by Bea Paige
He’s holding back, but I don’t want him to. I nip at his lip, tugging at one of his feathers at the same time, knowing instinctively it will drive him wild.
“Fern, you’re playing with fire.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I respond, arching my hips, all thought and reasoning leaving me now.
A low growl erupts from his mouth, but he doesn’t deepen his kiss. Instead, his lips graze over mine whilst a warm hand cups my breast and my nipple is pulled taut between finger and thumb.
“Ether, don’t torment me. I can’t take it. Not now.”
Ether groans, consuming my mouth with his lips as his hands tease, his tongue swirling against mine. I dig my nails into his back, then graze my hand on the underside of his wings, knowing it will drive him wild.
“Two can play that game,” I murmur against his mouth.
The change in Ether is instantaneous.
He pulls away quickly, shifting his body between my legs rather than straddling them. Then his hands fly to the zip on my jeans, undoing them quickly. I lift up my bottom to give him access, then suck in another sharp breath as I’m reminded of my new body part. He tugs on my jeans, sliding them off, leaving me in just my underwear. I watch as he flings them across the room, and before I am even able to catch my breath, Ether’s mouth is covering my nipple, sucking hard.
Sweet Jesus.
My body reacts instantly as fire burns a connection between the nerve endings in my nipple and the ones waiting for friction between my legs. I groan, wanting more. His teeth graze across my delicate flesh in response before he pulls back slightly.
“I’m going to make you come. I’m going to give you what you need, Fern.”
I can’t even answer him.
As Ether’s mouth crashes against mine, my body thrums with heat, with fire, with delicious, all-consuming pleasure. His fingers find their way to my opening as his thumb presses against my nub. All thoughts and sensation zero in on that one tiny bit of flesh as he swirls his thumb in a circle. He slips one, then two fingers inside me. My hips buck against his hand as I take everything he gives, barely noticing the pain in my wings. It’s dulled now under the overwhelming sensations I feel.
Ether doesn’t give me a moment to think, to feel anything other than the pleasure he gives me. His lips cover my breast as his tongue teases the hard point of my nipple. I twine my fingers in his hair, bucking my hips as his fingers move expertly inside me. I feel a pressure building and I grasp onto him, waiting for the fire to erupt.
And it does.
Fire bursts in my chest the moment his mouth leaves my aching breast and settles over the swollen flesh between my legs. He licks me there, his tongue firm against my nub. Deep inside, I feel his fingers rub against a spot I’d heard existed but never experienced pleasure from before.
Ether licks and swirls his tongue whilst massaging the spot deep inside. My body liquifies, my pussy hot and wet against his mouth and hand.
It isn’t long before heat erupts from my core, ripping upwards as he fulfils his promise to me.
My connection with Ether strengthens.
It takes me a while to return to my senses. I still feel the lingering heat of my orgasm as it fades from my body. Ether is lying beside me, his head propped up on his hand, watching me.
“Better?” he asks, the fine lines around his eyes deepening with his smile.
“Much,” I respond honestly. “I don’t feel so…”
“Wired? Achy? Frustrated?” Ether shifts. He looks mighty uncomfortable himself.
“Oh, you’re…”
“A little, yes.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Ether, the truth.”
“Okay, a lot. But this isn’t about me. This is about you. I’ll be okay.”
I turn my body a little to face his. “Equal in all things, remember?” I say gently.
“I didn’t mean…”
“I know that.” I shift my body again so that I am propped on my side just like he is. This time, my wings seem to move with me, rather than against me. The pain has lessened to a more reasonable level now. Still, Ether notices my wince and leans forward, pressing a kiss against my forehead. His wing falls forward, the edge touching my bare arm. I lift my hand, unable to stop the urge to touch his feathers. My fingers skate along the curve of his wing and down the underside. Ether’s whole body stiffens. I pull my fingers back and the tightness in his muscles relaxes a little.
“Fern, I think you’ve already figured this out, but just in case you need reminding, our wings are just as sensitive as other parts of our anatomy.”
“I’m beginning to understand that,” I say, pressing my hand against the bone more firmly now. My fingers grasp around it. Ether lets out a lust-filled moan.
“Being touched this way, it’s pleasurable?” I ask, releasing my hold a little.
It takes a moment for Ether to respond. “Yes, but it’s not always a good thing. It can be very distracting.”
“I bet…” My thoughts trail off in another direction. I wonder? I tip my head to the side.
“You have a question, Fern?”
“Can you find release just by your wings being... stroked?” I ask, my fingers lightly trailing over his feathers.
“What do you think?” Ether leans forward, his wing curling around my back. I feel his feathers press against my own. I shudder with the contact.
“I think, perhaps, there’s a new sensation I’d like to explore.”
Ether grins, before his mouth presses against mine once more.
Chapter Seven
Ether assists me in getting dressed. Had we not both spent the last hour getting to know each other intimately it might have been awkward. As it is, the closeness and pleasure we shared has brought us together better than I dare hope. The antsy feeling is finally gone, and although the pain is still very real, I can cope with it better. I feel more able to support my wings now. But more than that, my connection with Ether feels as strong as the ones I share with Gabe and Mihr. It’s as though the Harmonious bond understood what we both needed in order for us to move forward.
