by Gina Manis
“Does the pain move down into your shoulder?”
“Yes, some,” I tell him as he rubs the oil on his palms. They are so big and strong and most likely could break me in half if he cared to. Arrow would not hurt me.
“Just try to relax,” he says, and hold out his hands, ready to start. I nod and turn back around, telling myself to stay calm. Nothing is going to happen with Arrow.
His touch is gentle, and I don’t resist as he starts at my neck and moves to the side over the sore area. He puts some pressure into it, and I can’t help the soft moan that escapes me at the slight pain. It is a good pain, and I know it is going to help. Arrow always helps me.
“Do you like that?”
“Yes,” I say, letting my head hang down in front of me and relax completely. His hands feel sincere to me, and I want to moan again but hold it back.
“Tell me if I get too hard.” His voice is a little husky, but it sounds like perfection. As his hands glide over me, moving across my shoulders and down my back slightly, I can’t contain the moan any longer. I feel him releasing me from the pain with his touch, but it is more than just that. The roughness is as soothing as the warmth of his hands.
As he works at the center of my back between my shoulder blades, I arch my back into his touch seeking the release of tension in my shoulders. “Harder.”
He does, bringing his hands back up and around my neck. I sway back and forth as he presses his fingers harder into my skin, taking away the pain. There is no fear with his touch, and I invite it as he works along my neck and shoulders.
“I think you might like this too much.” I feel his breath on me, realize how close he is, and I can’t keep myself from relaxing into his warmth. It is incredible how hard he feels, but how gentle he is. I’ve never let myself enjoy the warmth of another person before. The experience is novel to me, and I want to welcome these new sensations.
He groans and I feel him shudder against my back. I look down and realize my hands are running down his legs on either side of me. I shouldn’t touch him like this and pull my hands away.
“Jenna.” He whispers my name, and it is like a calling to me. I rest my head back, taking in his warmth, his pulse, and his scent.
“Arrow.” His lips touch my neck then, and I whimper softly as I shudder.
“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling back. “I shouldn’t have.”
Bran's warning comes to mind for me not to move too fast, but I am enjoying this. I don’t feel the urge to pull away but instead want Arrow to continue.
“No,” I say breathlessly. The things I am feeling are new and exciting. I want to discover more of him. “Don’t stop. Please.”
After a brief pause, his lips connect with my skin, and I shudder again with pleasure from it. He rains sweet kisses along my shoulder as his hands run down my arms now. He kisses my jaw, my cheek, and I turn my body more, wanting to taste him.
I lift my hand into his soft hair as our lips meet. He nibbles at mine and circles his lips around as I do the same. I feel myself leaning to my side and into his arm as it orbits around my body. I am so aware of every inch of him and of myself, but we are not nearly close enough.
His tongue slips into the edges of my mouth, and I moan as I open for him. He groans as he deepens the kiss, and we both give in ultimately at the same time.
I twist in his arms, and he helps me, allowing me to turn more into our kiss. He tastes of my apples and cinnamon pie. My legs go over his, my body is flattened against his as I wrap my arm around his back. I feel his hand running up my leg as he cups my hip and pulls me closer. His other hand is in my hair, holding me into our kiss.
His lips leave mine, and I protest, but then I feel them along my jaw, moving down my neck. I gasp as I let my head fall back into his embrace. He sucks at my neck, and I arch my body, absorbing his lips on me.
I have felt nothing so delicious or remarkable in my life. His lips travel further down to my chest, and I forgot my shirt is unbuttoned until now. I raise my head and look at him, seeing him kiss the tops of my breasts. It sends a warning through me that this is going too far.
“No, Arrow,” I say, pushing this shoulder slightly. “Don’t kiss me there.”
He doesn’t listen as his kiss continues, and he pushes my shirt further open, exposing one of my nipples.
My dress rips down the front of me as my arms are pinned down. I scream into a hand as one pinches my flesh.
“No!” I cry as I feel his mouth close over my nipple. I pull his hair, and I struggle to get up.
“Jenna, wait.”
Arms wrap around me, “hold her still, boy!”
“Let me go!” I shout as I hit and scream. I have to get away! I can’t!
I suddenly am released, and I fall away from him, landing hard on my side.
“Jenna!” I hear my name as arms paw at me. I scream and kick him away, scrambling backward on the ground. Crawling in the dirt as I have before, trying to get away before he hits me.
I feel hands grabbing my arms and lifting me in the air, and I kick out, needing desperately to getaway. I scream again, locked in an embrace I can’t stand. Suddenly, I am swung up in the air, and I fight against the body holding me.
“Don’t. Stop. Please don’t,” I cry as I punch and shove, kicking out as hard as I can until finally, I am falling in the air and land on something soft. I push back as far as I can until I feel the wall trapping me. The tiny store building is dark, and the bugs start to crawl over me.
I crumple into a ball, weeping for it all to go away. I am the little girl again, abused and broken, left for dead. I give in to death, asking it to come to me.
“Jenna, I am sorry,” I hear the words, but they don’t register as I start my chant, knowing death wouldn’t come. It never came for me. I rock not being able to stay still from the bugs as I chant, trying to put the fear away.
