Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  She’d washed his jeans and decided to wear them again because she just couldn’t get enough of him. But she had changed her T-shirt to a knight figure from the “For Honor” game. She hadn’t played the game, although Madde had and said it was pretty good. “Decent graphics and wicked multiplayer features,” which meant Madde really liked it if she’d used that many words in a row to describe something.

  But Adala had liked it because the knight reminded her of Aaron. She couldn’t help but fancy him like a knight of yore. He was so noble. And kind. She adored how he wanted to teach kids history.

  “Oh, hey, have you heard anything about the interviews?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t being too invasive into his privacy. But she knew he had a calling to teach, and thanks to technology, there were ways to get around being stuck in a panic-inducing classroom.

  He blinked and gently held onto her hips, keeping her anchored to him. “As a matter of fact, I should have said something yesterday, but—”

  “But in the hubbub of finding out you can touch me and I can touch you without killing you, you plum forgot?”

  He smiled and held her a little tighter. “Yeah, I plum forgot to tell you that there are two more institutions seeking interviews with me, and one is a university.”

  She squealed. “That’s so...that’s so great. It is great, right?”

  He nodded as his fingers spread wide and wrapped around her better, touching her derrière. Oh my. That was lovely.

  “It is, yeah,” he said. “But what about you?”

  “What do you mean what about me?”

  “It’s your turn. I get to help you find a job.”

  She swallowed, frowning. Liking being on top of Aaron was an understatement, but she straightened and gained a little space from him at the odd suggestion. “Aaron, you know what I am.”

  He shrugged. “Who said you actually have to do the Valkyrie job? I mean, you told me that the Norns said you could take a break whenever you wanted.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “And you haven’t had any...calling to do the Valkyrie thing since we’ve been talking—”

  “No, but—”

  “So, I was just thinking, if I could get a job through Skype interviews and whatnot, why can’t you?”

  She blinked, amazed. “Yeah, why not me?” Her heart raced at all the possibilities he was opening for her.

  He smiled. “You don’t think I’m being too pushy by asking—”

  She rushed down and kissed him. “No, never,” she said between kisses. “I never thought of doing...anything. I never thought”—she prolonged one kiss, especially when he layered his lips between hers. Oh, that was nice. She liked that, but she continued—“I just never thought of doing something I wanted to do.”

  “Maybe, after more than nine hundred years, it’s time for you to think of exactly that.”

  She giggled. “Maybe it is. Oh, I could teach too.”

  “You could. Or, with that big ol’ PhD of yours, you could also practice.”

  “Be a counselor?”

  He nodded.

  She bit her lip, wondering if she had what it took to be helpful while listening to humans talk about their issues. She really liked the idea of helping women who suffered from PTSD. Although not sexually assaulted herself, her torture had been extensive. But, although it had taken nearly sixty years, she no longer felt burdened by her past. It had changed her, but she’d finally come to a point where she embraced the change, the darkness, the shadows within. It added depth and she liked that about herself. Maybe she could help women and it wouldn’t take them sixty years to feel unburdened.

  She leaned down and embraced Aaron, liking how his chin fit on top of her head. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For giving me the courage to think of what I want to do.”

  He held her tight.

  “Aaron?”

  “Yeah, honey.”

  She really liked it when he called her honey. “I want to kiss you until our lips are red and raw again.” She leaned away from him to look down and see his dark blue eyes morph into almost black.

  But his face was serious. “We don’t have to, honey.”

  Her throat almost closed. “You don’t want to?” Her heart ached as she tried to gauge his reaction.

  He swallowed slowly, looking like it was a hard feat to accomplish. “I...I don’t want to pressure you to—”

  “You’re not pressuring me.”

  “But yesterday—” He cut himself off.

  She knew he’d probably wonder what the hölle had happened to her.

  The thing is, she’d gotten excited before. When she’d been in her early twenties, she’d caught a Norman conqueror bathing in an English lake. He’d been beautiful, and she’d known it was creepy but she couldn’t seem to help herself as she’d watched him. That had been her first sexual feeling, and she’d touched herself afterward. She’d been touching herself for a few hundred years now, so she knew what to expect when she was turned on.

  Except nothing had prepared her for what she felt when Aaron had touched her. Turned on, yes. But the energy running through her had been unbearable. She’d had to stop because her sexual excitement had gotten a little painful, like something was trying to tear through her, especially through her spine and heart.

  After she left him yesterday, after the Google search and thinking, Adala had had to find a private place and touch herself. But that hadn’t helped as much as she’d hoped. Even after masturbating three more times, it didn’t go away. But luckily the throbbing through her spine had. So, she’d come back to Aaron, hoping they could pick up where they’d left off. Hoping whatever sensation that was connected to her sternum and vertebrae would go away. Or that she could ignore it.

  She swallowed and nestled against him again, her head under his chin. “I’m sorry to have run off like that.”

  “Did I scare you?”

  She shook her head.

  “I’d never hurt you.”

  She leaned away and looked down at him again, smiling. “I know that.”

  He licked his lips. “I’m a patient guy. I can wait until you...until things—”

  “Oh, you horribly perfect man.” She leaned down and kissed him, her lips lingering against his.

