Awoken

by Christine Pope

  “You could give a girl some warning, you know.” But she spoke with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her lips. Clearly, she wasn’t too bothered by the imposition.

  “What would be the fun in that?”

  She shook her head, and began to reply, but the words never left her lips. How could they, when in the next instant, he had transported her — and that damn backpack — to the living room of the house in Chama?

  To her credit, she didn’t try to chide him, only ran a hand through her wind-tousled hair and gave a quick glance around, as though to reassure herself of her surroundings. “Well, it all looks the same.”

  “Why wouldn’t it? You’ve only been gone two days.”

  “Have I? It felt longer than that.” She came to him and slipped her arms around his waist. “I — I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

  “There’s no need for you to feel sorry. I understand why you might feel that way. In fact, I would be more surprised if you did not.”

  Her body sagged against him as she leaned her head against his chest. “Thank you. I mean…oh, hell, I don’t even know what I mean, or what I’m thinking anymore.”

  “You’ve had a busy time. It is understandable.”

  She didn’t reply for a moment, but pulled away so she could stand there and watch him carefully. Hasan did his best not to blink or look away, although it felt odd to be subjected to such scrutiny. Then she said, “What do you want most right now?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “You.”

  A slow smile spread over her lips. “The feeling is mutual. So….”

  “So,” he repeated. Now that they were here together, with nothing keeping them apart, he experienced an odd hesitation. They had made no promises to one another, except to admit that they both cared for each other. What did that mean, exactly, though? She was not his Chosen. She was only a mortal human.

  Whom he loved. Whom he wanted so much that he did not know if he could wait another second to have her. They could figure out the rest of this later.

  In the meantime, he had to make her his.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As soon as Hasan approached her, took her in his arms, she knew what was going to come next. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she wouldn’t stop him. She had no idea where any of this would end, but she had enough regrets. Too many empty months, too many cold, lonely nights.

  All right, it wasn’t nighttime, was blazing bright daylight on a perfect October morning. That didn’t matter, though. What mattered was the way Hasan lifted her from the floor as though she weighed nothing, carried her up the stairs to his room. He could have blinked them both there, she knew, but she guessed that he wanted to do it this way, wanted to prove to her that he’d regained all his strength.

  Truly, this was a much better place for them to make love for the first time, rather than the cramped bedroom of that shabby townhouse. The drapes had been pulled shut, but the window beneath them was open, and the shimmering silk shivered in the breeze. The hangings on the bed also moved with that gentle wind, as though enticing her to lie down within their depths.

  Not that she needed much of an enticement, not with Hasan setting her down on the bed’s billowy softness. The mattress cradled her like nothing she’d ever experienced before, welcoming her. And there was Hasan, pulling the jeweled slippers from her feet, right before he lay down next to her and drew her close, mouth claiming hers again, bodies pressed to one another. She could feel his warmth, the heat of his flesh, through the silken garments she wore, and a delicious shiver passed over her.

  “Cold?” he murmured.

  “No. Just the opposite.”

  “Ah.”

  Then he was kissing his way down her throat, his fingers working the silver buttons of the long fitted coat she wore. It parted, revealing the thin silk of the undershirt beneath. His breath was hot as his lips traveled across her chest, and he pulled the undershirt down so his mouth could close on her breast, tongue tracing its way around her nipple.

  She gasped, heat flooding her, pulsing warmth growing between her legs. It had been so long since she’d felt like this, she’d halfway worried that her body wouldn’t remember what to do. But it was responding to Hasan’s touch like a flower waking after a long winter’s sleep, opening to him, ready. His fingers found the drawstring of the blousy pants she wore, tugged it loose so he was able to slip his hand inside.

  Oh, God. He was touching her, stroking her, and she was already so wet for him, so ready. He made a guttural sound in his throat, as though pleased to find her so responsive. She wanted to respond to him, to show him how much she wanted him.

  Her hands slipped over the heavy muscles of his chest, caressing. The silk trousers he wore did nothing to conceal his arousal, and she liked that as well, liked that he was reacting to her in such a way.

  She wanted more, though. She wanted to feel him the way he was feeling her. Since his pants were constructed in much the same fashion as hers, it was easy enough to locate the drawstring that held them tight to his narrow waist, and yank at the cord.

  They didn’t slip down right away, of course. Not with his massive erection holding them up. He paused for a second in stroking her so he might ease them down past his cock, and then they fell in a slither of silk to the floor.

  Oh, dear God, his body was amazing. Her hand slipped over his shaft, feeling how rock hard he was, how smooth his skin. He moaned softly, even as his mouth found hers again, lips demanding, needing to taste her.

  As she needed to taste him. Had she ever lost herself in a kiss like this? She didn’t think so. At the same time, he kept caressing her, strong fingers finding the spot where she needed to be touched, where she hadn’t been touched in so very long —

  The orgasm took her by surprise, hitting with the suddenness and ferocity of a lightning strike during a summer monsoon storm. Her back arched, and she had to keep herself from biting down on his lip, from screaming her ecstasy into his open mouth. He held her close, stroking her hair as the climax shuddered its way through her body.

