Page 88 of Suncatcher

Driz closed her wings, cocooning them from the world. And they started to fall.

Pearl’s grip on her horn tightened and she gasped, her movements faltering as they plummeted back toward the earth, but it didn’t matter. Driz’s pleasure overflowed as they tumbled, the rain falling with them.

Pearl’s insides lagged behind the rest of her body as the earth rapidly approached. She tensed, but she had no reason to be afraid. Driz caught them well before they reached the ground, snapping out her wings to slow them with a few powerful flaps.

She lay Pearl on her back gently, even as she continued to pant and shudder. Pearl held her close, stroking a soothing hand along the damp, leathery joint of a jittery wing as the rain hit her face. She wasn’t cold with Driz blanketing her.

Driz kissed her for long moments, her tongue still somehow tentative as it nudged at the seam of Pearl’s lips. Asking. So polite. Pearl nipped at her and then inhaled Driz’s soft gasp.

Driz stared, an answering smile creasing her face. She kissed Pearl’s cheek, and her throat, down her chest, erasing the rain with the heat of her mouth. And she didn’t stop, moving lower over Pearl’s belly and hip until she reached where Pearl needed her most.

“Yes,” Pearl breathed, arching, glad she had prompted this when she couldn’t resist tasting Driz earlier.

Large palms spread Pearl’s thighs apart, the rumbled words unintelligible, but the meaning was clear. Driz’s intense eyes locked on Pearl as she lowered her mouth. The blunt fronts of her fangs pressed into Pearl’s flesh as she lapped her tongue up Pearl’s center.

Pearl bucked, the mix of sensations already dangling her at the edge of control.

She reached down and grabbed both of Driz’s horns, shifting her attention a little higher and holding her in place. Driz rumbled louder, the rough sound adding to Pearl’s pleasure and quickly plunging her over.

Pearl panted, her skin slick from rain. She slid her touch to Driz’s cheek, tugging, urging her up to meet Pearl’s kiss.

Even now, she wanted more of Driz. But her body started to cool and she shivered. And Driz noticed.

“I will take you back to shelter,” Driz promised, her own skin warm as she gathered Pearl close.

Their discarded clothes lay scattered on the ground where they’d dropped them in their passionate haste. Pearl didn’t mind. She nuzzled Driz’s neck, licking over the spot she had bitten, and biting it again.

Driz moaned and gripped her tighter. “You are cold,” she stated.

“You’ll keep me warm.”

“I am trying.”

Driz adjusted her hold on Pearl and collected their sodden clothes, not bothering with redressing before she launched back into the air. This time, however, when Pearl wasn’t writhing with impending orgasm, the wind and air chilled her skin. She was warm where she was pressed to Driz’s body, but everywhere else soon grew numb.

Driz landed at the mouth of their cave. When Pearl fumbled to restart the fire from earlier, Driz’s hands covered and supported hers, hot torso pressing against her back, and damp wings shielding her.

Pearl started to rebel against it. To push her away. She didn’t need Driz’s help. She was quite capable of taking care of herself.

“I am not finished keeping you warm,” Driz whispered.

Pearl relented and leaned back. Soon, the steady drum of Driz’s heart lulled her to sleep.

25

A New Kind of Wrong

The cough rattled Pearl’s chest.

Driz scowled. “You are unwell.”

“I’m fine,” Pearl protested, which shook loose another cough. Her skin burned with fire, but she refused to acknowledge it.

“You said you would be better tonight.”

“Yeah, well. My sleep doesn’t instantly heal me. It just usually helps.”

She had slept the rest of the night, and all day, and now the dusk was fading to night once more.