Fury’s Choice

by Brey Willows

  Tis seemed to consider the question seriously. “For a human? It doesn’t end well, but it’s an amazing orgasm.”

  “An orgasm worth dying for?”

  Tis gave her a wicked smile that went straight through her. “It depends on how much you like orgasms. And breathing.”

  “Damn. Here I was, hoping for a long life. But if given the option…”

  Tis raised an eyebrow. “Is there a goddess you’re considering? Because sex with Petra would no longer have those consequences, although if I remember correctly, she had a penchant for decorating her basement with her lovers’ heads for a while.”

  Thank fuck she turned me down. The thought of her head mounted on a board next to several others was disconcerting. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of one with wings.”

  “Ah. There aren’t too many of those around. But I could put in a good word for you, if you’d like.” She leaned forward and gave Kera a perfect view of her full cleavage. “But if you’d be willing to downgrade slightly, sex with a fury wouldn’t have the same consequences either, although I’ve been told the orgasms are rather spectacular. We’re not goddesses. We don’t hear prayers. But we do have sex.”

  “Supreme orgasms without death? Now you’re talking.”

  Tis laughed, her body language relaxed and the worry in her eyes gone. Kera found herself wanting to take all her stress away, just to see her looking so relaxed and beautiful.

  “Tell me more about yourself, Kera. The real you, not the playgirl magazine version. Then I’ll decide if you’re worth the incredible orgasms.” She grinned to show she was teasing, though the hint of desire in her eyes suggested there was some truth to the jest.

  “Okay…let’s see. I was born in Haiti. My mom was a biomolecular scientist and won a Nobel Prize for her research on transmittable diseases. My father is Mexican, and he runs a restaurant in Haiti, a fusion kind of thing. He’s an amazing chef, and I learned my love of cooking from him. Sadly, I don’t have a lot of time to do it, so I usually have staff on hand to take care of that part of my life.”

  “You said your mother passed away?”

  The memory made Kera ache inside. “Cancer. For all her prayers, for all that she was a lifelong devotee, no one ever answered. I’m going to her year and a day ceremony in a few weeks.”

  Tis nodded, looking thoughtful. “I’m sorry for your loss, truly. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be. Tell me more?”

  “Well, I don’t have any kids, which I know you must find surprising.” She grinned and motioned for another drink. She pointed at Tis’s glass, which was finally empty, and ordered one for her when she assented. “I don’t have any pets anymore. I had a dog I loved more than life, one I saved from a desert, and when he passed, I decided I’d never get another. He was my one and only.”

  “That’s beautiful. So very human, and such a lovely sentiment.”

  Puzzled, Kera asked, “What makes it so human?”

  “When you’re immortal, you never say never, and you don’t believe in ‘the only one.’ If you had another hundred years, or thousand, you might give yourself the chance to have that kind of love again. Life for an immortal being would be very lonely if they lived the way mortals do, restricting themselves to a memory of something, rather than allowing a different form of it into their lives.”

  Kera shook her head. “I suppose I wouldn’t want to be immortal, then. I like the idea of a love so amazing, so perfect, that nothing else will ever come close.” She stood up and held the hem of her T-shirt. “Wanna see something?”

  Tis raised an eyebrow and looked her over. “Skipping to death orgasms, are we?”

  Kera slowly lifted her shirt, enjoying the look of appreciation in Tis’s expression. She didn’t often show off the six-pack she worked her ass off for. But right now, she focused on showing Tis the tattoo along her ribs. Tis leaned forward to study it and gently traced the outline of a paw print with her fingertip, making Kera shiver.

  “The word dog in Thai.”

  Kera nodded and sat back down. “I’ve never loved a person as much as I loved that dog. He really was my one and only.”

  Tis took a sip of her fresh drink. “I think it’s lovely you’ve had that. I know immortals who haven’t found anyone to love that much in their entire existences.”

  She looked so sad, so terribly lonely when she said it that Kera wanted to take her in her arms and show her… Show her what? How to have sex without strings attached? She probably has that one figured out by now. There was an awkward silence neither of them seemed to know how to fill.

