He did not remember much of the walk back to their crude little sanctuary, except in fragments. Too much had happened too soon. The faces of the wandering man and the lost woman lingered in his mind, ghosts in his memory and phantoms somewhere out there in the scouring wasteland. Knowing he could not help them was a weight he had to carry. Yet neither of those was the true burden he brought back with him.

In war, Logan had killed. For duty, for his country, to protect those he had served with, or sworn to protect. Yet he had never hated the enemy or felt any pleasure to see them fall. Until today.

Today’s work of violent retribution had produced a savage joy that had yet to fade away. His flesh vibrated with a savage high that had yet to fade away. He felt no guilt or remorse. The two Incubi had been evil. Death had been a mercy they did not deserve, but it was one Logan had been more than happy to deliver.

For the first time since waking up in Grandfather Bear’s forest clearing, Logan felt in control of some small part of his life. He had the power of life and death in his hands. It felt good, like the first hit of a powerful drug.

That he was capable of gleeful brutality was terrifying.

He looked up to see Beauty watching him with her unreadable, golden cat eyes. Logan saw no judgment there, no second-guessing, and for that, he was both grateful and envious.

Sitting there in their crude, little shelter, Logan decided at that moment that he had never seen anything as pure of purpose as her. Intelligence without the baggage of doubt, sexual with no concept of guilt, strong and beautiful without shame. Beauty was all of these things.

“You are remarkable.” He said. “Did you know that?”

She tilted her head, then pointed at his crotch and her open mouth.

His response was gentle but firm. “No.” Logan shook his head. “Not this time.”

Beauty closed her mouth and tilted her head the other way. Logan could see in her eyes that she was trying to process his meaning. He moved closer and gently took her hand. She looked down but did not try to pull away.

Logan looked into her eyes. “Beauty, today I saw a side of myself that I never knew was there.” He shook his head. “I can’t let that be who I am. I cannot let this place re-define me and take away my humanity. If that ever happens, then I will be lost and Maeve wins.”

He smiled and touched her hand. “I am more than that. You and I, we can be more. I have to believe that, Beauty. Even in this horrid place, surrounded by such ugliness and evil, there has to be something more. Something… beautiful.”

Slowly, he leaned in close, closer. Logan kissed her, no more than a feather-soft brush of lips. A gentle exploration and invitation. “That’s called a kiss.” He smiled and squeezed her hand. “What do you think?”

After a moment, her eyes lit up. Beauty looked positively gleeful as she leaned in and kissed him back. Her lips were soft, curious, and eager. Gently, they explored this new sensation together. Logan cupped her face in his hands, stroking his thumbs down her cheeks, tracing the line of her jaw. The demon softly sighed in pleasure. Her hands rose to caress his arms and shoulders.

His tongue entered her mouth. Beauty paused, as if processing this new sensation, then responded with enthusiasm. Their tongues danced together.

Logan leaned his weight into her. Ever so gently, he laid her back on the ground. His weight pressed down on her. Beauty’s breasts were soft pillows between them. Hands roamed across soft flesh and hard muscle. Logan lay between her legs, feeling the warmth of her core against the stiff bulge in his pants. He moved, rubbing against her. Beauty groaned and writhed against him.

Logan broke away from her lips. “I’m going to make you feel good this time,” he smiled.

He began kissing his way down her body. At the junction of her neck and shoulder. Across her collar bone. Over the top of her breasts. Down her ribs. And then back up to lick and kiss at the tender skin beneath those soft globes. His hands trailed over her slim belly, tapered waist, and the soft swell of her hips.

Her nipples, so pert and such a beautiful shade of purple, begged for attention. Logan was happy to oblige, taking one, then the other between his lips, tracing his tongue over the pebbled surface of her aureoles, alternating between the soft pressure of his lips and the gentle nip of teeth.

Logan’s lips and tongue moved across the fullness of her breasts. Beauty squirmed beneath him, breathing heavily. His hand drifted downward, over her belly, down between her legs. Fingers brushed against intense, silken heat, hotter than any human woman Logan had ever known.

