He continues to stroke my wing, looking intently at my feathers. “God, you’re so beautiful. The colors, the softness of your feathers,” he says, then looks into my eye. “Your eyes look like actual sapphires. They sparkle and are even bluer than when you’re a person. This is unbelievable.”
Laura comes over to touch me. I feel her hand stroking the feathers on my chest. “This is so cool, Ally,” she says as she looks up at me. “The two of you are majestic.”
I hear Eden’s voice in my head again. ‘Time to fly, Alyssa,’ he sends as an enormous shriek comes out of his bird mouth.
‘Okay,’ I send back. The shriek which comes out of my bird mouth makes Laura cover her ears with her hands.
Eden takes a couple of steps backward, then runs forward, taking off over the crowd of people. They gasp in awe of him.
I follow his lead and do the same thing. I follow him as he turns to fly back over their heads again. The people begin to applaud loudly.
Eden flies straight towards Kyle and Laura, who are still standing up at the altar, pulling up just as he gets to them and going straight up into the sky. I do as he does.
Eden is flying so fast that I have to really move my wings just to stay behind him. A loud clap of thunder, and then another one right behind, sounds out as we fly past the sound barrier. Eden finally begins to slow down and I’m finding it hard to breathe.
Eden begins to descend lower into the air as I follow him. I feel like I can breathe better. ‘It’s so dark tonight,’ Eden sends me. ‘Let’s take advantage of it. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ I send back.
He hangs back a little so I can catch up and fly next to him. I can hear water running, then I see a river running underneath us. We fly down as close as we can without hitting the tall trees which line it. I see a silver fish jump up out of the water.
‘Did you see that, Eden?’ I send him.
‘Yes, I did. Isn’t it amazing how everything looks so different, so much clearer?’
‘It really is,’ I send.
His head cocks to the right. ‘Do you hear that, Alyssa?’
I haven’t heard anything. I listen and then I hear it. It sounds like a jet engine. ‘Eden, is it a plane?’
Suddenly it passes right over the top of us. It turns around to come by us again.
‘Shit. Fly, Alyssa. Fly as fast as you can. We have to get away from this thing,’ he sends me as he takes off, flying faster and faster.
The plane flies over us again, really fast. Whoever is in it knows we’re unusual, to say the least. I feel very threatened. The jet turns around to come at us again.
‘Look down, Alyssa. There’s an open area in the woods. We need to land there, as close to the tree line as possible,’ he sends me. ‘As soon as you land, change back into your human form and run into the trees. He can’t follow us then.’
I do as he tells me. The jet is following us closely, but it can’t follow us down into the clearing. Once over the clearing, we drop quickly to the ground. When our feet hit the ground, we transform and run into the woods surrounding the clearing.
Eden and I stand completely still, just inside the tree line. The jet keeps going back and forth over the clearing. Then, to my complete horror, two sets of headlights come out of the woods on the other side of the clearing.
“We can’t let them find us,” Eden whispers to me. “Don’t let go of my hand, Alyssa.”
As if he could shake me off! Crap! Why did we have to go and pull all our clothes off? Damn bad timing!
I take Eden’s hand as he leads us through the pitch-black woods. There are so many sharp things under my bare feet, poking at them as we walk cautiously away from the area the headlights seem to be going to.
The headlights stop at the edge of the tree line. I can hear one of the trucks’ doors open. “Get ‘em, boy,” I hear a man’s voice say.
I squeeze Eden’s hand as the sound of barking dogs fills the air around us. Eden is running so fast that I almost fly behind him, my feet barely touching the ground. I hear the dogs gaining on us. Eden is running back into the clearing. I can hear the jet coming.
“Don’t let go of my hand. We have to change back. Stay as close to me as you can. We have to move fast. Don’t lose sight of me once we’re in the air,” Eden orders me.
He couldn’t lose me if he wanted to. I’m scared almost to death. I just keep praying for us to get out of this safely. My human eyes can barely make out the opening. Eden runs out into the opening, transforming immediately. I follow just as quickly. Two thunderous booms follow us as we change into the birds.
