by Leela Ash
“While that is true, I do not have to be paid to deal with them.”
“I’m the opposite. I want to be paid to help people deal with her feelings. I think it’s one of the most important things anybody can do. And it is socially responsible as well. If you are having a hard time dealing with your self, how are you ever going to be able to deal with other people? It just makes the rest of the world suffer indirectly. It’s kind of selfish, honestly, not to let yourself feel things.”
Rhett was surprised by the depth and consideration of Mia’s worldview. This was something that many of his kind had understood innately. In fact, his kind are so good at emotions, at least in the context of his own society and people of his planet, that most of the time, everybody was able to feel what they felt without having to speak about them. They were the epitome of the strong, silent type, but that also meant that from an outsider’s point of view, speaking about emotions was typically not done. Not frowned upon, per se, but simply not needed. And the last thing that Rhett wanted to do was to listen to unnecessary human emotion when they could so easily be dealing with their issues on their own. In the safety and comfort of their own homes.
“I think that you are completely right about that,” Rhett said. “I think that you would do very well in that line of work, and I would love to see you succeed.”
“Oh, does that mean that you would be one of my clients? Are you going to sign up for some sessions?”
Rhett winked at her, both confused and amused by the statement. “I don’t think I want to be your client.”
“Oh, why not? Don’t trust me?”
“Oh, I trust you,” Rhett said, suddenly stopping in front of her. The dragon within him had suddenly awakened in a way that he had never experienced before. The incredible attraction he felt toward this woman was impossible to tame, and he fixed a smoldering look upon her. Why was it that this, of all things, had awakened the beast within him?
Mia gazed up at him, her eyes wide, and her heart thudding heavily in her chest. She seemed to know exactly what it meant that he had done this, and for some reason, he wasn’t surprised by her awareness. What was it about her that was so different from all the other humans that he had been interacting with? Why was it that they all seemed so oblivious, and yet this one was so weakened? She seemed to unconsciously be able to tap into things that were beyond normal human comprehension. How is that possible?
“What are you doing?” Mia asked, her voice just barely above a whisper. But it was clear that she knew exactly what he was doing, and she didn’t step away. She simply gripped her drink tighter, her eyes steady as she looked into his.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a very long time,” he said, his voice a low growl. “So, I’m going to do that now. Okay?”
Mia nodded dumbly, barely able to set her drink down on the counter before Rhett had his strong arms around her. She gasped softly, her heart pounding a mile a minute as the dragon began to take over. When their lips met, any reservations he had came crashing down and he no longer cared whether she was human or not. He just wanted her. Badly. He wanted her entirely. And with a passion unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
And it was clearly reciprocated. Rhett’s animal instinct sensed the same intense passion within Mia and he found it was nearly impossible for him to control himself now; especially knowing she felt the same way.
He ran his tongue sensually against hers, and she closed her eyes, shuddering as a jolt of desire pierced through her body; a desire that the dragon within him could sense and reciprocate.
He lifted her suddenly by the waist, and her desire turned to a longing that filled the entire room with its intensity. Mia cried out in surprise and pleasure as he sat her on the counter, prying her legs apart and pressing himself between them. The swollen urgency of his member brought a sharp gasp to her lips when she felt it, and he set to work kissing her tenderly on the nape of the neck as he began to roll his hips, holding back as much as he could as he gave himself a chance to truly appreciate her body.
Her body was responsive to his appreciation and the scent of Mia’s arousal nearly drove the dragon within him mad. In a passionate flurry, Rhett removed their clothes, pressing his body close against her in a loving embrace. He wanted so badly to protect this woman from all the world’s ills. Protect her from her own humanness. He wanted to make her his.
And more than that, she was ready for it. She wanted to be made his.
Without any further hesitation, he surrendered to his deepest longing and provided the aching need within him with the gratification of Mia’s heat. She shuddered in pleasure as he began to submerge himself within her, the sweet friction of their bodies bringing them both untold pleasure. He had never known that anything could feel this good and delighted in the rapture spreading across all of Mia’s features. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. And he was going to do everything in his power to create an equally beautiful experience for her.
Mia moaned deeply when Rhett slowed his hips to a stop as he hilted inside of her, and she swallowed hard, opening her eyes to hold his gaze briefly. Her eyes were heavy-lidded with desire, and the unspoken words were communicated to him then: “Take me.”
He didn’t hesitate and unleashed the fervor of his longing, pressing himself deep within her and surrendering to the power of the dragon within. Rhett’s powerful body drove into Mia again and again, each time bringing a soft gasp of pleasure to her lips as she was consumed by the fire of her longing. He wasn’t going to hold back.
Another gasp echoed through the cabin as Rhett began to move his hips eagerly, letting out a low growl as heat surrounded his member. He could feel a heavy pressure building up in his abdomen, causing him an incredible rush of adrenaline. God, she felt good. How had he been able to restrain himself for this long?
