As he stands there, at least a foot taller than me, I lose my breath all together. Those glowing blue eyes burn brightly as they gaze upon me with something I’ve never witnessed. The stranger from the woods opens his mouth, struggling as hard as I am for air, but I suspect he isn’t out of breath. His extremely fit body tells me that. His eyes speak of a whole other kind of struggle. Desire. I can smell it—sense it—all over him.
“You have summoned me, Rose, but you are with another.” He stalks across the porch roof to my window as if he knows these steps well. I take a step back, not out of fear, but because my name on his tongue is an aphrodisiac, causing overwhelming emotions to erupt in my soul. The stranger from the woods must sense I’m not scared or doesn’t care because he doesn’t stop. He enters through my window, confidently barreling forward. Again, his deep voice resonates in my inner core. “Why, Rose?”
“I-I’m with no one.” I slowly back away until my bedroom wall won’t let me go any further. I realize I don’t want to move. His radiating heat only gets more stimulating the closer he gets to me, and within seconds, the stranger is so close his breath exhales across my face, smelling of honey and a luscious, natural scent I want all over me. His whole body smells as fresh as the woods I love.
His eyes never leave mine. “No one, Rose?”
My chest moves as though it may explode. My voice shakes. “You… I think I’m with you.”
His body leans to mine. “You are.”
Every second that passes is the most intense of my life. That means, within half a minute, I’ve experienced heaven. “You’re real.”
“I am.”
My eyes want to close so I can rejoice and bathe in his rich tones, but I’m afraid he might disappear. “I know you.”
His hand holds of the nape of my neck, fingers caressing my skin as his other hand cups my cheek. “You do.”
My eyes fill with needy tears, and my open lips search then brush against his rough, open palm and simply inhale the intense scent. When I gaze back at him, his face is almost touching mine.
His voice rumbles. “Gunner?”
He knows my world? “I don’t understand.”
A primal energy radiates off this man, demanding my attention. “The one you lay with.” I was sexually with Gunner once, and this stranger somehow knows it. After the way my body is reacting to his, I could never have sexual relations with anyone else again. The only answer I have is shaking my head no. His hold pulls me closer to his lips.
“I will not interfere if you are with him.”
Never had I wanted to taste lips before. “I-I’m not.”
Only once have I been near this man, but we seem to be completely enthralled with one another. Trying to understand the why of what is happening between us is like trying to reason with the unreasonable.
It is raw.
Real.
As we look into each other’s eyes, time suddenly becomes effortless. It’s like our bodies are communicating, becoming aligned in a form I have never heard of or witnessed before. Molecules sense and adjust to make room for the new. It feels as if we are bonding. Becoming one. A sensual sensation takes me over, drugging me. “What’s happening?”
His eyes close as he groans. “We’re finishing Linking.”
“W-What does that mean?” Of its own accord, my body leans toward his.
His fingers search my skin as his arm slowly circles around me, and his face leans down to mine. “It means our souls are connecting because they want to—they’re destined to.”
Parting my lips so we can join with our mouths also, I mumble, “What?” Then his words begin to finally sail past the fog consuming me and yank me from this dream state. “Wait. What?”
His eyes snap open with an appalled expression. “Rose, you do not want this?” I don’t even know what this is! The stranger pulls away from me, no longer in a primal state of mind. “I’m so sorry.”
Still trying to see straight, I jolt when his palms slam the wall, going straight through the sheetrock. His face contorts in pain while he grunts, pushing against the studs to get away from me. Veins bulge in his neck as he struggles to be set free. Whatever has ahold of him can’t be seen, but I sure as hell feel it because it has me in its grasp too. When his massive form clumsily steps backward, it causes me actual pain. My eyes close while I groan as if life is being ripped from my every cell. I’m in utter agony. “Now what’s happening?”
Opening my eyes, I see him still backing away, eyes clenched shut, teeth grinding. I step forward, but he quickly raises a hand. “Rose, stay there. It is me… trying to stop the Link. It’s too strong. I’m sorry… I-I have to go.”
Watching him retreat out my window causes me complete panic. It’s the last thing I want. “Wait!” I force my body forward, my legs so unsteady I fall into him. He absentmindedly catches me as if he doesn’t know how to let me tumble. Our bodies slide against each other, causing us to moan. This physical connection again only starts the humming inside my body again.
His hands tangle in my hair as if he wants me so dearly. But he stops himself, gently helping me to the floor, then struggles to get away again. “I must depart. My soul is demanding yours.”
I fight to get back to my feet, but he’s already through my open window. Almost completely hunched over, he stops on my roof. Simultaneously, we both fall to our knees, facing each other. How can needs bringing you unmercifully to your knees be so… desirable? I don’t know, but it’s all consuming. The stranger looks weak, torn, yet fulfilled. I understand. I feel the same.
