by Aimee Laine
For Chase’s benefit? “Hey, Chasey … do you think you could get me a glass of water?”
He let go and romped off.
In two steps Cael met her toes. His arms wrapped around her as his chest heaved against hers. “Oh, god, Lil.”
She rubbed up and down his back as bits and pieces of what she thought to be a dream played back. What exactly happened in the last few days?
His head nudged against her shoulder.
“Lily?”
Angela. Lily leaned to Cael’s ear. “Did we find—”
“Yes,” he said, still wrapped around her.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” Angela said.
Lily offered Angela a smile. “You’re welcome.”
“Upstairs.” Cael’s hand slipped against Lily’s.
She followed him back up the steps she’d so happily descended moments before. He headed straight for her room, right to her balcony where the night atmosphere cooled with a crisp but humid air. A tug brought her down to his lap, and his hands slipped into her hair, pulling her forward until their lips merged.
“How long was I asleep?”
“It’s nearly nine thirty now, so, about thirty hours.”
Lily slid her hands behind the nape of his neck. “Cael?” Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Yeah?” His tone vibrated against her chest.
Rather than answer, she connected with him again, merging their lips like long lost lovers reunited.
He tilted his head.
She went the opposite, releasing her anxiety. Spears of pleasure raced through Lily as his tongue darted out, spreading her lips and shooting longing to her core.
“Lily, I’m sorry.” Forehead to forehead they rested against each other, Cael’s hands still around her.
“Why?”
“What do you remember of the last few days?”
She stared into his eyes, seeing his need to know. The recitation took a few minutes as the fog of her memory cleared a little. What she didn’t know, Cael filled in the blanks, punctuating each more painful episode with a kiss to her hand, lips, cheek or head.
Tears fell with free abandon down Lily’s cheeks.
“And then yesterday,” he said.
She shook her head as her memories ended with her desire to find Roy, to seek him out and determine what he’d planned to do. Everything else Cael told her came without the associated mental movie.
The hitch in Cael’s breath broke Lily’s heart. She’d seen him tear up only one other time in so many years.
Her breath constricted. Sharp, stabbing pains wracked her as he explained what she’d agreed to do, even though she didn’t know she’d only had to stay away from Roy to alter the entire course of history.
“So … I might be pregnant?” Her head dipped low. “By … him? But what about—I can’t be, Cael!”
A sheen coated Cael’s eyes. “We just don’t … I don’t … we don’t know.”
“There’s one way to find out, right? Maggie said I couldn’t shift when pregnant.”
He offered a small shrug. “There are so many unknowns. No one knows what you’re really capable of. That you’re even alive after everything you went through is …” His hands ran up and down her arms. “But not today, Lily. Tomorrow. When it’s safe, and you won’t have any … side effects from it.”
She slid her fingers into her hair and twisted the straight tresses around a finger. “Cael?”
The tilt of his head and the set of his eyes told Lily he’d listen.
“Do you love me?”
His lids fell, a single tear falling from beneath one. “Like the world loves a rainbow on a rainy day. God, yes, I love you, Lily.”
“Even like this?” She ran her hands down her figure.
He opened again. “Always.”
“I don’t want to be this way anymore.”
“But—”
She touched his lips with her fingertip. “I don’t want to ever see this form again, but I don’t want you to blend with me, either. I want to live human. Just me. Lily Crane. Grow old, eventually die. I’m done not being able to be a Mimic but still being a pin cushion to those who want to know more.”
“I—”
Lily pressed harder to shut him up. “I want to blend with you, but I don’t want you to blend with me.”
“But we don’t know if it’ll work. Herri thinks—” His words came out mumbled.
He’d explained. Lily understood. “I know. I’ve always felt the pull, the tug, the inner alignment with you. I just never thought you deserved to be saddled with anyone less than perfect. Even our first time, remember? It’s always been there, hiding beneath some surface. I don’t want—”
“But—”
A smile broke as she forced him quiet with a finger to his lips. “Will you let me? If I can shift, we know I’m not pregnant. If my memories remain, I know I blended with you.”
“But what about—”
“And if it doesn’t work, will you just help me keep Roy away from the child if he somehow remembers, and help me through whatever comes? Because … Cael? I can’t do this anymore. I just … can’t. And waiting another year to have this same issue potentially pop up again is just going to tear me apart. Please, Cael?”
“Only if you agree to one thing. Gimme a sec.”
Cael jumped up, jostling her back on the chair. He disappeared into her room, returning no more than two minutes later. His readjustment on the chair put her in his lap, straddling him.
“This is an awfully intimate pose, Cael.” She wiggled her nose against his.
“It’s important.” His hand slid against hers and slipped the ring Roy had given her off her finger. He pinged it out into the forest. “Now that that’s gone …” In his hand, he held a box.
“Oh!”
“I said this before, and I meant it. I want it to be real. Lily Elizabeth Crane, will you marry me?”
Tears formed again as she took the box, its hinge creaking on opening. The diamond inside sparkled under the outside spotlights.
