by Leela Ash
First, though, affection.
Settling on the submerged seat, he pulled her up beside him and slipped an arm around her waist. She warmed under his touch. Snuggling close, laying her head upon his shoulder. Her nearness, the touch of her naked skin against his body, roused his desire to an urgent, aching need. Yet he pushed back against it. Desire’s call could not be resisted forever. Now, though, when his Wolf longed for comfort more than pleasure, it would have to wait.
Surrounded by swirling waters and flickering light they relaxed in each other’s arms. Heat and whirling currents softened tense muscles. He could linger here in her arms all night – if that was what it took to ease her pain. Breathing in the perfume of the red roses, soaking in that sweet, floral scent, the day’s heartache faded.
As it did, a change came over his Wolf. She shifted in his arms, edging closer, the soft swell of her breasts pressing against his chest. She nuzzled his throat, her breath tickling against his ear. Hands that had floated idly came alive. They sought his body. Stroking the firm muscles of his arms. Sliding across his chest to trace the lines of his tattoos.
Signs, he knew, that her mood had changed. The time for solace had passed.
Now, it was the time for love.
With a pang he slipped out of her embrace. The flash of disappointment in her face shaded into surprise as he caught her by the ankle.
Kneeling, he took her foot into both of his hands. His thumbs found the tense muscles on her sole and circled them with firm, steady strokes. Slowly she melted, knots unwinding, tense muscles yielding under his fingers. Lily’s eyes closed in bliss and she leaned back, surrendering to this new, strange pleasure.
As she did, he raised her foot to the edge of the water. He kissed a toe, his lips joining the water’s caress and winning a sigh of delight from her. Shivers swept over her as those lips curved tight, sucking, licking. Sliding her toe in and out of his wet, welcoming mouth.
When at last he released her, her flushed face and parted lips brought him delight. It seemed there were some gentle pleasures he could teach his ferocious Wolf.
Low in the water he swept closer and her knees opened to welcome him. He pulled her close, his chest hot against her sex. The bubbling water lapped across her breasts and lifted them, an offering he eagerly accepted. His mouth joined the waves, kissing her nipples, nuzzling the curves of her breasts. With a sigh she arched her back, eyes closed. His arms circled her, caressing the slick, wet skin of her back.
Yet even as her breath grew ragged, he slipped away, retreating towards the tub’s center. Lily’s eyes opened wide with disappointment when his mouth ceased worshipping her breasts. Only for a moment – for there were other parts of her he wished to honor.
Buoyant in the steaming water, her body was as light as a feather in his hands. Cupping her buttocks, he lifted her to the surface. Head resting on the tub’s edge she floated in his hands. Waves washed across her skin, sending red rose petals sweeping across her body.
Once more he bent to kiss her. His face slipped between her thighs, his mouth sought – and found – her most secret treasures. Reverently he kissed her sex.
Lily gasped with pleasure, her fingers clutching the tub’s rim. Emboldened by that, Casey pressed closer. His tongue slid between the slick folds of her skin and she moaned as it lashed across her nub. Mouth and waves pleasured her. Sucking. Licking. Under their assault, Lily writhed, her head whipping from side to side.
He, too, surrendered to the water’s sensuous caress. Jets of water streamed across his body, currents that swirled along his cock. As his lover moaned with pleasure beneath his tongue, the water stroked him. Roused by her cries and the water’s coy touch, his manhood stiffened. Swelling, rising as his own passion peaked.
With a gasp he broke free. For one moment they floated, panting, eyes locked. Then Casey drew her towards him.
Caught in the water’s embrace she drifted in his hands. He drew her near, then deeper. And as her body slowly sank into the water, his manhood rose to meet her. With a gasp of delight, he drew her down onto his straining, waiting cock.
Eyes closed in bliss, Lily took him in. Damp and soft, he felt her surround him, engulf him. Her arms twined around his shoulders, drawing him close for one last kiss. His hips thrust, slowly at first then with stronger, fiercer strokes as their passion grew. Water splashed about them, echoing their cries, the waves rising higher and higher with their ecstasy. Her legs clenched tight against him as her body slid across his throbbing cock, her slick, tight sex sucking hungrily at him.
