Page 40 of Fated to the Gargoyle

It isn’t enough. I need her closer.

I slide my hands under her and lift her off the bed entirely, still buried inside her. Her arms lock around my neck as I stand to my full height, and she hangs weightless in my grip. One of my hands spans the whole of her back. The other cups her from beneath, and I bounce her in the middle of our bedroom, letting her own weight seat her deeper than the bed ever allowed.

She wails at the new angle, and her breasts jolt against my chest, and her yelps break into sobs against my throat.

“You’re so deep— Soren— oh my god, you’re so⁠⁠—”

I wipe the tears off her cheek with the pad of my thumb claw and never once break rhythm.

“I can’t— Soren, I can’t— don’t stop⁠⁠—”

She comes on me again and again until she’s crying with it, and still she grinds down to meet me. I snap my wings open and wrap them forward, curtaining us in the dark, and I stop being gentle about anything.

I can’t hold back any longer. I press my face into the curve of her neck and roar as I spill into her, pulse after pulse, filling my mate until she whimpers at the warmth of it and sags in my arms.

For a long moment the only sounds in our cabin are her breathing and mine.

I ease myself out of her, and she makes one small complaining sound that I tuck away. I lay us both into the wrecked bed and pull her against my chest, her skin slick with sweat, her heart calming under my hand.

“I will be more careful next time,” I tell her. “I got carried away.”

“Mm,” she manages.

I search for the right words and settle on the plain ones. “It feels very good to be inside you.”

She tips her head up and gives me a drunk little smile. I search her scent for the sour thread and can’t find it anywhere.

“So,” she murmurs against my chest. “What’s next?”

I weigh whether tonight can hold any more. “I have another gift for you. But it can wait.”

“Huh?” Her head comes up off my chest.

“I need to claim you.” I stroke her back with the flat of my claw, careful along the soft line of her. “It is different for gargoyles. There is no urge driving me, no pull I can’t refuse. I only need your permission.”

“And what about me? Do I claim you back?”

“No.” I choose the next words with all the care I have left. “If you agree, you will stop aging for as long as I stand. Your time begins moving again only after I fall.”

“Ohhh.” The size of it settles over her.

I keep stroking her back. “We can wait. It is not important.”

She pushes herself up on one arm, worn out as she is, and frowns down at me. “It sounds important to you.”

I turn my face toward the dark window and keep my wanting off it. “You just gave me your body. I won’t keep taking from you.”

“Soren.” She flattens her hand right over the rumble she causes. “I can’t give you my heart if you won’t take it.”

She’s sweat-soaked and trembling, frowning at me while she offers me forever. “I do not understand what I did to deserve such a blessing.”

“I promise you, I’m the lucky one.”

I gather her up, and my clawed hand cradles the back of her neck, tilting her face to mine. “Are you sure, Treasure?”

“Yes.” Her hand comes up and covers mine. “I’m yours, Soren.”

I don’t make her wait for it. I strike fast, and my fangs sink into the curve of her neck.