Every inch of him was consumed by Mia’s body and he showered her with kisses, dropping his lips over one of her breasts and tugging at her nipple gently with his teeth. Mia’s back arched and he felt the delicious friction of her body drag along his member. Both of them were deeply gratified by the act, and soon, she was beginning to tremble in his arms. She was close to her climax. He could feel it.
The urgency in her body brought him close to releasing his full power upon her, but he didn’t want to hurt her and used every last ounce of his self-control to hold back. Mia threw her head back in rapture, overwhelmed with pleasure as Rhett’s sculpted body brought her to the ceiling of her ecstasy. She began to shudder in his arms, closing her eyes as she was swept away by powerful jolts of pleasure.
Her body began to contract tightly around Rhett’s swollen muscle and he let out a low growl of approval. He was burning to release, and a hot wave of his longing erupted suddenly as Mia began her ascent to climax, enhancing her pleasure and bringing them both to the height of their bliss. He held her tightly by the waist, his hips pumping gently into her as they shared in their rapture. The heat of her body against his filling her brought them to the height of their desire. Mia’s arms wrapped tightly around him as they climaxed, and suddenly, a strange sense of peace pierced the room and Mia stared at Rhett, each of them at a loss for words but both thinking the same thing.
She was pregnant.
15.
Mia drove home quietly, her mind busy as she thought about the events of the night. What the hell had she been thinking going to Rhett’s cabin like this? Sure, she liked him, but she was vulnerable right now, wasn’t she? She had just been attacked. Why had she allowed this to happen?
She rested her hand lightly on her abdomen, wondering if what they had felt was true. Was it possible that she was with child now after that strange experience? And, if so, what was going to happen?
“How was your date, honey?” Mia’s mother asked when she came inside.
“Hey, mom. I didn’t expect you to wait up.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal. I just had a strange feeling tonight.”
“Yeah,
you get those a lot. Isn’t that strange? Most people aren’t very intuitive at all. But here we are, a family of fairly intuitive women. I wonder how that happened.”
Mia’s mother sat thoughtfully for a moment before smiling and speaking. “You know, there are some strange stories that my grandmother used to tell. Things we just assumed were rumors. Strange rumors.”
“What kind of strange rumors?” Mia asked, immediately burning with curiosity.
“You have heard about the shifters out west, haven’t you?”
“The shapeshifters?” Mia asked. “Yeah, I have heard of them. I did a lot of research at one point, thinking maybe I would go and see what all that was about. Why?”
“Well, my grandmother liked to say that, at one point, we have an ancestor distantly related to the shapeshifters out west. But, like I said, that’s all just a strange rumor. A lot of people think that she was a little bit off the wall. She was frequently ill. Mentally. She used to think that people were after her or something. But there was never any evidence stating that was the case.”
Mia sat up straight. “She thought people were after her?”
Mia was certainly beginning to suspect something like that to be happening to her and her daughter. Or if not to her daughter, at least to her. It felt like a lot of strange things happening at once. Could that possibly be related? Or had she just inherited her great-great-grandmothers mental illness?
“Yes, she was very paranoid about that sort of thing. Always saying she saw things lurking in the shadows. Nobody else ever saw them. She even claims one of her best friends disappeared once. She thought they took her. Everyone else just thought she was insane. Poor Gram. Her shapeshifter blood made her such a target, so she thought.”
“So, you mean my potentially crazy grandmother believed that we had some sort of shapeshifter blood in our family?”
“She swore that was where she got her intuition from. And that it was passed down through generations. Before the shapeshifters out west even appeared. But they are one and the same. From the same stock. The same type of magic. And apparently, according to her, anyway, that is part of our ancestors. Most people took it with a grain of salt, considering her tendency toward paranoia.”
“That’s not very fair, though. Can you imagine how invalidating that must have been for her? What if it’s true?”
Mia’s mother shrugged mysteriously. “It could very well be true for all we know. Nobody can really know except the people who experienced it. Some of the stories my grandmother told me, my mother used to pish-posh and tell me not to listen. She made her mother out to sound like a crazy person. But I always thought she was one of the most sane and rational people I had ever known. So, in my mind, there is a part of me that fully believes what my grandmother told me. She was one of my favorite people. I wish you could have met her.”
“I’m sure I have had a chance to meet some of her best qualities through you. Everything lives on in love,” Mia said, hugging her mother as thoughts of shifter blood ran through her head. What did that mean? Why did she feel as if she had just gotten a missing piece of the puzzle?
When they pulled apart from the hug, Mia’s mother looked at her with a strange expression on her face. “You look different to me somehow,” she said, narrowing her eyes and focusing on Mia’s face. “Are you all right? Do you feel okay? Did something bad happen to you?”
Thoughts of the attacks flashed quickly in her mind, but more acutely, the very sudden and very real possibility of a pregnancy occurring became first and foremost in her thoughts. What had she been thinking? Was she ready to have another baby? Let alone with a man like Rhett?
