Guilty as Sin (58 page)

understand?”

Every nerve in Michael
‟
s body clamored with confusion, caught on the agonizing

cusp between arousal and terror. Sternly, he bore down hard, imposing his will. “Yes,”

he said quietly. “I get it. Trust is the price.” Dipping his chin, he pressed a kiss to the

inside of Dax
‟
s wrist. “You have my word.”

Slowly, Dax released him, turning to cradle Lise
‟
s face between his palms. “What

about you, chick?”

Her slow smile was so beautiful, Michael
‟
s eyes prickled with moisture. “I love you.

I trust you. I
‟
m giving you the lead, Dax. From this moment on.”

Dax gazed from one face to the other. Suddenly, he was grinning, his joy so

tangible, so shining, that the dazzle of it made Michael blink as if he
‟
d been sunstruck.

“
Yes!
” Dax pumped a fist, his thrashing wings creating a breeze that cooled

Michael
‟
s sweaty cheeks. “By all the gods, this is going to be the best ever—the best

fuck, the best flight.”

In a single motion, he picked Michael up and spun him around, setting him down

on his knees, the little tub falling from his slack fingers. All the breath shocked out of

him, Michael finally registered exactly how strong an Aetherii male could be. Fuck, all

this time Dax had been holding back. What sort of fool did that make him?

Then he couldn
‟
t think at all. All he could do was try not to scream as a hot, wet

tongue swiped down the cleft of his ass and Lise bent her head and inhaled his cock

almost to the root. Shit, shit,
shit!
Each time he arched forward, Lise increased the

suction, but if he moved backward, Dax
‟
s diabolical tongue stabbed into his ass, blunt

fingers circling down to his tingling balls and back up again.

There was no way he could move, no way he wanted to move.
Helpless
. Ah fuck, it

was good. His vision began to haze, his head going light. His Aetherii, his lovers.

Something cold and slick teased his puckered opening and he cried out.

“Don
‟
t you dare come,” Lise ordered, and the skin over Michael
‟
s balls shivered

with the power of the command.

Unfortunately, her idea of helping him not to come was to kitten lick her way up to

his tip and whisk an inquisitive tongue in and out of his slit. Desperation inspired him.

“Up,” he groaned, tugging at her hair. “Let me—
Nngh
.
Open
.”

It was hardly eloquent, but Lise gasped and lay back, her thighs falling apart to

offer him a paradise of ruffled pink flesh wet with honey musk. With a purely animal

269

grunt of satisfaction, Michael buried his tongue as deep as it would go, his head

spinning with the scent of feminine desire.

Lise whimpered, so he slid both hands under her buttocks and turned his head to

nip her thigh. “Tail,” he muttered. “Move it.”

Low and rich, Dax said, “Don
‟
t let her come either.”

A slippery finger pushed inside his ass and it was as if his muscles remembered the

night before and the drugging pleasure, because it didn
‟
t hurt, it just felt…good.

Lise
‟
s tail slithered over one of the featherpearls in his nipple just as Dax added

another finger. Twister, forget the godsbedamn flight, they were going to kill him long

before they got anywhere near the sky.

270

Lady Chrizariel the Azure, Winged Envoy from the Eyrie to the Royal Courts of Sere and the

Kingdom of the Leaves of the Sea, requests your presence at

A Banquet to Celebrate the Mating Flight

of

Liseriel the Gray, Daxariel the Burnished and Michael (formerly of Sere, now of Valaressa)

at

The Ballroom, Palazzo of the Winged Envoy, Valaressa

Night of the Sixth Full Moon, at Eight of the Clock.

The Presentation of Featherpearls will take place at Nine of the Clock.

Formal Dress.

In lieu of gifts, please send donations to the Aetherii School for City Orphans, Valaressa.

Aetherian calligraphy on heavy vellum, tied in a scroll with two ribbons, one silver,

the other bronze.

* * * * *

Michael couldn
‟
t imagine what Dax was feeling, all bound up in leather, he only

knew the next little while was like being at the mercy of powerful tides. With inexorable

tenderness, Dax finger-fucked him open, using plenty of whatever ointment was in the

little tub, but whenever the pressure ramped up in his balls, the Aetherii would lighten

the leisurely, milking caresses and spread his fingers wide instead. Or he
‟
d clamp his

other hand over Michael
‟
s white-knuckled grip on his own cock and make him stop

altogether.

