Right where I belong

Briar's paws winding around his neck to pull her body closer to his drew more pleased grumbles from Artorias, crushing his lips with a heated need to hers while the paw around her back tightened just enough to keep her held to him like that. Her soft fur brushed against his skin while their coats mingled in the closeness of the embrace, not a single inch of space between their bodies from chest to torso. His heart was hammering against his chest and he swore he could feel Briar's racing as well. He loved the way she flexed her digits against his scruff, literally clinging to him like a life preserver in a roiling sea. Burning electricity jumped through every nerve in his body, and his tail beat fervently against the floor. He never wanted to let go of Briar, never stop kissing her—in fact, he wanted to kiss her everywhere. Her lips, her face, her head, her neck, her chest, every single part of her. The burning urgency made the boy want to touch and love every part of Briar, from ears to tail, and everything in between. He wanted to coax more of those needy, breathy whines and cries from her and feel her paws gripping direly to him. He just wanted Briar, more and more and more.

But as he lost himself in the fire again, Artorias was roughly pulled back to reality when he felt sharpness dig into the back of his neck, the sting of pain sending shivers down his spine that was quickly swallowed up the by all-consuming fire. Their lips broke with a low growl in response to the bite of her claws in his scruff, not even hearing Briar's gasp of shock. A tremor ran through him, his fur bristling from the strange sense of delight that had come with her claws. It short-circuited his brain momentarily, and once he blinked through heavy, hazy eyes, he fixed Briar with a crooked smile. "It's okay, I'm fine," he replied, his voice husky with his heavier breathing. "I barely felt anything." And what he did feel hadn't felt bad, per se, but he wasn't going to say that out loud, not when he didn't understand anything he was feeling.

Artorias brought a paw up to the back of his neck, feeling where she had cut him, and examining the thin trails of blood on his pads. It was nothing, the injury barely there, and even the bleeding was already beginning to stop. "See? I'm fine," he said with an amused chuckle. "Lost control of yourself for a moment there, huh? My kissing too good for you, princess?" He gave her a teasing grin, leaning forward to boop his nose against hers and try to lighten her mood again. He loved knowing he could put Briar out of control like that to the point where she couldn't even control how hard she was holding onto him. It was an unusual sense of dominance that made those burning tingles return in force. Maybe someday he'd figure out why she was making him feel like that. Was she feeling them too?

"Artorias" | "Corbin"