18. Blaze

I'd snuck up to the castle because I'd been so worried about Alfie. I hadn't been able to get inside, though. There were thick layers of protections all around it, barbed spells that kept me out and kept Alfie inside. Those spells were new and they'd been building up over the past few weeks, since Alfie had been hurt.

I hated thinking about that. When I imagined Alfie getting hurt, I felt the anger wash over me and the fear. I needed to check he was okay.

It was a miracle that nobody spotted me but I slunk around the edges of the castle, taking care not to disturb those spells that were wrapped around it. They weren't at all like the ones at the boundaries to the territory. The Guardian hadn't laid these.

I managed to spot Alfie once, standing between two women. They were looking out, scanning the room and the window for movement and I knew, even without being in there, that they were listening intently for any sound.

Alfie stood between them and he had his head lowered slightly. He might have looked bored to anyone who didn't know him but I knew him. I had seen that look before.

He was watching his bonds.

I tried to project my feelings through our bond so he would know I was alive and well. I wasn't sure how to do that, though, so essentially I concentrated on feeling safe and happy so that he would somehow feel it.

He looked up, straight out of the window.

I was small. I was hardly visible and I'd only be seen by somebody who knew I was there.

Alfie knew. He looked straight up at me without any hesitation. That bond, I guess.

We stared at each other for a long time and I felt better the longer I was there. I didn't know what the fuss was about but I did know that the Guardian was screeching, and that there had been several other dragons outside of the castle and those barbed-wire protections.

They'd flown off in different directions and another dragon had taken to the roof and was scanning the fields around us for movement.

Something bad must have happened. Yet Alfie was safe, and I just watched him until someone shuttered the window.

I snuck back to the little hut that Alfie had made into a home for me and waited. And waited.

The longer I was alone, the more my thoughts turned to flame. To being flame.

I spent more and more time as a little flicker atop the oil lamp. I couldn't help it. The longer I was away from Alfie, the less I felt connected to my body.

He had family all around him, people who loved him and wanted to protect him, and I had only myself. There was no need for me to exist in this physical body.

It became almost painful to be there, without my darling beside me. I had to slip into my flame form and linger in the middle of the lamp or I'd have burned fierce and broken through those barbed-wire spells just to reach Alfie again.

It didn't occur to me to leave. I didn't think I'd be able to do it. But it didn't occur to me to stay in my human form, either. I slipped into a state of merely existing and burned.

On the third night, I heard footsteps and recognised them as Alfie's straight away. I only just had time to stand up before the door burst open and Alfie came tumbling into the room, looking almost wild with his hair sticking up and his eyes on me. They shot straight to me and locked on mine, and I only caught a glimpse of their silver irises before Alfie was on me.

He gripped my arms tightly and I was shoved back against the wall. The hard thump of it winded me and I couldn't do anything for a second.

I felt Alfie's lips press against mine almost brutally and then his tongue slid inside my mouth and his lean body pressed mine back against the chilly wall and my body reacted with heat before I could consciously identify what was happening.

Alfie kissed me like his life depended on it.

I was the absolute centre of his world in that moment, and nothing existed except for the two of us and our passion.

My body burned hot. My tongue duelled with his and my hands came up to grip his hair. He gasped into my mouth but didn't pull away. That was all I needed to know.

This was different from our kisses before. I'd been easing him into it, not wanting to push him past his comfort. Now, though? It looked like we were done going slow.

I leaned into the kiss for a long time, letting Alfie pin me and rub against my body, leaving scorching trails wherever he put his hands. After several minutes, though, I realised that kissing was all we were doing. And grinding. He was rubbing his body against mine and it felt incredible but it wasn't quite enough.

I needed more.

Alfie needed more, too. It was in the desperation of his kiss, the way he gripped at me as though he could pull me right inside him, as though he could devour me completely if he just tried hard enough.

He wanted more; he just didn't know how to get it.

My sweet, na?ve little darling.

I was burning hot and I ached with desire. I felt suddenly more alive now than I ever had, certainly more alive than I'd been in three days. Using all my strength, I pushed Alfie back suddenly. I spun us so he was the one pressed against the wall. He was a bit bigger than me, but I managed it.

Once he was there, I went for his flies. My entire focus had narrowed down to one thing and one thing only: his dick.

