Calliope's Wings

by Guin Archer

  For the love of God. I wanted to slap him again to force him out of his stupor. Instead, I pulsed my power and let the heat of my wings scald. He jerked, hissed, and blinked dazedly.

  “Gather your Zikta now, Kor. Begin to return to Mel’lau. I will attend to the los’kah here.”

  “Lo!” Ahh, there was the male I loved. Stubborn, bossy, and a total bitchface. His mask of anger warped his previous expression of worship and wonder. He fisted his blade hard enough that I heard the leather of the hilt groan. “I will have vengeance for what they did to You.”

  “Dipshit!” Slap. “How many more will you kill even though half of Luintak lays in ruins and I am returned?! Will you leave me now, leave me alone so you can feel better?”

  “Do not put words into my mouth, Biis’a.”

  “Then do not speak nonsense.” I stepped back again, not missing when he made two big steps to bring our chests together. I pressed my palm against his torso and shoved lightly. “I ordered you, Tohtahk. Do my bidding.”

  “You will not leave my sight.”

  “You do not command me.” Quickly, I lunged away and sprung. My wings swept inward hard, launching me high into the air far too rapidly for the male to catch. He bellowed up at me, his body vibrating with the rage he was attempting to contain. A part of me wanted to give in and return to him, but not now. The state of the camp kept me figuratively grounded. “Do as I say, los’kah. I will not tell you again.”

  I flew away from him then and into the blaze once more.

  I don’t know how long I remained in the Ohmber camp beyond the exodus of the Udon. I remember all but barking and snarling at the Zikta to retreat when I settled down to treat the wounded.

  Color me surprised, but the only one to put up any sort of fight against me was Kor. The rest bowed promptly and obeyed without commentary. Kor left with his warriors, but I could read it in every inch of his massive frame that he didn’t want to heed me. I was back from the dead and he was terrified of losing me again.

  Still, it was better for everyone to have me ‘calm’ than raging.

  “Your Innintani is here,” I told each of the Ohmber staunchly as I healed their bodies. Some I couldn’t save in time, but most I did. The bulk of them cowered away from me and turned green when they realized that I hadn’t been the ‘imposter’ the dead one had called me. I was real…and I was pissed. “Spread the word, los’kah. Your Innintani is here and She is watching.”

  It’d been somewhere around midday when I first flew upon the fray. It was past nightfall when I left.

  With the Mahzri – though a handful lingered as guards for me while I was in the camp – the Zikta were well ahead of me. I wasn’t surprised when I saw Kor mounted on Roprah to the rear of the troop. He was turned mostly around on the beast’s back and glared up into the night sky. When he saw me, and I wasn’t difficult to miss with my impressive, glowing wingspan, he opened his arms as though he thought I was just going to fall into him.

  Not today, asshole.

  Instead of joining him on Roprah, I landed feet-first onto the haunch of another bronze male. I had my arms crossed tightly over my chest and glowered just as hard back at him. He barely had the power to intimidate me before my change – after I’d gotten to know him, anyway – and now I was a force unto myself. It’d take considerable effort to take me out of the game again.

  “How could you,” I asked him when he remained silent. I was shaking my head sadly. “What you have done I cannot forgive.”

  “They slew You!” The two Mahzri were slowing pace so we were given a modicum of privacy from the rest of the Tauren. It was a good thing, too, because I thought we might move from level growls to upraised shouts this time around. “They approached my Udon while I was not there. They attacked my Taytani. They killed Her! Such a sin could not be left to stand.”

  “Then you should have found the one responsible and killed him, not everyone.”

  “I did not kill everyone, uum Taytani.”

  “No. You did not. That is only because you were consumed with finding the los’kah who you slew this lune. Would you have returned for the others?” Several moments and a non-answer later were enough to tell me I was right. I blasted out a sigh. “To kill so many, Tohtahk, is a sin. To kill innocents the way you would and did…”

  “They were not innocent!” His hand jerked in a cutting motion designed to shut me up. I let the action silence me, a willing concession on my part. “They were warned. They knew I was coming for them. The guilty could have stepped forward. They did not. They rallied against me and I made sure that they would go to Saluumotu instead of Skyvryn so they would never touch You again!”

