At last, panting in frustration, he was in. He lowered Rex’s legs and lay forward, covering him for a kiss.
He could feel Rex’s cock under his belly, it had gone a bit soft with the penetration, and was now growing hard again. Hunter withdrew then thrust gently, experimentally. Rex’s eyes went big. “Oh… There’s the spot.” He shivered and rocked his hips, urging Hunter to move.
They found their tempo, at first gentle and undemanding, and as they grew more comfortable, harder and faster. He braced himself with hands on either side of Rex’s head, feeling Rex’s hands on his body, roaming down his back, digging into the crack of his ass.
Hunter felt something firm pressing into his ass and began to slow, giving Rex a confused look. Both the man’s hands were on his hips. “Just relax and bear down. It’s not nearly so large as your cock.”
Rex’s tail pressed for entry, firm and slick, sliding past that taut band of muscle.
“I told you I was going to fuck you, Hunter.” Rex gave a lopsided grin as his tail snaked into Hunter’s hole, pushing and pulling, finally moving freely. It was strange and invasive, but Hunter shuddered in reaction to the unexpected sensations.
He shuddered as the soft tip of Rex’s tail passed over something exquisitely sensitive, something that forced his arousal up, melting through every bit of his body. Unable to control himself, he thrust harder into Rex. He gripped hard on the muscular appendage in his ass. He felt every inch as it invaded and retreated at the exact same rhythm that he moved into Rex.
He felt helpless and shattered. He arched his body over Rex’s, letting go of all control as he fucked and was fucked in return.
Under his weight, Rex seemed as lost as he, blindly matching Hunter’s tempo. Their bodies were too tightly meshed for Rex to reach down and grasp his cock. No matter, the weight of Hunter’s body kept him hard, their bodies matched, their breathing synced, and when Hunter felt the climax rip through his body, he knew Rex was coming too.
Hunter arched up for a long, frozen moment then buried his face in the crook of Rex’s neck, pumping his hips in short, jerky thrusts. He spasmed hard around the object in his ass. Just when he thought it could go no further, nor get any wilder, Rex’s tail pulled out quickly and struck Hunter’s buttocks in a series of sharp, stinging blows, bringing Hunter up on his arms, howling as his climax roared over him once again.
His balls were empty, but they clenched hard, and he slammed violently into Rex’s body. He felt the hot silken release against his belly as Rex came apart in his arms with a guttural cry.
Hunter collapsed to his side, motionless, shivering as sweat chilled on his skin. He felt Rex’s tail go loose and slide to the bed between them. With great difficulty, Hunter opened his eyes, looking at the beautiful man at his side. Rex’s eyes were wide open and overly bright. He still broke with an occasional shiver. When he caught Hunter looking, he smiled weakly and reached over, stroking his face.
“Is this what our future holds?” His finger moved back and forth on Hunter’s cheek. It was so gentle, so caring for such a small gesture.
“It could be. It should be.” Hunter turned his head, kissing Rex’s hand.
“Then I’d say we are very lucky men. Very lucky indeed.”
His hand began to slip away, but Hunter caught it and held it tightly to his chest.
Chapter Eight
“I think it’s time for you to tell me what’s been going on.”
Rex cracked one eye open, squinting against the light. He saw Hunter’s silhouette above him. He stretched, enjoying the tickle of warm grass against his naked back. He was also pleasantly aware of a languid hard-on.
“Why can’t angels be as lazy as the Sidhe? Can’t you just relax and enjoy the sunshine?” Inwardly, he groaned. This was the day of reckoning.
“It’s been weeks, Rex. And while this has been incredible…”
“Like a honeymoon, eh?”
Hunter cleared his throat, holding back his amusement. “These weeks have been wonderful, Rex, but I need to know why I’m different. Why you fear me. Why you fear for me.
At that, Rex sat up, squinting against the light. Blinking against the vision before him. Hunter had been flying, his wings were out and gleaming in the sun. Only the front of his hair was tied back, the rest flowed loosely around his shoulders.
