“You’re beautiful. The stone even matches your eyes.” She felt the skin tighten on her face as the edges of her lips formed a graceful smile. Why was it that she was always blushing in front of this man? It was as if she was a menopausal woman having hot flashes in his presence. He had to be ‘the one’ for her. There was no other explanation for it.
With the release of his parent’s souls, it was now time to bring back the happy memories he had of this place. She thought about when she was a kid. The good times that existed before the kids started to bully her because they had finally figured out that she was different. “Where I grew up was a beautiful place in spring. My dad had a sailboat and he would take it out every weekend when the conditions were right. Sometimes it would just be him and me, or he would let me bring a friend or two. My mom didn’t particularly care for boats so she rarely went with us. The days we set sail out into the Atlantic and waited for the sun to set were my favorite. Once the sun was safe below the horizon, we would head back for the marina. In the winter, the weather was too harsh to take the boat out. I would look forward to spring because I knew that after the blankets of ice and snow thawed, we would go out on the boat. It was my favorite time of year. Did you have a place like that here, some place that you found peace?”
“Yeah, I did. There is a lake up on that hill over there. It has a hot spring just next to it where the water is warm. When it gets dark outside, all the plants and insects that live inside of it start to glow. It’s really beautiful. It is a bit of a hike though. I can show you if you want?”
“I’d like that.” He smiled at her just then. The first real smile she’d seen since they had left the market. It made her heart skip a beat. Whenever he smiled, it was like the sun coming out after long cold icy winter warming her soul and numbing her wits. He led her along an overgrown path that she could tell had once been a heavily used walking path. The saplings and tall grasses growing alongside the path leaned in to meet the vegetation on the other side. The ground underneath her feet was paved with smooth cobblestones of all colors and sizes that had weeds and patches of moss growing between them in the small cracks. Every now and then she would come across a stone that was being uplifted by a tree root or the new growth of a little sapling. She carefully watched her footing so that she would not trip on them. As they walked into the forest, the canopy of leaves in the branches overhead blocked out most of the light.
“I used to take my sisters here when we were little. My brother was too little. He would sometimes come when my mother would wash the clothes in the stream.” Every once in a while the light started to penetrate through the gaps in the canopy of leaves above her, warming the air around her. It wasn’t that long before she could hear the sound of water rushing downstream. They stopped when they came to the stream. It was about 10 feet across and reminded her of what she saw when visiting the Smoky Mountains. “This is one of those places.” He motioned to her and walked over to the edge dipping his fingers in the water. “It’s cold,” He laughed and flicked some of the water in her direction. She giggled and ducked, but the droplets of the ice cold water hit her arm. “I can show you my favorite spot if you want.”
“Sure, I’d love to,” she said and dipped her hand into the stream. “Is this water safe to drink? I’m thirsty.”
“We used to drink from it all the time. Since the attack, I don’t know. I didn’t bring a testing kit with me.” He looked behind him to the path they just took. “We’re not that far in. I could go and get the food we got from the market. Then, maybe when we get to the lake we could have a picnic. I’m pretty sure that I have a testing kit in the car, I can get that, too.”
“Sure,” Laura said. He sprinted along the trail to the car. His long, lean muscular legs were worth watching as he took off in the direction they came. He will probably run the whole way, she thought. Sitting on the nearest large boulder, she started to take off her shoes and socks. Rolling her pants up to her knees, she dipped her toes into the water. It was ice cold. Slowly she eased her feet in and let the water sweep them up in the swirling current. The round rocks in the stream bed were covered with blue-green algae. The filaments of the algae were dancing in the water, swaying gently back and forth. She could smell the fecund scent in the air of the decaying leaf litter that crunched under her feet with each step walking up here. This moment right now was the closest she ever felt to being on her own planet.
