oh come forth
into the storm and rout
and be my love in the rain

The world faded behind and around them, concealed as effectively by the stormy clouds as by their own passions. Kaj could not recall the last time he had laughed so freely, so joyously. For all the fear and trepidation most storms called to primordial responses, he could feel only exhilaration and something far hotter, far more dangerous that burned like coals inside his chest. Kaj feared, as all mortal things fear, that he would not be able to resist the pull that drew him towards a woman too dangerous for a weak man such as himself. There was no denying how she made him feel, how she swept into his rather ordinary life and gripped him by the ears, dragging him forth into a realm he had not allowed himself into. Careful, always careful, he had told himself for so long, pounded into his head. Why be careful? She asked him with every move and shudder of her sinuous body, and he had not had a good answer for her. What else had he missed out on? What other possibilities had he blinded himself to?

She took away all questions, all concerns with a simple stare. He lost himself to the storm that radiated from her soul, because that was what it was. It was no simple act of weather, she had built and constructed it from her very being. And she had allowed him to build upon it, to stitch and seam them together into a singular being. He watched her rise from beneath him, close enough to steal her breath, to steal her. To keep her far away from anyone else, because everything Kaj had ever loved or wanted had always been stolen from him. He would never want to keep her chained, so free and violent was her spirit, but he hungered for her passion to be solely his. So intense was that train of thought that he could hardly breathe, and she ascended between his legs, breast sliding against his own. Could she feel the pounding of his heart against her skin, desperately seeking freedom so that it may leap into her embrace as it so clearly desired? How could she not?

She was so close that he could hardly think, barely registered that she was pushing them higher, higher above the clouds and the storm and the worries that awaited the kingly portion of Kaj far below. She took him and brought him higher, trapping herself willingly in his embrace, and he let her. He asked it of her with every searing glance that he could never seem to tear away from her frame. Take me away. He would do the same for her in an instant should she only ask. In that moment Kaj was so taken with her, so woven into her framework that had the words slipped her lips, he would have abandoned everything in the span of a breath, a heartbeat.

Their wings beat together, slow and leisurely as she hoisted them with her magic, and he gazed into her eyes and never dared to look away. Why should he? There was nothing better to see for miles around. They were a singular entity, adrift on a sea of inexplicable emotion. Untouchable. And he never noticed the thinning air, for she had already stolen everything else he owned, why not his breath as well? She was warm and malleable against him, locked in his embrace though he did nothing to further restrain her. Her willingness was what made it so precious to him, that she would rather remain with their hearts so close than tear away to enjoy to the atmosphere they'd risen into.

Her breath caressed him, the sole warmth that did not come from her hide, and on it words he could scarcely decipher. And all at once it came to him, why he felt he was truly choking, and what was left in his lungs was lost on an outward breath of shock as they crumpled like shot birds and began to fall. Perhaps he was stronger than her, his lungs capable of higher capacity only long enough to watch her drift away from him so suddenly. It felt as if he had been seared, stabbed with a hot iron straight to the heart. He dove to meet her, tucking his wings tight with what little mental capacity he had left. Even as his vision swam he pushed to meet her, one solid beat of his wings pushing him towards the earth rather than an uncontrolled downfall, purposefully racing to meet her before any harm could befall her.

"Cirrus!" It was a bellow, a ricochet of sound that seemed to magnify upon itself until it was a lion's roar. It clasped inside its syllables a promise, a fear for her safety. Lifting just beneath her, he slipped his wing beneath her own to help right her, hovering just below her as he fought the winds that buffeted them. Jaw clenched and ears pinned against the hurricane, the typhoon, the tempest. His body was prepared to sweep beneath her, to bear her weight even at the expense of his own wings. Should they fall, it would be together, and he would sooner break his body upon the earth and spare her life than allow her to fall alone, doomed. "I have you," he rumbled, a promise, a vow as his eyes seemed to spark and catch in their foxlike slants.

"Slowly, we'll make it," he called to her, letting himself descend with the words, gazing up at her from a whirlwind of pale locks. Encouraging, swearing to catch her the moment she allowed herself to follow him. His mass held better against the winds, and he pumped his wings until his shoulders ached to remain in place, to shadow her descent and ensure her safety.

He should have known in that moment that he was long gone.


@[Cirrus]