  Tis set her napkin on the table. “I think it’s probably time for me to go. Thank you for a lovely dinner and for your company.”

  Kera sighed. “I’m sorry, that got kind of heavy. We don’t seem to do small talk very well, do we?”

  Tentatively, Tis took Kera’s hand in her own. “Then maybe we should stop talking.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kera led Tis down a stony side path to a beautiful, enclosed gazebo. Tis liked the massive windows and noticed the dark coating on them, allowing the person inside to have total privacy without blocking out the view of the ocean beyond it.

  Once inside, Kera stood close enough that she could smell the earthy cologne she wore. She could also smell her desire, her need.

  “Be you,” Kera whispered, her lips a breath from Tis’s. “I want you as you are, not as you appear to others.”

  “Are you sure?” Tis searched her expression for any doubts, but the only thing she saw was lust. Kera’s lips touched hers, painfully tenderly, making her want more. She let all the magic fall away and opened her wings, which brushed the walls on either side of them, and blocked out the light behind her. She let her fangs extend and her eyes change, and it felt so good to be in her own skin again.

  Kera stepped back, her hands still on Tis’s hips, to get a good look at her. “I don’t think there’s anything, or anyone, more beautiful than you, in heaven or on earth.” She moved closer again, and this time, the kiss was far from gentle. She crushed their bodies together and pushed Tis back onto the bed. Tis held her tight, their kisses the kind she’d often dreamt of but never managed to find. She heard material rip as Kera pulled at the front of her dress, exposing her as she hungrily sucked at one of Tis’s nipples, pulling on it with her teeth, making Tis arch off the bed with pleasure. Kera’s body felt solid, muscled and toned, but with the exquisite softness she loved about being with a woman. Her small, tight breasts pressed against her stomach as she continued to suck and bite Tis’s nipples, and Tis ran her nails over Kera’s back, beneath the thin tank top she wore. When Kera moaned, her own need flared like a match in the dark.

  “Please. Kera, please fuck me. Now.”

  Kera’s hand slid between Tis’s legs and cupped her, the heel of her hand pressed firmly against her clit as a finger slid inside her. Tis closed her eyes and gave herself over to Kera’s insistent touch. “More, please.”

  Kera added a second finger, then a third, until Tis felt full of her, opened and taken. She plunged in and out, fucking her deeply, intensely. She looked at Kera, wanting to say something, wanting to express how good it felt, but looking into Kera’s eyes, suddenly there were no words. She wrapped her wings around her, glad to see the look of surprised pleasure on her face, before she closed her eyes and simply felt Kera inside her. As she crested her orgasm and came crashing down the other side, she pulled Kera tightly to her, wanting, needing, to feel her close.

  They lay silent, arms wrapped around one another.

  “Babe?” Kera’s voice was muffled.

  “Hmm?”

  “I can’t breathe.”

  Tis opened her wings and started laughing when Kera took big gulps of air, a light sheen of sweat on her face.

  “It’s like being cuddled by a down comforter.” Kera wiped the sweat from her face, grinning. “Let me get some water.”

  She moved to the small fridge on the side, and Tis
instantly missed the feel of her body. That’s new. She’d had plenty of lovers over the centuries, some for long periods of time, but she never liked cuddling after sex. She’d always preferred some physical space after. Now, all she wanted was Kera’s arms around her again. Maybe she’d just been alone for too long.

  Tis folded her wings behind so Kera could slide into bed beside her. She curled up against her side, resting her head on Kera’s shoulder. Kera continued to shift, and she looked up at her curiously.

  “I can’t figure out where to put my arm. Is it okay on your wings? Will it be too heavy?”

  Tis snuggled down again. “You’d be surprised how tough they are. Put your arm wherever it’s comfortable.”

  She liked the weight of Kera’s arm on the tops of her wings, her fingertips light against the top of her arm. While the feeling of not being alone was wonderful, what made it more so was her acute attraction and interest in Kera herself. “Tell me about this place. I don’t remember it from the last time I was here.”