She took in the scenery all around her. Just to her left a small flying insect was drinking up the nectar from a nearby flower. When it flew drunkenly away, it sprinkled shimmering pollen from its tiny wings. It looked like a fairy right out of a movie sprinkling pixie dust. When it noticed her sitting on a rock, it flew by and sat on a nearby branch. She held her finger out to see if it would crawl up on it so that she could get a closer look. What she saw was incredible. It was a winged creature with a strangely hominid face. Two legs and four arms covered with yellow soft fur. It was about 2 inches long and smiled at her curiously. She inched her finger closer and closer. Just when she least expected it, a small little thing turned and bit her. Not finding her blood very appetizing, it flew off in a frenzy across the stream bank to get more nectar. Why must she always feel the need to touch things? Wasn’t observing them with her eyes ever enough?
She sucked the small droplet of blood off of her finger and followed the tiny winged being’s path with her eyes. Across the stream was a thatch of grass with beautiful purple flowers. Each flower was about 5 inches in diameter and the tips of the petals looked like they were gilded in gold. Intrigued, she wanted to get a closer look at it. Carefully, she stood on the slippery rocks. Each step was carefully made as she checked her footing across the water. She was so accustomed to the sounds of nature that when Ceran emerged from the path and called out her name, she jumped. Slipping on the slick rocks, she fell into the cold water. The bark of the trees seemed to explode in all directions with thousands of small, winged moth-like creatures. With each beat of their wings, they started to glow a soft pink. The faster their wings beat, the brighter they became. They swarmed in a cloud over her now as if curious to see what disturbed them from their nap. They were beautiful. All of a sudden the chill of the water cut through to her skin. She sat on the river bed with water covering her legs up to her waist. She gasped, “Ahh, Sooooo…cold.” She could hear the sound of his laughter through the chatter of her teeth.
“What are you doing in there?” He laughed.
“I just wanted to get a closer look at that purple flower over there.” She pointed in the direction of the flower. She put her hands in the stream to push herself up and continued across the stream determinedly rubbing her arms briskly with her hands. She reached for the nearest branch and stepped foot on the soft moss that grew along the water's edge. “This flower is so beautiful.” The petal was tipped in the darkest purple lined with gold and as it reached the stem, it gradually changed to a cyan blue. She reached out to stroke the soft, satiny looking petals as they rolled up and snapped closed in a tight bud. That surprised her and she looked to Ceran.
“Those flowers are temperamental. If you can cut them when they are opened and steep them in boiling water to make tea. It’s an excellent remedy for headache. It’s tricky to pick one, but it can be done.” He pulled off his shoes and crossed over to the other side of the bank bending over beside her. “Wait just a minute for it to open again.”
“How do the flowers even know we are here?” She asked.
“Shhhhh.” The petals started to move slowly as if checking to see if the coast was clear. One by one each petal unfolded. When the bud had fully opened, the flower began to twist rapidly back and forth. Ceran grabbed the stem close to the ground as it shook and snapped it from the ground. “You have to catch it off guard. When it shakes itself out, that’s the time to pick it.” He handed her the flower.
She examined it carefully and when she was done, she sniffed it to see if it had any fragrance. The sweet smell of the bloom
caused a tickle in her nose. She quickly turned away and sneezed. “Excuse me.” He laughed and took the stem from her hand and tucked it behind her ear.
They crossed the stream together, and as he pulled her to the other edge he said, “You’re all wet.”
“I’ll dry while we walk. Let’s go. The sooner we get there the sooner we can eat.” He handed her a bottle of water and she took a sip and put it back in the bag he was carrying. He did not move, just looked at her curiously. “What?” she giggled.
“You are so beautiful.” He reached out to brush his fingers across her jaw and leaned his head down and kissed her. When her wet clothes made contact with his skin. He jerked away, “You’ve got to be freezing?”
She shivered and said through chattering teeth, “I will be alright if we start moving.” They sat on the nearest rock and put on their shoes. “Come on, let’s go.” She pulled him off the rock and started to climb up the path. “This way, right?” He nodded and she continued up the path.