They
‟
d breathe in concert for a few minutes, and once Michael had regained

control, he
‟
d push Lise up and up, driving his tongue through her creamy juices,

flicking her clit at unpredictable intervals, dabbling a finger in the sucking entrance to

her body. Her thighs would clench against his ears, heels drumming on his back, tail

thumping his ribs and she
‟
d squirm and curse and sob.

After an endless time, he rested his aching jaw on Lise
‟
s thigh and Dax withdrew

his fingers and said, “Now.”

With that same effortless strength, he lifted them both to their feet.

Lise wrapped slim, strong fingers around Michael
‟
s wrists and guided his hands to

her shoulders. “Hold steady, love.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek, her breath still ragged. “I
‟
ve got you,” she

whispered. Blessedly warm and clever, she cradled his aching cock with one hand, his

balls with the other.

271

He
‟
d expected it to hurt because Tannio had always hurt him and Dax was massive,

but after the first stinging bite as the broad head popped past the ring of muscle, it was

more relentless than painful. Breathing heavily in his ear, hands clamped to his hips,

Dax pressed in and in…and in.

Despite himself, Michael quivered, his thighs aching with strain, slippery with the

lubricant. “Twister, how much more?” he gasped into the curve of Lise
‟
s neck when

Dax finally paused.

All smooth and sweaty, the broad planes of Dax
‟
s chest heaved against his spine,

and suddenly, Michael remembered which of them was the virgin. He turned his head.

Dax
‟
s eyes were shut tight, his face scarlet and his mouth twisted with what looked

like pain.

“Hey,” Michael panted, reaching back to touch a buttock so hard it felt more like

granite than flesh. “Go on, I
‟
m fine.”

Dax
‟
s eyes fluttered open. They were sheened with tears.

Cautiously, Michael shimmied his hips, rocking himself into Lise
‟
s grip. “C
‟
mon,

man.
Move
.” Involuntarily, the muscles of his ass clamped down and Dax grunted with

shock.

“Lise.” Pause. “Help. Straps.” The words were bitten off one at a time as if Dax
‟
s

thought processes were barely functional.

“Mmm.” Lise bestowed a lick on each nipple, gave Michael
‟
s weeping cock a

consoling pat and stepped behind him.

In short order, she
‟
d wound broad leather bands around his chest and waist, even

around his thighs, continuing them around Dax
‟
s shoulders and chest, leaving his

wings free. Through it all, Michael stood passive, a huge alien presence burning inside

his body, thighs shaking and belly cramping with lust and terror. His pulse beat like

thunder in his pelvis, deep in his ass where Dax was buried, in his rigid cock, his

swollen balls.

“There,” she said. “Done.” She slid a palm down over Michael
‟
s belly, shifted his

hand away from his throbbing cock and molded hers over it, hot and oddly soothing. In

sheer gratitude, Michael leaned forward, lost in her beautiful eyes, the courage and

determination there. She nibbled on his lower lip, her breath coming harsh and fast.

He flexed his ass. Gods, his blood and Dax
‟
s—together. The heavy beat was

insistent, robbing him of the ability to think. He tried regulating his breathing, but he

couldn
‟
t slow or stop the inexorable pounding—couldn
‟
t control anything. His legs

went from under him, only Dax
‟
s strength holding him up.

He should say no, make them let him go. Because he knew they would. All he had

to do was speak.

And his life would be over. There
‟
d be nothing good again, not ever, not as long as

he eked out his miserable existence. Death might not be too great a price to pay, not for

glory like this.

272

His mouth opened. “P-please.”

Lise was right there, murmuring, kissing him, her pretty tits brushing against the

light pelt on his chest. With trembling fingers, she refastened the last buckle, cinching it

tight with that weird Aetherii strength.

“What is it, sweetheart?” she panted against his mouth. “Tell me.”

“S-strap,” he managed. “Me too.”

Her smile widened. “All right.”

He couldn
‟
t look while she did it, fixing his gaze on the candlewoods in preference

to the expanse of empty air just beyond them. He gritted his teeth as the leather bit

hard.

“Sorry, love. It
‟
ll be worth it, I promise.” Her fingers fluttered over the indentations

in his suffering flesh.

