*****ENJOY!!!!!!*****
RIVER, Three Weeks Later—
"Fuck, angel," Griffin warned, his voice deep and dangerous, and I smirked as I let the silk robe fall just that little bit more, revealing my bare shoulders, absolutely filthy with golden glitter. Griffin tugged against the bonds wrapped around his wrists, his chest rising and falling as his eyes darkened, his bear so close to the surface I could see fur ripple across his skin.
"I got this one just for you," I purred, making his cock, already hard and leaking just from the idea of what I had been doing behind the decorated partition in our suite, twitch and a drop of precum slip down onto his navel. "I really wanted tonight to be special."
I wore a nearly-sheer pink robe that hung only just barely past my ass and groin, with long flowing sleeves and lace around the edges. My feet were bare but for the color on my toes— the same shade of pink as my robe— and a few toe rings that glimmered in the dim light of the hearth fire. I wore a wig of brown hair with bright blonde highlights, the tresses falling around my shoulders and making me shiver every time they brushed my skin. My eyes were done up elegantly with glitter and kohl, my cheeks hot and probably deep red, because I could feel the heat emanating from them. And my lips were plainly colored, but they were wet and silky with a honey concoction Princess Lacy had shared with me, her eyes smiling as she slipped it into my hand and wished me luck on my mission of the night.
I wondered how many people knew about my present for Griffin that night. I had told only one or two, getting their help in gathering items in such a short timeframe, since Griffin hadn't told me it was his birthday until only a few days before, and only then under duress, but it seemed as if everyone in the palace somehow found out about his birthday just after I did, and that I was giving him the best present I knew how to... Myself, done up and wrapped just for him.
"It's... River, mate, please. Please, let me see. I wanna... Let me see, sweet angel."
I chuckled, the sound dark and obscene, as I met his eyes and licked my lips, then bit the bottom one between my teeth.
"I like you begging," I declared, shivering as his eyes, dark and animal, roved my body as he helplessly fought against the bonds around both his ankles and his wrists, tying him spread eagle on the bed we had shared since I had healed enough to travel and we had come home to begin our life together. "I like it a lot. Do you like what you see so far, my big bear?"
"You are the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my entire life," he growled, the words more animal than man. "Now show me what is mine. Show me my present. Now, River. Now, fucking... fucking now, mate. Show me what is mine."
"Nuh-uh," I teased, moving towards him, swaying my hips and letting the robe fall just a little bit more, to uncover my pecs and my left nipple. Swollen and tied up with a pink bow, just for him. "You were naughty."
"I didn't... What...?" he babbled, the words barely articulate as he yanked on the silk scarves on his wrists. I knew he could probably just break through them, if he truly wanted to, but it made me blissfully happy that he would play along, let me tease and torture him, because it was what I wanted. What made me happy.
My bear was all about making me happy. It was about time I tried to return the favor.
"You weren't even going to tell me it was your birthday," I pouted, sticking my lower lip out. His eyes flew to my lips, and he swallowed so loudly it sent a shiver down my spine to pool against my anus, where I was wrapped tightly around a marble plug I had bought that very day.
"I... Angel, it doesn't matter. It didn't matter—" he began, but I cut him off with a finger to his lips as I leaned over him, letting the soft hair of the wig drop around his head, framing the two of us in a cocoon of sultry darkness.
"You matter to me, Griffin. I love you, and everything about you matters to me. You are mine, everything about you is mine. I want your every birthday, all of your future ones and I want to hear about all the ones already past. I want your nightmares and your dreams, your fears and your insecurities. I want them all. I want everything, and that means every-fucking-thing. Got it?"
GRIFFIN—
I nearly lost him. No, I nearly willingly gave all of this up. My mate, trussed up like the greatest present known to human— and shifter— kind. My angel, slinking provocatively away from me so I had an incredible view of his thin legs, covered in nothing but what looked like a lace edging to whatever he wore beneath that teasing robe. My love, my life, my fate, my destiny, my future, staring down at me from eyes that promised pleasure and raunchy filth. My whole heart, watching me from the eyes of a man I knew I would someday die beside, whether it be on some distant battlefield or a bed when we're both gray and old, clutching at each other's hands as we crossed over the veil and entered Ioty's realms together.
"I got it, my sweet mate. I got it. I will give you everything. I'm yours."