Beauty gasped and arched against his touch. He stroked, parting her lower lips. Gently onward. Moisture on his fingertips. Reaching higher with a gentle stroke across the nub of her clitoris in a soft caress. She purred and began to squirm under his expert touch.

Logan gently explored the wonders of her body, guided by the sounds and movement of her rising pleasure. His lips roamed the wonder of her soft skin as he stroked her sex harder, then softer, then harder still, searching for her greatest bliss, building a slow fire in her belly to match the wet heat beneath his touch. His lips closed on a nipple. Teeth gently nipped at her hard, sensitive nubs. His thumb circled her clit.

Beauty gave a soft cry as her body tensed, then shuddered as an orgasm rippled through her. Logan gave her a few moments to catch her breath and then started sliding even further down, tasting her skin as he went. The musk of her sex was intoxicating. The taste of her, even more so as his tongue parted her folds.

She writhed and twisted, mewling softly and gouging the earth with her claws. Logan watched her as he worked, admiring the movement of sleek, belly muscles and firm breasts in the dancing firelight. The sound of her voice rising was music to his ears as he took her higher and higher until…

A soft scream burst from her lips. Beauty curled her fingers into his hair, as he had done to her just that morning, and ground her sex onto his face. Her juices splashed over his tongue. Spasms rolled over her body. When they began to pass, Logan gently eased her back down with a trail of soft kisses up her belly, over her breasts, and against the sensitive hollow of her neck.

Beauty opened her thighs to him and to the rigid need that gently came to rest against her swollen desire. The heat of her body was intense, and, for a moment, he wondered if demon pussy could burn. There was only one way to know. Logan embraced Beauty, nuzzled at her ear, and entered her.

“Gah!”

He couldn’t tell where his voice started and hers ended as they both cried out their pleasure. Beauty’s wet, searing depths resisted every inch of his girth in the most pleasant way possible, slowly surrendering as he drove deeper. Her legs rose to wrap around behind his knees in silent encouragement.

Hip deep, he paused, shuddering at the intense sensations rolling through his flesh and vibrating across his every nerve. Beauty’s body temperature did not scorch his shaft, but not for lack of trying. The wet heat of her sex was like a sauna. Almost painful at first touch, then immediately soothing and blissful.

“Bloody hell.” Logan groaned and lifted himself on his arms to gaze down into her eyes. “You are… incredible!”

Her every little sound of bliss, and every subtle movement of her luscious body chipped away at his self-control in a siren song for the promise of sweet, primal release. Beauty’s body was a drug he could not get enough of.

But, no. Carnal instinct be damned. Logan had every intention to take it slow and let the anticipation, and the bliss of this first, perfect moment build. Forever in her gorgeous body could not be long enough. There was no hurry.

They explored many positions and new sensations as the fire burned down to smoldering coals. Until the firelight faded and two bodied melded into one in the shadow of night and the soft echo of newly discovered pleasures. The dance of bodies and the gentle sounds of passion bounced off the walls of the little alcove. Beauty rode him to a wailing climax, clamping down on him as her body clenched in spasmodic waves of release.

Her pleasure triggered Logan’s own. His muscles began to clench in anticipation. Logan’s breath caught in his throat as the raging need for release could be denied no longer.

He fell back, exhausted, and completely spent. Beauty lay across his chest, her body molded perfectly to his Logan breathed in her scent. He basked in the pure, simple pleasure of her laying at his side. The sensation of her fingers, idly playing with his hair, was a comfort as her breathing began to settle down.

He needed this, and not just for the physical release of sex. After the terrible events of the day, after seeing the savage violence he was capable of, Logan wanted, more than anything else, to feel the sweet union of two bodies moving together as one and to feel the soft comfort of a lover’s embrace.

“Thank you, Beauty. That was amazing.”

“Yes,” she replied.

Logan abruptly sat up, nearly spilling her off onto the ground. He looked at her wide-eyed. “Did you… did you just talk?”

“Yes,” Beauty said again and smiled.