‘Stay as close to the tops of the trees as possible,’ Eden tells me, making sure to only tell me telepathically so no one hears him shriek.
The jet flies over us but keeps going. I guess his radar can’t pick us up when we fly this close to the trees. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to have it off of us.
‘We’re going to lose the trees as cover, Alyssa. We have to fly as fast as we can once we lose them. Straight for their house. Do you understand?’ Eden sends me.
‘I do,’ I send him, then I send an image of the jet to Kyle.
The trees begin to get fewer and further apart and then there are no more trees. Eden beats his wings faster, as do I. The familiar sound of the air collapsing around us as we break the sound barrier rings in my ears. Then I hear a third loud clap of thunder to find the jet back on our trail.
I can’t look back anymore. I have to get back to the house—back to the people who take care of us. The jet passes over us, going out to turn around. I see the lights begin to come into view. The house is not far now.
The jet has turned and is coming straight for us. I see Eden dive, trying to get to the ground. I follow him, tucking in my wings, and letting myself fall as quickly as I can.
‘Change as soon as you hit the ground, Alyssa,’ Eden tells me. This time he lets himself shriek out loud as he says it.
He comes down a little bit farther away from the house than we started off. I hit the ground and change back to my human form, running like crazy towards the house. He slows a little for me to catch up, then grabs for my hand, taking me to the side of the house where our clothes are.
I feel for my clothes, finding them. I grab my dress and throw it around me. Eden pulls his pants on and grabs the rest of his clothes. Taking my hand again, he runs into the front door of the house. Once inside, we stop as Eden locks the door behind us. Laura and Kyle come in the back door.
“What the hell is going on? Why is there a jet following you?” Kyle asks us.
“I think he picked us up on his radar. I’m pretty sure there’ll be people here shortly to look for us,” Eden tells them.
“Go upstairs and get dressed. We’ll take care of anyone who shows up here,” Laura tells us.
I take off up the stairs. Eden follows me, going into the guest room quickly and shutting the door behind us. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa,” he tells me.
I turn to look at him. “Why are you saying that to me? It’s not your fault.”
He paces the room. “I’m the one who wanted to go flying around. I don’t know what I was thinking about. I should’ve thought about how this area is bound to be covered with air security since it’s so close to the state capital.”
“It still isn’t your fault,” I say. “You can’t possibly think of every little thing which could happen.”
I put my clothes back on, then look out the window. The party has ended. Only the people who are cleaning it all up are still outside. I feel terrible about messing up the party. I hope Laura and Kyle are not too disappointed.
“Okay, I’m dressed. Let’s go downstairs,” Eden says.
I take his hand and go with him downstairs, Laura’s sitting on the sofa by herself. “Where’s Kyle?” Eden asks her.
“He’s outside,” she says. “That jet isn’t letting up. It’s pretty obvious whoever is driving that thing saw you two disappear around here. What happened, exactly?�
��
I sit down next to her and Eden goes outside with Kyle. “We just went for a little stroll in the sky. We were having a good time, flying by the river. Then the jet found us. Eden thinks we came up on its radar.”
“That makes sense,” Laura says.
“We found a clearing to land in and I thought we were pretty much home free. I was wrong. A couple of trucks came and found us, like right away. They had dogs with them. Once they let them loose, we had no choice but to get back out of there. The jet caught up with us again and here we are,” I tell her.
She puts her arm around my shoulders. “Dang, Ally, that sucks. I guess it’s safe to assume they’ll be looking around here pretty soon. Thank goodness we have that gate at the entrance. They can’t just roll up here.”
I sink into her side. “I’m sorry we screwed up your party.”
“To be honest, Al,” she says. “I was really tired anyway.”
I laugh a little. “So am I, Laura. I could fall asleep right now.”
She props her head on mine. “I think I could too,” she mumbles as we both drift off.
“What?” I mumble as I feel myself being lifted up.
“Shhh,” I hear.