I wanted the taste of his come in my mouth.

As soon as I got his dick free of his pants, I dropped to my knees and took it into my mouth. The bitter pre-come burst across my tongue and I sucked for all I was worth.

Alfie's hands were in my long hair, tangled and tugging at me. He made gasping, surprised noises in his throat that somehow were the most erotic sounds I'd ever heard. Alfie didn't hold anything back from me.

My own dick throbbed in time with my heartbeat, but I didn't have a spare hand to do anything about it. I was busy with Alfie's body. This was my chance to explore it and he was panting and allowing me access, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a little O of surprise.

He didn't last long. I'd barely got a rhythm going before Alfie babbled, "Ooh ooh ooh I'm- I'm- I'm—" and then he was coming.

I caught his come on my tongue, rolling his taste around my mouth. I'd known he would taste divine, and I was right. I sucked every drop from him and then looked up at my love as he leaned back against the wooden wall, totally spent.

At last, he swallowed, easing his throat, and then looked down to meet my eyes.

His voice was roughened and there was something growly lurking in it as he asked, "Can I do that to you?"

"You have to ask?"

We swapped places, smiling at each other like loons and somehow it was such a sweet moment that I wanted to preserve it forever.

I stood with my back against the wall, exactly where I'd been before. It was as though I'd shown him how to get what he wanted.

Alfie sank down to his knees and I had to bite back a whimper. He looked so good down there. Alfie had a clean-cut attractiveness that was unspoiled by greed or selfishness. He was pure.

As I looked down into his clear, silver eyes, I suddenly realised: I loved him.

I couldn't believe I hadn't articulated that to myself before. It was so obvious. I'd known it in my wick for ages, weeks even, but I'd never thought the word.

Just before I could say it, Alfie tore his eyes from mine. His attention dropped from my face to my dick.

I was okay with that.

It was obvious that my lover had never sucked cock before but he somehow managed to be perfect. First, he licked the head to lap up the big, pearly drop of pre-come. Then he opened his mouth and took me as deep inside as he could.

He tried to take too much and choked, but he didn't let up. He kept trying, taking me into his mouth and sucking and licking at me. I was going to tell him to take it slow but I only managed to open my mouth and moan at the sensations of him moving against my hard dick.

If Alfie hadn't lasted long, I went off in a hot second.

I didn't even get a chance to warn him. My voice had completely vanished and all I was capable of was feeling the heat of Alfie's mouth and my burning need. I came hard, pulsing into that sweet rosebud mouth and shouting out my release.

When I came down from my orgasm, Alfie's tongue lapped at my spent dick, making me shudder with pleasure and pain as he teased my over-sensitive flesh.

At last, he stopped, having lapped up every single drop of come. He looked up at me with such wonder in his eyes. And something else. Something else in his eyes that I'd never seen before.

It was a flash of fire. If ever there was something I could recognise, it was fire, and it was there, flickering in the depths of Alfie's silver irises. For a second, they seemed to glow yellow and gold, but then he blinked and they were back to being silver.

I managed to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

"Do you think you can make it to the chair?"

He turned his head to look at it, and then shrugged ruefully. "Maybe. My legs have gone all wobbly. Did you know you taste amazing? I didn't think semen would taste like that, but I liked it. You're very special, you know, Blaze. You're my- my favourite person."

He always hesitated when he said that, and I thought I knew why.

He meant it. He really, really meant it. But somehow it was inadequate.

Perhaps I should tell him that I loved him. Maybe that would help him articulate his feelings better, too. We were a right pair, each as clueless as the other.

I didn't have the breath to tell him right then, though. I barely managed to lean down and peck Alfie on the lips without collapsing because he'd sucked everything out of me.

Somehow, we made it across to the chair and Alfie sat in it and I crawled into his lap and curled up there.

"I didn't hurt you, did I, Blaze?"

I shook my head.

"I don't know what came over me. I just needed- I needed—"

If my sweet blabbermouth, Alfie, couldn't articulate what he wanted to say, something was wrong. He really needed me to help him make sense of it.

Only my passion had burned hot and used up all of my energy. I barely managed to mumble, "Love you, my darling,"

I had never felt safer than I did when I had Alfie's arms wrapped around me, and I slept – properly slept – for the first time in years.