Page 42 of Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension #6)

All good things know a proper time of fulfillment.

— Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth

Several hours later, Grace awoke to a strange sensation that she couldn’t place at first: a kind of rumbling. She thought, Tank, maybe? But as she came more fully awake, she realized that Leto was snoring, his head facedown on his pillow.

She smiled and rubbed his shoulder gently. How normal this seemed.

The snoring jerked to a stop, and he lifted his head. He blinked a couple of times, then rubbed his face with both hands. “I couldn’t breathe. I was dreaming I was flying way too high and there wasn’t enough oxygen.” His eyes rolled as he turned to look at her. He blinked some more.

She continued to rub his shoulder slowly back and forth. “I’m not surprised. I think you were suffocating against your pillow.”

He dropped his head back down on the pillow. He chuckled, shifting to look up at her. “I sure hope I wasn’t snoring.”

“Not at all.” She didn’t mind lying.

The wrinkle between his brows relaxed. “That would be wretched, indeed. Nothing so unromantic as a loud snore. But I must say, you’re a terrible liar.”

She chuckled, stretched, and turned to look out the back window. Dawn had broken. “I always forget how high up in the foothills of the White Tank Mountains Antony’s villa is. I can see a lot of the peaks from here. Oh, look, there’s a deer on the lawn. A doe.”

Leto shifted on his side. Because of the breh -bond, she could feel the sheet tug at his legs until he kicked the tangle away. He moved closer and stretched out beside her. He draped his arm over her stomach.

His forest scent drifted up and teased her nostrils. Desire, always so close to the surface because of the breh-hedden, swirled through her body.

“Meadow,” he whispered. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then her throat, and moved lower to her breasts.

She didn’t protest when he pushed the sheet to her waist and began to feast. It was so strange to experience what he felt, just how soft her breast was against his lips, and the feel of her hardening nipple when he began to suckle.

All the dual sensations increased her need.

With one hand she held on to the headboard. She used the other to pet his head. He suckled her breast, tugging on the nipple. His hands pushed at both breasts. His shoulders hunched. God, I love feeling what this feels like to you.

“I know what you mean.” She drifted her hand down the back of his head, over his long hair, the exposed and always sensitive wing-locks.

She slid the tips of her fingernails over a lock, and he writhed. She did, too, because she could experience what that felt like. She added just a little pressure, and he sucked harder on her breast.

I can feel the sensation of my mouth on your breast, what it feels like to you, he sent. One more suck and she clenched.

Experiencing both at the same time brought desire rushing, but she didn’t want to rush. So she worked at blocking his experiences, which helped her to settle down a little.

But an idea slipped through her mind, one she couldn’t resist. “Leto, there’s something I want to do to you.”

That got his attention, and he popped off her breast, looking up at her. He didn’t smile, though. Instead, a beautiful dark glitter filled his blue eyes. “Anything,” he said, his voice as low as she’d ever heard it.

She smiled and pinched his wing-lock. His body writhed beneath hers. Wing-locks were extremely sensitive, and the act of mounting wings was very close to sexual release.

“On your stomach,” she said.

He groaned as he shifted to lie down beside her. He pushed the pillows out of the way.

“And now, I need your beast.” She kissed his shoulder. “Will you give me your beast?”

“You want my beast? As in, you want me to change into the larger version of myself.”

She sighed deeply. “Yes.” The word left her with a soft rush of air. “I mean, if you want to. Do you want to?”

He groaned. “If you want me to, God, yes.”

She felt him take a couple of deep breaths. She could feel the vibration slide down one of his legs, then the other.

When his muscles began to enlarge everywhere, she sat back on her heels and watched the transformation.

Her lips parted. Her breaths grew uneven.

She realized that this was pure sex to her, that he grew, got bigger, became more of what he already was.

Only instead of just his cock growing, his entire body grew, becoming more heavily muscled and gaining a couple of inches in height.

Meadow, Grace. Does this turn you on?

More than you will ever know.

I don’t know if that’s true, because I can feel all your responses. He groaned again.

She put her lips on his shoulder, kissing him softly, moving back and forth over his skin. She could feel the muscles swelling. A soft vibration passed through her.

He hissed softly. “Your scent.”

“Your skin, your muscles.” She slid her hand from the inside of his elbow up his arm slowly.