“Gods, you’re hard on the eyes. Can you tone it down?” To his surprise and delight, the angel’s radiance dropped a few levels. “Good job! How’d you learn that?”
Hunter stood, clearly waiting.
“Never mind, I’m just glad you’re gaining control. You fly so much that it makes me tired.”
“You should fly more, and maybe you wouldn’t be so tired.”
“Ah, I get all the practice I need.” He stood and stretched, twisting a crimp from his spine. “Sleeping this much is demanding work.” He winked.
“I’ve yet to see you fly for any substantial distance.”
“That sounds like a challenge, Hunter.” He grinned, then sobered. “A challenge for later. Sit down with me.”
The angel settled gracefully to the plush carpet of grass, and Rex sat beside him, knees drawn up, ankles crossed. He watched a butterfly floating lazily from flower to flower, focusing on the insect as he gathered his thoughts.
“We don’t really know what’s going on in your world, or why angels fall. Because of the nature of time and space, two might fall together, one comes to Earth today. The other won’t appear for decades—or even centuries. They always come in the most horrific way possible. I believe that most do not survive the fall.” He glanced over at Hunter, whose eyes were unfocused, fixed off in the distance. Rex shivered at the horror of his own words, the image of countless beings dying horribly in their fiery free fall to the Earth.
“The Fallen are always frightened and bewildered. The first we know of came thousands of years ago. The Sidhe did not exist then, nor did the dryads or Nereids or any of the other people of the Earth. Nor were there vampires or ghouls or any of the other dark people. Just humans.”
“Did our coming affect the people here?”
“We Sidhe believe your people are our ancestors. The early ones mated with humans, producing all the Blessed Ones and all the Dark Ones. Thus, we’ve taken the vow to tend you when you fall. To protect you.”
“And to protect Earth from us.”
“Aye.” He reached out and clasped Hunter’s hand, giving it a brief squeeze. “The Fallen are volatile. We handle them carefully, so they don’t turn dark. The old ones with long memory believe that there are two types of Fallen. There are those who fell through their own evil, those ones are truly fallen and are evil beings. And there are those who fell through betrayal or through the machinations of others.” He went quiet, waiting for questions, but Hunter said nothing. “There was one, a female named Anahita. My mother’s brother tended her. She did well for a very long time, yet there was a stain on her soul. Her madness descended slowly. She fought it. She fought the gathering darkness within, but eventually struck out in rage.” He shook his head, remembering the stories. “Rather than risk harm to others, it’s rumored she put an end to her own existence.”
“What happens when an angel goes dark?” Hunter still didn’t look over at Rex.
“We take their life, if we are able.”
“How? We are immortal beings.”
Rex plucked a blade of grass, then a dandelion, spinning the bright yellow flower in a lazy circle. “No being is truly mortal—or immortal. We know how to end the life of an angel.”
“And you won’t tell me how it’s done?” He sounded…angry. Hurt.
“No, Hunter. I won’t tell you how.”
“Do you believe I’m dark? Evil?”
“You tell me, Hunter.” He leaned back, resting on his hands. “Do you feel malevolent? Dark? Do you feel that you have a stain upon your soul?”
“No.” The answer was spoken softly. “No, I am not perfect, but I hate no person.”
“Then you have your answer.”
Rex lay back, watching figures form in the clouds, only to dissolve and reform elsewhere. There was much to be learned watching clouds. There was much to be learned loving a fallen angel.
“What happened to Anahita? Did your uncle kill her?”
“No, Anahita took herself away before she truly fell. Legend says she flew to the farthest northlands and buried herself under the ice. She is forever frozen, safe from this world, and the world is safe from her. Other stories say she figured out how to end her existence…forever.”
“That is sad. Perhaps she simply couldn’t cope. Perhaps she remembered who she was.” Hunter lay back in the grass next to Rex, their hands gently linked. “Perhaps she needed love or the handling of another.”
Rex sighed. “I never met her, but my uncle was a hard man. Demanding and cold. He was not well loved by his sisters.”
Hunter didn’t ask, but Rex knew the question hovered there between them.
