by Christi Snow
Oh God, had she done this? Did she disturb the balance of their world by crossing the Veil? She’d never considered there could be a cost for her manipulations of energy, but the coincidence seemed too strong to ignore.
Bethany gestured to Aaron and he laid out the security details for the next few days. First up they planned a class to refresh members of the village on their basic defensive and offensive fighting techniques. As this new world necessitated, they all had fighting skills, but few besides Warriors were regularly called upon to use them. Everyone in the village needed to attend and all available Warriors would be teaching.
Training and arming their citizens for battle against threats…this society was so different from the ES where no one was allowed to be armed, unless they were a soldier for the government. But even with the threat of violence, it still felt so much safer here.
When the meeting ended, Marcus touched her arm. “I need to talk to Aaron. Will you be okay for a couple of minutes?”
Lori nodded. This gave her a chance to really consider what Bethany had said. Had her opening that hole in the Veil caused a shift of something in the basic framework of nature? She’d never considered that by using her ability to change the molecular structure of things—even temporarily—could cause ripples of effect. That presented a sobering thought, especially since she hoped to cross it again within the next few days. The possible repercussions of that were frightening.
Marcus tilted her head up and brushed a light kiss across her lips. She hadn’t even heard him walk up. “You’re thinking too hard again.”
“Sorry, just thinking about what Bethany said. Do you think I did this by crossing the Veil?”
He frowned in thought. “I honestly don’t know, but regardless, I’m glad you did. I’m happy you’re here and wouldn’t change that for anything.”
She reached around and hugged him. “Thank you. I needed that.”
“Then we’re even because I need you, especially today. How good are you at manual labor?”
“Um, can I plead the fifth until I know more about what you’re talking about?”
“Sure, but that won’t get you out of the work. At least not for a few more hours. Come on, we have a job to do.”
* * *
Lori looked at the pile of lumber at the base of the tree and turned to give him the biggest smile he’d seen from her. “You’re going to build me stairs?”
“No, sweetheart, we’re going to build you stairs. This is a joint effort.” He pulled a pencil out of his pocket and started sketching on one of the boards. “The reason none of the houses have stairs to the ground is to keep the Predators out. Since we can all fly, there’s rarely been a need for stairs.” He looked at her sweetly. “Now we have a need.”
He’d been drawing the whole time he talked and she looked down to where he gestured. “With this design here, the stairs lift and lower through a system of pulleys. You’ll be able to pull them up from either the ground or the house, so that the Predators still can’t get in and you will have the freedom to come and go as you please.”
“I don’t understand how you all can live in structures without any stairs. Doesn’t anyone ever get hurt where they can’t fly?” she asked.
“Of course. Each village has homes on the ground. Usually those are built within a gated area so the Predators can’t get inside. For Springlake, ours are located within the farm complex which you haven’t seen yet. But our village is in the middle of the forest. It was simply easier for us to build the majority of the homes in the trees with just a few of them on the ground.”
She nodded. That made sense. “If I bring the Others back here, would we be allowed to live in one or two of those homes, do you think?” Please, say yes. She didn’t know how they’d survive if they had to stay in the ES or fend for themselves against the frightening Predators.
“Of course. Bethany is incredibly generous and welcoming. I think you’ll find her at the forefront of the building committee swinging a hammer to add stairs to a lot of our dwellings. Just give us time to figure it all out. No one is going to turn you and your friends away, I promise.”
She looked at him with wonder and more than a little bit of overwhelming gratitude. “Thank you, Marcus, this is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
The truth he could see in her face over that statement broke his heart. She deserved to have the world at her feet spoiling her. Up to this point, her life hadn’t been easy. He planned to change that.
“So now the question is…” He handed her a hammer. “Just how good are you with tools?”
“I probably can hold my own.” She gave him a saucy grin and cocked her hip. “But this does bring to question…” Gesturing down to the fairly technical drawing he’d done, she asked, “Just how did you learn to do all this?”
He tugged her forward and then looked around like he was looking for others who might overhear this deep dark secret. Leaning down, he brushed the wisps of hair off her neck and whispered into her ear. “I don’t know if you noticed the overflowing bookcases in my house.” He quirked an eyebrow at her in question.
She nodded. “I did notice them.” And she admired the fact because she’d always been a book hoarder, too. In her estimation a big library was right up there with someone who sheltered animals. It was just one more little thing to tell her that this person was trustworthy. She should have remembered that when Teddy had neither pets nor books.
“Well, you see…” He glanced around surreptitiously. “I like to read. A lot. Any book I can find. After the Veil fell and we had to figure out how to do things for ourselves, I devoured books on everything that might help us, but my favorites involved construction and carpentry. A lot of the houses in Springlake are my design. Everything I know, I learned from a book, but shhh.” He held a finger up to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone my secret or else everyone will know how to do it all, too.”
She giggled. “I think your status within the community is secure.” Was this guy too good to be true?
