by Gina Manis
A kiss. I’ve never thought of sharing this with anyone before, but I am now. I close my eyes and wait for what feels like forever until finally, his lips brush against mine.
A kiss! An electrical charge and excitement courses through me as our lips meet. His lips are softer than I expect, warm and inviting. Ever so gently, he kisses me and pulls back, only to do it again and I shudder… in pleasure.
He explores every inch of my lips with his, making me want more. My hands tighten in his shirt over his chest as I lean into him, seeking his warmth and something more profound.
He presses his lips deeper into mine, sucking at my upper lip, and I taste his lower. I am surprised when I moan. He pulls back slightly, and I follow him, as he seals our kiss once more and deepens it.
I feel myself sway, and his arms tighten around me. He backs up and leans against a rock, and I lean into him. He continues to press his lips gently into mine, nipping them as I slowly open to him wanting to do the same.
His tongue darts out and caresses my lips. It is teasing me to do the same and I taste his lips, too. When our tongues touch, it sends a shock wave through me, and I bring my arms up, wrapping them around his neck. My mouth opens, and his tongue slips past my lips and circles mine.
This is so intimate and wondrous; all I can think about is more. I am satisfied that he freely explores my mouth now and beckons me to explore his. I give into his charm completely, loving my first kiss with Bran.
His hands roam up and down my back, and it is soothing even as he shifts and brings me between his legs. I don’t mind because it brings me closer to his lips, which I can taste more of. He doesn’t just smell of honey but tastes sweet too. I run my hands up and into his hair, pulling his face firmer against mine. He is like the drugs I have heard about that people use for pleasure. Is he a drug?
His hands tighten around me and his lips leave mine as I moan in protest. It is short as I gasp when his lips trail down my jaw bringing me a new and wondrous awakening. I never knew how sensitive that area was until now. He nips my ear lobe with his teeth, and I shudder even before he whispers in my ear, “Sweet as warm chocolate. You taste even better than I thought you would.”
His hand comes up and caresses my neck and chest. “Bran,” I moan his name more than call to him. I have never felt this sensation and urge to be closer to someone. A man.
“Do you want to stop, love?”
“No,” I whisper now, and he gives a breathless response that vibrates. I feel the tremble in his body pressed tightly against mine and know he is enjoying this as much I am. He kisses my chin and moves back up to my lips. As he takes mine, I feel him press harder into my mouth and I open wider for him, longing for more. His tongue circles mine, and they dance together in a rhythm in and out, touching and grazing one another.
Tasting him is like a potion or a favorite dessert mixed with cream on top. I would give up chocolate for a kiss like this every day. I am amazed at how natural I feel with him and that he is a comfort for me. I never dreamed of kissing a man and definitely not a stranger, but here I want to know more of him.
His hands run down my back and over my backside, pulling me tighter to him. I gasp at his touch as he massages my backside in his hands. I break from our kiss, needing air. “Bran?”
“I want you, Jenna,” he whispers as he trails kisses along my neck. “Would you like me to heal your body, as well?”
What other glorious pleasures could he show me? How far am I willing to go with him? I can’t seem to find the answers to my questions and ask, “Sh-should I?”
He reaches up and caresses my cheek as he pulls back and looks into my eyes. “I can stop at any time.” He raises a hand to travel down along my throat and further until he gently strokes the sensitive area between my breasts. I don’t stop him. I’m not even sure if I can at this point, even though he says we can. “Do you want me to touch you?”
I can't think with his lingering caresses. I am on the verge of some unforeseen cliff and know that Bran will catch me if I jump. “You are.”
“I want to touch your breasts and kiss the tips of them,” He says as his fingers release the first button of my blouse. I watch him as he does this, unable to look away from his eyes. “I can wipe all the pain away if you are ready to let go. Or you can wait for your friend to do it for you. Either way, you will no longer dream of your past.”
How is he so sure I won’t? His kiss is powerful and pleasurable, but can it stop my nightmares?
“Yes.” He smiles at me. “I will fill your dreams now. When you close your eyes each night, you will awaken once more in my arms. Does that sound appealing to you?”
I nod, hoping I will. I feel so trusting with him, so alive, and I have felt nothing like this before. So far, he has shown me nothing but kindness and new wonders. The idea of being with a man is still terrifying to me, but I don’t get those fears with Bran. I am safe with him.
He unbuttons another, his hand grazing inside just below my breasts. “Tell me, Jenna, How many more memories would you like me to leave you with?”
The idea of having sex with him is alluring. To think I could leave all of my past behind me. One that I have longed to do. But I am unsure. I don’t really know him, even though he is making me feel these things. The promises of never to dream those awful memories again seem so impossible. Am I ready to go so far with someone I don’t know?
“I don’t know,” and moan at the caress of his hand brushing my skin as he moves down to the last button.
“I tell you what,” he whispers as he looks down at my breasts, still bound by my wrap. He snaps the last button free and opens my blouse. His hands inch up my stomach, causing goosebumps all over my body. “I will touch your body at free will until I have removed all your clothes.”