Crawling on my hands and knees to him, I say, “Please, just—wait.” He collapses to a sitting position on the shingles, his arm exhaustedly hanging over the barrier into my room. I can’t reach his hand, but it doesn’t stop me from trying, hoping to keep him from leaving. “I’m not saying I don’t want what you’re speaking of, but I-I don’t even know what it is. I just need a minute to catch up.” At my window, I take a deep breath. “Can you understand that?”
His head wobbles in the attempts to nod. “Yes, of course.” His head rests, facing me, on his arm on my windowsill. I touch his hand. He hisses but doesn’t recoil or lift his head. “Rose, I can’t stop the Link if you touch me.”
Sitting tiredly with my legs under me, I let go. “Okay, but dear God, don’t leave me. I’m afraid it—it might kill me.”
The magical blue eyes shine. “I won’t ever leave you.”
A memory flashes. Then I repeat words—his words. “Just try to trust me.”
His jaw slackens for just a moment. “Even if you ask me to go, I will always be near, watching you. Lov—” He pauses. “It… would kill me, too.”
His words tear through protective barriers I have strategically placed around me. Except for Gunner, no one has passed those walls. Until now. “Okay, don’t go so we both… can live.”
My arm mirrors his on the windowsill, and my head lies there, facing his while we study each other. We both stay quiet for a while, staring and trying to compose ourselves. It’s quiet. No barking Sam, no Lulu and Wade fighting. I’m just with my stranger. His beautiful blue eyes are all I focus on, and soon, the pain subsides. My body begins to relax, becoming mine again. I didn’t know being on my own could feel so lonely, but once you experience partially joining another soul, you are irrevocably affected.
“I’m starting to feel better. Are you?” I’m surprised to already be concerned for his wellbeing.
“Yes, this separation—the wall—is helping. I’m sorry that I did not even ask. This is all new for me.” His delivery of words is different from the norm. Not a strong accent, just speaking with care and respect for each syllable, not modernized and lazy. And I can’t draw my eyes away from the most magnificent face I’ve ever seen. Rough, strong features portray a rustic lifestyle. Layers of experience
s shadow the face I could stare at for eternity. He’s pure man. Nothing appears gentle about him, but I can sense a tender side.
“Know how you feel.” I whisper a simple question, “Who are you?”
His other hand grabs his chest. “I don’t know how much you remember after all we’ve been through.” He stops himself. Then with conviction, as if none of that matters, he says, “Ryder, my name is Ryder.”
The person in front of me is recognized by my body, possibly even my soul, and now, I know his name. Ryder. “All we’ve been through?”
Ryder nods, not elaborating.
“But I only remember meeting you once.”
He observes me but doesn’t reply. Not sure if he’s too tired to answer or just not willing to share information, I try another question. “How well do I know you?”
This one gets a response. Ryder’s shoulders relax. “On a higher level, I believe, better than anyone.”
My insides smile because neither he nor his answer feels foreign to me. I’m sure he’s correct. Every intuition I possess tells me so. “How do I know you?”
“From visits we’ve shared.”
“Visits… You’re cautious when answering me, so you’re possibly limited on what you can say?”
He nods with a hint of a smile.
“Where are you from?”
Ryder regards the woods behind him then rests his head on his arm again.
“Other side of the mountain?”
No reply.
I believe I’m on a need-to-know basis. “Okay. Why the visits?”
No reply.
“You’re a tough one to have a conversation with.”
“I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.” He doesn’t sound facetious, just genuinely apologetic.
“Well, if you don’t want to inconvenience me, you must not want to hurt me?”
“Never will I hurt you. In fact, it is the exact opposite.”
“Opposite of hurting me,” I say in thought. “Oh, you protect me or something?”
One simple bow of his head with honest eyes tells me he takes protecting me very seriously.
“Why?”
No reply.
“From what?”
No reply.
“Why are your answers guarded?” He still volunteers nothing. “Will you answer my questions in time?”
“I-I have to be careful but, yes, I will answer what I can as soon as you feel ready.”
“I feel?”
Slight nod.
“Okay, how about this one, what is Linking?”
“Linking is the connection between two souls that are destined to be as one or, in some cases, have already been so and want to be again.”
“Is that real? Y-You, believe that?”
“Very real. I’ve seen it. And now I have felt it.”
“My dad—he’s gone. You think he’s… somewhere?”
Ryder’s expression gentles. “I do.”
“I had hoped, but now, I think I believe.”
I have to contain an audible gasp when he smiles. It completely softens his hardened face, his serious demeanor. Brows drawn together relax. Focused eyes look pleased and almost flirty.
“You told me the answer because you felt I could handle it?”
“Yes.”
I inhale deeply, trying to minimize the hundred-and-one questions I have. “You said, finish Linking. Had we already started?”
Another nod.
“When?”
“I’m not certain.”
“Was that a vague or honest answer?”
“Can you feel that answer?”
