Chise dreamt of many things that night, but mostly of warm embraces and Elias. His intense eyes and low, growling purr echoed in her thoughts until, just as she stirred awake, one such purr was delivered directly in her ear.

She awoke to find herself curled up against Elias' heat as he sat up against the headboard, her head against his chest. While one of her hands was curled up under her, the other had slipped across his hard belly and threaded her fingers between the buttons on his pyjama shirt. Reflexively, as her fingers had found his warm, supple skin, they had started softly rubbing back and forth in the divot that separated the left and right abdomen ladders, about where he would have had a belly button.

She supposed she really shouldn't have expected him to have one, but it was fascinating and strange, nonetheless.

His bare hand grasped her shoulder, kneading her small muscle there, and she twisted her head to try and look up at his face.

Her fingers stopped when she saw his ember eyes were muted, as if he had his eyes closed.

"Am I… Is this okay?" she asked.

He inhaled and his eyes brightened in her direction. "Very much so, Chise. Good morning. Merry Christmas."

She smiled at his pleased greeting, and replied, "Did you sleep well? You're usually not so awake this early."

He cocked his head, glanced to the window and back to her. She did the same, and saw that dawn was quickly approaching.

His hand on her arm slid down to her waist and squeezed gently, pressing her body closer to his side. She dropped her head back down to his chest and wondered at the muscles she vaguely remembered from his Naga form. Were they the same now, in this form?

He answered, "Indeed, I did. Surprisingly well. I feel curiously energized, this morning."

"Hmm," she hummed, and started back to stroking the smooth skin beneath her fingers again. She started toying with a button on his shirt and looked up to him again. He was watching her intently. While she held his gaze, she pried the button out of its loop and slipped her whole hand into the pocket of access she'd just created.

His jaw slackened, but he maintained eye contact. Her hand flattened against his abdomen and traced the hills and valleys up and around in a path about as big as his hand, keeping them in neutral territory. The fingers still at her waist bunched the fabric there and she felt a warm finger slide against the side of her stomach.

Her hand went up, so did his. Her fingers swirled, his did the same, all with their eyes locked. Her breathing was getting close to hyperventilation, so she stilled her hand, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and dropped her forehead to his chest once more.

"Chise…"

His dear voice sounded hesitant, so she prompted him. "Yes, Elias?"

"May I... kiss you again, like I did last night?"

She smiled and didn't even hesitate. He was so sweet for asking. "Of course. I'd like that." She tilted her head back to offer her neck, but they were at an awkward angle, so she laid back against the downy mattress and looked up to him.

He watched her move and seemed a bit shy, so, as he turned to face her, she reached for his free hand and lifted it up to her lips for a quick kiss to his wrist. Her fingers slid along the muscles of his forearm before letting go and she canted her head back against her pillow to wait for him.

He exhaled and slowly leaned over her, supporting his weight with both arms braced beside her shoulders, one leaning on his elbow and the other locked straight. His jaw opened slightly, revealing his tongue, and she saw him pause for a moment, glancing up to her to be sure of his welcome. She smiled in encouragement, tilted her head back a little more, and lifted her hands up to palm his obliques in a gesture of comfort that immediately brightened his eyes to a smoky red. His tongue then easily dove to lick her neck and her voice cracked a quick, wanton moan, which was answered by one from him.

She shuddered at the deep sound coming from him and felt things in her body tighten in response. Grasping his sides more tightly, she bunched the fabric in her hands, but the inability to really feel him grew frustrating. She wanted to feel his skin. The lavender satin of his wrists and the warmth that always emanated from his skin called to something wild within. Before she could question the wisdom of her actions, and while he was avidly licking up her neck to her ear, her fingers started unbuttoning his shirt between them.

His hot, wet tongue slithered along the dip where her neck met her shoulder. It was divine, and she faltered in her quest to get to his skin. A tooth grazed against her collarbone and she was shaken out of her reverie, intent back on his buttons.

As soon as she reached the last one, her hands dove up to slide across his aubergine pectoral muscles. There was a very large expanse of rippling muscles that clenched and trembled beneath her fingers. She was pleased to find that he had nipples, and by the needy, surprised growl in her ear, right before his tongue licked that sensitive shell, he was pleased as well. The areolas felt silky, with his nipples hardening into eraser-sized peaks beneath her fingers. Her thumb rolled the budding furls and his growling groan was almost too deep to hear.

His hips rolled slightly against hers, with the sheets tangled between them. She wasn't sure if she was glad or disappointed at the fabric barrier, but pushed that thought away as she felt him tense up to move. She lifted her hands away. Had she gone too far?

She watched him settle back down beside her, looking for any closed expressions or regret. His breathing was heavy, and after a quiet moment, he reached to pull her flush up against his beautiful torso. Relieved, she snuggled her face into his neck and placed a few small kisses there as she waited to see what happened next.

"Thank you, Chise." His breathing quickly came under his control again. "I… enjoyed that. Very much."

