Arrow's Wind (The Healing Touch): The Elemental Realms

by Gina Manis

  She gasps, and I watch her touch her chest. “You were so young and broken, but I couldn’t leave. I was in love with you from the moment I met you, and Thomas knew it. He warned me to stay away from you, but he never kept me from coming around. I watched you, but I kept my distance, knowing I was too old. That, combined with my past, told me I didn’t deserve you, and I had no idea what to do with my feelings. But I couldn’t just leave.”

  She stands up and walks to me and takes a seat in my lap. I treasure the touch of her hand as she touches my face and settles herself on me. She looks so beautiful as she looks at me. I wish she would speak and tell me how she feels. I know that she loves me, but I am still scared that she is ultimately not ready for me.

  “I love you, Jenna,” I whisper to her, touching my forehead to hers. “I will always love you.”

  She raises my face to hers then and kisses me. I don’t dare move away, needing to taste her. I deepen the kiss, pulling her tighter against me. She sighs as her arms come around my neck, and the feel of her hands traveling down my back, pulling herself closer, is my undoing. Her hand runs across the area as it did early where my wings come out, and it sends a vibration of need and desire through me.

  I kiss her with increasing demand as I slip my tongue in her mouth to taste her fully. I let my hands run freely over her back and hip, but I stop them from traveling anywhere else. Our kiss is passionate and I am on the verge of losing control, but I will not allow myself to do so with her again.

  Her hands are at my shirt, and I feel her unbuttoning it. I groan into her mouth, wanting her touch, but know I will be lost if I allow it. I let her continue, though, needing to kiss her for a moment longer. As her hand slips inside the opening of my shirt and pushes it off my shoulder, I finally pull back.

  “No, Jenna,” I rasp against her lips as I pull her hand away from me. “I want you so badly, but I can’t. Not until you say it. Not until you tell me you love me.”

  She lifts her head from mine and looks hurt, but I can still see her desire. I know she wants this now as I do, but she is not healed yet. I will not take the chance of taking us backward again.

  She reaches for her throat and mouths the words to me, “I love you.”

  My heart breaks, knowing she still can’t vocalize the words, but wants to. I hug her to me and tell her, “I know you do. I know you want this as much as me, but I don’t think you are ready, still.”

  She shakes her head and pulls back, mouthing the words to me again.

  “Until you can talk and speak to me again, you are not ready, Jenna.”

  Tears well in her eyes as she moves away from me. I know I upset her, but this is how it has to be.

  “Don’t be angry at me,” I tell her. “I don’t want us to move too fast and have what happened last time come between us again.”

  She shudders, and I hope I didn’t remind her of what happened after that day. I still haven’t told her about Jared, and I am not about to do so now. I’m not sure if I should, at all. She doesn’t remember it, and I am afraid it will only hurt her more.

  “We should get some rest,” I tell her, standing up and moving to the other side of the room. I need some distance from her before I lose my resolve. “It is late, and we need to leave early.”

  I turn to see her going to her bag and pulling out her nightshirt. I force myself to turn around and not watch her. Instead, I pull my shirt the rest of the way off and then sit on the bed to remove my boots. I stand again, removing my pants and leaving on just my underthings. Turning, I see her already in the bed, facing away from me.

  I hope she isn’t crying, but I can’t bear to see the tears if she is. I hasten to the table and extinguish the light and climb into my own bed. I just lie there, staring up at the dark ceiling for the longest time before closing my eyes.

  I feel a dip in my bed, and the covers lift. Jenna is there, crawling into the bed beside me. I hold out my arms, and she comes into them, cuddling her soft body into mine. Having her this close is hard, but I understand it is another step for her.

  “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” I whisper to her in the dark. “I don’t ever want to hurt you.”

  She just presses harder into me as her hand rests over me. I take it that she is okay now and close my eyes, content just to hold her for now.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Jenna

  “Why do you whisper and not speak?” I ask Bran as we sit on the ledge above the waterfall. The day is pretty, and I can hear the birds’ chirping carrying on the breeze. Our dreams together always seem so real at times. Even the apple we eat is juicy and delicious.

  “I was born deaf and never learned to speak,” he tells me with a sad smile. “When I gained my powers, they had an unusual effect on me. With wind’s help, I found a voice in a whisper.”

  “And your hearing?”

  “I hear too much. Things others do not.” He throws the apple core off the ledge as he turns, smiling at me. “I can hear your heartbeat and your thoughts.”

  “Then you know what I am going to ask. Do you think I can whisper like you?” I ask Bran, wanting to talk with Arrow but still cannot.

  “You haven’t tried?”

  “No. I have tried to speak, but the words still do not come.” I tell him. “I bought a book today on signs. I thought Arrow and I might use it.”

  “It should help but… I think it is time you let Arrow in,” he says, looking away. I feel that I have let him in but Arrow now holds himself away from me. I am also scared I will push Arrow away like I did the last time.

  “He is just as scared as I am to take that step again,” I admit to Bran. “I should have listened to you before when you said it was too soon.”