I move my head to look up. Kyle is carrying me up the stairs. “What are you doing?” I ask him groggily.
“Just stay asleep, Ally,” he says quietly.
“Where’s my husband?” I ask.
“He ran to town,” he says. “Now just sleep. He’ll be back soon.”
He opens the door to the guest room, then takes me to the bed, laying me down. I feel him take my sandals off, then turn to my side, pulling my legs up.
“Thank you, Kyle,” I tell him.
He pulls the blanket up over me, then leans down to kiss me on the top of the head. “Goodnight, Alyssa. I love you,” he says.
I smile. “Goodnight, Kyle. I love you too,” I tell him, then fall back asleep.
CHAPTER 61
ALYSSA
“You’re going too fast, Kyle,” I say as I follow him down a trail into the woods.
“Come on, Ally,” he says. “We’re almost there.”
He takes my hand, then pulls me to him as he covers my eyes with his hand. “Okay, no peeking.”
He pulls me a few steps further, then drops his hand that’s covering my eyes. I see a small, old, beat up shack. “See, a cabin in the woods. I told you I had a surprise for you.”
I look up at him. “You found this?”
He leads me to the door. “Yeah, I think it’s been abandoned.”
I step inside to see that he’s laid out a quilt on the old wood floor. There’s a picnic basket on it. I turn to look at him. “Did you do that?”
“Yes. You are hungry, aren’t you?” he asks.
“I guess I could eat.”
He pulls me to sit on the quilt with him. “Is this one of your mother’s quilts?” I ask.
He nods. “Don’t tell her. She’ll kill me.”
I reach over to open the picnic basket, but he stops me, taking my hand and bringing it up to his lips to kiss the gold band of my wedding ring. “I love how this looks on you. It looks so pretty next to the other one I gave you,” he says as he moves to kiss the small ,heart-shaped diamond ring on my other finger.
I smile at him. “Let me see yours again.”
He holds his hand up, wiggling his ring finger. The sun coming through the window of the little cabin catches the gold, making it shine brightly. The sun is coming in behind him, making his blonde curls glow.
He looks like an angel. I move forward, getting up on my knees to lean closer to him. I take his hand, kissing his ring. Then I put my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist.
“I love you, Ally. I’m so happy you said yes.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve loved you forever, Kyle.”
He moves his arms from around my waist to the bottom of my T-shirt. I hold my arms up so he can raise it up over my head. He drops the shirt on the floor, leaning in to kiss the top of one of my breasts as it bulges slightly above my pink, lacy bra.
He stops to look up at me. “Looks like Junior has already begun his work on your body. You’ll need a larger size very soon.”
I look at him with a pout on my lips. “I still can’t believe you went and got me pregnant so soon after our wedding. I was looking forward to some time with you all alone.”
He laughs. “We have about seven more months of alone time, Ally. He won’t get in our way, I promise,” he tells me as he unbuttons, then unzips my shorts, exposing my still-flat stomach.
“I’m going to get all fat,” I whine.
He touches my exposed stomach, then looks up at me. “Thank you, Alyssa. You’ve given me the best present anyone ever could. You won’t be fat. You’ll be more beautiful.”
He moves towards me, pushing me back gently until I’m lying on the old quilt. He pulls my shorts and panties off in one quick motion, pulling off my flats. Then he stands up to take his shirt off. I suck in my breath as he does. He pops the buttons on his jeans, then lets them fall.
“You ready for this, Ally?”
I hold my arms out to him. He comes into my arms, covering my body with his. His lips touch mine and I part them as his tongue darts into my mouth. The familiar sense of heat goes straight to my lower regions.
My legs open as I run my hands over the muscles on his back and he brings his body down on mine, filling me. He takes gentle strokes as his lips leave mine, trailing kisses up my neck. My hands tangle up in his curls. His mouth comes down on mine again and his tongue fills my mouth. His kiss becomes hungry as he moves inside me, his strokes harder and deeper.
His lips leave mine and touch my ear. “Say my name, Ally.”
