Background
She always sought him out to watch from afar, but this evening she discovered that infatuation was so much more...
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Trying to find a courage that really should not exist, I reached up and lightly gripped his large forearm there between us. The feel of the fabled warmth that I’d sensed when he touched my ear now flowed readily through my palm and found its way through my entire being – even my wings felt invigorated and at peace. It was just like I had been told it would be if I was ever lucky enough…just like I had often hoped it would be when I had touched Jaiyelle’s arm or hand or even his leg. But now…
I look up at the huge male before me, studying him, taking in every detail on his face that was quickly becoming more and more handsome to me. I could feel acceptance seeping in with the warmth…he was mine.
But by the gods…a wolf?
I looked for any sign of realization on his part in those sharply-defined facial features. Was this whole thing just my sometimes over-active and vivid imagination? That extreme curiosity the rest of the herd including my parents continuously tried to train out of me?
A frown graced his beautifully-chiseled face about the time my tiny brain had managed to process all of these undeniable truths above the callings of my body. And, believe me, those callings were increasing.
“Where did your smile go, petit cadeau?”
I was apparently so lost in thought that his voice startled me, and the growl in his words had my eyes re-focusing on his amber ones instantly. But the sparkles and laughter playing throughout that amber brought my smile back without beckon.
“My thoughts must have stolen it for the moment.” I could feel the heat rise through my neck to my face as I instinctively tightened my grip on his forearm – what was that name he just used? I tried to look away with a bit of embarrassment, but his palm near my cheek held our gazes locked. “It seems you distract me with your…your…well, your everything, I guess.” And now my entire visage had to be as red as his T-shirt pulled across taut muscles underneath his leather jacket.
A low rumble sounded from deep inside his chest and, without thinking, I raised my other hand to lay my palm flat in the center of it, over that part where his two hearts should be. Such an unplanned advance should have both of us on the defensive – my magic could fatally wound him here – but, instead, a true smile split that sculpted mask.
“Any part of that ‘everything’” – holding my face firmly in line with his, his eyes roamed down my entire body and back up, the predator in him on full display – “you’d like to discuss?”
I tried again to break our eye contact, and, again, his palm held without flinching. What was wrong with me? I was the rebel – the one who didn’t follow anyone’s direction for any reason...
“Uhmmm.” Such an intelligent answer from a supposedly sophisticated being as myself.
His grin grew wider, those sharp incisors pinging not fear inside of me but desire. I felt the invisible draw toward him just as real as I felt the ground under my feet. That is, if the ground was still under my feet…all I could really feel was him. All my body wanted was him. And I didn’t even know his name…
“Yessss…” There it was – a real, coherent thought. “Your naaaa –”
Another rumble from deep inside of him as he ever so cautiously yet with unquestionable confidence leaned his face closer to mine.
“Gregor, cadeau.”
His breath poured across my face – oh, his scent was of gods! For the first time since I could remember, I couldn’t think of a single reason I shouldn’t do this even though there were about a hundred or so I just knew I was forgetting. The first reason being that name…
His eyes were already half-lidded as his lips aimed for mine – his name niggling ferociously at the still-rational part of my mind.
“Gregor.” I mulled it around on my tongue as the rest of the world disappeared around us. My hand fisted in his shirt, and I instinctively leaned up to meet him – his large hand splayed across my lower back, pulling our bodies together.
But still my mind whispered to what was left of my sanity, and it found a voice here in our private reality bubble. “Gregor…as in Gre-gor. The Gregor?”
Gregor chuckled at my jumbled queries and, almost imperceptibly, nodded. He brushed one of his elongated fangs followed by the tip of his tongue across my lower lip – an ask for entry. One that I could not refuse…the gods and the Fates had seen to that.
“Gonna taste you now, mon petit cadeau.”
Those words again, this time prefaced with ‘my’. And not a kiss, a taste.
I tried one last feeble push against him before his lips crashed down over mine, and I was lost – my mouth welcoming him as a starving creature welcomes food. The mating warmth I’d felt from his forearm earlier was multiplied, and I would have climbed inside him had he allowed it. My feet left the ground as my small body was lifted against his large torso and my hands found that thick, shaggy hair of his – it felt heavenly as I alternately pulled and smoothed it. He smelled of Earth, my Earth – wild and untamed, inviting and dangerous – and I couldn’t get enough of him against me.
