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

by Gina Manis

  That is disappointing, as I thought Arrow might have bought it for me. It is lovely, though, and Katy deserves it. “What you should get is a spanking for tempting me so.”

  He stares at me for a minute, his eyes roaming down my body, and I wonder if he will attempt such a thing. He wouldn’t dare touch me like that, I am sure, but I get all warm at the desire I see in his eyes before he turns away.

  “Are you ready?” He walks to the door and opens it, looking down at the floor instead of me. I stand up and reach for my bag, disappointed that he is so stern with me.

  Just as I reach the door, about to go out, he slams it shut and drops his bag. The next thing I know, he lifts me and plants me against it, his lips coming down hard on mine.

  I kiss him back with just as much need, and he groans. An electric charge is going off around us, and the lights flash in the room. I whimper into his mouth as his hands come up and cup my breasts. It is the first time he has ever touched me like this. So wild and full of abandon, I didn’t even know if I should be scared, but I wasn’t.

  Just as suddenly as it begins, though, he ends it and lowers me to the ground. “Don’t tease me like that again.”

  He opens the door again as he breathes heavily. My legs are weak as I walk through the door. His kiss was so exciting, but I don’t push for more. Not yet. There will be plenty of time once we get home.

  Oh, but I plan to tease him. I plan to experience everything with Arrow and soon.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Arrow

  We have been home for several days now, and Jenna is driving me crazy. Every night she climbs in my bed, and her warm body pressed to mine has me aroused all the time. It isn’t just that, but how she brushes against me throughout the day. She runs her hand across my shoulders as I sit at the table or presses against me in our evening walks.

  I know what she is doing, and it thrills me to see it. It isn’t the first time a woman has tried to seduce me. Jenna does it in a sweet way that it shows me her innocence. She makes it almost impossible to pull away, but I don’t want us to move too fast. I just want to make sure that she is ready the next time I kiss and touch her.

  Every night we have been home, Jenna has had her book out, and we have been learning the signs together. It only tells us how to do them, but it has become a game to us who can give a better sign for the words. She has started to use common signs like yes and no, in and out, bath, and words for some foods.

  Her signing shows me she wants to talk to me, but I don’t want her to become too dependent on using them. I fear if she does, she will never try to speak again. She can do it; I know she can. I have heard her in her sleep talking with Bran sometimes. She hasn’t since sleeping with me, but before.

  I have stayed away from her most of today, working on the barn to prepare for winter. The temperature is dropping, and we will take a trip to my parents’ place at the end of the week. We won’t get the chance much later.

  Jenna has met them, but she wasn’t as alert as she is now. My mother seems to like her, even though she looks with concern to me. I assured her that Jenna was coming around, but I also told her what happened to Jenna. She seems to understand what Jenna has been through.

  I’ve attempted to let them know Jenna is not to be pitied. That she doesn’t like it, and I wish I had realized I had been guilty of that in the past. To me, it wasn’t pity but sorrow I have for her. Something I saw too late, but I couldn’t feel it as I love her so much. I hope that beyond that, she can see the love most of all.

  My parents both have asked me how I feel about Jenna. I told them the truth. That I loved her, and once she is ready, I intend to make her my wife. They were accepting of it. I know it is hard for my family to understand Jenna still but I have faith they will love her as much as I do in the future.

  Before Jared came back into our lives and turned it upside down, Jenna had been doing so well. We were close to that last step, I believed, but he stole it away from us. Maybe not for forever, but for some time, at least.

  I have no regrets about what I did to him. His confession of what he did to Jenna in the past is so sickening I still don’t know if I can tell her. I feel I must, but I can’t bring myself to. What will it do to her when she finds out?

  I hear Jenna knocking on the bell hanging on the porch, letting me know lunch is ready. I take the time to finish up the last of my work before climbing down. Once we eat, I want to give the bow I have been working on to Jenna. I want to see her test it out and get a feel for a lighter bow than mine.