"You'll hold nothing back? No matter how dark it is, or how much you think I won't like what it makes you? Because I know your past, Griffin, and I love you anyways. I love you because your past made you the man you are today."
I met his eyes and, as solemnly as I could with my cock hard and dripping, sweat dripping down my face to soak my hair, and my ankles and wrists trussed like a virgin sacrifice, I replied, "I will give you my everything, angel."
River's smile was like taking a deep breath of free air after being trapped in hell for an eternity. I would know— I had known the sensation a time or two.
"Then in return, I'll give you my everything. I hope you like it."
His blush was sweet as he let the pink silk robe drop to the ground to pool at his feet, but what he wore beneath the sexy robe had my gut tightening and my knot throbbing as if I was already inside my mate. My bear roared, my nostrils flaring as he tried everything to take in the scent of the man who stood before us.
The indolay he wore was nothing more than a series of strings tied around his body. Strings made of pearls. They glowed against his skin, fitting the tanned hue in a way that was somehow perfect, though I wasn't usually one to notice such things as the way his skin color complemented his jewelry. Two wrapped around his chest, emphasizing his pecs and displaying his nipples. Both of which were tied with little pink strings that ended in bows.
Presents for me.
The same color of string wrapped intricately around his hard cock and then down around his balls. They looked swollen, painful maybe, but he showed not a hint of discomfort as he took a few steps towards me, his glittering, pink nails flashing in the light of the fire.
The remaining pearl strings wrapped around his upper hips, down around his navel, dipping into his belly button, and then wrapped around his ass and upper thighs. The whole contraption ended in white lace bands on his thighs, and a matching string of white lace wrapped around his left wrist as a kind of bracelet.
My mate chuckled seductively as he met my eyes and slowly, with his eyes only leaving mine for a second when he could no longer hold them, he twisted around for me to see his entire body on display.
"Oh Ravin, thank you," I breathed in Akari as his pert, round ass was revealed to have layers of pearl strings hanging down, covering most of it, as if the pearls made up the back of a tiny skirt. But not enough that I couldn't see the dipping lines beneath the mounds I was going to sink my teeth into before the night ended, I swore it to myself, and the sparkle of a pure diamond that glowed from among the rivers of pearl.
My angel had a toy shoved into his ass, readying himself for me, and it sparkled as he twisted around to wink at me, shaking his hips so the pearls tinkled against each other in the greatest music I had ever heard, and the diamond winked nearly as brightly as his eyes had.
"Get that out of your ass and get my cock in it, or I swear to the gods, River, I will rip these bonds and rut you until you can't fucking walk." My words were so much more growl than coherent, I wasn't sure he had understood me until he laughed out loud and turned back to face me.
"Promise?" he teased, and I growled, low and warning. He tsked and finally turned back to me, sauntering to the bed we had shared since we had been allowed to come back to Swyer. I hadn't yet found my place in the huge capital, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Fate had declared I was to be beside River, and his place was here. I would fit in somehow. I didn't worry about things like that anymore. River and I fit, so we would mould the world around us if we had to, to stay together.
"Fine," he giggled, the grin on his face pure evil as he let his fingernails drag up my bound arm and rested the tips of his fingers against my lips. "I'm all wet and ready for you, my big bear. But you gotta help me, though. I'm not quite sure I can get this toy out of me all by myself. Can you help me, big guy?"
"Untie me," I challenged, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'll give you exactly what you need, sweet angel."
"Nuh-uh," he asserted, his filthy grin growing as he silkily knelt on the bed by my side and bent over me for just the slightest moment to press the gentlest, faintest kiss to my lips. Then his eyes were staring deeply into mine, and my cock was jumping with joy at the playful, sexy display of dominance. "You don't need your hands, big guy. I have something else in mind."
Without another word, my mate was turning himself around, his back to me, and his ass pressed against my chest. He twisted around to look back at me, his face glowing red with heat, and his eyes dancing with mirth and lust.
"C'mon, big guy," he demanded, rocking his hips so I felt his balls smashed against my chest, his cock dripping against me, and the sweet sounds of the jewels covering his body dancing to his body's music.
Without hesitation, I leaned up and forward and shoved my face against the crease of his ass. He cried out, his back arching, as I bit his left asscheek hard enough to leave a mark.