“I have little in common with him. My uncle was a soldier. I tend the forests and farmlands. He tended the battlefields. He eased the dying on to the next life, and rallied the living. Ghouls harvest the battlefields as well. He tangled with one who was eating the soul of a dying soldier. In that particular altercation, Uncle Dyfydd did not prevail. He fell at Waterloo.”
Not so long ago, actually. Little more than a half-century.
“And your mother?”
Rex smiled sadly. “Her name was Brenna. She was able to shapeshift. Her favorite form was that of a bird. She flew away one morning and never returned.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We should all die doing what we love to do.” He inched closer and rested his head on Hunter’s shoulder. Odd that they could take and give comfort so fluidly.
“The children of the dark ones… Are they always evil?”
“Demons. We call the truly fallen demons. And with some exceptions, I find their offspring frightening, sometimes loathsome. The vampires have created a fairly civilized culture, but every one I’ve met fights daily to remain benevolent. There are other creatures of darkness, humans who kill for no apparent reason or are morbidly cruel. There are creatures that change shape, and those who creep through the dreamworld. Some are malevolent, some are not. I don’t think my uncle was an evil man, but he was dark.”
“Are you saying evil is a choice?”
“I believe that it is. Of course, nothing is black and white. I don’t know what influenced Anahita or what caused her fall, but she sacrificed herself to protect others.”
“To me, it doesn’t sound as though she had much choice.”
“She did, though. And she chose to protect others at the expense of her own life. She didn’t have to do that. She could have embraced the demonic influence in her heart.”
Rex rolled onto his side and propped a booted leg over Hunter’s knees. His lazy hard-on wasn’t so lazy anymore, and as always, Hunter’s mere presence set him on fire.
“You challenged me.”
“I did?”
Rex nipped Hunter’s throat lightly, drawing the skin between his teeth, sucking lightly. He loved how the angel’s color came up. His mark would remain on the angel’s fair skin for hours. Reaching down without looking, he ran a hand over the bulge in the front of Hunter’s breeches.
“You challenged me to a flight.”
Hunter grabbed his wandering hand and held it tightly over his swollen cock.
“Perhaps later.”
“Perhaps now.”
Rex rolled away and sprang to his feet, immediately taking to the air. Hunter blinked in surprise as Rex hovered, his wings a golden blur.
“If you can catch me, you can fuck me.” With a laugh, he was gone, streaking toward the forested hills.
To his shock, Hunter knew he was outclassed. Rex’s lazy appearance masked a skill unique and delightful. He leaped into the air to follow, stretching his powerful muscles. His wings were meant for flying high above the Earth, catching and soaring on wind currents. He’d never seen anything like Rex hovering above him, suspended in the air.
Rex had already vanished into the trees.
Hunter climbed high, searching for his quarry, and once he caught sight of the golden flash of Rex’s wings, he dove, the feathered tips of his own wings catching on leaves and branches. He twisted between trees, and finally rose high again so he could avoid the obstacles down below.
Rex moved like a creature born to the forest and sky, spinning and dipping around trees. One moment he was skimming the ground and the next he was flitting among the top branches of the tallest pine.
Hunter dove and attacked, winding up empty-handed and struggling for control. He hurtled to the ground and landed hard, sprawling in the soft, loamy dirt of the forest floor. He shook his head, flinging dirt and twigs from his hair.
Above him, Rex came to a soft landing on a thick branch, his tail wrapped around the trunk of the tree.
“Tired yet?” He stood in an arrogant posture. The leaves of the tree barely quivered with his movement. Hunter sat and considered the bruises that would rise, then climbed to his feet, brushing leaves from his breeches. Without warning, he leaped into the air, straight for Rex’s perch.
But Rex was no longer there and the branch swayed dangerously under Hunter’s weight. He scrambled up, hands clawing at the bark, trying to catch his balance. The Sidhe was in the tree opposite, hopping from limb to limb in a breathtaking display of skill. He glided between trees, his muscular tail acting as both balance and an extra hand.
