Eden and I stand completely still, just inside the tree line. The jet keeps going back and forth over the clearing. Then to my complete horror, two sets of headlights come out of the woods on the other side of the clearing.
“We can’t let them find us,” Eden whispers to me. “Don’t let go of my hand, Alyssa.”
As if he could shake me off! Crap! Why did we have to go and pull all our clothes off? Damn bad timing!
I take Eden’s hand as he leads us through the pitch black woods. There are so many sharp things under my bare feet, poking at them as we walk cautiously away from the area the headlights seem to be going to.
The headlights stop at the edge of the tree line. I can hear one of the trucks’ door’s open. “Get ‘em, boy,” I hear a man’s voice say.
I squeeze Eden’s hand as the sound of barking dogs fills the air around us. Eden is running so fast I almost fly behind him, my feet barely touching the ground. I hear the dogs gaining on us. Eden is running back into the clearing. I can hear the jet, coming.
“Don’t let go of my hand, we have to change back. Stay as close to me as you can, we have to move fast. Don’t lose sight of me, once we’re in the air,” Eden orders me.
He couldn’t lose me if he wanted to. I’m scared almost to death. I just keep praying for us to get out of this safely. My human eyes can barely make out the opening. Eden runs out into the opening, transforming immediately. I follow just as quickly. Two thunderous booms follow us, as we change into the birds.
‘Stay as close to the tops of the trees as possible,’ Eden tells me, making sure to only tell me telepathically so no one hears him shriek.
The jet flies over us but keeps going. I guess his radar can’t pick us up when we fly this close to the trees. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to have it off of us.
‘We’re going to lose the trees as cover, Alyssa. We have to fly as fast as we can, once we lose them. Straight for their house, do you understand?’ Eden sends me.
‘I do,’ I send him, then I send an image of the jet to Kyle.
The trees begin to get fewer and farther between them, and then there are no more trees. Eden beats his wings faster, as do I. The familiar sound of the air collapsing around us as we break the sound barrier rings in my ears. Then I hear a third loud clap of thunder to find the jet back on our trail.
I can’t look back anymore, I have to get back to the house, back to the people who take care of us. The jet passes over us, going out to turn around. I see the lights begin to come into view. The house is not far now.
The jet has turned and is coming straight for us. I see Eden dive, trying to get to the ground. I follow him, tucking in my wings, and letting myself fall as quickly as I can.
‘Change as soon as you hit the ground, Alyssa,’ Eden tells me, this time he lets himself shriek out loud as he says it.
He comes down a little bit farther away from the house than we started off. I hit the ground and change back to my human form, running like crazy towards the house. He slows a little for me to catch up, then grabs for my hand, taking me to the side of the house where our clothes are.
I feel for my clothes, finding them, I grab my dress and throw it around me. Eden pulls his pants on and grabs the rest of his clothes. Taking my hand again, then he runs into the front door of the house. Once inside we stop, as Eden locks the door behind us. Laura and Kyle come in the back door.
“What the hell is going on? Why is there a jet following you?” Kyle asks us.
“I think he picked us up on his radar. I’m pretty sure there’ll be people here shortly to look for us,” Eden tells them.
“Go upstairs and get dressed. We’ll take care of anyone who shows up here,” Laura tells us.
I take off up the stairs, Eden follows me, going into the guest room quickly, shutting the door behind us. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa,” he tells me.
I turn to look at him. “Why are you saying that to me? It’s not your fault.”
He paces the room. “I’m the one who wanted to go flying around. I don’t know what I was thinking about. I should’ve thought about how this area is bound to be covered with air security since it’s so close to the state capital.”
“It still isn’t your fault,” I say. “You can’t possibly think of every little thing which could happen.”
I put my clothes back on, then look out the window. The party has ended, only the people who are cleaning it all up are still outside. I feel terrible about messing up the party. I hope Laura and Kyle are not too disappointed.
“Okay, I’m dressed, let’s go downstairs,” Eden says.
