The sky-high heels I have on have to go and Eden takes his shoes off too. I look over at him with a huge smile. “Our first mission, Eden! Are you as excited as I am?”
“I am, princess. Let’s get going,” he says, and transforms with a resounding boom of thunder.
Whatever happened to ladies first!
‘Come on, princess,’ he sends to me.
I picture myself as the huge bird and find I’m close to him, just like that.
Magic is too cool!
In the distance, lightning strikes over the water. All I can see is water beneath me. Another strike of lightning shows that there are low clouds beginning to hang out of the sky.
Suddenly, about fifteen lightning strikes happen simultaneously, showing us the storm is really big. Then we hear it as we both look up and to the left. We see the plane as it disappears into the dark clouds.
Eden shrieks.
‘Sorry about that. I attempted to speak out loud. I wanted to tell you to follow me. I’m changing our trajectory,’ he sends to me.
‘I was wondering,’ I send back.
He changes our direction and I follow him closely. He pounds his wings harder, making him go faster. I do the same to increase my speed to keep up with him. We enter the cloud bank and almost immediately the rain pelts us as winds push us around. It takes every bit of strength I have to keep myself steady.
I see the water spout I saw in my dream. It’s like a tornado but it’s made of water. Its spiraling dangerously close to one side of the plane. We see the plane turn around, going back in the direction it came from.
I follow Eden as he changes our path so we can get to it. As we near the plane, Eden flies around the back of it and I lose sight of him.
Crap! I’m alone over here. Okay, be cool, you knew this was going to happen.
I fly next to the plane, trying to remember the dream. I think I’m supposed to go up and get in front of the plane. As I fly by the side, I can see the faces looking out at me.
Oh, that poor lady is screaming.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I cry out, but all that comes out is a thunderous shriek.
What kind of idiot am I? Eden just told me that would happen. Well, that probably made her feel even more afraid!
I focus on getting to the front of the plane. I remember Jeffrey is flying the plane, so he’s probably looking for us, so he can follow us out of this mess.
The wind is blowing so hard it’s difficult to move up to the front of the plane. I feel a difference in the air on my toes, or claws, or whatever they are. I dive my head down to bring my body into it, then I find I can glide really fast in this pocket of air.
Before I know it, I’m at the front of the plane. I dive a little more and I’m in front of it. Now I see Eden, I move towards him, we curve to the left some, and I can see the plane is following us.
The wind is hard, pushing back at me as the water pounds at me, like fists punching me all over my back. Lightning zig zags really close to me and I can feel the electricity from it. I can’t see for about a second from the bright flash. Then I see the edge of the storm. Thankfully, we fly out of it.
The air is so different it disorients me. I move my wings a little to find my stride. Eden moves us to the right. I see the runway lights shining up at us.
“We made it,” I shout, only to hear that shriek.
‘I really have to stop that!’
‘We’ll get used to it,’ Eden sends back.
We move away from the plane toward another part of the shoreline. I look back to see it land safely on the runway. As we near the place where we parked the car, we slow.
Eden must have spotted it because he makes a Bee-line for a certain spot. He hits the ground just before I do. I see his bird feet hit the ground and turn into his legs, then I touch down.
I transform back into my human body. We look at each other. “We did it! We did it, Eden!” I shout as I run to him, hugging him and jumping up and down.
He laughs and tosses me up into the air. “I know, Alyssa. That was great!”
Our first mission has been accomplished!
CHAPTER 41
KYLE
Laura is fast asleep as I wait up for Ally to come back from their first mission. I wanted to go, but with Laura knowing nothing about them I couldn’t.
I’m not sure how Laura and I will work out if I can’t tell her.
Ally’s stayed cooped up in her bedroom since they got married. I saw her briefly before they left for Miami, and she told me about her dream and saving people on a plane.
I bet it was cool, and I missed it.
So now I wait for the second-hand details and stew about my problems.
What am I supposed to do with my life now that I’m a primary protector to a mythological bird-woman? Can I still go to college? Will they go to Austin with me? Or do I have to go to a college in New Orleans? When can I tell Laura about their secret? How will she take it if they do let me tell her?
I can see it all now. I tell Laura I have to base my life, which it will out-last hers by a few decades or so, on Ally.
I see a slap coming in my future!
Nah, Laura won’t be cool with that. I wonder if I can talk Ally into telling Laura. It’s a much better idea, and if anyone gets slapped then it will be Ally, and I don’t see Laura doing that. No, she’ll probably just cry.
And that makes me sad.
The old guy said I’d get some gifts and I know I have telepathy with Ally, but no one else. This morning I found out I’m a lot stronger than I was before the ceremony.
I’m not sure if playing football in college is such a great idea anymore. I could seriously hurt someone. Plus, using superhuman powers on the field is most likely against some rule, I bet.
I found out about my strength because Laura couldn’t find her flip-flop and asked me to run into the bedroom to check under the bed. The bed in the room we’re in is giant. Solid wood with four large posts and a heavy mattress. When I put my hand on the bottom of the bed to pull the blanket up, my hand caught the frame and I lifted it like it was nothing.
The whole damn bed!
