They immediately collapsed onto the bed, as the plane started to go through some mild turbulence. Ted looked over to Diana and their eyes met in a loving gaze.
“Well, are you ready to do this Mrs. Diana Wilkins?” Diana squeezed his hand and nodded. Tears welled up in both of their eyes as their lips locked and their hearts became one.
THE END
Desired by the Wolves
Vanessa stifled a yawn as she sat through one of John’s lectures. She wanted to take interest in John’s line of teaching, in fact John had insisted that she accompany him to his college classes, but she just couldn’t make herself interested in archaeology. Vanessa looked at John; he was in his late 40s, with a tall, lean figure and a head of ash colored hair peppered with whites here and there. His sharp features were partially softened by his hair and his rounded glasses. Vanessa gave a look around the class and she saw that the majority of the students were girls and she was sure at least a handful of them had a crush on him.
Vanessa and John had been engaged to be married recently and before that had been dating for about two years. They had met each other at a common friend’s party and had hit it off immediately. Although there was an age gap of more than 20 years between them, they got on like a house on fire. They both loved reading, their taste in movies was also similar and both appreciated art. Though John could definitely be the winner in the ‘forgetful professor’ category, Vanessa felt he made it up for it with his warmth and true love for her. Vanessa loved him a lot too. She felt wanted and protected, but as of late felt that maybe there was one thing that lacked between them. They had regular sex and enjoyed each other’s company, but Vanessa felt they just didn’t have that spark. She wondered if that could be a problem later on, but on the other hand she could not think of a world without John.
Vanessa was 26 years old but she looked a little bit older. She had flowing brown hair that reached to her waist and it was set off by her unconventionally deep blue eyes with thick black lashes. Her round face was accentuated by the perfectly flawless skin and dark pink, full lips. She didn’t need much make up, she looked stunning the way she was. But in spite of her stunning face, what most men noticed about her first was her figure; it was equally stunning if not more. Many girls her age and many of her friends would get annoyed at this unwanted attention, but Vanessa was not one of them. She took it in good spirit, as show of admiration. She was proud of her body, she often admired herself in the mirror, she was not one of those girls that was continually fretting over an increasing waistline, and she liked that about herself. She liked the fact that she was heavy breasted and she had a bottom to match it. It was sort of a family thing for Vanessa and she always knew she was going to grow into a full woman. “No matter what they say, remember men always like full women” is what her grandmother used to say and Vanessa knew it was true. She knew that even though her beauty was something that caught everyone’s attention, it was always her body that was the final winner.
Vanessa also had a voracious sexual appetite and each sexual experience for her was a kind of awakening inside her. She just didn’t enjoy sex; she liked being worshipped during the act. She liked it when someone gave full attention to her whole body, when every nook and corner of her body was explored. She liked the experience to last for a long time. For each sexual experience she felt as if she was offering her body to another person and she wanted the person to make complete use of it.
When Vanessa met John, the first few months were the best time in her life when it came to sex. What Vanessa liked most about John was that he gave attention to every part of her body and could make any touch feel seductive. Vanessa felt he knew how to really enjoy sex and he gave the attention to her assets that they deserved, which always got her immensely aroused.
It was not like they didn’t enjoy sex anymore with each other, not at all, but Vanessa felt that maybe they needed to explore other options and avenues, but John was not adventurous in that way. It made Vanessa wonder what else could be done to get the fire back between them; maybe it needed a change of scene for sometime thought Vanessa. So when the archeological trip to the Amazonian jungle to be headed by John was announced, Vanessa immediately made sure she was going to accompany John on the trip.
It was not easy to convince him though, as John was reluctant to take Vanessa on a trip that would have a considerable period of time where they would not be in touch with civilization.
“You know, it will mostly be my colleagues and you know how boring they are right?” he said.
“Who cares about your colleagues,” Vanessa said. She knew most of them and whenever they had met at a party or elsewhere she didn’t have much to talk about with them after the first hellos. They were dedicated to their field of study to the extent that they didn’t have any interest in anything else. So even though Vanessa tried to strike up conversations, her initial attempts usually fell flat.
“Really? You are the one who hates going to those parties and now you are ready to spend more than one whole month with them on a barge with no other person outside the circle to interact with?” John asked in a doubting tone.
“I will have you, won’t I?” Vanessa wrapped her arms around John’s neck sensuously and moved closer to him.
“Vanessa, I will be honest with you. Most likely I won’t have much time to spend with you because I’ll be busy with visiting sites and collecting data.”
“John, I will be happy just to be with you, it will be a change for both of us and it’ll be a unique way to see a new country” John didn’t have much of a defense against this reasoning, and wrapped his arms around her as well, kissing her lightly on the forehead.
******
The preparation for the journey had begun; some of the supplies had to be taken with them and the rest would be sourced from Manaus where they would fly down and start their journey on the river. The aim was to travel along the path of the river and explore the remains of ancient civilizations and study their effects on the modern age. John had been trying to get a grant for this expedition for a long time, this was his dream project and he planned to present a paper at the World Archaeological Conference later that year based on the expedition.