I take his hand, and go with him downstairs, Laura’s sitting on the sofa by herself. “Where’s Kyle?” Eden asks her.
“He’s outside,” she says. “That jet isn’t letting up. It’s pretty obvious whoever is driving that thing saw you two disappear around here. What happened exactly?”
I sit down next to her and Eden goes outside with Kyle. “We just went for a little stroll in the sky. We were having a good time, flying by the river. Then the jet found us. Eden thinks we came up on its radar.”
“That makes sense,” Laura says.
“We found a clearing to land in, and I thought we were pretty much home free. I was wrong. A couple of trucks came and found us, like right away. They had dogs with them. Once they let them loose, we had no choice but to get back out of there. The jet caught up with us again, and here we are,” I tell her.
She puts her arm around my shoulders. “Dang, Ally that sucks. I guess it’s safe to assume they’ll be looking around here pretty soon. Thank goodness we have that gate at the entrance. They can’t just roll up here.”
I sink into her side. “I’m sorry we screwed up your party.”
“To be honest, Al,” she says. “I was really tired anyway.”
I laugh a little. “So am I, Laura. I could fall asleep right now.”
She props her head on mine. “I think I could too,” she mumbles, as we both drift off.
“What?” I mumble, as I feel myself being lifted up.
“Shhh,” I hear.
I move my head to look up. Kyle is carrying me up the stairs. “What are you doing?” I ask him, groggily.
“Just stay asleep, Ally,” he says, quietly.
“Where’s my husband?” I ask.
“He ran to town,” he says. “Now just sleep. He’ll be back soon.”
He opens the door to the guest room, then takes me to the bed, laying me down. I feel him take my sandals off. Then turn to my side, pulling my legs up.
“Thank you, Kyle,” I tell him.
He pulls the blanket up over me, then leans down to kiss me on the top of the head. “Good night, Alyssa, I love you,” he says.
I smile. “Good night, Kyle. I love you too,” I tell him, then fall back asleep.
Chapter 61
ALYSSA
“You’re going too fast, Kyle,” I say, as I follow him down a trail into the woods.
“Come on, Ally,” he says. “We’re almost there.”
He takes my hand, then pulls me to him as he covers my eyes with his hand. “Okay, no peeking.”
He pulls me a few steps further. Then drops his hand that’s covering my eyes. I see a small, old beat up shack. “See, a cabin in the woods. I told you I had a surprise for you.”
I look up at him. “You found this?”
He leads me to the door. “Yeah, I think it’s been abandoned.”
I step inside to see he’s laid out a quilt on the old wood floor. There’s a picnic basket on it. I turn to look at him. “Did you do that?”
“Yes, you are hungry, aren’t you?” he asks.
“I guess I could eat.”
He pulls me to sit on the quilt with him. “Is this one of your mother’s quilts?” I ask.
He nods. “Don’t tell her, she’ll kill me.”
I reach over to open the picnic basket, but he stops me, taking my hand, then bringing it up to his lips, kissin
g the gold band of my wedding ring. “I love how this looks on you. It looks so pretty next to the other one I gave you,” he says, as he moves to kiss the small heart-shaped diamond ring on my other finger.
I smile at him. “Let me see yours again.”
He holds his hand up, wiggling his ring finger. The sun coming through the window of the little cabin catches the gold, making it shine brightly. The sun is coming in behind him, making his blonde curls glow.
He looks like an angel. I move forward, getting up on my knees to lean closer to him. I take his hand, kissing his ring. Then I put my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist.
“I love you, Ally. I’m so happy you said yes.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve loved you forever, Kyle.”
He moves his arms from around my waist to the bottom of my T-shirt. I hold my arms up, so he can raise it up over my head. He drops the shirt on the floor, leaning in to kiss the top of one of my breasts as it bulges slightly above my pink lacy bra.
He stops to look up at me. “Looks like Jr. has already begun his work on your body. You’ll need a larger size very soon.”
