“Well, my mind has too much to think about to relax. Besides, it’s hot, makes it hard to.”
Head cocking to the side, I looked up at the sun. “It cannot be much above seventy. What you are feeling is the alteration of your body temperature.”
She fanned herself. “What do you mean?”
“We varúlfur run hotter than normal people.”
One eyebrow rose into her dark hair as her gaze skittered across my bare chest. The attention threatened to give my lower abdominal muscles a workout. “Hotter?” Her breathy voice guaranteed it.
I took a moment to gather myself so I did not pant like an animal. “Much like canines run hotter than humans, so do we. But it is more than that, it has to do with the atoms in our body moving and rearranging themselves.”
After a long drink from the water bottle sitting in the grass beside her, she nodded. “That actually makes sense.”
I offered my hands to her and she grasped them both. Her small, soft hands gripped mine with a strength that thrilled me. Together, we rose as one, each helping to pull the other up. With a thrust of my head, I indicated the direction of the lake. “Shall we go for a swim?”
She groaned, a reluctant and completely sexy sound that made my blood pump south. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
Head dropping, I gazed at her from beneath my brows—well, as much as a six-foot-five man can at a five-six woman. “No need, it is a private lake. No one will be there but us.” I told myself it was only to help her get used to life as a varúlfur. The problem was, I was a terrible liar, even to myself.
Crossing her arms beneath her breasts, she narrowed her gaze at me. “I know what you must think of me because of what happened with Raul, but I am not some easy girl who drops her undies for every great set of abs. I did not have sex with him.”
The mention of undies made me instantly hard. The reaction gave credence to her fears and made me feel like an ass. I pulled my hands from hers and held them up in a placating gesture. “Whoa, that is not what I think at all. Raul is a master manipulator. I do not think badly of you, I think you were a victim of his.”
The wrinkles between her brows fell away, taking her scowl with them. “Then why…”
The turmoil broiling in her eyes made me feel horrible. I had to fix it, to ease her pain. I could not let her believe I thought badly of her. It could not have been further from the truth. “Every time we shift, which is often, we take our clothes off. Our kind do not think much about being naked. I am sorry if it came across wrong,” I said.
Her eyes widened and she straightened. “Point made. Lead on,” she said as she gestured toward the lake.
“It is all right if you are not comfortable with that yet, Sonya.”
She gave me a little push in the direction of the lake. “I’m burning up, we’re both adults, and I trust you’ll be a gentleman.”
If only I could trust myself to be. Hands up in surrender, I started for the tree line. “No pressure, huh?” I said with a laugh.
We wove down a pine needle–strewn path that went around towering ponderosas which offered a refreshing reprieve from the glaring sun. Their sweet, earthy scent normally soothed me, but not today. Beneath it I could smell the lake water, cool and fresh, fed by an underwater stream. Birds sang to one another in the branches overhead. Pleasant though their songs were, they only served to accentuate my torment. I pasted a smirk on my face but Sonya kept giving me a look like she did not believe it.
“Your own private lake. Must be nice,” she said.
“Hmmm.”
I could not say any more. Too many times I had walked this path with my ex. It was filled with memories of her. I should have thought the suggestion of the lake through. But I had not realized it would stir so much of that old garbage up.
“I would have loved a place like this as a kid,” Sonya said.
I wanted to respond, but I could not force the words past the pain, the anger.
A rocky shoreline opened up before us, dark blue waters lapping only a few yards away. The lake stretched out a good distance, though not so far as to be considered big. Cooler air blew up off the water, taking some of the heat of the morning with it. Though it helped, it only made me want more. I longed to jump into that cold water but the ghosts of my past held me back. I should not have brought her here.
“What’s wrong?” Sonya asked, her voice breaking through the haze of pain that had settled over me.
Slowly, like a man awakening from deep sleep, my eyes focused and my head turned toward the sound of her voice. She had removed her tank top and her hand was frozen on the clasp at the back of her bra. The contours of her back and abdominal muscles drew my eyes to the waistband of her cutoff jean shorts. Gods she looked amazing. The fact that she was undressing and walking toward the water helped break through the image of my past, but not as completely as I would have liked.