"Fucking sexy tease," I groaned against his skin, and I could feel more than hear his chuckle as I let his skin slip from my teeth and nuzzled my way to his center. I felt around the warm, marble plug with my tongue and teeth first, growling up against River as he ground his body back against me, moaning and whimpering as I pleasured and teased him. When I finally caught the handle in my mouth, my teeth latching on only when I could feel I wouldn't catch any skin, I pulled gently. River cried out, pressing back against me to shove it deeper into his ass, then he rocked away. His thighs tightened around my shoulders, his entire body shaking so much the pearls sounded like tiny bells.
River's moans were the greatest aphrodisiac I could ever need, as he continued to pull away, using the stability of my teeth to escape the grasp of the toy he had pushed inside of himself. When it finally slipped free, he turned back to me and watched with wide eyes as I spit the toy out to the side of me and glared up at me.
"Cock. Ass. Now, River."
His laughter was taunting, teasing, but also breathless and needy. He was just as affected by this as I was. And he needed me as much as I needed him.
"Can you..." he began, but then he looked away, biting his lip as his hips jerked seemingly involuntarily.
"You want my tongue in your hole first, pretty one?" I responded to his half-worded plea, and the way his body trembled at my words and the visible clench of his stretched hole told me the only answer I needed from him.
"Get over here," I rasped, and he immediately turned around so he was facing me, his cock bobbing just near my nose, then greedily inched forward until he was sitting on my face, his ass and balls the only thing I could see.
"That's right. Show me what's mine. What's only mine to fuck and bite and fucking devour."
River's whimper was like a jolt of lightning directly from my stomach to my balls and I tilted my hips up without any forethought to do so.
"Eat it," he cried, his face not visible to me but his voice sounding so wrecked it was as if we had been fucking for hours already. "Please, Griffin, eat my ass. I want to feel you for days. I want to know that every part of me is yours, even the filthy parts."
"No part of you is filthy," I gritted, biting against the sensitive skin just around his anus. He screamed, the sound muffled against what I assumed was his hands. "You are perfect, my angel, my pretty fuck toy."
And then I did exactly what he had asked for. I ate at his ass, licking, sucking, biting, my tongue probing as deeply as I could, my face smashed so hard against him that I had to come up for air every few minutes. I kissed his hole like I would kiss his lips, my tongue tasting every inch it could reach, exploring like I usually explored the back of his tongue. He grunted and babbled above me, his words incoherent except for a few random phrases every once in a while. But mostly he just shuddered, his body rocking above me, precum dripping onto my forehead and into my hair every few minutes.
"Griffin, I'm gonna... I'm gonna come! Oh my gods! Nnnnnngh!" he screamed, his body jerking and spasming above me until I almost lost contact with his ass. I dug in deeper, nibbling and sucking to pull him to me, and then he was grinding down against me and screaming out his ecstasy. The sound was muffled, and yet it vibrated against my head that was shoved against the wooden headboard. When he fell silent, his body limp on top of me, nearly suffocating me, I pulled away, pushing myself as much as I could around him so I could look up and see him, and the sight of him nearly had me coming completely untouched.
He hung limp against the wooden frame of our bed, his chest heaving, his cock still trussed up and hard, but cum splattered against the wood. His teeth were biting into the top of the headboard so hard I could see indents in the wood. His entire body shook, his eyes were clenched shut, and his chest was heaving so hard it was as if he had run for miles from a terrifying enemy.
"You alright, sweetheart?" I murmured, wishing I had my hands free so I could stroke his fevered skin.
His eyes opened and he glanced down at me, smiling dreamily, dopily, then shook his head and began to slink down my body.
"Now, that was not in the plan for tonight. This is supposed to be about you. I'm your present tonight, not the other way around."
"Fuck, angel, that was a present. I love the way you taste. Don't ever think that eating your pretty hole is anything less than delicious for me."
I hadn't known he could blush deeper than he had been, but my words did the trick as he scooted down my chest, my stomach, finally coming to rest with his ass against my groin.
His eyes on mine, he smiled, sweetly, gently. The sexy seductress was gone, if only just for a moment, and my sweet, innocent angel had taken his place.
"I love you, Griffin. I love you more than is probably healthy. More than I can ever express. But I'm gonna do my best to show you, ok?"