Hunter jumped again—his broad wings were of no use in this foliage.
Rex chuckled and stepped into thin air, just inches from Hunter’s clasping hands. The angel caught himself precariously and braced using the branches above his head. He didn’t know whether to laugh or shout in anger. Rex’s wings blurred… He moved to the side just slightly, and Hunter felt the flick of the Sidhe’s tail snapping against his ass.
Rex shouted with laughter and was gone again.
Hunter looked in the branches of the great oaks and swaying maples but Rex was gone. He lowered himself to a squat and considered his position. He was high above the forest floor with too little space to use his wings. The branches groaned ominously under his weight. He was certain he could climb down if necessary. The thought didn’t have any appeal.
“Rex, how do you hover? I don’t understand how your wings can bear your weight.”
A slight hum in the air announced Rex’s arrival. He settled on a branch facing Hunter, his tail coiling around the swaying trunk. There was no possible way that the tender limb could bear him, and yet there he stood, his glistening mahogany curls glinting in the sun, laughter sparkling in his eyes. He looked impossibly young and heartbreakingly beautiful.
“That branch is too slender to bear your weight…” And yet it did!
Rex stood balanced and secure, riding the branch as it swayed in the wind. To Hunter’s amazement, the Sidhe let his tail unwind from the trunk of the tree as he delicately trod to the most narrow, slender part of the branch. He rose to the tips of his toes and stepped off the branch, hovering in mid-air, his wings beating slowly.
“Do you lower your weight?”
Rex grinned and nodded.
“Your size as well?” The Sidhe smiled gently and as Hunter watched in amazement, Rex grew smaller—not much, but enough to make his point.
Without warning, the branch cracked. Hunter scrambled to keep from falling. He dropped to the lower, thicker branches just a few feet down and his heart pounded in alarm. Slowly, carefully, he lowered one foot to a branch just a few inches lower, while keeping his grip on the limbs above his head.
“Now there’s an inviting sight.”
The words were whispered from mere inches away. Hunter turned his head to find Rex hovering behind him. His wings kicked up a light breeze that ruffled the loose strands of hair around Hunter’s face.
“I think I win.” Rex�
��s tail snaked around Hunter’s waist, holding him tightly in place. “You can’t move, can you?”
Hunter was unable to move up or down as long as the Sidhe maintained that grip on his waist. “You said…”
“I said if you could catch me, you could fuck me. But I caught you instead.”
His voice was so close to Hunter’s face now that he could feel the whisper of breath against his skin. Rex’s hand came up and gently stroked the side of Hunter’s face. “So soft… Soft like a babe.”
“Or a woman.”
“No, Hunter, you may be beautiful, but there is nothing female about you.”
They stood like that for long minutes, feeling the sway of the tree in the wind, hearing the soft sounds of the forest below. Hunter realized that the wild places where animals roamed and trees grew were truly Rex’s home. The Sidhe was born to this, not to a croft on a windy hill. He laid his cheek against the rough bark of the tree and relaxed, listening with more than his ears.
“The wind in the trees sounds like running water.”
“Aye.” Rex leaned closer, allowing himself to relax against the angel in a melting embrace. “And the birds?”
“Their music is pure and sublime.”
“What do you smell?”
Hunter closed his eyes and inhaled. “Green. Grasses and trees and flowers. Brown…the trunk of this tree, the moisture of the soil. I smell the sweet kiss of violets on the forest floor.” Rex’s cheek was close to his, the other man’s curls tickled his nose. “I smell you. I love that you smell of the earth and life and growing things.”
Rex wrapped his arms around Hunter, one hand on his belly, the other over his heart. He pressed closer and his hips nestled between Hunter’s thighs.
“Since you caught me, aren’t you going to fuck me?” He pushed his ass back into Rex’s groin.
Rex chuckled, the sound was velvety and full of sin, bringing goosebumps up on Hunter’s smooth arms. “I was going to take you to the ground and make love to you in a pile of leaves. But here… Right here…” His hand dropped down and grasped the root of Hunter’s cock. “I think this spot offers possibilities.”
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