“Maybe this is not a good idea.” My voice was distant, distracted, and pissed, even to my own ears.
Sonya walked back to my side, stopping out of reach. “Ty, what’s wrong?”
A long, slow growl slid from me as my eyes traveled over the smooth pebbles of the bank. “Morene and I used to come here a lot.”
Was that anger, hurt, that flashed across her face? I was too distracted to tell, and not in the way I should have been.
“She likes to swim?”
A sardonic smile pulled at my lips. “No, she hated the water, said it ruined her hair. She liked to lie out here and sunbathe.” My gaze dragged back over the pebbled beach, my mind recalling things I wanted desperately to forget.
“Well, you’re going to have to get wet, because I like the water,” she said.
More clothing hit the ground. My eyes snapped back to her, finding her stark naked. Standing with one hand on her bare hip, she gave me a playful smile. Nipples hard as bearings adorned breasts that would fit perfectly into my big hands. The short trimmed hair that covered her groin was the same beautiful black as the hair on her head. I exclaimed something highly inappropriate before I could stop myself—thankfully having the good sense to say it in Icelandic. So much for being a gentleman. The huge smile on her face made me think maybe she did not care.
She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “I didn’t catch most of that, except for the part about getting wet.”
Hot blood rushed through me. I had to bite my tongue against a reply. Gods, what had she understood? My fingers slipped beneath the waistband of my sweats and I began to push them down. Feigning disinterest, Sonya turned toward the water, but I could see her watching me through the black veil of her hair. Keeping my pace slow, I slid both my sweats and boxers off, hesitating only slightly to let my erection jump free. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the lake.
Not wanting to seem like a complete voyeur, I kept my eyes on the lake. To better distract myself, I tried to focus on the brilliant blue hue of the water, the contrasting green of the trees framing the opposite shore, even the multi-colored round rocks leading up to it all. It worked to keep my eyes occupied, but my mind kept returning to that delicious glimpse of her in all her glory.
Water splashed as Sonya took her first steps into it. By the time I got my feet to move she was up to her knees, rings of blue radiating out around her. Trying not to watch her out of my peripheral, and failing, I strode into the water until I stood beside her. Heat sponged from my skin, drawing a sigh of relief from me. Out of a need to feel that soothing coolness all over in hopes it would douse the fire building within, I stretched out my arms and plunged into the water. Only a few strokes out, the rocky ground fell away. The slight sensation of moving water beneath my feet revealed the stream that fed the lake.
All the heat of the morning melted away, taking my pent-up need and stress with it. Water had that type of soothing effect on me, the more of it I could be in, the stronger the effect. Until now my evening showers had been keeping thoughts of a naked and eager Sonya at bay. Now that I had seen the
real thing, I would have to make dips into this lake a frequent occurrence. Preferably with her. Dammit, so much for cooling down.
Sonya dove into the water, surfacing a few yards out. Lips pulled up into a smile, she turned on her back and floated. Her breasts bobbed, water trailing off in rivulets from her hard nipples. It pooled down in the line that led to her belly button, making me want to lap it up.
“God, woman, you are out to test how much of a gentleman I will be.” I said, voice strained.
Laughing, she sank back beneath the surface and began to tread water. I swam up beside her.
“Sorry, forgot myself for a minute,” she said in a tone that told me she had not forgotten for one second.
I groaned. “Oh, do not be sorry. I enjoyed the show.”
Exasperated exclamations flew from her lips as she splashed water at me. Grin widening, I splashed back at her, starting a water fight that soon left us both laughing so hard we could barely stay afloat. The desire in her eyes had transformed into something almost innocent and fun. Seeing it was like glimpsing how she must have been as a child and it stunned me in more ways than one.
“So you were born a varúlfur?” she asked.
Hands fanning through the water before me, I watched the ripples as I nodded.
