“For what it’s worth, I’ve never felt safer,” I said, “than here.”
He looked at me then.
“I feel safe in your home and with you,” I clarified. “I never left Earth, but I saw things and I talked to people. This is the first place I’ve been that feels like something I don’t want to leave.”
Andrek was very still.
“Dani,” he whispered.
I didn’t trust myself to answer.
Then his wing moved in slow motion as the great dark expanse of it curved, until the outer edge came to rest around my shoulders, pulling me into his touch. He was warmer than I expected, and the weight softer than it looked.
I stopped shivering from the cold. I leaned into his warmth, pressing my shoulder against the inner edge of his wing, my face turned away from him toward the moons.
For a few minutes I just breathed.
And then I thought about the discoloration on his wrists where the odd marks that crossed his body weren’t anymore.
And then I thought about the way he’d gone silent when I asked in a round-about way about a mate.
And then I internally berated myself.You don’t know what you’re doing.He’s still carrying something you can’t see andlike an idiot you’re leaning into his wing in the dark because you can’t sleep. Feelings in the dark at two in the morning are not reliable. Don’t be the person who complicates his grief.
I straightened. “I should probably try to sleep,” I said, my voice huskier than normal.
“Of course,” he said.
I looked at him then. I shouldn’t have, but I did. He watched me with a confused expression written all over his face.
My heart did something complicated.
“Goodnight, Andrek.”
“Goodnight, Dani.”
I turned and took a step toward the door.
“Dani?” I turned, and Andrek stood in front of me. “I don’t know if this is the right thing or wrong thing, but I can’t help myself.”
He cupped my face with both his hands, wings wrapping around me, as he lowered his lips to mine. He kissed me with pent up passion, holding me as if I were made of glass as his lips claimed mine. His tongue slid into my mouth, and I gasped at the ridged sensation.What else is ridged?My hands ran across his chest, feeling the hard planes of muscle. I moaned in his mouth and leaned into him. His knee parted my legs, and I ground myself on his thigh.
“Dani,” he choked out, breaking the kiss. “I want you so much it hurts.” His wings tucked against his back and he raced inside the house.
I stood outside another minute, my body on fire from his touch. I blinked and headed inside to my room. I stripped naked, lay on the bed, spread my legs and rubbed myself to orgasm. Afterwards, I pulled the blanket over my body and willed myself to sleep.
Through the wall, I had the distinct sense that he wasn’t sleeping either.
The distance between us was a wall’s width and uncrossable tonight.
Chapter 11
Dani
Iwokepastthreeinthe morning to something I felt before I heard: a thin, acute distress signal threading through my chest like a wire pulled taut, like an echo of something wrong coming from somewhere outside my body. It took me a few seconds to understand what I felt.
Pip.
I was in Pip’s room before I’d found my second shoe.
