Victor was not immune to the pleasure and punishment he was inflicting on my body and mind. His words were a raspy growl as he fucked me, driving me to the edge of release. I was incapable of speech, my thoughts expressed only in whimpers and pants, the sounds of a woman being tormented by unyielding pleasure. I clutched at the sheets in mindless abandon, my world shrunken to the size of my bed. I surged up against him as my orgasm crested and broke over me, my body a swelling wave of pleasure that seemed to last for all eternity. Only when the sensations had softened to gentle ripples did I feel him go tense against me, his cock throbbing and pulsing like a wild thing inside me. He groaned my name, then words in a language I didn’t understand, his body jerking against me as he finally claimed his own pleasure.
Then we were still, breathing as one. Time lost all meaning as Victor whispered in my ear, “You are mine. Now you will rest.”
It seemed like night had stretched on for days instead of hours when I tucked my head into the hollow of his muscular shoulder and yawned. My eyes felt heavy with sleep—blessed sleep!—but the irony was I wanted to stay awake all night in the arms of my angel.
“Why were you banished?” I asked softly. “What caused your fall?”
He hesitated so long I didn’t think he would answer. Then, softly, he said, “I committed the worst sin an angel can commit.”
I considered the horrors he might be guilty of. After the pleasure he had given me, I wasn’t sure it mattered what he had done to be cast out. But I had to ask.
“And what is that?”
He kissed the top of my head, a long and lingering kiss that soothed me into slumber.
“I fell in love,” he whispered.
I awoke feeling disoriented, sunlight slashing cruelly through the blinds. I felt…bereft; as if I had been granted everything I had ever wanted, only to have it snatched away in the unforgiving light of day.
“Just a dream,” I said, my voice breaking. “It was just another dream.”
Only…my body felt sore in places that had nothing to do with sleeping in the wrong position. My breasts were swollen and tender, as if they’d been abused, as was my ass. And there was a heaviness between my thighs—that well-fucked feeling I hadn’t felt in…well, years. Only I hadn’t taken a lover to bed the night before.
Except I had.
I turned my head, half expecting to see Victor, but he wasn’t there. I closed my eyes and sighed. My dreams—the real dreams—had been vivid and beautiful, not lonely at all. And though I couldn’t remember Victor in any of them I sensed he had been there, absorbing every sensation joyfully, living through my dreams. That, at least, was comforting. I couldn’t lose my angel now that he’d given me a taste of heaven. If I could only have him in my dreams, that would have to be enough.
A piece of hair tickled the corner of my eye and I pushed the wayward strands behind my ear. Only the texture was wrong. I reached up and pulled a long feather from my curls. Staring at it, watching the way the sun reflected the color as midnight blue, not black as I’d thought in the darkness, I felt my heart leap. Until that moment, I was still convinced Victor was just a product of my overheated imagination; that my aches and pains were a result of wishful thinking borne of loneliness and a life dedicated to a demanding career with little time for romance or passion. But this—I turned the feather, his feather, between my fingers—was tangible proof.
“My angel,” I whispered.
“Yes, love?”
I jumped, startled, the feather slipping from my fingers to float to the bed. Victor stood in the doorway, resplendent in his nudity, his wings tucked against his back so that he looked like a normal man. A beautiful, normal man.
“You’re here!” I climbed out of bed and flung myself into his arms. His warm, solid arms. “I thought you’d gone.”
He kissed me, hard. “I thought I would be gone before morning’s light.” He set me away from him, searching my face. “So, you’re glad I’m here?”
I reached down to encircle his growing erection in my hand. “I’m as glad as you are,” I giggled. Then I turned serious. “Do you think you will get to stay?”
“I was told I had one night to reveal your secret heart, to get you to return my love.”
“I do love you.”
He frowned. “How is that possible after one night?”
I pressed against him, skin to skin, and nothing had ever felt more natural and right. “I have known you all my life,” I whispered. “I have always loved the idea of you. And now…” I rubbed my breasts against his chest, feeling his erection press between my thighs, “Now I get to love you with my body as well as my soul.”
“But I stole your dreams. I risked your life by loving you!” His voice was filled with anguish and I pressed my hand to his face to soothe him. “You bring my life into existence and I nearly killed you.”
“You didn’t steal my dreams, you revealed them. You didn’t risk my life, you brought me to life!” I cupped his jaw so that he would look at me and see the truth in my eyes. “I was so lonely, Victor. I needed something only you could give me.”
He gathered me up in his arms and carried me to the bed, tumbling me down among the tangle of sheets. “We may never leave this room,” he growled, running a possessive hand from my neck, down between my breasts, to cup my mound.
I twisted and arched my back, pressing against his probing fingers. Just that fast, with a flick of his thumb across my clit, I was near orgasm. His wings stretched up and out, a canopy of blue-black feathers above us.
“We won’t be able to leave this room,” I said, my coherency fading fast as he slid one long finger inside my wetness. “Those wings of yours will be hard to hide.”
He chuckled. “I have a bit of…magic to show you, love.”
Despite my whimpered protests, he released me and turned around. I watched in open-mouthed shock as he folded his wings so that they tucked close to his body and molded smoothly to his back. In clothes, he would simply look like a well-built man with a broad, muscular back.
“Nice,” I said appreciatively, mostly so he would return to the task of making love to me. “We just won’t be able to go to the beach.”
“Ah, but I’m not done.”
And then, his wings quivered and flattened against his back until they looked simply like an ornate tattoo. I couldn’t help myself, I got to my knees and ran my hands over his back, trying to detect the feathers that only a moment previous had presented such a magnificent display. All I felt was his skin, the faint ridges of his wings seeming to be the marks of a tattooist’s ink.
I pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades and, like the magic he claimed, the wings returned, his feathers tickling my nose.
“My angel,” I said again.
“Yes, my love?”
“Come to bed,” I said. “Now.”
My angel did as I commanded. And then it was my turn.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
DELILAH DEVLIN (DelilahDevlin.com) is an author with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters, whether creating dark, erotically charged paranormal worlds or richly descriptive westerns that ring with authenticity.
JUSTINE ELYOT has written numerous short stories for erotica and erotic romance publishers, as well as the full-length works On Demand, The Business of Pleasure and the novella Competitive Nature. She likes dark eroticism and light romance, and vice versa.
LUCY FELTHOUSE (lucyfelthouse.co.uk) attended the University of Derby, where she studied creative writing. While there, she was dared to write an erotic story. It went down a storm and she’s never looked back. Lucy’s stories have been in anthologies including Seriously Sexy 3; Ultimate Curves; Sex, Love and Valentines and I Kissed a Girl.
A. D. R. FORTE (adrforte.com) is the author of erotic short fiction that appears in numerous anthologies, including Fairy Tale Lust. Her tales of erotic fantasy can be found in collections from Cleis Press and Circlet Press.
/> LANA FOX’s (lanafox.com) erotica appears in a variety of books and magazines, including Alison’s Wonderland and the Cleis anthologies Orgasmic: Erotica for Women and Passion: Erotic Romance for Women.
SHANNA GERMAIN’s (shannagermain.com) work about love, lust, and leviathans has appeared in places like Alison’s Wonderland, Best American Erotica, Best Lesbian Romance, Fairy Tale Lust, Blood Fruit, and more.
SACCHI GREEN writes in western Massachusetts. Her stories have appeared in seven volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica and dozens of other books. She has edited or coedited six lesbian erotica anthologies, most recently Girl Crazy, Lesbian Cowboys (a Lambda Literary Award winner), and Lesbian Lust.
ERICKA HIATT lives and writes in Silicon Valley with her husband, daughter, and her two and a half crazy dogs. She has published several technical works, as well as a number of short stories. This is her first, but definitely not her last, attempt at erotica.
VICTORIA JANSSEN (victoriajanssen.com) is the author of The Moonlight Mistress; The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover and The Duke and the Pirate Queen.
KRISTINA LLOYD (kristinalloyd.wordpress.com) is the author of three erotic novels including the controversial Asking for Trouble. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, and her novels have been translated into German, Dutch and Japanese. She has a master’s degree in Twentieth Century Literature.
NIKKI MAGENNIS (nikkimagennis.blogspot.com) learned long ago that magic is best left to happen by itself. She lives in the wilds of Scotland with her enchanting family and a very pretty familiar. She has written two novels and many short stories.
MADELINE MOORE ([email protected]) has published countless sexy short stories and three erotic novels: Wild Card, Amanda’s Young Men and Sarah’s Education. In another guise, Madeline is a produced screenwriter, a crime novelist, and a writing tutor.
KATE PEARCE graduated from the University College of Wales with an honors degree in history. She is a member of RWA and is published by Kensington Aphrodisia, NAL Signet Eclipse, Ellora’s Cave, Cleis Press, and Virgin Black Lace/Cheek.
Always one to welcome a dream lover, CRAIG J. SORENSEN (just-craig.blogspot.com) has been sharing his erotic visions with readers since 2006. His stories have appeared at numerous locations online as well as in print anthologies and magazines internationally.
ALANA NOËL VOTH’s work has appeared in several anthologies including Fairy Tale Lust; Best of the Best Gay Erotica, Volume 3; Oysters & Chocolate; Best American Erotica; Best Women’s Erotica and the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Volume 7 and Volume 8. She’s currently at work on a novel.
SASKIA WALKER (saskiawalker.co.uk) is a British author whose short fiction appears in numerous anthologies. Her erotic novels include Along for the Ride, Double Dare, Reckless, Rampant, Inescapable, and The Harlot. Saskia lives in the north of England close to the windswept, inspirational Yorkshire moors, where she happily spends her days spinning yarns.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
KRISTINA WRIGHT (kristinawright.com) is an author, editor and college instructor. She is the editor of Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women and the forthcoming Cleis Press anthologies Corsets and Clockworks and Best Erotic Romance 2012. Kristina’s erotica and erotic romance fiction has appeared in over eighty print anthologies, including With This Ring, I Thee Bed; Bedding Down: A Collection of Winter Erotica; Nice Girls, Naughty Sex; three volumes of Best Women’s Erotica; four volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica; six volumes of the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica and the erotic romance collections Seduction, Liaisons, and Sexy Little Numbers. She received the Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense from Romance Writers of America for her first novel Dangerous Curves, which was published by Silhouette Books. Her work has also been featured in the nonfiction guide The Many Joys of Sex Toys and magazines and e-zines such as Clean Sheets, Good Vibes Magazine , Libida, The Fiction Writer, The Literary Times, Scarlet Letters, The Sun, and The Quill. She is a book reviewer for the Erotica Readers and Writers Association and the moderator for the Naked Reader Book Club at EdenFantasys.com. She holds degrees in English and Humanities and teaches English Composition and World Mythology at the community college level.
Originally from South Florida, Kristina has lived up and down the East Coast with her husband, Jay, a naval officer. They welcomed the addition of their son Patrick in December 2009 and are living happily ever after in Virginia.
Copyright © 2011 by Kristina Wright.
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by Cleis Press, Inc., 2246 Sixth Street, Berkeley, California 94710.
Text design: Frank Wiedemann
Cleis Press logo art: Juana Alicia
eISBN : 978-1-573-44676-1
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