Page 154 of Alien God

Wylf buried his face in my neck. His thrusts quickened, as did his breathing, until I was a sopping wet and sobbing mess, desperate and whining when I’d never whined during sex in my entire mortal life. His knot pressed close, so fucking close, teasing me, torturing me, until, with a sudden forceful movement and a guttural cry, he plunged all the way inside.

I gripped Wylfrael, my eyes so wide but seeing nothing, hearing nothing, sensing nothing except him, above me and inside me, his knot hitting some desperate place, stretching it, soothing it, until I was coming like I’d never come before. I quivered and clenched, milking him, my passage fluttering around his knot as he drove it slightly deeper and then froze.

“Torrance, beloved, I give this to you now. Yours and only yours,” he moaned against my ear. I nodded jerkily, tipping my head to the side, searching for his mouth. He started to kiss me, then stopped, his entire body arching as he came, his knot twitching and vibrating inside me with the force of his pleasure and what it meant, what we’d done.

I sobbed again, the beauty and the heaviness of the moment pressing down on me. Wylfrael was mine. And now, he was mortal. Bound to me, his life forever fused to mine. He’d live by my side and die by my side. And we could have a child.

I wept and held him and trembled with the poignant, ephemeral beauty of the future that awaited us. Short, perhaps, by his standards. But absolutely perfect by mine.

Wylfrael remained inside me for a long time, his knot locking us together until it slowly began to return to a more normal size. I fell asleep with him like that, exhausted and filled and never having felt more safe in my entire life. At some point in sleep, I was aware of him easing out of me with a grunt, and when I moaned, half-asleep, he made soothing sounds, kissed my hair, and drew my back close against his chest.

When dawn’s light filtered into the room, the starburn returned in full force, a chilled heat, a primal need that made my already weak limbs into weights I could barely lift or move until I was shivering in Wylf’s arms, whimpering and whining.

“Will I always feel like this?” I moaned as Wylf pressed into me from behind, his shaft hard, the centre swollen and ready.

“No,” he groaned, sinking in up to his bulge, wetting the thick swell with my fluids before pressing it fully inside with a hiss. “The starburn is temporary. I don’t know if yours is lasting so long because you’re human, and you’re sensitive, or because the first time it started, it was interrupted.”

Interrupted when I died.

I didn’t want him to talk about that anymore. Didn’t want to think about death or grief right now. I just wanted my husband to take care of me.

And he did.

He stroked over my breasts, belly, and clit, making me come mere seconds after he’d filled me. He tumbled into bliss soon after, exploding into my shuddering core.

I wanted to stay like that all day. Lying there, with him inside. I would have stayed like that forever if he’d let me.

But as soon as he could, he pulled out. With a flat voice that belied the hate and sorrow beneath, he said, “I must return to Sceadulyr today.”

“No,” I whispered, rolling towards him. “Why?”

He caressed my face tenderly, his expression grim.

“It was the deal I made to save your life. I cannot go back on it now.”

“Don’t go,” I begged, my eyes filling with tears yet again. The starburn had completely fucked my hormones, and I couldn’t control my extreme swings of emotion.

“I must, beloved,” he groaned. “He has made it enormously clear that what he has done for you he will undo if I do not hold up my end of things.”

“But he doesn’t have a star map! He can’t reach us here!”

“He will find a way,” Wylfrael said venomously. “His cleverness is only outweighed by his vengefulness. I have no doubt he’d make both of us pay dearly for abandoning him in the Shadowlands.” His fingers on my jaw hardened. “I absolutely refuse to do anything that puts your life in danger, Torrance.”

I didn’t say anything, just looked at him, my beautiful, agonized husband, my mortal husband. I placed a clammy hand over top of his, nudging my face harder into his touch.

“Alright,” I murmured thickly. It wasn’t just my life in danger, now. If I died, he’d die too. I doubted he was even thinking or caring about his own fate, solely focused on me, but I cared.

“I will return as soon and as often as I can,” he promised, regret clear in his voice. “Aiko and the others will take care of you in my absence.”

But they won’t love me. Not like you.

I kept the words inside, not wanting to add to his pain as he washed and dressed and prepared to leave again.

And when he actually did leave, I knew the stabbing in my chest had nothing to do with my scars.

***

ONE MONTH BECAME TWO, then three, then four. Eventually, my starburn faded, replaced with a connection to Wylfrael stronger than anything I’d ever felt before. Wylf spent most of his time with Sceadulyr, but as promised, he returned whenever he was able. He brought gifts from other worlds he’d escorted the Shadowlands god to – clothing and gems and spices. He brought me gorgeously scented oils that he massaged into my legs and feet before tenderly sliding his knot into the place I needed it most. He gave me exotic food, too, and when he insisted on feeding it to me, despite my growing strength, he’d inevitably murmur something about husbands and bonbons while dropping sweets between my lips.

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