I captured his lips, kissing him hard. Deep. He grunted in surprise but quickly melted into me, his mouth melding to mine.
“Do it,” I murmured. A week ago, I would’ve never considered it. However, this ache in my chest, this desperation that clawed at my heart and wanted to be as close to him as possible, couldn’t be ignored any longer.
“Are you sure? I don’t wanna scare you.”
I kissed along his jaw, pushing deeper into him. “I need this. I need you.”
Needed him to claim me, to make me his. Needed him to make this ache go away.
Gray nuzzled my neck. When his teeth grazed my skin, I tilted my head back. An invitation.
And then he bit down.
I lost my rhythm as several sensations hit me simultaneously—the sting of the bite, the slight moment of panic, but also a sense of wholeness I’d never felt before. As my blood flowed into him, I canted my hips and rocked forward. He smoothed his hand along my spine, comforting me.
The ache in my heart eased with each second that passed. I felt closer to him than I ever had.
My muscles tensed, and then I was shooting into him, intense pleasure hitting me so hard I lost my breath. Gray pulled from my throat with a gasp as his ass clamped down on my cock, milking every last drop from me.
Neither of us moved for a while. I was reeling from the force of my release, one that wasn’t only physical but almost transcendent. Something huge shifted between us, so much so that the backs of my eyes stung. I dropped a kiss to his shoulder.
“Let me hold you,” Gray whispered before softly kissing the place he’d bitten me. When he lightly licked the bite, the sting faded even more. Was he healing me?
He pushed me to my back and pressed our noses together as he got on top of me. As he released his wings, I pulled back to admire him. Even in the moonlit room, I saw the hints of sky blue in the feathers.
“You’re so beautiful, Gray.”
“So are you.”
He wrapped his wings around me, arms too. Surrounded by soft feathers and his warmth, I closed my eyes. But despite the postorgasm afterglow and sense of wholeness in my chest, I was afraid I’d be thrown right back into another nightmare as soon as I fell asleep.
“What’s wrong?” Gray whispered.
“How did you know something’s wrong?”
“You got tense all of a sudden.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Bad memories?” His wings moved a bit, the feathers caressing me. I nodded. “Remember how Galen put you to sleep the night he brought you here?”
“The night he abducted me, you mean.”
He grinned. “Yeah. That.” His fingers smoothed along my temple. “I can help you sleep better. Those bad thoughts won’t be able to touch you.”
I recalled the proposition Phoenix had made me: join Asa’s side and he’d take away my memories of the night of the ghoul attack. Lying in bed, encompassed by Gray’s wings and warm body, having him look at me with those big brown eyes, I realized no matter how painful, I didn’t want to lose those memories. Because they had led me to Gray. I wouldn’t be the man I was without them.
I caught his hand and brought it to my mouth, kissing each of his fingertips. “Please.”
When a smile broke across his face, my damn heart skipped a beat. He leaned in, ghosting his lips across mine. “Close your eyes.” I obeyed, and he touched my temple. “I’ll see you in the morning, Wendy Darling.”
I didn’t even have time to snort at the Peter Pan reference before a weight settled over me, and I welcomed the sweet nothingness of a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Gray
The yellow-eyed reaper smirked at us from across the club before resting his head back against the couch. He curled his fingers in the pretty Fae boy’s hair who was between his legs sucking his cock.