"Lie back," Rush rumbled through his lips, and she took an uneven breath before looking at how close they were to the edge.

"Dammit, Rush. You Shades have some weird rituals," Mer said as she took a deep, shaky breath and lay back. The ledge tapered and one of her hands slipped into open air. She squirmed in terror as she pulled it back, all the while Rush waited on his knees in front of her.

"Meredith," Rush said in a hush of voice. "Please don't be frightened. I would never allow harm to come to you. Trust me, and I will show you pleasure, the likes of which you will beg me for again and again until your breath runs out," Rush purred but continued to speak as her fear didn't fade. "You will never perish if I do not precede you, Meredith. All Shades do this with their mates. It's... important to me," Rush insisted, the look in his eyes dampening as she looked to either side and then up to the spinning sky.

"Okay. Give me a second," Mer conceded, taking in a deep breath, calming, and trusting her life in Rush's hands. The man was at least five to ten times her age, so he knew what he was doing, and he was giving up a part of his heart to her. It was her responsibility to do the same.

Lips pressed to her neck, and she let out a breath as he kissed her skin, his fangs pressing into it with so much pressure that she was amazed they didn't break the skin. Or that they didn't topple over the edge. No fear, no fear. This was Rush. Rush glided one hand down her body, pressing her stomach just lightly before he found her thighs and slid his fingers down between her legs. Her breath came faster as he stroked there, softly on the outside while his other thumb trailed over her breast and her nipple hardened under his fingers.

"You Shades get some real kink out of this daredevil stuff." Mer gasped as he slid his fingers into her, and her eyes drifted above him just in time to see light coming from the top of the cliff above. At first it was just in the center, but then it spread all around the edges of the drop. It rushed over the brink of the falls, and she nearly swallowed her tongue as Rush clipped her clit with his claw at the same time as the light crashed over onto them.

"Holy hell," she cringed as a wave of water poured over Rush's back and trickled around them. Extending her fingers, she dipped them into the stream as it tapered off, and it sank into her in a way she was too familiar with. "Wait, this isn't..."

Another flow of energy sputtered over the edge and doused Rush where he was holding himself up over her to take the brunt of its weight. It was amazing to behold, liquid in nature but glowing every color of the rainbow. The drip off of Rush was a mix between sunlight and cotton candy, all spiraled with the iridescent blue of butterfly wings.

Before it even tapered off, another wave slammed into Rush's back so hard that he collapsed onto his elbows by her head, bringing them closer and wrapping her in a current that took over her every cell and raised the hairs on her body as it pulsed through her and over the falls to careen into the basin.

"This is," Mer choked off her breath as the flood over the falls' edge increased, bursting around them off every previously dry decline into stunning waterfalls that glowed in the nighttime with unfathomably beautiful energy.

"Magic," Rush murmured against her neck, relaxing his body onto hers as the constant flow overtook them. "This is a magical recess. For every spell, we merely serve as conduits to channel it up from the earth, and it must return from whence it came. The power creeps through the land reabsorbing into it and gathers here at the lowest point of magical concentration. Out here, there is no one, and it rejoins the earth at the base of these falls, right at midnight.

"Relax into it, Meredith. It is neither light not dark, just the energy and power of life itself. Here, under it, you and are the same. Regardless of which magic we are a conduit for, it all starts and ends the same. Here, it harms no one, only flows through us. Let it take you, Meredith."

Rush kissed her, parting her lips and they awkwardly filled with magic as she kissed him back. It absorbed into her as soon as it touched anywhere despite how it ran over them and pushed them forward. It took her a moment to realize that meant they were falling, but Rush held her tight and fell with a calm that eased her rapid pulse. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced, defying the laws of gravity as they floated down, coaxed and yet protected by the magic into the basin. All around her, magic flew into the air in splashes like shooting stars, sizzling into the pool beneath.

Like those burning sparks, they collided with the surface of the pool in a collision of magic that was dizzying as they sank to the bottom of the basin like rocks. Magic filled her mouth, nose ears, everything, and she breathed it in just like the air that sustained her. Rush's skin against hers was on fire, and she had no idea when he'd entered her. With him came a flow of dark magic that was so potent between her legs that her orgasm forced its way out so abruptly that she had no choice but to ride it out.

Rush eyes glowed nearly purple from the pink and blue sheen, meeting her eyes as she tried to figure out what was going on, but they rolled back as his own climax took him over and sent waves of dark magic deeper into her. They undulated with the crashes of magic against each other, and when she came down, it wasn't very far. Everything between her legs was swollen and the lightest brush or movement dared to set her off again as she tried to breathe and remember what sentience was. She couldn't even tell up and down, floating under the pool of magic.

