by A C Warneke
Rhys’s body remained stiff as his penis pulsed in ecstasy. Waves of pleasure crashed over her as her orgasm went on and on, as they fell from the sky. Wind rushed past her, cooling her overheated skin only slightly as Rhys maneuvered her body so her cheek was against his chest, hugging her to his stone body. He rolled over until the wind had to rush around him to reach her, heightening the sensation of crashing through the sky.
She was still lost in orgasm as his stone body crashed into the water and they were swallowed whole. Coldness engulfed her, the salty water enhancing the last vestiges of orgasm until she was sure she had died. The sun vanished as they sank deeper and deeper into the frigid, watery depths and her lungs began to burn. The urge to breathe was killing her.
Rhys’s stone mouth covered hers and oxygen was forced into her lungs as he began to swim upwards. Even with the ocean surrounding her she could taste herself on his lips and the breath he was giving her turned into a kiss. It kept her mind off of the fact that she was in the sea, her silk robe no barrier against the cold water. She didn’t want to think about what was in the water with them, from a large pod of whales to a prehistoric monster squid.
She wrapped her arms around his thick neck, gasping when he broke the surface and continued his flight towards the boat, which was only a mile or so away. Kissing a gargoyle was never something she had imagined doing yet kissing Rhys was all she could imagine doing for the rest of her life, no matter what his form.
Little aftershocks of pleasure still wracked her body even as the wind plastered the wet material against her skin, chilling her to the bone. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the carved monkey who had stolen her mind, her soul. He was so beautifully formed and he was hers. She wasn’t sure how she got to be so lucky to love and be loved by such an amazing man but she wasn’t going to invite trouble. She was going to enjoy every moment with him. To do otherwise would be foolish since she didn’t know how much time they would have together.
All of his talk about giving up his nights and her becoming a gargoyle was thrilling and terrifying. But what if he decided he didn’t want her when she was forty, that she was too old for him? It didn’t matter that he was nearly five hundred years older than her, not when he looked to be in his early twenties. Even if she wanted a lifetime there were so many other things she had to consider, her daughter, her family, Jeremy's family.
He had told her he would give her the world. Didn’t he know that he already had?
“Rhys,” she whispered as they lay beneath the velvet blackness of a nearly moonless night, the stars twinkling overhead in brilliant display. There were so many and she could almost reach out and touch them, bringing one back to earth to make a wish. Only she wasn’t sure whether she would wish for a lifetime with Rhys or the strength to live without him. She knew what she wanted – him – but she didn’t know how realistic it was to love a gargoyle while she was still human. And she couldn’t even think about accepting his gift until Ferris was old enough to no longer need a flesh and blood mother throughout the day.
As she lay beneath the blanket of night next to the man that had become so important to her in such a short amount of time, Jenna felt like a fraud. She had been living a dream the past week or so, pretending to be young and carefree and exciting and adventurous. But she wasn’t any of those things, not any longer. She was a mother, she had responsibilities and it wasn’t fair to Rhys to give him only a part of who she was. If she loved him, she owed it to him to share everything, even the parts that she kept hidden away.
She wasn’t like Melanie or Ferris. She couldn’t step into a world of magic and accept it with the greatest of ease. At first she thought she could but there hadn’t been any time to consider the ramifications of the veil being lifted from her eyes. It had been one thing when she first stepped onto the plane, when she had had no time to think, when there was an adventure ahead, when she would be seeing Rhys. But after a week of a constant barrage of meeting gargoyles and fairies and pixies and demons, of listening to Rhys talk about his family, about Medusa, it was starting to hit her: magic was real, mythological creatures were real.
As long as she didn’t talk about it, didn’t think about it, she was okay. But the moment a stray thought wandered into her head her heart began to race and she became light headed, slightly disoriented. Whenever Rhys tried to ask her about it she panicked, falling back onto the lust that simmered so close to the surface between them. She just wanted oblivion. She wanted to be tied to his bed because then she wouldn’t have to think, wouldn’t have to be responsible. She could just surrender and enjoy the experience, enjoy Rhys.
She was a coward pretending to be brave, only the mask was slipping and it was getting harder and harder to act like she was the same old Jenna that she had been before. She had been forced to grow up after Jeremy was taken from her and for so long she had resented it without even realizing it. But somewhere along the way she had grown up and she found that she actually liked some aspects of the new Jenna. Now she was having difficulty finding the balance. She didn’t want to give anything up and she knew she’d have to give up something when she finally chose which direction she wanted to go.
Out on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, Jenna could almost believe she and Rhys were the only two people left in the world, the universe. Keeping her eyes determinedly on the pinpoints of light overhead, she cleared her throat, “Why would you ever even consider giving up your nights for me?”
“You laugh at my jokes,” he deadpanned, making her smile in spite of the seriousness of her thoughts. His fingers curled around hers, the strength a comfort to her weary soul. How could she choose a life without him? How could she give up humanity to be with him?
