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I nodded my head wildly and Reaper gently slid their hand past my stomach and encircled my wrist, lowering it beyond the nub to where I pulsed, clenching around nothing but desperate to be filled.

“Everyone’s body reacts differently. While this is not my preference, I think it just might be yours.” They drew two of my fingers together and aimed them at the opening and slowly pushed them in. Before they could reach all the way, they drew them out, then pushed in again, going deeper.

In and out, in and out. I followed their rhythm and worked my hips to meet my fingers, each time the heel of their palm met my sensitive pearl driving me feral with need.

“Reaper…” I slurred, head resting on their shoulder. “It’s so much.”

“Songbird. You are in Death’s realm—my realm—and you aremine.” They gripped my chin and pulled me into a brutal kiss, tongue curling in a way that had my fingers mimicking the motion, taking me to new heights. They pulled back, dragging their nose up my throat. “You will take your pleasure without shame or you won’t take it at all. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes!”

“Then fucking show me.”

Their words spurred on my final ascent, and I leapt off the edge into oblivion, crying out a chord I could not even begin to describe. It was pain, ecstasy, release rolled into one sound. The world was more vibrant than it ever had been and every part of me ignited.

“You wish to come again, Songbird?” The way Reaper could hear my thoughts and desires was both terrifying and a relief. “I love hearing your thoughts too, but I want you to use your voice. It has power, as do you.”

I inhaled deeply, mustering up the courage as I still caught my breath. “I brought myself pleasure as you commanded. Now bring me to my knees as you promised.” I rolled over, resting my chin between the swells of their breasts. “I wish to learn how to unravel you.”

“Very well.” Reaper kissed me and then helped us both out of the tub. Water sloshed onto the ground and my feathers shook, droplets spraying everywhere. When the plumes had shaken themselves dry, only beads of water slipping down my bare skin, I looked over to find Reaper standing by my fig tree. Their stare swirled with a ravenous hunger I was desperate to sate. Crooking a black-nailed finger, they pointed to the emerald patch of grass before them. “Crawl to me.”

I dropped one knee, then the other, pulling back onto my haunches. It felt good to do this, my instincts rising to the surface. Staying on my palms and the balls of my feet, I inched forward slowly, keeping my eyes on my compara, unsure whether I felt more like prey or predator.

With Reaper, I wanted to be both.

When I reached them, they hooked their finger under my chin and lifted me until I was up on my knees, my eyes level with the slip of skin that shown beneath their soaked top. Their nipples pressed through the fabric and I craved to run my finger over them, my tongue, to see what those pointed tips tasted and felt like.

Reaper reached across their side and unhooked the three straps holding their hooded top together, then they tugged it over their head, letting it fall to the ground with a wet splat. Not that I looked at where it was, I was too engrossed in looking atthem, taking in all the panes of their silky skin, the light brown nipples that would perfectly fit in my mouth, more delicious looking than any fig that hovered above.

“May I?” I asked, tentatively lifting a hand toward one of their breasts, waiting for confirmation.

Reaper took my hand, and then the other one, bringing them to their breasts, my palms pricked by the sharpened tips of their nipples, arousal pooling between my legs. Now that there was no bath, the damp slickness growing there was more apparent, but I refused to be embarrassed by it. They wanted me,allof me, but they did not want my shame. I imagined it like a tiny bird, flying away on the wind, leaving me alone with my compara.

I cupped Reaper’s breasts, thumbing over their nipples, then taking each one into my mouth and swirling my tongue, I memorized each breathy sound they made, trying to coax more of them forth. As I did, they groaned and reached between us to tug down their trousers. Soaked through, they stuck to their strong thighs, so I pulled back a moment, helping to drag them down the rest of the way, savoring every inch of skin and the flock of curls beckoning me.

Now I knew of pleasure and I wanted to give them that in return. Staring down at me, Reaper cradled my cheek with one hand, their other waved over themselves, releasing shadows from their palms. They hung over their hips and extended out into a long obsidian shaft. Wisps of shadow curled up from the base, twirling up its thick length.

“Eyes on me, Songbird,” Reaper said, with a snap of their fingers. They nodded down at the shadows. “Now lick.”

Without hesitation, I stuck out my tongue and flattened it against the shaft, my curiosity making me eager. The shadows were packed so tightly together it was solid, but where it swirled around, the texture was soft and forgiving, making me want toplay with it. I trailed it with the tip of my tongue all the way to the base.

“Fuck, you’re so sexy on your knees.” Reaper’s tone was powerful and sultry, encouraging me to drag my tongue in long languid strokes up and down their shadow-made shaft. Then I opened my mouth and encircled the tip, moving down until my nose bumped into the sensual curls nestled against their flesh. Pulling back a bit, I mimicked the motions they’d shown me earlier with my fingers, moving out and in with shallow motions, deepening them in between.

“I wonder how loud you’ll croon when I bury this deep inside of you,” Reaper said, curling their hips until the tip of their shadowy shaft hit the back of my throat. I relaxed into the sensation and swallowed around it. They groaned, threading their fingers into my hair and wrapping it around their fist, the other hand stroking up and down the column of my throat while I sucked greedily. Tears shimmered in my eyes, preening under Reaper’s heady praise and the intensity of their starlit stare. “You want that?”

Yes.

With one final thrust deep, I sputtered around Reaper’s shadows before they withdrew from me. Reaper scooped me up under my shoulders to help me up, then they spun me to face the tree. “Bend forward and steady yourself on the bark, Songbird.”

Scraping my nails into the tree trunk, I scooted my legs behind me until my back was arched, the air kissing my drenched center.

Reaper hovered over me, palm slipping up my thigh until their fingers swiped through my desire, making me shiver. “Gods, your body is so slick, so desperate to take me beneath the stars.”

“Please, Reaper,” I begged. I wanted nothing more than to feel that power, the one that had been thrust into me on myknees, somewhere even deeper inside of me. I wanted them everywhere, to be consumed by lust and joy and Reaper’s sensual shadows.

The tip of their length circled my opening before pressing in slowly, so slowly my body arched further, trying to take them in faster, desperate for friction. They eased in and out of me, making me whimper, swallowing my moans with their lips and teeth and tongue.

“Ready for more?” Reaper asked, reaching around me. I nodded, not sure whatmorethey could give me tonight but wanting it nonetheless.