Just as I saw the red fox, my conscious mind began to pull me out of the dream again. I clawed to stay and see what would happen next, who those other ethereal beings were, but I was yanked out into an awake state.
Now as I looked through the viewer at Nesu, I felt a mixture of fear and another emotion which I didn’t recognize immediately. Then I realized what it was I was feeling, he didn’t feel like a stranger. I buzzed the complex’s security door open and let the other curious, handsome man up to my apartment.
~*~
He stepped through the door and as he did, I knew what he was going to do just before he did it, but could do nothing to stop him. He grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the wall.
I reached up to try and break his grip, but his knee smashed into my chest and my body collapsed. He put both hands around my neck and started to grip tighter and tighter. Panic closed in on me and my mind rushed at amphetamine speed. My throat was closed off and I could not get in any air. I felt small and weak as he began to throttle the life out of me. All I saw were his narrowed green eyes as I struggled against my complete helplessness.
A crashing sound made him loosen his grip for a second and my world grew a fraction larger. Then a sudden motion rammed him off me and onto the floor. I stumbled to the side, collapsed onto my knees and sucked in as much air as I could in one breath.
“I knew you’d come for her, you bastard!”
The tall naked man swung his fist. It landed with a thwack on his opponent, making him trip over the armchair. My heart pounded like the drum in my dream, faster and faster. My body felt rigid and icy with fear. I couldn’t move as I watched the two men pound each other.
Nesu threw Teseen into the bookcase, sending it crashing down on top of them. Books, trinkets and candles cluttered to the floor.
“Teseen!” I cried out.
“I told you I would take out your kind!” Nesu shouted at him.
Teseen brought his leg up swiftly, turned and pounded it into Nesu’s stomach. Nesu folded over and staggered backward. He turned his head and looked at me.
“But I thought I’d first kill the one thing you love,” he added and winked at me.
Teseen had a piece of the bookshelf in his hands. He lifted it over his head and swung it down onto Nesu’s head. Nesu’s body collapsed to the floor.
“You leave her alone!” Teseen shouted back, “She’s got nothing to do with this!”
I pushed myself up and clung onto the kitchen counter.
Nesu got on his hands and knees and brought his leg up, sending Teseen flying backward into the coffee table.
“She has everything to do with it!” Nesu exclaimed, lunging for him.
He dived on top of Teseen and punched him in the face. He raised his hand to strike Teseen again.
“Aargh!” Nesu cried out.
I staggered closer, holding on to the top of the sofa.
Nesu lay completely still on top of Teseen.
“Teseen!” I wailed.
Then Nesu’s body flopped off the table and landed with a thud on the floor revealing Teseen’s naked heaving chest.
“You’re-”
“It’s not my blood, Layla,” he said.
Then I noticed the knife in his hand, dripping red.
Nesu’s body began to vibrate. The air around it became hazy and then his body was gone. In its place was a red fox.
~*~
Teseen pulled me into his arms.
“Thank god, you’re okay, Layla!”
I had so many questions, but they could wait. I stood up on the tips of my toes, tilted my head up and kissed his lips.
He didn’t move at first, then pulled me right up against him. He pushed his tongue into my mouth and tangled it up with mine. As he kissed me, if felt right. Multiple doorways of emotion suddenly opened. I felt such a strong connection with Teseen, it was as though we had known each before, known a deep, long-lasting love.
His voice channeled in my head.
“You know I can’t live without you!”
“I knew you would find me again,” I replied.
His eyebrows raised up suddenly and he grinned. I frowned. Then I realized my reply to him did not come out of my mouth. None of this made any sense, but it felt like it was meant to be and I wanted more of him, all of him. An urgency possessed me which I couldn’t stop. It was greater than just me, Layla.
He yanked my long sleeve dress up over my head and pulled me down on top of him on the sofa. I felt the pounding of his heart through my skin. As his lips touched mine I remembered a hundred other kisses going back over the eons. Under a cactus as a sand storm rose up in the distance, hiding away under the floor boards of a house as bombs exploded over our heads, after dancing around a roaring bonfire naked, holding a new born baby in my arms, a man just changed from being a hawk.
He rolled on top of me, yanked my underwear down over my toes, and crept up my thigh with soft kisses. As they reached the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, the throbbing inside me pulsed hard like the war drum. I groaned into his chest as he pressed my thighs gently apart with his muscular leg.
The memories and passion of our transcendental love washed through my mind and body, compounding my feelings further with every memory. I had never wanted a man to possess me as much as I did right at that moment. I had waited since who knew how many life time’s ago to be with him again.
He teased my entrance, which was more moist than it had ever been in my life. As his hips thrust slowly upward our bodies joined and our energies flow together and harmonized. Time seemed to both freeze and expand forward and backward simultaneously.
I could feel him deep inside me. My pelvis curved up to meet his desire. His dark eyes stared into mine. I recognized his woody scent which grew stronger the faster he thrust inside me. I breathed it in deeply, grabbed his ass and sunk my fingers in. He groaned and breathed faster as he made us one.
