Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  “That pull? It’s our dragon.” Her eyes were shining; she was giddy with excitement. “Her eyes match mine and the scales are so beautiful and soft looking. She sent me to help you tonight. She is where we get our power.”

  Ava took a beat and then laughed. Jenny joined in hesitantly. “Good one, Sheridan, you almost had me.”

  “Yeah, you’ll have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on me. You know, before I’ve had my coffee. Besides, I remember what Shawn said in the video, you’ve messed up the genders. He said he lived to protect ‘him.’”

  “No, I didn’t mess up anything. Her name is Hymn. Like a song of prayer.”

  “Oh sure, now you’re telling us we are living on a prayer. I’ve seen your old rock band shirt collection. Nice try on a pun, but I’m not biting.” Ava grabbed her beer and moved closer to Tadhg to listen to the music.

  “Makes you wonder what the pull really is though, huh?” Jenny dismissed the idea of the dragon as easily as Ava had.

  Sheridan got up to leave. She needed to reassess how to approach the girls with this business and she wanted to shower off all of the blood she touched today in her healing duties.

  Deaglan watched her go, knowing she would be safe. The Darkness wouldn’t be back so soon. His heart begged for him to follow her, but he gave her some space. How much space he would allow remained to be seen.

  Sheridan was feeling happy and safe. It was a wonderful thing when she could find her strength. It was even better when she shared that strength with people who she was now starting to consider family, even though they didn’t believe her about Hymn. She had lost her parents, never had a physical home. The only home she’d ever had was the people she loved. When they died, she had herself and the woods, its creatures, and its comfort.

  Life had brought her here, to this place, to these people. She’d found out things about herself that she would never have believed to be true. Now she had her strength back. Not just physically but emotionally. She felt like she was home, in this place, with these people, and, most importantly, with herself.

  Sheridan took a long hot shower to clean off the remnants of the fight from earlier. A few days before, she had found this hidden bathing suite. Her terrace was equipped with an outdoor tub and shower. It was built as a part of the terrace itself. She could look up through the water falling upon her and see the stars. The hot water flowed over her curves and soothed her muscles. She closed her eyes and her first thought was of Deaglan. She wanted him here with her. Not needed. Wanted.

  The door hiding this space opened and there he stood. She turned and opened her eyes to see him standing before her on the stone terrace. His face showed that he enjoyed the image of her before him. Their eyes locked and he motioned for her to come to him. She returned the gesture. She wanted him to come to her.

  He did. He didn’t even remove his clothes. Walking under the shower of water, he let it cover him. She took a step to close the gap between them, laying her head upon his chest. Their arms wrapped around her each other naturally. She raised her chin and looked into his eyes.

  “I want to go to the woods. Will you come with me?” Her words hung thick in the air and there was a pregnant pause. She wanted him not just to say yes to this moment, but to her. She’d spent so much time pushing him and everyone else away that she just knew he’d say no, that she didn’t deserve this, but damn, she’d never wanted anything more in her whole life. This entire world was beyond new, these powers were strange, but this, this connection between them was like taking a deep, filling breath. Deaglan was that for her. He was an inhale so deep it burned, and just when she thought she couldn’t breathe any deeper he was there to prove her wrong.

  “There’s no place I’d rather be than by your side.” He laced his fingers with hers and let her lead him away.

  Deaglan trusted her. She could see in the way his clover-colored eyes held her gaze and that he didn’t even question her as she walked. The woods had called to her so many times since she’d set foot in this country, but now they were calling to her for a completely different reason. The woods were calling them. She’d never ever felt so sure of something.

  She didn’t have to wonder where she was going, she let the knowledge of the ancient power that flowed through her veins lead her. Though, if she were being honest, she knew where it was taking them. Where it had all started for them—the spot where they’d first kissed.

