Chapter 4

Luthias was a dutiful healer and catered to my every need for the next few days.  Gwendoline left enough of the ‘brew’ for me to have several more servings. Although I was perfectly capable of feeding myself, I enjoyed the closeness it offered Luthias and me when he fed me.  I think he did too.

“I know I’m human again, but I feel so much stronger and clear headed than I remember feeling when I was a human before,” I said as I lay back onto my pillow after he’d served me the last spoonful of Gwendoline’s remedy.

“You can still remember being human?” Luthias said with raised brow.

“It hasn’t been that long for me, old man,” I chuckled.

“If you weren’t lying there all bedraggled from a cougar attack, I’d be tempted to take you over my knee for such insolence, young whipper snapper,” he chuckled.

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” I giggled.

“There, there, now, oh mighty temptress,” he said with mock sternness, “I promised your grandmother I’d behave.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” I teased.

“You certainly aren’t making it easy for me to keep them," he protested.

“Moi?” I giggled.  “I’m lying here with an ugly bandage on my head.  How can that possibly be appealing?”

“It must be the way it’s wrapped around your head, all sexy like,” he teased. “It kind of turns me on.”

“You’re sick,” I laughed.

“Heartsick,” he said as he placed his hand over his heart.

Even though he was joking, I knew there was truth behind his humor.  My heart grew heavy with the sadness of the situation.

“I wish, with all my heart, there was a way that I could split myself in two and be with both of you,” I said softly.

“Are you really still confused, like Millie said?” he asked.

“I didn’t think so,” I said hesitantly, “but then I started to have these dreams.”

“Yeah?” he said with interest. “Was I in them?”

“You are the star,” I said with reddened face.

“Tell me,” he said as he gave me his full attention.

I didn’t know how I felt about sharing the contents of my erotic dreams with my former lover.  It was probably silly to suddenly play the prude.  After all, he and I were an intimate couple who almost married.  Even so, I found it embarrassing to admit I was having such vivid dreams of him to the point I was manifesting the remnants of our lovemaking into the physical.

After a great deal of coaxing, he finally convinced me to share the details with him. I decided that if I was going to tell him about the, I was going to tell all.  I left no detail, big or small, out.  When I finished, the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin dropping onto thick carpet.

When I could stand no more of the uncomfortable silence I said, “Say something.”

“I long to hold you in my arms and do everything to you that I do in your dreams… and more,” he said huskily.

“Oh,” I said with surprise. “That wasn’t exactly what I expected you to say.”

“Is it wrong for me to still want you?” he asked.

“Love doesn’t just quit because you’ve taken a different road in life,” I sighed.  “You just have to figure out how to work with the new rules.”

“If Abigail hadn’t kidnapped me, we’d be married,” he said, regretfully.

“Yes,” I said softly.

“Now, you’re engaged to Geo?” he asked.

“I am,” I said, hesitantly.

“Yet, you dream of me making love to you,” he added.

“I love you both.  That’s the problem,” I whined.  “With all the spells being tossed around, isn’t there one that will split me into two people so that I can be with both of you?”

“In a perfect world, maybe,” he said with heavy heart.  He took my hand and pulled it to his lips. “I will always love you, no matter what course your life takes you on.  Just remember that.”

“I can’t believe my grandparents and Gwendoline mastered shifting Verso to allow you to come and go so quickly,” I said in an effort to change the subject.  “Isn’t it wonderful? I’ll bet you’re eager to get home.”

“Verso is no longer my home,” he said. “I have a kingdom now.”

“How did that happen?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“I searched for hybrids like me,” he shrugged.  “I was surprised to discover there were quite a few of us wandering aimlessly in the world with no definable purpose.  With the experience I had from being Geo’s right hand for a millennium, taking them under my wing was like second nature.”

“They accepted you so readily,” I mused.

“What can I say?” he chuckled as he spread his arms wide. “I’m a likable guy.”

“I won’t contest that,” I said with a broad smile.

Our eyes met and a fever burned deep inside my core. I felt a type of bond with him that was difficult to explain, even to myself.  I knew it was wrong, but I wanted him so badly.  I reached up to caress his strong face, but my hand bypassed it and gripped a fistful of hair instead.  I pulled him to me, mindless of any discomfort my actions might cause.  He offered no resistance as I pulled his face close and kissed him with a desire I’d never felt before.