“It’s a dream. A bad dream. It’s not real.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Arrow
I can do nothing for her as I watch her hold herself tightly in a ball, saying the same words repetitively. What have I done? Everything had been perfect, and then she just lost it. I don’t understand what happened, but I know I caused this. I am the reason she is out of her mind in fear now.
I leave the house, closing the door behind me. Her cries are heartbreaking, but I know I can’t help her. I am only making whatever she is going through worse.
I rip my shirt off, throwing it to the ground as I bring my wings out and spring into the air flying way too fast. I must get away from here.
What just happened between us? For so long, I have wanted to hold her in my arms, to touch her, and today I had. She allowed me to, and I took it too far. We kissed, and it had been sweet magic as she responded to me.
It was when I touched her breast she became violent and fought against me. I tried to stop her, knowing she would fall, but she panicked, and I let her go. She fell away from me and over the porch unto the hard ground. I wanted to help her up; but her eyes had changed completely like she wasn’t even seeing me anymore. She screamed in terror, but I couldn’t have her running off in the woods as it was turning dark.
The only thing I could think of was taking her into the house. When I picked her up, she kicked and screamed, and I can still hear her pleads in my ears. When I dropped her on the bed and she scrambled to get away, I backed away from her and watched as slowly she calmed down. She curled into a ball, chanting to herself, and I remembered then the night she had asked me to leave her once before.
It was her nightmares she relived, and the chant had somehow become her way of dealing with them. I can’t imagine the pain and abuse she had to have suffered from those men. How they had… No! I don’t want to see it or think about it. It is heartbreaking to think of what she has lived through.
I dive over the edge of the mountains, falling recklessly to the bottom before turning up. I don’t know how lo
ng I have been out here, but I hear the wolves in the distance starting to howl. I rise over the hills spinning out, close to hitting a tree.
They hurt her, possibly even beyond repair. I thought she could overcome it with time, hell I thought she was, but I just set back all the progress she has made. I should never have kissed her when she turned to me. I should have let her lead, but I lost it as soon as our lips met.
Faster I fly and the more daring I become as I come to the peaks at the top. The gust of wind is more substantial, and I feel myself losing control in my own wind. I’m not thinking of what I am doing and instead of pushing the burst away, I let it hit me full force. Suddenly it slams me into the jagged cliff edges, and I fall. My mind blurs as I see trees rushing at me. I flap my wings, trying to turn before I hit them.
I hit one and then another before I land on the ground with a jarring vibration all down my body. I am hurt, but it is what I deserve. The world around me blurs even more, and I pull my wings around me as everything goes dark.
◊ ◊ ◊
My entire body is sore as I wake and move. One of my wings is bent under me and at a weird angle. The other lays over me like a blanket, and they both have kept me warm in the bed of snow where I landed. I look around and know I am somewhere in the mountain peaks but I’m not sure where.
I groan as I sit up and stretch my still muscles. I remember crashing in the cliff and then the trees. My wings hurt, and I know I can’t fly out of here, at least not right now. Slowly, I make it to my feet and feel an even worse, sharp pain in my side.
I see I am between three cliffs with only one way leading out. I know I can’t walk with my wings out and need to pull them in, but it will hurt like hell. There is a pain in my right one from where I hit the cliff, and bending it hurts.
I take a deep breath and stretch them out before bringing them in, crying out as they form back into my back, and the pain fills my shoulders now. It is cold here without a shirt, and so I move to keep warm.
I call my powers to levitate and rise into the sky. It is not flying, but at least I can see where I am. Once I crest the mountain, I keep going up and into the light. The wind is fierce here and blows me around. I let it hope it will lead me closer to home.
Home where Jenna is. I don’t know how I am to face her, but I need to make sure she is okay. I see the way home, but I am days away if I have to walk the whole way. I should never have taken off as I had, but it is too late for that now. I need to get back.
I drift in the right direction, but as I move down the mountain, the wind gusts calm and movement comes to a standstill. My only other option is to land and walk from here. Flying is still not an option. I decide the best thing I can do is make camp for the rest of today and heal. I could be home tomorrow faster than trying to spend the day walking and getting nowhere close to home. I need to give my body a chance to heal some and tomorrow hopefully, I can fly.
I hope Jenna is okay.
◊ ◊ ◊
“Aww!” I call out as I bring my wings back out. The right one has the most pain, but I know I will fly today as I move them around. I flex and work the stiffness out as best I can before I finally attempt it. I should never have been so reckless. My mind hadn’t been on what I was doing, but on Jenna.
Within the hour, I am home, but I do not go to the house. I sit along the tree lines, watching Jenna as she practices with my bow and arrows. It makes me proud to see she is hitting the target now.
She seems okay, but I am afraid to face her and see her reaction. What if she doesn’t want to see me still? Would she ask me to leave? The thought of it is too much, and I stay put.
I watch as she goes about her day as she hangs some clothes, milks the cow, and it looks like she shells some pecans from a bucket on the porch. Sometimes she looks out, and I wonder if she is looking for me.