As the pleasure rippled through my body, I had another vision. I saw myself as a young woman with long blond hair. I came out of the cottage in the valley, carrying a candle. I placed it on the ground in a circle of other burning candles and stepped in the middle. I incanted words to the night sky. Then I looked up and waited. I held out my arm. It had a leather covering laced tightly around it. I heard a flapping sound and suddenly felt pressure on my arm. The hawk gripped tightly and looked at me. Then it hopped down to the ground and turned into a naked man. He came towards me. The moon light reflected off the pendant around my neck. Then his arms were around me and his lips against mine. And it felt right.
Chapter Seven
When I looked back on those days, they felt so unreal. Aside from still working in the library, a lot had changed. My parents had recently become grandparents! When I saw my baby boy on my mother’s lap, it softened my feelings for her slightly. She really loved Payce and spoiled him to the point where I felt jealous!
Payce loved being in the park. He loved to run and chase the birds, which his father found particularly amusing. But there was something he loved even more than chasing the birds. I could not get used to being that high up and I let him go with his father. My mom and I waved to them as they rode passed overhead on the Park Skyride. Payce screamed with delight as he waved down at us. He loved being up high, and started to climb up everything he could as soon as he was strong and tall enough.
I would get scared when I looked out and saw him high up in the oak tree in our back yard. Teseen would laugh. “You know you don’t need to worry!” he said.
I hadn’t realized why he had needed to find me so desperately back then. Without any children, he was the last of his kind, the hawk-shifters. And he couldn’t just be with anyone. His people and mine had a mental and physical link which allowed the genes to be passed on. And we had a long history. If Nesu had managed to kill him or me, there would have been no more hawk-shifters. I had never understood why Nesu was so desperate to end the hawk family line though.
“The hawk and
fox-shifters have been at war with each for hundreds of years,” Teseen explained to me one day.
“Nesu would have been made chief of their clan if he managed to kill me,” he added, “he was always hungry for power.”
Now Teseen and I had a son. Payce was only three and we would only notice any changes in him when he started puberty. I hoped he would be strong enough emotionally to deal with people that didn’t understand who he was. Stronger than I was. As I looked over at his father, seated next to me on our porch, I felt more reassured. His bare muscular arms reflected the light of the moon rising over the mountains. It was bigger and brighter than usual, a super moon. A bright slither first peeped out and then the giant orb raised slowly above the dark mountain backdrop.
“The cycle of retaliation has gone on for so long, we don’t even know who started it,” he continued.
“Well, I thank the gods and goddesses you arrived when you did!” I said.
He put his arm around me and pulled me closer. “You can thank your abilities too,” he replied, “and that Azurite crystal.”
I laughed. “I can think of another way to thank you right now though-” I added and smiled mischievously at him.
Since our property was on the outskirts of town and backed onto a reserve it was very private. I had never imagined I would ever stay in such a beautiful home, but here I was with my handsome, loving husband and beautiful son. I wasn’t worried about anybody seeing us as I stood up. And Payce was asleep. I slipped my underwear off and climbed on top of Teseen’s lap facing him. He laughed and wrapped his hands around my lower back. I leaned down and fastened my lips against his soft, moist lips. I loved kissing him and never grew tired of it. And he was a gracious lover. He always made sure I was well satisfied.
He pulled my hips closer so I rested over his ready pelvis. I reached down and released him from his shorts and felt him immediately arched up and touching me just where I wanted him to. His smooth bare chest glistened. Since the first time on my sofa, I had learned that he never was a fan of wearing a shirt and I loved admiring his toned muscles. I arched my back and brought my lips to the top of his hard pec muscle. He pushed his tip inside me and slid slowly deeper.
I groaned and threw my head back looking into the bright engorged moon. He pushed up deeper and I sunk my fingers into his shoulder muscles. He squeezed my ass as he pulled me down on him and pulled up again. He was taking it slow. I groaned.
“You’re teasing me,” I cried.
I reached down and touched my swollen nub, making the pleasure escalate. Then, as I arched my pelvis to feel him even deeper inside me, he thrust hard. My muscles contracted around him. My body was hot, not just on the inside but the outside too. It was summertime and though the sun had set, it was still sweltering. Beads of sweat ran down his temples. I moved his wavy hair aside and nibbled on his ear.
“Hmm,” he groaned.
Every time we made love, it felt as good as the first time. It did help that he wasn’t small, but he also knew how to please a women. He tilted my head down and sought my lips. I accepted his tongue as he pushed into my mouth and twisted it around mine. I felt the crystal hanging on a chain around my neck resonating our energies. It was a powerful time to be making love and I could feel the vibrations were stronger than usual.
“I can feel it too,” he said in my head and smiled up at me.
My chest expanded wider as the pleasure grew. Beads of sweat followed the path of my chain. I liked to sweat when we made love. It felt more real, more animalistic. Teseen wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Then he began to groan. He slowly stood up from the chair, supporting my ass with his hands, keeping our bodies close and him inside of me. He placed me up on top of the low stone wall for his final strokes of pleasure. He was deep inside me now, rubbing over a special spot I didn’t know existed before I had him inside me. I was very close now, I could feel it. I knew he knew it too.