"Meredith, you're already so overwhelmed," Rush whispered into her ear, nibbling on it, and she cried out as another release shook her, clenching her around his shaft so tightly that he groaned and sank his hands into the dirt on either side of her head as he filled her again, writhing with the thrusts as he tried to get control again.

"Rush..." Meredith whined, finding at least that one word.

"I know. We're almost there. It's okay." Rush soothed her as he pressed her into the ground, easing past the final layer of magic to connect her skin directly with the earth.

Lightning shot through her, as if her body was being used as a conduit for every single molecule of magic returning to the earth. Things started to cloud in her mind, the strength of the magic pulling her under, but through all of it, she felt Rush pierce through with his own energy and the thickness of him spreading her as he moved.

Tears came to her eyes from the heaven that pulsed through her with the movement. Every time Rush spread her legs and delved into her, it felt like an orgasm of its own, and by the fourth or fifth, she had bruises on her thighs and the world spun above. It was like each time, he burrowed deeper and the feeling was more intense. She could barely handle his last thrust as it stretched her and she yelled into the flow of magic that sank down her throat.

Darkness collided with her own magic and then it tore up through her in an apex of near delusional euphoria before it drained back out into the ground, yanked away by the earth's hunger for it. It was replaced in an instant by the flow of magic from above and from Rush's sex as he filled her. It was like she was a water balloon, full to bursting with ecstasy before she was squeezed dry of it only to repeat.

And there was only so many times she could do so as the latest surge hit her. As Rush had promised, the pleasure was like no other, so hot her skin burned, so potent, it escaped through her pores, and she gripped him so tightly that she vibrated in a quiver that rattled her entire body.

Rush sank his fangs into her neck, sparking a fuse for an explosion that went off in her chest and shuddered down through her every vein to the one spot of convergence between her legs. Pain didn't even exist down here, and Rush's growl vibrated against her throat. His hands bunched in her hair as his hips ground into hers and finality poured out him.

Dark magic spilled out from between her legs, unable to get any further into her from what already tore at the her insides to get out. Her vision exploded into stars as a desperate cry of ecstasy escaped her. The magic pushed out of him, through him, straight into her, strengthened with the magic all around them, and her voice rose with the power, her body reverberating until the crescendo took over inside of her and ripped her apart with a pleasure so overpowering that it hurt and everything darkened.

~

She woke with a groan and her body felt like an empty bag of sticks clanking against each other. It was the first time in her life that she could say she genuinely never wanted to have sex again. Every fiber of her being felt like someone had wrung her out like a towel and left her to dry in the sun. Just thinking about the orgasms she'd just had threw a thrum of pleasure between her legs, but then she hurt. Everything ached, and she wanted to just die here.

"It's because I grounded you," Rush said, and she turned to him, lying butt naked in the grass.

They were outside the basin in a field near the forest edge, and he shined under the moonlight, his muscles defined and rising up to his broad shoulders. He looked so hot with his smile and the glint of his fangs that she felt a tingle between her legs that made her want to cry it hurt so badly.

"Under the flow of the fall, magic tears through me and into you, using your body as the instrument of its return. It's draining but extremely pleasurable." Rush's voice was gravelly as if he was feeling no better than her right now, worn out and used up.

"Yeah I got that," she mumbled in her drowsiness. "We didn't even do anything but missionary, and I'm sold on that for the rest of my life. As long as we never have sex again. Does that make any sense?" Mer said, turning to find that there was a blanket over her. So he had brought some.

"Yes, Meredith," Rush said, a smile spreading on his lips, but her eyes dipped between his legs as his manhood rose to attention. The grunt of pain and the way he pinched the bridge of his nose while he waited for it to sink back down had her laughing so hard that tears escaped her eyes.

"Well look at that. There is a time when you are too exhausted for sex," Mer said, crawling over him and resting her face on his chest.

"Meredith," Rush tried to speak again, this time keeping his member separate emotionally. "I love you."

Those three words tore more tears out of her as she lifted her face to his. It was a struggle, but it was worth it for the happiness and tears that mirrored in Rush's gaze.

"I'm sorry I couldn't say it until now, but I will say it many times every day to make it up to you. You are my mate, and I am yours. I will love you until our time runs out."

"I have waited so long for you to say that, you stubborn jerk. I love you more than life itself, Rush, and you know that," Mer kissed him, and he kissed back for only a moment before he shoved her away, turned on his side, and hunched in with his hands in his groin.

Mer laughed and Rush laughed with her, half of it a whine of pain, and they fell into one another to watch the stars over the thundering falls overhead. Exhaustion eased them slowly into sleep, and as Mer's lids fell she didn't want to wake anywhere but in his arms.

So maybe the Shade's kinky rituals weren't so bad.

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Word Count: 2183