As night comes on again, I still haven’t gotten up enough nerve to face her. Instead, I bed down, promising myself tomorrow I will. It wouldn’t do to sleep in the same house with her showing up now, even if she invites me to stay. I don’t think either of us would get any sleep.
Tomorrow, I will make amends. I will get up early, gather the eggs, milk the cow for her, and leave them on the porch. She will know I have returned and be looking for me. I swear to myself I will not frighten her again. If she ever comes to me again, I will not let my own desires cloud my judgment. I will make sure to know she is ready.
We will have to take a step back. I feel she will want to try in the future, and I can wait. I can wait forever for her.
The next morning, I milk the cow and gather the eggs and then take off to set some traps. I know she has to be running low on meat by now and could use some.
I am about halfway through the traps when I pick up on the scent of smoke in the air. There should be no fires in the area, as there was no storm last night to start one with lightning. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I move through the woods to investigate where it is coming from.
A campsite with an extensive fire burning, but no one is around. This isn’t normal at all, and my thoughts automatically turn to Jenna. I turn to go back, but suddenly, two men are standing in my path.
“This is private property,” I tell them, not liking how they hold their weapons. I haven’t been in Mountainside for a long time and don’t know if they are from here. If they are, they wouldn’t look so on guard.
“Oh, we know whose property it is,” One of them says. “And it doesn’t belong to you, but the cute little redhead.”
Knowing instantly, they are here for Jenna. I pull my blades from my belt. “You better state your business with me, though. She doesn’t take kindly to people on her land.”
“A little hellcat she is, our friend has said,” The other says with a smile. “He promises we can have a turn with her when he is finished. Jared might take a few days since he has such an itch for her. He is somewhat obsessed with getting between her legs again.”
“Jared?” My blood runs cold, hearing that name. It is hard to believe he would come all this way.
“You roughed up our friend pretty bad before you left. It took him awhile to heal, but did you think he was going to let it slide?”
Jared has always been a hindrance to Jenna. That night in the alley hadn’t been the only time he has tried something with her. It was why Thomas had always walked her home, and when he couldn’t, I followed. “I see now I should have killed him.”
“If you did, it wouldn’t be just us here,” another says as he forms fire in his hands. “Time for payback.”
“What’s the matter? Jared can’t face me like a man? He has to bring his friends to do the dirty work?”
“He wanted to say hello to his woman first,” the other says as he forms fire, too. “But we promised we would let him finish you off.”
They throw their fire at me, and I block them with my blades, and it shatters into sparks around me. The men separate then and move to either side of me. I know I cannot keep this up from two sides and need to get back to the house. I fear Jared is already there. I can deflect them and throw the fire back at them, but fire on a fire element does little good. The forest is dry around me and most likely will go up in flames if I miss my target. They don’t know I am wind yet, and so I try a different approach.
“What’s the matter? You two are afraid I will whip you too like I did Jared. You have to use your fire on me, instead.”
“Cut the crap with us, Arrow.” One of them says. “We asked around in town about you and found out you are a Wind element.”
“I promise not to use mine if you don’t,” I say, knowing there is no way they will now. I also know they are a distraction, and I need to finish this fast.
“Ben light it up,” says to the other, and before I can say anything, he blows fire from his mouth out at the forest to his side. The tree goes up instantly into flames, and there is no way I can stop it. The other blows fire on the other side o
f me, doing the same thing. The forest is ablaze around us now, and we are all in the middle.
To a fire element, they can just walk through them. I can fly out, but they will be on me in no time. The only lucky thing about this is the fire is a distance from the house and will blow in the opposite direction.
“What are you going to do now, Wind?” One of them asks me.
“Good question,” I ask, flipping my blade in my hand and hurling it at him. He seems surprised when it lands in his chest, but I don’t take the time to watch him die. I leap through the air and enact my levitation as I attack the other with my blade.
He blocks my attack with his long sword. Our blades don’t match as his a sword, and mine is just a hunting knife, but we still circle each other as the other man finally hits the ground.
“You son of a bitch! That is my brother,” he shouts at me as he glances at the dead man.
“You shouldn’t have followed Jared,” I tell him.
He roars in anger and attacks, swinging his blade at me. I duck and come back up, kicking him in the chest as I flip over and land back on my feet.
I would love to take the time to beat the shit out of him for setting my mountain on fire, but I have other things to do.
I leap on him as he falls to the ground and, without another word, plunge my blade into his chest. Just as I do so, I hear a female scream in the distance and know it is Jenna. She is in the woods somewhere.
Ripping off my shirt, I call to my wings and leap into the sky.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jenna
I cried myself to sleep last night thinking of Arrow. It has been two days, and I fear he will not return. Why would he after what I did? We had kissed, and then I turned into a raving loon.
My emotions have been all over the place since that evening. When my panic had finally calmed down, I had been scared to face him at first. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized he had left me. Deep loneliness set in then, knowing I was all alone. I know it was what I wanted when I first came here, but it isn’t anymore. Arrow and I have become a team. We are more than that. I don’t know what is wrong with me. Why did I react the way I did?