  Jenna sees me coming and goes inside, only to come back out with a large plate of food. She sits on the edge of the porch, swinging her legs as she sits the plate beside her. I walk up and jump up on edge with the plate between us. She has laid out some bread sandwiches with some meat and cheese. There are some pickles and slices of tomatoes and onions beside it.

  I pick up the larger sandwich she has made for me, taking a huge bite, and look at her. She is sucking the juices out of the end of her pickle, and I hurriedly look away before I drop the food out of my mouth. It has no flavor I can taste, as my thoughts are now on those lips on my hard cock. I am becoming a pervert around her. Everything she does now seems seductive in some way.

  I have had to make several trips behind the barn in the past few days just to find some relief from this ever-constant hard-on. I swear I am going to cave if Jenna dares to touch me again.

  Tonight, I will have to send her back to her bed. I don’t want that, and it will hurt her feelings for sure, but it would be best to have some boundaries. I don’t know why I can’t seem to control my desires anymore. I have been doing so for so long, and after the other night, I am a lusting fool and need to distract myself.

  “I’ve got you something,” I say as we finish up, and she signs, “what?”

  “You’ve been getting good with mine, and so I’ve made you your own.” She looks at me curiously, and I jump down, moving to the side of the porch and pull the small bow and arrow case from my toolbox. Stepping in front of her, I show her the bow.

  “It is lighter than mine, but the bend is good,” I say, drawing it back and showing her. “I picked up another sleeve in town, and I will make more arrows to fill it soon and show you how. Some that are a little shorter like these.”

  I hand the bow over to her, and her fingers glide over the light woods I haven’t been able to stain yet. I will do that sometime later, but it is operational for now.

  She looks at me and smiles as she signs, “Thank you.”

  “Why don’t we test it out?”

  She nods at me, swinging around and running into the house. She grabs my bow by the door, with my sleeve of arrows, and I take them from her. “So, you want to see my skills?”

  “A trick or two,” she signs and then, “Please.”

  “Come on, then. I’ll show you how I got the name Arrow.”

  She pulls at my arm and looks at me with a question. “You didn’t think that was my name, did you?”

  She nods that she thought that, as she pulls on my arm again. “What?”

  “If I tell you my name, will you say it?”

  Her smile fades then, and she looks down. I’m such an ass. “Aaron is my name.”

  She looks back at me and smiles sadly and mouths my name.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna,” I say, touching her face. “I shouldn’t have teased you so.”

  She caresses my hand to her face for a moment before she steps up to me and hugs me around the middle. I wrap my arms around her for a moment before I pull her back, “Come on, let’s practice.”

  We walk to our shooting station, and I let her take the lead and start. She hits the target three times, almost dead center. “Very good. It looks like you just needed something more your size.”

  She motions to me, and I know she wants me to take a shot. In this area, I have targets on many of the trees around at different distances. I take my first aim
quickly and fire, taking another from my sleeve and do the same thing two more times, hitting three other trees in the distance, the target dead center.

  She claps at my minor accomplishment, but it feels nice, “Okay, your turn.”

  She aims at another tree in the distance, taking her time before letting go, and hits it, which I am proud of. She pulls another, aiming for another target, and hits it, too.

  “Very good,” I tell her, drawing another arrow for some even farther targets. I got three more with no problem, but I have been shooting a bow since I could walk.

  Jenna shakes her head as she aims further out. “Slightly raise your aim on it. The further your target, the more you need to adjust.”

  She takes her time and shoots, but she misses this time. “It's okay. You have plenty of time to practice now, and this bow should make it easier for you.”

  We practice for quite a long time before I call it quits for the evening and tell her I need to check my traps. I leave her at the house and go off, knowing it will take me some time. Jenna most likely will start dinner and have it ready when I get back.

  I am about two leagues from the house, and Jenna fills my mind as usual. She was pleased with her gift, and I am glad she liked it. I can’t wait to give her the bracelet or my ring. I hope that day is coming soon.