  They broke through the tree line and the woods opened to her as if they were a person extending their arms. The clearing looked just how it always had, despite the storm. Instead of the sun beaming down, it was the moon that shown like a silver spotlight casting everything it touched in its lustrous glow.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked him, her voice shaking from all the swirling emotions hitting her at once. There was a part of her that wanted to tuck tail and run, but she knew she would always end up landing in his arms.

  “Not near as beautiful as you are.” Deaglan’s words swirled through her. Before she could think her way out of the moment, he dropped his mouth down and kissed her.

  His lips were feather light, but she needed more to feel connected. Deepening the kiss, his hands slid to her hips. His tongue brushed her lips and it was a question. Would she let him in, not just in this moment, but in her heart? Her answer was yes, so she did.

  Electric pleasure wracked her body the moment his tongue touched hers. What had started out as short laps had grown into deep penetrations leaving her breathless. It was so much like the act itself that it caused things low in her belly to tighten and her core to grow wet with need.

  “Sheridan, I need you.” His breath skated across her mouth and what little air she had was stolen away by his admission.

  “And I need you,” she panted.

  “If we do this? If we’re together—”

  She cut his words off with her own kiss. She was done with talking, done with thinking. She needed him like she needed the woods around her.

  She broke the kiss and pulled her water-soaked shirt off. He did the same. But as she went for her pants she heard a growl. Blinking, she realized it had been from Deaglan. He moved so fast she almost couldn’t track it.

  There he knelt before her as if in worship. Butterflies erupted in her belly and she suddenly grew nervous.

  “Shhhh, let me tend to you,” he whispered, and he did.

  He slid her pants off, then her panties. Leaning back, he just looked up, adoring her. The water droplets that hung off of her seemed to turn to ice as the breeze kicked up, causing her nipples to harden. Though he just looked up at her with nothing short of adoration.

  Reaching up to her, he pulled her down to the ground. In a bed of clover that seemed to grow softer and lusher around them. She lay down and he hovered above her. Smiling wickedly, he slid a finger between her breasts and popped the front latch of her bra, setting her ample chest free.

  “Will you just look at you? Like a goddess. One that’s all mine.” The truth rang so loudly in his words that it sent a shiver through her.

  He trailed kisses down her jaw, down to her neck, over her collarbone, but he stopped just over her supple peeked mound.

  Maybe he didn’t like what he saw were the thoughts attacking her like an illness, until she felt his heated mouth latch onto her hardened nipple. She cried out at the feel of him. Lacing her fingers through his hair, she pulled him closer. He bucked his hips in response and she could feel just how much he needed her in the form of his hard erection pressing firmly against her hip.

  She couldn’t help but arch up to his swirling tongue. She needed more, she needed everything. He stopped, and she wanted to yell out in sheer frustration. But then she heard the hiss of his zipper and she found herself growing yet wetter at that sound alone. Fuck, she wanted to see him. She wanted to see the man she knew she loved. Leaning up, she saw all of the man he was, and it was spectacular. His hard body was outlined by the shadows of night and highl
ighted by the white light of the moon.

  His mouth quirked up into a smile as he said, “You like what you see?”

  Sweet Mother Earth, she actually blushed.

  “Good, my queen, because I’m all yours and you’re all mine.” Like a hungry man he feasted upon her body. He sucked, nipped, and bit his way down to her wetness. He slid a finger along her slit before slipping it inside.

  He made a sound low in his throat as he spoke, “All this for me?”

  “Please, I need you.” Her words were nothing more a whisper, but damn, she was being driven insane with need.

  Drawing his glistening finger into his mouth, Deaglan sucked her wetness off as if it were ambrosia. Hovering above her he placed a condom on the head of his erection and slowly rolled it down. Before she could process how much more turned on that made her, he was at her entrance. He was stone and she the silk. However, it wasn’t him who pressed forward but her. She jolted her hips up and he slid in deep. As if in complete sync, they held on to one another and rolled so Sheridan was on top. Immediately, she sank down on his length.

