CHAPTER 21

I woke, bolting upright, my heart slamming in my chest like a hammer on an anvil. Not even my hand pressed above it could still the discomfort.

The room was cold and concealed in darkness. No longer did the fire glow proudly. Now it was nothing but cinders across the room's floor. And all I could see was the flashing of claws and yellow-stained teeth beneath empty, endless eyes.

"Robin. You are okay." Erix sat up beside me, hand rubbing my back in wide circles. "It was just a dream. A nightmare. I've got you."

My mouth was dry as I searched the room for the beasts of my nightmare. It took a moment to realise that I'd left the horror in sleep. The gryvern, no matter how real they felt, were not in his room.

Confusion and fear danced in a mixture that put a horrific taste in my mind.

I buried my face in my hands, trying to focus on calming my breathing.

"Talk to me," Erix said, voice rough from sleep. "Tell me what haunts you. Let me help banish it."

I couldn't put it into words. I feared that speaking the nightmare aloud would only make it real again.

My words were muffled as I spoke into my palms. "I'm fine. I just need a moment."

"Take your time. I am not going anywhere."

I was warm, even without the fire beside me. My skin itched beneath the tunic, my forehead damp with sweat. It was close to impossible to latch onto what was real and what was not. So I did what I always had after such intense dreams.

I breathed. In and out, slow, deep inhales to blow the beast of the memory from my body and mind.

Erix's fingers never left my back. He was an anchor, as my anxiety wrestled to keep control. He simply held his hand upon me, feeling the rise and fall of my curved back. It made focusing on calming my breathing easier to manage.

Steeling myself enough to look at him, I peeled my face from my hands and was greeted by a look of pure concern.

"I am sorry if I woke you," I said, voice hoarse with sleep.

Erix's expression was as calm as a lake in spring. The line of his full lips was pulled tight, his eyes heavy with sleep but alive with concern. Completely ignoring my apology, he leaned closer to me, muscles in his taut stomach rippling. His hand dropped from my back and cupped the side of my face, the other joining on the opposite side. "I have got you. Do not concern yourself with how I am feeling right now. Just focus on detaching yourself from whatever visions have haunted you."

His voice was no more than a whisper. Even the hissing of cinders across the stone-slabbed floor demanded more attention than Erix.

In the dim light, I could see every detail of his face. How the faint shadow of a beard connected seamlessly with the short cut of his mousy hair. The silver of an old scar that had nicked his top lip was so pale that it stood out only when he held an expression of such intensity. And from the flickering of his storm-grey gaze, I knew he studied me equally. His eyes traced my body, risking only for a moment to break away from my own gaze.

It could've been my exhaustion from the interrupted sleep or the disorientation the nightmare inflicted on my mind, but a truth seemed to escape my mouth before I had a chance to claw it back. "How is it that I feel so safe every time you touch me?"

Erix's eyes glowed from within, alight as though a bolt of lightning struck in the heavy clouds within. "It is my job."

"Is that all it is – I am to you?" I asked, melting into his touch. "A job?"

Erix released a long sigh, hands moving in tandem from my cheeks to the back of my head. His fingers brushed back the dark strands of my hair, so not a single one obscured my view of him. "No, little bird. You are more than that. Far more."

"Then tell me." Distract me. From my thoughts, from the nightmare, from the responsibility that would return to my shoulders when morning came. "I want to know what goes through that mind of yours when you look at me."

"I am not one for words," Erix warned, teeth tugging on his lower lip. "I've never been good with them, so I fear I might answer and say the wrong thing."

"It's okay," I replied, warmth spreading in my chest. "I'm shit at talking as well. I've always been better showing how I feel with… actions."

I regretted my reply for only a second, until Erix's eyes widened in realisation.

My reply was an acceptance of the invitation that'd silently been presented to me. Erix knew it, his pink tongue escaping and trailing his lower lip, leaving a glistening path across it. I lifted a hand, forefinger touching down upon his hard chest first. My hand shook slightly, stilling only when my finger left a print on his skin. I'd lain with men before, enough to count on one hand. But I was left with nothing more than a bad taste in my mouth at their memory.

But Erix was different, and deep down, I'd longed to explore his touch before I actually realised myself. And that was what I needed now. Him. The thought was selfish, I knew that, but as my hand splayed and his muscles tensed in reaction, I knew what was to come.

"If we do this, little bird," Erix started, looking down where my hand pressed against him. "I do not think I will be able to stop myself."

My mouth watered at his truth. I stared at him, deep in his eyes, and replied, "I have not asked for restraint. All I want is for you to do what it is you want to. Be selfish, Erix. That is a command."

"Are you certain that is what you want from me?" He leaned forward almost excitedly.

I chuckled to myself, already letting go of every other thought but him . "Take my clothes off."

