Chapter 20

Ivy

I pretend to be asleep when Atlas untangles our limbs and slips from the bed we've been sharing for the last two weeks. I miss his touch, his warmth, the empty space next to me glaringly empty. He hesitates, and I feel his gaze on me before he gets up. My skin heats, cognizant of the connection slipping into the power we share, which somehow heightens every sensation.

It's addicting.

He gets up and I watch him, admiring him as he disappears into the bathroom.

When the door closes, I scramble out of bed, and slide into a maxi skirt, which isn't very useful for this endeavor, but I know I don't have time to be choosy, and it's still by the bed where Atlas stripped it off the night before. I find the white t-shirt, throw it on and sneak from the room. I have powers now, and I suppress a giggle to make sure he doesn't hear me. I'm hoping he'll be up for a game.

We've been practicing, and Atlas has been teaching me how to fight, how to use my powers to defend and protect.

"In case I'm not with you," he said.

Today, I'm ready to tell him how I feel, that I want to stay, that I can't imagine my life anymore without him in it. I thought all I wanted was to rely on myself, to get my sister and figure out a way to make it through the world together. Only in life—especially this one—it seems an impossibility. Getting through isn't really living. I can be strong, I've realized, and still have people I can count on. Like Atlas.

And my feelings for him haven't gone away. Instead, they've only gotten stronger.

Ivy? Where are you?Atlas's voice slides through our link into my head. Still unnerving but oh so useful.

You have to come and find me,I say, hoping he can feel the promise attached to those words.

Oh. Really?I can hear his grin. And what do I get if I find you?

A prize.

Do I get any hints?

I laugh. Nope.

You're outside.

Warm, I tell him.

I'm already partially across the open field, the skirt held up to free my legs, and I'm running. I'm so fast now, but Atlas has wings, which makes him even faster.

I see you, his voice says. Run harder little calix.

I laugh but avoid looking over my shoulder, knowing it will slow me down. The tree line is ahead, which is what I'm going for, knowing I can lose him in the trees—his wingspan is too wide to fly inside the woods. As I run, my muscles and lungs barely feel the exertion. It's glorious. But before I can glide between the trees, Atlas's arms wrap around my waist, and he pulls up, climbing higher into the sky.

I shriek with joy. Hot! Scalding, I shout down the link, still laughing out loud.

"I won," he says in my ear. "I've got you." And I know he isn't talking about our game.

We fly. Atlas skims the tops of the trees, swoops low over the river and nearly careens into the waterfall, laughing when I scream and flinch. Then we soar over the Hallowed valley, until we come to a beautiful plateau overlooking the valley in its entirety and land. I can see Hallowed, a speck in the distance.

"Oh my…" I breathe, tightening my hold on Atlas, my back to his front as we look out over the landscape. "It's so beautiful."

"This is where I want to build my house someday," he says, quietly. "For my family."

"It's perfect," I say, then try to imagine him here with another lover, sharing a family that isn't with me, and it fills my chest with a bitter, jealous, rage. Telling. I turn in his embrace to face him.

He wraps us both in his wings. They block out all the sound beyond, cocooning us in a place for us alone. "You're perfect," he says.

"I'm not." I grin at him.

"For me." He leans forward and kisses me.

I get lost in that kiss, in the emotion of it. It's a kiss filled with promises. Promises of what a future might hold. Of a house on this hill and the laughter shared with one another. Of fights and making up, of children and grandchildren, of a real home where we are together through it all. Of staying. It fills me up until I feel I might overflow with all that feeling.

I pull away, gasping.

"What's my prize?" he asks. "Since I won?"

"All this talk of homes and families… that kiss… I am so wet." I smile at him.

"That's certainly a prize." He grins and reaches down to lift my skirt.

I grasp his hand before he can. "It's only fair that I offer you a reward since you won. Fair and square," I say, then kneel, looking up at him with a mischievous smile.

His cock thickens and he licks his lips. "Damn, Ivy," he says, but then kneels with me, growling as he pulls me closer by my hips.

"What are you doing?" I ask. "I planned on giving you the most incredible blow job you've ever had."

"I want to be in you when we come. Clothes." he says, yanking on my shirt.

"This seems more like a reward for me," I tease.

"Oh. I'm rewarded. Believe me." When he realizes I'm not wearing a bra, he hesitates a moment, his eyes jumping up to mine with surprise. "Oh fuck, Ivy. What are you doing to me?" He attacks my tits with his hands and mouth, kneading, licking, sucking, biting.

"You should see what else I'm not wearing," I whisper in his ear.