  He pushed her away enough to say, “‘Horribly perfect,’ I think I like that.”

  She kissed him again, loving it when he layered his lips between hers again. Reaching her tongue out, she touched his bottom lip. He groaned and opened to her. He seemed tentative, a tad unsure. She understood why, but she didn’t know how to tell him that something in her back had hurt so badly that she’d wanted to rip his clothes off and hers and have her way with him. It would be one thing to simply want him, but that ache in her back...it had been odd, she knew. So she’d keep that to herself.

  Their tongues touched, retreated, touched. He channeled his fingers through her hair, pulling her a little deeper into the kiss. Their breathing accelerated. She plunged her tongue into his mouth. The fingers around her hip tightened even more, pulling her farther down his body, but then stopping.

  He pushed her away gently. “Maybe we should, ah, have dinner?”

  “Or we could keep kissing.”

  He smiled. “Or we could keep kissing inside.”

  “Oh, yeah.” She glanced up. “Gus is tired of the show anyway.” The black Pegasus had moved on from the bucket of oats to a patch of green grass under a new oak.

  They helped each other up, smiling. He wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked toward the house.

  “What does Madde think about you being able to touch me?”

  She bit her lip. “I haven’t told her yet.” Oh, there were so many secrets she hadn’t told her sister.

  Everything with Aaron felt...magical. Which might have been an odd choice of words, considering he was human. But he couldn’t have been more perfect for her if she had set about trying to create a man herself. They ne
ver seemed to run out of things to say to each other, never seemed to tire of the game of guessing favorite music and books and foods, and the lightning-bolt attraction wasn’t one-sided. He felt it too. She hoped. Oh, he had to feel a fraction of what she felt, right?

  And because everything with Aaron was so magical, so new, she wanted to hide it from everyone, even Madde. It was far too fragile a thing, this newness of feelings and being able to touch a man, to share with anyone outside of herself. Well, Gus knew, but he was a closed-mouth kind of horse. Not that horses could talk. At least, none that she knew of.

  So, she’d decided not to tell Madde her secret that she could touch Aaron. When Madde had arrived home late last night, with a small smile on her face for once, Adala just smiled herself.

  Maybe someday soon she’d tell her sister. Maybe.

  But for now, Aaron was all hers.

  They made it inside, and she turned immediately and sought his lips. He chuckled when she wrapped her arms around his neck as he closed the glass sliding door, but he kissed her back right away. Their lips collided and fell away, collided and fell away. Again and again, until she slid her tongue in his mouth.

  He wrapped his arms around her, holding her so tight he lifted her off the ground as he walked through the kitchen and into the living area. She liked feeling her feet dangle in the air. It reminded her of flying. Kissing Aaron was as good as flying. No, it was slightly better.

  Especially when he placed her back down on the ground, one of his hands roaming up and holding onto the nape of her neck to angle her head for a deeper kiss. His tongue was in her mouth as he pressed his body into hers again.

  She sucked in a breath when she felt him harden against her stomach. She mewled, so happy. Feeling the difference between their bodies was one of the most beautiful experiences. Yesterday, when that part of him had changed, just a little, becoming more noticeable, she’d loved it. And that’s when the ache between her shoulders had begun.

  As it did now.

  It was so odd, to feel the vibration down her spine at the same time her breasts felt heavy, her nipples contracted, her inner thighs tingled, and her sex turned into liquid.

  Aaron kissed her cheek, all the way to her ear. “You smell so good.”

  “Not too much like Gus?”

  She felt him laugh but could hardly hear it. “Not at all like Gus.” He sucked on her lobe, and her knees almost buckled.

  She arched her neck, making it easier for him to get to, running her hands through his soft hair. “You smell so good too.”

  “Not too much like Gus either? He did clobber me before he got to the oats.”

  She smiled as he ran his tongue around the shell of her ear. “Not a trace of Gus on you.” She shuddered, her spine feeling as if he played her vertebrae like it was a xylophone. There was a vibrational resonance in her back from everything he did.

  He pulled her closer, although there was no more room between them. His chest pressed against her in a way that made her rub her nipples against him. He kissed down her neck, sucking a little of her skin into his mouth, making her bow her back in response.

  “Aaron...that’s...that’s...”

  “Good, honey?”

  “So good.”

  His cock hardened more, and the bones in her back felt like they snapped, like all her patience had run out. Her body ached for...she wasn’t sure what.

  She found his cheeks and pulled his face back to hers, pushing a forceful kiss on him, not quite aware of what she was doing. She felt so needy. With their tongues parrying, she explored down his chest with her spread-wide hands. He was warm. Hard. Unrelenting to her touch. His nipples contracted, and she liked the moan that came out of him as she slid a finger over one of the small nubs. That sound was almost a growl.

  She wondered if he was as needy as she.

  Honestly, she doubted it, because all she could think about was taking their clothes off and trying to figure out what to do after that. Granted, she knew what could happen after that, but her imagination got a tad hazy after the taking-each-other’s-clothes-off part. But that’s all she could think of.