  My few kills from the traps are tied on the pole I carry, and I only have two more to check. They will make for a nutritious breakfast in the morning. We still don’t have many rabbits or chickens yet, but soon, we should have enough for winter with babies. Until then, I didn’t want to kill any of our stock.

  There is a growl to my right, and I glance over to see a mountain lion leap in the air at me. I am fast, but not fast enough as I reach for my blade. He strikes me, and we both go tumbling to the ground. A lion goes straight for the throat, and I block it with my arm as its sharp teeth sink in. I stab at its neck, but it presses down on me, and my blade connects with its shoulder. The lion screams out as it lets go of my arm and jerks away from me.

  I jump up, pulling my bow, just as it leaps over a huge rock and out of sight. Dammit! He got away.

  I am pissed, but my arm is bleeding badly, and I pull my shirt off, wrapping it around. A mountain lion never gives up on prey, and I know I must find him. I don’t want something like that in the area so close to home.

  Raising my wings, I take to the sky, searching the area for him with my bow in hand. For a good while, I searched the area, but he disappeared from me. With little luck, I turned to home. My arm is bleeding through my shirt, and I know I need to have it taken care of. In the next few days, I will go on the hunt and find the lion. Jenna needs to stay close to home until I put him down.

  I land in the yard and bring my wings in as I walk on the porch, stopping at the door. Jenna is over the stove, pulling out some bread from the bottom of the cookstove. I don’t know how she is going to react to this.

  “Jenna,” I say calmly, hiding my arm behind me. It is throbbing awful, but I don’t want her to know how bad it hurts. She turns to me with the pan still in hand and glances down at my bare chest as she sets the bread on the table. “I can use your help with something, but please, I don’t want you to overreact.”

  She cocks a brow at me, giving me a little annoyed look. “Where is your shirt?”

  I pull my arm out from behind me and show her, “It isn’t that bad, but it will need some stitches, maybe. Will you get the medical bag and tend to it for me?”

  Her face automatically turns white at seeing my shirt wrapped around my arm with blood in patches. She gasps as she comes to me and touches my hand. “It is not that bad, I swear. Will you help me?”

  Jenna nods as she takes my other arm and leads me to the table, making me sit down in the chair as she turns for the medical bag. Sitting it on the table, she gets to work, pulling my shirt off. “There is a mountain lion that has wandered into the area. They are trackers, and once they attack, they usually will stay on their prey. I will have to go hunting for him, but until I put him down, I want you to stay close to the house.”

  She nods as she pours some moonshine over the puncture wounds. “Here, let me have a sip of that.”

  She hands me the bottle, and I take several large gulps of it to help with the pain. My arm is on fire now from this stuff. Jenna takes it back from me and takes one of her own. Several of the puncture wounds need some stitching, and Jenna threads a needle. It was a large lion, but it wouldn’t have gotten me if I had been paying mind to my surroundings.

  The moonshine is hitting my gut now as Jenna puts a few stitches into the two most massive holes. She then pours some more shine on them before bandaging my arm up for me.

  “Thank you.” Seeing that she is still concerned, I distract her and ask, “That stew smells good. Can I get a bowl of it?”

  She turns back to the stove and pulls two bowls down, filling them. Jenna sits them on the table with one in front of me and then pulls a knife out and cuts the bread into several slices for us.

  She then picks up the medical supplies and puts them away before sitting with me. “I’m okay, Jenna,” I try to assure her again as she just pushes the stew around in her bowl. “I will get him.”

  She nods, but I can still see something is bothering her. I wish she could just tell me.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Jenna

  Arrow doesn’t see it as a big deal, but I do. He is hurt, and I don’t like the idea of him going hunting alone. I plan on going with him no matter what he says. I need to know how to do these things anyway, I tell myself. I have never seen a mountain lion, but the idea of Arrow out there alone will have me so worried, I will be a wreck staying here.

