"I need to go back to the aerie," I confess as I scoop two fingers into the jar labelled peanut butter. Who would have thought that this simple monkey food could actually taste… quite pleasant.
"Seriously?" Penryn asks incredulously, a handful of cereal half-way to her mouth. The colour was beginning to return to her cheeks as she warmed slowly, the burn of the fire infiltrating the frigid cold which had enveloped her. How I wished I could wrap my arms around her and warm her with my own body – humans were just so unbelievably weak and frail compared to my own kind. "The place full of crazed, bloodthirsty Neanderthals where we barely escaped with our lives?" she snaps, her rosy lips wet from licking the sticky peanut butter from them. Utterly kissable lips, despite the words passing harshly through them.
Raising a dark eyebrow at her, I suck peanut butter from my fingers, the sharp nuttiness enticing my taste buds as the rich flavour danced along my palette.
"Just because you're people are pretty, doesn't mean they're not Neanderthals inside." She grumbles, popping the cereal into her mouth and crunching loudly, working her aggression out on the food, the muscle of her jaw popping under the tight pale skin of her cheek.
"Based on what you've told me, I'm guessing the riot wasn't what Uri had in mind. Any soldier could have told him that's what's going to happen. You dangle the apocalypse in front of frustrated warriors unclear about their mission and you have a bit of a tussle on your hands." I explained, choosing to ignore the arch look on Penryn's face.
"A bit of a tussle?"
"Too old-fashioned?" I ask, scooping up the PB.
"People were torn to pieces. Literally. In bloody, little, horrible bits. That's not exactly a tussle." She pointed out, a shiver rippling along her shoulders, eyes wide and white … terrified as the scene she had witnessed ran like a movie reel behind her eyelids.
"And I'm sorry about that but there was nothing I could do to stop it." I had seen it happen so many times. Lived and breathed through each bloody battle ... been a part in some of them. Admittedly all I was sorry about was that she had been in danger… that the scene would forever be in her memory, tainting her innocence.
"What's with all the cheering over the apocalypse anyway? Oh yay, we get to kill poor helpless humans." She grouched, lines creasing her forehead as she kept her eyes downcast on the meagre food. My fingers itched to smooth the lines as I admired her. The fire cast brilliant orange flickers across her skin, dancing like fingers and stroking the cold from her body the way I wished I could.
"The excitement over the apocalypse has nothing to do with humans."
"Could have fooled me," she muttered as I took the peanut butter jar. Glancing down, I sighed inwardly seeing the mess of cereal. Glowering across at her, I put the jar back down, clenching my jaw at the smugness on her face.
"Humans are incidental." I deadpanned, watching as the jab hit home.
"Killing and destroying an entire species is incidental?" she accused, rage sweeping her expression, the fire reflecting in her burning honey eyes. There was an imperfect shot of a sage-coloured vein in her left iris, a tree in the desert at night.
"You're people have been doing it to all kinds of species." I pointed out, swapping her for the box of cereal.
"That's not the same." She huffed.
"Why not?"
"Can we please get back to how your people are partying over killing my people?" she snapped, scooping more peanut butter from the jar. My eyes zeroed in on her mouth as she licked the substance from her fingers. My stomach tightened involuntarily in response.
"They're celebrating the possibility of freeing their friends."
"Angels have friends?" she asked innocently, puckering her red lips around her fingers, sucking them gently. My chest tightened and a spark rippled down to my groin as I watched her take her fingers deep into that hot… wet… soft… inviting mouth. Glaring at her, I shifted uncomfortably, trying to reposition my jeans discreetly as my cock twitched to life, rearing itself from a deep slumber. Fuck, how long had it been…? The heat in her gaze showed she knew fine well what she was doing to me and was more than pleased with herself for it.
"When you fight side-by-side with other warriors, they become your brothers. Every one of us has a brother who has fallen. The only thing that offers any hope is Judgement Day. On that day, they finally get their trial." My voice is harsher than I intend as her tongue works on getting all of the delicious treat from her fingers.
"An eternity of punishment comes before the trial?" I quickly dump cereal into the jar as she eagerly reaches for more, needing a moment to calm the insistent urge as fire shoots down my spine and the itch in my groin becomes almost painful as I fight down the stirring beast.
"The system is purposely harsh to keep everyone in line. It's what keeps our warrior society together." I vexed, watching as she focused on poking around the contaminated jar.
"And if they're judged guilty?" she murmured, before a triumphant smile lit her face dazzlingly. She licked a dab of peanut butter from her finger and I shot to my feet, needing to move around, needing the space to fight my body and organise my head. She was a Daughter of Man, strictly forbidden… smart, strong, stubborn, fiery… and completely irresistible.
"Then eternity gets longer."
"And when does Judgement Day happen?"
"At the end of the apocalypse."
