Love Rebirth (Ashes of love continuation) *Mature audiences*

Xufeng - Part 2

Xufeng

Today was the day Jinmi was to marry the Prime Minister. Watching from the skies, he observed the wedding procession as it paraded towards the Prime Minister's home – a large square pagoda near the emperor's palaces. His woman is decorated in his bird's colours - vivid reds and golds. Perfect.

He can finally steal her away. And it was about time too! He'd been watching as she grew into an extraordinary beauty with the same face as his beloved, and he knew one day her memories would return and there she will be. His queen. The one he had married, vowed to keep thousands of years before and had singularly loved for longer.

He was in his true form, so his steely gaze zooms in on the brocaded pinyin below as they enter a grove of trees.

Now was the time, he thought. Screeching out a warning, he drops a few fireballs to scare the throng of well-wishers away from his bride. And like most mortals and even non-mortals, they were easily frightened by his Phoenix. He watched as they ran away, leaving the pinyin with its most precious cargo inside—his queen.

Xufeng hoped her lovely eyes would finally look at him with recognition. He had spent aeons aching for her and had kept himself busy preparing a place in the mountains for them. The area where they had first declared their love – back when there was no yun elixir. And they were mortal and could feel every emotion. This is the place where life was the easiest and happiest for them. And he had made it beautiful for her - a fusion of what she would have remembered and remnants of her childhood home in the floral realm. Every corner of their backyard was covered in flowers.

After everything they had lived through – his sole purpose was to finally touch and kiss her. He longed to see her face dimpled by that playful smile. Hear her chatter like a bird (even though she wasn't one) and take her to "their place" where they could be free from everything that had interfered and stopped them from being able to love each other in peace.

The people beneath him skitter away like ants. He transforms into his immortal form and floats to earth. Standing in front of the richly ornamented and gilded pinyin - furnished with red silk curtains to screen the bride from onlookers. He waves his hand to remove the barrier that separates her from his hungry gaze.

She is wearing beautiful ceremonial-red regalia and a veil with a dramatic headdress resembling the plumes of his feathers. He smiles inside. The fates have finally aligned.

He walks directly to the entrance of the pinyin, tuning into her emotions as he does so. Just like when she was six years old - there was no fear. Only powerful waves of anticipation emanate from her. He could catch a whiff of her skin - soft and sweetly floral. Beguiling, beckoning him into her depths.

He inhales deeply. Oh, how he missed it. "I'm here."

"Your highness..." she starts, "I've already accepted the dowry of the Prime Minister."

Pausing to wait for him to say something. But he didn't. "What should I do now?"

She played with him – the little elf. Pretending to consider, he said, 

"What a pity it is. I've prepared six thousand years of psychic power."

Since they met, this was their inside joke; she'd been obsessed with acquiring cultivation.

He felt her smile. "If so, I'll just accept it." 

The Phoenix immediately moves to her side, pulling her from the pinyin and into his arms. "Jinmi." He murmurs again, unable to believe she is finally where she belongs. Still fitting perfectly in his arms—a petite goddess.

Life and vitality saturate her features. Her soul glows in brilliant effervescence. It was the complete opposite of what it felt like the last time he had held her in his arms, as she splintered into a million fragments like tiny fireflies - each one dimming out as she disappeared from his grasp.

"Xufeng," her voice returns as she lifts her veil to pull his head towards her. 

"My flower..."

Gazing deeply into his eyes – she sought and reached into the places she had created within him. Xufeng's right hand clutches her waist while his left caresses her neck. Longing fingers graze her cheek and tilt her chin upwards. He wanted to take his time, but his greedy lips couldn't wait – they were burning to taste her. With arms tightening on his face, the pace of her breathing rockets skyward and the scent of her petals opens for him. A flowery scent so heady it intoxicated his senses.

His lips meet hers gently to test her readiness. Lightly licking at her closed seams with his tongue. And Jinmi invites him in.

His tongue sweeps her honeyed depths, and she releases a soft mewl in response to his possession. The sound was like a firestick igniting his primaeval fire. And suddenly, his skin burned from the inside as the Phoenix within him fought to get out to drown on Jinmi's shores.

Xufeng growls at her for making him wait so long, and their kisses grow hungrier and more insistent. His hands slip into her hair to do away with the headpiece to the chorus of their mingled gasps. It soon becomes clear that he was no longer plundering her – but instead, she was pillaging him – pulling the sweetness from the volcano within him that had laid dormant for centuries since she last explored its depths. The only woman the Phoenix loved.

He pulls away slowly. He wasn't sure if Jinmi could yet handle the force of his fire. He needed to control the damn bird who wanted to come out and weld her petals to his soul.

"Xufeng," she moans... "Please. More..." 

Her fingers greedily pull at his biceps and the hard planes of his chest, trying to rip away his skin to answer the Phoenix's call. 

"Oh heavens, don't stop." she cries. This made him groan and grit his teeth to quell the aggressive clawing inside. Grabbing Jinmi's seeking hands in his, he places his forehead against her head to calm them both down. After some moments of holding her. He rests his chin on her head and declares,

"You can only be my wife in this life and all future lives." A giggle flows out of her like a babbling brook—an instant salve on the fire within him. Looking up at him, she whispers fiercely, "You will be mine. My arrogant, fiery bird. Mine."