Page 70 of A Cursed Heart
“Fuck! I’m screwing this up. You must feel so weird adapting to your body being different, the magic loss, seeing Dagda… I should have supported you better.”
“You had enough to do with Freya, the FBI, and your work.” His employer only allowed him one day off because they were afraid of falling behind.
“There’s no excuse, Mal. We’re a couple now. We’ve got to support each other through difficult times. You were there for me while I basically ignored you’d gone through this incredible change. I mean, I didn’t even ask you how you felt about being human now!”
He glanced at me before returning his eyes to the road. We were nearly home. I couldn’t wait to sleep next to Ryan once more in the room that smelled like us, that had memories of us all over it.
“I—” How did I feel about my new life? Over the last few days, I had thought of little else, even as I tried to keep Freya occupied when Ryan was working. “It’s everything I didn’t know to ask for.”
Ryan’s head turned towards me, his eyes assessing me. “It is?”
“Yes. As a demon, I had all this power. This temptation and greed, too. My head was a noisy place sometimes.” I used the analogy Ryan used with Freya sometimes. “Now it is quieter. I feel at peace.”
“That sounds nice, actually. For what it’s worth. I love human Mal.”
“Human Mal loves you just as much. Now that I am like this, I don’t have to worry about living a life without you or trying to change you to keep you with me, which would have been selfish. I have a normal human life span like this.” I paused, relishing our future, the one I saw stretching out in front of us. “Now we can live as equals. We are partners now that there’s no bond tying us together.”
“You’re wrong. It might not be a cursed gem, but there’s something between us. You are mine, and I am yours. That’s just how we’re supposed to be.”
The apartment felt different when we returned. Freya didn’t seem to feel it, but I could tell Ryan did. He let out a shiver when he walked into the freshly painted kitchen. A wall had needed repairing from Ryan’s fight with Salvatore and a bullet hole.
“Are you going to be okay here?” I wondered aloud. My concern was for Ryan’s mental wellbeing. He kept staring at the spot where I’d lain after I was shot.
“Not sure.” He shook off whatever he was thinking and brightened. “Let’s get Freya into bed. I want to take my newly human boyfriend to bed.”
“I like that idea.”
Tired from a day by the sea and a long car journey, Freya gave in to sleep quickly. Once we locked up and took turns in the bathroom, we sat on the bed awkwardly.
Ryan was the first to break the silence. He chuckled. “It’s still us. You’re still the same Mal, just without the extra appendages.” I missed my tail and horns, but with all the time I had spent in my human form, it had become normal for me to look like I did. My hair was still scarlet, my eyes the same brown I’d chosen to blend in better. Even my markings remained, though they looked like tattoos now.
Reaching out, Ryan pushed my hair off my shoulder and kissed my neck. I bared my throat for him, letting him lick a line up to my jaw. When he met my lips, our kiss was hungry, the days of uncertainty melting away with each sweep of his tongue against mine.
I fell back onto the bed, drawing Ryan with me until he was pressed against me from shoulder to hip. I lost myself in Ryan’s touch, his kiss. Slowly, he stripped me out of the sleep pants and boxer briefs I wore until I was bare to his gaze.
He explored my body with his mouth, nipping at sensitive areas until he reached my leaking cock. He took me into his mouth while his fingers brushed over my hole. His touch began tentatively, then grew more confident as I moaned for him, gripping his hair while he sucked me down and opened me up for him.
By the time I was ready for him, I felt on the brink. Ryan’s heated gaze turned to a smirk when he caught me watching him undress. He slicked up his length and settled between my legs.
The first push inside me burned some. Without my demon magic, I had to bear the flash of pain. I was still testing the limits of what I could do with my human body’s lesser power.
“You okay?” Ryan whispered. He pecked my lips and sank deeper inside me.
“Yes,” I breathed. The stretch turned from a sharp ache to something far more pleasurable.
“Fuck, you feel so good like this, Mal.”
Then he thrust, and I thought I saw stars.
We moved together, moaning and panting, growing sweaty and more desperate for release. I felt magic sparking under my skin, sending me soaring. I came with Ryan’s name on my lips, pulling him along with me. He filled me with his come before collapsing beside me, my hand in his.
“Holy shit, that was good!” Ryan grinned at me. “I dunno but that felt better somehow than when you were a demon, don’t you think?”
I grinned at him and squeezed his hand. He was right. We felt more connected than ever before. “I do. There’s one downside to being human now, though.”
“What?”
“No magic to clean us up.”
Ryan cackled. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping you forever. I’ll get a towel.” His kiss was sweet. I ogled his fine ass as he walked to the bathroom to get something to clean me up.
Keep me forever? Yes, I’d like that very much.