  “I love you,” he murmured, shifting so his body covered hers.

  For a moment, she flashed back to the night they had met, when he had pursued her, had held her down. This wasn’t so different — the weight of his body against hers, although now he wasn’t trying to keep her from running away.

  Oh, no. She would never run away from him again.

  He pushed into her, and she wrapped her legs around him, driving him deeper. Yes, he was big, but she knew she could manage. Really, she was so aroused, so wet, that he slipped in with no resistance, filling her in a way she’d never imagined was even possible. They rocked together, falling into a shared rhythm, one that gradually increased its pace, until she knew she was going to come again, that every cell in her body was about to thrill to the same burst of ecstasy.

  A cry escaped her throat, and Hasan let out a brief, hard breath, right before he tensed, then spilled into her, filling her body with his heat. She welcomed that release, so glad she’d been able to make him feel that way. As he relaxed and lay on top of her, however, a stray, unwelcome thought slipped through her mind.

  Oh, shit. We didn’t use protection.

  There wasn’t anything she could do about it now, but inwardly she berated herself for being so careless. You’d think her friend Suzanne’s near-miss back in Pagosa Springs would have made her a little more careful.

  Well, she’d just gotten over her period when the djinn had attacked and she’d run for the hills, so maybe she wasn’t yet in the fertile part of her cycle. Hard to believe all that had happened only a little more than a week ago, harder still to believe that she now lay in the arms of one of those djinn, someone who should have been a hated enemy but instead was the man she loved.

  Hasan rolled off her, reached out to cup her cheek with one hand. He must have sensed her worry, because he asked, “Jordan, is something wrong? Did you not want that?”

  She had to chuckle. “
Oh, no, I wanted it. I just — I just should’ve thought about having you use protection.”

  “‘Protection’?” he repeated, a puzzled frown pulling at his dark brows.

  “So I wouldn’t get pregnant. I mean, it sounds as if humans and djinn can reproduce, so — ”

  “There is nothing for you to worry about,” he cut in, then took one of her hands and held it to his lips so he might press a gentle kiss against her palm. “There are no such things as ‘accidents’ with djinn. We decide when we want to have children. It cannot happen without conscious effort.”

  Although relief flooded through her, Jordan still tried to figure out how that might work. “So, what — you just tell your little wigglers that today’s the day, and then it’s a done deal?”

  “Perhaps not exactly in that manner, but yes, more or less. We are certainly not ready to become parents, and so I made sure it wouldn’t happen.”

  “Ah.” She knew she should be glad that he’d been proactive about the whole thing, but something about the “not ready to become parents” remark rubbed her the wrong way, as though he didn’t think they were serious enough for such a thing to happen.

  Which of course they weren’t. They might have declared their love for one another, and they might have just had sex, but they were a long ways off from discussing any kind of a future, especially one that included children.

  “Does this bother you?”

  “No,” she said at once. The last thing she wanted was for Hasan to think she was disappointed in him, or in what they had just shared. It was rather a lot to process. “It’s nice to know that I won’t have to worry about a baby. We’ve got enough on our plates, right?”

  “Yes,” he replied, although there was something almost hesitant about the word.

  “Speaking of which,” she said. “Our breakfast was almost nonexistent, and you just worked up my appetite. Could you conjure something for the two of us?”

  “Of course. I will admit that I am rather hungry.”

  She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. Not a long, drawn-out kiss, but just a quick touch of lips against lips, enough to show that she was glad of the intimacies they’d just shared, and had no worries for their future.

  Whether he believed it or not…that she didn’t know.

  Jordan seemed subdued, but Hasan didn’t press her to explain herself. Their relationship would be forever different now, and she must find her own way in working through that change. They climbed out of bed and got dressed again, then went downstairs. He conjured eggs Benedict and home fries because that was what she asked for, and they ate slowly, enjoying their food.

  It was only after their late breakfast — or early lunch — was done that he worked up the nerve to broach the subject he knew they must discuss. When two humans or two djinn were intimate, they might go on with their lives as though nothing momentous had occurred, but such was not the case when a djinn and a mortal lay together…at least not now, in this world after the Dying, where there were strict rules about such things.

  He brought her out to the porch so they might sit on the bench there and catch some of the early afternoon sun, now falling full on the front of the house. Jordan took her seat next to him and lifted her face to the breeze, which was not strong enough that it could take away from the warmth of the sun. She looked very beautiful like that, eyes half shut so her thick lashes almost lay on her cheeks, glints of gold showing in her loose hair.

  “I spoke to you a while ago of the Chosen, of who they were,” he began, and her eyes opened, focusing on him intently.

  “Yes.”

  “I want you to be my Chosen, Jordan.”

  She went very quiet, gaze fixed on him. Perhaps she breathed, but he couldn’t discern any rise or fall of her breasts. It seemed that his words had shocked her into a stillness beyond silence.