Erix's hold on the back of my head stilled. "I will take that as a yes."

Not another moment was wasted. Erix's hungry hands reached for the bottom of my tunic and lifted it. I shivered as his knuckles brushed the bare skin of my stomach. The cold air of the room was welcome as it washed over my skin, the tunic now discarded upon the bedroom floor among the mounds of other forgotten items.

I was on my knees on the bed, fingers fumbling with the buttons of my trousers. Erix watched me, leaning upon his arms. There were no words to share, but urgency screamed in the air between us, so thick it made my hands shiver with anticipation. There was no room for comments or remarks, only his silent attention on me as though I was a trophy of gold that was close to his grasp.

Erix must've grown tired of his hesitancy, because his hands overtook mine, tugging with ease until the buttons popped freely. We shared a laugh as I fell back onto the bed, legs raised as Erix guided the trousers from me, exposing the bare skin of my legs.

It was my time to watch him. It seemed as though his stare didn't miss a single detail. He drank me in, brows furrowed as he discarded my trousers without thought.

Erix placed two fingers on my calf, running them upwards slowly. Each inch he grew closer to my groin sent a buzz through my blood. "Have you ever done this before?"

His question was painfully clear.

I nodded, holding his gaze as it found my eyes once again. "I have experience, if that answers your question sufficiently"

"It does." Erix released a tempered breath, mouth parting into a grin. "Although. forgive my brash nature, but no experience will prepare you for me, little bird."

His comment didn't unnerve me. Far from it. An explosion of euphoric thrill filled my body, as if I was made up of it rather than muscle and bone.

I lay still as his touch tickled over the bulge in my briefs, coming to stop over the hard layer of my lower stomach. For a moment, I believed his hand would linger; but when it didn't, a small twinge of disappointment struck.

"I've heard that before," I said. "And every time, I've come away disappointed. What makes you think you will be any different to the others, Erix?"

He lowered himself down upon me, so close I could almost taste the sharp tang of sweat that laced his skin. "I will show you."

"Then do it. Show me…" was all I could muster as a reply when his lips pressed down upon mine.

This connection was soft. My eyes closed as if by instinct, not wanting that sense to distract me from the pure explosion of his physical touch. I didn't need to see him to enjoy him.

His taste, the brush of his tongue, the nip of his teeth.

I loved every bit of it.

My hands reached up, cupping the sides of his face. I was briefly aware of his closed fists propping him up above me, pressed onto either side of the mattress, entrapping me in a cage of his flesh.

It began with just our lips, moving in synchronicity, like a lullaby of waves against sand. Erix moved, and I followed, tugged by his strong current of desire. Then our lips parted further, allowing our tongues to join the dance.

I could taste him, sweet like peaches glazed in honey, but then I would breathe in and smell burning fire and the undertones of spiced cinnamon. He was a glory of any sense I had. Erix fulfilled me in more ways than I could even begin to comprehend.

This was what I desired. A distraction unmatched. The only thought I could grasp onto was him . How his tongue moved with trained and experienced flicks, enough yet not too much. I noticed how his tensed arms shook as he held himself up above me, his broad shoulders a layer of protection from the shadows beyond him.

And I wanted more .

I rocked upwards, breaking the kiss. Erix didn't resist as I urged him onto his back beside me, my hands so small and smooth against the prickle of his defined chest. His lips were plump and red, the skin around them raw and wet.

"Have you had enough already?" he asked, voice crackling like flames across dry wood.

"Not yet," I muttered, the bed creaking as I moved onto my knees. Erix must have known what was to come as he willingly allowed me access to him, lifting his arms and resting his head in his hands behind him. "Unless you would prefer to stop me?"

"I do not think I have the ability to use that word with you, little bird. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not ever."

My heart seemed to spin for a moment, catching me off guard. "Ever is a long time."

"You are right, it is," he replied.

I wanted to scold him for a moment, to voice that this was a distraction and for him not to put strange and unseen thoughts in my head. So, I punished him in the only way I knew how.

With my mouth.

Tease him .

Erix's stomach muscles tensed as my eyes roved over him; it seemed his skin felt the very path of my gaze.

The size of a partner never bothered me, truly. It was usually how they used their length that mattered. But unravelling what was beneath a man's trousers always seemed like part of the fun, a mystery that I enjoyed unveiling. And as my eyes found the hard outline of Erix's cock – tucked up into the buttoned waist of his under shorts – I knew this was yet another reason as to why Erix deserved my attention.

Erix's confidence had certainly suggested he was well… endowed. But actually seeing his length peeking out the top of his waistband confirmed my suspicions.

The insides of my cheeks pricked with spit, my tongue desperation for connection.