I, for one, am grateful, not least because now I can think straight.
“What is this?” Ether says, standing behind me, his hands stilling on my lower back. The top Tillan has given me is still half undone.
“Wings?” I suggest.
“No, not them. On your lower back, Fern. I didn’t know you had a tattoo.”
“A tattoo? I don’t have a tattoo.”
“Well, you do now.”
“What?”
“Hold on, let me look. I can’t see properly, your wings are getting in the way,” he murmurs.
Ether kneels behind me and gently parts my wings. My muscles and newly formed bones scream in protest, but I grit my teeth and let him look.
“Holy Mother of Life,” Ether says. I feel his fingers touch my lower back and smooth upwards along my spine.
“Ether, what is it?”
“Your back is covered with bluebells, Fern, just like the tattoo on my chest. Only there are more, many more. It’s beautiful.”
“How? When?”
Ether gently pulls my wings back together. “Perhaps when you got these wings?” he says, as he walks back around and stands in front of me.
“No, Mihr or Gabe would have noticed. They were behind me when my wings appeared.”
“You’re right, they were. How strange.” Ether’s eyebrows pull together as he mulls it over.
“Wait! The dream I had.”
“Dream?”
“Yes. Last night while you were gone, I dreamed of a stone room with five doors and a central dais. Each door had an image carved into the surface. One of them was a bluebell.”
“Go on.”
“I touched it. Mainly because it reminded me of you and Gabe, but also because I was drawn to it somehow. When I did, I felt a strange sensation across my lower back…”
“There’s no other explanation, it must be to
do with that,” Ether replies, chewing on the inside of his mouth as he thinks about what I said.
“Where did you get your tattoo? Gabe has one too. Does Mihr?”
“I got mine a long time ago. Not long before the curse was cast. A man called Soloman, one of Clan Terra, gave me this tattoo. Gabe got his shortly after me. I have no idea whether Mihr has one or not. He’s never mentioned anything.”
“Why a bluebell?”
Ether smiles. “The part of Ever Vale our people lived in before we came here was surrounded by fields of bluebells in spring. Clan Vitae would spend almost every evening amongst the flowers, singing together. It was our way. I guess I never wanted to forget that.” Ether rubs his hand across his bare chest, tracing his fingers over the field he describes as home. My heart aches a little at that. I long to see it for myself.
“And now, for whatever reason, the most precious part of our home is forever embedded in your skin too. I can only be grateful for that. We’ll work out why, and how, later.” Ether pulls me into a hug and kisses me on the lips, reassuring me.
When he pulls away, my cheeks flush a little at the memory of our make-out session and because the man before me is utterly stunning.
“I’m grateful too. For everything,” I say, my gaze falling to his folded wings. The black feathers lift slightly in the breeze blowing through the open window behind us. The memory of my hands running over them fills my thoughts. We didn’t have full-blown sex, even though I’d wanted to. I’m pretty sure Ether had too, but it hadn’t led to that level of intimacy. Not yet anyway. What we’d shared was enough. For now.
Ether cocks his head to one side.
“What is it, Fern?” His eyes are glinting with mirth. There’s a cheeky side to Ether, one that is very attractive. I’m glad he’s let his guard down enough to feel comfortable being this way with me. But I daren’t tell him what I’m thinking. Wondering, actually. What sex would be like with him, with all of my angels.
“You’re thinking about what sex would be like with me, Mihr and Gabe, aren’t you?”
My mouth drops open in shock, then slams shut. How does he know that?
Ether laughs loudly. “You’re not that difficult to read, Fern. I’ve been around a very long time. Plus, I have the added assistance of the Harmonious bond. Makes understanding one another pretty easy, even without words.”
“You can read my thoughts?”
“Not quite, but I can understand you better through our bond. It allows me to get an impression of your thought. Think of it like a footprint in wet sand. The imprint is there for a little while before the sand shifts and it disappears.”
My eyebrows pull together in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“I get to see, hear, feel, I guess, an impression of your thought. That, combined with your extremely expressive face, means I can pretty much figure out what you’re thinking. It’s a lot easier now since we’ve… connected.”
“Shit.”
Ether laughs raucously. “It’s not so bad. You should be able to do the same, with all of us actually, although it may be easier with me because we are connected more by our minds.”
“I can?”
“Yes. Do you want to try it?”
“Okay. What do I do?”
Ether steps closer and rests his hands on my hips. “I’m going to think something, and you are going to relax your mind, empty it of thought. Don’t try and force it. A feeling, an emotion, should come through. Ready?”
I nod my head. “I guess so.”
Ether takes another step closer so that we are no more than a couple of feet apart. He stares at me and I at him. At first there’s nothing but me thinking how handsome he is. This brings a small smile to Ether’s face. But then his smile fades and his eyes glaze over slightly, and I find myself emptying the thoughts from my own mind, concentrating instead on his face.
