I took her tiny, slender hand and cupped it over my massive, grizzly one.
“Just because I don’t feel safe doesn’t mean you shouldn’t,” I whispered. “I will always protect you.”
She gave me a confident smile, lifting her chin. “I know.”
I felt like the look in her eyes was gracious. My head was swimming with yearning for her that I couldn’t suppress. I leaned in and kissed her. When I pulled away, she looked sad.
“Did you not like my kiss?” My heart pounded.
“I loved it,” she admitted. “It’s just…you seem angry and resentful. I can see it reflecting in your eyes.”
“It’s not directed toward you,” I quickly told her.
“Don’t forget, I lost my family too,” she reminded me.
I nodded. “I know.”
“You will find your family again one day. At least you know that they are still out there somewhere. That will help you keep the hope alive.”
I shifted my weight on the log we were sitting on. “I try my best.”
She patted my knee. “I was an only child. I have always wondered what it would be like to have siblings.”
“It’s overrated,” I laughed, aiming to point the conversation in a more lighthearted direction.
Sophia chuckled. “Is that so?”
“There’s a lot of competition going around,” I said with a shrug. “But what I wouldn’t give to have a friendly row with my brothers…”
Sophia paused to study me. She had a half smile on her face. “We can play if you want.”
I grinned. “Are you feeling frisky?”
She laughed. “I always am.”
I nodded. “You’ve got that right.” I shot her a saucy wink. “But just so you know, I love it.” I gently bumped shoulders with her as we sat close.
“At least we still have our sense of humor,” she said. Her demeanor was peaceful.
“We have that, and we have you, most importantly,” I said.
She frowned and gazed at me curiously. “Are you talking about my magical abilities?”
“I am.”
She seemed sad again. “I feel like everyone is overselling me.”
“And I feel like you are selling yourself short,” I countered.
She smiled, but her features were melancholy.
“We can practice some drills if you want,” I suggested in a tender tone.
She shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t want to alarm anyone at the camp.” A little sheepish chuckle escaped her lips. “I know that sounds kind of odd but, I’m a little tired…”
“That’s fine. I can understand it. We’ve been through a lot.” I didn’t want to press her because I was afraid that she might walk away or become exasperated. She looked like she didn’t want to be pushed.
I was desperate to cling to her and keep our conversation humming right along. She was so engaging and talking to her was intoxicating.
She let out a contented sigh and rested her head on my shoulder. I loved it when she nestled up beside me like that. I couldn’t get enough of the warmth that her body radiated next to me.
I began stroking her inner thigh until she began moaning delicately.
“Do you like it when I rub you like this?” I whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek softly.
“Mm-hm,” she whispered back with a sexy smile spread across her lips.
“I want to taste you,” I said, suddenly yearning to put my head between her legs.
I felt better now that we had had an important conversation about how the past could help solidify a brighter future for us. It made me feel better to keep the faith alive that my family was still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for me as diligently as I was searching for them.
Now, being here, watching the sunset with Sophia, was as poetic and romantic as it could get. The setting was picture perfect. The world was painted with warm orange glows as the day settled into dusk. The gentle breeze became cooler and the trees began to send playful, dancing shadows swaying across the grass.
“Mm….” Sophia sighed blissfully. “That feels so good, Blaze.”
I loved it when she whispered my name. Her eyes were enchanting and she practically purred as I stroked her inner thighs. She was ready. I could see it in her lust-glazed eyes.
“I want you to forget everything that makes you feel scared,” I whispered in her ear and nibbled on her earlobe.
She gave me a whimsical smile. “Well, it’s working, sexy boy.”
I pushed her legs open and savored in the sensational way she gasped with pleasure already. I helped her wiggle out of her pants and tossed them aside once I had rolled them down to her ankles. Her bare thighs were quivering in anticipation of me touching her. It made me feel powerful and generous all at once. I felt the throbbing rod in my own pants stand at attention, erect and engorged with desire that only she could fulfill.
“I can’t wait to put my mouth on this beautiful pink slit between your legs,” I said.
Sophia’s gaze was tantalizing. She was incredibly sexy. Her slender thighs were hued in a wonderous burnt shade from the glow of the beautiful sunset. There were magnificent shadows cascading across her wonderous face that made her look both innocent and mysterious at the same time.
I began to kiss the outer edges of her thighs, slowly working my way to the amazing pink slit between them. It was perfect and swollen, pulsing with desire for me. She was already ripe and glistening.
I couldn’t wait to graze my tongue gently across her throbbing clitoris, using slow and delicate motions to drive her crazy and to sexually torture her with ecstasy in all the right ways, sending her into a dreamy frenzy.
It was going to feel incredible, an amazing sensation for both of us. She arched her back and I felt her tense with expectant pleasure as my mouth made contact with her juicy goodness.
It was fantastic to explore her this way, to hear her moan. She raked her hands through my hair and tugged on it a little, a simple, yet enjoyably sexy motion that also sent a tingle of pleasure running through my veins.