“How was it, being raised a varúlfur?”
This would take a while. Best to do it somewhere we could relax better. Besides, I had a sudden urge to take her somewhere I had never taken anyone else. A thrust of my chin pointed to a distant island in the middle of the lake. Two thousand or so square feet of land probably made it more of a mooring spot than an island, but the lone hemlock and a few bushes on it had always made me think of an island.
“Are you a good swimmer?” I asked.
She nodded. “I can make that.”
Water splashed once again as we matched each other stroke for stroke, maintaining a good pace all the way to the island. In what seemed like no time at all, sand tickled my feet. The little island was covered in golden sand, making it into a small beach. To my disappointment, Sonya sat on the sandy bottom, the water reaching her collarbones. Though her breasts floated, the water was deep enough to keep anything submerged that a bikini would cover. In the crystal-clear water I could still see plenty, but the view was distorted, and the sun hit the water just right with each lap to hide more than it revealed. I sat down beside her, keeping my lower body well below the surface. I let out a breath as gently as I could in hopes she wouldn’t hear it.
“This place is amazing,” she said, eyes scanning the tiny island.
I followed her gaze and could not help but smile, recalling years of playing shipwrecked, pirates, and Gulliver here. “This was my favorite place as a child.”
Clouds a serious-looking shade of dark gray had moved in while we were swimming over. They broke up the sun, allowing only beams to get through here and there. One such beam broke through and bathed Sonya in light. The sight tugged at me, hard.
One corner of her lips quirking up, she turned to me. “Thank you for showing it to me.”
It took me a second to remember what she was responding to. “You are the first person I have ever brought here,” I admitted. Helheimr, she was the first person I had ever wanted to bring here, though I was not about to admit that part.
Her face softened, taking on a gentle look. “I’m honored, thank you.”
The amazing thing was, I could tell she truly meant it. Too deep. I needed to keep this light or else I was going to start down a path I was not sure I was prepared to travel. Thunder rumbled in the distance as if Thor himself warned me against it.
Eyes forward, for the most part, I changed the subject back to the question she had asked before we swam over here. “I have never known anything but being a varúlfur, so I really do not know what it would be like to grow up normal. When both of your parents are varúlfur, you are born one. We still go through the becoming, it is just different. Our bodies are prepared for it.”
“When did you first shift?” she asked.
Blood rushed to my face at the memory and I looked quickly down. “The ability manifests itself in those of us natural born during puberty.”
When I had agreed to be her kennari I had sworn to myself that I would withhold nothing from her. But this, Gods, did I dare tell her this? It was not that I was worried about what she’d think of me. She was not the conservative type who would balk at such a thing. But, I did not want her thinking I was trying to be forward.
“How did it happen? Tell me about it,” she pressed.
My face burned and I knew I had to be blushing horribly. Damn, no hiding it now. “It was orgasmic, literally, considering I had just finished masturbating at the time.”
“Oh my God!” Her hand flew up to cover her gaping mouth and barely stifled a laugh. Just as abruptly, her expression turned serious. “I’m sorry, that had to be horrible.”
In her excitement, she had turned to face me and the lower half of her body began to float. Her beautiful bare ass had broken the surface. My tongue darted out to lick my bottom lip while my eyes devoured her. Again a boom of thunder sounded, this time louder, closer. It felt as if Thor himself were laughing at me. Or encouraging me. A growing part of me preferred to think the latter.
“Not at all, I expected it. I had wanted it to happen like that the first time,” I said.
“Why?” she asked, leaning in closer.
“You know how kids are. Everyone said it hurt the first time, so I wanted to make it feel good.”
“Yeah, but weren’t you worried about future orgasms triggering the shifting?” she asked.
I loved how quick she was to think of that. I waved a hand, sending water flying. Sunlight danced across the droplets, turning them a rainbow of colors. They slapped the water with a slight pop and sank back into it.
“No. It is impossible to shift during orgasm because your body is so focused on the act. I chose to shift right after, when all the endorphins were still in my system. It was not the first time I had masturbated, after all,” I said.
