by Leia Shaw
Chapter 9
The first hour of the hike into the Rocky Mountain forest was filled with a sad sort of silence. When darkness crept onto the land, the forest came alive around them. Aila had told Marcelo she wasn’t an outdoorsy girl but that felt like a lifetime ago. Something changed. The sun had set and the waning moon above called to her, energizing her, springing life into her body. Her blood sang for the earth, like it was part of her. Her mother, her sister, her child. It was everything. The soil beneath her feet, the stars overhead, and the wind in her hair, it fed her soul. She had the sudden urge to take off her hiking boots and frolic barefoot through the soft leaves, winding in and out of the trees. Grinning, she continued to gaze into the lively night. She’d been afraid of it most her life. Now she could see how alive it was. Alive but with a busy serenity that intrigued her. Animals that had been hiding during the day hunted and played under the moon. She was one of them. A night creature. The strangest feeling came over her. Belonging. Though she smiled, she was also confused. What is going on with me?
She hadn’t notice she’d picked up her pace until Marcelo cleared his throat from behind. When she looked over her shoulder, she caught an amused twinkle in his eye.
“Can I assume you’ve changed your mind about nature?” he asked in that husky male voice that made her shiver.
Her smile widened. She couldn’t contain her joy. “I’m guessing this is one of the many lovely side effects of being fae?”
“Yes. The fae have always been connected to nature. How’s your vision?”
She scanned the trees, finding it just as easy to see in the dark as in broad daylight. “Perfect.”
He nodded in approval. “Later I’ll teach you how to track. It will help sharpen your senses.”
“I can’t believe how at home I feel out here,” she said skipping ahead and spinning in circles like a child. “I know it’s silly but…I feel so alive.”
A deep chuckle came from behind her. “It’s not silly. It’s how you’re supposed to feel. It’s a shame that humans don’t. They’ve traded their connection to Mother Earth – the very thing that keeps them alive – for walls and TV screens.” He shook his head as if he were disappointed in mankind. “They don’t even know what they’re missing.”
It was true. She hadn’t known what she was missing either. One family had brought her camping as a child, before her disorder had taken over her life. She’d spent hours in the lake, swimming, hunting for toads, going back to the campsite at dusk with sunburned skin and droopy eyelids. It was one of her favorite childhood memories. She’d begged the next family to go camping on vacation but they’d insisted on Disney World instead. They hadn’t even taken Aila along, claiming they couldn’t afford her airfare and ticket into the parks. She’d stayed with an older couple for that time, stuck indoors, bored out of her mind. Though it was in their library she had discovered her love of reading.
“Jimmy wouldn’t believe how I’ve changed,” she said proudly.
Her smile faded. Jimmy. He didn’t fit in this world. Maybe Marcelo was right. Maybe the difference was too obvious.
“What is it about him you are so devoted to?” Marcelo asked, striding forward to reach her side.
She shrugged. “He takes care of me.”
“As he should. Nothing special there.”
“He’s nice.”
His eyebrows darted up. “Is that the best you can say? He’s nice? There’s no passion in your voice when you talk about him. No yearning for his touch. Has he even called you? If I was separated from my lover, thoughts of her would be in my mind endlessly. In fact, I wouldn’t survive it.”
She scowled at him. “Well, we can’t all be like you, Rico Suave.”
“Who?”
She rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”
A bitter silence filled the air. If Aila didn’t know any better she’d have thought Marcelo was jealous.
“He enables you, Aila.”
She gasped at his audacity. “Maybe so, but at least he doesn’t boss me around all the time!”
Marcelo returned the scowl. And had she seen a hint of regret on his face? “You need bossing around!” he barked. “You don’t have the backbone to make your own decisions!”
Her cheeks heated. She should have been furious. She should have yelled “fuck you” then stomped off into the night. If she was sure her trembling voice wouldn’t have given her true emotions away, she would have told him off. She sucked back the tears that threatened to betray her, forcing her dignity to remain intact.
So he thinks I’m weak. She wouldn’t let him see how much it hurt. Because it was true. She was weak.
“I’m sorry,” he admitted and sounded sincere. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
They walked in awkward silence. Aila kept her eyes on the ground though the night air still called to her. She was embarrassed, confused, angry. She didn’t know how to make sense of this new world. If she wasn’t Erin the Timid, who was she? Her pre-fae life certainly didn’t match up with her post-fae life. Things had become so complicated.
“Does he keep you satisfied?” Marcelo asked breaking the long silence.
She shrugged. “I suppose I’m content enou –” She stopped abruptly. “Are you asking me about my sex life?” When he didn’t answer, she said, “That’s a little personal.”
“Don’t want to talk about it? Must not be anything worth talking about.”
Ballsy! “For your information, Jimmy happens to be very good in bed!”
“Just good? You deserve better than that.”
“And you think you’d be better?”
That earned her a loud scoff. “Of course I do. I’ve had eight hundred years to perfect it.”
Her eyes widened. “And that’s supposed to be a good thing? I’m just picturing all the women who helped you perfect it in eight hundred years. It’s disgusting.”