I gasp as his heated palms come over my breasts and massage them, his thumbs raking across my nipples. Only my breast wrap separates my skin from his touch, but still the warmth is so enticing. I see the desire in his eyes, but it doesn’t scare me. He leans forward and grazes my neck along with my ear as he whispers, “And then, I am going to make love to you.”
His lips skim down as I feel a tug on my breast wrap, and for the first time, I feel unsure of this. I reach up, stopping his hands before he bares my body. “I’m not ready!”
I can’t do this! I want to, and I think I would like it, but I can’t. Not now. It feels too soon, and so many thoughts are running in my mind. What if I don’t like it? What if I end up with a child? I can barely take care of myself, much less an infant. I have no idea what I am doing. What if I end up dead by the end of winter?
He pulls back, looking at me as he raises both his hands from my breast and to my face, “That is all you have to say.”
He kisses me again, and I feel it all the way down and into my toes. He makes me want more, but it is too much for me. I’m not ready to take a man that way, not even him.
He pulls back and touches his forehead to mine, “Don’t forget me, Jenna.”
“I… I won’t.” I could never forget him and what he makes me feel. Maybe it is a mistake for me to say no.
“You still have a long road ahead, but you don’t have to be so scared. I will remind you of that, in your dreams.”
“Will I ever see you again?” I ask him. The idea I will never see him again sends a pain through my chest. I don’t understand this pull I have to him, but I don’t want to lose it.
“Do you want to?” he asks me.
“Yes,” I say, not hiding my feelings for him. I want to see him not just in the dreams he promises me. I want to see him in the flesh. So that maybe… in the future… We could revisit this moment again.
“Then I will find you,” he says with a soft smile. “But first, you must finish healing.”
Chapter Eight
Arrow
“Where is she?” I grab Alec up by the jacket in a rage the likes of which I have never felt before. “What i
s he doing to her?”
“He will not hurt her. My brother doesn’t do that,” Alec says, trying to pull from my grasp, but I have a death grip, and I want answers.
“Where are they?” I shake him. He and Jenna disappeared right in front of me as I reached them. I can’t believe she stepped into his arms. She doesn’t do that. He had to have done something to her.
“I don’t know, man, but he will bring her back. I swear, he will not hurt her.”
I don’t know what to do. Jenna is out there with some shifting wind element, and I am stuck here. She is lost to me, and I can’t protect her. I don’t know these men, but they are going to tell me everything about the son of a bitch who took her.
“You are going to tell me everything about him,” I literally spit in the man’s face as I talk. “And you’d better hope he brings her back unharmed, or else I swear to the Gods, you will all die tonight.”
I release him with a shove and look at the other two, standing there watching me. Scar is the first to speak, “Bran isn’t normal. You should have told us you had a woman here.”
“It was none of your business,” I pointed at him. “Tell me how he is different.”
“He is my brother, but not by blood,” Alec tells me. “His parents were killed when he was young, and my family took him in. He didn’t talk except with signs, and I learned to communicate with him. Three cycles ago, he came into his powers, but it changed him.”
“How?” I ask.
Alec looks at Scar and Seth before back at me, “He found a voice in the wind, but it isn’t like ours. When he speaks, it is a whisper, and it is… seductive. Even to a man.”
“Are you telling me he is seducing her?” I can barely contain my rage at the thought. Jenna, who can’t even stand a man's touch, is with… someone she can’t deny. What is this going to do to her?
“I don’t know. It is hard to understand,” Alec says, looking down. “All I can tell you is the effect he has on people.”
“And what is that?” I ask.
“He will bring her back, and there will be a glow about her,” Alec tells me. “I’ve seen it often in other females. I don’t know what he does, but they always seem grateful to him.”
“Jenna isn’t like others,” I tell him. “She doesn’t deal well with men. If he lays a hand on her, I am going to rip his head off.”
“You will not,” Alec says boldly to me. “She had to go willingly with him, and when she comes back unharmed, you will not lay a hand on my brother.”
“You better hope she does,” I say, not letting up. “And soon.”
“Why don’t we all take a seat and wait for them,” Seth chimes in. “Nothing is going to get settled until they return.”
The last thing I want to do is sit down and wait. I can’t get over the way he smiled at me before he disappeared. It was like he knew I couldn’t follow and shift as he did. Damn me because I can’t shift. Here I can grow wings, unlike most other Wind elements, but I don’t have that one elemental power.
Jenna. What made her step into his arms when she can’t bring herself to touch me? I’ve respected her boundaries and kept my distance. For cycles, I have wanted to get to know her and I thought this trip was my chance. Returning home is something I have wanted for a long time to do. Thomas, knowing I would one day, had asked if I would take Jenna. He knew she had been making plans to leave, and he had been encouraging Mountainside as a possibility for her.
I want her so badly and have been patient. I’ve given her space and denied what I’ve longed for, which is to hold and kiss her. I’d wait forever because I feel in my heart she can heal. The time may be slipping past me even now, as she is now in the arms of another. Will she turn away from me to him? Didn’t she already when she stepped into his arms, and they shifted away?