  They had come as rather a shock to him as well. How many of his djinn brethren would laugh at him, if they learned of his abrupt about-face? That Hasan al-Abyad, hunter of mortals, had lost his heart to a human woman, wished to make her his partner for eternity?

  Even he could recognize the irony of the situation.

  “That means….” The words trailed off, as though she couldn’t quite find it within her to give voice to the thought.

  “It means that we would be together forever, my love. We would be bonded, soul to soul. You would never age, would remain as you are now. You would never become ill, and would be able to recover from all but the most grievous of injuries.”

  “How…?” She moistened her lips, then went on, “How is that possible?”

  “Because when we are joined, you take some of my strength, some of my djinn energy. Not so you would have my ability to call the wind, or to travel instantly from place to place. Magic flows in my veins, as it does not in yours, because you are human. But the connection will give you some of a djinn’s physical advantages.”

  Another long silence. She looked off into the distance, at the stands of gold-crowned cottonwoods that bordered the river. The wind caught her hair, ruffling the fine strands around her face. Hasan let himself admire the fine, delicate outlines of her profile, even as he willed himself to remain quiet, to allow her to think. It seemed he had caught her off guard, but surely she must have known that something like this might be coming. Or perhaps not. He had spoken to her of the Chosen, true, but that was before he realized the depth of his feelings for her. Very likely, she had not believed she would be put in the position of having to decide whether she could accept such a proposition.

  This was unusual, he knew. The djinn of the One Thousand had made their decisions and claimed the humans they selected, and the humans had to go along with those choices, for good or ill. Whether they all ended up happy, he had no way of knowing, because he had held himself apart from those djinn and their humans, thinking them foolish and misled, and straying far from the true path he himself followed.

  Unlike them, he was offering the woman of his heart a choice. It was, he thought, a great deal to ask, to share eternity with someone you had barely known for a few days. And yet that was the only path she could take, if she wished to be with him. On that point, the rules were very clear.

  And if she turned him down, did not believe their new and fragile love was something that could stand the test of time? He would have no choice but to return her to Los Alamos, for that was the only place where he knew she might be safe. That would be a great irony, to give his heart to a mortal, only to find she did not want it after all.

  Jordan turned back toward him, and reached out so she might take his hands in hers. The touch of her flesh was enough to rekindle the heat within him, but he knew he must not allow himself to react. There would be many opportunities for them to make love to one another…if she said yes.

  Her fingers tightened on his. “I want to be your Chosen, Hasan. What do I have to do?”

  “Nothing but what you have already done, my love.” He raised her hand to his mouth, kissed the delicate but strong fingers. “And I must tell the universe that Jordan Marie Wells is my Chosen, and that she is forever bonded to my heart, forever under my protection.”

  The wind swirled around them. An acknowledgment of the words he had just sent out into the world? Perhaps. The thing was done. He could sense it, sense a sharpened awareness of her presence, of every breath she took, every shift in expression.

  “Was that it?” she asked. “I don’t feel any different.”

  “No, you would not, I expect. You will notice the change if you experience a mishap where you might otherwise have injured yourself, or if you get soaked going out in a rainstorm and yet never catch a cold…or look in the mirror year after year, and continue to see yourself as you are now. As I said, it is a subtle thing, this change that has now been wrought.”

  And because he could not hold back any longer, he pulled her to him, kissed her there in the sunlight, feeling the bond between the two of them strengthen. She responded with eagerness, mou
th open, body pressed against his.

  Hasan was just contemplating whisking her away, back up to the bedroom, when their kiss was interrupted by a loud bang, followed by some very angry-sounding bleating. At once Jordan pulled away, her eyes wide.

  “What in the world was that?” she asked.

  “The goats,” he replied, realizing what must have made the noise. “I left them shut up in the barn, so they might be safe, but I think that they have heard us, and are not very happy about being kept inside when they know we are here to let them out.”

  “Then I guess we’d better go take care of them,” Jordan said. She let go of his hand, but gently, and got to her feet.

  With a resigned sigh, Hasan rose as well. He would have much preferred to take her back to bed, but there would be time enough for that later.

  All of eternity, in fact.

  Jordan hurried up the hill toward the barn, Hasan a pace or two behind her. Although she could sense his disappointment, he hadn’t made any protest about coming up here to rescue the goats. And really, as much as she wanted to go to bed with him again, she thought that having a little breathing space wasn’t a bad idea. She needed some time to process what had just happened.

  She was no longer an ordinary human. She was Chosen.

  Hasan had explained something of what that meant, but Jordan had a feeling it would take her some time to really wrap her head around the notion that she was no longer aging, that she would be perpetually twenty-five, in a future that had no real end. She would have been crazy to turn him down, and yet…what if they started to get tired of one another after fifteen years, or twenty, or even a hundred? Hell, her own father hadn’t even lasted for five.

  No, better to push those thoughts away. Hasan was definitely not her father. She knew she still had a lot to discover about the djinn who’d somehow fallen in love with her, but casual with his affections he most certainly was not. He would not have asked if he hadn’t truly believed that his love for her was strong enough to last through uncounted years.