Images begin to appear.
A pale blue feather against a black one. Male hands roaming over a bare leg.
I see my wings encased within two sets of black ones. I see glimpses of flesh, a familiar strong jaw covered in white-blonde stubble. I feel excitement, passion, the first stirrings of something more than that.
This thought, it’s not something that’s happened yet.
No, this feels like a wish, not a memory.
My own body thrums with excitement. Ether wants to be with me but there is also another person in this thought, this wish.
And that thrills me.
I am about to pull away and return to the present, but somehow more wet footprints appear… more thoughts to decipher.
Ether’s hands grip my hips tighter.
I see masculine hands running over a male chest lightly dusted with dark hair.
I feel lust. Love, even.
There is history between these men. It’s folded in darkness and pain, in torment and anger. But there is compassion and friendship too. There is starlight amongst the pitch black.
Then I see Gabe and Ether kissing before the imprint dissolves, washed away by the waves of an ocean.
Ether’s hands drop away from my waist. He looks at me in shock.
“You and Gabe are…” Lovers, I think. Not quite able to say the word out loud. It isn’t because I find it unimaginable, it’s because Ether appears to be ashamed of that fact, given the look on his face now.
Ether sighs. “Once, Fern… You weren’t meant to see that.”
He turns from me. I don’t understand his reaction, or mine for that matter. I don’t feel jealousy, not like I had when I thought of Ether with Tillan. In this case I feel compassion. I felt the love Ether has for Gabe, a love that goes beyond friendship. It’s pure and strong.
It’s beautiful.
“Ether, look at me.” He doesn’t move. I see his head drop.
“Ether, I said look at me.”
He turns reluctantly.
“You think it bothers me that you and Gabe were together?”
“It doesn’t?”
“Why would it?”
“Because…”
“Because of how I reacted about Tillan? You thought I’d be jealous?”
“Yes, a little. But also because…”
“You still want him. You want to be with him?” I ask gently.
“It was a long time ago, Fern. It happened one night a few months after the curse befell us all. Gabe had just taken his first life… He was hurting so bad. I was afraid for him, for what he would do to himself. Somehow, we ended up in each other’s arms. It just happened. It hasn’t happened since.”
“I’m sorry, Ether. For everything you’ve all been through.” I grasp hold of his hand and squeeze it gently. “It’s okay, you know. If you want to be with him. It’s okay.” I say the words, meaning every one of them but feeling sad too. Sad that I could potentially lose them both. I can’t even begin to unscramble my feelings in this moment. I know we all have a connection. I know that Gabe loves me. I know that Mihr cares a great deal, that Ether does too, and yet this has brought a whole new light on us all. I’m not sure where to go from here.
Ether scrapes a hand through his hair and blows out a steady breath. “Can I be completely frank with you?”
“Of course you can, Ether.” My heart hammers at the thought of what he’s about to say.
“I’ve thought about that night often. I’ve no idea if Gabe has. He’s never given me any reason to believe so. Honestly, I think that night meant more to me than it did to him. I came to terms with that hundreds of years ago. More recently, these feelings have returned. Gabe has always toed the line between the light and the dark, but these past few months I’ve sensed the darkness tearing him apart and it reminds me of that night. I wanted to talk to him about it but then…”
“Then?”
“Then Lissandra told us of the prophecy, then I met you, and my feelings for Gabe began to mix up with my growing attraction to you. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going… I feel pulled in a d
ozen directions, Fern.”
I laugh at that, not unkindly. “I don’t have any answers for you, Ether, because I feel that way too, about all of you. What we just shared, I can’t deny that I enjoyed it. That it meant something to me. I hope it meant something to you,” I say, explaining how I feel, because honesty is all I have right now.
“It did. You do. It’s just, Gabe does too. He always has. I’ve been alone for a very long time. I don’t mean physically, I mean in here,” Ether says, tapping his chest. “And in here,” he continues, tapping his forehead. “Now you’re here, Fern, I don’t feel so alone anymore. What we just shared means something to me. It means so much that I’m not sure how to process it all. Will you be patient with me?”
“You owe me nothing, Ether.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I owe you everything. We all do.”
“This is overwhelming for me too, but I’m glad about what just happened. Ether, the only person I’ve ever really, truly, been able to rely on is myself. Even with my best friend Dani, though she loves me and I her, we have lost touch with each other this past year.”
“Your friend is called Dani?” Ether asks abruptly.
“Yes, why?”
Ether shakes his head, the weird look on his face disappearing behind his smile. “No reason. I apologise, you were saying?”
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve always felt so alone. Now… now I feel as though I belong. Let’s just see how this goes, okay? We’ll work it out together.”
Ether nods his head, the tenseness in his shoulders relaxing a little.
A muscle pings in my back, reminding me that I’m still not quite strong enough to hold my wings for long periods of time.
“Ah, bugger,” I say, rubbing at my shoulder.
“Shit, Fern. I’m so sorry,” Ether says, stepping to my side. He wraps his arm around my lower back, and I lean against him gratefully.