  “I had it built a few years ago. I love the main house, and I wouldn’t change anything about it. But just before I moved here, I’d been used to…smaller spaces.”

  Tis could hear the pain and anger below the surface of her words and wondered just what those smaller spaces were. The part of Kera that smelled of pain and the need for vengeance flared, making Tis’s breath catch slightly. She ignored it and listened.

  “There were days when I first started living here, the main house was just too big, and I felt lost in it. It made me feel, I don’t know, like I was having a panic attack. I needed something smaller, something cozier. So I had this built as an escape. When I felt calm again, I’d go back to the main house. I guess it was my way of acclimating to life again.”

  The large gazebo contained the double bed they were in, a small fridge, a single dresser, and a place to hang a few coats. It was homey, and because of the large windows, not at all claustrophobic. “I lived in places this size a lot when I was young. Not as warm, and usually not as comfortable.”

  “Such as?”

  Tis debated opening up this line of conversation. She was normally utterly private and rarely talked about old times with anyone but her sisters or Zed, and sometimes Aulis. But given where they were, and how safe she felt, it might be time. “Caves, mostly. We had some truly exceptional mountain caves in Greece, where my sisters and I grew up. In the wet months, we’d use the caves, and in the warm months, we’d live in the trees. Greece was covered in forests at the time, with rivers and lakes everywhere. You can’t imagine how the topography has changed over five thousand years.”

  Kera was so quiet Tis wondered if she’d fallen asleep.

  “Do you miss it?”

  How do I answer that? She couldn’t even be completely honest with herself yet. “Sometimes. It was a simpler way of life. Clearer.” She shivered as Kera traced the edges of her feathers. “But there are still a lot of natural places to get away to, all over the world. And my house is surrounded by trees and overlooks the ocean. There’s even a cave in the hill below my place, and if I’m really out of sorts, I go there.” She smiled and traced the lines of muscle in Kera’s stomach. “A bit like your place here, really.”

  Tis moved so she could straddle Kera’s stomach. Her black tank hugged her taut body perfectly, and she wanted more of it. She slid her hands under Kera’s top and dragged her nails lightly over her breasts, making her nipples pucker. She made a low sound of appreciation before placing her hands over Tis’s.

  “I don’t usually receive.”

  “Do you usually have sex with women like me?”

  “There are no women like you.”

  Tis leaned down and gave her a long, lingering kiss. “Then usually doesn’t apply.” She pressed her fangs into the top of Kera’s tank and pulled, tearing the top to pieces and exposing Kera’s beautiful body. Tis moved off the bed and quickly tugged off her jeans and boy-shorts. She stared at her magnificent body for a moment before caressing her sides with her wings, even as she sucked and bit her way along the insides of Kera’s legs. When she reached her pussy, she inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of her desire. Kera looked down at her, her eyes half lidded, her hands twisted in the sheets. The sight of her so far gone called to the most primal part of Tis, and she felt her eyes narrow as the urge to fuck and devour came over her.

  She pressed her mouth to Kera’s clit, careful to slide her fangs along her outer lips. Kera cried out, and she felt her hand tangle in her hair as she pressed herself against Tis’s mouth. Tis sucked, circled, and lightly bit Kera’s clit until she was writhing, begging. With an expert flick of her tongue, she made Kera come and held her thighs tightly as she rode out her orgasm against Tis’s mouth.

  When she settled, Tis let go and moved to lie beside her once more. Panic flared when she saw the tears sliding down Kera’s cheeks and onto the pillow. “Oh god, baby, did I hurt you?” She pulled the magic around her, hiding her wings and sheathing her fangs. She searched Kera’s body frantically for injuries.

  “Tisera, stop.” Kera gently cupped Tis’s chin in her hand to get her to look at her. “You know how I asked if sex with a goddess was worth death?”

  Tis nodded.

  “I would gladly die for that kind of orgasm. I’ve never, ever, come that hard.”

  Tis relaxed and smiled. “Fortunately, I’m not a goddess, so death isn’t necessary. Are you really okay?”

