Niala77

The butcher didn’t have carne asada, but he did have flat iron steak with plenty of flank for me. If given half a chance, I could put away two pounds in a sitting, and Gaffriel had not disappointed me. Then, we found a secluded glade amidst trees and sat in damp leaf litter holding paper-wrapped parcels of meat. My mouth watered, and I bit into the steak with tearing bites. The juice of it, the musty flavor, the thick texture that really gave me something to work over. I’d cry if I could, but I just let my wings out instead. I wasn’t careful and let them slip a little too fast. Gaffriel didn’t even try to resist, just leaned forward and let his own blossom free. I looked back behind me and noticed that my molt petered off. A few feathers littered the ground, and I made a note to comb through my hackles to free the down later. I shook my wings and watched the fluff drop free.

Gaffriel stared at the meat in his wrapper with disdain. I swallowed hard and tilted my head. “Just eat it.”

“I know I’m going to get some kind of disease.”

“We don’t get diseases,” I grumbled to him through another thick bite.

“I don’t know if I can eat this.” He sighed and stared at it.

“Eat it or else,” I demanded of him. One taste, and he’d be hooked, I knew. Kiromir liked to act high and mighty about it, but I knew he ate like I did when nobody looked. I could smell it on his breath occasionally.

“Or else what?” He huffed.

“I’ll go test Nodak’s fire the second we get back to the wanderers.” I barely had that sentence out of my mouth before Gaffriel shoved a raw bite of it into his mouth and chomped down with a snuffle. I saw the way his pupils moved, from a pinprick to a dark circle.

“Hm…” a slight noise came from his throat, but he chewed and swallowed.

“Good?” I smirked.

“Fuck you. This is gross.” He took another bite, though, and savored it. His mouth watered hard.

We needed to shower and sleep. A hotel would be too risky, but we knew a campground, not a few miles off. If we moved fast, we could book one of the cabins, wander around until evening, take a shower and sleep the sleep of the damned.

“Gaff, back then, did you give the clerk at the hotel your ID?” I thought to ask, and he nodded. Then, I saw the pained look on his face.

“She didn’t even check it, just typed my name in.” He said, rubbing his forehead.

“That was enough, carrot.” I flopped over onto my back and kept eating because my stomach ached for more. He, too, by the sounds of it.

When we finished, we went on our way again, trekking up meandering winding paths and city streets to make our way to a cottage rental place near a campground. A sleepy-eyed older man at the desk gave us a key for the night and grinned at us with a leer.

“Uh, th-thanks…” Gaff said as he grabbed my shoulders and steered us away.

“At least he didn’t ask for ID,” I muttered.

“Yeah.” Gaff cleared his throat.

We did as we had planned and wandered the woods for a time, waiting for dusk, where we made our way to the cabin.

Gaff shouldered his bag and pulled some clothes out for us before going our separate ways to the showers. We just needed a quick scrub. I had exhaust fumes and grit in my hair from sleeping in that sign. I made it back a few minutes before Gaff did and curled up atop the small bed.

The room wasn’t much, a small table, two chairs, a bed, and a TV with two channels, both of which featured Alaskan fishing. Of course, we hadn’t wanted to watch fishing, but we left it on just for the noise.

“I really want to ault your wings, but I want to wait.” He told me, and I couldn’t blame him. He wanted to keep his distance, I knew, but when the evening light started to fade into the night, we migrated into one another’s arms, forehead to forehead. My tail wrapped around his waist, and there we slept, wondering what would come next.

I woke later in the night. Maybe a nightmare? “Gaff?” I whispered.

“Mmm,” He responded, just a grunt in light sleep.

“Besha amma’a vai myr layn,” I whispered. He lifted his chin, pulled my face into his neck, and clutched tighter to me. Please love me forever.

“Always have, always will,” He whispered, and I clutched back to him, breathing in his freshly-washed scent as we drifted off into sleep.