Sighing, she set the jar aside and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs securely and staring into the fire. She looked so small and vulnerable in that moment I yearned to hold her, to take her and stow her away somewhere that the madness of the world couldn't reach her. A place only I knew of. Hell, if I could sort out my own people, I'd join her.
Settling myself back onto the floor beside Penryn, I stretched out my new wings along her back, curling the heat from the flames tighter into her. My gaze roamed her face freely, savouring in the moment of utter abandonment of all my rules. How could she have broken through the barriers? In all my life I had met many Daughters of Men, and hundreds of Angels and none had come close to having the effect on me that this teenager had. She was so young, and yet she held the weight of humanity on her scrawny shoulders. Here she was conversing with the enemy, unknowingly seducing me with each minute and yet she didn't pull away. She should be running for the hills, or fighting for her life. Not leaning into my side and resting her forehead against my bicep. Not staring up at me with smoky eyes, rolling with the same inner turmoil I experienced every day.
We should be the bitterest of enemies. I should lead my kind as the Great Archangel Raphael, Wrath of God, and exterminator of the human race. And she should be hidden away, heavily protected. Ah, who am I kidding? She would be leading the monkeys in a last ditch effort to save their world, fighting to her last breath.
My eyes dropped to her lips and her eyes sparked with heat. She tilted her head up slightly and I let loose a low groan as I dipped my face towards her, brushing my lips along the softness of her skin. A sigh slipped from her mouth and I curled a hand around her neck, slipping it up and round her jaw to cup her cheek as I moved my lips against hers. Against my better judgement, I deepened the kiss, sweeping a tongue into her open mouth and stroking a thumb along the arch of her cheekbone. One small hand curled around my waist, fingers hooking into the waistband of my jeans and stroking skin very few had ever seen, let alone touched. Our tongues danced together, the kiss was wet, slow and sloppy but soon turned hot, fast and pounding. Moving, I slid her onto my lap and wrapped my arms round her waist, running my hands under the hem of her sweater and up along the tight skin of her back, feeling the muscles responding to my touch.
Penryn slid her hands round my shoulders, kneading the tight muscles and then running her fingers along the back of my neck and curling them in the hair at my nape. Soon they were tangled in my thick locks, twisting and squeezing as she grinded herself against my hard-on which had resurfaced with a vengeance. Moaning against her mouth, I slid my hands up over her ribs and my fingers slid along the underside of her breasts. A breathy moan escaped her lips and I pulled away, squeezing my eyes tight knowing I needed to stop now or else we might never. We would survive on the taste of each other's lips, breathe each other's air and drinking the sweet perspiration from each other's skin.
Opening my mouth to chide myself and Penryn, I gasped suddenly as her lips fell to my chest. My eyes snapped open and I looked down as she pressed a kiss to one of nipples, her hands smoothing over the ripple of my abs. Her eyes flashed with mischief before she bent and nibbled the skin above my navel, dipping her tongue inside. My stomach rolled and I leant back on my elbows, tipping my head back and groaning in painful pleasure. We needed to stop. I needed to stop her before I threw all my morals out the window. But I deserved a moment longer to enjoy her. Just a moment.
Her fingers deftly undone my jeans, and before I could grab her hands to stop her, she had delved them into my crotch and was stroking up the hard length of my sex.
"Penryn," I growled, staring at her in shock. I grabbed her hands, holding her in place, breathing heavy and staring into her eyes, giving her the chance to stop now. God only knew she would suffer over it later. But as her pink tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip, I knew there was no way I was going to let her away with not doing this.
She slowly extracted her hands from my grasp, pressed a palm to my suddenly thundering heart, and pushed me back onto my elbows. She shucked my jeans down to my knees and then grasped me at the base of my cock. Her hand stroked up and down, circling me tightly and pulling and pushing with a perfect rhythm that had me exclaiming in pleasure. One hand slid to my balls and she pulled them lightly, massaging and cupping them. I was in pure ecstasy. And then she dropped her head and took me into her mouth.
My hands immediately delved into her hair, fisting the dark strands as she slid her mouth over me, taking me as deep as she could without choking. She worked me brilliantly, scraping her teeth on just the right spot on the underside of my shaft, swirling her tongue around the head of my cock and holding my gaze daringly as my thighs trembled under her.
I cursed and growled her name as my release shattered through me, sparks firing behind my eyelids as I spurted cum into her mouth. She swallowed as much as she could take, and unbelievably let loose a giggle as she pulled herself off me as my sex continued to spurt. She pumped me relentlessly until there was nothing left for me to give and I lay panting, wings puddled beneath me as I lay flat on my back, hands pressed into my own hair and biceps bulging, panting in delirious euphoria.
When I was finally capable of thought, I pushed myself up and stared at her in wonder as she grinned victoriously.
"I'll never be able to look at Peanut Butter the same again."