  Kera pulled her down to lie beside her again. “No. Okay isn’t the right word. Euphoric, maybe. Drugged…high. Overwhelmed, definitely.”

  Tis glanced up at her and said softly, “Thank you for letting me.”

  “Thank you for wanting to.”

  They lay cradled in one another’s arms as the sun went down, waking only to explore one another’s bodies again and again throughout the night.

  Tis lay cradled in Kera’s embrace, the feeling of loneliness she’d lived with for so long a stark contrast to the secure, warm feeling she had now. Even if it didn’t last, it was worth it, just for this night alone.

  * * *

  Tis woke to light kisses on her eyelids. She smiled sleepily at Kera. “Hey there.”

  “Hey yourself. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in green tea? I’m dying for some, and I want a shower. I was hoping you’d join me.”

  Tis stretched, laughing when her outstretched wings knocked Kera onto the floor.

  “Okay, offer rescinded. I’ve never been tossed off my own bed.” Kera looked up at her from the floor, her gorgeous olive skin glowing against the white tile floor.

  “Once you make an offer to a fury it can’t be taken back. They’re the rules. Break a rule, and we eat your mind. So, yes to the green tea and the shower.”

  Kera went to open the door, and Tis said, “Um, isn’t there something you’re forgetting?” She looked Kera’s beautiful, naked body up and down.

  “Are you shy?” She motioned at her body. “I work far too hard at this to keep it covered in my own house.” She gave Tis a lascivious once-over. “But then, I don’t know if I’d be happy with everyone seeing you naked…I’m feeling a little possessive this morning.” She pulled a sheet from the bed and wrapped Tis in it. “Better?”

  “Possessive, huh?” Tis let the sheet pool at her feet. “I like the sound of that. Lead on.”

  Kera took her hand, and they walked back up the path, the morning sun warming Tis’s skin and once again making her think of a time when neither she nor her sisters wore clothes. It hadn’t taken long, only a century or two, before they wore the loose robes typical of the Greek pantheon, but she still remembered the amazing freedom that came with being nothing but who you were beneath the sun. Even so, she pulled her magic around her. No reason to freak out Kera’s staff beyond the fact they were both parading back to the house buck naked.

  When they entered the kitchen Tis sniffed appreciatively. “Coffee. Excellent.”

  Kera went over to a tray that held a pot of tea,
along with coffee and the sides to go along with it. “I really do have amazing staff.”

  They curled up under a blanket on the couch and sipped their respective drinks. “Do you know them all?”

  Kera grimaced slightly. “Only the ones that have been here for a while. Because I’m here so infrequently, the staff changes all the time. When I go away for long projects, say six months or so, only two or three stay here and take care of things. I let them know when I’m coming back for longer, and they hire new people. But I never get to know them.” She pressed her toes against Tis’s. “Do you know everyone who works for you?”

  Tis laughed. “Do you think everyone lives the way you do? I cook and clean for myself, thank you very much. I don’t go away for as long as you, and I don’t really like having anyone in my personal space. There have been times, mostly during wars, when my sisters and I lived together, and we hired a few people to help out around the house, simply because we were always exhausted. But I was never really comfortable with having servants.”

  “I wouldn’t go so far as to call them that,” Kera said, wincing.

  “You can call them staff if it makes you feel better. But the job role is the same now as it was in the seventeen hundreds. People paid to take care of the things you don’t want to.” She ran her hand over Kera’s foot. “It’s not a judgment, just a fact.”

  “Suddenly, I feel the need to fire everyone.”

  “Don’t do that. But I have an idea—why don’t we cook breakfast together? Show me your stuff.”

  “Oh, I’ll show you my stuff…” Kera set her drink down and started to crawl up Tis’s legs.

  Tis laughingly put a hand on the top of Kera’s head to stop her advancement. “If you want more of that, you need to feed me. Give me some fuel if you want me on my back again.”

  Kera pressed her face to the blanket. “Spoilsport.” She ran upstairs, only to run back down with two thick, soft robes. “Cooking naked sounds sexy enough when you’re thinking foreplay, but then people run around screaming about burning pubes and splattered oil.”