by Kiel Nichols
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t wait anymore. I don’t have a condom, but I haven’t been with anyone since I’ve been checked out.” He didn’t say anything about pregnancy because he didn’t want her to know that he saw the note in her file.
“I’m clean, too, and I can’t get pregnant. I need to feel you inside me.”
* * * *
Raina felt Gideon climb on top of her and nudge her legs apart. She wished, not for the first time that night, that she could see him. He felt enormous to her, long and hard in all the right places. Her release made her feel lethargic and relaxed in a way she’d never been before. She was ready to let him do whatever he needed to do.
Gideon’s penis began to probe her opening. Raina had only had sex once before and wasn’t all that impressed with the process. She had expected pain then pleasure. She’d gotten neither.
This time was different. Gideon began to push the head of his cock into her tight body. At first it was just slightly uncomfortable. As he rocked, pushing himself in more deeply with each thrust, it became painful. Raina tried to remain still, but the more he pushed himself in, the more she felt the need to pull her body back. Her muscles grew more tense with each movement.
Suddenly, Gideon stopped moving. “Raina?” he asked.
She hadn’t realized she was crying until he wiped her face.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling back. “I didn’t know you were a virgin.”
Raina grabbed his hips to keep him in place. “I’m not,” she said. “It’s just been a long time.”
Gideon started to pull back further, and Raina tightened her grip. “No, please don’t stop.”
Gideon reached between their bodies to run his finger along where they were still joined. Then he flicked his finger over her clit again. “No, I’m not. But I don’t want to hurt you.”
Without warning, Raina was able to see through Gideon again. She had been blocking it so that she wouldn’t feel self-conscious. He must have initiated the link. She didn’t even know he could.
“Look at us,” he said huskily, keeping his eyes trained on his penis, slightly inside her body. He rubbed his finger on her nub. The sight was so darkly erotic that the passion that had been ebbing came rushing back. He rocked and surged into her a little more, all the while rubbing her. Raina couldn’t believe it when she felt another orgasm building. She’d never even had one before. In one night, Gideon was giving her two.
Raina started to squirm, working him into her further and further. When the orgasm flooded over her, Gideon sheathed himself all the way. The pain mixed with pleasure until she couldn’t tell the difference between them. After a moment, she stilled again. He still felt too big inside her.
“Shh, it’s OK, the pain’s over now, I promise.” Gideon was whispering to her. “It’ll be good now, just relax.” He was massaging her hip as he stayed still and tight inside her.
Raina could feel her body begin to relax. As soon as it did, the pain receded. “I’m fine,” she reassured him. She brought her knees up around him, tightening and shifting him inside of her.
“I need to move,” he said, sliding slowly out and then back into her. When all she did was moan with delight, he did it again. Soon he was shafting into her while she arched her hips to meet his thrusts. Raina couldn’t believe she was beginning to feel yet another orgasm building when he quickened his pace. She pushed against each thrust, trying to capture it. Finally, he pushed her knees up toward her shoulders, changing the angle. The first hard thrust almost hurt, and then the orgasm slammed through her. Every time his body pushed into her, it crested until it was like the ocean with peak after peak. Finally, he pushed hard into her, his cock twitching with the power of his own orgasm. Raina pushed against him with circular motions, unconsciously extending her own pleasure.
After the longest moment, Gideon released Raina’s legs and lay down on her.
* * * *
He knew he was heavy, but he couldn’t seem to move. I’ll get off you in a minute. He was too tired and sated to say it out loud.
“This is fine,” she murmured, rubbing his back.
“I’m sorry I was so rough with you. I know it was your first time.” He knew she said she’d had sex before, but he felt her hymen break.
“This wasn’t my first time,” she told him lazily. “My first time was nothing like this.”
“What was it like?” he asked. He wasn’t trying to pry, but he didn’t think she realized that whatever happened the last time wasn’t sex.
“You know,” she sounded embarrassed. “I was in high school. We were making out and things went too far.”
“Did he penetrate you?” Gideon persisted.
“Of course,” Raina said impatiently. “It wouldn’t be sex otherwise.”
“Did it hurt?”
“No. Honestly, I didn’t even really feel it. He just, ya know, moved around a bunch, grunted a little, and was done. Why are we talking about this?”
“I’m not trying to embarrass you, Raina. I just think you need to know that whatever he was doing that night, you were still a virgin until today.”
“I’ll admit that it hurt today, but you are much bigger. Besides, it was a long time ago.”
Gideon decided to let it go. He didn’t know why it was so important to him that she acknowledge him as her first lover. It must have been an ego thing.
Gideon kissed her and felt himself begin to harden inside her. He couldn’t believe it. He was a teenager the last time he recovered this fast. He knew he couldn’t do anything about it this soon. She would still be sore. He pulled out to shift to the side when she let out an “ouch.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I thought you’d be more comfortable if I wasn’t lying on you.”