My hand wasted not another moment in reaching beneath the material of his briefs. My grip met with long, thick and hard warmth. I took hold of Erix, spurring a pleasured sigh followed by the suck of tongue against teeth; in my hold, his cock seemed to flinch with its own excitement.

I shifted into a better position, my head further down his body. It took little effort to wriggle the briefs down his thick thighs, exposing every inch of him, and there was much to expose.

Dropping his cock, I let it smack down upon his hard-lined stomach, the tip reaching as far as his belly button, resting just above it. Erix flinched, but not from pain, more in disappointment that I'd released him. But from my angle, a bubble of nerves mixed with the excitement of what was to come sighed from his parted mouth.

Erix was undoubtedly the largest I'd been with, and I barely believed we were both prepared for what was to come. Yet the thought didn't deter me from lowering my mouth to the base of his cock and pressing my tongue to the firmness of his skin.

Erix exhaled a single breath as I laced my tongue from his base, all the way upwards, stopping only to inhale when my lips fit over the perfect curve of his tip. Then I buried him deep in my wet mouth, sparing not an inch.

My jaw ached within moments. Erix was far more than a mouthful, but in the same sense, he was a challenge. And I loved a challenge. Cautious to keep my teeth at bay and my tongue moving, I worked him up and down. Wrist following the dance of my jaw. I felt powerful as he wriggled beneath my touch. Erix didn't care for silence, instead vocalising his enjoyment in groans and moans that lit the night.

"Just your mouth…" he commanded through heavy breaths. The deep rattling of his voice made a moan escape from me.

I took my hand away, looking up at him, my lips glistening with spittle as I removed his length from my mouth. "Who are you to make commands when my teeth are so close to causing discomfort?"

His gaze was so intense that it could have sparked the flames back in the dead fire behind us. "No. Hands." A grin etched across his face. "I am not ready to finish just yet."

But he was close, and that made me smile. Truthfully, I could taste the kiss of his seed lathering my tongue.

He was delicious in every sense of the word.

But I did as Erix wished, thankful for his authority as it only motivated me to perform for him. His cock slipped back between my lips, my hands gripping onto his stomach to keep them from wandering back downwards. I cared little for the ache in my neck, jaw and back, the feeling completely forgotten when a rough hand gripped the hairs at the back of my head and kept up the momentum of my motion.

I tasted his want to release. It trickled into my mouth, sweet and dangerous, urged on by his quicker, more rushed guidance and peaking groans of pleasure.

All of a sudden, it came to a stop.

Erix reached down for me, fingers tangling in my hair, his other hand pulling his cock from my mouth. He urged me up to greet him, tugging at my hair to control me. Our mouths crashed together, it was not soft this time but deep and hard. I latched my teeth onto his lower lip and bit down to assert my dominance, which lasted no time at all, for Erix growled wildly, pushing me down until I was straddled across his lap.

His hips rocked beneath me, the hard, wet rock of flesh rubbing against my behind. I felt it soak into the material of my briefs as he held me down upon him.

Erix's two strong hands gripped either side of my arse and squeezed, pulling them apart to let the outline of his cock slip between. I bit down on his lip again in response, his mouth not once pulling away from mine. Even when he spoke, it was through the muffled press of our lips.

"I want to fuck you."

"You do?" A flutter of wings filled my chest. "As if that isn't obvious."

"Oh, I do." He continued rocking beneath me, eyes hungry. "I want to fuck you. To make you feel every inch of what I can offer."

Distract me.

Nerves bubbled in my chest and popped one by one as we lost each other in another passionate kiss.

Not for anything but his size and the lack of less natural lubricant. I couldn't imagine he had prepared a vial for the journey, nor that we would find any in this ruined home.

"Then what is stopping you?" I told him, breaking away breathlessly.

"You. You are so fucking beautiful, I fear hurting you. To end this quickly. When you looked up at me with those midnight, endless eyes, I could have filled your mouth. I do not think I will last long… but I want it. I want you."

For a moment, I faltered, unable to hold his gaze for a moment, fearful I would reveal my deepest and darkest of secrets. "Have me. Take me, Erix."

"I do enjoy when you give me commands," Erix said, proving himself as his cock pressed harder into my flesh. "I want you, little bird, but what do you want?""

"I want you," I replied, mouth salivating.

"Are you sure?" Erix gained closer, his mouth close to grazing skin. "Do you want me, or what I can offer you?"

His questions caught me off guard, but I answered it honestly anyway. There was no point in skirting around the truth now.

"Both," I admitted. "I want it all."

For a moment, I thought I'd ruined it. Exposing the truth felt easy with him. And my reply was the truth. I wanted both. A distraction from reality, but in the form of him. And only him.

Erix's entire demeanour softened. Effortlessly he laid me upon my back, tugging my briefs off without dropping my gaze. "Then you can have it. All of it. All of me."

