Angela Knight - Over The Moon

Slowly, carefully, he brought up a hand to lay it over mine, to press my fingers even more into him so that my palm cradled his cheek and jaw. Turning his head ever so lightly back and forth, he rubbed himself against my hand. "I still feel that way. That it would almost be worth dying for if you touched me as you touched him. With care and compassion and kindness." With those words, Beldar laid himself bare, let me see him naked without his cheerful, blithe mask. As I gazed into his serious, beautiful green eyes, I did not know how to respond.

"If it does not work," Beldar said quietly. "If you cannot save me, then will you take me into yourself?"

I'd been reared among humans and had enough of their blood in me so that intimacy with a man was not something I shared lightly. A bond was forged between people who joined their bodies one with another. And I was possessive enough that I wanted to keep those that I claimed. But if Beldar was going to perish, then for that short period of time before he went, he would be mine in truth. Only mine. My touch would be the last he knew. My kiss, the last to touch his lips.

"Yes," I said, in a husky rasp. "If it does not work… then yes."

Mixed emotions flurried across Beldar's face. "I do not know now what I wish for. For you to heal me… or not heal me."

I laughed softly and let heat seep slowly into my own eyes. "No intercourse does not mean no pleasure, Beldar."

He turned dazzled eyes to his old friend. "I envy you your Queen, Amber. It must be joyous to belong to her."

"Yes," Amber said. "She is more. Better. We are fortunate."

"I am the one who is fortunate," I said, rising to my feet, my thoughts centered on what needed to be done. "Help me remove his clothes, Amber, and your own while I wash my hand and retrieve the bedding from the other room."

"And then I shall remove yours when you return," Amber rumbled, his eyes bleeding from deep blue to that pure startling golden amber. His cougar eyes.

Pulling myself away from the hot sensual promise in those eyes, I went into the bathroom. Cold water ran over my hands as I washed them in the sink. Drying them, I went into my bedroom, tore the comforter from the bed, and brought it out into the living room. Spreading it over the carpet, I tossed the pillows I had also carried with me down on top of it.

"This will jostle him less," I said softly to Amber, "and give us more room to maneuver."

With that striking gentleness that I always found so surprising in one so big, Amber lowered Beldar down onto our makeshift bed, Beldar's bare legs and naked pale arms looking so white against the blackness eating the center of his body.

In the short moment of time I had been gone, Amber had managed to rid himself of his clothing. Big and brawny, he was a shocking contrast against Beldar's injured frailness, his skin gleaming white and pure and whole like the healthy animal that he was. Muscles bulged in Amber's arms, shoulders and chest as he laid Beldar down on top of the comforter. The sinewy columns of his legs flexed and swelled, his powerful thighs bulging as he knelt, moving in that natural, graceful, unselfconscious ease that I envied. I would never be as comfortable as he was, unclothed.

My eyes moved down him as Amber stood up. And the sight of him dangling long and thick, stirring, coming alive, becoming wider and fuller, made me flush with heat. I stood unmoving, a pliant doll, as he came to me and with gentle care, lifted the T-shirt over my head. Those large fingers, surprisingly nimble, undid the clasp of my bra and I watched as those twin cups dropped to the floor, a splash of whiteness. Instinctively, my cheeks burning, my hands came up to cover the small, delicately rounded curves of my breasts.

A sound of protest came from the ground. "No, please. Don't cover yourself." Beldar's eyes locked with mine, vivid, pleading, flashing with a deepening green fire. "Let me see you," he whispered.

Trembling, I dropped my hands back down to my side. Closing my eyes, I felt the cool night air whisper across my skin, felt my nipples peak and bud beneath that breezy touch.

"You're beautiful," Beldar said softly. "Beautiful."

I shook my head, knowing I was not. But didn't tell Beldar to look away. Dying cut him a lot of slack. I kept my eyes closed and let his remain open.

I felt the waistband of my jeans tighten and then loosen. Heard the rasp of the zipper sliding down. Felt the worn denim and then my underwear being pushed down my legs, leaving me horribly, vulnerably naked. My hands fisted, my jaws clenched. I shook with the control I exerted to remain still under Amber's gentle disrobing.

Beneath his urging hand, I stepped out of my pants, shaking like a leaf blown by a strong wind. A hand tilted up my chin. "Open your eyes," Amber said softly.

My lashes lifted and I stared into his brilliant amber eyes.

"Drop your shields," he murmured, stroking his fingertips along the softness of my cheeks.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You keep leashed your natural attraction to us, your Aphidy , barricaded behind a high strong wall of your will. Allow it to come out and it will be easier for you." He bent down and pressed his lips against mine in a soft sweet caress, "Lower your shields," he said, and capturing my lower lip with his teeth, bit down hard enough for it to both hurt and please.

With a gasp, a jerky sob, I loosened my control. Like a wild animal suddenly set free, the inner power within me that was always near the surface, roared out with breathtaking force, spilling from me and hitting the others.

They cried out and suddenly Amber was crushing his mouth down on mine, forcing my lips open, plunging a wide, thick tongue inside, hunting, seeking, finding, capturing my tongue with his, kissing me with almost punishing force, as if he would eat me alive. I opened my lips wider, slid my tongue against his, and pushed and parried, teased and tantalized, hungry mewling sounds spilling from my mouth as I ate from him in turn.

Amber's strong arms wrapped around me and the world tilted and cloth brushed against my heated skin. I found myself on the ground, my face only inches away from Beldar. His luminous eyes, sparkling like precious emerald gem-stone, were opened wide, dazzled and dazzling. His lips were parted; full, flushed, cherry-red… alluring. I leaned over and tasted him, too.

Beldar groaned as my lips met his, and his mouth moved against mine with a terrible hunger.

"Let me in, let me in," he pleaded, and the echo of his words, so like Gryphon's, sent a flush of tingling heat through me. I parted my mouth and he swept in and took control of the kiss, his agile tongue hungrily learning the. contours of my soft inner flesh, the smooth surface of my teeth, the feel of the wet slide of my tongue against his, rubbing, sliding, gliding against mine, entwining them and then sucking my tongue into the cavern of his own mouth.

The taste of him was tart and tangy, like sweetness edged with something sharper. He murmured, groaned, breamed into my mouth, one hand sliding to the back of my neck to hold me to him, the other hand smoothing down my shoulder. Then like a lure he could not resist, he cupped my breast, rubbed a thumb over a taut nipple, peaking it even more. I made a soft sound and he ate it down.

"Blessed Lady, you are so sweet, so sweet," he cried and swallowed me up in another kiss.

Behind me, Amber pressed his heated lips down my back, and nibbled my shoulder, making me push back and writhe against him as one big hand flattened across my belly and pulled me back against him so that he pressed, thick and long, against my bottom, a hard shaft riding between my cheeks.

Before me, I slid a hand up Beldar's hair-prickled thigh until I held him full, thick, and aroused in my hand. He nipped my lower lip as Amber had done earlier, a sharp sweet stinging bite. I rewarded him by wrapping my fingers hard around him, pulling a low agonized sound from deep in his chest. But like the nip he'd given me, I knew it wasn't pain he felt but pleasure.