Talon

by Savannah Rylan

  “Guys, I know where you stand on this, and you know where I stand. There has to be a way that we can reach some sort of a compromise that will work for everybody.”

  Maricle and the others whispered amongst themselves a moment, and then Maricle asked Cort what he had in mind.

  But the truth was he didn’t know.

  His mind was too focused on a girl.

  CHAPTER 9

  Teagan

  “You are holding onto too many thoughts, too much negativity. You must let go of all the things in this world that would bring you down. Embrace the light that surrounds your very life force.”

  Teagan held the stretch, moving deeper into the movement, her body crying out resisting the change. But she was the master of her body, not the other way around. She would tell it what she required, and she would allow her inner strength to grow and blossom as Siri’s words cut through her thoughts. His voice was so light but so powerful. It was almost like some higher being whispering into her mind and bypassing her earthly ears. It was speaking directly to her soul.

  She was vaguely aware that he was right beside her now watching her every move. His hands were on her lower back suddenly as she glided her body forward and deeper yet into the movement. Her muscles were screaming out for relief, but he was not going to allow her any such relaxation.

  After about thirty seconds she was grateful for the help. Her body began to shift and move much more freely as she leaned down farther to the ground, still keeping her feet planted firmly to root herself, to anchor her body and soul into Mother Earth.

  “That’s it…” Siri’s voice was almost right beside her ear now. “Use the pain. That is just the outpouring of negativity from the world around you as it is replaced with all of the light from the universe filtering in.”

  From the moment that she met Siri, she was completely enchanted with him. She’d dreamt of the time for so long that when it was actually happening she was almost frozen stiff with awe and envy. But now that she’d been working with him she had been able to focus her mind on the fact that she was totally star struck and just concentrate on his teachings. She was already learning so much from him to make all of this worthwhile.

  But she would have been lying if she told herself or anyone else that she was not distracted. She knew she was capable of performing better Yoga, but her mind was very distracted.

  She could not stop thinking about Cort. Every movement she was making with her body reminded her of the way he touched her, of the bliss he made her feel as he made love to her. If one could call, it making love. It was raw, full of emotion, frenzied, and it made her feel in touch with a primal nature of hers that she had never really known existed.

  And she ached for his hands to touch her again.

  As Siri’s hands glided over her body gently to correct her positioning she thought about Cort and the way he would touch her. His hands were so strong, so safe, and so full of light. He was the kind of man that she had dreamt of meeting.

  And she let him go. It was the stupidest thing she’d ever done, and she hoped that she didn’t have to pay for it too long. Maybe after the retreat, she would try to track him down. Perhaps the bartender that night knew him. Maybe he was a regular. That wasn’t much to go on, but it was all she had.

  “OK, that is all for today everybody. Please gather around the campfire in twenty minutes. We will have dinner, and then we will have a group meditation.”

  Teagan moved her body slowly back to her normal standing position and breathed deeply. She went back to her tent and sat down for a moment just trying to get a few quiet moments of reflection to herself. Her body felt amazing. It was relaxed and free of all tension. She felt like she’d just been reborn in some odd way. It was the thing that all yoga practitioners tried to get to, a level of awareness and attainment of the body and mind. The two needed to be strengthened to act like one, and that could only be done incrementally she knew.

  Today was the first step.

  The way that Siri’s hands felt on the back of her body had been perfect. Because she kept imagining Cort leading her, guiding her, taking her body and mind to new heights of spiritual enlightenment.

  He’d already done that last night. She smiled as she thought of the way he felt deep inside of her tight wetness. Teagan closed her eyes and imagined Cort there with her right then, just the two of them alone in the middle of nature. The sounds of the birds, the gentle breeze washing over their hard, naked bodies both primed and ready for intense lovemaking.

  She could just see him standing over her, his rock-hard girth only inches from her face. Oh, she wanted to taste him so badly… she had yet to taste him…

  He was so large her mouth would barely be able to fit a third of his length inside, but she would do her best, sucking gently and sliding his rod in and out of her aching and eagerly awaiting mouth, getting it all primed up and ready to go elsewhere.

  She was getting so wet just thinking about how good it would feel, how he would taste. She could envision him grabbing the back of her head and guiding her mouth up and down on his staff, pulling out just enough to tease her lips and then shoving it back inside her warm, wet facial opening.

  And then without warning, he would lay her back, and enter her hard giving her no time to get ready, no time to prepare for the onslaught of his rigid purpose. It would hurt with pleasure that would eclipse the pain entirely within seconds. Her body would do what was necessary to please this handsome man she was falling in love with.

  Was that what this was? Was this what love really felt like? It was too hard to tell. Oh, so often the lines between love and extreme lust were blurred. She’d never felt passion so pure, so raw before. It was rather frightening. It was scary in the fact that it was so intense and it was scary in the fact that she was willing to let it control her mind, body, and soul. She just wanted Cort. She had to have this man.

  “Are you coming?”

