by Lori Aisling
“So we have to restore balance and destroy chaos. Sounds like an easy-peazy Saturday night in ‘Earth Realm: The End of Existence’. She snorted and flopped back on the grass, laying on her back and staring at the sky. The sun had started to set and the sky was painted with streaks of orange and pink.
“Talk to Bror. He is good at explaining things. Plus, you really need to create a bond with him as well. The more of your Others you bond with, the stronger our power will get. It is the only way for you to come into your full potential.”
“So he needs to bite me, too. Then he’ll be in my head with you?”
“There are numerous ways to bond with your Others. Blood is only one way.”
“What are the other ways?”
“Talk to Bror. He’ll explain more. I am going to bring the horses up to the barn and make sure we are ready to ride out in the morning. We have plenty of time to explain everything to you. Besides, there is only so much we can do without Bane and Caspian. You will not come into your powers completely until you have bonded with all four of your Others. Without the powers granted to you by the gods, you cannot defeat Chaos. In the meantime, keeping you safe is the best we can do. And that means we need to keep moving.” After dropping the bombshell that was their conversation on her, he stood up and walked away, leaving Bristol laying on the grass. She was confused, scared, overwhelmed and strangely enough, intrigued.
Bristol
Deciding it was her turn to bathe, she went into the house, grabbing a towel and a bar of soap then headed to the creek. Scrubbing the sweat and stench off her body, her mind tumbled around the conversation she had with Ristan. She still couldn’t believe any of this was real. She knew he had magic, she had seen his runes light up on his skin and pulse when he fought the chayn, but that did not mean that he couldn’t be wrong. She wasn’t the child of a goddess, she was just a stubborn farm girl from the Heartland. She felt tears pricking at her eyes as the sincerity of the situation settled on her. She scrubbed her skin harder, then dipped under the water to get started on her hair. Coming up for air, she wiped the water from her eyes and saw Bror squatted down on the edge of the creek bank, watching her. She crossed her hands over her breasts and sat down in the creek.
“Ristan told me you were here,” he said, dropping his gaze before standing and stepping into the creek. “Turn around. Let me do your hair.”
“It’s OK, Bror. I can do it. You are dressed.”
“They’ll dry,” he said, wading up to her. “Turn around,” he asked again, reaching down and taking the bar of soap from her hands. Resigned, Bristol turned her back to him and stood up. Bror gathered her waist-length hair in his hands and started working the soap into the thick mass. Working up to her scalp, Bristol felt his fingers massaging and scrubbing her head. It felt heavenly.
“It appears you have done this before.” She said as she felt some of the tension leave her as his fingers dug deep into her hair and scalp.
“A time or two,” he chuckled before he continued. “I know that Ristan laid a lot on you tonight and I am sorry. There really isn’t an easy way ta tell you everything you need ta know. Take comfort in knowin’ that he has gotten a lot better at this through the ages. There were a couple of times that the two of you really got into a tussle. I thought you just might kill him once or twice.” She could hear the humor in his tone.
“How many times have I met you?” She asked softly.
“Ah, my lady. Many times. Yet every time has been memorable beyond words,” he whispered. “Now, time to rinse.”
Bristol dunked under the water and rinsed all the suds from her hair. When she came up, she found Bror waiting with her towel next to the creek's edge, eyes downcast. She squeezed all the excess water from her hair and walked into the warm, dry terry cloth he held for her. Rubbing her body through the towel, he helped her dry off and offered her a hand to step onto the bank. Lacing her fingers through his, he led her to where she had left her clothes then turned his back to wait for her to dress. Bristol stood, staring at his back and her mind swirled with questions.
“Bror?”
“Yes?”
“Do you miss me? When you leave, or the gods take you, or however this works.”
“Oh, gods, woman,” he growled, spinning around and crashing into her. His lips fell to hers and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close. His leather pants, soaked from the creek, quickly saturated her towel and she could feel his body heat permeating through the thick cloth. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth and she accepted. He devoured her, his kiss filling her with a desire for more. She felt a familiarity or a sense of déjá vu perhaps as if she had kissed him before. He pulled her closer and ran his hand up her back to cradle her head as his tongue danced with hers. Rampant with need for this tall, powerful man, Bristol grabbed his shirt and pulled it up over his head and ran her hands down his muscular torso. His mouth left hers and traveled a path down to her ear to nibble on her lobe, then her neck, where he bit gently, then kissed his way back up to her lips.
“My soul bleeds for you, woman. When I’m not with you, a part of me dies. The only thing that drives me ta keep goin’ is knowing that someday we will find you again and I’ll be able to hold you in my arms. You are the only reason I don’t burn all the realms ta Hell when they take you from us.” He kissed her again and her towel fell to the ground, pooling around her ankles. Putting his hands under her butt, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him, holding him close. She could feel the button on his pants rubbing against her core and she ground into him, wanting more, wanting to feel his skin. She ran her hands into his blonde hair and pulled his head back, her lips making a path down his neck and along his shoulder. When she gently nibbled the spot where his shoulder met his neck, his breath began to shudder and she could see his runes lightly pulse a light ice blue color. Although she had enjoyed a few men in her past, more or less random hook-ups, and short-term relationships, she had never desired a man more then she did this one, right now.
