Chapter three - Leila

"I love you." The deep voice fits well with the strong arms around me, hugging me tight to a hard, muscular chest. I'm nervous, his presence calming me somewhat, but still my body is taught with anxiety.

"I love you too." My voice whispers into the night. I can't hide the wobble in my voice anymore than I can stop myself fidgeting and fiddling with the hem of his shirt. 

"I don't know why you're worried, we're meant to be, we've always known that." He chuckles against my ear, pressing a gentle kiss to the skin of my neck and I twist towards him, meeting his lips with mine in desperate kisses. Distracting myself from the deep ache of terror that after tonight, Coal will no longer be mine.

After a while, he pulls away, pressing his forehead to mine and smiling. 

"Take a deep breath." 

"What time is it? Wait is it raining?" It was meant to be dry tonight, but the scent of fresh rain in the forest is unmistakable. I hold my hand up to the sky and frown in confusion when I see stars sparkling above us, the moon lighting up the area like a beacon, not a cloud anywhere.

So how is it raining?

Coal slowly shakes his head, rocking back on his heels and jogging a few feet away.

The scent follows him and I whip my head from side to side just to be sure, my heart skipping in delight. Turning to the moon, tears in my eyes, I whisper to the Goddess. "Thank you."

"I told you we were meant to be." He grins as I jump up and leap on him, both of us falling to the ground filled with excitement and joy. 

As though I haven't seen him in months, I start pulling at his clothes, desperate to feel him inside me.

He must feel the same, because somehow, even though our lips barely leave one another for more than a second, we're both soon naked and exploring one another's bodies. 

"Are you ready?" Coal asks me, panting, his eyes shiny with excitement. 

I nod, stretching my neck to the side in offering. With one last firm kiss to my lips, he moves to my jaw, leaving a trail of small kisses down my neck and nibbling on the spot where it meets my shoulder. 

I spread my legs and he moves between them, his erection already hard and pushing against me.

"Yes, do it." He captures my lips once again with his, pressing his hips forwards and sliding inside me. 

It's perfect, tears of joy run down my cheeks as he pumps in and out deliciously slowly.

"I love you, Coal." I choke out.

"I love you too." He repeats his path down my neck with his lips, nipping at the skin every so often, as though he can't control himself. 

My body starts to tighten and as my orgasm gets closer, he speeds up his thrusting. I grab his back, pulling him closer and running my tongue over the skin on his shoulders, then sucking on the spot just above his collar bone.

My climax hits me like a freight train and I bite down hard. He cries out, his teeth crashing down on my shoulder and his entire body stilling as he fills me.

"You're mine now, forever." He breathes against my neck, laughter in his voice as he starts to harden inside me once again.

"I always was." I whisper, kissing him and hugging him against me, never wanting to let him go.

He starts to move again, dragging himself out of me, teasing me with the slow pace. It's not enough, I need more, so I shove him away from me, crawling over him and settling back over his lap.

"I was going for romantic." He laughs, thrusting his hips upwards, bucking me over onto my back. "But now I'm going to take you over and over, until you're begging me for sleep."

He grins happily, reaching up to touch me while I ride him, his fingers knowing every spot to touch me so that I'm screaming my pleasure into the darkness.

~*~

I wake up with a start, my heart racing, my cheeks flushed, full of energy and an ache between my legs that's desperate to be satisfied.

Gale is snoring softly, so at least I didn't wake her up, that would have been embarrassing.

Getting up, I grab my running kit, getting dressed quickly and popping my headphones in to pound the pavement and rid myself of all this energy.

It's hours later and the sun's coming up when I finally feel calm enough to get home.

Knowing she'll probably be up by now, I stop and buy two coffees in the coffee shop nearest to the house and, as if she knew my plan, the delicious smell of croissants greets me as I walk through the door. 

Gale is singing to herself in the kitchen when I put the coffees in front of her.

