Time Jumper

by Connie Hall

  Her smile widened, thinking about them. They had both insisted they kiss her good-night before they had gone to bed. It was a sweet intimate gesture and she felt Aden was a little hesitant about it, but he’d let them all the same. He was probably cautious because he didn’t want the children becoming attached. She would gladly take their relationship to the next level if he showed interest in doing so. Was there room in his heart for her? She hoped so.

  She could hear their protests as Aden finished the book and put them down for bed. Then she heard his footsteps coming to the bedroom, just as she had for the past two nights.

  This would be her last night with him. Sadness pulled at her and he seemed to notice it when he walked into the room.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, crawling in beside her with all his clothes on.

  “Nothing.”

  “Something is wrong.” He pulled her next to him in a familiar brotherly way.

  Hannah laid her head on his shoulder as she’d done for two nights. His spicy aftershave and outdoorsy scent permeated her senses. She’d grown to love that smell and breathed it in.

  “I’m feeling better now. I want to see Meikoda, then I’ll be leaving.” She decided a put a little pressure on him, test the waters.

  “Let’s not talk about that right now.” He touched her chin and made her look at him. His eyes darkened and he peered past her exterior in that disconcerting way of his.

  Hannah gathered her courage and said, “Why aren’t you attracted to me?”

  A chuckle rumbled up from his chest.

  She punched him in the ribs and started to get up, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back on top of him. His arms locked around her. He sobered and said, “My god, woman, you really don’t know how tempting you are? Holding you and not touching you tortures me.”

  Hannah could feel evidence of his desire pressing hard against her abdomen. “I’m not sorry you’re in pain.”

  “I didn’t think you were.” He grinned, stroking her chin. Excitement rippled through her. Were they about to move to the next level?

  His breaths turned hot and heavy against her face. His eyes became a smoky brass as if an emotional war waged inside him. “You’re so beautiful,” he said, gazing into her eyes as if he saw past her flesh to the woman inside.

  “You’re crazy, I’m glowing,” she said, feeling completely exposed and sinking ever deeper into the raw sensuousness that emanated from him.

  “Still beautiful to me. You’ll always be beautiful to me.”

  Hannah felt tears sting her eyes.

  When her tears touched his fingertips he seemed to lose the battle with his emotions. “I’m sorry, Hannah,” he said in a hoarse whisper filled with regret, then he kissed her.

  For a split second she wondered why he had apologized, but his wide warm hands moved down to cup her bottom and she was lost in intoxicating sensations of wanting him.

  His mouth was hungry, devouring. His tongue explored the deep recesses of her mouth. She’d never felt so much yearning from a man or for a man.

  The power of his lips caused her breasts to tingle and a hot ache to singe her lower belly. She knew in that moment she loved Aden. No turning back.

  He deepened the kiss and rolled on top of her, settling his delicious weight between her legs, his erection thrusting against her panties.

  His hands found her breasts and a titillating sensation electrified every nerve ending in her body. She was certain it was enough voltage to power a small city.

  Shiver after shiver went through her. She felt his passion, too, their bodies pulsing and trembling together. He pushed up her shirt and suckled one of her nipples. She arched against him, digging her hands into his hair, her arousal fierce and unstoppable. He moved to her other breast, teasing and nipping and making her shudder.

  Then he was kissing her again. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, exploring, twining, waves of desire making her move her hips against his erection.

  With quick deft movements, he ripped off his shirt, tearing off buttons, shredding flannel. Then he worked the belt buckle open and unzipped his jeans.

  Hannah kicked of her underwear, then helped him with eager hands as he yanked yanking off his jeans and briefs. He stopped long enough to pull a condom from the nightstand drawer and slip it on, then he was kissing her until she was dizzy again. His long fingers explored every inch of her body, the roughness of his hands soothing her swarming skin, but leaving trails of stinging desire along her flesh.

  He parted her tender flesh and stroked her nub of pleasure, arousing her to the boiling point, her whole body sharpened and stimulated and begging for a release.

