by Lisa Hughey
She was perfection in female form. Her small high breasts were tipped with copper nipples. Her waist dipped in tightly and lead to sweetly rounded hips, her curves generous enough to hold on to. She was all sinuous lines, graceful curves, and soft hollows. Her thighs seemed a particularly soft place to rest his hips, but he knew she would be soft all over.
The remembered clasp of her sex as she’d welcomed him inside her body still haunted his dreams…and his nightmares.
Zach rolled so he floated on his back in the water and then pulled Shasa on top of him so she was mostly submerged. He anchored her to his body with his forearm over her ribcage, just under her breasts and he kept her head above the water.
His wet clothing dragged him down and created friction in the pool. Finally Zach changed matter and got rid of his own clothing as well. But that was another kind of special torture. Her soft skin rubbed against his body, the sweet curve of her butt nestled against his already semi-hard cock, her sleek back rested on his abs, and her head snuggled in the curve of his neck.
With the stimulation, Zach’s erection hardened. Her supple body against his deprived one caused him to swell with the repressed lust of centuries. Every longing he’d had for the last three hundred years suddenly flared to life. Every wish that he could turn back time and change the outcome of the events that took her from him converged in his brain. Every time he’d used his hand as a poor substitute for her body coalesced into a giant ache in his cock. As well as his heart.
Now all her luscious curves were molded to his body and the softer she felt the harder he got. He scooped handfuls of the life-giving, soothing water over her exposed chest, trying to awaken her from her deep unconsciousness, her body in some sort of stasis. He knew it was necessary so that she could revive, but the longer she remained insensate the more he worried about her recovery. The Realm Pool was infused with bathing salts, healing herbs, and oils designed to stir the senses. He could feel her energy returning, her strength blossoming with each moment she was exposed to the elixir.
How would he live with himself if she was permanently damaged from the effects of the taming the horrific fire? He had never recovered from her death the first time. Was he destined to harm the one person in all the Universe who owned his soul?
He didn’t think his psyche could bear another loss. The guilt that swamped him regularly coursed through his body now. He remembered going back to Port Royal after the devastating tsunami.
He’d returned to the depraved city a week after the disasters struck. The earthquake and then his personal specialty, the tsunami had devastated the small island. He’d searched the rubble for her. Searched for her Maman. For weeks he’d hoped perhaps she was in one of the hospitals, injured. But finally he’d acknowledged that she must have been sucked into the abyss of sand and sea. Gone forever, as if she’d never lived.
Except she lived on in his dreams. And in his heart.
Zach continued to scoop water over her body and willed her to awaken.
A few minutes later, Michael appeared. Zach wanted to cover Shasa from his leader’s gaze, but she needed the restorative properties of the healing water. So he buried his instinct to shield her body from Michael. Nothing was more important than Shasa’s recovery.
Michael observed in silence. A handy trick, except Zach was the king of silence.
“So, she is the one.” It wasn’t a question.
Zach raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. However his arms tightened fractionally around her. His response was involuntary as if Michael had threatened to take her away.
“From Port Royal.” Michael clarified.
Zach’s heart thudded like tribal drumbeat of the Jamaican musicians. He’d told no one about his attachment to Shasa. Even before her death he wasn’t exactly a social guy. But after the tsunami, he’d been damn near a recluse.
Zach stared at Michael refusing to confirm or deny. He would not put Shasa at risk.
“We were…aware of your attachment to her.”
The need to ask questions burned in his throat. We who? Was that why Shasa had been stolen from him and swept into the sea? Because he had broken the rules of the Realm? He had thrown away seven hundred years of caution to be with Shasa, knowing that their love was forbidden. Knowing that nothing permanent would ever come of their liaison. Knowing at some point she could be naught but a sweet precious memory.
Zach would never give away anything that would jeopardize Shasa. He kept his gaze on Michael steady, unwavering, free from any confirmation or denial of his leader’s fishing words.
Michael cleared his throat.
Even if the Angelic Realm had been aware of his inappropriate relationship with Shasa several hundred years ago, why would Michael bring it up now?
Michael started, “You cannot—”
“How’s Uri?” Zach wasn’t about to listen to what he could, or could not, do. He, better than anyone, knew what he could not do and where he could not go. He deflected abruptly to an issue far more important. The health of their formerly missing Archangel.
“Not good.” Michael paced in the chamber. “Rafe is with Uri now, examining him. Trying to heal him. We had to leave him there.”
“Leave him….”
“On Earth.” Michael speared his large fingers through his silver mane.
They left Uri on Earth? Zach stroked his palm absently over Shasa’s arms as he contemplated what Michael hadn’t said. “What does he remember?”
“He remembers nothing.” Michael continued to pace. “We are trying to keep him calm and lucid, so hopefully his senses and his memory will return soon.”
Michael didn’t mention Uri’s powers. “What about his Archangel abilities?”
“He thinks he’s human.”
Humans. So frail. So easily damaged. So easily lost.
Zach wanted to curl around Shasa and protect her from any threat that lingered outside the Realm pool. But he had to tread carefully so that no one here figured out how much he cared about his human. As soon as she was recovered enough, he had to get her out of the Realm. Before anyone else brought up his unhealthy attachment to his Dowser.