My mind is all over the place, and time seems to be taking forever. The men no longer talk as we remain in silence. It is obvious they dislike this also.
“His whisper is seductive.” My hands itch to wrap around his neck, thinking of those words again. Would he be able to seduce Jenna? The idea of him running his hand over her gives me chills. Would she like it?
I can just imagine the sound of her moans, but they are by my hands, not his. This is driving me crazy, and I can’t sit here any longer. I get up, walking around the camp. The others I know are watching me, and they should. I am unhinged.
When he appears at the edge of the camp, Jenna in his arms. I reach for her without thinking and pull her away, rearing back and slamming my fist in his face at the same time. I turn to her, unable to contain myself and touch her face, looking into her eyes.
“Are you okay?” I ask, my gaze scanning her and seeing her clothes on straight. Her hair is down, though, and not tied back as it usually is.
“I am okay,” she says, and I see the hint of a blush creeping into her cheeks as she pulls away from me. I let her go, knowing she doesn’t care too much for my touch.
“What did he do to you?” I asked, needing to know. She is glowing just as Alec said she would, and it rips at my heart. She went with him and allowed his touch when I have known her for cycles and have just now touched her for the first time ever… and she still pulls away.
“Nothing happened,” she says, looking away, and I know she is lying to me. There is a shy smile hiding on her lips, and she looks down.
“Don’t lie to me, Jenna,” I say forcefully. “You have been gone a long time with him, and I know you are not telling me the truth.”
“I… I can’t tell you,” she says, looking back up with uncertainty on her face. “It is personal, Arrow.”
I turn on the bastard who has stepped away and blast him with a force of my wind. He goes flying into the woods, and I go after him before he can get up and am on him, punching him in the face again just before he disappears from under me.
I look back and see him on the other side of the camp. I know I can’t beat the shit out of him like I want with his powers to shift away from me at every turn. It doesn’t help that there are three other men with us, and all of them are on his side.
“Arrow, please don’t.” Jenna steps forward and says. “He didn’t hurt me. He… he showed me something I needed to see.”
I ignore her, heading for the four men, about to kick all their asses to get to the one. He looks pleased with himself even as he rubs at his bruised chin. I plan to break it for him.
Jenna steps in front of me and places her hands on my chest, and I stop and look down at her hand in surprise. She is touching me, and I can feel the heat of her palm through my shirt. It makes me wonder if she can feel my heartbeat under it. She never touches me or gives me this much attention. Not on a personal level like this.
“Bran is my friend, Arrow,” she says, looking up at me with determination and protectiveness of him. The sweet feelings running through me turn sour as she calls him her friend. She has never called me that, and I am jealous beyond measure.
“You don’t have male friends,” I remind her, my teeth grinding together as I glare at the men behind her.
“I have you,” she says, and it snaps me out of some of my rage. She is still touching me, and I look down at her face. Gods, she looks so beautiful with her hair down. I have never seen her like this or felt her warm touch. A touch of her own free will, her voice like honey as she assures me, “I am okay, really.”
I can see that she is and I know that is the only thing that matters, but to think of what just happened? I can’t trust these men, not with the one person who means the world to me. I look over to the others and say, “You better leave while you can. If I ever see him again, I will put an arrow in his heart.”
“We will go,” Alec says to me as he motions to the others. They gather their sleds and start to leave. I watch them, but mostly Bran as he keeps looking at Jenna. She is watching him too, and I don’t like the look on either of their faces.
Something happened between
them and not knowing what infuriates me. All I can think about is his hands on her and that she allowed it. I move away from her, hurt and angry that she didn’t share that with me. I have known her for cycles, and this man comes along and, in just a few hours has her glowing.
Suddenly, he shifts to her and leans into her body as his arms come around her. I am moving instantly as he whispers something in her ear. I see the blush creeping back into her cheeks as he disappears before I can get to them. I look, and he is back at his sled and pulling it away.
We just stand there as it grows quiet around us once more. “Are you going to tell me what happened now that they are gone?”
She moves over to her bag and sits down on her bedroll, “I told you it is personal, Arrow.”
“I was scared out of my mind, worried for you!” I shout at her, and she jumps. “You left with him!”
“I… I needed to go.”
“Why?” I demand.. What does he have that I don’t?
“Because I could be with him,” she says, looking away. “I knew I could trust him.”
Those words slammed into me. “And you can’t trust me?”
“It had nothing to do with you, Arrow,” she tells me. “He helped me. At least, I think he has.”
“All I have tried to do this entire time is help you!” I shout at her, angry at the idea of what she did with him. “I thought we were building something. But I’m not good enough for you.”
“No, Arrow,” she stands up and steps towards me like she is about to touch me, but I step back.
“Don’t touch me,” I say to her, too angry at even her touching me now.
She turned to him, not me. She gave another the moment I had been looking forward to. It doesn’t matter to me she didn’t know how important it was or that I had built it up in my head.
She is surprised by my response, and maybe that is a good thing. I have a heart, too, and she needs to realize it. I don’t know how to show her without scaring her away. If I did, would she just run after him? I think that would be even more unbearable. To be left alone, never to see her again.