A sensation in my gut makes me aware of an instinct aligning itself—slipping into place—with a knowing on a much deeper level. “You’re being honest. Hey, your eyes, they’re becoming more normal.” I get excited and apparently ahead of myself. “Am I ready to know why they change and looked so different?” He smirks. I know what that means and answer myself. “No.” Not wanting to spook him into a retreat because of our Q and A, I throw out an awkward, random comment. “Well, you have a great smile.”
His head rises. “I do? I’ve never heard this before.”
“Ryder, do you live with blind people?”
His head goes back down.
“Why do you keep smiling?”
“You said my name.”
Our so-called visits completely puzzle me. “Is the Linking process why I can hear you? I can, right? That was you?”
His eyes widen, but he quickly masks it. “What is it that you hear, Rose?”
“Maybe the word hear is wrong. It’s more like feeling, which seems to be something you relate to, but the interpretation is so clear it sounds like words to my heart. Like now, I feel as though I don’t need to ask as many questions as someone else would if they were to have a protector—stranger in the woods dude. I feel I believe you before you speak. Either that makes me foolish or very aware.” I pause for a moment. “And now, I can feel your tension subside.”
Ryder studies me. His eyes are a normal blue. That is, as normal as fantastic, bright-sky-blue eyes can be. “Yes, my tension is subsiding. Hearing you speak like this is relaxing to me. I’ve waited so long. And yes, it is me you feel. I did not know you heard me. I reached out to you after—after, I was hurt.” He pulls out a scarf of mine with new, darkened blue stains. “I had to take this from you to—”
Ryder’s past words glide through my mind, “No. Rose, please. They will see you… You’re not supposed to be here.” I touch my chest, in awe of the memory. “To protect me… That night.”
“Yes.”
My mind keeps searching for intel. I remember, “I won’t leave you.” That has me thinking of the message in the wind, “I need you.” Strong emotions flood me like a tidal wave. Anxiously, I tell him, “I can’t remember what you were protecting me from. All I can remember is, the next day, this hurt.” I pat on my chest as the memory of pain takes hold of me again. “I heard you. I-I felt you hurt.”
The weathered hand I want to hold delicately pushes hair from my face. It’s a simple gesture, but it steals a little piece of the woman in me. “Yes, but I was not speaking of my injuries. I was speaking of my heart.”
An unexpected relief flows through me at hearing my mystery man has been possibly pining over me and that I’m not alone in this. My eyes well with emotions from the day in the woods when I heard his silent message. “I wanted to find you so badly. I thought I was going mad.” His fingers on my face are so affectionate I can’t hold back tears. “Y-You can touch me now?”
“Yes, I am in control again.” He wipes a tear from my cheek, looking at me with sincere empathy. “It was torture staying away from you, but I thought it was best.”
“Why? Why not come to me sooner?”
“Because of who you were with, who I am, and who you are.” He appears serious again as he withdraws his hand from my face.
I sniffle through a timid panic. “What does that mean?”
“As much as I want you, I had hoped for you not to be dragged into my world.”
“Th-That sounds like a cop out. I’m in this world.”
“Rose—”
“My heart has been begging for you. There’s nothing you could say that could change—”
“We are of a different species.”
I stare at him for a moment, trying to comprehend words I didn’t expect. My ears ring as my mind spins out of control. I sit up, nervously shaking my head in denial. “No… please don’t say that.”
He rests his chin on his arm. Ryder’s tone is calm, maybe trying to be soothing for me. “You can do this, Rose. I believe in you, your strength.”
I try to believe in me as
much as he seems to, but, but… “Species?”
He nods.
“W-What are you?”
Ryder hesitantly sits up straighter, looking toward the woods. “Part of an Elven race.”
My mouth opens. My mouth shuts with a quizzical wince. “Elven?”
Ryder only inhales, observing me.
Looking at the beautiful creature before me, I’m stunned. He is tall with broad shoulders, no pointy ears or green ivy covering his body. Nothing’s saying, “Mystical creature of the forest.” As if reading my mind, he suddenly flashes me his brilliant, iridescent eyes. I blow out air, trying not to hyperventilate. “You’re an elf?”
He cracks a half smile. “Not so scary?”
I can feel my face scrunching up. “How… Elfy are we talking here?”
“I am in tune with nature, and I rarely eat meat—except fish. I need it. Other than that Rose, I am like nothing you’ve ever seen or heard of before.”
All of a sudden, the fact that he is a foreign being becomes crystal clear. His size and evident strength unnerve me. I’m more than confident he could snap me in two if he chooses to. I wonder if the slightly barbaric shaven sides of his head speak of his talent with the knives strapped to him. Doubt is taking over as I realize how incredibly naive I am, and how letting my heart control my actions is possibly hazardous. Then I remember. “You bit me.”
Ryder cringes, watching me reach for my neck. He appears wounded when I slowly retract my arms for more distance between us. His eyes close, and I instantly feel as if I have betrayed someone who would sacrifice much for me, but I am also struggling with shock. The fighter in me insists on putting myself first.
Rain (Stranger in the Woods Book 1) Page 13