Chuffs left his throat, and she shivered. Her fingers touched more swelling flesh. She overlaid his bicep with her hand and licked his shoulder as everything beneath her continued to grow, shift, change, become larger.

She loved it. The feel of all this movement and energy beneath her hands and her mouth. His skin was hot. She licked. All that warmth and flavor, of Leto tasting like the forest, sent ripples down her body, little waves lapping at the shore, teasing her, tempting her.

He trembled.

“What’s wrong?” She licked again.

I want—

She cut him off. “Use your words, Leto. I need to hear your voice in this state. It’s much deeper, sexier. It gives me a thrill.”

“I want to flip you over, throw you on your back.”

She massaged the growing bicep. “I know. Don’t care. You have to do as I say, at least for now.”

A small piece of laughter, like it had broken off from the rest, barked from his throat. He sighed.

His shoulder pushed at her lips, dragging away from her. She opened her eyes. Leto was getting taller. She licked down his arm and nursed on his bicep. He grunted. She knew this was torture. Again, she didn’t care.

This was her turn.

She left his bicep, then, using both hands, she began at the top of his back and slowly descended, stroking each weeping wing-lock, taking all that moisture with her, down and down to his waist until her hands were sopping.

He gave a shout and whirled to face her. But she moved with her newly acquired speed and was fifteen feet away, at the door of the bedroom. He was off the bed before she could blink, but she held up one hand and he stopped.

“What are you doing to me?” His voice was so low, so resonant, she found it hard to remain where she was. “Let me come to you.”

She wept from between her legs. She wanted to run to him, throw her arms around him, and sink herself on what was very hard and very big.

Her hands were dripping with the moisture from his wing-locks. The scent tempted her. With one hand held out to him to keep him away, she lifted the other to her lips. She settled her gaze on him and licked her palm.

The flavor seemed to reach inside her and give a hard tug. “Oh, Leto, you taste of heaven to me.”

He palmed his erection and slowly stroked himself. She could feel what his hand felt like touching his cock, and her body clenched with need.

Her gaze fell to what belonged only to her, and her lips parted as she dragged air into her lungs. She put her moist hands on her breasts. Her nipples drew into hard beads. She drifted her hands lower over her sensitive navel, and lower still.

His hand moved faster as she descended.

“Please, let me come to you,” he said, his gaze almost frantic.

She didn’t answer him. She couldn’t. She was enjoying this too much, having this kind of control over him. She felt heady as her fingers slid into her pubic hair and pushed. The sensation was delightful.

He closed his eyes and groaned. “I can feel what that’s like for you, the pressure of your fingers, the pleasure it gives you.” He was close.

She had an idea. With a burst of speed, she was on her knees in front of him and her lips closed around the crown of his cock.

He gave a strangled cry. His hands suddenly on her head, he pushed his cock into her mouth. She took him as deep as she could. Using both her hands, she sucked and stroked him at the same time.

Leto, how wonderful my mouth feels to you.

“I can’t wait.”

Let it all go, Leto. Give me what you’ve got.

His body jerked forward as he began to pulse. She kept stroking and stroking. His cock released into her, and she drank what tasted of the forest and of Leto. She drank and drank.

But she knew him and she knew that he wasn’t done, even when his movements slowed and he pulled out of her mouth.

“You’re glowing,” he said.

She smiled up at him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I mean your skin. You’re glowing. You have a blue aura.”

She rose slowly to her feet and looked at her arm. She laughed. “So I am. It’s almost iridescent.”

He dipped down and kissed her, driving his tongue deep. Her hands found a pair of biceps that were huge. I taste myself in you.

It’s so beautiful, making love like this.

And I’m not repulsive to you in this state?

Sexy, Leto. You’re sexy. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and his heavy arms embraced her, pulling her off her feet and against him.

She worked her arms to slide them around his neck and held him fast. Your hair is moving over my arms. Even his hair was different.

He pulled back and met her gaze. His eyes were so blue, so intense, his black lashes thick.

His cheeks were more prominent in this state, and as he held her dangling above the floor, she pressed her forearms into his shoulders to give herself a little leverage.

She lifted up just enough to run her tongue across the increased line of his cheek. “You’re bigger everywhere.”

She dropped down that couple of inches and saw that he was smiling, a crooked smile. “Everywhere?”