When they got to the clearing near the top of the hill, she took a deep breath. “Oh, Ceran. This is beautiful.” Over the cliff, you could see the meadow below where the car was parked. The whole town could be seen from this vantage point. The now tiny pink flowers of its namesake were swaying in the breeze behind the little grave markers of the fallen townspeople. Just behind them, surrounded by tall trees was a large clear pond. You could see all the way to the bottom. Schools of many different kinds of fish were swimming along in jagged paths. The lavender grass under her feet was mixed with several earthy patches of soil and dried moss.
Ceran took a blanket out of the bag, snapped it in the wind, and lowered it spreading it over the patch of soft grass. “I wonder if the berries my sisters loved still grow around here.” He put the bag down on the ground and walked over to the edge of the pond to find what he was looking for. He said over his shoulder, “You’ve got to try these. I have never seen them grow anywhere else.” He picked a handful of the red berries. When he returned to her, he held one out and waited for her to open her mouth.
He placed the berry on her tongue and she closed her mouth and bit into it. It was so sweet. “No wonder your sisters loved these. Maybe, we should pick a few and give them to Sarah. She might be able to grow them for her smoothies.”
“…or maybe we should just leave them here and let them be our secret.” He dropped the handful of berries he was holding on the blanket and brushed his hands on his pants. “You look like you are still cold.” He took her hand and looked at her arms which were covered with a dusting of gooseflesh. He sat down on the blanket and pulled her down into his lap just between his legs. She leaned up against him letting him wrap his arms around her. It was warm inside the space of his arms. The two of them stayed there for a while just looking at the view. It was a beautiful spot and she could tell why it was his favorite. “My sisters and I would go swimming up here. Behind the pond to the right is a hot spring. It really isn’t too hot, just warm. Gods, your pants are still so wet. Why don’t you take them off and hang them on the bushes to dry?”
“Are you trying to get me out of my pants?” Laura said giving him a sly look.
“Only if you are willing,” he laughed.
“You are right though. I’ll probably be warmer with them off.” She took off her shoes and then her damp pants. She felt goofy and self-conscious. She draped her pants over her arm and tried to walk like a sexy fashion model, but found that she failed miserably. She tripped on the last step near the bush she intended to hang her pants over and grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree to stop her from falling. She shook her head wondering what he was thinking. “That cold water must have done something to my legs. I’m not, usually, this clumsy.”
“It’s understandable,” He said and she smiled into the woods so that he could not see her face. When she had composed herself, she walked back to the blanket determined to relax. This wasn’t a big deal. They had shared dozens of afternoons together, why should this one be any different. Maybe, she was trying too hard to impress him. That had to be why she was getting all flustered. She sat down on the blanket next to the bag. Digging in, she made a couple of cheese sandwiches and opened a bottle of sparkling leppa juice. As she handed him one of the sandwiches. He smiled at her and said, “Thanks!”
They ate quietly looking at each other uncomfortably, not know just what to say. She thought that this could easily be the perfect setting for losing her virginity. What could be better than this blanket under the puffy clouds lying out in the sun? When she had finished her sandwich and took several gulps from the bottle of juice, she laid down on the blanket looking up at the white puffy clouds in the sky with her hands over her chest. “When I was little, my brother and I would lay out in the yard on hot sunny days in our swim suits after playing in the sprinkler. We would look up at the clouds and shout out what we though they looked like.” She pointed up at one, in particular. “That one, right there, resembles an angel. See the wings behind his back and a halo over its head.”
He lay down beside her. His hand brushed the skin of her bare hip giving her the shivers. He got comfortable with his arm around her neck and his head propped on his other hand. He pointed just over her shoulder, “That one there looks like a C-247 fighter craft.”
“Spoken like a man who knows his ships,” she answered. Hesitating she said, “Ceran, can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“What did Sarah mean by being bonded to a woman? Why am I not safe until we’re mated?”