  She knocked his hand away, wrapped her thighs around his hips and guided his hard shaft into her. She cried out as he touched her womb, then he was thrusting in and out of her. He panted louder and louder, his hot breath singeing her face. She felt him filling her, plunging deep each time, taking her higher and higher, to a plane she never wanted to leave.

  They rocked together, then he smothered her lips as they came together in a blinding, earth-shattering moment. He hovered above her for a moment, groaned, then lay down on top of her.

  Hannah felt his delicious weight pressing her into the mattress. She looked at her arms around his neck and saw her skin glowing red in the darkness like hot embers, but somehow his closeness eased the live wires crawling through her. His skin felt like cooling ice thawing over her. flames. She clasped her arms around his neck and clung to him, twining her fingers in his long silky hair.

  He started to pull away, but she held him tighter. “Don’t go.”

  “I should. You’re like a drug to me. I can’t get enough of you. You feel too good.”

  “You don’t feel so bad yourself.” She felt him pulsing inside of her, becoming aroused again.

  He groaned with pleasure and began to move his hips agonizingly slow.

  “How many times can we do this in a row?” Hannah asked, her voice sultry, enjoying his insatiable desire for her. It stirred her own hunger for his touch.

  “Could be a lot. I’ve wanted you for days. Sheer agony, holding you and not touching you.”

  “What took you so long?” she teased.

  “Hard decisions.” A seductive grin twisted up one corner of his mouth.

  “What?”

  “Never mind.” His eyes gleamed like topaz lanterns as he bent and suckled one of her nipples.

  Hannah struggled to breathe, digging her fingers into the hard muscle of his back, and she knew she loved this man body and soul.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning Hannah sat at the kitchen table and finished the last bite of a egg sandwich Aden had made her. Food had never tasted so yummy. Great sex with the right man had a way of making anything taste good.

  She sipped her coffee and felt it burn her throat as she recalled the memorable night they had shared. Her body still throbbed from it and the soreness between her legs attested to it. They’d made love three times. She’d felt he was holding back something from her, but he wouldn’t say what was bothering him. She figured he was a little uneasy about seeking an audience with the Guardian. Hannah had wanted to go with him, but he said he should speak to her alone first. He’d taken the children to his sister’s so he could accompany her in case Meikoda would see her today.

  So here she sat waiting for his return. Aden had washed her jeans and she was wearing them and her own long-sleeved denim shirt. It felt good to have taken a shower and be wearing her own clothes again.

  She noticed the names that had been carved into the kitchen table, each one at a different chair: Aden at the head of the table, Mayhala to the left, Chogan to his right and Linda at the opposite end. Hannah hadn’t thought of Aden’s wife since looking at her picture, but she felt her presence here now. It was in the frilly curtains over the kitchen sink, the cross-stitched Home Sweet Home framed needlework hanging over the back door and signed by Linda Running Bear. Her obviously carefully th
ought-out collection of hand-thrown earthen dishes were displayed above the cabinets, and now her name in the table. Aden had told Hannah Linda had been dead only two years. Was he already free to love again? Hannah felt sad for the children having lost their mother and Aden losing his wife, and she certainly didn’t want to take Linda’s place. But after last night, the way Aden had made love to her with such raw yearning, spoke to the fact that he was ready to date again.

  Hannah picked up the paper plate and tossed it into the trash can, refilled her coffee mug and sat back down. She saw the leather pouch Aden had left her sitting next to a bowl of fruit. He’d called it a philter and said he’d gotten it from one of the elders to protect Mayhala and Chogan. If any of the demons he hunted got away and sought retribution, Aden needed a way to assure his children’s safety inside his home. Thankfully none of the demons he hunted had ever survived, and he’d been quick to tell her that. Still, he’d ordered her to keep it near her until he returned. She could feel the magic in it, stirring the air, creating an intangible barrier around her. Its magic also had a fecund, ancient dark forest odor that made her nose wrinkle.

