I brushed away the snow around me and put my hands on the cold ground and sent out my power through my fingertips to see what lay underneath that could provide protection. “Ah,” I said triumphantly several minutes later, “you’ll do just fine.” An ancient willow tree remnant was deep underground and I reached out to it with my power and entreated it to grow. The trunk grew from deep in the earth and broke through the dirt a few feet away from me, thick branches bending over as it grew. My power coaxed it to grow until it was about seven feet tall and thickened the leafy branches until the bear and I were cocooned in a circular area, walled around by the tree’s bent branches.
I cast a small protection spell to hide the tree. Only another fairy would be able to see the tree, and I was positive there were no fairies out here. I pulled off a branch and dusted the snow away, using it like a broom, and then I called to the moss that lay underneath the ground dormant for the winter, and caused it to bloom until a thick carpet of dark green appeared inside the small willow branch room I had created.
A few feet from the bear, I sat down with a pile of branches I’d plucked from the tree in my lap. With a small expenditure of my nature power, I caused them to dry out completely, and I created a heap of branches, with small twigs and dried moss for kindling. Since I couldn’t control fire, I reached for my knapsack and pulled out a package of matches. Several minutes later, the fire was blazing, warming the enclosure easily. I took a few moments to thaw my fingers in front of the fire before turning to the bear. With a small tool pack from my bag, I began to take the trap apart, all the while wondering why I had found the bear in the first place. The scent was very strong around the bear, which meant that’s what I had smelled. Maybe my nature had known he was nearly dead and in distress and that’s what had called me to his side? Or maybe I was losing it entirely from being alone in the woods for nearly a year?
When the trap was free, I put my hands on the bear to see just how extensive the damage was. It was as I’d thought. He was very close to death still because of the blood loss, and if I didn’t heal him completely, he would never walk right in his human form or his bear form.
I fed the fire enough wood to last for several hours and then I took off my jacket and laid it aside. I could heal the injury without my wings, but using them would be faster, and if I used my wings, then I had to be naked from the waist up. As I stripped down to my jeans, I folded my clothes with my coat and then moved to the bear again.
This time, as I laid my hands on the thick, soft fur of his underbelly, I called for my full healing power. I felt my wings push through my back and grow, stretching up to my ears and out past my shoulders. They were pink and yellow, veined with silver, which told other fairies that I was a nature power fairy. Water powers had blue wings, fire powers had red and orange wings, and air powers had golden wings.
I began to heal the bear, pushing my healing powers to their full force to heal the man whose scent had called to me. The longer it took, the more physically tired I grew, but I continued to push myself harder. I felt his leg heal, the wound closing perfectly without scar, the broken bones and tendons knitting back together. And then I felt him strengthen slowly as the blood began to return to his body through the magick of my healing power.
When I could feel that he was fully healed, I let my power seep away from him slowly. What I wanted to do was get dressed and curl up near the fire for a nap. What I ended up doing was falling over the bear’s upper body and passing out, nestled in the thick fur.
Chapter 2
A warm hand caressed my side in a slow motion and I hummed in my throat at the sensation. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been touched so tenderly, in or out of a dream. My eyes popped open as I remembered I was out in the woods with a were-bear that I had healed. I was greeted with the warmest brown eyes I’d ever seen, nestled in a devastatingly handsome face.
“Are you the angel that healed me?” He said with a soft smile and a low voice that made the inside of my body go tingly warm.
“Angel?”
He frowned slightly, “I remember wings and feeling very warm. I thought I was going to die, but then I woke up with you in my arms.”
I smiled. I’d never been called an angel before. “I’m a healing fairy. My name is Shaylee Tannia.”
His smile returned. “I’m Lynk Stalking Horse. Thank you for saving my life.”
“It was the strangest thing. I was hunting and I smelled something that called to me. I don’t really understand it, but I followed the scent and found you. I thought you were a real bear and I was going to help you die quickly. But when I touched you, I knew you were a were and I healed you.”
He stared at me for a moment with a look I couldn’t decipher, and then he pressed his head to the crux of my neck and took a deep breath. My whole body lit up, shivers raced up and down my spine and I was speechless as my heart tried to pound out of my chest. He moved up my neck slowly, dragging his warm lips up my sensitive skin before crossing my cheek to my mouth.
His plump lips stopped on mine and for a heartbeat I thought because he was a stranger that I shouldn’t kiss him or touch him, but in the next heartbeat I wanted to do both of those things. Months of loneliness surfaced like a raw wave of pain, the heated, delicious scent of him surrounded me, and I could no more get up from him than I could have stopped time. Fisting my hands in his hair, I parted my mouth on a moan and he slipped his arms around me, drew me closer, and rolled me to my back. Our tongues touched, that first gentle slide together like two creatures that were made for dark pleasure, and my body liquefied. His hair cascaded around us like a thick blanket as I released one hand from the thick locks and ran my fingers down his back. I traced the contours of his very naked body as he pressed on top of me, feeling the muscles tense and bunch under my exploration.
I was shirtless but still wearing my pants and boots, and when I felt his fingers at the button of my jeans, I let out an involuntary moan. He lifted from my mouth and looked down at me. "Do you want me to stop, Shaylee?"
There was compassion in his eyes. I'd never really seen it before in a man, but it was there. I was half-naked and under him. He was a shifter, which meant he was stronger then me several times over and could easily overpower me. But he would stop now if I wanted to. I'd never known a man like that before. Suddenly, the most important thing to me was being with Lynk in every possible way, in case this was the only time we were ever together.
"Please don't, Lynk. I want you." I slipped my fingers down to his hand and pushed at the button of my jeans.