Michael pressed his mouth together as if he wanted to return to their prior discussion, as if he could sense Zach’s protective instincts. But he finally just said, “How long?”
Until Shasa was recovered? “A few hours, half a day at the most.” He hoped.
“As soon as she wakes we need to have a council meeting to discuss Uri and what to do next.”
“I think the Grigori were busy trying to extinguish the magical blaze.” Zach said, “Now that the fire is out, they are free to move on with their plan.”
“It’s possible that they let us rescue him and used us to put out the fire.” Michael puffed out a breath. “Especially if they knew he didn’t remember.”
Zach grunted. They’d had no choice but to rescue Uri.
“Once the council meeting is over, she must leave.” Michael decreed.
Zach knew that. Just as he knew he would do anything to protect her. From himself and from the wrath of the Council.
Michael hesitated. “You can’t keep her, you know.”
Zach didn’t say anything. He should have known Michael would come back to this. He wanted to rage, wanted to fight, but all that would do was put Shasa in danger. He dipped his chin acknowledging that he heard Michael’s pronouncement. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“I’m truly sorry.” Michael did look sorry which made it all the more frustrating.
“Rafe and Angelina, Jed and Luci, are different situations, different couples. And even their circumstances are tenuous. I can’t have another.” Michael crossed his arms over his massive chest. His gaze bored into Zach’s. “Especially with your history….”
His history would be his downfall. Zach knew this like he knew the tides were controlled by the pull of the moon.
“I know.”
Michael nodded once then disappeared.
Zach looked at the woman in his arms. Shasa’s lashes were thick against her cheekbone, and her hand curled up underneath her ear as she burrowed into his arms. He savored this chance to hold her close.
Already her skin was beginning to gain some color, and her breathing was lighter, easier. As her health returned Zach let himself feel things he hadn’t before.
Shasa’s entire body, except for her head, was submerged in the restorative water. He’d avoided looking at her breasts but as her body began to heal the female curves drew his attention. He stroked his palm over her exposed skin, staying to the curve of her waist, her hip, the ball of her shoulder. He avoided the purely sexual areas with his hands but his gaze was drawn to her pert copper nipples and the wiry thatch of curls that protected her sex.
Zach’s cock rose at his memories of Shasa.
Those stolen moments had cost her everything. So as much as his body was begging for the surcease of hers, he could never touch her again. Never put in her in danger or peril.
Shasa would recover. She would thrive. She would not be punished for his forbidden choices long ago. He would continue to pay penance for his role in her death in her prior life. His history, his choices, were his downfall. Which was fine, as long as Shasa didn’t suffer for his actions, he could live with that.
Fourteen
Shasa smiled hazily as remnants of her beautiful dream lingered in her mind. Her dream man Zach had been everything she’d ever imagined and wanted in a lover, their joining breathtaking in its simple joy.
How would she ever top that? How would she ever find anyone as perfect as he’d been in that dream? She stretched languidly and savored a soft, liquid embrace as water slid over her naked skin.
Water?
The fog of a deep, restorative sleep drifted away. Crawling through layers of consciousness, she came awake in slow increments as various tactile sensations hit her. She was weightless, buoyant. Her cheek rested against smooth supple skin. A hard band of sinew and muscle slotted in the crook of her knees. Herb-scented air held a hint of brine. Steam kissed her face, and her body bobbed gently in a rocking motion. The tops of her knees and her face were a little chilled exposed to the air but the rest of her body was warm, cocooned in a watery embrace.
She dug through the fuzziness.
This was wrong. She must still be dreaming. She wouldn’t be in water. Her breath hitched and she began to remember.
Water and ley lines and dowsing. The images shot at her like bullets from a gun as she remembered everything that led up to her collapse.
The woods, the fire, Michael, Zach. Her dream man.
The strangely vacant man who wandered out of the smoking woods. Zach and Michael’s joy and confusion. Then her own depleted body giving out on her. The dizziness, the cold, the gut wrenching nausea a thousand times worse than she’d ever experienced.
She’d passed out cold.
So where was she now? And why did she feel so good?
Shasa yawned, her mouth stretched wide and her jaw popped as her lids drooped. She hadn’t slept well in weeks. The constant nausea and sickness had made her rest uneasy.
Her lids drooped again as a sense of peace glided through her. She was floating, drifting as she liked to do in the ocean.
A smile spread over her face as she remembered the peaceful rocking motion of the sea as the waves eddied toward shore, letting the water carry her burdens for a little while. Her only respite back then had been the vast cradle of the ocean.
A sense of loss so profound she wanted to cry fell over her. She wanted to slide back into that dream world where life had been simple and beautiful and she’d found a man who was everything she’d ever wanted.
She felt so amazingly good that she wanted to bask in those pleasing memories. But other sensory details were bringing her back to reality. Someone was petting her, stroking her skin and face with an exquisitely gentle touch. The tender, affectionate caress was filled with love and regret and a million other things that made her throat tighten. She knew she was imagining things. No one had ever touched her that way. No one since her dream man at least.
