by ID Locke
The last sentence was said softly and my belly fluttered in excitement. Aside from the time I was seven years old and Tommy Hidigger told me he loved me after I gave him my favorite Hot Wheels car for keepsies, I’d never had anyone besides my parents say that to me. I’d been mentally dancing around my growing feelings for Etireh for weeks and I was relieved to know that I wasn’t the only one who felt like what we had was heading into a deeper commitment. Etireh held up the vines again.
“Will you accept this gift of flesh and blood freely given and pledge yourself to me, Wynn Bradley? I, Etireh Bougainvillea, vow upon my flesh and blood to care and keep you above all else.”
“I accept your gift,” I said in a soft, but firm voice, the decision a real no-brainer to me now that I knew what the meaning of it was and how Etireh felt about me.
Etireh smiled at me and held the vine close to my neck. It slithered from his hands and circled my throat, settling lightly against my collarbone. I touched it and was surprised to find it warm to the touch. There was a faint thump-thump to the vine and I looked at Etireh in surprise.
“This won’t wither and die in a few days, will it?” I asked, guessing what the vibration in the vine meant.
“No,” Etireh said with a smile. “The vine is connected to me in a special way. It lives as long as I do. I will need to refresh the blood every few weeks to keep it alive, but it’ll only take a few drops instead of what I needed to do the first time. You and I are the only ones who can remove the vine. It will change shape with you when you shift, so you never need to worry about losing it. Thank you for accepting me, Wynn. It’s a gift I never really expected to get.”
I leaned in and kissed Etireh softly. He wasn’t the only one falling hard. I hadn’t missed his comment about a marriage-like contract in our future. If things kept going the way they were between us, I could see that happening by the end of the year. The idea terrified and thrilled me more than anything had in a long time. I was looking forward to making a more permanent claim on Etireh and I think he felt the same way about me.
I was an incredibly lucky little ermine and I damn well knew it.
End.
If you liked this book you might like: Ermine & Bougainvillea
Claiming Rights
Copyright © 2011 by ID Locke
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Printed in the United States of America.
Torquere Press, Inc.: Sips electronic edition / April 2011
Torquere Press eBooks are published by Torquere Press, Inc., PO Box 2545, Round Rock, TX 78680