She saw him swallow hard. He took his time as if carefully choosing what he would say, “In my culture we mate for life. Rarely, if ever, do we take a second mate. I don’t know the mechanism by which we can tell that a couple is mated. I just know that I can sense it when it happens to another Theron Warrior.” He took a deep breath and continued, “Being a mated couple offers protection. Until a woman is mated, they are fair game for any warrior to court. Once mated, a woman is off limits to others. There are survival instincts that kick in that would make me save you at all costs, even if it means that I must forfeit my own life. When I give myself to you, it will be forever.”
She thought about what he had just said and the gravity of it all. If she mated him, he would die for her. Would the same thing happen to her? Would she die for him as well? Her mother would surely die for her father? Her father would probably do the same if the situation called for it. After several minutes of silence and going over all the pros and cons of living a life with Ceran. She sat up and blurted out, “I think I am ready, Ceran.”
“Ready to go?” Ceran asked puzzledly.
“No, I think I am ready to be mated to you.” She saw him swallow hard. Her own naked insecurity taking over making her think that maybe he had changed his mind about her. She felt her heart as if it lodged itself squarely in her throat and said, “I’m sorry, I just thought…” Tears started to form in her eyes and she turned away. Just when she thought all was lost, he reached for the hair that fell across her face and pushed it behind her ear.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
“Are you sure that you still want me?” she asked with a shaky voice.
“I have never wanted anything more.” He had the most serene look in his eyes as he brushed her cheek with his thumb to wipe away a stray tear that trickled down her face.
“It is just that when I said I was ready, you looked like you may have changed your mind... about me.” She turned her eyes, still glossy with tears to him. “God, I feel like such an insecure teenager. I think…I mean, I know…That, I love you. If you feel the same about me then maybe we should do it. Become a mated couple, I mean.”
He chuckled, placing his warm hand lightly against her cheek. “I think I know what you are feeling. I would never change my mind about you. I want you…I mean, I want to be with you. It’s just that, I have never done this before. I guess that I am scared that I won’t do it right, or something.”
She close
d her eyes and smiled her relief. “I haven’t done this before either. I guess one good thing that could be said about venturing into uncharted territory is that we won’t know if we are doing it wrong. Besides, we can always practice until we get it right. Right? It can only get better over time. Besides, I never expected my first time to be fireworks and flowers. The truth is, it’s probably going to be really messy.”
“Don’t worry about that. I can think of several ways to clean up after.” His mouth curled up on one side the way she loved. She leaned in to kiss those lips. “Um…Laura. How do I know when you are ready? Err. When to…” He whispered into her ear nervously with a tremble in his words.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you just kiss me and we’ll see where that leads,” she closed her eyes in anticipation of his kiss. He ran his index finger along her neck, sweeping the stray curl of hair that lay just over her shoulder. Lowering his head down, she could feel his lips meet the nape of her neck. He trailed his kisses down over her collarbone and just above her sternum until he came to the collar of her shirt. He looked at her expectantly, probably wondering if he should take off her shirt or if she should do it herself. She watched him eye the neckline of her top. She shyly reached for the hem of her shirt, pulling it upward and over her head. She was wearing only her white string bikini panties and matching bra. Naked insecurity crept back into her mind. Did he still want her? His eyes answered her query. They slowly raked over her in wonderment. She felt his need for her.
She was suddenly bombarded by an intense wave of emotions, both his and hers. To feel what she felt with him alone was overwhelming enough. Her mind was full to the brink of exploding and about to burst. To quiet the chatter in her head, she imagined a mere volume knob in her head that controlled her empathetic gift and turned it all the way down. But now, without knowing how he was feeling, she was flying into unknown territory. All of the uncertainties of her not knowing if she was good enough, or worse, not attractive enough to him unsettled her and made her second guess herself. She felt like a naive teenager. Caught up in her own personal naked insecurities, he moved toward her faster than she anticipated and they bumped heads.
The Theron Residency (Brides of Theron Book 4) Page 10