So then I threw a baseball once we were outside. Laura hadn’t come out yet, and Scotty and I were horsing around. I told him about my super-strength and he found a ball. That kid was impressed and more than a bit jealous.
“Why couldn’t I get something like that?” he said. “She’s my sister. We come from the same parents.”
I didn’t know what to tell him. I wasn’t about to say, ‘She loves me more than you.’
That would’ve been rude.
The love thing me and Ally have is weird. It’s not like we used to have, yet deeper. I can’t be jealous about her and Eden.
They were made for each other. Ally showed me the things the other bird-people showed her, and let me tell you there is no way she’s made for anyone but him.
I’ve accepted it. Well, kinda. I have no choice. The faithful sidekick is what I suppose I am now.
How depressing. I must work on what I am.
When I saw Ally this morning coming down that hallway, I didn’t recognize her. She was way out of my league. A grown ass, sexy-as-hell woman is what she looked like.
Her dress and heels had to have cost thousands of dollars. Everything about her screamed, ‘I’m not of this world.’ It made me question my mind. Like, how did I never see that in her before?
I’m sitting at the top of the staircase to be sure I don’t miss them coming in. It’s a sure thing they won’t be coming out of their love nest once they get back in it.
I know I wouldn’t let her out much if I was Eden!
A beam of light falls across the huge, marble floor of the room at the bottom of the stairs.
Don’t ask me what the room is called because I have no clue.
There are so many rooms in this mansion and they call them all something different.
Her giggle hits my ears before I see her. I send, ‘You�
��re finally back,’ to her.
Ally and Eden walk out of the darkness and into the light over the staircase. “You waiting up for us, Daddy?” she asks me sarcastically.
“You are very late, missy,” I return her sarcasm.
I stand up as they make their way up the large spiral stairs. He holds her tightly to his side.
It used to be me, holding her like that.
I take a step back to let them pass me. Ally reaches out and touches my cheek. “Come to our suite. We should talk about things,” she says, and I follow her like a puppy.
‘Don’t think like that,’ she sends to me.
I follow them into their new place at the very end of the long hall. I look around as we go inside. It’s nice, like really nice. There are two huge, overstuffed, red-leather sofas, a chandelier in the middle of a high ceiling, and a monster television hanging on the wall.
Damn! My room is a dump compared to this place.
Ally spins around out of Eden’s tight grip. “Where is it you’d like to live, Kyle?”
“Me?” I ask, surprised at how fast she turned around and that she is right in front of me, so close I can smell her hair. It smells like honeysuckles.
“I’m going to take a shower, princess. You talk to Kyle,” Eden says, then leaves the room.
I’m no threat?
“No, you’re not,” she says as she takes my hand, leading me to one of the sofas.
She sits down, pulling me down to sit next to her. “You don’t even look the same, Al.”
“I know, Kyle. Something woke up in me. The Phoenix, I guess. I feel different. Flying is so phenomenal, so is telepathy, and the ability to have premonitions.”
Her legs look gorgeous in those heels, and her red dress leaves nothing to the imagination. My eyes can’t stop roaming over her body. “I wish I could’ve gone,” I say. “When can I tell Laura?”
The touch of her hand on my chin brings my face back up from looking at her legs. “While I’m flattered by your adoration of my physique, Kyle, I’m trying to talk to you. We must get past this physical thing we have. It will never happen, so we must let it go. I thought you understood that when I showed you the reality of who and what I am,”
“Yeah, I do. I really do, but what’s happened to you?” I ask, then touch the top of her arm as her bicep is firm and shapelier than it had been. “You’re buff, Ally.”
“The flying I suppose,” she says, and releases my chin. “So, you wish to tell Laura our secret?”
“I should’ve been there with you tonight,” I say. “I am your primary guardian you know.”
The flip of her hand into the air makes one of her breasts move under the tight, red dress, drawing my attention as she says, “We must think of another name for your position. I hate that one. It makes me think I must ask you before I do anything, which I don’t have to do.”
I smile at her and lean close to her ear as I whisper, “Remember the old guy’s words and your vow to me, Mistress Fontaine. Do you vow to follow this man and do as he bids you to, without hesitation, as he is your guardian for life? Then you said, ‘I do.’”
The warmth of her breath on my cheek as I purposely drag it by her mouth makes me hesitate, as our lips are so close it would be easy to touch them.
“I did agree to that, didn’t I?”
“That you did, and I have to hold you to it. So what I say goes, princess.”
‘I hate the fact we can’t be together,’ I send her as our foreheads touch.
‘It’s not our fate. You and I are to be something else to each other. Hard as it may be, we’ll have to get past this,’ she sends me.
Not really wanting to move away from her, I do anyway. I sit back on the sofa and take in a deep breath. “Why would he do this to us?” I ask.
“Our Creator?” she asks.
“Whatever you want to call him, but yeah. Why?”
Ally slips her heels off and turns towards me, putting her feet underneath her. Her legs are hidden from me, something that is probably for the best.
“I remembered something today,” she says. “I had a dream about you. The night before you showed up at school that day. When the teacher introduced you, you came and sat in the empty desk next to mine.”
