She spent nights face down on a thick featherbed, her face cradled by a down pillow, careful not to disturb her healing wing. Not that much could disturb her in sleeping quarters like this. The bed linens felt soft and luxurious against her skin, quite unlike the nettles lining the banring crèche she’d called home for her first decade of life. Even her bed in her apartment didn’t feel half as wonderful, and she’d made sure nothing about it reminded her of her old life.
Bale’s place was a two-bedroom condo with floor-to-ceiling windows giving an unobscured view of the Midtown Atlanta skyline. When he wasn’t helping hybrids, he worked as a sports agent and talent scout, a gig that enabled the male banaranjan to get his adrenaline fix and make a living.
The more she listened to Bale, the more star-struck she became. He was unlike any banaranjan she’d ever known, male or female. It was easy to give her imagination free rein, to envision founding a new clan with him, a clan that didn’t make a habit of pursuing conflict just because storm clouds filled the air.
Even without the thought of establishing a new clan here in Atlanta, Rinna wanted to experience Bale in all his glory. Banaranjans coupled with the strongest or the fastest partner during a mating flight in order to produce offspring with the greatest chance of survival. Love and other tender emotions were aberrations, and not necessary to producing healthy young.
Rinna had left her clan and in doing so, had left old beliefs and ways behind. She was free to explore her tender feelings. Free to act on them.
Unfortunately, Bale didn’t seem to share her sentiment. He was a male in his prime, strong, fierce, well-formed. He could have his pick of female banaranjans if he wanted. Perhaps he already did, even without sharing his clan affiliation.
“Did you hear me, Rinna?”
She shook herself out of her reverie. She had perched atop one of the red leather barstools that lined the kitchen counter while Bale examined her wing. “I’m sorry. Too busy thinking. What did you say?”
She could feel him manipulate the wing, testing the spread, the membranes, each joint, the touch of his fingers sure and warm. “I said it looks like your wing has healed up nicely. Can you fold it down?”
Rinna concentrated, calling her magic to fold her wings snug, then curl them in to her shoulder blades, hiding them beneath her human glamour. She spun on the barstool until she faced him. “It didn’t hurt. Thank you!” Impulsively, she threw her arms about his shoulders.
He stepped into the embrace, meaning her thighs flanked his own. “You’re welcome,” he said, his voice gravelly. “You’ll be night flying in no time.”
She drew back enough so that she could whisper in his ear. “I haven’t been night flying before. Don’t suppose you’d be interested in taking me?”
He drew back further, to stare into her eyes. “Surely you’ve been. .?”
“With human males, yes,” she answered. “Never night flying with a banaranjan male, though.”
Thunder chose that moment to rumble over the building, sending the expansive windows vibrating as rain began to pelt the glass. “It’s going to be a hell of a storm,” he told her, yellow eyes sparking. “Care to fly with me?”
Flying in the midst of a storm was to banaranjans like catnip to cats. With Bale, it would be more than just flying. It would be much more. She saw the clear intent in his eyes and thrilled at the prospect.
But if her wings couldn’t support her, couldn’t take the force of diving and banking, she’d be all but useless. “Do you think my wing will be all right?”
“Don’t worry.” He held out a hand to her. “I’ll catch you if you fall.”
He led her over to the balcony. Fifteen storeys up gave a decent view of Midtown Atlanta, the Fox Theatre south of them with its marquee like a beacon in the storm. This time of night, in a storm like this, few humans would be about. Few hybrids would venture into the rain, lightning and potential hail. It was a perfect time to be a banaranjan, a perfect night to go flying.
Grinning with the joy of being alive, she quickly stripped, her skin tingling as electricity gathered in the blue-black clouds. She dropped her glamour next, magic running over her like raindrops, changing her skin from peach to copper satin. Her wings unfurled, supple leather, filling the balcony. “Why don’t you try and catch me now, Bale?” she dared him, then leapt out into the night.
His laughter rang out behind her, trilling along her nerves as she reached for the sky. Her wings obeyed the involuntary command, beating huge gusts of air to thrust her skyward. Blue-white lightning arced overhead, fat drops of rain biting into her skin. Adrenaline flooded her system, giving her body a slight glow. Bale was out there somewhere, stalking her, waiting for the right moment to pounce.
As soon as she thought it, he was there, magnificently elemental and male. Her breath caught as he banked in front of her, courting her with his flying prowess. She appreciated the effort, but she’d wanted him for days. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to make him work for it.
She climbed higher, up into the storm clouds. He followed, she could sense it, feel it, see the adrenaline glow of his body through the clouds and rain and lightning.
Her heart thumped as he caught her, arms tightening about her. Instinctively she thrust her arms around his neck and folded her wings. His eyes burned brilliant yellow, power radiating from him. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
She threw back her head as he entered her, sensations pummelling her as lightning rolled through them and around them; wild, driving, a tumult of power and pleasure as Bale drove them higher and higher. Suddenly they broke through the storm, to a place where everything slowed. They hovered there at the edge of the earth for a couple of wingbeats, hearts pounding, pleasure peaking, souls bonding. She touched his cheek, wonder and something more fragile blossoming.
Then Bale folded his wings and dived down, back down, back into the chaos, the frenzy. Wind screamed past them as they fell, causing them to spin with the force and speed of their dive. Rinna shrieked as pleasure exploded through her body, launching spikes of lightning. Bale joined her a moment later, thunder booming with their ecstasy.
The snap of Bale’s wings opening was louder than a thunderclap. They jerked upright, his wings beating fiercely in a fight against gravity. She realized then how far they’d fallen in their pursuit of pleasure as Bale flew up to reach his balcony.
She slid away from him, and then missed him immediately, still shaking and lightheaded from the experience. He folded his wings away, then wrapped a large palm around the back of her neck and pulled her closer for a kiss, their first kiss. They stood there, kissing, steam rising from their bodies as the ferocity of the storm and their passion subsided.
They broke apart, fighting to regain their breath. “That was wonderful,” Rinna whispered. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you, Rinna.” He squeezed her, then turned to slide open the balcony door. “By the wings of Keterach, that was an amazing flight!” He headed into the darkness of the main room.
Rinna froze in shock. Keterach. Her clan’s most-hated enemy. Banaranjans preferred war to peace on the best of occasions. With Shadowchasers and the Gilead Commission now policing the preternatural community, her race had long ago turned the love of battle into the art of grudge-holding, taking to thunderous skies to settle disputes under cover of storms.
Sweet Darkness, she had taken to the skies with her mortal enemy! Worse, she had mated with him. If her clan found out, she would be worse than dead.