  She glanced at it and grinned like a simpleton. Well, she couldn’t help it. She felt safe being near Aden and his magic. Not once when Aden was near her had she thought of the angry poltergeist who’d attacked her, but now that she was alone the memories were sharp again.

  “Hello.”

  Hannah jumped at the clear voice behind her. Her mug of coffee overturned as she leaped up and whirled to face an elderly woman. Or an image of her. An undulating white mist defined her features, and her energy floated above the floor. She had the most wrinkled face Hannah had ever seen and long gray hair pulled back in a braid. She wore a long skirt and tunic top. But it was her eyes that frightened Hannah the most. When the woman blinked, they flashed, looking like star rays shooting out from her face, pure energy. Hannah could feel the vibrations of her power, strumming her skin in sharp waves. If angels existed, Hannah imagined they’d look like this apparition. All this woman needed were wings.

  “I’m sorry to frighten you. Do not be afraid, child.”

  Hannah was cringing by the table and she grabbed the philter. Coffee dripped from it as she held it up in front of her for protection. She realized she’d spilled coffee on her shirtsleeves and it was burning. Why the heck wasn’t the philter working?

  As if the woman could read her mind, she said, “That paltry magic does not work on the Guardian.” She snorted in disgust, then repeated, “I am sorry I frightened you. I came to you in this form because I am busy at the moment. I am Meikoda Rainwater.” She folded her floating arms over her chest and inclined her head slightly as a queen might do.

  Hannah swallowed hard and began to move her toes nervously inside her socks. “I don’t understand. Aden went to see if you’d speak to me.”

  The wrinkles around Meikoda’s eyes stretched and the blinding light pierced Hannah’s eyes. She had to hold her hand up and blink.

  “I am sorry, my child,” Meikoda said, annoyance in her gravely voice. “I know this astral projection sometimes is uncomfortable to look upon. Turn while we speak.”

  Hannah didn’t move for a moment, apprehensive.

  “I am not the one you need to fear, Hannah.”

  Hannah didn’t like the ominous tone in Meikoda’s voice. Who should she fear? She couldn’t stare into the elderly woman’s face any longer, so she turned and glanced at the table, watching the coffee dripping onto the pine chair. “What do you mean?” Hannah asked, dreading the answer. She felt her whole body fidgeting now, her hands, her toes, even her eyes, which wouldn’t stop blinking.

  “I must start from the beginning. I saw the vision of you, even before you arrived.”

  “How?”

  “We are connected by our magic. I felt your nearness when you drove onto the reservation.”

  “Why didn’t you find me earlier?”

  “The Guardian does not come to you. You must come to the Guardian for counsel,” she said, her tone full of reproof.

  “I’m sorry,” Hannah said. “I don’t know how all this works.”

  “Do not fret. I’ve heard the plea in your heart for answers, and I’m here to give them to you.”

  “What am I?” Hannah knew she sounded irritable and overly anxious, but she couldn’t stop the unease that churned in her belly. She couldn’t help but feel Meikoda was about to drop an emotional bomb on her.

  “You’re a time jumper.”

  “A what?” Hannah’s jaw dropped open.

  “A time traveler.” Meikoda hesitated as if to find just the right words, then she explained about Hannah’s power to travel through space and time. She said Hannah was a vessel and could carry another entity through time portals and that’s why the poltergeist had attacked her.

  A horrible thought made Takala ask, “Would Aden have known this?”

  “Yes.”

  Hannah felt the bomb drop. “He told me he had no idea what I was.”

  “He hasn’t been entirely honest with you, probably because he has designs on using your power for himself.”

  Hannah gripped her stomach, feeling her wet sleeve cause a shiver to go through her. The smell of cold coffee made her nauseous, or was it feeling Aden’s betrayal? How could she have let him take care of her for days, grown to care for his children, let him make love to her, felt so secure in his arms? Loved him? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  When Hannah lapsed into silence, Meikoda filled in the gap. “Your powers are limited. For seven days after your ascension you can change fate. You have four days left. Your body is a vessel and you can carry a human or a supernatural being back in time or forward. You are a commodity, I’m afraid to say. And a target for selfishness. You also will die if you use your powers within those allotted days.”