"Love you." She grabs one of the drinks and inhales it with her eyes closed. "I think I actually slept worse without you waking me up. How weird is that? This is all going to be ready in like five minutes, so shower, quickly."

"You're the best." I grab a banana out of the bowl on the side, chomping on it as I hurry to the bathroom.

"You ran for hours this morning. Are you ok?" She waits until I'm out, sitting down and halfway through my second croissant before she asks.

"I just had loads of energy when I woke up." I don't want to tell her about the dream, it's embarrassing for one, but it also feels too private. I know the question is coming, so I preempt it. "I took my sleeping tablets last night, so no dreams, maybe I just slept really well."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I can sense the disappointment, but then, because she's so easy to be around, we're eating and chatting, and before we realise it, we're late for classes. 

After calling a taxi and sprinting up the path, we manage to claw back enough time so we're only ten minutes late, shuffling into seats at the back, while the lecturer shoots us a disapproving look.

~*~

The dreams for the rest of the week seem to remain along the same vein, some more romantic, others downright pornographic, but all of them leave me heated and wanting when I wake up the next day.

I take the opportunity whenever Gale's out, either at class or work, to try to sort the situation out myself, but somehow, it seems to make things worse and although I've never been with a man, I'm starting to wonder if that's what needs to happen.

Despite the great detail my dreams go into, I've yet to meet anyone I've been interested enough to even kiss, let alone go any further with. Up until recently, I've never worried about it, I know it's unrealistic, but I've got this fairytale view of meeting 'the one' and that I'll somehow know when I do and never want to let him go, but these dreams are awakening a need in me that I've never felt before.

The night before we're due to leave, Emery calls and invites us to a party at hers, stating it's a 'send off' for the trip, although everyone knows she'll take any excuse to go out dancing.

Gale and I get ready and head over to Emery's place, she had a housemate at the beginning of the year, but the girl dropped out and even though she's paying double rent now, she says she likes living alone, especially since she gets to throw parties whenever she wants without anyone to complain about the noise.

"Shots baby." Emery shouts, handing us tiny glasses as soon as we get through the door.

Her place is packed and soon enough she's disappeared to talk to someone she knows from one of her classes, leaving Gale and I to go in search of Damien and Ollie.

As we weave our way through the living room, which is currently being used as a dancefloor, I feel arms go around me, a body moving behind me to the rhythm of the music.

Gale taps my hand and gives me an excitable thumbs up, slipping away and leaving me with the stranger. His arms feel nice around me so I lean back into him, but as soon as my body touches his, Coal's face flashes in my head.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I move against the guy, trying to erase every thought of Coal. 

When I think I've got myself under control, I turn to look at the guy and it's like a bucket of cold water being thrown in my face.

He's cute, handsome actually, with floppy brown hair and sparkly grey eyes. I can tell instantly that he's a good guy but what was left of the heat from my dreams is chased away and his hands on me just feel wrong. 

I pull away but, with a smile, he leans in, bringing his lips to my ear.

"You wanna get a drink?" He asks and my whole body screams no. 

"I need to find my friends." I give him an apologetic smile and shake my head. 

He looks disappointed for only a moment before his hand grabs mine and he cocks his eyebrow at me. 

"Go on, just one and then if you still aren't interested, I'll leave, I promise."

"Go, give it a try, he looks nice." Gale whispers from somewhere to my right, nudging me forwards, but when I look to see where she is, she's slipping away with a big grin and a wave, so I relent, following the guy to the bar set up in the kitchen and then outside to the garden, where people are smoking and chatting.

He's funny and he's nice, but there's no spark, so after the drink, I say goodbye and I rejoin my friends.

"What the hell? Leila, he was so cute, what are you doing? I could stay away tonight, let you have the room." Gale giggles, looking around as if she could call him back for me.

"Nah, he's not for me." Damien wraps his arm around me and gives me a comforting squeeze.

"Then who is?" She asks and an image of Coal flashes in my head again. Which is ridiculous, so I shake my head and shrug.