Michael stared and his soul tumbled into Lise
‟
s clear gray eyes. “Do it, Dax,” he

said. “B-before I lose me fuckin
‟
nerve.”

Dax wrapped one arm across Michael
‟
s collarbones, the other across his chest. He

growled something that might have been, “Hold on.”

Before the reverberations had stopped thrumming in Michael
‟
s spine, Dax took two

steps sideways and fell off the edge of the cliff.

The valley floor rushed up to meet them. Michael could see pink striations in the

boulders, leaves on the bushes. He squeezed his eyes shut, his cry lost in the wind of

their passage.

Vaguely, he heard the snap of mighty wings, the whoosh of displaced air, Lise

laughing like a mad thing. They leveled out.

“Open your eyes,” Dax rumbled in his ear. His ass had contracted out of sheer

terror because what felt like a tent pole was still lodged deep inside.

A warm hand caught his, hair whipped his cheek. “It
‟
s beautiful,” said Lise, flying

shoulder to shoulder in perfect synchronization, the sun slipping over her ivory flanks

in a sly caress. She lifted his hand to kiss his knuckles. “And so are you.”

For some godsbedamn reason, his vision blurred so badly he had to blink several

times to get the world back into focus.

Below, a stream spilled down the mountain side in sprays of silver lace. Ahead, a

series of peaks reared grand heads into the sky. High above, a string of fluffy white

clouds dotted the blue.

Dax changed their trajectory slightly, working up toward the clouds. Instinct had

Michael hooking his feet over the Aetherii
‟
s calves. A groan tore out of his chest as the

other man
‟
s girth raked hard over his gland. With each wingbeat, Dax slipped out and

thrust back in and Michael realized, with a frisson of delighted horror, that he hadn
‟
t

taken everything Dax had to give. Fuck, he was going to die of pleasure and pain,

splayed and spread and helpless, his cock jutting in front of him, fucking the empty air.

273

Ineffably beautiful, Lise dropped out of the sky to cradle his face between her hands

and kiss him avidly, all hot, wet tongue and purrs of delight. She slithered close, her

legs coming around his hips. Searing hot and divinely slippery, the slick folds of her sex

kissed the smooth velvet of his cock head.

Michael
‟
s eyes rolled back in his head. “
Nnn.
”

Lise slid down, taking him to the root. Dax speared harder into his ass. Michael

flung his head back, his howl rebounding off the indifferent mountains.

“Gods yes!” Dax growled and bit his shoulder. Lise buried both hands in his hair

and sobbed her pleasure.

Michael wrapped his arms around her waist, beneath the wings that never ceased

to beat, timed with Dax
‟
s so that every downstroke sent them surging higher. It was an

agony of pleasure, an ecstasy so intense, it felt like liquid
hellfire
boiling in his balls,

milked and prodded by the merciless shaft in his ass, seething at the root of his cock

where Lise
‟
s sheath rippled and clung.

Twister, he was going to die, his balls exploding right past the strap. He writhed

and bucked, whining in his throat like a trapped animal.

From somewhere down a long, dark tunnel, a voice shouted, sharp and urgent.

“Michael! Stop it!”

Lise. Gods,
Lise!

He froze, dashing the tears from his cheeks. “Shit. Sorry.” He hauled in a breath, the

air so clear and pure it burned his lungs. Holy fuckin
‟
Twister.

If he concentrated on her beautiful face he wouldn
‟
t have to look down. “It
‟
s…too

good, ye know?”

She nodded. “I know, but you musn
‟
t move like that.”

“Yeah.” Dax rubbed his smooth cheek against the stubble on Michael
‟
s jaw.

“We done yet?” Deliberately, he contracted every muscle in his lower body,

released and pulled in again.

For that, he got a genuine whimper from Dax and a little scream from Lise. He

grinned. Score one for the Grounded.

“Oh yeah,” said Dax, settling them into a long glide. “We
‟
re done.”

Lise shot a glance over Michael
‟
s shoulder. “Will you last?”

Very low and quiet over the rushing of the air, Dax said, “Yes.”

“All right.” Lise took a breath. “I love you, Dax,” she said. “And I trust you.” She

stroked a thumb over Michael
‟
s cheekbone and her face crumpled, her smile going

awry. “I love you, Michael, master thief of Sere. And I trust you with everything I am.”