“You’re sure I was a virgin, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Raina didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, she thought, I’m glad you were my first.
Me, too.
Chapter 8
Raina woke before Gideon the next morning. She didn’t know if it was too early to get up, so she eased out of bed and headed to the window before checking the braille clock on the nightstand. She liked to see if it was morning by checking the window. This time she knew it had to be sometime between six and seven. The window was warm with sunshine, but the alarm hadn’t gone off yet. She checked the time, found it to be six forty five, and smiled slightly at her accuracy.
Between the stress of yesterday and the unaccustomed activity of the night, Raina’s body ached all over. She decided to take a hot shower before waking up Gideon. Since she was already naked, all she had to do was to turn on the shower and step under the steaming spray. The heat of the shower sluiced over her, warming her up and soothing her aches. After a minute she washed her hair and began lazily soaping her body.
Raina? Gideon’s voice echoed clearly inside her head.
I’m in the shower, she answered in the same intimate way.
She was lazily washing her breasts when Gideon stepped into the shower with her. “Here, let me,” he said, taking the washing puff away from her and squirting her liquid soap onto his hands. He kneaded her gently. What he was doing wasn’t exactly sexual. She’d done the same herself when washing, but his hands sent heat right through her.
“That feels so good,” she murmured.
With that as permission, he began sliding his hands all over her. He slid his hands along her sides, under her arms, and over her back until he cupped her backside and squeezed. He continued his journey down her legs to her feet, finally moving up to slide between her legs.
Raina couldn’t see Gideon, and he stood far enough back so that she couldn’t feel his body either. If it wasn’t for the fact that she could feel his mind, it would seem like it was only disembodied hands claiming her.
Gideon ran his hand over her, cleaning her thoroughly, even sliding his fingers up the crack of her ass. He squeezed her nether lips and ran his finger over
her clit a few times before removing his hand. By then, Raina was panting. When she felt his hand leave her body, she whimpered.
Don’t go!
I’m not going anywhere, he said.
Raina felt him reach past her. After a moment, she felt the spray of the shower shift as he removed the showerhead from the wall and, beginning at her neck, ran it over her body. When he got to the space between her legs, he left the spray on her, aimed right at her clit. The needles of the shower were delicate torture. When his mouth settled on her breast, and the finger of the other hand slid into her body, she exploded. She writhed on his finger, trying to prolong the intensity of the feeling.
After her body quieted, he gave her one more quick rinse then moved the spray to himself.
“What about you?” she asked shyly.
“You’re going to be a little sore today,” he said. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I don’t think so,” was all she said before taking the soap and putting some in her hands. Beginning at his neck, she made the same journey over his body as he’d made on hers. She noticed the networking of scars that ran along the side of his body and worked to block out the transfer of remembered pain. By the time she reached his cock, he was trembling. She followed his lead, taking her soapy hand and running it over his balls and up his ass.
He hissed.
She grasped him in her soapy hand and began to pump his cock in slow, slippery strokes. “We need to make sure you’re nice and clean,” she said in a naughty little voice.
Gideon let out a strained laugh. “You keep this up, and it’s going to get messy in here.”
She took her hand away, and he gasped, “I didn’t mean to stop.”
She laughed and took the showerhead down again to rinse him. Then she knelt. “I’m not done yet. I just don’t like the taste of soap.” With that she engulfed him in her mouth. He let out a long, low growl and fisted his hands in her hair. He helped guide her with the pace while she ran her tongue on the outside ridge of his head.
Gideon was thrusting into her mouth with short, purposeful strokes when their long shower finally emptied out the hot water tank. The water went from hot to tepid to cold in a few seconds. Raina released him with a squeal, and the icy water hit his hot dick, making him yelp also.
“Goddamn fucking shit,” he said and reached around her to shut off the water.
Raina couldn’t help but laugh at the comment.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” he said in a menacing voice. He hauled her up and turned her around to face the shower wall. Then he ran his finger between her legs to ensure that he wouldn’t hurt her. The slide of his fingers over her stopped the laugh with a gasp. That gasp became a groan when he lifted her backside up and began filling her.
Raina cried out as his penetration reignited her pain.
He stopped and started to pull back out. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“No!” she shouted. He stilled. Raina lifted herself on her toes then pushed back against him hard, impaling herself on him before he could move. The unexpected combination of exquisite pain and intense pleasure catapulted her into a vicious orgasm.
With three hard thrusts and a shout of triumph, he joined her.
All of a sudden Raina’s body went rigid with shock. She could see an image in the droplets of water along the wall. She couldn’t make it out, but she thought she saw a man running, blood running like a river behind him. When it almost reached him, he turned and looked at her. There was a network of scars along the side of his face. The blood coalesced into the figure of a man and reached for him. When Gideon went up in flames, Raina screamed.
* * * *
Raina’s wild scream pierced the air.