“Put me down and take off your pants, Bror.” Her voice was thick with need.
“Wet leather, love. That may be easier said than done,” he chuckled, his head in her neck. Laying her on the ground, he stood and peeled the wet pants off before kneeling before her. Picking up her leg, he placed a kiss above her knee and kissed his way up. Reaching the juncture of her thighs, he paused and looked up at her.
“You are so beautiful, Bristol. Every time I think you couldn’t get more lovely, you prove me wrong time and time again,” he ducked his head between her thighs and slid his tongue through her folds. Her hips arched up and her breath left her in a rush when he found her nub and traced circles around it. Pulling it gently between his lips, Bristol moaned her approval. Sinking her hands into his hair, she let him take control of her body’s need for him. While sucking on her clit, Bror slipped one long finger inside her, slowly moving it in and out to the rhythm of his lips and tongue on that bundle of nerves that were slowly moving her towards a pinnacle of pleasure. Easing a second finger in to join the first, Bristol felt the additional pressure and it escalated her towards her release. Moaning and bucking against his face, she felt herself coming undone when he curled his fingers slightly upwards, rubbing against her g-spot. “Come for me, baby. I want to feel you surrender to me,” he whispered, before giving her clit one more solid flick with his tongue. It was the final push that sent Bristol over the edge, as she cried out her orgasm into the dark. Breathing heavily, Bristol struggled to keep a grasp on reality as she felt Bror kissing his way up her body. He paused to make a circle around her belly button as his mouth left a trail of fire across her flat stomach. Reaching her breasts, he pulled one nipple into his mouth and teased the tip, raking his teeth over the sensitive peak. He palmed the other one, the weight heavy against his hand, running his thumb over the nipple as Bristol pushed into him, his name falling off her lips as the intense feelings he was producing continued to wash o
ver her.
“Please, Bror. God, please.” she moaned.
“Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want.”
“I want you. I want you inside me. I want to feel you,” She looked at him, her pupils dilated in the low light, her lips puffy from their rough kisses.
Holding himself on his elbows, Bror lined himself up with her. She reached down and grasped his thick length and guided him to her. Staring into her eyes, he tipped his head and pressed his lips to hers as he pushed his cock into her wet core. A deep growl rumbled in his chest as he buried himself to the base, his pelvis touching hers. Dragging in a breath, he withdrew and thrust into her again, drawing out a cry from Bristol as she met his thrust. Grabbing his ass with her hands, she pulled him flush with her again as her body stretched to accommodate his size. Fully sheathed in her heat, Bror paused to give her a minute to adjust. Unable to hold back any longer, he pulled out and began to slide in and out of her body in a steady rhythm. She met his every thrust, her body hungry for him. Running her hands up his back, she curled her arms under his pits and grabbed onto the back of his shoulders as he continued to fill her. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she gasped as the position pushed him deeper inside her.
“So perfect,” he groaned. “So fucking perfect.”
With her legs encircling his waist, he came up on his knees with her still laying on her back. He held her hips and tilted them upwards. With the next thrust, Bristol felt his cock brush against that sensitive spot inside her. She urged him on with her cries and he responded, picking up the pace and intensity. Bristol felt him swell inside her and the additional pressure pushed her to her second release. Throwing her head back, this orgasm more powerful than the first, she let it take over her body as the overwhelming tide of pleasure rolled through her. Her sex tightened around him and he cried out her name as he buried himself to the hilt and his cock pumped cum deep inside her. In that instant, Bristol felt the tingling that always started in her belly and ran down her limbs. She saw the yellow glow around the edge of everything around her. She heard Bror’s contented chuckle as he spoke.
“There she is. There’s my girl. You feel me now?”
“Umm. Well, after what we just did, I think you know I can feel you,” Bristol giggled.
“No, I mean, can you feel me like this,” he said inside her head.
“Wow! Hello, there. I think I could get used to this,” she projected. “This is what Ristan meant when he said there were other ways to bond to my Others, isn’t it?”
“Yes, this is by far the most enjoyable method.”
“If we talk like that, can Ristan hear us?” She asked.
“Only if we want him to. We can both open ourselves to him and he can hear both sides, or if only one of us projects to him, then he will only hear that person. It comes in handy when we need ta be quiet, but continue to communicate during battle.”
“Can we try it?”
“Ristan. Bristol wants you ta know that you are on the hook for cookin’ breakfast in the morning.”
“Wait! I didn’t say that! Ristan, can you hear me?”
“Very loud and clear, dear.” Bristol could hear the humor in his tone.
“I’m yelling in your brain again, arent, I? But you are so far away from us. I thought I would need to talk louder.”
“Nah, it doesn’t work like sound. Just a normal thought, you don’t need to push volume into it. Unless you want my eyes to bleed,” he joked. “I am happy that you have bonded. Now you two really need to get back here and get some sleep so we can leave early.”
“Ten-4, boss,” Bristol replied.
Snuggling onto Bror’s chest, Bristol sighed. “I don’t want to go back yet. I want to stay here where everything is perfect and not worry about anything else.”