  “I cannot look at you right now.” I released my cross-arm pose only so I could scrape my hands over my face. I nearly poked myself in my eyes with my sharp claws and I chided myself for not remembering them. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to gouge them out without any outside assistance.

  The serah not pinned by the leather bands chimed along with the ones hastily woven into my hair by Tan. I knew her fingers would be itching to do something more elaborate once I returned to the palace.

  “Kisa-uu,” Kor spoke so lowly, so softly, I almost didn’t hear him. I probably wouldn’t have beforehand. My senses were much improved now. When I dragged my hands low enough to peek over the sharp tips at him, I could see how wretched he was. He wore an expression of total despair and want. “Allow me to hold You. I beg of You…let me hold You.”

  Flippin’ flapjacks…how was a girl supposed to say no to that?

  As if my body was on autopilot or keyed into his specific wavelength, I found myself springing from my unnamed Mahzri’s back to Roprah’s.

  Then again, I wanted to hug him close to me, too. I’d missed him since the night of Leishai and his departure. He’d returned to the Udonak in enough time for me to know he was there before I died, but it wasn’t the same as holding him or being able to tell him my feelings. And though I wasn’t aware between then and waking in the sea, I longed for him and Ruune endlessly since air hit my lungs again.

  Kor opened his hands to me and allowed me to use them as bracers so I could slide my legs over the tops of his and lock my ankles – barely – behind his back. Then we were molded together, front to front, and snuggling. The world quieted around us and I allowed my ire with and at him to be shelved for later.

  It was too nice to be wrapped up in him.

  He purred and growled to me, his arms squeezing me tightly beneath the jut of my wings. I pulled them around him so they overlapped, cocooning him with me. I pressed my cheek against the upper knot of muscle just beneath his pecs and sighed. It was bliss.

  “You are returned,” he muttered with disbelief. Maybe a little reverence or awe. His chin clipped the back of my scalp as he unsuccessfully tried to nuzzle me.

  “I am.”

  “I thought You would not. I thought You would stay in Skyvryn.”

  He didn’t know how close he was to the truth of that statement. I realized, too, that even if I hadn’t been dragged back to Intau, I would’ve fought for it. Earth wasn’t home anymore. I didn’t belong there. I belonged here.

  “I did not,” I answered finally.

  “You…You returned for me?”

  “Aichi, Kor. I returned for you.” I pulled a little away from his chest so I could look up into his eyes. A kernel of unease nipped at my insides. It was imperative that I tack on the rest. “I returned for you and Ruune…and Vorch.”

  Dun-dun-dun!

  Kor’s body turned so rigidly solid that it’d take a chisel to break his arms away from me. Maybe even a sledgehammer to his chest to get him to breathe again.

  “Explain. Now.”

  Danger, danger, Will Robinson!

  Chapter Thirty-One

  My jaw gritted tight, I perched on the short wall – barefoot – of the same spire I’d taken a nosedive from less than a day ago.

  Releasing my clench only enough to chew on my up
per lip, careful of my tusks, I peered over my shoulder and dipped a wispy wing as though I’d be able to see all the way to where I’d left Kor and his Zikta. The Tohtahk had been snarling savagely as soon as I mentioned Vorch’s rescuing me from the sea and then my acceptance of him as my Muir. Kor’d been in enough of a snit that I was able to take him by surprise by wrenching myself from his lap to take to the sky, shouting down to his enraged bellows that I would see him back in Mel’lau, and disappearing into thin air only to reappear over the palace.

  I knew there was going to be a lot of explaining to do once he reached the city’s limits.

  “Ido.”

  I jolted, narrowly avoiding falling back over the edge as Vorch’s hard voice struck me. I righted myself and glowered at him. He had his arms crossed stubbornly – much like mine had been when I faced off against his nephew – and was giving me a look that wasn’t like him. There wasn’t an ounce of his ever-present joviality and the teasing that I’d enjoyed from him.

