****
Jess saw what Shane did with his obvious erection. Her friend Aymee had once told her that men could get hard when the wind blew on them; it didn’t mean anything. Her pride kicked in, forcing her to turn away before doing anything else stupid. Like she didn’t already know she had thrown herself at him, a total stranger. He wasn’t even attracted to her, even if he did have an erection.
“I have an aunt,” she began. “She lives in my dreams. That sounds crazy, I know.” Jess was watching her hands as her fingers fumbled with the material of the robe in her lap. “When my mother was killed, I had a dream that she took me to my aunt. It’s my last memory of her. Since that day, I see my dream aunt almost every time I sleep.” Jess waited for him to laugh at her, tell her she was crazy. When he remained silent, she met his eyes.
Shane was watching her intently. “Jess, you are more than dreaming of your aunt. You’re using psychic energy to transport your body to wherever she is. She is real. When you are with her, it is no different than you and I in this room. Have you ever touched her or hugged her?”
Jess nodded, expecting him to shout “April Fools!” at any moment. Shane closely watched her for a reaction. The urge to reject whatever he was about to tell her battled against her need to know the truth. Something inside her had always sensed there was more to the world than the accepted norm. Her anomalies were proof of that. She had abnormal strength and speed, added to the psychic abilities she spent so much time trying to deny and downplay even to herself. She wanted the answers, but she was also afraid, instinctively aware that her life would be forever changed by what she would learn.
Her fear was justified. Every time her life had taken sudden turns in the past, it had always been infused with pain and terror. Jess realized she was biting her bottom lip. Shane grinned, patiently waiting for her to take the next step in the conversation. It was time to find out the truth behind all of the strange inclinations she had. Her sensitivities had always indicated there was something just outside of her grasp. So many times she’d felt urgency for something she couldn’t identify. This was her chance to find out why. Somehow she had stumbled onto the path of her destiny, she could feel it.
Letting loose a fortifying breath; she braced herself to face her fear of the unknown. “Why did you reject me, Shane?”
He stared at her a moment longer before letting out a deep sigh of his own. “I am not a male that fits to the form of what you know, Jess. It would be wrong of me to … accept the gift of you without you knowing my true form. I did not reject you. I would never reject you. I desire you more than I have ever desired anyone. The only thing that held me back was my fear of scaring you. You are sheltered and innocent, oblivious to my kind.” His desire for her was shining in his darkened eyes, lending her courage and confidence.
He used words like
male, true form, my kind.
What did that mean?
“What
kind
of
male
are you?” she quietly asked. The conversation had reached the point of no return, the point when you know that what you are about to hear will change you for all time. The play of his shoulder muscles when he leaned over, unlaced, and pulled off the military boots he wore pushed any remaining reservations she had out the window.
“It would be easier if I showed you.” He rose from his seat and began to undress.
Her timing might be off, but she needed to share with him an idea of just how and why she was innocent, a fact he might be unaware of after her tub demonstration. “I should warn you, I killed the last man I saw naked.” Though it was true, she wasn’t sure how to broach the subject or why she wanted—no, needed—to tell him what she normally kept close to the vest.
Shane merely raised an eyebrow at her confession, continuing to remove his clothes. Her breath caught in her throat. He stood before her completely, gloriously naked with an odd, vulnerable expression on his handsome face. Could he be afraid of rejection from her? She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile, biting her bottom lip as her eyes began to travel down the length of his body.
He was everything she had expected him to be from seeing him in cloths. More perfect than any man she had ever seen on TV or in magazines. Like her, he was completely without body or pubic hair, which was a surprise. The sight of his erection held her attention. The bulge in his jeans had not done justice to the size of him. It was intimidating, caused butterflies in her belly, and for the second time moisture rushed to her sex. She could feel herself start to pant, drawing in the taste of the musky scent of his desire, like spicy cider. It made her mouth water.
Returning her gaze to his face, she saw that his eyes had gone darker, lustful, his body tensed. Why? “You don’t have body hair.” She shrugged. “Neither do I. The doctors told me that some people don’t. It’s perfectly normal. What is different that I should be noticing?” She had not seen many naked men, never studied one like this, granted. Any she had inadvertently seen Shane certainly put to shame. He put the ones she imagined in her wildest fantasies to shame. Was he uncomfortable being hairless? Was it an insecure hang-up? She just wanted to run her hand over his smooth skin, use her fingers to trace the defined muscles beneath.
“
Don’t be afraid,”
he said telepathically.
“I will never hurt you, Jess. You know I won’t.”
She nodded in acknowledgment and Shane smiled at her. When the fangs his canines had turned into came into view, she swallowed hard.
Okay. That was more than an insecure hang up. “Are you a vampire? Are they real? Is that your kind?” She asked, hearing a slight tremor to her voice and hoping he wouldn’t be offended by it.
“
Not vampire. To my knowledge they do not exist. We believe that we are the source of their myth, in addition to many others.”
She noted that he was watching her pulse as he spoke in her mind.
“Do you want my blood?” A surprising shiver of desire ran through her at the thought.
“
Oh, yes.”
He continued speaking telepathically while groaning out loud. His erection jerked slightly, drawing her attention to it again.