  We finish up dinner, but it is still early in the night. I can see he is in some pain once he is finished with his food and takes another sip of the moonshine I left on the table. I decide to do something to make him more comfortable. I put water on the stove to heat and move to the tub and pump some water into it.

  He gets up, seeing what I am doing, and moves for the door. I hurry to block his path and shake my head, pointing at him. “For you.”

  “The bath is for me?”

  I nod, pushing him back into the chair to sit until I am done. Moving back to the tub, I fill it until it is over half full. I let the water heat while I gather his soap and towels and set them on the stool by the tub. It is a fair size tub considering this cottage is small, but I can see why now, with Arrow's size. This was once his house, after all.

  My feelings are torn by this avid need to care for him. When I think of the months I have been with him, he has always taken care of me, but I haven’t ever been able to take care of him. His injuries are minor, but that doesn’t matter. I feel like he has never needed me, while I have always needed him. It doesn’t seem fair that he has given so much, yet I have done so little for him. This is a chance to show him how much I care.

  The hot water is done, and I pour it in. I then turn to Arrow, whose eyes shoot to mine. I step toward him, taking his good arm and pulling him up. My hands go to the buttons on his shirt, and he grabs them.

  “Jenna, I can do this,” his eyes focusing more on my lips than anywhere else. I lift a finger to them as his eyes then lock on mine.

  “Shhh.” I let the breath whistle through my teeth, and I feel it—the air flowing out of me. I hear a whisper in its sound and breathe.

  His breath hitches and his face lights up, but still, he questions me. “Jenna?”

  “Shhh,” I tell him again with a silky smile, brushing his hands aside and finishing with his shirt. The last button comes undone, and I glide my hands gently up his body, sliding the shirt off his shoulders. It hits the floor and I feel him shiver under my touch. He groans when I reach for the buttons of his pants but doesn’t move. Slowly, I push them over his hips as I gaze into his smoky eyes.

  He steps out of them for me, and I take my time as I run my hands over his chest and explor
e as my gaze wanders down. For the second time, I see him, and he is just like I knew he would be. Large and robust, standing proudly erect, I don’t let my eyes linger too long on him.

  Taking his hands, we step to the tub, and I motion for him to climb inside. I kneel beside it, letting my hands graze the water as I bring it up around his shoulders.

  “Jenna, maybe this isn’t…”

  I raise my finger again, and he quiets. “Shhh.”

  I wash his hair first, and he helps me rinse it. I can see he doesn’t know what to do. He likes this, but I know his thoughts at wanting us to move slow. When does that end for him? When will he allow himself to touch me again? Because I love touching him and want to explore him so much more than he allows.

  I take the soap and rag and lather it up as he lies there in the water, looking at me. I wash his arms and shoulders, working my way down his chest and stomach. I motion for him, and he sits up while I wash his back. Moving to his feet and legs then, I find the thick hairs look odd when wet. How different his body is from mine in all ways. His skin is smooth, but I feel how hard it is beneath it.

  I’ve never looked at a man before, and I never wanted to, but everything is always different with Arrow. I notice his inner thighs seem softer and I’m fascinated by the area as my hands creep upwards.

  He stops me before I touch his most private area, taking the rag from me and whispers, “I will.”

  I let him, standing up and taking the towel, unfolding it as he finishes. He steps out of the tub, and I gently pat him dry. When my hands roam to his private areas again, he stops me. He doesn’t mind me looking, but he will not let me touch him.

  It is okay for now. I step around and dry the back of his body, and Arrow takes the underthings I sit out for him and slips them on. He moves away from me then and slips into his bed. I know the moonshine must be making him sleepy by now.

  I turn back to the water and undo my shirt and let it fall to the floor. I do the same with my pants before I slip into the water. I try not to let my shyness show at being completely naked in front of him. I know he has seen me on more than one occasion, but I haven’t done this since that night in the hotel. Even then, I had left my underthings on, but now I remove them too. I quickly wash and refresh myself and lay back in the tub, relaxing for a few.