Hawking a Future by Zenina Masters Page B

the deck and looked up, down and around. “I have to try this.”
    She beat her wings, and her body slowly lifted off. With a twist, she turned and let herself glide down into the valley before her wings moved her upward.
    Grinning, she landed on the deck next to Tovin, and as she hugged him, the wings receded.
    He chuckled and stroked the naked skin of her back. “Pardon me, but I have to try that.”
    He removed the wrap tunic that he had been wearing, and he focused inward. His wings burst out in a rush, and they were not the same golden brown she had worn. They had huge chunks of red.
    She snickered. “Your beast is making himself known.”
    “It used to be a shape, but now, there are all these instincts going along with it.”
    “Your beast got a soul. That is what makes shifters and fey so different. Our beasts inhabit us. That is why it hurts so much when they don’t talk to us.”
    His wings were huge, and as he flexed them, her heart pounded a little harder. She had to admit, it was sexy to have her own personal angel at her beck and call.
    She folded her hands in front of her and stepped back so he could launch off the edge of the deck. He winked, kissed her quickly and dove into the valley beneath them, his wings sending out strong beats that her hawk wanted to mimic.
    She felt her dress puddle on the floor as her beast took over, and with a lunge upward, she was over the edge of the deck and flying after him.
    He was on a leisurely flight, so she overtook him, spiralling in front of him before she climbed upward and then dove down again.
    When she was tired, she made her way back to the deck and shifted to human, gathering her clothing and his as she entered the building. Nudity was part of shifter life. Clothing tangled smaller limbs, so it was best to strip before changing. She knew that from the tales of the patients at the recovery centre.
    Her clothing and his were in the bedroom, hung in the closet and folded in the drawers.
    She slipped on a loose robe and tied the sash while she waited for her angel to return.
    He came into the bedroom, and his wings were still high and wide. “I think I am going to like this bonding thing.”
    She opened her mouth to speak, but he kissed her, holding her tight and wrapping his arms around her before covering them both in his wings.
    She was warm, cocooned in the scent of man and the dusty-sweet scent of feathers.
    When he raised his head, he murmured, “We should get portraits done with the wings.”
    The idea of being photographed when shifted was appalling.
    He seemed to take in her expression. “Too soon? I will bring it up after our first child.”
    She blinked in surprise. “When do you think that will be?”
    “Well, it will be sooner rather than later. I suppose we should have had this discussion before now, but it was one of the things that the shifters had to give up to get their enhanced lifespans.”
    “No one mentioned it to me.” She had never thought about kids. Kids were not part of her modest plans for her life.
    “I am mentioning it now.” He kept her wrapped in his wings and arms.
    She sighed. “Isn’t this a barn-door moment?”
    He grinned. “Perhaps, but we are bonded now, so it is possible. It takes a lot of magic to get a shifter and fey to breed.”
    “Drorik and his mate?”
    “Are probably going to have a tremendous brood that will stretch into the ages. I will be content with one or two daughters that will grow up to have daughters of their own.”
    “I thought every man wanted a son.”
    “Whatever child comes of our union will be welcome, but in the fey society, there are no girls being born for the men born a century ago. Our population has decreased to the point where this was the last and final effort to get a foothold on the future.”
    “I am a foothold?” She raised her eyebrows at that.
    He chuckled. “This moment is the foothold. Where we go from here is up to us.”
    She ran her hands between them and stroked