Shudders shook her slender frame as her pleasure neared its peak. Lost in the rhythm of that ecstasy he surrendered to the wild, unstoppable need that sang in his blood. Each thrust drove her passion onwards, higher, until with a wail of joy she came. Her cry, her fulfillment, sent him spilling over the edge as well, filling her with his sweet release.
Spent, panting, they held each other for a long moment. Cradled in the frothing waters, weak with joy. Denying the world and its problems as long as they could.
Chapter 13.
Bliss could be so very short-lived.
Less than a half hour later, Casey found himself brooding. Wondering how, yet again, his honor proved as thin as tissue paper.
Lily’s singing echoed out of the shower, mingled with the sound of running water. Warbling some country song about trucks and men who did a woman wrong. Casey sat on the edge of a bed, toweling himself off. His Dragon thrummed with contentment, basking in the glow of making love to its Mate.
A ‘glow’ that seared Casey’s heart. For as soon as Lily had slipped out of the hot tub, his doubts returned, full strength.
Oh, she needs to be ‘comforted.’ Why, let’s take her a bathrobe! What could possibly go wrong?
His guilt, however, only made his Dragon snort with amusement. Foolish. She is our Mate!
No, she’s not. Not until she says she is.
She says now! his spirit animal protested.
‘Sex’ and ‘soul mate’ aren’t the same thing at all! You can want one without being the other – believe me!
Foolish!
One word summed up his Dragons thoughts, completely. Then, deciding he was too silly to talk to, it ignored his dark musings.
Leaving him to face the consequences of his deed. Half an hour ago he had been willing to abandon duty, convinced that ‘love’ mattered more. ‘Love’. Did he truly love Lily King? Or had he – once again – been undone by lust?
Lily strode out toweling her hair, stark naked. At the first sight of her, all his resolve, all of his ‘noble’ intentions, wilted. To his despair, he felt his body stir yet again. And knew that, if she asked him, he’d throw his honor to the wind once more.
“What’s wrong?” She stopped drying her hair, doubt etching lines in the soft curves of her face.
Oh, spirits, he didn’t want to blunder directly into this conversation! So, he stalled. “What do you mean?”
She wrapped the towel around her shoulders, mercifully hiding those enticing breasts from his view. “Why do you look like you want to slip out the back door?”
“Lily, no.” He couldn’t bear to see that worry in her face. Before that pain, his ‘honor’ faded away, meaningless. Casey scrambled out of bed and swept her into his arms. Words bubbled into his mind, protests and promises to calm her down.
But in the end, words were useless. Instead he kissed her, letting the heat, the passion that still burned within him dispel all doubts.
She melted into him, open, eager herself. Yet after a moment she drew back to study his face. “Why are you so sad, then?”
“Because I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Says who?”
“Says my Alpha,” he told her, his voice despondent and full of regret.
And, at once, she perked right up. “Screw him!”
That was his Wolf. Casey fought a losing battle against a smile. At the first whiff of a fight her spirit soared to the heavens. “I’m
your bodyguard.”
“Yeah well that idiocy is my dad’s… my…” She swallowed hard, and her spirits drooped for a moment. “That nonsense is Aaron’s doing, not mine.”
“My Flight owes King a tremendous debt. I should not abuse his trust.”
“Screw him and your Alpha,” she muttered. “I’m not big into ‘shoulds’ and ‘ought tos’.”
“I am,” he reminded her gently.
“I’ve noticed that,” she sighed back. “I knew you’d beat yourself up over this. It’s why I didn’t want to ask.”
“You didn’t ask,” he assured her. “I chose. But…”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” she begged him. So, he didn’t.
They dressed in silence then, each lost in their own brooding. Lily was the first to break the awkward pause. “Is your Flight mad we lost the thief’s trail?”
“No. Honestly, I don’t think my Alpha expected much. He always assumed he’d need to hunt the thief down, in the end.”
“I’ll give that N-number to Ghost. Maybe she can find us a lead.”
Maybe. Casey wasn’t hopeful.