He bashed up against me hard, again and again. I could feel I was losing control and it was the only time I didn’t mind. My muscles throbbed like the deep resonating drum beat and contracted sharply around him just before we both exploded in pleasure out in the open night sky. He pulled my body up against his and held me tight as he throbbed too. The waves of bliss cascaded through my body, boosted by the crystal. Finally, as my breathing slowed, I nestled my head into his shoulder, my favorite place after we came together. After a few minutes he pulled away slowly but kept his arms around me.
“Did you miss me?” I joked with him as he brought his lips down and kissed the trail of sweat beads down my chest.
“I always miss you,” he replied, “When we are separated by death or some other ill fate, I fly in the sky and search for you nonstop for days, even though I know we will meet again.”
“We always do,” I said grabbing hold of his perky ass.
He laughed and fixed his soulful eyes on me. He truly was a living statue of a god.
“I am lost without you,” he said.
He scooped me up in his strong arms and carried me to our outdoor shower. He turned on the water which descended in a massaging mist and slowly washed my body with a citrus-scented soap. I loved the feel of his touch on my soapy skin, especially in areas that were still sensitive. Once the soap had drained off into the stones, he dried me with kisses. He eventually wrapped me in a fluffy towel that was almost bigger than I was, scooped me up over his shoulder and carried me to our loft bed that looked out over the city, now illuminated by the unusually bright moon.
~*~
THE END
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Captive
~ Bonus Story ~
An Erotic Pirate Fantasy Romance
I was Slade of the Seven Seas. I had been to every corner of the world, in search of treasure, but in the end, there was only one jewel I ever really wanted: Nixie. Some pirates roamed the Earth, looking for gold, but I roamed the Earth looking for her. But after two hundred years of searching, I started to have my doubts.
In my hunt, I wound up in modern day London, selling jewelry out of a little shop people barely stepped into. With online shopping, why would anyone bother anyway? But, to my surprise, my failing jewelry busy would lead me right to the hope diamond I had been looking for all along.
Her name was still Nixie but now she believed she was the daughter of two scuba divers. She had no idea what magic she held as a water nymph. Worst of all, she no longer remembered me! But I was determined to make her remember, or I wouldn’t be Slade, King of the Pirates. I just had to. Life wasn’t worth living without her. But with the will of the Gods against us, would I ever get her back into my arms again? Or would I drown in the depths of the ocean, a victim of vengeance?
* * *
Chapter 1
The sun was at its highest point in the clear blue sky. Down below, the Caribbean Sea dazzled brilliantly as if a million dancing stars twinkled across its surface. The wind was tame, lapping at the water ever so gently, creating minuscule waves that lulled the hull of the large pirate ship now cutting through the water.
The vessel was just like any other, with its various cannons, and woodwork finish. Unlike most, however, the sails on this ship were completely black, looking like an ominous sign in the otherwise perfect day. They lay limp now, occasionally billowing before becoming flaccid once more.
“Roll up the sails, men. The wind isn’t on our side today!” I yelled out, standing near the wheel of the ship, calling out at my crew. Immediately, the dirt-covered men obeyed my orders, climbing masts and swinging on ropes until the sails were neatly rolled against the masts. I grinned to myself, seeing how efficient my crew really was.
Finally, I looked away, glancing at the horizon, seeing sea and sky blend together. I narrowed my eyes, looking for something.
“Captain Slade!”
I turned around, addressing my first mate. “What
is it, lad?”
“Do you want to drop anchor?” He asked, fixing the red sash he had tied around his waist. His fingers were knotted and full of grime, but after all, those were some hard working hands. Part of his pinky was missing, but he no longer seemed to notice as he continued to fiddle with his sash, ignoring me for a moment.
“No need. We’re sailing above the Coral Reefs. Do you know what that is?”
The first mate looked upwards, giving me a quizzical look. “No, sir.”
“Red Coral is the rarest of all corals. It’s rumored that little sea nymphs guard this place and if anyone dares to harm their precious reef, they board the ship and gut the crew like fish while they sleep!” I leaned in close, letting my voice drop as I recounted the spooky tale. The first mate gulped.
“That be just a tale!” He exclaimed, trying to convince himself that I was simply trying to scare him.
“Maybe…” I ran his fingers over my chin, feeling the pinpricks of my facial hair. “Maybe…” I repeated, dropping my arm. “But I’ve been here once before… and I can tell you, those creatures are very real.” I grinned at my first mate’s expression, patting him on the shoulder. “But don’t sweat it, lad. As long as you’re with me, no harm will befall you!” I gave a hearty chuckle, shoving him off.
I turned around, placing my hand back on the wheel, guiding the ship toward a small formation of rocks. It was currently low tide so most of them were on display, looking like a statue crafted by the hand of nature.
Collared By The Warrior Page 28
