession and love filled his expression and she couldn’t look away. He withdrew until only the head of his shaft remained inside her, and then slammed home.
“Gotta do what you said out there in the water, huh?” She groaned when he lifted her thighs and pinned her legs flat to his torso.
“You bet your sweet ass.”
The slap of his thighs hitting hers rose into the night air. He circled her hood with his thumb and feathered the pad of his digit over her engorged nub.
She clawed at the blanket with both hands and thrashed her head from side to side. Tension wound on a spring inside her, but he kept her from the falling over the edge. He withdrew completely, hoisted her legs up higher, and lapped at her clit.
“Oh holy mother…” White lights crashed across her vision, and she spasmed against his mouth.
Before she recovered, he flipped her over onto her belly and surged into her from behind. His balls slapped her hood and she ground her face into the comforter.
The head of his cock rammed into the side of her channel. He rolled his hips and drew tortured gasps from her. The pleasure rolled over her, almost towed her under, and stole all knowledge from her but the slap of his body against hers.
His pace increased, and she clutched the blanket to thrust back against him. Cum spilled from him in hard jerks.
He pulled out and caught his breath before lying down beside her, gathering her to his chest, and stroking her hair.
“You keep that up and I’ll be pregnant.” She crew careless circles on his chest and kissed his pectoral.
“Good.”
Rock Hard And Wet (BBW Paranormal Romance) (Nymphs Of New York) Page 11