Fully clothed again, she poked him in the shoulder. “So, do you want to head out for a drink? Not much going on in Cortez on a Wednesday evening but hey, it beats watching tv.”
“We could, if you like. Or…” He drew a deep breath and offered a different plan, one that had come to him as they lay, twined together, in the hot tub. “Or we could go find the spot where King found you. Drink a couple beers. Pour one out for your mother, whoever she was.”
He expected her to laugh, to sneer at his sentimental urge to honor her ancestors. Instead, she froze.
Risking her scorn, he opened his heart to her. “I know this will sound foolish, but spirits matter. Our ancestors matter. They shape us and the world we live in. To honor them is to bless the gift they have given us. Your parents sacrificed their lives to save yours. Perhaps it would ease your pain to honor them for that. No gift is fully accepted until thanks have been given.”
For one moment her mask of confidence and bravado slipped. Beneath it, he saw a different Lily King. A woman in pain. A Wolf who felt betrayed by her Pack and family. A soul lost in the world.
Casey loved that woman. Wanted to pull her close and sweep away everything that made her sad.
Except, if he tried, she’d bite him. He knew that.
So, he simply waited until she recovered from the shock of that grief. Until, once more, she put on her cocky mask and gave a false, cheery smile. “Why not? Sure, let’s do it. You, me, and Mom, sharing a drink.”
Chapter 14.
It was a kind, thoughtful gesture. That, in the end, meant nothing.
Far off highway 491, Lily stared at the parched ground. Someone – King, probably – had piled up a tiny mound of rocks. A wooden sign with ‘Liliana’ written on it was the only sign that anyone cared about this spot.
Lily. Short for Liliana. She was named for her mother. Something she’d never known. Her father had never talked about his ‘wife’. She figured it was too painful, and she respected his grief by not asking.
‘Respect.’ Hah! Turns out the only thing she’d ‘respected’ was his lies.
The memorial looked like a pet’s grave. Nah, hell, it wasn’t even that because no body lay beneath the beat-up marker.
So, this was where her mother had died. Lily gazed about at the twilight desert. Why had her parents come here, so far away from everything? Why would her mother abandon her to the night, to the scorpions and coyotes?
Casey popped the tops off three beers and handed her two. “To your mother,” he said. “And to your father, who died trying to save both of you.”
“To my parents.” She up-ended a bottle over the little rock pile. Beer darkened the stones before the parched earth swallowed it up. Lily raised the second bottle her lips and tilted it back. Her throat wasn’t quite as dry as the ground, but the beer still soothed it.
Her companion’s beer remained untouched, however. Casey stared off into the distance, mesmerized by something.
“What’s up?” She nudged him with her elbow. “Should I have gotten you some snooty little micro-brew?”
Ignoring her jibe, he pointed at a pair of low hills, black against the evening sky. “What’s that?”
“Uh, hills?”
“No. Behind them. Can’t you see the light?”
At first, she thought he meant magic, some weird Dragon-y sight that only his Kind enjoyed. When she turned her head, however, she saw it too out of the corner of her eye.
A glow. Faint, hidden behind the hills.
There was something over there.
Something that would have been the only sign of civilization to her dying mother. If the light was there, 22 years ago.
“I have no idea what that is,” she whispered, feeling strangely reluctant to approach it.
Casey didn’t share her reserve. “Shall we go see?”
And damn her, she couldn’t think of a reason to say no, no matter how nervous it made her.
The light came from a ranch. Miles away from civilization, it twinkled in its own private valley. Faded paint, decrepit barns, and a sagging gate betrayed its age. It was old.
Far older than Lily…
Casey forged ahead as she dawdled. Across dry earth rutted with years of tire tracks. Under the telephone poll with its brilliant light, bright enough to illuminate a mall parking lot. Up on the creaking porch to the front door.
Three crisp knocks rang out as she sidled up behind him. From inside, a dog’s bark answered.
Brave critter! Animals could often sense a Shifter’s spirit animal. A dog that would bark at a Dragon had guts!
The murmur of a television clicked off. Slow, shuffling steps approached and the door opened slowly. Behind it stood an old man. Wispy grey hair puffed out like a dandelion, he wore a faded flannel shirt and dusty overalls. On the far side of the room, an equally elderly woman peered out of the kitchen. One of hands stayed out of sight, behind the door frame.