* * *
Three hours and about thirty steps later, Marcus decided that Lori looked too damn good with a hammer. As he worked perched below her, he watched her delectable ass sway in time with the swing of her hammer. His cock throbbed, and honestly, he could probably hammer a few nails with it right now, too.
The stairs weren’t quite done. They’d still need a couple more hours to work in the morning, but now they needed to quit, since it was dusk. He laid down his tools and eyed that ass one more time. He growled low as he swooped in to pick her up.
Lori screamed in surprise, but then laughed as he hugged her tighter to his chest. “What the hell are you doing?” She tried to sound offended, but the buoyant laughter ruined the effect.
“It’s time to quit.”
“But we aren’t done, yet.”
“We’re done for today. I have other needs for you to attend to for the rest of the day.”
“Oh you do, do you?” Her voice took on a sultry edge that made him want to throw her down right here on the steps and devour her.
He leaned down to kiss her as he flew up into the sky. She’d become more comfortable with his ability to hold her and she immediately twisted around until she had her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. The pressure at his groin proved both glorious and torturous. But if he was going to die, this topped the list of the ways he’d choose to go.
He groaned as he threaded the fingers of one hand through her hair and used the other to hold her ass and push her even harder against the throbbing part of him. The feel of her heat shredded at his self-control. The temptation to unzip and bury his cock within her right here, right now, became almost impossible to resist. It occurred to him that he might want to land before he lost total control and flew them into a tree.
He set her down outside the door to the bathroom. She looked at him with a question in her eyes.
“I’ve been working all day,” he told her. “I think a shower ma
y be in order for both of us.”
“Are you saying I stink?” She raised an eyebrow.
“No, I’m saying I do, but I’m not willing to let you go while I get clean, so you get to shower with me.”
“Hmm, I do like the sound of that.” She plastered herself against his chest and groin.
Damn, he wouldn’t last if she kept that up.
He stripped off her T-shirt and quickly set about applying the waterproof bandages to her sutures that Malcolm had left with them. And if that brought his hands into close proximity to her delectable breast, well, never let it be said that he didn’t take advantage of an opportunity when he saw it. By the time he’d finished bandaging her, her back was arched, her sighs were long, and her eyes were closed in ecstasy.
Next, she turned him around to apply the same ministrations to his back. She took the time to lave kisses along his spine above and below the wound which provided the slightest mix of pleasure and pain and sent ripples of sensation down the length of his hard cock. He reached down to adjust where his jeans constricted him.
Slowly she unbuttoned the top of his jeans, her breath heavy on his back where her face pressed with alternating nips and kisses along his spine. The suspense of the moment tortured him. His zipper slid prong by prong. Each little jolt sent a tiny thrill down the length of his shaft. Damn, she concocted the best sort of torture. He lowered his head against his chest and tried to control his ragged breathing. Finally, she reached the bottom of the zipper and his hard length sprang free from restriction. She immediately found his long cock and stroked it in her warm grip.
“Oh my.” Her exclamation brushed soft and breathy against his back and sent a shudder down the full, hard length of his cock. The slow strokes up and down didn’t help the matter either. “Going commando? I must say I approve…of everything I find here.”
He couldn’t stand it anymore. He swung around and commanded, “I need your pants off now.” This would be the shortest shower in history.
She saluted him, her eyes lighting up. “Yes, sir!” And before he knew it, she stood naked before him. He paused in sliding his jeans down his thighs and prayed for self-control.
Her breasts were high and round, although not overly large. They were the perfect size to fit into the palms of his hands. His grip flexed with the need to touch her. Her pink nipples were puckered with arousal, her breasts swaying in time with her panting breaths. She had curves, flared hips, and toned porcelain white thighs that met at the juncture of heaven. Even here, her hair sparkled with the mix of colors. Never had he seen a more perfectly gorgeous vision of femininity.
He could already feel the burning at the base of his spine, signaling an imminent eruption and he’d barely touched her yet. So not good. He closed his eyes to try to gain control, but unfortunately that meant he didn’t know Lori had moved until she touched him at the base of his balls. He hissed at the incredible sensation and tried to pull back the contractions of his orgasm even as he felt them burning up his length. He held onto control…barely. It had been too long since a woman had touched him.
He couldn’t hold back any longer. He shoved her up against the wall and reached down to hook her legs back around his waist. He reacted like a randy teenager, but he couldn’t seem to help it. He didn’t have any control around her.
Before he buried himself, he reached between them to make sure she was ready for him. Her folds were drenched with arousal. He teased lightly before plunging in two fingers. She felt so tight and wet and she contracted around his fingers at their touch. Thank Mother Earth, she was just as aroused as him. Her breathing hitched as she moaned out his name. He continued to caress and explore, paying special attention to her clit with his thumb. A tremor took hold of her and her hips moved in time to his fingers, pulsing around him in orgasm.
Just as her orgasm wound down he pushed into her. Her warmth surrounded him, caressing him tightly, her muscles quivering with the leftover tremors of her orgasm. Heaven. He stilled for a moment to let her adjust to his size, but she wanted none of that.