"I'll know when I meet them." I tell her, leaning into Damien for comfort.

"You're so old fashioned. I get the whole soulmate thing, it's sweet and romantic, but until he comes along, you could be having fun with guys like him or him." She gestures to another guy walking past, who stops and smiles at her, asking if she wants a drink. After agreeing and sending him off to get them one, she turns back to us and claps loudly. "Ok, holiday, we all have separate rooms right? What happens in Devon, stays in Devon, so I want you to let loose and really have fun. Deal?"

"Deal." I say, although I'm not sure our definition of letting loose will be the same thing, but I can let her know that once we're there. "Now come on, no more serious talks, you go find your guy. We're going to dance."

"Cheers to that." She laughs, leading the way back to the dance floor and leaving me dancing with Damien and Ollie while she follows her guy into the kitchen.

*

The next morning I'm filled with nervous anxiety while getting ready to go, but it's swiftly chased away when Gale comes creeping back into our room, large purple bruises all over her neck.

I force my face into a frown, crossing my arms over my chest and make sure my voice sounds stern and motherly.

"And just where have you been, young lady? I was up all night, terrified you'd been abducted or left in a ditch."

"Ha ha, funny. Can we save the jokes until later? I'm dying here and I need to save my energy to pack before the others get here." She crawls onto her bed and she actually does look in pain, so I decide to go easy on her, just until she feels better, then I'm going to mock her for her current state.

"Well, aren't you lucky you've got the best roommate in the world, who knows you inside out and knew you'd be cutting it fine this morning and so has packed for you?" I gesture to the open suitcase beside mine by the door. "You might want to check if there's anything I missed that you really need, but I think I've got the basics."

"I love you, have my babies." She grimaces when she moves to the suitcases, flicking through the clothes I've folded and stacked in her suitcase, then rifling through her drawers and throwing a few more items on top.

Ollie honks outside to tell us he's here and then we're on the motorway, heading South, arguing over music and where to stop for a wee.

The house is beautiful, a huge old farmhouse surrounded by trees and fields and as soon as Ollie has shown us to our rooms, Gale and Emery announce they are going for a nap and I have the urge to go for a run, giving out a general invitation for the others to join me, even though they never do.

"No, but be back by four because we're going out to explore." Ollie calls from his room. "Oh, and try to stick to the roads because it's super easy to get lost up here."

I nod and check the time. I've got two hours, so I go out the door, following the roads up over hills, past a couple of rivers.

Halfway along one of the roads is a natural path up one of the tors, so, even though Ollie told me to stick to the roads, I can't resist following it to the top, then climbing the rocks until I'm standing there, looking at the view like I'm the King of the world. Or Queen of Dartmoor actually, but still, I breathe in the clean air and it feels like I've come home.

In the distance various animals graze, completely oblivious or uncaring of my presence and then in the distance I see something running along one of the rivers. It's enormous, like some sort of gigantic dog. So I climb higher, precariously balancing on the edge of the tor and staring at the animal.

It turns and sniffs the air, it's head whipping in my direction and automatically I duck my head, hiding behind the rock and climbing down. 

My run back to the house is a lot faster, constantly looking over my shoulder to check if the creature is after me and it leaves me giddy with adrenaline.

"I saw a wolf or something. It was huge." I announce excitedly as soon as I burst into the living room and find them sitting watching TV.

They all burst out laughing and shake their heads at me.

"Leila, there's no wild wolves in this country." Damien grins, while the rest are trying to control their laughter.

"Well, what the hell did I just see?" I ask, as though they might know.

"Dartmoor beast." Ollie jokes, chucking his phone at me with multiple articles over supposed sightings of lions and panthers on Dartmoor.

"It wasn't a big cat." I scoff, throwing his phone back at him. 

"Yeah, it was probably just a big dog." He laughs, giving me a wink when I stick my finger up at him. "Ok, on another note. What are we eating?"