The relief on her face turned to curiosity. Her gaze moved slowly from my lips up to my eyes. “So does it hurt?” she asked.
“No. It was warm and a bit uncomfortable the first time, but it did not hurt. Of course, that could have been because of the endorphins.” Blood rushed to my groin when I realized how close I had made shifting sound to masturbating. But if Thor was indeed encouraging me, then maybe the Council was wrong about the emotions of new varúlfur being influenced by the verða. Gods knew they had been wrong about plenty of other things in the past. Eyebrows wiggling, I leaned in close. “We could test that theory if you would like,” I said, lowering my voice a few octaves.
The rapid, strong rhythm of her heartbeat revealed the level of her excitement over my suggestion. I was not sure which disturbed me more: her intense desire for me, or the fact that I reciprocated it. She leaned in so close her floating breasts almost touched my chest.
“Tell you what, I won’t test your gentlemanly restraint if you won’t test my attempt to be ladylike,” she whispered close to my ear.
A groan that I knew would do exactly what she asked me not to vibrated behind my pursed lips. I drew away and stood. The surface of the water reached below my belly button. Her gaze followed the path of water droplets down my abs. Lightning crackled across the sky not far to the north, making her jump.
“Fair enough. How about we get out of here before that storm reaches us?” I suggested.
Her eyes moved to the stormy skies brewing above and she nodded without even a hint of concern. “If you’d like. I’ve always loved storms, they don’t worry me,” she said, her expression close to longing.
I tore my eyes from her as another flash of lightning lit up the sky behind me. Any semblance of sunlight had fled completely in the wake of roiling, dark clouds. “Yes, well, they do me. We are tough to kill, but not impossible, especially you.”
She shrugged, but thankfull
y raised her arms to start out into the water. Thunder boomed as a bolt of lightning hit the bank opposite us. The rocky shore seemed to glow for a moment. I grabbed Sonya’s arm and started to pull her back onto the shore with me. The little island was not exactly safe, but it was better than the water.
“We have to get out of the water,” I warned.
We backpedaled onto the sandy shore as fast as our feet would go. Holding tight to her hand, I led her away from the tree. I hated how exposed standing in the wide open space made me feel, but it was the safest place, and that was not saying much. To my amazement, Sonya grinned up at the sky without an ounce of fear. Thunder boomed again and she smiled all the wider, closing her eyes.
“My dad always called the thunder Thor’s music. It holds a certain rhythmic beauty, don’t you think?” she asked, eyes opening as she turned that smile to me.
Her irises appeared golden with lightning crackling in the distance. The sheer joy on her face moved me on a deep level. One hand going around her waist, I gravitated toward her, and she to me. Her fingers brushed the sides of my face, their touch hesitant. The look of desire in her eyes was anything but. Desire won out and she pulled me down to her. Gods help me, but I let her. Just before I closed my eyes to kiss her I smelled a metallic scent between copper and steel. Then I saw it coming for us: a massive bolt of lightning. My varúlfur speed was no match for the fingers of Odin.
Light erupted all around us. For a moment it seemed the entire world was made of it. I could not even see Sonya within it. Then it flung me backward. My back connected with something so hard that I had neither breath nor sight for a moment. When both came back I realized the rough texture at my back was the tree. Every part of my body ached and burned at the same time. Almost immediately, the burning in me faded to a warmth that meant my varúlfur abilities were working on healing me. I tried to rise to find Sonya but barely managed to turn my head. Even if I could have moved, the sight I saw would have frozen me in place.
The bolt of lightning still held Sonya in its white, crackling beam. But that was not possible. Lightning struck and was gone in an instant, or it was supposed to. She stood with her arms outstretched and lifted slightly toward the dark sky. Little strings of lightning crackled along her skin, over her arms and fingers. She began to laugh and dance like a child overwhelmed with delight. That was when I realized the lightning did not have a hold of her; she had a hold of it.
Once Bitten_Wolves of Hemlock Hollow Page 15