  “Ohhh,” she cried out. As if the woods knew what she needed the wind howled and the tree groaned, masking her cries. Like they always had, the woods protected her, protected them.

  Sheridan rode him deeper, so deep it stole her breath away. Her slow pace created both an ache and an urgent need. This wasn’t how quickly she wanted this to end. When she paused, he retreated, leaving her feeling empty and wanting.

  “Fear not, my queen,” he moaned as he saw her expression of loss. They rolled again, and he began a rhythm of in and out, deep and shallow until she lay writhing beneath him. Her fingers dug into his back and she scored her nails along his skin in utter abandon. She could feel herself at the edge. She met him thrust for thrust. Sweat dripped from his brow and she knew he was close.

  “I love you.” The words just slipped out of her mouth without thought. His steady pounding slowed as he peered down at her, there was something in his gaze. Something she couldn’t read. Then it hit her, it was awe.

  “I love you, too.” His frantic thrusts grew harder and her whole body was a ball of need. Every time Deaglan touched her she found herself craving more.

  She was so close, then he dropped his head to her breast and latched on to her and she could make out three words he moaned against her pebbled flesh.

  “Come for me.”

  And with that she flew apart. Her orgasm wracked her with the force of an earthquake. It was something that would have been measured on a Richter scale had there been one around.

  He yelled out her name, screamed it to the heavens as he pulsed deep inside of her. It was their connection. That alone caused her to run head long into another orgasmic wave.

  As the laps of pleasures began to ebb there was a thought that flitted in Sheridan’s mind. The single word danced in the air between them simply waiting to be spoken into the world.

  “So this is what it’s like to have a mate?” he wondered aloud. This should have scared her. Being forever connected to someone, but for whatever reason it didn’t.

  “Nice isn’t it?” she replied, nuzzling his neck. This was her perfection. She wanted nothing more than to bask in it. Had someone told her a month ago this would have been her life, she would have laughed in their faces, now though, she’d have it no other way.

  Suddenly, her wrist began to burn. She sat straight up and grabbed her arm. “What the hell?” She gazed down and a portion of her tattoo had changed. There was now a curved section above one of the points of the triquetra.

  She looked swiftly at Deaglan. “You knew my tattoo was going to change, didn’t you?” she asked accusingly. The pain had cut through the romance of the moment.

  “I sure as hell hoped so, Agra! I loved you from the moment I looked into your eyes, the first time we met. Shew! If that tattoo hadn’t changed, I would have had a really hard time letting you go.” He didn’t smile when he said it. He looked as if he might cry at the thought.

  “You’re a decent lay, I would have kept ya around.” She tried to say it with a straight face, but the shock on his own made her giggle.

  He sat up abruptly, caught her in his arms, and kissed her until she forgot the pain at her wrist.

  They laid in the grass and listened to the forest sing and watched the fireflies glow. The forest knew she was now here to stay and that she was totally and completely in love with her guardian. Her mate.

  29

  Change

  First Jenny clutched her wrist in agony and then Ava called out, “Who put their cigarette out on my arm?”

  The pub went silent. An assault of that kind would be completely unacceptable and Jenny bent over in pain added to the concern. Ava had been drinking since the moment they arrived at the pub. Jenny wanted to stay aware and alert as she admired Tadhg playing music. But the pain caught both of their attention.

  The old man in the corner broke the silence with laughter. “Check your marks.”

  “Holy shit, the tattoo changed.” Ava tried to rub it off.

  Tadhg looked up at the bar from the stage and saw Deaglan was gone. He’d probably been gone for some time. Long enough to bond? It was likely. His grin filled his face.

  “What does this mean?” Jenny looked at her own wrist in surprise, but Ava simply shrugged. Tadhg knew this was his responsibility.

  “Let me tell you a story.” Tadhg put his guitar down and joined them at a small table. He was quick and to the point. “Sheridan had bonded with her mate, therefore, her third of the relationship mark had appeared on all three of you.”