I look at him with a pout on my lips. “I still can’t believe you went and got me pregnant so soon after our wedding. I was looking forward to some time with you all alone.”
He laughs. “We have about seven more months of alone time, Ally. He won’t get in our way, I promise,” he tells me as he unbuttons, then unzips my shorts, exposing my still flat stomach.
“I’m going to get all fat,” I whine.
He touches my exposed stomach, then looks up at me. “Thank you, Alyssa. You’ve given me the best present anyone ever could. You won’t be fat. You’ll be more beautiful.”
He moves towards me, pushing me back gently until I’m lying on the old quilt. He pulls my shorts and panties off in one quick motion, pulling off my flats then he stands up to take his shirt off. I suck in my breath as he does. He pops the buttons on his jeans, then lets them fall.
“You ready for this, Ally?”
I hold my arms out to him. He comes into my arms, covering my body with his. His lips touch mine, and I part them, his tongue darts into my mouth. The familiar sense of heat goes straight to my lower regions.
My legs open as I run my hands over the muscles on his back, and he brings his body down on mine, filling me. Gentle strokes he takes as his lips leave mine, trailing kisses up my neck. My hands tangle up in his curls. His mouth comes down on mine again, his tongue fills my mouth. Hungry, his kiss becomes as he moves inside me, his strokes harder and deeper.
His lips leave mine and touch my ear. “Say my name, Ally.”
I’m about to fall apart underneath his hot, sweaty, rock hard body. “Kyle,” I say as I breathe out.
“Again,” he orders as he thrusts deeper.
The force pushes the air out of my lungs as I shout, “Kyle!”
With ragged breaths, he asks, “Who do you belong to, Ally?”
“I belong to you,” I whisper.
The heat on my neck compels me to turn and catch his lips. One small kiss and he thrusts as he says, “Who do you belong to?”
My stomach clenches as I come apart, and he explodes into me. “I belong to you, Kyle!” I shout.
“Alyssa!” I hear. “Open your eyes!”
I open my eyes to see Eden looking down at me, he quickly rolls off of me. “What the hell, Alyssa?” he asks with an aggravated tone to his voice.
I sit up. “I was dreaming.”
“I thought you were awake,” Eden says. “I should’ve known you weren’t. You weren’t moving at all like yourself.”
Pulling the sheet up to cover my naked breasts, I ask, “What did I do?”
I completely remember the dream I was having. Only I thought it was real. I thought I was married to Kyle. Everything felt real. I can’t believe how real it all felt. Eden sits up, running his hands through his hair.
Oh hell, I know what I did. He doesn’t have to tell me.
I reach out to him. “Eden, it was just a dream, nothing to get upset about. Come on, let’s finish what we started.”
He pulls away from me, though. “No, Alyssa. We can’t finish what we started. I was apparently not involved in it. Now you want him, or what?”
“No!” I say. “I don’t know why I had that stupid dream, Eden. I do know I don’t want him like that. I really don’t. Maybe the ceremony has me sort of messed up, or being chased by jets and dogs has my mind going a different direction.”
Eden looks at me, his eyes full of hurt. “A different direction? Like a direction without me in it?”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. I’m with you. It doesn’t matter what happens in my dreams. I love you, and my future forever is with you, Eden. This is crazy to be fighting about a damn dream I can’t help.”
“I know it is. Let’s just go to sleep. We have to drive back to New Orleans in a few hours anyway,” he says as he lies back down.
I lie back. “I told Kyle we would stay here a while with them.”
“Well I hope that was before the jet and the dogs, because if it was after them, then you are both not thinking straight,” he says.
I need to stop talking now. I am really making my husband mad, and that is never good.
“I love you, Eden, good night.”
“Good night, Alyssa,” he says, then pauses. “I love you too. Now go to sleep.”
I close my eyes and wonder why I was dreaming like that. I love my husband with all my heart. I love Kyle too, but not like the way I love Eden. I don’t want a day to go by without Eden in it.