She smirked, her lips still against his neck. She wasn't very educated in relations between lovers, but her cousins had left the television on every once in a while when she'd lived with them and she'd caught a few glimpses of things that had been confusing to her at the time.

Not so confusing anymore, she grinned to herself.

Kissing Elias on the cheek or jaw had come naturally, and the neighbors were free with affection amongst themselves. Chise's abundant curiosity had also found a very old text in Elias' library on the subject. She remembered that day of furtive, flushed reading and shifted her legs in an impatient manner.

She thought about the differences in their bodies, and wondered if he felt things the way she did.

She wondered if he would let her lick his neck. It was so good when he did it to her, would he like it too? She nuzzled the muscle in front of her, the most prominent on his neck, and tentatively reached out her tongue to touch to his skin.

Her eyes widened as she realized his taste. It wasn't gamey, like she'd expected. It was clean and slightly musky, with a slight overtone of… blackberries?

She was entranced, barely registering his tightened silence and his hands fisting in her hair. She inhaled through her mouth and tasted him again, this time with more of her tongue. The savory sweetness of blackberries and the soft earthiness of sage swam in her senses, begging her to partake of more. Her lips closed in on his neck, loosely trying to understand more of his scent and flavor, but her tongue won out as she found herself dragging up his neck as if he were flavored cream she were cleaning off a spoon.

She reached the spot she kissed before they went to sleep last night, just behind his jaw, and she whispered, "Elias, you taste so good."

His grasp on her hair tightened, then relaxed, and his breathing was a dull roar in his mouth.

Chise couldn't get enough and let the slight frenzy of her newfound sensuality overtake her, urging her to travel along his neck, tasting the difference between his jaw and his skin. The bone of his face tasted slightly waxy and floral, and she vaguely wondered what he cleaned his face with. Her greedy tongue lapped a path back down the column on his throat, over the deeply humming Adam's apple, to his suprasternal notch. She used her teeth to lightly graze against the tendons there, and she felt his hands leave her hair.

Two thumps against the mattress told her he'd grabbed the bedclothes and he started leaning back to the mattress. She dutifully followed him, suckling on his clavicle along the way. In her excitement, she pushed the covers down, away from their bodies, and leaned down to press her cheek against his breast, so very curious to taste him there, but just a tiny bit afraid of her own brazen actions. She needed him to tell her it was okay, and she lay against him, working up the courage to do so.

His breathing was heavier than normal, again, and his heart thundered beneath her ear. She opened her eyes and saw the tenting in his pyjama pants.

She kind of wasn't ready for that, yet, but she really, really, really wanted to know if his nipples tasted as amazing as his neck. His hand came back up to cup her head, gently petting her hair, as his other hand came to rest on his stomach.

She nuzzled against the soft point beneath her cheek and hesitantly asked, "Elias, um…can I...?"

Her courage failed her, but he seemed to know what she was asking, at least that she was asking for his permission to do more, for he answered in a smoky, dazed tone, "Anything you want, elskan mín. You can do anything you want to me."

Chise had no idea what that bit in the middle meant, but she could ask later. With such easy permission, she grinned and rolled her mouth down to latch onto his tightened furl of sensitive skin, suckling her newfound favorite flavor from his skin. His arms wrapped around her so tightly, she groaned loudly against his breast, which made him cry out, repeatedly.

He kept her head pressed to his chest and she kept suckling and licking his chest until, after his voice calmed, she showed she wanted to move and his hands fell away easily. She glanced aside at where his… thing… had been, and had her suspicions confirmed.

A blush stained her cheeks, especially at his next question.

"What was... that? I've never felt anything so…"

She looked up to his face and saw the drowsy, satisfied wonderment in his lassitude and curved eye shapes. His deep, resonant voice was breathless and dreamy. She smiled to herself. She'd done that to him. For him.

His head turned to her, asking for a response. "Chise?"

She knew he was unused to human emotions, but it was thrilling and shocking that she'd apparently given him this first. "In all of your studies, and all of your years, you've never had an orgasm, Elias?"

Her smile deepened and she felt intensely satisfied with herself. His hand came up to caress her cheek.

"I have read of them, most certainly. I have even observed a few, but I had no idea it was this powerful of a feeling." He looked to her in curiosity. "Does it feel this way to you?"

She hid her face for a moment against his hand and peeked back at him, a blush seeming to take up residence in her cheeks. "I don't know, I've never had one."

His ember eyes burned brightly and as he moved to sit up, so did she. They sat in the middle of his bed, in his room, staring at each other with open curiosity and affection.

"Do you want one?"

His husky timbre sent shivers down her spine. "I think so. You seemed to enjoy it."

"I did. Very much so." After a moment's pause to think he asked, "How should I do this for you? Your anatomy… I'm so-" he sighed, "What can I do that won't hurt you?"

She smiled. "We were doing just fine, before. I liked a lot of things we just did. Do you want to try kissing me like I was kissing you?"

He looked surprised, "Would that please you as much?" His red irises dropped down to look at her breasts, still hidden in her pyjamas.