  “How did she do that?” Jenny was so innocent it was cute, but it made Tadhg blush to be the one to explain it.

  “The fact the mark has changed means she made love with her mate.” He couldn’t even look her in the eye.

  “Boo! That whore! And here I am without my BOB and everything while she’s getting laid. I’m so jelly.” Ava was being louder than she intended. The old man in the corner laughed again.

  Jenny’s eyes were wide and she decided right then she needed to not ever bond. How embarrassing would it be for Ava and Sheridan to know she’d done it. The thought was mortifying.

  “Wait, who was she bumping uglies with?” Ava searched the bar with her eyes. When they met Cian’s, she stopped. He winked at her and she felt vomit in the back of her mouth. The two things may have been mutually exclusive, but she doubted it.

  “Deaglan is nowhere in this bar, Ava.” Cian’s voice was smooth and deep, causing desires to stir in Ava’s belly. She wasn’t going to turn to him to ease them, that was for damn sure.

  “That’s enough of the sex talk for tonight. Let’s go home, Jenny.” Ava reached out for help getting to her feet.

  “I’ll escort you.” Tadhg nodded to Cian as he walked out of the pub with the two women.

  Ava took his offered arm, because she was a bit tipsy, and because Jenny hadn’t. “Don’t get any ideas from our physical contact, Tadhg. No making babies or tattoos is going to happen tonight. I have a headache.”

  Jenny followed behind Tadhg and Ava, trying to figure out how she would be able to keep her distance from this man in order to avoid certain embarrassment. Because he was definitely drawing her in and she wasn’t ready for this.

  Sheridan was the first one at the breakfast table, which was surprising. She was usually the last one out of bed in the morning. Deaglan had insisted she accompany him out for the coffee this morning. It was perfect because she wasn’t ready to be apart from him. The invisible thread that connected them was strong and palpable. When they got back to her room last night, it hurt to close the bathroom door between them. Some might consider that a weakness, but she could also feel the strength their connection gave her.

  They could all feel how their power had grown overnight. It was a shame Shawn was never able to mate, especially since he was in the castle alone. The women were probably already stronger than he was in the end.


  “You feel how strong we are now, right?” Sheridan was the first to speak.

  “So, are we not going to talk about how you got some action last night and the whole pub knew about it the moment it happened?” Ava took a slow drink of her coffee. Deaglan and Sheridan shook their heads with shit-eating grins on their faces. “Oh, we aren’t? Okay then. Yeah, I feel the power. Makes me wish you’d have done this sooner so I could have kicked more ass yesterday.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Sheridan didn’t care about being teased. She wouldn’t undo anything that had happened.

  “This isn’t about your imaginary friend again, is it?” The caffeine wasn’t soaking in to Ava’s system fast enough to keep her from being rude this morning, yet.

  “Hymn is not imaginary, you’ll meet her when she calls to you. But no, this is about the Darkness. Since we’ve gotten here, we have just been training, sitting back, and waiting to be attacked. I think we need to try something different.”

  “Yeah, like winning?” Sheridan gave Ava a glare at that remark.

  “What do you mean, Sheridan? What do you have in mind?” Jenny could feel the surge in her power and ached to put it to good use.

  “I think we need to lure the Darkness in. We need to encourage an attack when we are prepared for it. Make them think they are sneaking in unnoticed, but we catch them unaware, you know?” Sheridan’s excitement about her idea was contagious.

  Deaglan lifted his eyes to Cian, who had quietly entered the room. They shared nods. It wasn’t a bad idea at all.

  “Hell, I’m all for it. Let’s do it now. I’m ready to take some names.” Ava’s coffee was kicking in. She started bouncing from one high-heeled foot to the other.

  “Yeah, that’s the idea. We pull them in tonight, make it irresistible so they don’t bother taking the time to regroup from their losses yesterday.”

  “How do you plan to do that? They only come during storms and fog.” Cian folded his arms across his chest.