"I love you too, my sweet angel," I replied, feeling as if my heart was in my throat at his words, said with such strength, such conviction, such confident surety. "You'll never know the lengths I would go to protect you, to love you."
His fingers traced their way down my face, from the crinkles around my eyes, to rest against my wet, swollen lips. Then his mouth was on mine, and we spent an eternity and far too short a time with his body draped over mine, his tongue dancing with my lips, and my teeth nibbling against his skin whenever and wherever I could reach.
When he finally pulled away, I was panting, my orgasm so close to the surface I knew I wouldn't last long when I finally got inside my mate. My bear roared at me to escape the flimsy bonds and bend him over the pillows, show him who we were and what power we wielded. But a bigger part of me, one I would never openly acknowledge to anyone but River, thrilled at feeling helpless beneath him. Thrilled at the way he took over and teased, taunted, and tormented me. Wanted to moan at the way he was finally now reaching back to grab my cock, pressing the tip against his entrance, and pushing back against me.
I was fully seated within seconds, my mate taking me in like I belonged there, inside him. Because I did. For the first time in my life, I was exactly where I was meant to be, in this moment, at this point in my life.
And for the first time in my life, I had someone I cared about more than I cared for myself. For the first time in my life, I had someone who cared about me more than they cared about themselves.
The thought was both humbling and terrifying.
And all too exhilarating.
"Ah, you feel... Ah ah, Griffin," River mumbled, his eyes rolling back in his head as he leaned forward, then thrust back again, beginning a rhythmic press of our bodies that had my knot swelling in a matter of seconds.
It was art, the way his body writhed above me, the pearls pirouetting against his skin like dancers in a royal court. The little ribbons swaying as he panted and huffed, his eyes clenched shut, his cock bouncing with each thrust of his hips, his balls nearly purple against the silk that tied them. His skin glistened with glitter, bits of it drifting off and down onto me, the long, gorgeous hair of the wig he wore tickling the tops of my thighs with each heave of his body. Masculine or feminine, I didn't care, my mate was beautiful either way. And the way he was so comfortable in his skin, with my eyes on him, either way, had me wanting to tie him to me in every way I possibly could. Had me wanting to growl and bite at anyone who even looked his way.
My mate was perfect, whether he wore a filthy, sweat-drenched workout uniform with bruises on his face, or gorgeous, sparkling jewels and rouge on his lips. He was mine, he was my love, and I couldn't even imagine what my life would be like in this moment if Ravin hadn't blessed me with him.
He rocked and twisted, sometimes far too slowly, sometimes so fast I had to bite back the screams of orgasm so I could last, keeping me on edge for longer than I had originally thought I would be. His sweat hit my chest and face as he bent over me, his arms on either side of my head, and then he was back up, using my chest and torso as leverage to levy himself up and down again, over and over and over until I saw stars and the moon. Fuck, the whole bloody sky was on the backs of my lids in stunning, bright flashes of ecstatic light.
Though he held me off as long as he could, still my orgasm came too soon. My fists and toes clenched as I shot up into my mate, crying out as my entire body tensed and heaved in the most intense explosion I had ever felt. I nearly sobbed, my hips jerking against my will as my knot swelled and hooked inside my mate's ass, growing so large I flinched at the surrounding tightness.
River's noises heightened to a fever pitch as he froze, his back arching as he shot a small, almost reluctant dribble of semen against my stomach, tangling in the hair trailing down from my navel. His face contorted into an expression of pleasure-pain that had my knot twitching, begging for more.
"Oh gods, that's..." he muttered, shaking his head as he held himself up with his arms against my chest. His arms trembled, barely seeming able to hold him up, as he pushed himself back and forward slightly, seeming to try to find a position that was comfortable with my cock buried so deeply inside him. "Fuck, it gets right there, right up against... Nnngh," he moaned, shaking his head almost frantically as his cock twitched, his balls clenching visibly and a small, weak drop of cum dripped down from the tip of his cock.
"You alright, angel?" I gasped out, my chest still heaving though I had done hardly none of the work. My mate met my eyes and the joy there, the lust, the satisfaction, had me relaxing back against the pillows.
"When you're all done in there," he said, his head jerking back, to encompass his ass where my cock had found itself a home. "We're going again. Because I did not spend an hour dressing up for you just for five minutes of fucking."