  Her hands lowered as she pulled away from him to explore him more thoroughly. Her body mourned the loss of his, but her hands loved touching him as they kissed. His stomach contracted as she felt him. She liked it when he seemed to lose his breath as her fingertips reached his belly button. Untucking his simple light-blue T-shirt was a snap.

  Gliding her fingers under his shirt was like finding a treasure she’d had no idea she’d been searching for. So warm. His muscles again contracted as she felt his belly. There were ridges upon ridges. A strip of soft hair above his belly button. His breathing was getting faster and faster. Gods, she loved that.

  His length against her twitched, and she couldn’t resist. Reaching down, she cupped his hardness.

  This time, he really did growl and at the same time he shuddered. He clutched at her hand, pulling it away, then his whole body away.

  “You didn’t like that?” Her voice sounded odd. As she wondered what was wrong with it, the ache between her shoulders screamed in agony. From her skull to the base of her back, every single bone shook with the vibrational hum of need.

  “No, baby, I liked it,” he whispered in her ear, making her shudder and press her hardening nipples against him. “I liked it too much.”

  “I liked it so much.” She was shaking, trying to curb off this feeling in her back, trying to control herself. She reached for him again and moaned when his thick, rock-hard staff was in her palm. The bones in her back thudded in response, but her body’s need roared louder than her back. Her sex was slick and made slicker as she rubbed his cock.

  He rocked into her hand, but then blocked her again, forcing her hand onto his shoulder, pushing his body away.

  “Aaron...”

  “Too fast, honey.”

  “I don’t think I can slow down.” Her back was throbbing—the ache somewhere between pain and sexual need, her tremors probably noticeable to him. “I don’t want to slow down, Aaron.”

  He swallowed, but that’s all it took to convince him. He lunged for her lips, holding her in a tight embrace. Almost too tight. She couldn’t breathe, but it assuaged the gnawing-scratchy feeling in her back. Her body’s desire thrummed through her.

  Her T-shirt was already untucked, but it surprised her when she felt his warm hand on the flesh of her belly.

  “Oh.” She broke away from the kiss as his hand climbed. Arching her head back, she fluttered her lids closed as his thumb brushed the underside of her breast. “Yes.”

  He slid his palm all the way over her, cupping her, making her arch even more.

  “Aaron.”

  He massaged her, his thumb rubbing over her nipple. “No bra?”

  She could hardly think, but managed, “I’ve never needed one.”

  He growled again, the sound so satisfying as it rumbled down her aching spine. With one arm, he reached down and hefted her off the ground again, her feet dangling in the air, as he lifted her shirt. The invasion of his open-mouthed kiss on her nipple was something she never could have prepared for.

  She cried out as he kissed and suckled her. She wasn’t sure her body was her own, there were so many new aches and desires running through it, so many new sensations, like his warm wet mouth sucking her in. His mouth somehow played an invisible chord from her breast to her clitoris.

  “Oh, Aaron, Aaron, Aaron...”

  He licked around her areola and over her nipple, making her hips buck at him, wishing something was against her clit.

  He leaned away and looked up at her, gauging her, as if asking for permission to do something more.

  But then all the bones in her back thrummed, the feeling so strong and intense, she nearly screamed. She pushed away from him, falling to her feet, and looked at him as her back felt like someone was interiorly twisting it.

  Shaking, she took a few steps away from him. “I can’t.” Placing her hand
s on her knees, she shuttered her lids closed, trying to drown out the vibrational pull her back was creating.

  “...sorry. Jesus, are you okay? I’m so sorry, Adala.”

  She hadn’t heard some of what he’d said. The strumming in her back had been too loud, which didn’t make any sense, because it was a noiseless ache. Still, it was like a bomb had been detonated. Her hearing was off, her vision blurry. She was sweating, glancing up at Aaron.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, honey.” He was trying to touch her, console her, but she kept flinching away from him, the feeling in her back too strong.

  “It’s me. It’s me.” She tried to point at her chest but nearly lost her balance. “I just...I don’t feel well.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s because I’m human, isn’t it? Am I making you sick?”

  Adala knew that should be a consideration. She’d long heard the tales of human men making dísir sick or killing them from breaking their hearts. But when she looked at Aaron, she just couldn’t accept that could be why she felt so...weird.

  The thing was, she wasn’t sick. She felt...overwhelmed, but even that word wasn’t enough. It was powerful enough to make her feel horrible, and yet at the same time everything in her wanted his clothes off and hers too and to join with him. She couldn’t even guess what that might be like. Okay, well, she could guess, but she’d rather know.

  Licking her dry lips, she took a few more stumbling steps away from Aaron, her back hurting more and more. “I have to go.”

  “But, honey—”

  She stopped to look at him. “I want to figure out what’s—”

  “Wrong?”

  “That’s not the word I was going to use”—she screamed when he took a step nearer, stopping her from saying more. Her back throbbed as he got closer. She held a hand out, staying him. “I...I just need some time.”

  He nodded. “Anything, baby. Anything you need, I’ll give it to you.”

  She smiled as she tried to straighten and walk away from him, wanting him so much that her sex ached almost as much as her back. “Can I come back tomorrow?”

  “You sure you want to?” His voice was low, sad.