“I did sit next to you, Al,” I say. “You’re just remembering what really happened.”
“No, I’m not. A little girl named Stacy sat in that desk, but she was absent the day you came. You took her seat and the teacher moved her when she came back to school.”
“So? Stuff like that happens, Al.”
“You and I were meant to be together,” Ally says. “You are my protector, though, not my lover. Our teenage hormones created that need for each other. You do remember how you also wanted Laura at the time you kissed me. Our deep connection made you and I both think we were attracted to each other in that way. Only we weren’t supposed to go that route. It was Laura you should’ve been with the last few years. Not me.”
Talking to my Ally about Laura, her best friend, is uncomfortable and I’d rather not do it. Her eyes twinkle at me as she awaits my response. “I know you’re right.”
A smile slowly forms on her plump, red lips. “Good, then that’s settled. You are my protector and no physical stuff can happen between us.”
My eyes roll as I look away from her. “God, Ally! I know it can’t. That’s what’s so damn hard. I’ll get over it, I guess.”
‘And yet I don’t want you to,’ she thinks and I snap.
I grab her by her shoulders and pin her back to the sofa. ‘Tell me to stop,’ I send to her.
Her eyes search mine as I move my lips closer to hers. ‘I don’t want you to stop,’ she sends back.
Achingly slowly, my lips move to taste hers. ‘Just one kiss, Ally. All we need is one last kiss. We’ll never do it again,’ I send her.
My eyes close as my lips are so close to hers, I can feel her warm breath on them. A flash fills my head and there are the faces of Laura and Eden.
Sadness radiates from them, filling my heart with heavy sorrow. One small action could cause them so much pain. I pull my face back from Ally’s.
She’s seen the same thing I have and we look at each other, knowing it isn’t in us to hurt people we love and care about. I lay my head back on the sofa.
“Well, at least we know what’ll happen if we try something like that again. The Creator will not allow it to happen anymore. I’m glad it’s beyond our control,” Ally says.
The pounding in my chest almost hurts as I realize I’ll never touch those lips again. I have to get out of here and away from her. “I need to go, Al.”
“I understand. We can talk about everything later,” Ally says as she moves her legs out from under her and places them on the floor. “You asked me where you could live and the answer to that is anywhere you want. I don’t have to have you right next to me. Only when we go on dangerous missions will I need you. Other than that, feel free to live your life as you wish and wherever you wish.”
Her damn gorgeous legs take my attention and I have to get the hell away from her before my heart bursts from my chest. “Catch you later, Al,” I say as I get up and walk towards the door. “Have a good night.”
“You’re leaving?” she asks as she catches up to me.
Her hand on my arm as she stops me sends a chill through my entire body. I turn back to see her eyes looking sad.
“I need some time to adjust. You’ll be in my life for a very long time, yet I can never have you. This isn’t easy for me. I can see it’s not for you either,” I say, then I caress her pink cheek. “I’ll leave you to have your honeymoon with your mate. Call me if you need me. I have to get back to my life and figure out what I’m going to do with it. I also have to decide what I’m going to do about Laura. It’s not fair to her. She deserves someone who can give her all of him. I’m not that guy.”
“Please don’t hurt her, Kyle. Think about this a lot before you make a decision about breaking up
with her. There’s a slight chance that in the future she can be told our secret,” Ally says. “She and I are also very close. It may be she can be a part of this as well. Don’t count her out just yet. As far as you not being able to give a hundred percent of yourself just yet, don’t let that get in your head. One day you will.”
Slowly, I move my hand up her arm, relishing her soft skin. “Ally, you will reside in my heart forever. Your presence there takes up space and it makes it impossible to give one hundred percent to anyone else.”
Her voice is soft as she says, “Kyle, you also reside within my heart, yet I love Eden with all I have. You will learn how to do that too.”
I kiss her cheek and hug her tightly. “I love you, Ally. I’m going home after Laura gets up. I don’t know if she’ll leave with me or not, but I have to get out of here for a while.”
Letting her go, I turn and open the door. Right before I close it, I hear her say, “I love you too, Kyle. Be safe.”
Tears cloud my vision as I make my way down the long hallway.
How am I supposed to live over a hundred years with this pain in my heart?
CHAPTER 42
ALYSSA
Pain radiates through my body as my Kyle leaves our home. I woke as he left this house, his goodbye waking me from a deep sleep. Laura decided to go with him back to Cloudcroft. He doesn’t know how he’ll deal with what we have, nor do I.
How can I feel so much love for my mate and still have love for another?
What a cruel thing to do to us all. Eden struggles with the knowledge, and if we decide to let Laura in on our secret, she’ll have difficulty with it as well.
This life will be long and I have to wonder if our want for each other will ever go away. Kyle has a permanent place in my heart. I don’t see our feelings ever leaving us entirely.
For now, he’s gone. Eden and I can concentrate on each other and making a strong bond. Perhaps in time, I will grow into a creature who can make sense of things of this nature.
Love, lust, and friendship are all complex relationships.
A quick flash of Kyle and me runs through my head and I shake my head to make sense of it. I was very round bellied, like I was pregnant, and his arm was around me.
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