“Well, that’s good because you make me laugh,” she teased, turning her head to the side and catching the depth of empathy in his dark eyes despite the dim light. In the darkness, his fingers lightly moved across her face, from her temple to the curve of her jaw. His thumb moved over her lower lip and the sense that he saw her, that he understood her so clearly, caused her blood to freeze and then boil. He knew her hopes, her fears… her weaknesses….
“I’m with you because there is no other place I’d rather be,” he said softly, his voice rough with emotion. “You’re part of my soul, Jenna, and there is no me without you.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked, her eyes welling with tears as she reached up and rested her hand against his cheek, the soft bristle of his day-old beard tickling her palm. “As wonderful as this adventure has been so far, as fantastic, you’ve never met the real me, Rhys.” Sweeping her arm to encompass the boat, the setting, the black night, she shook her head, “This isn’t who I am. I am not spontaneous, Rhys. I’m not adventurous in the bedroom, and yet with you, in this place, I get to pretend I am all of those things I could have been.”
“You are all of those things, Jenna,” he told her, turning his head and pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm. “You are a strong, courageous, beautiful woman and I adore you.”
“I’m the opposite of courageous,” she huffed out a laugh at the very idea. “I’m so afraid of getting hurt that I closed myself off for years. It’s a miracle that I’m even here with you.”
“It’s fate.” She felt him shift and then his large, warm hand was wrapped around her waist, gently rolling her over to face him in the darkness. Bringing her body flush against his, the hard muscles of his body unyielding, he held her tight and she took comfort in his strength. “You’re mine, Jenna, just as I am yours. Fate brought us to this point because we are meant to be together.”
She laughed without humor, the sound desolate and hollow, “It’s so easy for you to believe. You’re a gargoyle and you eat, live and breathe magic. You haven’t had to hold the hand of your fiancé long after he has taken his last breath.”
“No, I haven’t,” he whispered solemnly. “But I have lived for hundreds of years while humans come into my life and are gone in the blink of an
eye. I have loved some of them and yet you’re the only one I have wanted to spend eternity with. I’ve waited almost five hundred years for you, Jenna, and if you decide becoming a gargoyle to be with me is not something you want I will still love you and hold you in my arms until the day you are taken from me.”
“And then you will mourn for me and move on,” she said softly, staring out into space.
“I would have no choice. I’m a Guardian and it’s my duty to endure, just as Armand has and just as Vaughn will,” he said softly, his eyes glittering in the darkness. “Do you think Jeremy would want you to mourn him forever?”
“No,” she said softly, knowing that Jeremy wouldn’t even recognize the woman she had become after his death.
“It may sound cruel, and it kills me to think of you not being a part of my life, but life goes on,” he whispered gravely. He laughed without humor, his fingers entwining with hers. “I am selfish enough to be grateful that he is no longer here because had he lived then I would never have discovered my heart and soul and not knowing you would be a tragedy.”
“But you wouldn’t know what you were missing.”
“I’d know,” he said softly, a hint of amusement in the serious words. “Deep down, I would know that something was missing.
“I pray that you find a way to be with me but if you don’t then I will have to learn to live again, just as you have learned to live again,” he rasped, sliding his hand up her arm and around her neck. “I will celebrate the life you had lived, loving you for eternity. But life is for the living, Jenna, and I want you to come wholly back to life.”
A tear slid down her cheek at his brutal honesty. He was supposed to be light-hearted and amusing and he was slaying her with the truth. And she loved him all the more for it because it was the truth: life was for the living. She had buried herself with Jeremy when she should have been celebrating his life, the child he gave her.
His fingers curled into her hair as he cradled the back of her head, placing gentle kisses along her brow, her cheeks, her lips, “I want to be a part of your life, Jenna, in whatever role you’ll have me. I want to share my life with the you; I want to help you raise your daughter.
“I want to give you the world,” he breathed, kissing her softly. “Even if it’s only for seventy-five years but I will always hope for an eternity. If Jeremy loved you as much as I love you he would want you to be happy and I will spend the rest of our time together making sure there are no more regrets. No matter what.”
She choked on a sob as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him to her and burying her face against the curve of his neck. His broad palm slowly caressed her back as he murmured comforting words against her ear, silently giving her the permission she craved to finally let go. Silently, he let her know that he would be there to catch her as she fell, that he would be her stalwart haven in whatever storm came their way, no matter which path she chose.
Clinging to him, feeling the tears burn away the years of bitterness and loneliness, she vowed to return the promise and in the end she let herself fall in love. Life was too short to be buried alive and Rhys was too vital to not love completely.
“I love you,” she rasped, her throat tight with fear and love.
“Ah, Jenna,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head. “I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”
“Rhys,” she breathed, pressing her lips against the strong column of his throat, breathing in the scent of his clean, fresh skin. Running her hands along his sides, tracing the ridges of muscles that bracketed his ribs, she felt the shattering emotional shift, racing from the depths of grief to a torrent of lust. Sliding a leg over the thrust of his hip, she pulled her groin closer to his, “No matter what happens, Rhys, I love you.”
With a few deft maneuvers of his hands, they were naked from the waist down and then he was in her, sealing their bond until eternity.