  Teagan was confused for a moment. The voice asking the question was not Cort’s, but she was so close to coming. She knew that just a bit more was all she needed…

  “Hey, Teagan?”

  The voice came from above this time. It was a woman’s voice. Teagan broke from her wet daydream to see Angela Watson was standing over her.

  “What?” Teagan asked.

  “Are you coming? The group is forming. That food smells good!”

  Teagan looked over at the fire that had been started and the hot dogs that were being roasted.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m on my way,” Teagan replied.

  She stood up, her legs feeling like jelly and sauntered over to join the group. She felt a bit embarrassed right then, but Angela did not seem to know what Teagan had just been thinking about. It should have been obvious on her face, but apparently, Angela was pretty clueless.

  Teagan took a few deep breaths and tried to settle herself down. She was not sure she could take two more days of not knowing if Cort had called her or not. She desperately wanted to be here, she was having the time of her life. It was everything she’d ever hoped it would be.

  But right now, all she could think about was Cort.

  She had to have that man. He’d become everything to her.

  And that was terrifying.

  CHAPTER 10

  Cort

  Cort threw his phone down on his desk and leaned back trying to calm himself down, but he was getting so pissed. It had been three days since the night with Teagan. He’d just left another voicemail against his better judgment asking her to give him a call. It was starting to look very bleak, and he felt that these phone games were a bit futile.

  He hated this feeling of helplessness. He was going stark raving mad over this woman, and he felt powerless to do anything but wait by the phone like some lovelorn teenager. It was humiliating. If any of his friends knew he was doing this, they would give him a ribbing that he would never live down. Hell, if the public found out that he was being snubbed by a random girl he’d hooked up with in a
dark alley he would have been the joke of the nation.

  He took a deep breath and poured himself a shot of whiskey. It was barely lunch time, but he didn’t really care. He needed something to take the edge off, and some sweet scotch would usually do the trick.

  Still, he hated feeling so damn worthless. So, he decided to go old school on the matter. Cort fired up the internet and began to do some searching for Teagan Norton. He had no sooner started the search then he realized he had no idea what part of the States she was even from, not really. It might have all been a lie. There had to be thousands of girls named Teagan Norton out there. He was never going to find her. He didn’t even have a picture of her.

  But he did have her phone number. Cort tried to do a reverse search on the number. But it came up nothing. After all, it was a pay as you go disposable phone. It was probably not even really registered in her name. Ugh, what was a man to do?

  He poured another drink and then laughed as he finished it up. To think this sweet, beautiful girl was doing this to the prince of Rovenia. That was a huge laugh. But it was also unfortunate. His heart felt like someone had just pierced it with a dagger. It was painful. He just wanted to find this girl, talk to her, hold her in his arms—was that too much to ask? Apparently, it was.

  How had he become so in love with this woman he barely knew? Was that what he was feeling? Was it love? Infatuation? What was really the difference? Oh, he’d heard a million songs, seen loads of movies, read tons of books all about this very thing and he realized right now that he had not learned a damn thing from any of that about how to handle this type of situation.

  “This is ridiculous. I’m going out of my mind,” he laughed.

  A knock came on his door just then.

  “What?” He answered hastily.

  It was one of his couriers telling him that the Parliament had reached a decision and he was summoned to their chambers at once.

  Cort took a deep breath and followed the courier.

  “We’ve evaluated the matter that you have presented to us,” Maricle began when Cort arrived. He made sure to enter the room with the type of intense bravado expected of a soon to be king, but inside he was shaking like a leaf.

  “I’m pleased to hear that,” Cort said. He tried to keep the positive attitude flowing. He really needed to hear some good news right about now.

  “After careful consideration, the council has reached the decision that the law will be upheld. You are to find a bride by your thirtieth birthday if you expect to assume the throne.”

  “What? I thought I made my points very clear on this!” Cort yelled.

  “You will conduct yourself properly in this court. Do I make myself clear Prince?” Maricle asked.

  “Yes,” Cort said calmly.

  “This decision is final. You will not change the ruling. If you do not secure a bride by said time then your uncle Charles will assume the throne.”

  Cort knew it was futile to argue. The decision had been made, and there was not a damn thing he was going to be able to do about it. He shuddered at the thought of his dimwit uncle, his father’s younger brother, assuming the crown. The country would fall apart if this happened. His uncle had been married for some years but he hardly even spoke to his wife and routinely had women sent to his room. He spent at least half of every day in bed with food, wine, and women. It was appalling and unbefitting of someone who was about to assume the title of King. Didn’t the council see that?

  No. They wanted to uphold the laws that had been in place for so long, no matter what the better alternative would be.

  “Do you have anything else to say?” Maricle asked.

  To Cort, it seemed almost like a bait or a dare of some sort. He almost believed that the Maricle was enjoying this.

  He probably was.

  “No. I have nothing further.”

  “Very well then. Meeting adjourned,” Maricle said.

  Cort started to walk away but stopped himself.