“But—”
“No buts, Lil. If you take your shape and remember me, you’ll remember this. If you take your shape and don’t remember, I’ll drop to your age and fake everything I know about you until you want to marry me a second time.”
She giggled. “But I didn’t say yes.”
Cael rolled his eyes. “And if you do remember and you ever want me to blend with you, just say the word. Otherwise, once you get to maybe fifty or sixty, I’m just going to do it. I’ll skip the whole mid-life crisis and whatever and just blend in a more mature state, as Charley likes to say. Let me do this for you.” He drew in a deep breath. “Please, Lily. Agree to marry me so I know, at least, that’s what you wanted.”
“But what about kids? You know human and Mimic can’t—don’t you want that chance?”
“We have Chase. We can keep up with Leigh and Max. We could … adopt. I want you, Lily.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck as the streams of tears flowed. He offered her everything she could ever want. “Yes. Always. Yes.” Her lips touched his neck, his flavor mixing with her tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Cael gathered her close and covered her mouth in a fiery passion. “Before we forget, before … will you let me … just once more?”
• • •
Lily’s hands swept up Cael’s chest, pushing at his T-shirt, her nails tickling and making his abdominals twitch.
A growl rose in his throat as Lily giggled.
She nipped.
He kissed.
Despite his once-a-year shape, Cael still held a defined strength and lifted Lily with ease, carrying her toward the bed. They alternated their touches until Cael couldn’t take any more, and his hand cupped her butt cheeks, pulling her up higher against him. As Lily wrapped her legs around his waist, he leaned over and draped her across the bed so she rested on the edge, where he could take in the whole of her.
No matter what, he would never forget Lily.
Her hair splayed out on the blanket, the white silk of her strands a stark contrast to the blue of the covers. She lifted her T-shirt over her head, and Cael ran his hands up her body, massaging her breasts, pinching and pulling at her flesh. Her back arched beneath him as she trailed her own hands up and down his arms.
If she remembered the torture from the day before, it didn’t show. If she felt any of the agony, she hid it well.
The boxers would give Cael instant and immediate access. A grunt escaped as his thoughts consumed him, adding further fire to what burned within—a desire that hadn’t been sated by their one night decades before or their latest touch.
She rose from the bed, tugged his jeans down his hips. “I need you, Cael.” Her body relaxed backward, legs off the edge.
Cael gripped himself, squeezing to relieve a bit of the pressure, though the action only made him want her more.
Her.
Lily.
His Lily.
The most beautiful woman in the world whether she thought so or not.
He’d remember.
He’d remember everything.
Her legs raised until her heels pressed against his back, and she tugged him forward.
A hiss left his lips as he speared her, the entirety of his length filling her slender body and sending waves of pleasure through him.
Lily rocked her hips while grasping at his wrists.
Cael leaned forward, taking her hands and extending them above her head. He kissed his way down her body as he took slow thrusts, sliding back and forth within her.
Lily’s eyes closed as her body shivered.
With her hands held high, he took his fill, giving his all, though never as much as he received.
A stuttered contraction of her abdominals had him pulling back. He grasped her hips, holding her against him. Pressure built to bursting within his groin as a soft screech seeped through her lips.
“Lily.” Cael thrust forward and back as she opened her eyes. “I love you.”
A full purple took hold of her irises until she lowered her lids again, her torso lifting toward him as her head fell back. Her body writhed.
Her fingers clutched at the blankets.
As Cael breached his own barrier, her body arched, and he followed in her trembling wake, a tangle of life and love in a moment of final ecstasy.
• • •
Lily relaxed against the blanket as Cael fell on top of her, though he kept his full weight off. His head nestled in the crook of her neck, his lips nuzzling the spot below her ear and sending ticklish vibes down her core. She ran a finger down his side, eliciting a chuckle from him when she reached halfway down.
Cael.
The man she’d loved her entire life.
The man who’d have done anything for her. And probably did in the last day or two.
Every once in a while, his hips pressed against hers—an extra thrust that caused her to draw in a breath or exhale on a gush.
That she’d waited so long to feel the pleasure he could give—the combination of lover and friend—unnerved her. She didn’t want to lose Cael when it had taken so long for them to really find each other.
“Lil?”
She recognized the tone. It said, ‘tell me what you’re thinking’. “Yeah?” She continued the trail of her fingertips, moving to his spine.
Cael shifted to the side, tucking her body against his. “I love you.”
She ran her finger along his jawline, to his lips where he kissed the tip. He knew her as well as she did him.
Her hand moved up his bicep, the muscles there just as large as at any time. She tittered, a soft sound of reconciliation. “Drunk on your eighteenth birthday and this is what you get.”
“What can I say? I was … stupid.” He laughed, a sound she hoped she’d never forget.
“You know how human parents tell their kids not to cross their eyes or they’ll stick?” She giggled against him. “A Mimic parent should actually mean it.”
He nudged them further up the bed, chuckling, too.