Chapter 16
Jenna looked out over the barren and desolate island fifty feet in front of her, at the scattered remnants of a once enormous temple and the scraggly trees, and her heart ached for the pain Rhys had to be experiencing, seeing his mother’s island in ruin. The setting sun burned the air around her making it difficult to breathe and she couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be when the sun was directly overhead. Despite being surrounded by water the island was a desert in the middle of the sea. There was no dock, only jagged rocks that looked like they ate boats that got too close. She could imagine a siren sitting in the middle of the island luring weary sailors to their death with her seductive song.
Turning her head, she saw Rhys staring at the island but it was impossible to determine what he was thinking when he was in his gargoyle form. He had a satchel slung across his chest that held a change of clothes since there was nothing that fit his statue form. It wouldn’t be a good idea to show up on his mother’s doorstep without a stitch of clothing on, though Jenna had to admit that she wouldn’t mind a naked Rhys. After having explored every inch of his defined and toned body, she was eager to do it all again and again and again, as many times as it took until she knew every inch of him by heart.
But he was here to visit his mother so she shouldn’t be picturing him naked, especially when she wasn’t sure how he felt upon seeing the bleakness of the island. Sliding her hand into his, she smiled encouragingly up at him when he looked down at her, “It’s quite… interesting.”
His face crinkled up with a smile, and he asked in his gravelly voice, “It does look inhospitable, doesn’t it?”
Her lips parted in surprise – it was meant to look so hostile? She supposed it made sense, considering what she knew about magic and enchantments, but why couldn’t she see the reality beneath the veil, like she could see Rhys or the castle?
Before she could contemplate further, large stone arms scooped her up against a hard stone body and the two of them were flung into the air, Rhys’s wings fully extended. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around his thick neck, holding on even though she knew that he would never let her go. “Had we arrived any later we would have had to sail around to the other side where there is a hidden dock.”
“I imagine it’s very well hidden?” she asked, enjoying the breeze against her heated skin.
“Not so well hidden that sailors haven’t found their way to this island,” he grinned. “But the few that managed to dock there had many more difficulties reaching mother’s home. This way is much more direct.”
“Well, since only her sons seem to have the ability to fly from an anchored boat that would make sense,” she teased, her fingers gently caressing the base of Rhys’s jagged skull. Despite being a hulking stone monkey he was still Rhys and when she looked at him Rhys was all she saw and she adored both of his forms. Not only was he unutterably gorgeous, he was a natural optimist and his zest for life was contagious. He pushed her beyond her comfort zone, holding her hand until she could stand on her own, helping her grow at an exhilarating pace. She seriously enjoyed the things he did to her both as a gargoyle and as a man.
She had to squeeze her thighs together when she remembered some of those things….
“She must get lonely out here all by herself,” Jenna mused, looking at the island as they got closer and closer.
“Mother is rarely alone,” Rhys said softly, the words thick with hidden meaning. “She has… companions. She also has a room that allows her to observe anything she wants to of the world, from her children to the latest fashions in Paris to revolutions in the remotest places on earth. She can see whatever she wants and interact to a certain extent but she is bound to the island and she cannot leave.”
“I’m assuming it’s magic?” she asked, her heart going out to Rhys’s mother.
“Something like that,” he murmured, a hint of sorrow in his voice.
“Why don’t you or your brothers visit more often?”
He shook his head, “I wish that we could but the timing has to be right so we don’t interrupt her whil
e she has a guest. Omari has assured me that she is between companions.”
“So she’s not lonely?”
“She’s lonely,” he said softly, flying over the deadly looking rocks. Jenna tightened her hold on him and he chuckled, “Do you think I’d let you fall?”
“Of course not,” she scoffed. “I just like holding you close.”
He laughed and Jenna thought that he had such a wonderful laugh, so full of joy. She also thought that she was turning into some sappy, love-drunk fool but she didn’t care. There would be plenty of time to be cynical when she returned to the real world. Her lips quirked up into a wry smile at the thought because she didn’t think she had the heart to be cynical any longer. Of course there was still room for being a realist, the slightly less cynical cynic, but she no longer had the temperament to be a pessimist. Unfortunately, she never had the personality to be an outright optimist, either.
When they landed, Rhys gently set her on her feet but stopped her from taking any steps. Spinning her around, he slid the satchel off his body and then wrapped his heavy arms around her waist. She had to tilt her head way back to look up at him and when she did he motioned towards the setting sun, “There is something you really need to experience after the sun sets, which will only be a few more minutes.”
Resting her hands on the massive muscles of his arms, she was once again amazed by the sheer size of him, of his body. She tried imagining the maneuvering it would take to impale herself on his giant stone cock but it was impossible. No human in her right mind would ever attempt such a thing. Plus, it would be a waste of the luscious fluid that oozed from the tip.
The mere thought of the liquid bliss was enough to make her wet and she had to lock her knees to keep from dipping her head and devouring him where he stood. A finger beneath her chin lifted her head and she found herself staring into a face that was regaining its color, “It’s almost time.”