  “Lo,” I argued, more for the sake of arguing than because I didn’t want to move into him. Also, even if I was only going to admit it to myself, I’d grown to like being the ruling party. I liked knowing what I said was considered law. I loved being able to say no and knowing that the single syllable held the weight of the world in it for the Lubrei.

  Vorch didn’t get that memo.

  Not caving in enough to parry with me verbally, he strode determinedly forward. Toward me. I could’ve jumped and flown off. I could’ve hit the shit out of him with my wings set to inferno. I could’ve screamed the proverbial house down. I didn’t do any of these things, though. Instead, I allowed the male to sweep me up over his hard-as-fuck shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Admittedly, I didn’t think he was going to hike me up in that way, but it wasn’t horrendous.

  Supporting one elbow – probably uncomfortably for him – in his upper back so I could halfway cradle my own cheek and knead just over his taut ass with my free hand, I let him cart me off. I’d need to contemplate future situations and how any of the males in my life were going to carry me. Over the shoulder was for sacks of grain, not precious flowers like me.

  I snorted at that asinine thought.

  Dumbass, Io. You are a grade-A moron. Do everyone a favor and never speak that shit aloud.

  I was a little startled, but not terribly, when Ruune materialized from the shadows and began to follow on Vorch’s silent heels. He smiled at me and reached out, caressing my cheek with the backs of his fingers. The touch was tender and oh-so welcome. I hummed and pushed my face more into him.

  Vorch jerked us forward quickly and snarled back over his opposite shoulder to the Xerbai.

  “Leave.”

  “Lo.”

  “I will not harm our biis’a,” he continued to grate out with clear irritation. I was temped to stretch my wings out to create a ‘wall’ between them, but didn’t. If I did, Kor’s uncle would probably just turn us around so my ass was facing Ruune along with Vorch himself. It was safer for them both to bark at each other this way.

  “I did not believe you would, los’kah of uum Taytani.” Oooh, but I loved it when my meeker mate got all growly and possessive. It sent my heart – and other parts of me – aflutter. “Still, I will not leave Her to you alone.”

  “Careful, Xerbai,” Vorch warned scornfully. “There is a saying…what goes around will come around.”

  Ruune didn’t appear phased. In point of fact, he looked even more resolute. Then again, he was the more subservient of my Visivi. He was more lackadaisical and less likely to lose his marbles if someone snuck in on our private time. Not like the male I’d left throwing an unholy fit on the sands.

  I wondered how far away he actually was? How long did we have before he came storming into the city? At least half a day, anyway. My wings had carried me far on their own before I figured out my inter-dimensional prowess and shortcutted it.

  Vorch’s hand gripped my thigh hard as his steps hit harder in his upset.

  For the palace being as massive as it was, all wide-open hallways, cathedral ceilings, and cavernous chambers, there weren’t many people lingering. No slaves or servants. We didn’t pass a single soul. Then again, they were most likely avoiding us. It would be a new experience to be given some privacy after how long we spent shielded only by a gauzy tent in the middle of acres of other occupied pillau.

  Nosy motherfuckers.

  It wasn’t a surprise in the least when Vorch slipped us all into the suites that were dubbed as mine. There were glass windows that were pained and stretched from floor to ceiling – a good thirty feet – and numerous curtains of silver and blue draped over the walls which softened the coldness of the stone. Fur rugs and grandiose furniture carved from bonewood, all accented by yet more silver and blue fabrics. Sconces on the walls and archaic, clear glass chandeliers emitting their own rays of warm light kept the space intimate, but well lit.

  My Muir set me down onto my feet in front of him before swiftly crouching. His knees opened wide so he could halfway tug me into his orbit. One curious finger skimmed around where my great-nephew had shot me.

  Vorch growled.

  Oops.

  “Do not worry, Vorch.” Unconsciously, I found myself reaching out to stroke his horns. My claws raked the stones imbedded in them very lightly so I didn’t actually mar them. They were just so…pretty. “I am not injured.”

  “You were,” he shot back, digging his finger in and then jerking it back. My trou made a loud ripping sound from his own capped claws. Damage done, he promptly began to unlace the ties holding them up to my hips. “I cannot do this again, Biis’a.”