My breath caught in my throat, the sound delicate even to my own ears.

Everything Erix did was practised and thoughtful. He pulled me forward and raised my legs upwards. I watched, heart beating rapidly, as he raised his hand to his mouth and spat; it glistened off his fingertips, caught only for a moment before he moved his hand back down towards his cock.

"If it hurts, I stop." His hand moved back up towards his mouth again, spitting more upon his fingers. "I follow your lead."

It took a few more cupped fingers of saliva to coat himself completely.

"I trust you." My stomach jolted with a thrill, like a bolt of lightning through darkened skies.

Erix spat upon his fingers again, but this time he didn't reach down for his length. Instead, I tensed as fingers rubbed gently across my sensitive entrance. I was like clay beneath his touch, being moulded without complaint as he rubbed his wetness across me.

I'd had sex without lubrication once before. It was rushed and foolish but thrilling all the same. However, the partner I'd claimed for one night and one night only was no match to Erix.

This would be different.

I focused on my breathing as Erix leaned forward over me. He bent down, nuzzling his face into my neck, where his mouth began to nip and suck at the skin. It took my mind off his next move.

I groaned in delight and surprise as his girth pressed against my sensitive entrance and pushed inside. The feeling was a spreading of warmth that moved through each cheek and relaxed my back. I focused on breathing, expecting the sharp discomfort of pain to follow. But it didn't. There was no pain, only pleasure, all the way until he pressed his hips right up against my arse, not a single inch of him left in the cold room.

"You're perfect," Erix breathed into my ear, breath tickling the hairs across my neck. "In every sense of the word."

I gripped onto his back, nails latching into skin, as though to stop him from leaving. My feet were numb with tingles that spread slowly up my legs. I wrapped those around him, too, held up by his hands. All the while, he did not move within me, just kept his length pressed deep inside.

"Do it," I begged as he still kissed deeply into the skin of my neck. "Fuck me, Erix."

I felt the shift of him only slightly, and that was enough for a gasp to erupt from my very soul.

"Forgive me," he said, coming up for breath.

I'd no chance to ask why he wanted my forgiveness. Not when he began to thrust. His strides were long and desperate, as though he pulled himself to an inch of leaving me before pushing back in with force that made words impossible to conjure.

Erix fucked me in all senses of the word. It was bliss incarnate.

Every now and then, he'd slow, looking down at his cock as though it was a prize of glory. He'd spit, letting the lathering fall from his mouth and onto his shaft.

Then Erix would begin again.

Droplets of sweat fell upon me like spring rain. Some trailed down the tip of his broad nose before falling, others laced the entirety of his body, covering old scars from battles long gone and the fresh cuts left over from the gryvern. Although I did little but lie there and let him devour me, my skin dampened too.

Erix had reached for my cock and worked away at it in rhythm with his fucking. It was as though he knew I was ready as much as I could sense he was close.

Storm-grey eyes rolled into the back of his head as his breathing laboured. He snapped his head back, groaning loudly to any god listening, as though they watched down above us, witnessing his grand climax.

I found mine at the same time. We shared the moment. I'd never experienced it before, sometimes leaving unfinished and disappointed. But now, here in this forgotten room, in a forgotten place, we both finished as one.

Silver, cloudy liquid splashed upon my tensed stomach as Erix allowed his to fill me within. It was impossible to know who made what sound as our bodies tensed and shivered.

The feeling was pure paradise and washed through me in a tidal wave that I almost drowned within.

Erix slowed his movements as my body grew sensitive suddenly. When he pulled himself from me, the feeling of his phantom touch lingered long after he lay down beside me, breathless.

"You are incredible," I admitted, eyes growing heavy. " That was incredible."

A hand reached for mine, fingers linking with my own where we lay. "I believe that title was made for you, little bird. Not me." I didn't open my eyes as Erix leaned over and placed one last paused kiss upon my lips. He pulled away, hovering above me by inches. "There are not enough words for me to describe you by," he admitted. "Believe that."

I smiled, squinting to see his colour-blushed face, his eyes fixed to me as though he dared not look elsewhere. "Do you see something of interest?"

"You." My chest blossomed like a rose in summer, heart unfurling petal by petal. "I see you."

His thumb picked up a droplet of sweat that rolled down my cheek. For the first time, I felt a strange sense of embarrassment, as though the realisation of what I had shared and who I had shared it with came crashing down upon me.

I looked down, staring at his length which rested across his lap.

"We should sleep now," Erix said through a yawn.

I felt tiredness too, but the flash of a gryvern filled my mind in warning. "What if I'm not brave enough to close my eyes again?"

"You are brave and know that I will be here to distract you from your next night terror." Erix leaned in, pressing his forehead to my skin. "In a twisted way, I hope you have another. Just so I can do that to you over and over, again and again."