Page 85 of Shadows and Flames
I flinched, but Tana didn’t give me time to object before she was gone. Leaving me with Elián. Now, just the two of us, I could no longer shove away the image of him searching my apartment, sifting through my things and taking what reminded him of me. Us.
I closed our door and leaned back against my hands. The sheer curtains danced around him, expanding and constricting. Elián had saved me time and time again, willing like Tana to follow me past the edge of the world. And how had I repaid him?
My loose trousers and tunic shifted softly against my skin as I moved toward him. Our family had provided the best distraction they could, in these hours between the deal I struck and the supper where we would enact it. But, truly, the most effective grounding force I had was this male in front of me.
Someone who had changed me so irrevocably. Who proved to me with every action how much he cared for me.
He sat with legs spread, and I stopped between his parted thighs. Elián let me run my fingers through his hair, and when I scratched his scalp, he hummed a low, satisfied note. “I am so grateful for you, El,” I whispered, for fear that if I said it too loud, he would be taken away from me, too.
“And I am grateful for you.” His eyes remained closed, his body vibrated as he resumed humming.
And he’d said it so easily. Like I hadn’t put him through so much shit and was continuing to do so. I had to—I wanted to dosomething. While we still had time.
Elián’s black lashes fanned across the tops of his cheekbones, and as I massaged his scalp, I felt the warm gold of his earrings on the heels of my palms. “Can I take care of you, El? Tonight.”
He opened his eyes, then, brows tightened and lips pulled into a confused frown. He brushed the backs of his fingers against the outsides of my thighs. “I am just happy to be with you, my queen.”
I bent, kissing him on the border of skin and hair, and spoke into him, “Please.”
Elián didn’t respond, but that was answer enough, so I took his hands in mine and pulled him to his feet. More obedient than he’d probably ever been with me, he remained still while I slipped each button on his tunic loose. Though his Fire was all but gone, Elián’s skin was unnaturally warm, almost too hot, and it was just enough. Perfect.
I pushed the fabric off of his shoulders and set it on the back of the chair. His trousers, I unlaced and carefully pulled down his thick, tattooed thighs. Markings of stark, heavy lines made beautiful patterns, and a healthy dusting of black hair covered his thighs and calves.
His cock was hardening, thickening with every second I was near him, but I ignored it. For now.
I pulled on his wrist, and he followed, still watching but allowing himself to remain pliable. Trusting me.
When I shoved on his chest, Elián understood what I wanted and sat on the too-soft mattress. His body sank into the soft cover, and when I nudged him back onto the pillows, he went, falling into the plush, supple feathers.
It wasn’t until I began to climb on after him that he chose to speak. “Take off your clothes as well.”
I immediately started to do what he said, caught myself, and huffed. I barely kept from stomping my foot. “You aren’t supposed to be doling out orders in this.”
“I do not know whatthisis. But whatever it is, I want to see you.”
Thatwas not a command, but my navel lurched as if it was. My heart quickened as if it was. As I pulled off my tunic, I told him, “I’m taking them off because Ichooseto. Nothing to do with what you’ve told me.” But when I tossed the garment aside and refocused on him before me, Elián’s dimples were showing, and I knew I would do anything he asked for a chance to see them.
My trousers took longer, the buttons small and my throat thick with the sudden urge to cry. He deserved care, someone to protect him and his heart, always. If the sadness he felt was even a fraction of what I carried each day, I wanted to be the one to give him comfort. To hold and kiss him until he could breathe.
“I know that I—I hope you know that I think you’re the most amazing person, El.” The bones of his lower legs were steady, thick, and below one of his knees was an illustration of a flower. A faint crackle rang throughout the silver-cast room as I brushed my touch up and down his legs.
As I climbed higher, pressing into his outer and inner thighs, now, I felt his muscles jump with sensitivity. I focused there for a few moments, digging the undersides of my knuckles into his brown skin. “You’re so strong. Watchful. Ruthless.” The last word escaped my throat, rough and low, and it seeped into my Shadow’s skin. Elián’s eyelids lowered, and his cock hardened more. It rested now, against his tight abdomen and the gold piercing shone under the clear light from the large half moon.
I’d no plan for this moment, just wanting his skin against mine and letting my senses lead my care for Elián. Showing him how precious he really was.
He hissed, fighting to keep his legs still as I licked a stripe from the seam of his sac, over the piercing in his shaft, and to thetip of his cockhead. I swirled my tongue, collecting the moisture his body gave me and dropped another kiss.
I continued up the middle of Elián’s belly, then to his chest. His heart thudded strongly, quickly, and I inhaled the warmth of smoke and wood. The subtle sweet of cinnamon. Or was that just my association of sweet things with the spice? How as many choice words we’d shared, as much blood I shed, I’dalwaysthought of him in the moments of happiness when we were apart. Cradled in my mind’s eye and swaddled, protected and cherished.
Elián groaned, this time, as I swirled my tongue around his flat, brown nipple. Still, he let me do what I pleased, and I treated the other to the same open-mouthed kiss. His collarbones were next, the hollow of his throat and the thumping of his pulse. It made my mouth water, my fangs itch, but I kept the drive to claim him at bay.
This was about him.
Elián’s breathing grew heavier, his legs spread to allow the width of my hips between them, and I descended once again, pulling on the foreskin of his cock and taking the head between my lips.
Elián held the back of my head, and because he was still the overbearing bastard he always was, he guided me where it felt the best. “Meline,” he gritted as I sucked, taking even more of him into my mouth, my throat. The piercing ran against my tongue, and I swallowed it, too, bobbing my head and saliva trailing into the trimmed hairs at the base.
He groaned in protest when I pulled off, but it turned to one of pleasure as I gently took one of his bollocks into my mouth, tasting and shielding it from my fangs. I went between them both, with Elián holding me down and my fist shuttling with the speed I was learning he liked the most. Lust filled the air around us, mine and his in equal measure. How many times overthese years had I imagined this? How many lonely nights had I touched myself, wishing that it was him?