Because he was mine.
I felt some of my magic leave me and find him, but I was too lost to care. Gregor growled in response, his hand finding my muddy rear, his hard length straining against our clothes. I wrapped my legs tightly around him as I dragged myself along it…
The first notes of Ariel’s song broke through our physical dance and lust-fueled haze.
I’m pretty sure the loud, un-fairylike whine that echoed around us was mine, but I would deny it when asked later. It came from an almost animal part of me I’d never known before that moment.
Before meeting my fated mate.
We froze in place – each of our dilated and illuminated pupils locked in synchronicity with the other’s. Ariel’s call to shelter had brought reality harshly back into focus.
And I saw the moment that reality took hold behind his gaze. When the fact that he held in his arms a lowly fairy that his clan would probably just as soon eat as taunt…
Oh, gods – his were-clan!! Gregor was the renowned son of Sebastian Charbonneau, alpha to the largest werewolf clan here in the Southeast – the same Gregor who, next week, was to wed the alpha-daughter of the Midwest’s Gestault clan. The union of Gregor and Talietha would create the largest kingdom of supernatural beings since the merging of our reality with that of the humans.
Ariel’s song began climbing toward its crescendo. The final notes would follow shortly thereafter.
Never before had it sounded so much like a dirge to my ears.
I choked on a laugh – or it could have been a sob – as I willed my body calm itself. It seemed the Fates still hated me. I forced a smile I no longer felt and a coldness, of sorts, began creeping into my chest. Although, I had not yet withdrawn my hands from exploring his unruly locks – they just felt so good in my hands as he continued to fill all of my senses.
He'd been my obsession for so long -- now, he was right here. And he was mine. But not really. Not for any meaningful amount of time anyway and definitely not in this reality. In fact, that’s probably what this whole thing had been all along: my obsessive tendencies run amuck. Gods, this was awkward! I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to speak.
“Well, that’s my ni–”
“I know you must go for now, cadeau.” Gregor’s eyes had lost their desire but not their intensity and I felt his grip on me tighten. But I could find no disgust, no regret in them. “But I will meet you right here at sunrise tomorrow morning.”
Framed with what I now knew to be my Chosen’s aura, his gorgeous face would always be emblazoned on my brain. Even if I never saw him again…wait! What had he just said? I felt my eyebrows draw together tightly and my head angle to the side as the final notes of shelter’s call pierced the air.
“But, Gregor, you ar–”
His kiss to my forehead interrupted everything as I could not help but lean into the affection and hum with the touch.
“Tomorrow morning at sunrise, mon petit cadeau.” He placed me gently on my feet and gave my ear a final caress. “Now, go. I will see that you make your compound safely.”
I wanted to argue, but the instinct to be within those walls when the sun sunk below the horizon was part of my being – arguments held no sway over that.
I nodded and turned away but stopped myself after only a few steps. Turning back around and seeing his bemused expression and raised eyebrow, I couldn’t control the deluge of hope and happiness that permeated my being. But he needed to hear what I had to say.
“My name is Celeste, Gregor.”
Not waiting for an answer, I turned and ran toward home.
To be continued…
Author Notes
petit cadeau --> (French) tiny gift
*Okay, folks, this is the result of yet another 'First Chapter' contest in June. This is the SECOND chapter as the first one was the contest entry! ;) Welcome back for the many that reviewed the first chapter, and PLEASE feel free to pop back into my portfolio and read the FIRST chapter so that this one makes complete sense! You know the crazy blonde with her fantasies... ;) ;)
This contest had no limit on the word count, so you get a few more than the Gardens book -- LOL! Again, I'll try to shoot for a mid-month release of one chapter per month as long as life's twists and turns allow it [might be late/early depending on my schedule!]
As always, thank you for reading me! ;) ;)
Image of 'Fairy, wolf and moon' from Pinterest [www.pinterest.com]
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