Just having him look at her like that made her want him do all kinds of things to her.

She teasingly replied, "I don't know. Let's find out."

Her fingers bravely went up to her shirt buttons, but he gently drew her hands away and did it himself. As her shirt parted and breasts came into view, he slid both of his large hands to cup them, reverently.

"So soft." His thumbs slid across her coral pink areolas and she felt a strange sort of twitch, deep down in between her legs. He did it again, and her vulva clenched, making her squirm.

"How does that feel, Chise?"

Her eyes had closed and her lips parted in anticipation for the next electric twitch in her groin, so she was startled when she felt his tongue lick her lips delicately.

Her eyes flew open and she gazed at Elias. His eyes were smoldering as he continued to fondle her breasts. His hands were very thorough, sliding up and over, around and around the slightly pendulous weight of them.

His tongue slid out of his mouth and danced across her lips quickly, shyly. "Chise?"

His fingers curled up and pinched her nipples, tugging gently. She could barely register that he was asking her a question, but responded, "Hmmm?"

Her hips were squirming again and as she sat on the bed facing Elias, she felt like she wanted to climb atop him and squirm there. What would he do?

"Chise, does this feel good to you?

She breathlessly nodded and watched him lean his head forward again, anticipating his tongue's appearance, but he gently nudged her with his head, directing her to lay back against the mattress.

His hands slid down to her bare waist and she shivered at how warm it was, to have his hands so easily envelop her midsection almost entirely. As he followed her movements, he remained mostly sitting and brought his hands back up to cup her breasts again, holding them together for when he nuzzled his bony face against the hardened nipples.

"Oh!" She cried out as what felt like an electric current zapped along her body, pooling all that energy into her groin. She shifted restlessly and ran her hands along his chest wherever she could reach. She was losing her mind and all she could think about was him using his tongue against her nipples. "Please, Elias…"

That delicious purr of his ground into the room, and he avidly ran his tongue across her nipples where they stood proud atop the press of flesh between his strong hands. The feeling was incredible and she couldn't form words to beg him to keep going. A frenzied pressure was building in her body, mostly between her legs, and she wondered what it would feel like when all that pressure released. Her hands greedily slid from his chest, to his neck, to his head and caressed the back joints of his mandible.

His throaty purr deepened to a growl and his mouth opened a little more. She was slightly confused when he let go of her breasts, but was intrigued when he scooped the flesh of one breast gently between his teeth, holding it delicately with his jaw while his tongue-

"Oh, mmmgnh!" she was transported in emotion as his tongue slithered around and around that one captive breast, swirling closer and closer to the peak that ever so often brushed against the ridged roof of his mouth. As the tip of his tongue writhed up to the hardened furl of her nipple, his jaw pulled back and her breast fell out of his mouth. She shivered, first from the cold air against the humidity left behind, then from the light flickering he did with his tongue against her coral peak.

She moaned, and grabbed her other breast to try and replicate the feeling, there, too. There was something just out of reach, something building deep in her body, something she wanted… so… badly… !

Her hips bucked as her screams of completion rang out into the room, and Elias let out an unearthly growl, pressing his weight down on top of her. She pressed up against him, unsure of what her hands were doing, other than trying to touch as much of him as possible. His head lifted up, seemingly to look out the window, but she couldn't see his eyes. He quickly buried his face in the pillow above her head and bellowed into it as his hips bucked hard and rhythmically into the mattress beside her.

Her body felt weak and empty, strong and full, quivering with emotion as his naked chest pressed against hers. They were both struggling for breath for a while, but as soon as she shifted slightly beneath him, he adjusted himself to lay beside her, lifting his weight away in consideration.

She looked to him and saw a slightly embarrassed expression between the size of his pupils and the set of his shoulders. Her hand that rested between them reached up to caress his jaw.

"Elias, that was amazing. Thank you."

His hand came up to clasp her wrist, stroking the skin there. "You're not upset with me, are you? Have I not frightened you?"

She'd told him before that he didn't frighten her, so was there more to his question? "Elias… are you frightened?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment, but looked directly at her and said, "No. I feel… powerful. Which is strange, because I know I'm stronger than most, both physically and magically, so that emotion tied with these acts is confusing. Above that, I feel… satisfied and… warm."

She smirked, knowingly, and glanced down in the general direction of his… area. "You orgasmed again, didn't you?"

His hand ran across her belly and tugged her closer. "Yes, I did," he growled, which excited her, but then sighed, "I'm sorry, elskan, I couldn't seem to help myself."

"Elskan… what does that mean?"

He tilted his head slightly and swept his fingers slowly across her sternum, making her shiver.

"It's a term of endearment, meaning 'love'. Is that acceptable?"

Her heart sped up and her smile grew into a grin. "Really?"

He waited, seemingly unsure as to what she meant. She rolled over into him and kissed his sternum, repeating, "Elskan. Yes, that's very, very acceptable." She giggled and snuggled against him.