She tightened her thighs and arched against the wall, sliding up and down his length, once, twice, and then her sex began to pulse and tighten again as another orgasm overtook her. This time when she did, she tossed her head back with a silent cry of ecstasy and something reached out within her and connected with his mind. He heard her feminine cry of, “Mine.”
That was all it took. His restraint shattered and he could no longer control his actions. He thrust into her body and with each movement got closer and closer to ecstasy. When she started pulsing around him a third time, he jerked and his seed spilled into her moist heat. Over and over again his body shuddered as he groaned into the crook of her neck. The power of his orgasm rocked him and it was all he could do to keep his knees locked and not drop them both to the floor. Finally, his cock stilled although he remained hard within her. They both panted from their exertions.
Slowly he came back to himself. He kissed her softly at the edge of her brow before lifting her chin to gaze into her eyes. He spoke very softly. “You’re amazing. And I agree…you’re mine, too.”
He saw a flash of something in her eyes that unsettled him. Regret or guilt? Whatever it was, he didn’t like it. He kissed her and slowly lowered her legs from around his waist as he slid out of her. They both groaned at the loss, but Lori recovered first.
“I thought you promised me a shower,” she teased.
“I did and then I promise you a better performance than that.” He grimaced at her. It had been phenomenal, but entirely too fast.
“Better?” She sounded incredulous. “I don’t know if you missed it, but I had three orgasms. I don’t think it gets much better than that.”
He grinned at her. “You may be right there, but I think I can prove you wrong on that account. I’m thinking longer is going to be much,” he caressed the side of her neck with his tongue, “much better.”
She nodded. “Longer I can handle. I hope you took your vitamins today. I don’t plan on letting you sleep tonight.”
Damn, he was a lucky man.
* * *
Damn, she was a lucky woman. Watching Marcus’s back muscles shift as he swung his sword through the air sent tingles sizzling across her core. How her body had energy for anything more than luxuriating in the afterglow, she had no idea. Those places should be lying around and recovering after the marathon sex session from the night before. But as she watched Marcus’s amazing Warrior’s body flex in a mock battle against Griff, she could honestly swoon.
They were at the training field where the Warriors drilled with the men of the village. A wooden railed fence surrounded the area where the men drilled and the women were scattered along the rails. Brooklyn planned to work with the women for gender specific training, but that would have to wait until she got back from her trip with Garrison. For now, most the women of the village stood around enjoying the gorgeous view of the men in action. Not a single one of them would get much done today with all this glorious man flesh here to enjoy.
Lori’s gaze kept drifting to Marcus. The night before was everything she’d known it would be and so much more than she’d expected.
Her heart clenched at the thought of leaving him. This connection between them went beyond anything she’d ever expected. She didn’t want him to notice her distress.
Already this morning they seemed closer, more in tune with each other’s emotions. As they became closer physically, it seemed like their mental bond grew tighter, too. She couldn’t let him feel her upset.
Just as she had that thought, he glanced over at her in concern and Griff dealt him a brutal blow. She winced. She needed to work harder to hide those emotions from him, especially as she got closer to leaving.
She glanced up as Bethany slid in to stand at the rail beside her.
“Aw, I really do love training days.” Bethany murmured with her gaze on the men. “Definitely one of the best perks of my job.”
Bethany
wore another one of the wrap tops which seemed to be the preferred style for the winged women of the village. Today, the top was deep green, which emphasized the green tips of her wings. Her dark brown cargo pants and combat boots were a popular style among the Warriors, as was the sword in the middle of her back. Even in her battle gear, she still carried an elegant air about her.
Bethany gasped and Lori turned her attention back to the men. Aaron had just taken a hard right hook to his temple and seemed to be momentarily stunned. Bethany had a white-knuckled grip on the railing while she watched Aaron recover his wits.
When she noticed Lori’s attention, she shrugged. “I know they’re tough Warriors, but they’re also my friends. I worry they’ll get hurt. They seem so tough on the surface, but they’re human, too.” She glanced back over at Aaron as if to reassure herself that he truly was okay.
Hmm, interesting. Did they have more going on between the two of them than just work?
“Well, I have to say, they may be human, but I think they fall a bit more under the man-candy heading.” Lori nodded toward the groups of women all watching the men move around with longing. “I think they’d all agree.”
They both laughed together before they turned back toward the men. Marcus showed a group of male villagers how to hold their sword and swing effectively.
“So you don’t have anything like this in the ES?” Bethany asked.
“Definitely not.” Lori laughed. “Of course, the weather there isn’t as temperate, so even if we did, we’d never know. Unfortunately, our men wear shirts.” She shook her head in disgust. “It’s such an awful tradition…to wear a shirt. Believe me, you have it much better here.” Both women turned their attention back to all the shirtless men. Even the ones who weren’t Warriors were still extremely fit. Was that also a side-effect of the Veil—better overall physical health? Obviously all this natural living among the trees suited these people perfectly.