He must have been battling within himself about breaking the promise he’d made to my grandmother because it took a few moments before his lips responded to mine, but when they did, they did with a passion that matched my own.

I felt him ease his body over mine; being careful not to disturb my wounded head. When our lips finally parted, he gently kissed my ears, then my eyes, then my neck.  I arched my body into his while I shut my eyes tight and willed away the guilt building up inside me.  I was at war with myself.  I felt genuinely guilty about being disloyal to Geo, yet my body refused to back down.  It demanded that connection with Luthias that only making love could provide.  It had repeatedly cried out for it in my sleep and, now that he was in the flesh, it wouldn’t rest until that connection was made.

His hands teased my breasts until his lips took over.  I sighed with erotic delight as his lips seared my flesh in its most sensitive areas. His hands roamed further down my body until they reached their destination. I struggled to maintain control and not fly off into an erotic frenzy as his hands worked their magic.  Memories of our time in the cave together came forth.  I hoped he wasn’t planning the same thing now.  It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy his ministrations in the cave, but at that moment, I knew I needed more than that.   I decided to insure I received what I needed by telling him.

“I need you to take me, fully,” I gasped.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

“I need you to take me, fully,” I repeated, more demandingly.

He lifted his head from my breast and studied me carefully before whispering, “You’re different.”

“If you don’t take me right now, I’m going to go mad,” I said, adamantly.

He lowered his lips to my nipple and teased me briefly while I beat on his shoulders for emphasis of my desires.  I assumed he was taking the time to decide what to do.  It was clear he’d only intended on foreplay. My insisting that we go all the way had changed things.

It took my practically screaming my desire for him to enter me before he took action. His lips covered mine and muffled my demands while he separated my thighs in preparation of taking me.

“My anatomy is a bit changed, my love,” he said in a deep, husky whisper as he quickly disposed of his clothes. “You may be surprised.”

I gasped with a mixture of surprise and delight as the full force of what he was referring to entered me completely.  Although his body moved in the same manner it always did while making love, there was a distinct difference in the experience.  I attributed it to his new and improved anatomy.

He lifted himself away from me as he drove himself deeper into the wells of my being.  I marveled over how defined his already muscular body became. It was as if someone took a chisel and outlined the muscles he already had before pumping them up just a bit more.  They emitted power as they flexed to the rhythm of his thrusts.

As I lay, satiated, in his arms, the pounding in my head notified me that I’d overdone it.  Since it was me who practically forced him into having sex, I did my best to hide my condition for fear he’d be angry. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.  The movement of his large body climbing off the bed was just enough to send a piercing pain through my temples and an unexpected whimper from my lips.

“You’re hurting?” he growled.

“I’m fine,” I lied.

He cupped my chin with his powerful fingers and looked deep into my eyes, “Don’t lie to me.”

I looked away as I struggled to hold back tears that were a result of my guilt for lying to him, guilt for betraying Geo, and the pain in my head.

“I don’t want you to get mad at me,” I whimpered.

“We shouldn’t have done that. You’re not well enough,” he practically barked.

“I needed it,” I argued.

“So, now you’re a nymph?” he said, sarcastically.  “Were you really so out of control with your hormones that you had to force the issue?”

“You could have stopped at any time,” I said, accusingly.

He visibly calmed down and agreed with my last statement.  He was stronger than me and could have easily stopped what was happening.  He admitted that it crossed his mind before his lust for me took over.  He said it was like a driving force that he had no control over. It resembled, but was much stronger than, when he shared blood as a mere vampire.  Since I was the first he’d given his blood to, he decided we were both under the effects. 

There was a lot about being a hybrid that he was still getting used to.  Now, he knew that when he gave blood, not only was the recipient bonded to him-like I was after he gave me his vampire blood- but he was bonded to the recipient.

He ordered more of Gwendoline’s remedy to be heated up and insisted on spoon feeding me every drop. It helped ease the pain in my head almost immediately.  Feeling satiated and pain free, I allowed myself to drift off in to blissful slumber.