  “Do what?” I shouldn’t’ve jumped when Ruune came around Vorch to stand behind me. His hands were deft as he shucked my top.

  “Wait here for You. I cannot stand idle while You charge into danger.” He yanked the trou down roughly, making my naked pelvis rock momentarily closer to his face. The male groaned and inhaled thickly, clearly scenting my pussy and enjoying it.

  Freak.

  Then again, I must’ve been a bit of a freak myself because I was luxuriating in his approval of my scent. Me. He approved of me.

  One of Ruune’s hands slipped around my tummy to yank me back into him. I could feel him glaring daggers down over my head to Vorch’s scalp. His hot chest was narrowly as warm as my wings were…

  Wait a second…

  Fluttering my wings in a way not too dissimilar from a bird preening itself, I could see that they’d ghosted themselves while I was unawares. They were almost entirely misty smoke with no discernible edges. Ruune was able to reach his arms right through them and, when I tucked them back, they blew around him in gentle kisses like I wanted to give with my lips.

  “These are opari, uum Taytani,” my pretty-boy rumbled sweetly even as he trailed his palms up the sides of my torso so he could cup my naked breasts. My clothes were in various stages of disrepair on the rug-strewn floor and I was left to stand bare between them. Vorch had even unleashed my bakal from their leather bindings so I was openly jingling again.

  Talented hands you have, grandpa.

  Better to feel you with, my dear.

  Jesus fuck…I needed to shut up.

  “Do I look old to you?” I don’t know who I was asking. It didn’t really matter, either. It was just a vain bit of my female genetics that reared its head. It demanded soothing. It wanted to hear compliments.

  “Why do You ask, Io?”

  You asshole; that’s not a ‘no’!

  My lips pinched and I moved my fingers from one of his horns so I could pinch the ringed tips of one of his pointed ears. The man didn’t even have the grace to yelp in pain. He just stared up at me curiously.

  “Lo or aichi. Which?”

  I waited them out for their response before Vorch started to snicker out of nowhere. He leaned more to the fronts of his long feet so he could nuzzle my belly.

  “Lo, uum opari biis’a. You shine with life and strength and beaut
y.”

  Hmm, that wasn’t so hard. I wondered why he didn’t say as much in the first place. It would’ve kept me from getting cranky when we should’ve been getting freaky.

  “Who injured You, Calliope?” If the male’s nose wasn’t so flat and broad, it could’ve sunk into my bellybutton. Ruune was distracting me by tweaking my nipples roughly and growl-purring contentedly in my ear. The two were moving languidly so I wasn’t startled or off put. They knew and understood my skittishness and weren’t going to risk hurting me by stirring up negative emotions and bad memories both.

  “Hmm,” I hummed confusedly, not paying enough attention to conversation now that they were playing with my body.

  “Who injured You, Biis’a?” Vorch’s fingers struck out of nowhere. They pinched my clit from the outside of my wetting lips sharply while another knuckled into my channel marginally. I flopped back into Ruune with a gasp when my clit was clamped even harder. “Answer me, Calliope.”

  “Mmm, one of my brago’s shimi’s shimi. Ugh…oh…my ‘great-nephew’.”

  “You saw Your blood and still returned?” This time when I looked down on him, I could see the pleasure that glittered in his crimson eyes and radiated through his aura. Ruune’s, too. I realized belatedly that Vorch hadn’t slept yet so he hadn’t had a chance to ‘see’ what happened to me today.

  My grin was a little wobbly as I cupped his cheeks in my palms.

  “Aichi, uum Muir. Aichi.”

  That was all she wrote. Vorch snarled thunderously and charged up, sweeping me high up against him as he went. Ruune moved away only enough to allow the elder male to ferry me to the bed. My body bounced only once when he dropped me onto it before his large form followed. He crashed over me in a heap, his mouth immediately worshipping my tits.

  Holy. Shit.

  I didn’t have much opportunity to ponder or possibly panic over his more dominant positioning over me before he flipped us. He rolled so I was straddling his waist semi-comfortably. His hands chafed my thighs slowly even as he grinned up at me in his roguish way. My ears twitched at the overly loud pop of his horns sinking through the luxurious sheets.