I’m about to fall apart underneath his hot, sweaty, rock-hard body. “Kyle,” I say as I breathe out.
“Again,” he orders as he thrusts deeper.
The force pushes the air out of my lungs as I shout, “Kyle!”
With ragged breaths, he asks, “Who do you belong to, Ally?”
“I belong to you,” I whisper.
The heat on my neck compels me to turn and catch his lips. One small kiss and he thrusts as he says, “Who do you belong to?”
My stomach clenches as I come apart and he explodes into me. “I belong to you, Kyle!” I shout.
“Alyssa!” I hear. “Open your eyes!”
I open my eyes to see Eden looking down at me He quickly rolls off of me. “What the hell, Alyssa?” he asks, with an aggravated tone to his voice.
I sit up. “I was dreaming.”
“I thought you were awake,” Eden says. “I should’ve known you weren’t. You weren’t moving at all like yourself.”
Pulling the sheet up to cover my naked breasts, I ask, “What did I do?”
I completely remember the dream I was having. Only I thought it was real. I thought I was married to Kyle. Everything felt real. I can’t believe how real it all felt. Eden sits up, running his hands through his hair.
Oh, hell, I know what I did. He doesn’t have to tell me.
I reach out to him. “Eden, it was just a dream. Nothing to get upset about. Come on, let’s finish what we started.”
He pulls away from me, though. “No, Alyssa. We can’t finish what we started. I was apparently not involved in it. Now you want him, or what?”
“No!” I say. “I don’t know why I had that stupid dream, Eden. I do know I don’t want him like that. I really don’t. Maybe the ceremony has me sort of messed up, or being chased by jets and dogs has my mind going a different direction.”
Eden looks at me, his eyes full of hurt. “A different direction? Like a direction without me in it?”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. I’m with you. It doesn’t matter what happens in my dreams. I love you and my future forever is with you, Eden. This is crazy to be fighting about a damn dream I can’t help.”
“I know it is. Let’s just go to sleep. We have to drive
back to New Orleans in a few hours anyway,” he says as he lies back down.
I lie back. “I told Kyle we would stay here a while with them.”
“Well, I hope that was before the jet and the dogs, because if it was after them, then you are both not thinking straight,” he says.
I need to stop talking now. I am really making my husband mad and that is never good.
“I love you, Eden. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Alyssa,” he says, then pauses. “I love you too. Now go to sleep.”
I close my eyes and wonder why I was dreaming like that. I love my husband with all my heart. I love Kyle too, but not like the way I love Eden. I don’t want a day to go by without Eden in it.
What is wrong with me?
CHAPTER 62
KYLE
“You sure can eat now, Ally,” I say, as we leave a café, then walk down a sidewalk downtown.
“Kyle, be nice,” she says as she bats at my arm.
I reach out to touch her ample stomach. “How’s Junior treating you, Al?”
“I really wish you’d quit calling her that,” I say. “Your daughter is treating me like a punching bag. I think she’s going to be a kickboxer.”
I laugh. “Well, thanks for walking over here to go to lunch with me. Are you going back to work now?”
“Where else would I be going, Kyle? Pregnant or not, we have bills to pay and baby things to buy,” she says with a tired voice.
“I know, Ally,” I say. “It’s almost summer break. I can work full-time hours at the bowling alley once school lets out. I might have a gig this weekend and that’ll bring in some extra money.”
She smiles. “We’ll make it, Kyle. I’m not worried. I won’t be off until midnight tonight. When will you be home?”
“Since you have to work, I’ll probably go hang out with the neighbor until you get home. I only have to work until ten tonight. I’ll bring pizza home for you,” I say.
“No! Not pizza, Kyle. It gives me indigestion. I’ll eat at the restaurant when I get a break. If I get a break.”
I stop and give her a stern look. “You better eat, Mrs. Stevens. Promise me.”
A frown covers her face. “I promise, Mr. Stevens. And stop calling me that. I call your mother that. It’s weird.”
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