  “You are past that now,” he whispers as he touches my cheek. “It is time.”

  “I don’t know how.” I look down in shame. “I let him touch me, unlike before. I’m always giving hints that I am ready, but he doesn’t seem to pick up on them.”

  “You could always try to seduce him.”

  “Bran!”

  “Well, it isn’t like he could deny you,” he says in a quiet chuckle. “At least not for long.”

  “I don’t think I can do that,” I tell him, shaking my head. I don’t know how to seduce someone like you.

  “Why not? You are a woman and a very sensual one, even if you don’t know it.”

  “I don’t know.” I don’t feel sensual, and this conversation is not as comfortable with Bran as it once was. We haven’t spoken of our feelings, but he can read my mind. He has to know how I feel.

  “Be daring, Jenna. Try taking your clothes off again.” He leans towards me and says, “I bet you have a voluptuous body. He won’t be able to resist. I know I couldn’t.”

  The heat rushes into my face. I don’t know what came over me, undressing in front of Arrow for bed that night. Shocking him was my goal, and it worked, I think. He still treats me like a fragile doll and has sworn not to try anything until I speak to him again. But I’m not sure if I will ever find my voice again.

  “You refuse me,” I say, shrugging my shoulder.

  “That is because we are here.” holding up his arms and looking to the sky. He turns back to me and winks, “When I am with you in human form, well, I plan on using all my charms on you.”

  Bran seems to know me better than anybody, maybe even more than Arrow. We have talked about seeing each other again, but I don’t know if we will. He is in my mind, and this could all not be real. In some ways, it would explain why he seems to know me so well.

  “You think it would work?” I ask him and add quickly, “I mean removing my clothing?”

  “Why don’t you wake up and take them off.” He leans over to me again. “Wake up, Jenna.”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  I open my eyes at Bran's last words, and I am lying in bed with Arrow. He sleeps soundly beside me, and I watch him breathe calm and slow. For the longest time, I lie the
re and think of Bran telling me to remove my clothes. He can be daring at times with his suggestions, even if he is usually right.

  I try to whisper to Arrow in the dark, but the whisper won’t come any more than my words. I guess that is out of the question. Maybe I should try to seduce him, as Bran says. I no longer want to hold myself apart from Arrow, even if he thinks it is best. Do I have enough courage to try it? Would Arrow be able to resist if he wakes, and I am naked in his arms? It is such a bold idea, and finally, I think it just might work.

  Rising in bed, I pull my nightshirt off before thinking more of it. I leave my underthings on and lay back down beside Arrow. He moves to pull me back in his arms but doesn’t wake. There is a sensual feel as our skin touches, and I love the heat of his body pressed against mine.

  I know he has seen me naked before, as he has tended to me when I couldn’t. I also know he never touched me in doing so. We are doing so much better than we were before, but I wonder how he will look at this. Will he finally touch me?

  It is time we move into the future. I know I can’t speak as he wants me to, and hope the book helps us learn to communicate once more. There are so many things I want to tell him about how I feel and the things I want for us. We need a change, and it has to come from both of us.

  I enjoy lying with him like this. The thought of sleeping with him every night, his body keeping me warm, is a pleasant thought. If there is one thing I can change, maybe it should be joining him every night if he allows it.

  He says he loves me, that he always has. He says he knows I love him. The only thing I can think of that truly holds him back is pity for me because of what has happened, but I don’t fear Arrow like I once did. He has proven to me repeatedly his love and devotion. I have no reason left to fear, and I want to express my love to him with my body if I cannot with my words.

  Being intimate scares me some, but not so much with Arrow. I can’t see doing that with anyone but him. Maybe with Bran, if he was real. Arrow is still the one I want to be with. I want him to show me passion and to experience his gentle touch and caresses on my skin. No one could show me the joys that others find in being intimate but him.

  His confessions of his past and being with that mean Darla and other women annoy me slightly. Arrow is older than I am, and I can’t fault him for having a life. I just wished in some ways we were both untouched and that our first time would be together. It is the same with Bran and what he does. Ironic that the two men I desire have been with so many others.

  I shouldn’t be so judgmental about it. Many people have multiple relationships before they marry and even in their marriage. It isn’t something I have ever cared to think much about in the past, but now I do. Because now, I am ready to be a part of the living again. I want to let my past rest in the past once and for all. And I want Arrow to show me how.

  I remember the first time I met him when I was just fifteen. Arrow had to have been twenty-five, as he is ten cycles older than me. He had come home with Thomas after work to have dinner with us. He was so large and muscular, he scared me right off with his size, and I stayed far away from him.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him watching me. He didn’t have that look of pity then; most likely, he didn’t know my past. His gaze had been curious, and I remember him speaking to me in a voice so tender for a male I had almost liked it. He had asked me a question, but I don’t recall what it was. All I remember was getting up and going to my room until he left. I had felt something stir inside, and it scared me.

