by Jory Strong
"No!" He covered Tenino's mouth with his own, forced his breath into Tenino's lungs.
Breathe dammit.
Breathe dammit.
Breathe!
The fabric of his soul ripped with each exhalation of breath, with each press of palms against an unresponsive chest.
"Come on, come on. Fight! I'll go to your cousin's place and kiss you in front of everyone if that's what you want. I'll stand in the middle of Hohoq and announce I'm gay if that'll make you happy. Hell, I'll do in front of my school, in my classroom, in my mother's house. Wherever we're together, just come back to me, dammit. Live!"
Talons ripped through his heart and tore it out of his chest. His tears rained on Tenino and agony seared his throat.
"It should have been me who took that bullet. You didn't deserve this. Please. Please. I'll take your place. This is the land of the Thunderbird, let one of them strike me with lightning and bring you back. Please."
He choked on another sob. A man's voice said, "His spirit flies."
Trey jerked, looked up and found the old man he'd seen earlier. He was crouched on the other side of Tenino wearing only a loincloth and moccasins and the feathers and beads braided into long gray hair.
"Help him, please help him. Let me take his place."
The old man offered a wooden cup. "Your spirit calls to his, and his to yours. Drink and you will be able to find him. Your spirits are meant to soar together."
Trey took the cup between bloody fingers. Swallowed the honey-gold offering in a gulp.
There was a wrenching sensation.
The gray cold of nothingness.
And then an awareness of movement, as though he was the wind sweeping over a land shrouded by fog.
He felt a presence, a mass of air moving to his side so they became twin jets of air streaming through nothingness together.
Slowly they merged and melded, became one—and a drum beat behind them, its rhythm steady and insistent, commanding spirit back to flesh.
The pain was almost unbearable, a death and birth. Voices joined the drumming. Heat burned away the chill of nothingness as a song rose and fell, reached a crescendo—stopped.
Trey gasped and opened his eyes.
Tenino bent over him, his shirt and jacket bloody, but his skin smooth and undamaged where the bullet had torn through the clothing.
"Am I dreaming?" Trey said through the blockage in his throat. Had they wrecked the ATV?
Tenino flashed a grin and his eyes heated. "We'll get back to the subject of my starring in your dreams from now on." He took Trey's mouth in a kiss that was primal, consuming. And Trey met each tongue thrust, pulled Tenino down so they lay chest to chest, cock to cock.
And he didn't care who might walk in and see them. He wanted everyone to know they were together.
Pleasure soaked into every cell. He felt engulfed by fire.
"We should call this in," Tenino said, husky-voiced, breathing hard, shuddering with the same need Trey felt.
Slowly Trey became aware of rain pounding against the garage roof. A flash of lightning drew his attention to the open doorway and Patricia's body.
Real. Not a dream. Not a violent nightmare induced by a head injury.
He fisted his hand, the hand that had held Tenino's gun, aimed and pulled the trigger.
He'd killed. He'd killed someone he'd once—
"Don't go there," Tenino said, hard heat in his voice. "You did what you needed to do to stay alive. If you hadn't you'd be dead. And so would I."
His eyes snapped back to Tenino's. "How—"
"You came after me."
Tenino's mouth slammed down on his again. But savage moved into a gentle melding of body and soul.
It reached into Trey's chest and wrapped around his heart like the phantom talons he'd felt when he was sitting in the diner and watching the shadow of an imagined thunderbird.
The kiss ended and raptor-like eyes bored into his. "You brought me back. That means you're stuck with me."
"I can deal with that. There are worse things."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah." His gaze strayed to Patricia's body. He felt a stirring of pity, for the victim she'd once been. But it was overridden by relief that the threat was over, by a hatred for the monster she'd become, if not an abuser herself, then a person who knowingly lived on the wealth gained from child pornography, who willing participated in the business of selling it.
He shuddered and Tenino gave him a quick kiss. "Let's call Tekoa and get this behind us. There's more you need to know, but I can't show you until after this is handled."