  “How nice.” Hannah couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice and she anxiously rubbed the collar of her shirt, unable to keep her hands still.

  “The Maiden Bear’s failsafe against evil using your powers for gain. Can you imagine what one demon could do if your powers were not finite?”

  Hannah understood the logic, but this was her life they were discussing. What was the Maiden Bear thinking? “So how does my body become a vessel that can travel through time?”

  “The person or being must use magic to open a time portal. Then all they have to do is touch you and think about where they wish to go.”

  Hannah absorbed all this, then she frowned and felt a basketball-size lump in her throat. Her voice sounded strangled as she asked, “So Aden knows I’ll die if he uses my powers?” Hannah needed clarification on that, and right now.

  “Yes.”

  His plan was to make her love him and then sacrifice her. Now that was coldhearted. It explained why he wouldn’t let her get out of bed. He didn’t want her to leave. What did he hope to gain? Did he want history back or the future? Tears blurred Hannah’s vision. Suddenly she felt dizzy and she managed to pull out a dry chair and plop down it. She felt tears spilling down her cheeks. The light in Meikoda’s eyes shimmered through her tears, shooting refracted rays back into Hannah’s pupils. She blinked and shut her eyes. Her voice sounded far away as she said, “Tell me about my mother.”

  “Your mother, Tansy, was my niece.” Sadness seeped into Meikoda’s voice. “She was a time jumper like you. I managed to keep her alive when she received her ascension.”

  “Why did she give me away?”

  “That is the sad part. All the elders searched for you, including me, but your grandmother hid you well, even went against her own religious code and used magic to hide your trail and keep you from us. We would have raised you within our family.”

  “Why did she do that?” Hannah heard her voice come from an empty place inside her. She jerked on the hem of her shirt now, unable to stop.

  “My sister, Lena, became a devout Catholic when she married your grandfather, and she renounced the use of magic. I think some of he
r change came about because of jealousy. I was given the Guardian stewardship and she had never come to terms with it. Anyway, she turned away from us and the use of white magic. When Tansy, your mother, came along Lena isolated her from the other children. So Tansy grew up lonely and bitter like her mother. When Tansy’s father, your grandfather, died, Tansy turned to a local young man for comfort, and she had you out of wedlock. My sister went a little crazy. She hid your birth from us, then took you away from Tansy. Your mother was so heartbroken she became a recluse and finally died.”

  “So she had wanted me.” Hannah wiped the tears from her eyes with her dry sleeve. At least knowing her mother had wanted her eased the ache. A tiny bit.

  “Yes, very much. If it’s any consolation, my sister admitted on her deathbed that she regretted making Tansy give you up. But she never gave up your whereabouts. You have a home with us now. You are one of us. I have three grandchildren your age. They will be overjoyed to meet you. All Rainwater women are one. We will always be your family.”

  Hannah thought it would be wonderful to finally have an aunt and cousins. But Aden. How could she face him knowing he’d lied to her? Her pain suddenly turned to anger. Damn him!

  “Confront him,” Meikoda said. “He’s not a bad man and you’ll learn what is in his heart.”

  Hannah wondered if reading minds was one of Meikoda’s powers. She had to think about this one; did she even care what was in his heart?

  At that moment the front door opened and Aden strode inside, his lithe frame filling the doorway. When he noticed Meikoda, his eyes widened in surprise, then in alarm. “Meikoda,” he said, his tone rueful, not in the least hospitable. “I should have known you’d approach her.”

  Meikoda’s shimmering form turned to face him. For a moment their eyes warred. He stared directly at her, defiant, as long as he could stand it, but Meikoda’s eyes grew brighter and hotter and burned like a million candles. The rays turned into sharp spikes and pierced his body.