On a shotgun, no doubt. Sensible woman. Lily found herself liking the couple already. They wouldn’t hide behind their door, too fearful to offer aid to a stranger. But they weren’t fools, either. Unexpected visitors could mean an accident… or a robbery.
“Can I help you, young man?” The rancher’s greeting was cool, but genuine.
“I hope so. My name’s Casey Briggs. This is Lily King, from Cortez.” He didn’t offer his hand yet. They hadn’t been welcomed. “Twenty-two years ago, when she was an infant, Lily was found just over those hills there. She’d like to know more about her birth parents and we’re hoping you can help.”
The woman in the kitchen gasped, and her hand flew away from that hidden gun to cover her mouth. Her husband’s face paled. “There was a baby left out there? Oh, Lord, we didn’t know! I am so sorry, girl.”
But they knew something. She could see it, in the tension in their shoulders and the quick, frightened glanced they shared.
“Could we come in, please?” Hands folded in front of him, Casey was a model of politeness.
“Of course!” Now the handshake was offered as the old man waved them in. “We don’t know a lot, but we’ll tell you what we do. ‘Manda, why don’t you get our guests some iced tea?”
As his wife puttered in the kitchen, he led them into the living room. Only the dog, a border collie with a greying muzzle and one blind eye, seemed to doubt them. She circled the edge of the room, growling softly. Dragon or Wolf, the collie didn’t care. No one threatened her home.
That is a fine animal, Lily told her Wolf. I bet in her day she was a terror to every coyote in three counties.
“Have a seat. I’m Jeffrey Clay.” Their host settled carefully into his Laz-E-Boy. “That’s my wife Amanda. Dodger, hush!” he snapped at the dog. “Don’t mind her. We don’t get much company out here. She’s got no manners.”
Lily didn’t mind the old girl. Who needed manners when you had t
hat much heart? The collie settled down at the edge of the room, still suspicious. Ready to throw her elderly body at the two intruders if they so much as stole a cookie.
They accepted glasses of iced tea as Amanda joined them. Casey scanned the room, as fixated in his own way, as the dog. As if he’d find any threat here!
“Is that your son?” He pointed at a line of photos atop the fireplace. Each one showed a rakish young man with dark eyes and wind-swept brown hair. Skiing. Graduating from college. Posing beside the body of a buck with an enormous rack of horns.
“Grandson. Lucas.”
Amanda’s tea remained untouched, clutched tight in her hands. Lily wasn’t sure why she was so nervous. Dodger smelled her owner’s fear and growled again, bristling with elderly menace.
Before Casey could launch into some ridiculous ‘polite’ chit-chat, Lily cut to the chase. “Did anything odd happen twenty-two years ago. This would have been in the summer, around…”
“I know when it was,” Jeffrey interrupted. “It was the night that woman showed up on our doorstep.”
‘That woman.’ Her mother. Lily’s mouth grew dry. “Was her name Liliana?”
“I don’t know. She spoke, but I didn’t recognize the language. It was all trills and lilts. Beautiful, like a bird talking.” He peered at her, grabbing the chair’s arms to pull himself forward. “Your face looks a little like her. Delicate, heart-shaped. Though her hair was white blonde. Fell all the way to the floor. Never seen nothing like it. And you got more meat on your bones. Not saying you’re heavy, of course. But that woman…”
“She was like a princess out of a fairy tale,” his wife interrupted. “Spun from moonlight and cobwebs. Jeffrey carried her in, and he said she didn’t weigh more’n ninety pounds.”
What kind of Shifter looked like that? A Hare? Or was her mother just some beautiful mortal?
“You carried her in?” Casey prodded. “Was she hurt?”
“Bad.” Years later, the old man still paled at the memory. “Things was broke. Her arm, her shoulder, things inside her. Blood everywhere. I don’t know how she managed to make it here. And there was something she wanted to say, desperate bad. Couldn’t understand her, though. There was one thing she kept saying, over and over. ‘A dan eye.’”