He rolled off Trey, stood and offered a hand, pulling him to his feet. A kiss followed and Tenino said, "Trust me. The wait will be worth it."
"I trust you."
They left the garage. Showered together. Dressed in clean clothes.
Tekoa arrived, supervised as the weapons were bagged and pictures taken of the scene, then came into the cabin alone. "Let's do this at the kitchen table."
They sat.
"I was taken out early on," Tenino joked, the near loss still strong enough to fist Trey's heart and send icy ache streaking through it. "Trey will have to tell you what happened. What really happened out there."
"Okay, let's hear it."
Trey took a deep breath and told Tekoa everything, from seeing the old man on horseback to being offered the cup, heat creeping up his neck and into his face at how it all sounded, except…
It'd really happened. He'd stabbed his fingers through the holes in Tenino's bloody jacket and shirt when he'd helped him strip out of them. He'd smoothed his hands over Tenino's flawless chest in the shower.
Tekoa turned his head to look at Tenino. He lifted a hand and cupped his ear, his eyebrows rising.
Tenino laughed. "Okay, you called it in the office. Trey's showing up was like Marisa's dropping into Ukiah's life and Clay and Jessica showing up in yours."
"And… I'm not hearing the words."
"You were right."
Tekoa's smile was a flash of lightning. "And there you have it, music to my ears. And a song I'm used to hearing."
Tenino snorted. "That last is still wishful thinking."
Tekoa shook his head. "Time will prove me out. Now to translate what actually happened into official statements that those not of The People can understand and accept as truth."
They did that as the coroner drove away. And a few minutes later, Tekoa said, "That should do it." He looked at Trey. "Any idea how she found you? You make any phone calls? Tell anyone where you are? Turn on your cell?"
"Didn't bring my cell phone. Didn't know my destination until I got here and didn't use Tenino's phone."
"Only possibility is a tracking device," Tenino said, gaze going to the duffle.
Trey's eyes dropped to the bank on the floor between the chair legs. "The pig. I thought she'd missed it because one of my shirts was covering it. She knew it mattered to me."
Tenino launched from his chair and retrieved it. "She figured you'd run or be put into protective custody after she trashed your house and she counted on your taking the pig."
He flipped it so it was belly up. "Need your knife, Tekoa."
Tekoa fished out a Swiss Army knife, flicked it open to a screw driver and handed it over.
Tenino popped the rubber stopper up and off, then righted the pig.
Dollar coins spilled out first, rolling and bouncing and clinking on the wooden table. And then a GPS tracking unit dropped out of the bank.
"Damn," Tenino said. "I held the thing in my hands and missed the possibilities."
"Hard to feel threatened by a yellow pig with purple flowers," Tekoa said, bagging the tracking unit.
He left the cabin, driving away just as the storm's violent edge reached them. Lightning flashed, splintering the sky above. Thunder pealed and clapped.
Tenino closed the door and turned toward Trey. "Alone at last," he said, filled with a need as powerful as the storm.
/> Reaching for Trey, he pulled him forward. "You know you drive me crazy."
"Me? I'm not the one who died."
Trey's voice caught. He trembled, and Tenino crushed the lingering fear with a kiss meant to leave no room for anything but lust.
Tongues battled. Hands roamed, tormented, teased.
They left a trail of clothing between the front door and the fireplace.
They sank onto the thick rug. Rolled. Wrestled. Built the passion with rough and tender caresses, with wet tongues and heated lips, with the sting of teeth and scrape of nails.
Fuck. This would never get old and he'd make damn sure that it was the same for Trey.
The storm raged outside, issuing the ancient call first answered by his ancestors. "Now," he panted and guided Trey onto his hands and knees, paused long enough to fish the lube from his jeans, to prepare the way until Trey was rocking backward, his voice and body shouting his willingness.
It was ecstasy, a joining of flesh and spirit as Tenino slid into Trey, his dick free of any barrier. He reached around, gripped Trey's cock, loved the way Trey moaned, pulsed in his hand, gave himself completely over to a passion he'd denied before arriving in Hohoq.