“Then that is what we will do. I have been apart from ya for so long, I don’t have any sense of urgency ta let you go so soon. And I have less desire ta see you in those clothes. You are perfect just like this,” he said, running his finger up her ribcage.
“Is this going to get weird soon? I mean, we had sex. It’s a form of bonding with my Others, which means I have slept with all of you guys at some point, I assume. Are the other Others... whoa, that just sounds weird, going to get mad or jealous? Who did I sleep with last time?”
“We are all your Others, love. All four of us.”
“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” She asked, disbelief in her voice.
“I think so. Remember, your strongest power will be your balance. If there were ta be discord amongst your Others, how would that be balance? We were created for you. Not just ta fight for ya, but to balance you in all aspects. There is no jealousy between the Others. Don’t get me wrong, take one look at someone outside of us and the poor bastard will probably bleed. Ristan and Bane are particularly protective of you outside of our group. But you never need ta worry about that. We do a very good job of making sure you are sated and have no need for outside entertainment,” he teased, tickling her ribs.
Giggling, Bristol sighed deeply. “I don’t understand why this is so not normal, yet somehow it feels normal, you know what I mean?”
“This is new for ya. This life is all you remember. For now. Once you have reunited and bonded with all four of your Others, certain things will be almost instinctive. Your abilities, your end goal. They will all come to you. Even though you technically just met me, I was made for you. All four of us were. The gods were very clever when they created us and it’s only natural that you will feel a connection of sorts with all of us even though we are strangers to you now.”
“I have to trust you, Bror. I have no point of reference to compare any of this to. I do feel like I’ve known you for longer than just this one day. I feel comfortable and safe with you. And that is not my nature, so I believe there is something to this. And there’s another thing,” she pulled herself up to straddle him and leaned down to run her lips across his chest. “I’m not done with you yet,” working her way up to his mouth, she captured his lips with hers.
“I can accept that,” Bror whispered against her lips as he rolled her onto her back to worship her body again.
Bristol
Bristol’s eyes opened right as dawn was beginning to crack. She was wrapped around Bror, her head on his chest, their legs intertwined. She smiled when she thought of their evening together. Never had she felt so accepted, revered and beautiful. They had snuck back into the old farmhouse late in the night like a couple of teenagers after curfew. She knew that everyone would be rising soon and they needed to get on the road. Ristan and Bror had both been adamant that the chayn would follow them, and getting a head start was a good plan. She was actually excited to spend more time with the two big men that had crashed into her life, changing everything she thought she knew. The surprising part was she actually believed them; and she believed that she had known them before. This was the only explanation for how safe she felt around them. Her head was still spinning with the possibility of her ‘mission’ on this realm, as they called it, but she was willing to listen, learn, and fight to save this world, her friends, and the two men that had already done so much for them.
She began unwinding herself from the man curled around her and he stirred. His breath tickled her neck and he caught her earlobe between his teeth and nibbled, sending shivers down her spine.
“Good morning, baby,” he whispered in her ear.
“Good morning, back,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Time to get up and get going.”
“Yes. Ristan will be angered that you’re up before him. That doesn’t happen very often. He is usually the early riser.”
As they dressed and began folding and rolling the bedding, Ristan exited a bedroom and headed to the kitchen.
“Coffee,” he mumbled as he stumbled past them.
“Good morning to you too, sugar,” Bristol joked. He muttered something unintelligible and started putting the grounds in the pot after toss
ing a match into the wood cookstove.
The door burst open and a very distraught and frazzled-looking Jayson stood in the doorway. “We gotta go!” He yelled. “Right now!”
Suddenly awake and alert, Ristan started cramming the rest of the supplies they had left out for breakfast into the open saddlebag.
“Boz! Jessie! Get up! We have to go, now! Jayson, what the hell is going on?” Bristol screamed as she tried to help Ristan grab as many supplies as they could shove in the available packs.
A huge tigress ran through the open door and immediately shifting, Jessie lay on the floor, gulping in huge breaths, her sides heaving. Jayson dropped to his knees next to her, cradling her head.
“I’ll get the horses ready,” Bror said as he headed out the door.
“Jayson! Jessie! What the hell is going on? Boz! Now!” Bristol hollered. Boz flew into the living room, two packs over his shoulder, eyes wide.
“I’m here. I’m ready, what the fuck is going on?” He asked, his usual calm demeanor slipping.
“Chayn. Anyway, that is what we think it is. It kind of looked like a morning storm, like dark clouds coming in on a breeze,” Jayson said. “But then it got close enough that we could see the shapes. It’s a fucking cloud of them or something like them. I knew I could make it here fast and Jessie is faster when she’s shifted, so we just ran as fast as we could. Someone get her some clothes. We gotta get the fuck out of here,” he exclaimed. “Jess, honey, are you ok?”
“I am fine. Let me up. I just needed to catch my breath,” she said, climbing to her feet. “Don’t worry about the clothes, I am shifting again anyway. Fuck, you guys, there is a lot of those damn things. More than we have a snowball’s chance in hell at fighting. Are we ready?”
“It’s a horde. Let’s ride,” Ristan said grabbing the rest of the packs and heading out the door.