Shasa forced her lids open and saw nothing but water.
Awareness hacked at her mind like a heavy blade.
Holy shit. She was in a deep body of water. Panic exploded throughout her body. No, no, no. She couldn’t see anything but the deadly abyss. Dimly she registered a warm body on her side and behind her. Escape, escape, escape. The thought stabbed at her consciousness like a terror-filled mantra.
“No, no, no.” She windmilled her arms and legs, trying desperately to escape the depths of water. That’s when she realized Zach was the one holding her up. Shasa dug her nails into his arms, grappling with Zach’s slick skin, pressing her fingers into his shoulders, her legs scrabbling up his torso, until she could get above the deadly water, her fingers clenched tightly in his wet curls and her thighs wrapped around his neck. “Get me out, get me out!” she screamed.
Before she had even finished yelling, they were in another room. Zach had her pinned down, holding her arms tightly to rough sheets, his legs trapped hers against a hard surface as she thrashed beneath him.
“Shh, shh.” He was trying to calm her down but she was so lost in her own terror that she couldn’t register anything but the frantic pound of her own her heart banging against her ribcage and the sheer panic streaming through her at the speed of light.
“Shasa,” Zach spoke deliberately, calmly. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”
Vaguely she was aware of the tears leaking from her eyes as his voice finally calmed her enough that she could think rationally again.
Their position was intimate, erotic. Naked, coarse cotton against her back, Zach’s nude body a comforting weight over her as he pressed her down into the mattress. Holding her, protecting her. She wasn’t sure where that thought came from but suddenly she knew that he wouldn’t let anything hurt her.
His rough, callused palm soothed over her wet hair, as he continued to stroke her with calming strokes. He pressed his soft lips against her forehead. “You’re okay.”
Suddenly, she was hyper aware of his hard body on top of her. Her breasts cushioned his harder chest and her legs had fallen open to cradle him between them. The hair from his thighs teased her softer inner legs. The position was decidedly sexual. And as she remembered the dream, remembered the tender way he’d treated her, their beautiful joining, Shasa curled her arms around his shoulders and threaded her fingers through his hair.
His heat seared her and she breathed in his scent, let their closeness arouse and enthrall her and wash away the last bits of her fear.
Shasa nuzzled the skin behind his ear. She eased her legs wider, thrilled to his solid heavy weight between her thighs. Arousal sizzled through her and her whole body softened. Awareness sweet and soft spiraled through her with an edge. Her body was already primed from the dream.
Suddenly she craved sex.
Craved the bite of pain from his mouth at her breast.
Craved the solid, thick slide of him inside her.
Craved the tingles and sizzle as he entered her and splayed her wide open.
Zach rocked his hips into her, the hot brand of his engorged cock pressed against her belly. Right against the mark that he kissed earlier.
Her sex clenched with emptiness, her body begged for satisfaction.
Her terror had morphed into a desire so strong she was desperate with the need for relief. She wanted him.
Inside her.
Shasa curled her legs around his hips, rocked up into his erection, silently demanding he take her.
He traced her lips with his tongue demanding entrance. Shasa opened. He took her mouth, devouring her as if starving for her taste. His tongue invaded, plundered, dominated her. She dragged her palms down his back and curled her fingers around his perfect, muscular ass eager to discover if sex with him now was as good as her dream.
Needing affirmation that sex could be that good. That
special.
That she hadn’t imagined the entire encounter, built it up to be something it wasn’t in her memory.
He rasped his tongue along the curve of her neck, nipped at her collarbone, and placed soft sucking kisses on her skin as he carved a path to her breast.
Then his mouth was there. His lips closed over her nipple with hot suction as he tongued her hard against the roof of his mouth. A gush of wetness coated her thighs, her body primed and ready for him. She clutched at his curls and pulled him closer. His scruff abraded her breast and as his fingers plumped her for his sensual assault.
Her heightened senses were on overload from dream sex, and then the terror of the water. His carnal attention, as if he knew how to touch her just right, coalesced and pleasure rose and battered her as she plunged over the edge and fell into an unexpected orgasm.
Shasa moaned low in her throat as her body exploded in bliss.
Before she even had time to be embarrassed at her sensitive reaction to his sexual attention, Zach bulleted from the bed with violent intensity. And Shasa was left, cold, shivering, and alone.
Fuck!
Zach glanced at her lying wantonly on the bed. The perfection of Shasa’s body, her nipples wet from his mouth, a red flush spread over her thighs and belly, before she curled into a ball and huddled on his stark white sheets. Quickly he transformed the sheet into a warm flannel shirt to cover her nudity.
But the vision of her naked body was seared into his memory banks.
Zach’s cock hadn’t gotten the message that sex was off the table. His member stood proud, engorged with the taunt of her proximity.
“Well, I guess I know where I stand,” she said huskily. The hint of tears in her voice nearly brought him to his knees.
His heart ached. The temptation to throw caution aside and take what they both clearly wanted burned. But she was forbidden. They were forbidden. So he kept silent.
She shoved to sitting. Shasa propped her elbows on her knees, head in her hands. He wanted to comfort her but Zach knew his control was at its limits.