"There's no going back," Tenino said, remaining still, fighting the urge to thrust.
"I don't want to. I'll miss my students but there will be new students in a new school. I'm ready to leave home for good."
Tenino's heart soared. He kissed Trey's shoulder, his neck. "You've got a new home now."
"Wherever you are, that's home. I'm done with hiding. I'm done with pretending."
"Damn straight."
"Straight doesn't exactly describe it," Trey said on a laugh that had his ass clenching on Tenino's cock and driving pleasure into the shaft.
It was impossible to remain still. Tenino thrust, and thrust again. Slid in and out, fought for breath, for closeness, for the merging of two into one, for the ultimate release, his soul already in flight at having Trey in his life.
Mine, he thought, and I'm his.
He pushed deeper. Thrust faster, Trey's shuddering breaths and satisfied moans swelling his heart, swelling his balls, sending him careening toward fulfillment, and it came as semen jetted through his cock, through Trey's. And was heralded by the roar of rain as spirit sheared from flesh with a clap of thunder.
They became pure energy, power gathering and taking the form of brightly feathered Thunderbirds, their wings outstretched, riding the thermals in the valley they'd seen earlier through human eyes.
This is real, Trey said, his mental voice awed, humbled, excited.
As real as the cup you accepted and the blessing you drank.
Tenino touched Trey's feathered back with his talons. You asked what the Thunderbird meant to me. Now you know the full truth. In the eyes of The People, you're one of us. My partner and lover.
My partner. My lover. Desire stirred in Trey and he became aware of his human form lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, Tenino curled around him in a silent embrace.
Thunder rolled toward them. Lightning cut through gray and black clouds as if ahead of them other Thunderbirds flew in the storm. Trey faltered and the powerful, winged shape became less substantial.
We can go back, Tenino said. We have a lifetime to fly together.
No. I'm ready for this. I want this.
His heart felt Tenino's smile and returned it, and together they flew forward, their wings moving in sync, their hearts beating in unison, two spirits made whole and forever joined.
# # #
Thank you!
Thanks for reading Two Spirits. I hope you enjoyed it!
Reviews and ratings are more important now than ever. They help other readers find books. I'd appreciate it if you'd take a moment to review and rate Two Spirits.
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http://www.jorystrong.com
Some of my other works are…
Inked Magic and the sequel, Inked Destiny: A ménage set in modern-day San Francisco where a changeling tattoo artist has come to the attention of two very compelling men—the son of a mob boss and an Elven lord.
Ghostland series: Set in a post-apocalyptic world where supernatural beings no longer hide their existence, and where angels and Djinn are heading for the ultimate battle over who will control Earth.
Supernatural Bonds series: Witches, Weres, faeries, elves, dragons, Drui and demons, there's something for everyone as each heroine meets her perfect hero—or heroes.
Fallon Mates series: To avoid extinction, there's only one hope for the winged inhabitants of the planet Belizair. Come to Earth and claim the perfect, genetically-matched mate, the catch—it has to be done in pairs, a feather-winged Amato must share a lover with a suede, bat-winged Vesti.
Crime Tells: Where mystery, family, and finding love while working as private investigators come together in a contemporary world.
The Angelini: In a modern day world where vampires and Weres exist, the Old Magic is returning, and the Angelini, who always take at least two mates, guard mankind against the predators hidden among them.
And there are more, stand-alone stories. Information on them can be found at: http://www.jorystrong.com.
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About the Author
I've been writing since childhood and have never outgrown being a daydreamer. When I'm not hunched over my computer, lost in the muse and conjuring up new heroes and heroines, I can usually be found reading, riding horses, or walking dogs.
My stories have won numerous awards and been national best sellers. I live in California with my husband and a menagerie of pets.
I love connecting with readers! Visit my website at http://www.jorystrong.com or contact me at [email protected]. I can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