She held out her bejeweled hand. “This is perfect, Cael. Nothing could be better.”
Cael’s finger ran along her lips, spread them open, and sent glorious sensations of warmth through her body.
Pain can bring happiness when the goal is a good one.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to anyone else. If I’m going to forget them, I just want it to be over with.” Lily sighed. “Am I being selfish?”
Cael sat up and pulled Lily with him. “You’re the most selfless woman I know.” His thumb rubbed under her eye where she knew a tear had fallen again.” You deserve to be a little selfish.” He chortled, a full and wonderful sound. “But, Lil, if anyone ever calls you selfish and means it, I’ll have to kill them. Probably literally and not figuratively.”
She forced a smile onto her face. “I love you.” Her lips to his, she touched, tasted and savored for what could be the last time.
He didn’t fight her. “You’re ready, aren’t you?”
Four quick nods accompanied the shedding of another tear. “What do you want me to look—”
“This isn’t about me. This is for you. Just you.” His fingers ran along her hairline. “You … be … you.”
Lily slipped from the bed and headed to her bathroom.
She didn’t want him to be there when she took her final shape—the one that would make her human and force her to grow old. Or when she found out if Roy had won. Once inside, she closed the door and perused her eighteen-again body.
With her gaze fixed on herself, she prepared for the ultimate test.
Eyes are always the easiest shift.
She closed them, thought the color brown, and opened.
On a long, drawn out sigh, Lily smiled.
The brown reflected back at her.
Yes! Not pregnant!
With reflief washing through her, she let her natural lavender return and stepped to the door, preparing to tell Cael. As her fingers reached the handle, she spun back.
Pick a form first. A final one. Then give him the new me.
I can do this.
I get to do this.
A look she’d used once, to play a role over sixteen years before, came to mind.
Lily let her hair grow until it touched the center of her back in wispy, flat-ironed strands of softness. Instead of the blonde, she opted for gold—a color more like Angela and Leigh’s. She added a slight curl to the tips of her hair and stared back at herself to match her eyebrows and every other spot of hair on her body.
The thought of giving up her abilities made her pause again, until the idea she’d be free from Roy forever encouraged her forward.
Down three inches, she shrunk to her favorite five-seven—where she could wear heels and not be too tall.
She added a little weight to her bones, enough to lose any impression of past anorexia.
“Twenty-nine ought to do it. No, twenty-eight.”
With her hands on the sink, she filled out her chest to what she thought resembled a nice C-cup.
“Last time I can do that.”
Long muscles worked into her calves would let her run.
Longer fingers would let her play the piano.
A fullness to her lips would make her kissable—for Cael.
The hated freckle, she zapped away, but she added a dimple to her right cheek.
“And the final pièce de résistance.”
Lavender irises altered to blue.
To green.
To brown.
To green again.
“No reason not to be unique.”
Lily imagined the color of Cael’s favorite shirt—a blue green she’d always found stunning upon his body—no matter his form.
“Teal is too much.” She shifted to a green with slight dots of blue and a ring
of deeper blue—almost violet. “Now that I like.”
With no other body parts to change, and with her eyes being the last option, Lily let free a deep sigh and walked back into the room, clutching her ringed finger and hoping her genetics didn’t fail her—at least for once in her life.
Cael held out his arms. “Now we know Roy’s plan failed.”
Into his embrace she went. “And that’s the first time I’ve ever been happy about being flawed.”
Cael tugged her tight against him. “Not flawed, Lily. Perfect.”
By morning, they would know whether her change had become permanent and whether she’d been able to blend her body, mind and soul with Cael.
Or if she’d forgotten him forever.
32
The chirp of birds through an open window woke Lily. She rolled over and stared at the man next to her.
His eyes, a gorgeous shade of blue-green, stared back at her. “Lily?” His tentative question came out on a whisper.
“Hi, Cael.”
His smile grew as large as her own.
33
“You’re still going to marry me, right?” Cael asked, a softness to his eyes that Lily remembered in its entirety.
“Yes. Without a doubt. Think we should let everyone know what’s going on?”
Cael shifted until his body ranged over hers. “Or we could do something else.”
She giggled and tugged him forward to her lips.
Her door flew open, hitting the wall behind it with a bang and rattle that had Cael jumping to the side.
“Lily!” Chase ran in. “You missed your birthday.” He jumped on the bed as Lily pulled up the blankets to cover her breasts, and Charley materialized in the middle of the doorway.
She burst into laughter. “Sorry, Lil. I told him you might be up, and he ran up here like a mad man before I could stop him.”
Chase scooted in between Lily and Cael and held out a box. “I made this for you. It’s a secret, but Grandma Evelyn and me thought you would like it.” He laid it in Lily’s outstretched hand.
She removed first the bow, followed by the paper until the four-by-four inch box opened.
Construction paper cutouts of white flower petals sat atop another cutout green lily pad with Chase’s name on one leaf, Cael’s on another and Lily, Leigh, Max and the rest of her family on each of the others.