What is wrong with me?
Chapter 62
KYLE
“You sure can eat now, Ally,” I say, as we leave a café, then walk down a sidewalk downtown.
“Kyle, be nice,” she says as she bats at my arm.
I reach out to touch her ample stomach. “How’s Junior treating you, Al?”
“I really wish you’d quit calling her that,” I say. “Your daughter is treating me like a punching bag. I think she’s going to be a kickboxer.”
I laugh. “Well, thanks for walking over here to go to lunch with me. Are you going back to work now?”
“Where else would I be going, Kyle. Pregnant or not, we have bills to pay and baby things to buy,” she says, with a tired voice.
“I know, Ally,” I say. “It’s almost summer break. I can work full-time hours at the bowling alley once school lets out. I might have a gig this weekend, and that’ll bring in some extra money.”
She smiles. “We’ll make it, Kyle. I’m not worried. I won’t be off until midnight tonight. When will you be home?”
“Since you have to work I’ll probably go hang out with the neighbor until you get home. I only have to work until ten tonight. I’ll bring pizza home for you,” I say.
“No! Not pizza, Kyle. It gives me indigestion. I’ll eat at the restaurant when I get a break. If I get a break.”
I stop and give her a stern look. “You better eat, Mrs. Stevens. Promise me.”
A frown covers her face. “I promise Mr. Stevens, and stop calling me that. I call your mother that, it’s weird.”
I put my arm around her shoulders, and say, “You could call her mom if you wanted to. It might soften her up some, to have you act more like a daughter.”
“I don’t think she wants me to act like that at all. After her freak out when you told her we went to Vegas and got married. I have the feeling she thinks you’ve made a bad mistake with me. Then we got pregnant right away, and fueled her fire even more.”
“Once she sees that little baby, she’ll come around. We’ll have to get up there more often, once the baby comes,” I say.
“I don’t see how we can afford it any better than we can now. We haven’t been home since we left,” she reminds me.
I give her shoulder a nudge with mine. “You’re grouchy, Ally. You need to sleep more.”
“I wish I could, Kyle,
I wish I could. Here we are. I turn right here, and you turn left,” she says.
I let her go. “I love you, Ally. See you around midnight,” I say, then kiss the top of her head.
“Bye, Kyle, I love you too,” she says, as I walk away.
I turn to look back at her, feeling like she’s sad about something. I see her accidentally bump into someone with her stomach. Then hear her say, “Sorry, I don’t always realize how big I am.”
“No need to apologize, it’s my fault. Have a nice day,” a guy with wavy brown hair on top and short sides, says as he almost bows.
I turn and watch him walk down the sidewalk past me. He shoots me a smile, and I look back to see my wife checking him out.
***
“I can’t believe these people,” I hear Eden say, as he stands just outside the bedroom door. His voice woke me up, and it becomes apparent I’m dreaming about Ally, and that’s not good.
I rub my eyes and blink. My dreams come flooding back to me. I close my eyes, as I see Laura has spotted me awake.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” she says with a smile.
“Good morning, Babe.”
Eden’s voice comes from the hall again. “Get dressed, Alyssa,” he tells her, then shuts their door.
He sounds mad.
What is going on in my head? Why am I dreaming that Ally and I are married, and having a baby?
A baby girl, we would’ve had a baby girl, if she was never chosen to be a bird.
I wonder if she saw my dream somehow, and Eden saw it through her. That would probably make him pretty mad.
“I’m making scrambled eggs,” Laura says as she gets up. “Come to the kitchen after you get dressed.”
I hurry to clean myself up and get dressed. I want to talk to Ally before I see Eden, and maybe reveal more than I should.
As I head down the stairs I can hear Laura talking in the kitchen. “How could I not like it, Al? It’s beyond perfect. Breakfast is almost done. Kyle’s coming down any minute. I saw Eden go out the door to the garage. You wanna go get him?”
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