"Oh, Shaylee," he whispered with a low groan. "I want you, too."
After he lowered the zipper of my jeans, he moved his fingers away from my lower body and lighted a path of fire up my side to the curve of my breast. His mouth covered mine in another kiss, our mouths perfectly matched as if we were made for each other. The taste of him, the scent of him, was like the most decadent thing I'd ever known. I wanted to stay like this forever.
His warm hand cupped my breast and his thumb moved across my nipple in a lazy circle as his lips trailed kisses across my cheek and down my neck. He nipped at the pulse in my neck and I squeezed his shoulders with my hands before trailing my fingers across his muscular back. He eased himself down my body slowly, kissing between the valley of my breasts and molding them with both hands to draw the plump orbs together so he could alternately lick and suck on the tight peaks. His teeth grazed and nibbled at my nipples and I writhed under him, my hands fisting in his long hair.
He moved further down, kissing down to my navel before sitting up and reaching for my boots. The velcro was harsh sounding in what had been nearly dead silence, followed quickly by two thuds as he tossed them away. He hooked his fingers inside the band of my jeans and caught my panties, pulling them down my legs together and catching my socks as well until I was naked before him.
Resting his hands on his knees, he knelt next to me and let his dark gaze roam across me. I felt my body heat from his gaze that was full of both need and possessiveness. Lynk wanted me. And I wanted him, too.
I raised my arms to him, beckoning him to me and he let a small smile curl the corner of his lush lips before shaking his head slightly. "Not yet, sweet angel. I haven't kissed you everywhere."
He leaned forward on one arm braced next to me and used his free hand to draw delicate designs across my hips and belly. The light touch sensitized my skin until I was trembling and needy.
"Lynk, please!" I groaned when he made another pass by my sex without even a glancing touch.
And then heaven. His fingers parted the swollen lips of my sex and he leaned forward and laved his tongue against my tender clit. My hips raised up to press closer to his hot tongue as my legs parted to give him better access. He slipped between my legs quickly and pressed my thighs apart until my body was spread wide for him.
"So beautiful and wet, Shaylee. And you taste like sunshine and honey." His tongue found my needy clit again as he spread my sex open with his fingers and licked slow circles around the hard pearl. I felt his teeth graze my clit and I moaned, my nails digging into his hands as he sucked my clit into his mouth and laved the tip with his tongue.
My body trembled for just bare seconds before the orgasm shattered my world and I cried out at the heat and pleasure that drove through me. He held my lower body still as I moaned and writhed under him, lashing my clit with his tongue in a frenzy that drove me to another edge and shoved me right off into the abyss. This time, I screamed his name while lights winked in my vision and my breath caught in my lungs.
He moved up me quickly, wrapping his arms around me as my legs caught his hips and my hand guided him into me. I bit my lip on a moan as he pressed his thick length into me without pause until he slid completely inside and he let out a quiet, controlled grunt. Adjusting my legs around him, I hooked my ankles together and nibbled kisses across his jaw until I reached his ear. With the edge of my teeth, I grazed the lobe before whispering, "You feel so good, Lynk. Perfect."
He groaned, dropping his head to the crux of my neck as he moved out of me so slowly I felt every inch of him. "
You're
perfect, Shaylee. Just...fucking...perfect."
I heard the moss strands tear under his hands as he grabbed hold of the earth before he slammed into me. Our bodies crashed in a flurry of pressed flesh and hot pants, as I met his frantic thrusts with my own, reaching for that indefinable moment when everything goes lava hot inside and the world spins off its axis for a bare instant.
My nails raked down his back as we fucked, making him arch into me with a loud groan that ended on a growl. I raised my legs higher on his waist, angling my body as he swiveled his hips until I made a hiccupping gasp and we both knew he'd hit the right spot. His cock rushed into me again and again, deviling over that same deep spot until I ripped my nails down his back and shrieked with climax. He slammed into me while my body shuddered through the waves of pleasure and I felt his body tighten and he moaned low and deep, as his cock spasmed inside me.
He pulled me with him as he rolled to his back with a heavy sigh and I sprawled across his chest. Listening to his heartbeat, I thought it was perhaps the most incredible sound I'd ever heard. I had never had sex with a man I had just met before, and I had never, never had sex quite as spectacularly, either. My original thought that I might not get to be with Lynk again made my heart pound in irrational fear. He was special, and not just because he was a fantastic lover. I wanted him to stay with me, even as I wondered if he would want a disgraced fairy in his life.
After a few quiet moments he cleared his throat and said, "So you did all this stuff with your fairy power? The tree and moss?"
I lifted my head up and looked around before answering him. I explained about my powers of nature and healing.
"You do have wings, right? I didn't dream that?" He cupped my cheek with his hand and stroked his thumb gently over my skin.
Smiling, I nodded. "I do. I keep them sheathed unless I need to draw on my power."
"Can I see them? Is that allowed? I know I'm not a fairy or anything. Are you allowed to show weres your wings?"
"I can show who I want. If you'd like to see them, I'd be happy to show you."
He nodded with an expectant grin. I sat up and let my wings free. They slid from my back painlessly, spreading apart fully. I shook them out slightly and let out a contented sigh. He sat up slowly with a look of pure awe on his face and reached a tentative hand out.
"Can I?" He asked.
"Of course." I had to smile at him as he touched them with a feather light touch. I'd never had anyone other than a fairy touch my wings before.
Beautiful
, he murmured, his fingertips tracing the edge before turning his dark chocolate eyes to me. "Do you know what day it is?"
"Um, Sunday. I found you last night. I don't know what time it is, I don't wear a watch. My house is about an hours' walk from here if we move quickly."
"Could I call my family at your house?"