  After that night, when I glanced at him again, I saw the pity I hated so much. Somehow, he knew what happened to me and whatever he made me feel that first time disappeared as fast as it came. He spoke several times, and I would come back in a sharp tone or ignore him completely. No matter how many times he came to eat dinner with us, I would have nothing to do with him.

  How could he have loved someone like me? Who was so rude and hated him because of what he was? I would never have given him a chance in Star Kingdom. I was so unsure for so long. Now I see that leaving was always the best thing for me, and I’m so thankful he came with me because I love him now. I love him with every beat of my heart, and I want so badly to tell him.

  My eyes are becoming sleepy now, and I close them wanting to rest. In the morning, things will change for us. I plan to make sure they do.

  I turn over in Arrow’s arms, and he moves to lay his arm over me and cuddle up to my back. I smile, half asleep now and knowing he sleeps so hard, unlike me. His hand rests on my stomach, and I bring it up between my breasts and over my heart, holding it to me.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  “Why are you naked?” His warm breath on my shoulder as his lips nip at it awakens me. I don’t realize I am lifting my arm until my fingers run in his hair. I stretch out my legs, grazing and intertwining them with his. The hair from his legs feels soft and tickles me slightly.

  I inhale as I turn my head up to his, and as he looks at me in the dim morning light, I pull his lips to mine. I kiss him, and it feels so blissful, half in and out of sleep. He groans and gives in entirely to my kiss; the passion flowing freely between us.

  I turn in his arms, pressing my breasts into his chest as I wrap my arms around his neck. His hand lifts my leg around him by the back of my thigh, and then travels to my back and pulls me tighter to him.

  There is a hardness pressing into my stomach, and I recall the glance I had of his male form last night as he bathed. Curious about his body, I let my hand run down his chest and stop before going any further. I’m not sure if I should touch him there. What would he do if I did?

  His kisses are awakening these urges in me I don’t fully understand. There is a promise of love from his lips, and it has a stimulating effect on my senses. Desire is building inside me and raises a hunger I’ve never felt before.

  He breaks away from our kiss, breathing in deeply as I kiss along his jaw and down his neck. “Jenna, Gods, you are too tempting to me.”

  Good, I think, running my hands down to his stomach, and he hisses. I want to be. Running my tongue down his chest, I know I have to be daring. I let my hand continue on its course down his body until he grabs my hand as I get closer to touching that hard area of him.

  He pushes me back on the bed and comes over me, and my legs slip around his cradling him as he keeps my hand in his, pressed to the bed. I still have one free and use it to pull his face down, kissing him with all the need I have for him.

  A moan escapes him as he pulls back and takes my other hand pulling it above my head, trapping me beneath him. It doesn’t scare me, though, but excites me. “You’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?”

  I smile at him and close my eyes, arching my body up into his. I rub the heels of my feet up the back of his thighs, and he presses into me then. My core feels his body so close to me there, and yet our clothing still separates us. I grow dizzy, thinking of how it will feel when there isn’t anything between us. His skin feels so good on mine. I can’t imagine it feeling anything but just as incredible there.

  He stops us there and pulls back wholly, removing himself from the bed. He doesn’t look at me as he reaches for his pants and pulls them on fast.

  “I need some coffee.” His voice waivers. “I… you… you need to get up and get some clothes on. It’s time for us to go.”

  He doesn’t bother putting on his boots, but he grabs his shirt as he heads for the door. The next instant, he is gone as he slams it loudly.

  Well, that didn’t work. I huff as I fall back in the bed. I guess Bran isn’t right all the time. I am almost entirely naked in Arrow’s bed, pressed against him, and he still refuses me. At least I know I am not the only one on fire right now.

  Getting out of bed, I step on something and look down, seeing in the shadows of the little light coming in a small box. Reaching down, I pick it up and open it. Inside is a beautiful female bracelet. It is silver with these beautiful spirals laced together and
inside several settings are diamond clusters.

  Is this for me? Who else would Arrow buy this for? I smile and bite my lip, wanting to try it on, but I don’t. Instead, I close the box and hurry to get dressed.

  By the time Arrow comes back, I am packed and sitting in one of the two chairs by the door. Arrow has his shirt on, and the only thing he is missing is his boots. He places a cup of coffee on the table beside me and moves to the bed, putting on his boots without looking at me.

  “We will pick up our sled and stop and get something to eat on the way out,” he tells me as he gets up now and makes sure he has everything in his pack. He flips through it, looking for something, and then pulls everything out on the bed. When he doesn’t find what he is looking for, he looks around the room.

  I know what he is looking for. It must have fallen out of his pants this morning how fast he had put them on. I pull it out of the chair beside me and tap it on the table. He looks over at me and sighs. I wiggle it in the air and he comes over, taking it from me, “This isn’t yours, you little vixen.”

  Vixen? He has never called me that before. I must have gotten under his skin and sent I silent thank you to Bran, giving me the courage to attempt seduction even if it didn’t work. Maybe he was right after all.

  Arrow marches back to his bag and throws it in and then the rest of his stuff. “I bought it for Charles and Simon for Katy’s birthday.”