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“I won’t hurt you.” I force my voice into a calming whisper.
She is still reeling from her attack, confused as to how she got here. All understandable. I can be patient.
“I saved you from the attacker. He is gone now, and I brought you up here to keep you safe.”
Astra’s pale brows furrow, and her hands clench into fists as she backs away from me. Her back hits one of the internal columns in the bell tower, and she tries to scream in surprise, but it only comes out as strangled yelp.
She’s afraid of me.I frown.
“Calm down. I will not hurt you. Save your voice, Astra.”
“No!” she finally manages to scream out. Her eyes are wild, and her fingers dig into the column behind her. “I woke up, injured, on top of a damn bell tower, with no idea how I got here, and now a fucking gargoyle has… hascome to lifeand is telling ME to calm down!”
“This must be very jarring for you,” I say soothingly, “but I told you I brought you up here after you were attacked. You saw me last night, from your window.”
She jumps as I gesture with the flap of my wing to her apartment window across the courtyard. A trick of the angle makes it look like you might be able to step off the ledge of the crumbling parapet and directly into her residence, but in reality, it’s a good twenty or so yards away.
“I… I… I saw you, yes, but—” she squeaks out.
“Everything you did for me last night—” I take a step forward, and she clings to the pillar, so I stop my movement.
“Did foryou? What? No!” Her voice is stronger now, a defiant edge giving it strength as she shakes her head. I prefer it to her fear. “I didn’t know I was being watched.”
“You stared at me, Astra.” I grimace, my chest aching with a sudden and uncertain hollowness. “From the moment you opened your window and undressed to the moment you came, shaking on your fingers, you were looking at me.”
Her unnaturally pale face flushes, and I’m grateful to see her color coming back.
“You teased that pretty pussy for me, spread yourself wide, and you waited for me to give you permission to find your release.”
Her face heats further, and I grin. It feels natural in her presence. She was just disorientated before, but I see it coming back to her. She is understanding.
“I didn’t know you were real,” she says softly. “How could I know creatures like you even existed?”
My wings drop to my side, and my tail coils behind me. I stop trying to close the distance between us.
“I thought you were like the rest of them around the city—a statue. I… I didn’t know it was possible for you to be alive.”
The reality of her words sink into me. My body goes numb.
She hadn’t touched herself for me. She hadn’t wanted me. I was just there.
The terror I’d seen in Astra’s eyes when she awoke was not for what happened in the courtyard, but for me.
I don’t realize I’m pacing until I look down to see that I’m in front of her, her hand on my chest as if to stop me from moving closer. Her tiny fingers splay out, pressing into the heat of my skin. My star, my Astra.
Notmineat all.
“I… I’m sorry… uh, Colossus. I didn’t mean to—well, I did mean to do what I did in the window. I like being… Never mind…” Her gaze darts away from mine for a second, her blush deepening to almost crimson as she bites at her bottom lip. I don’t think she knows what she is doing, but her thumb strokes over my chest. “How is it possible you wereactuallywatching me?”
Her thumb slides over my stone skin again. With each pass, her pulse slows, and the acrid scent of fear that had drenched her skin since the moment I found her curled up in the courtyard starts to dissipate.
Her brows pull together in confusion as something catches her eye behind me.
“You have a pottery wheel up here?”
She begins to pull her hand away, but I gently grip her wrist and hold her to me.
“You can touch me wherever you like.”
