Page 59 of Seraph's Tears
Now I really ought to leave. Even if he did protect me from Zorababel’s wrath, I didn’t think I could bear pining away in the same house as the man—seraph—I loved. He wouldn’t choose to love me. Even if he was open to the idea, I’d age and die centuries before him.
If he knew I loved him, he’d probably pat me on the head and promise it would pass. He’d be extra gentle with me, which is as painful a rejection as I could possibly imagine.
“You’re perfect,” he whispered again. For a human. Gabriel rolled to his side and tucked me under one wing.
I closed my eyes as the soft feathers became my mattress, his arm my pillow, and drifted to sleep.
Chapter Twenty one
Gabriel
I woke slowly, drifting on a cloud of contentment. At first I couldn’t remember why I was so happy, so eager to greet the dawn. I hadn’t had nightmares again. My cock was hard and sensitive.
A low, soft sound to my right reminded me.
I opened my eyes and glanced over to see Eve curled into my side, hands drawn up and stirring in her sleep. With a tender smile, I stroked her cheek with two fingers. We’d fallen asleep after our lovemaking, and I hadn’t had the chance to tell her my news.
I hoped she’d accept our bond. Anxiety seized my chest. By the skies, I hoped she would. After a few more moments of watching her sleep, she stirred again and her eyes fluttered open. A sleepy smile spread across her face as she met my eyes.
I hadn’t been this happy in…decades. Perhaps ever. Happiness so strong it hurt lanced my body. “Good morning, my love.”
A shadow crossed her face. “Gabriel, there’s something I need to tell you.”
I stroked her bare side, ending at her ass. I squeezed one globe. “Do you need to tell me with words?” I asked suggestively.
She hesitated, then smiled. “I’ll give you a good morning.” She licked my ribs, spreading her hands across my abdomen. Then she moved downward. Her hot breath skated across my skin, making goosebumps erupt. “So handsome,” she murmured.
My erection, which hadn’t flagged at all while watching her sleep, strained toward her hands. The backs of my wings scratched against the smooth sheets as I sprawled, ready for her to take me.
“I am so lucky,” she whispered against my tense abdomen, licking her way downward, “that they chose me.”
I groaned, feeling my heart pumping faster and faster. To be truly bonded our ayim needed to mix—or at least, mine into her bloodstream. And my body was begging for it. “Eve,” I rumbled. Then her words finally slipped through a chink in my hazy arousal. What did she mean?
“I can’t believe they sent me to all of this.” Her words were soft, so soft, that I barely picked them up. A human’s ears wouldn’t have been able to separate the sounds, but I was a seraph.
I drew my forearm back on the mattress to raise myself enough to peer down at her, hovering over my hips. “Eve?”
She glanced up at me, eyelashes half mast, one hand reaching for my hard cock. The sight of her, with that bed-tousled hair and those sleepy eyes nearly made me come right then. “Mmm?”
I rallied, trying to regain what little reason I had left within me. “Who sent you?”
Surprise, then fear flickered in her eyes. A strand of hair fell across her face, and she leaned down to take me into her mouth.
“Eve.” I grabbed her bare shoulder.
“Let me please you,” she pleaded, reaching out to trace the slit on my head with her tongue.
My eyes rolled back in my head at the exquisite feeling, but I wouldn’t be put off. “Eve.”
“Let’s talk later.” She wriggled from my grip on her shoulder to engulf me.
I let out a strangled groan. How I wanted the wet heat of her mouth, welcoming me and swallowing me more than almost anything. But that fear in her eyes evaporated my ardor. I wrenched free of her grasp even though it pained me to leave her.
She stared up at me in shock. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I said grumpily, not used to cutting off my own climax. “You tell me.”
Eve swallowed. She lay a hand on my upper thigh.