He surprised her by laughing. “Maybe so. But then you should consider it a great compliment when I say you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She looked him over suspiciously. He’s toying with me. But there was no teasing in his eyes. Hottest male she’d ever seen calling her beautiful? Somebody fetch me a fan, I think I might just faint!
Marcelo stopped under a random canopy of tall trees. “We’ll stay here for the night,” he told her pointing to a large aspen tree that looked big and thick enough to provide some cover should it rain. A bed of leaves covered the flat ground underneath.
She dug her toe around in the leaves wishing she had her sleeping bag. She felt so vulnerable without supplies, nothing but the clothes on her back. And she was supposed to last for two days like this?
She gasped. “Marcelo! Your sun elixir!” It had been in the backpack when the car exploded.
He smiled then pulled out a flask from the pocket of his jeans.
She let out a relieved breath, which turned into an irritated sigh. “You remembered to take your elixir but not food or water?”
“You’ll see why in a moment.” He pointed to the large aspen they stood beneath. “Can you climb that tree?”
Normally she’d have been hesitant, but feeling confident with her new fae-ness she reached for the first branch. It was high above her head but when Marcelo offered a boost she refused. She wanted to push herself, to see just how much she could do. She crouched down and sprung as high as she could. One hand grasped onto the thick branch before the other. She laughed when she found it easy to hold her weight with just one arm. She flexed her biceps doing a pull-up to bring her foot over the top of the branch.
Grinning with glee, she muttered, “Bet I could kick some gym class rope ass now.”
“Gym class rope?” Marcelo questioned from below.
“Every year in school we had to do fitness testing. One of the tests was to climb to the top of a rope. I could barely get a few feet off the ground. It was humiliating.”
He chuckled. “I’m not surprised. Your limbs were piti
ful little sticks before you turned fae.”
She gave him a weighted glare. “Right, and I had no backbone either so that didn’t help.”
Regret was visible on his face. It didn’t look right on him, but perhaps he needed some humility. He was the most arrogant person she’d ever met. “I told you I was sorry for that.”
Ignoring him she reached for the next branch. It was thinner and a little bouncy. Wrapping her fingers around it she swung back and forth, giddy with strength.
“Hey, Marcelo,” she called down. “Have any fae type people tried out for the Olympic gymnastics team?”
“No.”
“Good. Think I’ll be the first.” She swung up and onto the next branch.
“Immoral,” he grumbled.
She snickered, springing up higher and higher in the large aspen.
“If a vampire is to be the moral compass in this partnership, you better start saying your Hail Mary’s now.”
She ignored him and continued climbing, close to the top of the tree now, about four stories high. It was exhilarating. Contrary to what most people assumed, Aila actually liked heights. The thrill of standing on the edge of a precipice, looking down at everything smaller and simpler below gave her a unique perspective on life. Then she looked out and beyond, the world so vast and complicated compared to her own little life. It was a strange paradox.
She could see over the tops of most of the trees to the towering mountains beyond – majestic mountains, standing tall and proud, witnesses to the world since the beginning of time.
“That’s high enough, Aila,” Marcelo said. “Come down.”
She laughed. “You aren’t concerned about me, are you, vampire?”
“Always,” he answered easily. “But in this case I simply need to speak with you.”
Ignoring him, she climbed higher.
“What are you doing?” he snapped. He was losing his patience; she could hear it in his voice.
She smirked. “Growing a backbone.”
He sighed and it made her laugh inside. He muttered something about never living that down. Not if I can help it.
She stopped climbing just short of the top then looked down at the pacing, agitated vampire below. Perhaps she’d pushed him far enough for one night. He looked ready to snap. And he was the kind of man that, when he snapped, heads rolled.
On the very last branch, a thick wide one perfect for stretching out like a jungle cat, she walked the length of it with her arms out for balance. She smiled down at him. “Was there a reason you wanted me to climb? Other than pointing me to a future filled with gold medals?”
He looked up, a frown marring his beautiful face. “I’m going to get you food and drink. I’ll be back in only a few moments. I don’t sense any threats but I want you to stay there.”
“Food and drink? Is there a vending machine nearby?”
“Remember when I left you in the car while you were driving?”
“Oh, yeah! What the hell was that? It was like you disappeared.”
“I did disappear. It’s called traversing. Or as your sister calls it, teleporting. I can-” Sending her an irritated glare, he snapped, “Will you come down? All the way down. As in the ground. If I had known sending you in the tree would turn you into some kind of monkey, I would have done things differently.”
She flashed him a mischievous grin. “Don’t like looking up at anybody, do you?” She’d resolved to stop pushing him but she was in a saucy mood from her new fae abilities and his crankiness only encouraged her.
He glowered at her and she laughed.
“You like pushing my buttons.”
It was a statement but she answered like it was a question. “Yes. But only to prove I have –”
“If you say backbone, querida, you will regret it.” At her mutinous expression he added, “I think I hear a river not far off. With glacial water. No warmer than forty five deg –”
She jumped down from the tree landing flawlessly at his side. Raising her arms over her head she said, in an announcer’s voice, “It’s a nine point four five! She was a little shaky on the landing, Bob.” When Marcelo looked at her like she’d sprouted feathers and a tail, she sighed. “You really need to watch more TV. Anyway, you were saying something about teleporting? How very Captain Kirk of you.”