I chuckled, and River shook his head down at me, as if disappointed, though his cock almost continuously dripped cum and he gasped and jerked every few moments so I knew I had pleasured him just as much as he needed for now.
"As you wish, mate. But can you untie me for now? My wrists are..."
"Oh!" River jolted, and both of us flinched at the pull on his ass and my cock. "Yes, I'm sorry!"
"Don't apologize," I laughed as he gingerly untied my wrists. His eyes flicked back to my ankles, but I laughed again and shook my head. "Let's not even try it. Not even you are that flexible, and it's not uncomfortable."
"Are you sure?" he asked, his tone unsure, biting his lip. "I should have thought of that."
I reached up and pulled his lip from his teeth, soothing the bite away with my own lips before I wrapped my arms tightly around him and pressed his face to rest against my neck.
"I'm positive, angel," I sighed.
River took a deep breath, probably breathing in my scent, and then his voice was breaking the silence again, quiet, warm, sweet.
"Happy birthday, Griffin. I love you."
"And I you, sweet mate. This is the best birthday I've ever had. And, I believe, a great tradition for all future birthdays, midwinter celebrations, summer solstices, rainy days, days that begin with an A..."
River chuckled, his body vibrating against mine making pleasure shoot through me.
"So," River said after at least ten minutes of sated, comfortable silence, his breaths hot against my sweaty, heated skin. My knot in his body twitched and we both jolted, for very different reasons, as another splash of cum erupted from my tip deep into his belly at the feel of his voice rumbling through his chest and into mine. "You're gonna make an honest man out of me, right? My mama and papa want to meet you— don't look at me like that," he grumbled when I jolted and stared down at him with horror and something close to terror slamming through me. "I didn't even tell them. The Emperor did, the snitch. But I would've eventually. I mean, you... You want to, right?"
"Of course, I... I mean, that depends."
"On what?" he asked with a confused frown, his gorgeous face lined in the light of the last dying embers of the fire.
"Does Cain have to come to the wedding?"
River's snort of laughter sent a jolt of pleasure from my cock to my balls and back again as his ass clamped down on my knot with the move.
"Oh, c'mon," he muttered, rolling his eyes and lying back against my chest, his fingers playing and twisting lazily in the dark hair around my nipples. "He's starting to like you! He even smiled at you the other day. That's practically a kiss, coming from Cain."
"That was a grimace, River. He was glaring at me in hatred."
River laughed again and shook his head, pressing a kiss against my neck before glancing up and gently slotting his lips against mine.
"Would that..." I began, but the words refused to come.
"Take your time, my big bear," River whispered almost reverently, his thumb rubbing absentmindedly over my nipple, making it perk up and sending shivers down my chest and into my navel. "I'm right here. Anything, I'm here."
"Would that... Would it make you happy? To marry me? Are you...? Are you happy, with me?"
River's body, lax against me, keeping himself as still as possible while we were stuck together with my knot, stiffened for just a second before he fell still again and, his eyes clenched shut, pressed a series of sweet, chaste, barely-there kisses to my neck, chin, ear, each closed eye, forehead, nose, then my lips, reverently, silently praising each bit of skin before he pulled away, opened his eyes, and looked determinedly into my eyes.
"Oh, my big, perfect bear. Every moment. Every moment with you, I'm so happy I don't know how to contain it. Happy isn't even a word I could use to describe how I feel now that we're together, because it is unlike anything I have ever felt before. It is more than happiness, what I feel, Griffin."
I took a deep breath, trying to breathe past the lump in my throat, and then let it out and smiled up at him as he continued to study my expression, as if looking for clues to something.
"And you?" he asked, his voice hoarse, his fingers digging into my shoulders as his lips pressed against mine for just a moment before he pulled away again to meet my eyes. "Are you happy, with me?"
Ravin help me, I thought with reverent worship. I love him so much.
"Every moment, my sweet angel. Every moment, I'm the happiest man, shifter, being in existence because you chose me, and you are mine. Every moment, I am baffled that I ever thought I knew what happiness meant before you came into my life. Every moment."
"Every moment," he repeated, his words such a quiet whisper I wouldn't have heard them if they hadn't been said into the kiss he pressed against my lips, and felt them in every gasp, sigh, and groan over the next few hours.