Alvion stiffened for a moment as Reo giggled and snuggled against his wings, his breath catching in his throat. `He thinks my wings are soft? Me, the deadly warrior, the one who strikes fear into the hearts of those who threaten my beloved city? Soft?`
Despite his initial stiffness, Alvion found himself relaxing into the embrace, his wings instinctively tightening around Reo. `It’s not soft. It’s… it’s just natural. Like how the sun rises and sets, like how the seasons turn. Holding Reo like this… it’s just the way things are meant to be. The way they were always meant to be.`
He nuzzled the top of Reo’s head, his beak brushing gently against their hair as he breathed in their scent. `Gods, he smells so good. Like home. Like everything I never knew I needed until I met him. Like… like mine.`
Alvion’s voice was low and rough as he spoke, his words tumbling out between soft, almost unconscious clicks and chirps. “You think my wings are soft, Baka? You think I’m soft?”
He chuckled darkly, a sound that rumbled through his chest and into Reo’s back. `He doesn’t know how dangerous it is to think such things. To say such things out loud. Doesn’t he realize that if I wanted to, I could… I could hurt him? I could break him? I could…`
No. Alvion shook his head, banishing those dark thoughts from his mind. `No. I would never hurt him. I could never hurt him. Not now that he’s… that he’s mine.`
Alvion’s grip on Reo tightened, his claws digging into the couch cushions on either side of his beloved’s body. `Mine. My Reo. My beautiful, stupid, wonderful Reo. Mine to protect, mine to cherish, mine to keep safe from the world that wants to tear him away from me.`
“Shh, don’t say such things out loud, Baka.” Alvion murmured, his breath hot against Reo’s ear. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to think such thoughts? Such… such soft ideas?”
He nipped gently at Reo’s earlobe, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin. `Such dangerous, wonderful thoughts. Thoughts that make me want to keep him here, to never let him go. To… to…`
Alvion trailed off, his mind spinning with a whirlwind of emotions and instincts that he couldn’t quite put into words. `Mine. My Reo. My soulmate. The one I was made to protect, to love… to possess.`