It was strident enough to make Gideon go on guard. He pulled back and turned to face the enemy. When he saw a shadow on the other side of the shower door, he reached to push the door out of the way so that he could fight. As soon as he reached for it, the shower door blew off its hinges and exploded into the bathroom.
Raina screamed again, Gideon froze in shock, and Kristano, standing in the bathroom, calmly handed him a towel and said, “I bet you want to know what that was about.”
Gideon snatched the towel to wrap Raina in. He also sent her his vision.
Raina grasped the towel to her and climbed out into the rubble, heedless of the broken pieces of Plexiglas and wall on the floor. Barely holding the towel in place, she grabbed Kristano and held on.
“You’ve got to help him,” she babbled. “He’s in danger. I saw. I saw. It was bad, please.” She was so panicked she didn’t even seem cognizant of the fact that Gideon’s rage, which was already sparked by Raina’s fear, was close to flying out of control at the sight of a mostly naked Raina in Kristano’s arms.
Kristano held her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. He said in a hypnotic voice, “It’s OK. There’s no reason to worry. We’ll work it out. He has power. You know it.”
Raina was taking deep breaths. Kristano stepped back from her and said to Gideon, “I’ll be downstairs waiting. Gideon?” When Gideon looked at him, Kristano said, “Look in the mirror.”
Automatically Gideon’s eyes shifted to his image in the mirror. He was shocked at the sight of himself. His eyes glowed red.
* * * *
Raina’s gasp was loud in the frozen tableau of the moment. “My God,” she said almost reverently, “look at your eyes.”
She felt Gideon try to slam the connection shut, but she wouldn’t allow it. She could feel his embarrassment, both about the fading red glow of his eyes and the network of scars that ran along his body.
Gideon hadn’t had the chance to step out of the shower, and Raina stepped back into it with him. He watched in the mirror as she ran her hands along the scars on his chest and arm.
He shuddered.
“These don’t make you any less beautiful to me,” she said.
“You’re not seeing them well enough,” he said, moving her hand aside firmly.
“Then show me,” she said. Raina took Gideon’s hand and led him from the destroyed bathroom. She led him to her closet and opened the door. On the inside of the door was a full-length mirror. She faced him in front of it.
Raina stood on his undamaged side and watched him look at himself in the mirror. He looked at the unscarred side of his body, and she could almost picture him before the explosion—sleek bald head, intense green eyes, a nose that looked like it had been broken more than once. He wasn’t classically handsome, but he had a rough sexuality about him.
His gaze shifted to the puckered scars that began on his head and ran down the entire length of his body. They were worse on his shoulder and down his leg, as though he was curled into a ball when he burned. She could feel his disgust, not only at the sight of them, but also at the memory of how he got them. “It’s not just the scars, Raina. It’s what caused them.”
She punched his arm, and not lightly. “Stop it. It was not your fault.” Although he didn’t say anything, she felt his denial. “No! It wasn’t. You didn’t know, and you never would have put your team in danger.”
I deserve these scars and the pain that goes with them.
Raina moved behind him to stand on his damaged side. She kissed his scarred cheek. His face was wet, from tears or from the water from the shower, she didn’t know.
He closed his eyes, grabbed her to him, and buried his face in her neck. Although they were separated by nothing more than a towel, there was nothing sexual about it. At that moment, her soul touched his, healed his.
When he stepped back, he simply said, “We’d better get dressed and get down there before Kristano comes looking for us again.”
Raina took the “back to business” cue and said, “So, do you have any idea what you did to my bathroom?”
“No idea at all.”
Raina began getting dressed. “Then we better go figure it out.”
* * * *
“That was called the Waterfire,
” Kristano said after they’d gotten seated in the living room.
“What is that?” Raina asked.
“And can I do it again?” Gideon added.
“Waterfire is a combination of your powers. The people of different tribes were discouraged from mating. It did happen sometimes, but generally, it was considered socially unacceptable. One of the things that happened when those of the different tribes merged was that their powers changed, not necessarily for the better. When Water and Fire mate, the Water tribe member suddenly found what he or she saw to be changed. Instead of knowing when rain was coming, he or she might see when someone was going to lie or hurt another. The predictions got darker and more personal. The Fire tribe member got the power and the curse of the Waterfire.”
Kristano was sitting on the chair, lounging with his arm hooked over the back of it. Despite his warrior’s bulk, he looked like a young man shooting the breeze with friends.
“But what is it exactly?” Raina wanted to know.
“It’s the ability to basically blow things up, light things on fire, destroy at a distance.” Kristano’s intense words belied his casual posture.
“But why would that be a curse for a warrior?” Gideon asked, intrigued by the idea of the advantage wielding that kind of power would have in battle.
“Because it’s hard to control. When warriors first get the power, they tend to make mistakes, like blowing up their mate’s bathroom.”
“Very funny,” Gideon said, his grin contrasting the sarcastic words.