I craved her sensual moans. The way she opened her mouth and practically purred with ecstasy from the way I was showering her pussy with kisses was so hot. I swirled my tongue around in concentric circles around on her clitoris.
I relished in the way it pulsed. I could practically feel her heartbeat as the blood throbbed through her sensitive private areas. The more aroused she became, the wilder she moaned. She dug her nails into my back and squeezed her thighs together, pressing them tightly to the sides of my head.
She snaked her arms around my torso and buried her heels into my back. I continued to flick her clitoris with my tongue while I pushed one finger inside of her. She gasped, a breathy sound of ecstasy that made my head spin with euphoria.
I loved going down on her. It was partially to bring her pleasure, and partially because I felt the intense need to pay her back for all the emotional support that she had brought me since wondrously bursting into my life in the first place.
Sophia was a goddess of love and I knew that she wanted nothing more than to spread her peace to other shifters of the world. But I also knew that it wasn’t limited to only shifters. She had a bone to pick with the Masters and the guards, sure.
She wanted them gone as much as the next person, but I knew that she wished we could live in a perfect world where the shifters and the humans could carry on harmoniously. No one wanted to fight anymore. The shifters didn’t want to be the slaves. They wanted to be equal, but until we had filtered out the corruption, it could never be that way.
That’s why I appreciated these magical moments between us, where we could embrace our sexual desire for each other and yield to the pleasure that was brought forth by the magnetic chemistry between us.
I felt Sophia’s body tense and then her muscles began to contract. I knew that she was climaxing. A guttural cry of elation escaped her lips and flooded my eardrums with a sensory overload of bliss.
When I came up for air a few seconds later, I stared deep into her eyes, appreciating the afterglow of ecstasy still remaining on her face. Her features were etched in relaxed paradise.
“Thank you so much,” she whispered, still panting hard.
I felt myself beaming. “You’re welcome, sweetheart. You are the sunshine in my life bringing me brightness during the day, and you are the magnificent beauty of the moonlight at night that brings me peace and comfort.”
At my words, Sophia draped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly to her warm and feminine body. We cradled each other for several minutes, just sitting there in silence as we observed the world around us.
Mother Nature could be brutal, but it was still gorgeous. Sophia reminded me of Mother Nature in so many ways. I knew I had to hold on tight to her, because I needed her more than I could ever admit in words.
24
Sophia
I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of feet shuffling in the nearby distance and the shouting of men. At first, I thought I was just having a nightmare, but as I sat up and pinched the sensitive flesh under my wrist, I realized it was reality. I didn’t wake up, because I was already awake. The pain lingered and I rubbed my wrist.
I didn’t know what to do. The sounds of general unrest continued to echo and float directly to our encased tent.
More shouting ensued. The noises sounded hostile and angry, almost violent. My breath caught in my throat and suspended there. I couldn’t draw in oxygen, no matter how sharply I attempted to.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw my breath in front of my face. It was chilly in the tent, and the bone-tingling sensation was like ice going through my veins. I couldn’t understand words from the argument. The men were too far away, the voices too muffled. The roaring was terrifying though, because I could sense the animosity in the air, even through the enclosed tent.
I sat up straight. I was ready to bolt out the flap, but I didn’t want to do it alone. I wanted to investigate and figure out the source and reason for the commotion.
I felt paralyzed with fear. Something about the situation made me nervous. I felt the aura in the air. It wasn’t right. There was a dangerous problem. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I could sense it, like looking into the purplish-black clouds that brewed in the sky right before the bottom fell out and a torrential downpour began.
The winds were shifting too. I could smell it in the air. It was a sixth sense that I had within myself. I always had a sense of when something bad was going to happen, even if I had no control over when and where it actually occurred.
The guys were in the tent with me, all sleeping soundly with their arms and legs tucked underneath themselves due to the cramped space.
The tent was a decent size, but there were so many of us that we ran out of real estate relatively quickly, stacking on top of one another in order to get comfortable and achieve a decent amount of sleep.
Honestly, I preferred it that way because I enjoyed the intimacy between us. I longed to feel the closeness of their bodies next to mine and the warmth pouring out of them that made me feel safe.
But at that precise moment in the tent, surrounded by my sleeping men, it was as if the security I had once gained had been robbed from me like the very breath in my throat.
Blaze was the first one to stir and blink as he groggily moved around under the sheets. He was connected to me on so many levels. He must have sensed my unsettled feeling. Cameron was out in the woods, undoubtedly roaming and counting down the hours until he could return to us as a normal person once again.
Blaze accidentally kicked Ayden in the stomach as he adjusted himself to a sitting position.
“Ouch,” Ayden hissed, clutching his sore belly as he shot a scornful scowl in Blaze’s direction. “Watch it, man. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry.” Blaze’s tone was sincerely apologetic. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t see you there.”