He explained how traversing worked.
“So you can pop in and out of the Underworld whenever you please?”
“Yes, but –”
“Then what the hell are we doing here?!”
“The Unseelie fae have natural defenses against certain kinds of magic. This is why I can’t traverse with you. You’re blocking me. But I think if you focus hard enough, you could pull down your shields.”
Brows drawn, she said, “Maybe I like my shields where they are. Protection from you doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
A fierce growl started deep in his chest. “I would never do anything to harm you.”
That she was beginning to believe. He’d vowed to protect her and so far he’d kept his word. But still, to be at his mercy – where he could just whoosh her away anywhere he wanted – it didn’t sit well with her.
With a stern tone he said, “I’m going to traverse to get you food and water. While I’m gone I want you in that tree, still and quiet, understand?”
She pursed her lips. Overprotective much? “That’s just silly. There’s no one out here. I would hear them. You would scent –”
“Aila,” he warned.
“I’ll be fine. Besides, someone needs to collect firewo –”
Suddenly his lips were against hers in a firm, possessive kiss. She didn’t even get the chance to kiss him back before he pulled away and growled, “Get in the tree.” He spun her around then swatted her backside propelling her towards it.
Sensing he was already at his limit regarding that argument, she climbed up to perch on a branch about two stories from the ground.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her when she peered down at him.
Then he disappeared, leaving Aila’s thoughts to linger on that kiss. It wasn’t for an audience that time. Was it just a distraction so he could get his way? Somehow she felt it was more. And for some insane reason, she liked it. Her lips still tingled as she ran her tongue over them, savoring his taste. She wanted more.
“Sexy, tempting vampire,” she said out loud with a smile.
***
Marcelo hadn’t wanted to be short-tempered with Aila, but he just couldn’t get that damn boyfriend out of his head. Aila didn’t need a doormat. She didn’t need someone she could manipulate and be dependent on. No, Aila needed a mate who would force her to stand on her own two feet. Someone to help find her strength, meet her potential, and help ease her out of her fear-trapped world and into real life. Marcelo could do that. Hell, he was already doing that.
What did this Jimmy ever do for her? He allowed her to hide out in their apartment, sheltered from the world except to drink herself sick on the weekends. How could he claim to love her then permit her to live like that?
Marcelo wanted Aila to depend on him for protection and provisions, love and respect. But he also wanted her to become the fae warrior she was meant to be. She would begin self-defense training the next day. Aila needed some toughening up. He hated that they lived in a world where such a thing was necessary, but it was a truth she could no longer ignore. And since Marcelo now planned to live a long and happy life with Aila, well, she’d better be able to keep herself alive.
Marcelo traversed to the 24 hour convenience store in Albany they had visited only a few days before. He grabbed a few bottles of water then browsed the shelves for adequate food. He scowled at his choices – packaged snack food. It was acceptable for now, but he’d have to provide something more substantial the following evening. Fae were hardy folk that could last longer than a human without food or water – and in extreme temperatures too – but he needed Aila in her finest condition. Besides, providing for his mate
was as natural as breathing. Tomorrow evening he would do what he did best – hunt. But for now, he knew Aila would appreciate the snacks Americans seemed to enjoy. And pleasing his woman was almost as important as providing for her.
He liked that the further from civilization they traveled, the more freely Aila’s smiles came. Natalia had always been quiet and mysterious, courageous and independent, which he thought he loved about her. Aila was more fragile. No, not fragile. Innocent. Pure. But he could see her confidence growing already. Even so, she would probably never be as fierce as Natalia. But gods be damned if he didn’t prefer his bubbly ray of sunshine.
When he returned to the forest he found Aila perched high in the tree waiting for him. He smiled in satisfaction. He’d half expected her to be swinging through the vines like an acrobat.
“Oh, look,” she said, hopping down from the tree. “The caveman returns to the woman with his bounty.”
Yanking the bag away when her hand reached for it, he teased, “And you will be receiving none of it until you produce proper gratitude.”
Pressing a hand to her heart she batted her eyes and said, in a thick southern accent, “I am much obliged, sir. What would I do without you?” She smiled mischievously and he had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.
He leaned in so close he could feel her breath against his lips. “Your sarcasm is not appreciated. But for a kiss, I’ll forgive you.”
He saw a twinkle in those golden eyes and he thought she’d have some witty retort. So it surprised him when she stepped in, grabbed his shirt, and kissed him. Stunned by the bold move he almost didn’t stop her from pulling away. He bit down on her bottom lip to keep her there as he took over the kiss. She tasted better than he’d remembered.
She’s coming around to me. His heart leapt at the thought. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer. Slipping one hand under her shirt his fingertips grazed the soft skin on her lower back. He needed to feel how soft her breasts were. One hand cupped her face as his tongue delved deeper, intertwining with hers, sending jolts down to his hard shaft. The other hand grazed her ribs, moving up towards –