But what was really wrong with Rhett, other than the fact that he seemed a little bit strange and oblivious at times? She had found herself feeling deeply for him, despite her best intentions not to. In fact, it had felt almost as if their meeting had been kismet, in a way.
Her hand went to her abdomen again, involuntarily, before she turned her eyes back to her mother. “Actually, it was quite a long night.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” her mother said, voice laced with concern. “What happened, honey?”
Mia sighed and led her mother to the couch in the living room. “You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
The conversation lasted long into the night and ended with Mia’s mother guessing at what was really bothering her, more than the attacks, more than the random incidences that seemed to be plaguing Mia and her daughter.
“Honey, on your date tonight, well, how do I put this…? There’s something different about you. And not just because of what you went through being attacked. I can tell there’s something different. Just like I could tell when you were pregnant with Jewel.”
“You’re right, mom. And there’s something really strange going on. And I have a feeling it has everything to do with my pregnancy and the man who made me this way. I just wish I knew what was going on and how to put all of the pieces together.”
“Well, the answers may be closer than you think,” Mia’s mother said, patting her knee gently. “Don’t give up hope. Everything is going to turn out the way it was meant to be. Just wait and see. Don’t worry about a thing. Everything is going to be fine.”
Mia sighed to herself. Her mother always managed to make her feel better about things. And although everything seemed kind of bleak at the moment, she couldn’t help but feel a small surge of optimism. She had hurried away after the encounter, ashamed of herself, embarrassed, but more than anything, concerned and confused about what had just happened.
It had been far more intense than anything else she had ever experienced before. How was it possible that she could be pregnant so immediately and so acutely aware of it? Even Rhett had seemed to have some strange awareness of what had just transpired, and they had held each other’s gaze for quite a few moments afterward before she finally realized what was going on and panicked.
She had dressed quickly and driven back to her mother’s house as quickly as she possibly could manage it. But that didn’t take away the reality. Nothing ever would.
But what was the reality? Maybe she was just like her grandmother. Paranoid and a little bit out there. Maybe everything that was going on was going on in her head. Maybe there was really nothing to worry about after all.
But no, that couldn’t be true. She had seen, firsthand, the way Rhett had dealt with the man who had come after her. And she had seen the person in the parking lot coming after Jewel. She wanted nothing to do with whatever it was that was going on. And she had a strange sense about it that all of these events were somehow connected in a way that she couldn’t fathom yet.
But she knew she didn’t like it. Not one single little bit. How was she ever going to reconcile with herself the fact that she was leaving her daughter in danger by ignoring the realities and assuming that everything was all in her head? She would rather be called crazy and have her daughter safe and sound, even if that meant nothing was really going on.
The thing about it was, she knew something was going on, but she didn’t know what. But somehow, when she had seen the dragon statue in the cabin that night, she had gotten the strangest impression that Rhett would know what to do. He would know how to help them.
Not only was he offering them his cabin for safekeeping, but perhaps, there was more to it than that. Something going on below the surface that only a select few people would truly be able to understand. She wanted to be one of those people. Somehow, that didn’t seem possible. But maybe if she saw Rhett again, he would be able to tell her more about what was going on and how she could keep herself and her daughter safe. And, the new addition.
She rested her hand on her abdomen. Somebody else on the way. Somebody with tremendous power and potential for good. She had a similar feeling with Jewel but nothing quite this extraordinary. She had to talk to Rhett. As soon as possible. Why had she hurried away this way? Well, at any rate, it was too late now. She would just have to get s
ome sleep and try to figure everything out in the morning. There was nothing else left to it than that.
16.
“Rhett, where have you been, man?”
“Gavin, I need you to fix this. Like. Really fix this. I think something may have happened.”
“What?”
Rhett ignored the question and thrust the device at Gavin. “I haven’t been doing it right. It has been glitching. You know that you are better at things like this than I am, I don’t know why it has been my job to repair it when it is so much more important to have it functioning than to have it messing up. It nearly cost someone her life and I need you to make sure that it never happens again.”
“I can’t guarantee anything, Rhett, but I can try,” Gavin said, frowning as he picked the device up.
“You do that. And I need it done as soon as possible. Something really messed up is going on and I don’t know what. But there is almost certainly somebody in danger. Someone who means a good deal to me.”
“Someone…?”
Gavin was bewildered but intrigued and stood quickly to carry the device to his worktable. “Okay. We are going to try to get to the bottom of it. I can try to reset the device for now and hope that it manages to stay in good shape until a more permanent solution can be reached. But it will take a few hours.”
“All right, I guess. Just have it done by tomorrow. I really need to get to the bottom of this.”
“Is it something that we can help with?”
“I would really rather deal with this on my own,” Rhett said. He was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Gavin or anybody else sticking their noses in where it didn’t belong. What if they found out he had abandoned his duty and impregnated a human female? He would be banished from the group, forced to live out the rest of his life in exile even if their sacred task was completed and the descendants were all discovered and put to the task of procreating.