James groaned and stretched, smacking his lips as he let out a yawn. “What are you all griping about now?”
“Everyone just go back to sleep,” I said, even though my attempt at the order was weaker than the watered-down coffee they served here at the rebellion camp.
“Why are you awake?” Ayden asked, focusing his attention on me. His eyebrows knitted with paranoia.
“I…heard some shouting out there.”
There was no point in hiding it from them now. Before long, they would be able to hear the turmoil outside of the four pitched walls of our tent.
“Shouting?” Ayden exchanged a confused glance with James, who attempted to peer at his wristwatch, but it was too dark for him to see where the hands fell on the clock.
Just then, a clamor of animosity ricocheted through the air. The guys exchanged a look of alarm.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Blaze sounded as petrified as I felt.
We were supposed to be safe here at this shifter refugee camp. We had strength in numbers, everybody knew it. But it didn’t make us impenetrable. We had a shield of protection with each other, but it only took us so far. We were still vulnerable.
Ayden began crawling toward the exit of the tent. When he reached his hand up to unseal the zipper, I extended my own arm.
“Wait,” I cried.
“What?” He glanced over his shoulder and peered at me with deep concern.
“Where are you going?” I whispered.
“I’m going to investigate what’s going on out there,” he explained. “I’m going to try to find Leo and Otto and make sure they are all right.”
“I’m going with you,” James said and began moving toward the zipper flap too.
As soon as Blaze stood up, I lost my cool.
“You can’t leave me in here all by myself,” I hissed. “What if something happens?”
They looked at each other, clearly contemplating the next move to make.
“We won’t stray far,” Ayden finally said after what seemed like an eternal pause.
I crossed my arms over my chest and exhaled a frustrated huff, making sure they saw my irritation.
“Don’t worry, baby.” James calmly stroked my cheek. His voice was soothing. “We won’t be gone long. We’re just going to check it out and make sure it’s safe for you. That’s all.”
He gave me a sensual look that was hard to resist. With his gorgeous eyes and full eyelashes like, he could have told me anything in that moment and I would have agreed.
“Fine,” I groaned gruffly and rolled my eyes. “If you aren’t back in a half an hour, I’m coming out and searching for all of you.”
Ayden nodded and gave me a sympathetic smile. “That seems fair enough.”
I watched them slowly vacate the tent, one by one and as silently as they possibly could. Once James was out, he looked through the tiny slit and met my gaze.
“Zip it back up, baby,” he whispered.
I nodded. “I will.”
But I didn’t follow his instructions. I kept the tent flap partially ajar because I wanted to be able to gauge which direction they were going in, so that if I had to go hunting them down later, at least I would know where to start.
That was when my eye caught the crystal woman. She was very close to my tent in her own space, staring out into the world with anxious curiosity. I narrowed my eyes and peeked through the unzipped portion of the tent exit and stared at her until she felt my gaze and looked my way.
As soon as our eyes locked, she unzipped her tent further so that she could wave at me animatedly. She gestured for me to leave my tent and come join her in hers.
I glanced to my left and right first, making sure that the area was void of any other shifters before I made the leap out o
f my own tent, hastily zipping it back up before I jumped into the gap she had made in her tent to allow me access.
As soon as my entire body had made it into the tent, the woman sized me up, looking me up and down. She made me feel like I was under a microscope, but I wasn’t as uncomfortable in her presence as I probably should have been.
I didn’t say anything, and for a while, neither did the woman. We just sat beside each other, listening to the noises and the muffled shouts that continued to carry through the wind, reaching our tent in the middle of the rebellion camp.
I watched her reaction to what was unfolding outside. We couldn’t see anything and could only hear the wind howling. The noises of the men yelling at one another began rise more fiercely. My heart pounded. My mouth felt gritty and dry, like I had just eaten sandpaper with no drink to wash it down with.
“Pardon me, but do you happen to have any bottles of water reserved and stored in your tent?” I asked the woman, aiming to keep my voice as polite as possible.
At first, the woman stared at me as if I was speaking a different language. Then, she nodded and reached behind her into a duffel bag. She pulled out a bottle of water. It was tepid, bordering warm, but I took it all the same with a gracious heart.
“Thank you,” I said and swallowed the liquid down with gratification.
“You’re welcome,” she said and stared off into space.
Her bouncy curls created spiraling silhouette-like shadows that fell against her cheeks and temples.
I noticed that she was wringing her hands in her lap. She was twisting her fingers together, interlocking them nervously. They were trembling ever so slightly. The motion was too minute to detect unless you were acutely observing her.
“Do you feel it too?” I whispered, leaning in closer as I stared at her expectantly.
The woman met my gaze and I saw the fear swimming in her eyes. That’s how I knew that I wasn’t the only one with this psychic ability to detect danger and threats that loomed nearby.
“We should do some enchantments,” she proclaimed.
“Enchantments?” I shook my head and gave her a sideways glance.
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