  “Actually,” he began.

  Maricle looked annoyed. “Yes?”

  “If I were to get married before my thirtieth birthday then I will assume the throne.”

  “Of course.”

  “Ok,” Cort said.

  He was not going to play their game. It was quite possible that these old fogies had just played themselves right into his hands.

  Cort left the chambers and headed for the gym. He needed to do some boxing and blow off some steam while he calculated his next move.

  “Wow, I think you knocked him out,” Brody said.

  Markus was lying on the canvas after taking a vicious roundhouse punch from Cort. It was a clean knockout punch, and it had decked him hard to the mat. It was a good thing that he was wearing head gear.

  After a few moments, he got to his feet. “Oh, that sucked in so many ways…” Markus said.

  “You’ll live,” Cort replied. It had been a while since he and the boys had done some kickboxing. It was always a fun way to relieve stress, and right now Cort wanted to do just that.

  “So, want to go grab a few beers?” Brody asked.

  “Nah,” Cort said. “I need to meet with the team.”

  The team was his own team of personal advisors. He met with them to discuss personal life choices, and they advised him on legalities relating to the job of being Prince.

  “Do you think there is anything they can do?” Brody asked.

  “I’m not sure, but it’s the only play I have right now. If there is a way to find a loophole around this, then they are the guys to do it.”

  Cort said goodbye to his boys and headed off to meet with the team.

  He just prayed there was something that could be done.

  CHAPTER 11

  Teagan

  Teagan sat down on the bus clutching at her bag. It felt good to be sitting in a vehicle again, knowing that she was on her way back to real civilization. The past three days had been challenging, but so rewarding. She would never forget the experience, and it was something that she’d always remember fondly. Having the privilege of working with Siri one on one and getting to know and commune with the others was a once in a lifetime experience. She was still a bit in shock that she’d been chosen and she felt that by the third day she was really starting to impress Siri and the others, although some of the others were obviously a bit jealous. There were some good, dedicated practitioners there, but Teagan was impressed with how well she held her own, and she actually felt that she might have taught a few of them something.

  It felt a bit odd to be thinking so highly of herself when she was usually a bit reserved and tended to suffer from self-doubt in herself from time to time, but Siri had given her a lot of praise, but it was hard earned. He’d really pushed her and then she started to push herself. And she would be able to take a lot of these teachings back to her own students and get their feedback as well. Hopefully, she still had students to go back to. She needed to talk to Ellie and find out how everything was getting along without her there.

  As the bus drove away heading back towards the hotel, Teagan unzipped her bag and grabbed her cell phone. She clutched it in her hand for several minutes just feeling it, glad to have this little beacon to the real world back in her possession. It was funny how much she missed having the phone, but by the second day, she forgot about it. And now it was here she was almost frantic with the thought of how she’d gotten along without it.

  She opened up the cheap little flip phone and was excited to see she had a few missed phone calls. That was when she thought of Cort. He’d been in her thoughts incessantly since she’d left him three days ago. During her activities, she’d been able to distract herself just enough to focus on the task at hand and push thoughts of him out of her mind, but at night when everyone was relaxing around the fire she couldn’t think of anything else.

  She opened up the missed calls and saw that she had two voicemails. The phone suddenly felt slippery in her hand as her palms started to sweat. Her breath began
to come in short rapid gasps, and she felt a bit dizzy. Closing her eyes, she tried to get a grip on herself, a small giggle escaping her dry throat. Mira, a girl, sitting across from her gave her a strange glance. Teagan smiled warmly and then went back to her phone, blocking out the rest of the world.

  She saw the missed calls were both from a number she did not recognize, but they were both the same number. It had to be Cort. She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead and watched the screen so long it began to grow dim until she pushed the home button to bring it back.

  What was she waiting for? She wanted to listen to these messages, she had to… It would be so good to hear his voice again. Had it really only been three days? Why did it feel more like three months?

  And why was she still waiting?

  Teagan selected the first voice mail and held the phone to her ear. It was Cort! The sound of his husky voice sent ripples of goosebumps up and down the back of her neck. Soon her whole body was tingling. How did this man have so much control over her and the way she felt when they barely knew each other? What started off as just a chance encounter with a sexy, fun stranger passionate sex in an alleyway had somehow become what felt like the biggest defining moment in her life. She was falling for Cort; she knew that. She felt somehow closer to him than men she’d had serious relationships with. That’s what was so scary. It wasn’t normal, was it? To feel so close, so desperately needy for the touch of someone she barely knew.

  She didn’t care though. Teagan felt the way she felt, and she’d made a decision long ago to give in to her desires and her feelings. There was no sense in hiding who she was or what she actually wanted, what would make her happy in this life just to worry about what was considered normal or not. This was her life. And she was damn sure going to live it.

  As she listened to both of Cort’s messages, she began to get a bit worried. His second message, did she detect a bit of desperation in his voice? He didn’t sound as confident and relaxed as he normally did. Was it because of her?