John’s aim was to prepare himself for an educational journey so that he could gather as much information as needed. But Vanessa was more interested about the place, the people, the culture - she felt really excited. For her it was going to be a very different kind of an experience, she wanted to learn new things and new ways. The trip held a lot of promise for her, especially because this was going to be the first time she was traveling abroad.
When they landed in Manaus, what shocked Vanessa the most was the weather. It was damp and heavy and humid and all Vanessa wanted to do was to get out all of the layers of clothing she had put on for the flight. John had warned her that the trip on the Amazon was going to be a very humid, plus that there would be mosquitoes and other tropical insects and animals. But Vanessa was adamant; she wouldn’t let these flimsy details get in the way of her experiencing new things. A day of rest in Manaus and then getting all the supplies together took them another two days and then they were ready to travel by boat on the Amazon.
They had hired a medium sized passenger boat with two decks; the lower deck was divided into the living quarters which included two cabins and the rest of the quarter for cargo. The upper deck was divided into the covered portion where most of the workers slept in their hammocks and the uncovered portion that could be used for multipurpose use, either as a viewing deck, or dining room or even studying area. The kitchen where the food was to be prepared was also located in the lower deck. The cabins were simple and sparse with one big bed with a bed stand and a noisy air-conditioner. There was a big window in each of the cabins.
When Elizabeth saw the living arrangements she was quite pleased even though John had worried that she would be fussing. That’s all she needed, she thought. She prepared herself for a wonderful two months ride in absolute
peace enjoying the tropical climate and its food.
Soon they started on the journey and the first few days went by with just adjusting to life on the boat, but Vanessa didn’t mind. Most of her days were spent viewing the daily village life of the inhabitants of the villages they passed before moving into more dense forest that did not have any civilization. John was already engrossed in his studies with his colleagues and couldn’t give Vanessa any attention at all, but Vanessa didn’t mind. She did start missing having sex though, as John was so engrossed in his studies he seemed to have forgotten all about any sort of carnal desires. Vanessa on the other hand always felt aroused and it increased every day; all day long the only thing she could seem to think about was sex. Somehow the climate and the weather contributed to it, she just could not take her mind off it. She started fantasizing all day and involved almost anyone she laid her eyes on. She felt ashamed of herself and her feelings, but she couldn’t help it. Her desires were strong and she felt completely unfulfilled by John. What was the change that was coming over her, she wondered? Was she the only one to feel like this or was everyone feeling that way? But John was quite cool and concentrated on his studies and his colleagues too were equally engrossed. Was it because she was not doing anything substantial all day, was it because she was sitting idle? Vanessa thought she would keep herself busy to stop this torment. She started assisting the cook in the kitchen from that day onwards. The cook was an old Indian woman but she had lots of tales to tell Vanessa about several legends that were a part of local history and Vanessa found some respite from her lustful thoughts.
*****
It had been two weeks on the boat by now and they had entered a deep part of the Amazon basin, where there were little to no human civilization within hundreds of miles around them. In fact, the only inhabitants were indigenous tribes and the untamed wild animals of the Amazon basin. The boat moved at a slow pace over the river and the river water lapping against the boat seemed to be the only sound amidst the silence around them. It was amazing and it gave Vanessa the feeling that they were being watched from all sides. It was creepy, but thrilling all at the same time.
On the 17th day of their journey, Vanessa woke up in the morning to find the boat docked on the bank of the river. She wondered what was happening and was told that John had taken his colleagues ashore to explore the area. Archaeological proof suggested that this point used to be the point of origin of a very old civilization of the Amazon basin, which was now extinct. Vanessa felt disappointed that John had not taken her along and nor had he mentioned anything about it. She was determined to have a look at the locality herself and moreover she felt she needed some exercise, having been cramped up in the boat with movement limited to walking up and down the deck of the boat.
Chochmo, the cook, was horrified when she told her of her plan and warned her, “Madam, the jungle has many dangers, some you see, some you don’t see. It is not wise to go alone.”
But Vanessa was determined “Oh, I won’t venture very far. I will be within shouting distance, I promise, and if I sense any danger I will shout for help. You will hear me won’t you?”
Chochmo didn’t sound too convinced or very pleased so she gave Vanessa her very own traditional dagger to take along “This will keep you safe, use it only as a last resort!”
Vanessa thanked Chochmo for her kindness and went ashore. As a precaution she had worn a full sleeved shirt and full pants with boots. She took a heavy stick along just in case she needed to clear her path. But she found the path cleared already as she walked into the jungle “It must be the path John has taken” she thought. She followed the path up to a point from where the path had divided into two narrow ways. Both seemed to be treaded upon with one that seemed to have been less used. She was not sure what prompted her, but against her better judgment Vanessa took the path that was less walked upon. It was as if the path was calling out to her and she had to answer the call.