He pushes me back into the grass, and pulls at my skirt, pushing it up over my thighs. When he meets no lacy resistance, he lifts my skirt to look. "No panties? You ran across the field with no panties?"

I laugh. "Do you feel rewarded?"

"I want you, Ivy," he says, unbuckling his belt and sliding his pants down to free his cock. "All of you."

"You have me," I say, though I'm not sure he understands how much I mean that yet.

He drags me closer by hips, spreading my legs and thrusts into me.

"Oh fuck," I gasp, grabbing hold of one of his arms, his back, his hip. "You like it."

"I like it." He pulls out and then pushes back in.

I groan, grabbing hold of his ass under the jeans he's still wearing.

"I like you." He pulls me up to sit on his lap, my knees on either side of his hips, and with his hands helps me ride him. One of his hands pushes up my shirt, holding it at my throat so he can see my tits bounce as I work my hips, thrusting against him, so I can feel him, my clit engaged in all the sensations. It's hot, wanton, perfect. Our mingled sounds—gasps, grunts, cries, growls—are primordial. An origin. I rock against him, lift and sink back onto him, driving us both toward that precipice.

"You've got me crazy, beautiful." Atlas changes our position, sliding me onto my back once more, but instead of thrusting into me, he sinks lower to undo me with his mouth. I cry out, my hands in his hair holding him hostage against me. "Yes," I pant. "Make me come," I beg.

"Count on it," he growls against me, his tongue doing gorgeous, slippery things.

And it doesn't take very long before I'm screaming his name. "I'm coming. Oh fuck. Yes! Yes!" And I arch against his mouth, releasing all that pent of energy that's built, only this time there's a commitment in it. A promise.

And he pushes into me once more, kissing me.

I taste my pleasure on his tongue, gasping at the sensation of his cock inside me, of our joining.

"Atlas. Atlas," I chant. I want to say the words, but they're stuck, locked behind my fear, and suddenly tears fill my eyes as I realize what I would lose if I walked away, what I could have lost in Onyx City. "I was afraid—" I gasp.

It takes a moment for my words to register, but when they do, Atlas stills, looking down at me. "Ivy? Of what?"

I frame his face with my hands as the tears slip from my eyes, tracking down the sides of my face to my ears. "Of not seeing you again. Of being alone… without you. And then you were there."

"I will always be there." He meets my mouth for a devastating kiss filled with emotion, and though we are still joined, Atlas remains still, content to be inside me.

The kiss fills everything, the cup overflowing. It seems ridiculous to think what we could be in love after so little time, but I realize that doesn't mean it can't be true. I love being near him. I love seeing his face in the morning. I love when he smiles and the way he teases me. The way he fucks me and makes me pay for being a brat. I love how safe he makes me feel no matter what. My tongue dances with his, his cock still deep inside me.

I tilt my hips, inviting him to continue. "I like you, a lot." I say, still avoiding what I know I need to tell him. I'm fighting with those words. Fighting that they could be true after so little time.

"I more than fucking like you," he says against my mouth. He rises over me, pushing into me, grinding his hips into mine, but his eyes remain connected to mine.

That addicting feeling builds again, drawing up my insides into an explosion. I arch my back, lost to the sensations, to all the emotion coursing through me. The power heating everything up between us. "Don't stop," I whimper. "Never stop." And I know I'm imploring him to never stop loving me.

He loses any semblance of a rhythm, grabbing hold of my hips and driving into me. We've become just bodies, breaths, and needs wrapped up in our cocoon. I'm moaning now, sure that I've frightened the birds with my noise but disconnected from it.

"Ivy. I'm going to…"

"Yes! Yes!" And my orgasm rips through me, tightening my body. I cry out at the same time Atlas grunts through his own. Unable to go through it alone, I grab hold of him, pulling him into my arms as we quiver with our mutual destruction. Eventually, what's left behind is our boneless bodies, content and breathing together in the grass of Hallowed ground.

After I've caught my breath, I find the bravery to say, "Like doesn't seem like the right description."

Atlas lifts his head, his hair falling forward. "What? What are you saying?" His dark eyes search mine.

I slide my hands through his hair, pushing it back so I can see his eyes. "I love you."

A smile blooms on his face. "What?"

"I know it seems fast," I say, my eyes skittering away.

But he doesn't let me finish the thought. He just kisses me, worships me with his body, and when I'm thoroughly kissed, he pulls away and says, "Stay here with me. Be mine."

With my hands still holding his face between my palms, I smile. "I'll stay, because you're mine."