Vanessa was glad that she was wearing boots. The path had low bushes on its edges that could have scratched her otherwise. As she walked along, the jungle became a little thicker than how it was when she started, and the light that filtered in through the trees was becoming much more obstructed. The part that seemed strangest to Vanessa though was how the jungle that surrounded her was completely quiet. When she had started walking, there were birds and occasional monkeys that she could see and hear, but here nothing called and nothing moved, not even the leaves of the trees. Vanessa suddenly realized that she had walked a long time and must have left the river well behind her. She stopped and looked behind and could still see the path that she had taken. She wondered if it was probably a good idea at this point if she turned around and went back to the boat, but there was a stronger pull from ahead of her and she decided to follow that. After walking a good distance, Vanessa thought she saw a kind of clearing ahead of her. She went up close to the clearing and moved some of the bushes out of her way to see some old ruins. The place seemed to not have been accessed for some time and the growth of the bushes there were quite dense. Vanessa had to use her dagger to cut through the vegetation and when she finally emerged on the other side she saw that the ruins looked like an ancient temple or a worship place of some kind.
Vanessa felt thrilled, “John would be so excited to see this” she thought.
“Did John know at all about these ruins? It would be good if he was here, he could at least fill me with all the details!” she thought. Wasting no more time Vanessa walked up to the ruin. The structure was made of huge blocks of stone and the whole body of the structure was covered with vines and ivy. The growth was so thick that Vanessa could not see anything beyond the vines, so she took her dagger and started cutting them off. The place seemed to have been abandoned for a long time and the vines had grown strong. It took Vanessa close to an hour to clear up the vines at least partially.
When she finally cleared some of the vines away she knew her hard work was worth it; the sight that lay in front of her gave her goose bumps. The temple had a main entrance which went in quite deep and on both sides of the entrance stood two huge statues of two beasts, or were they human? The creatures were at least seven feet tall and very muscular and though they resembled a human being slightly, their physical features were like wolves. The upper part of the torso was human in form, but the lower part of the body was wolf like, complete with a long tail. Apart from a small loin cloth, they were not wearing anything at all. The expressions on their faces were fearsome, with eyes that looked angry and the mouth open to show two ferocious fangs. Everything about the two statues was similar except the weapons they were carrying. One of them carried a spear by which it covered half the entrance to the temple and the other one carried a sickle which was held in a way to create a cross with the spear thereby closing the way to the entrance. Even though it was possible to duck beneath and enter the temple, Vanessa wondered why the obstruction was made in the first place.
Vanessa wondered if it would be right for her to enter the temple, or should she go back and get John to accompany her. Anyway, she didn’t have a light with her and it might be unsafe to enter a temple that hasn’t been used for so long and could be home to poisonous snakes. But something inside her was not ready to listen to reason, so she ducked down under the spear sickle and went near the entrance. All of a sudden, she heard something click somewhere, as if it was some kind of a lever. She turned around and saw that the weapons that were held across the way to the entrance had moved away. Vanessa’s heart started beating faster, what had she unlocked? She just didn’t have the courage to venture any further; somehow she felt as if there was something or someone that was watching her. The feeling came on suddenly and the realization that she was at least a few kilometers away from help scared her. She thought she saw something move in the bushes ahead of her, although she couldn’t see anything. And Vanessa didn’t lose a second, she started walking away from the temple back onto the path on which she came, as she walked she felt as
if she was being followed. She started walking faster but her nerves gave in and she broke into a run. The path seemed endless and when at last Vanessa saw the boat docked on the river shore she breathed deeply with relief.
John and his colleagues had all returned from their trip a long time ago and were worried about Vanessa and were about to go out to search for her. John was extremely angry and upset with her irresponsible behavior. Vanessa apologized profusely and promised them she would never do something so risky again and the matter was laid to rest.
That night Vanessa went to bed quite early, John and his colleagues were going to work all night on the top deck, so Vanessa took a book to bed. The movement of the boat on the gentle waters lulled Vanessa, and she was soon in a state where she was half awake and half asleep. The generous light from the full moon streamed into the room and the intermittent hoots from owls and the sound of fluttering wings of some bird caught off-guard were the only sounds in the night. Suddenly Vanessa felt her room being invaded by the sweetest, most intoxicating smell ever. She didn’t know what it was, whether it was from a flower, and if it was, it was completely unknown to her. But the smell was a weird mix of gentleness and raw power and Vanessa felt herself being completely overtaken by it. She felt powerless, as if all her faculties were taken over, she was completely and helplessly in its grip. Everything seemed dreamlike to Vanessa, nothing was real except the smell. She felt that she was no longer in her cabin on the boat, but was in some other place, dark and cold. Then shattering this serenity and piercing the darkness came the most evil sounds that Vanessa had ever heard. At first, in her drowsy state, Vanessa could not make out what the sounds belonged to, but slowly she understood they were the sounds of howling wolves.
ROMANCE: CLEAN ROMANCE: Summer Splash! (Sweet Inspirational Contemporary Romance) (New Adult Clean Fantasy Short Stories) Page 11