“You have the sweetest smell. The scent of your desire is intoxicating. You can trust that I will never take anything from you that you are unwilling to give freely. To do that would violate the code of my people and turn me into one of those that I have vowed to protect against.”
She felt some disappointment at the idea that he wouldn’t bite her with those fangs.
She nodded at that, her eyes taking another leisurely stroll up and down his physique, subconsciously licking her lips. “Is this all you need to show me? Are the fangs and the want of blood the only difference?” Her voice sounded husky even to herself. If anything the fangs were making her hotter. Shane shook his head, turning his back to her, raising his arms straight out from his body, hands palm up, the muscles of his shoulders flexed.
At first she just saw a hard, defined, perfectly yummy back. Jess tried to focus; he wanted her to notice something out of the norm, not fixate on the things that made her womb clench and her nipples harden. Reminding herself to be objective, she looked closer. The muscles on either side of his spine appeared larger and more defined. There was a thin flap in the shape of a T, the horizontal line following the shape of the bottom of his shoulder blade. The vertical line went downward, following the edge of the heavy spinal muscles, reaching what would be the waistband of a pair of jeans, had he been wearing any. She began to get distracted again.
The flaps began to lift, and from beneath them emerged two long, thin arms. Each appendage had a small thumb and two fingers, fisting open and closed. Four elbow-like joints unbent as they released from the muscles and skin flaps where they had been hidden and protected. They extended from his body at least a foot further than his arms. Once fully extended, the two appendages separated from each other, revealing a thin delicate, shimmering membrane stretching between them and finishing when there were two fully formed wings coming from his back. Then he turned around once again to face her, wings flapping slowly to demonstrate flight motions.
His ears began moving independently of each other in a controlled way. Shane pivoted them backward at a forty-five degree angle. The outer shell of his ear lifted from his head, similar to what she had seen from horses when they heard something behind them, or a cat twisting one ear back while the other remained forward.
“What are you?” She whispered under her breath. He heard her question anyway.
“
I am of the species Volaticus. It means ‘winged man.’ My race is Elven. We are ninety eight percent genetic kin to Homo Sapien … Human. The two percent differentiates my kind from them as drastically as the two percent differs them from apes.”
His answer didn’t surprise her. He could have called himself a snuffaluppogus and she probably wouldn’t have been surprised. It wasn’t what he called himself that was amazing, it was that he existed at all. Her fear had given way to incredulous, excited curiosity the second she saw the back flaps.
“Elven. Like fairies and elves in the North Pole?” She was trying to wrap her brain around everything she was seeing and hearing. She felt like jumping up and down, clapping her hands like she was watching a magic show.
There was humor in his voice “
We are most likely the source of those myths, too. Our other two close genetic kin species also make up some of the human myths. Human kind does like to take small grains of truth and embellish it into something altogether different.”
He spoke of humans with affection and tolerance in his tone, like they were beloved friends or children.
“Aren’t you supposed to have pointy ears?” She was trying to remember anything she may have heard about Elves. She could come up with a cute blonde guy who had played an elf archer in some movie she watched once. What was the name of that movie? She couldn’t remember, but she distinctly remembered he had pointed ears.
“
I am loving your enthusiasm,
Jess, but we are not elves and I am not an elf. We are Elven. I am Elven. It is singular and plural.”
Jess could tell Shane was finally starting to relax. She was sure he had been afraid she would freak or something. His voice resounded in her mind with humor and relief. “
No, we don’t have pointy ears. Our hearing is directional. We can hear great distances in the direction that we aim
our hearing. At some point someone utilized the term ‘point’ rather than ‘direct’ or ‘aim.’ Over time the ‘point’ terminology was taken literally: ‘pointy ears.’”
He laughed, “
That is how myths and legends are made.”
“Well, that’s just plain stupid. If you know that the myths and legends are wrong, why doesn’t ‘your kind’ correct the errors?” Seemed like a simple solution to her.
Shane took on a much more serious tone.
“Jess, you are taking all of this rather well. You are amazingly smart and resilient. This is the first time I have ever explained our existence to anyone. There are stories of Elven who have, and most entail screaming, fainting, weeping, and uncontrollable fear. Humans sometimes even urinate on themselves. Those are the good stories. Many times the two races of the Volaticus species have been forced to explain after having been captured under torture. Humans treat us like a science project at this point of their evolution. They are a fear-driven species. They believe the solution is to destroy anything they don’t understand. They are not advanced enough at this time to understand us.”
She was sure he wasn’t giving the human race enough credit. Most people were good, but she bit her lip. This wasn’t the time to start a political debate with him. There were far more intimate things she wanted with him right now.
“May I touch you?” she asked hesitantly. “Not like a lover,” she corrected quickly, wincing. He probably thought she was pathetic at this point. He’d said he desired her. Was he being truthful in that?
Shane lifted his chin, fully extending his wings for her. “Of course.” He had a slight lisp from the fangs.
Chapter Six
When Jess had added, ‘Not like a lover’ to the end of her request, the disappointment he had felt had been immense. He’d known that once she saw him in true form there was a chance she might no longer find him attractive. She had no basis for comparison outside of the human form, but hearing it confirmed by her was disheartening.
Biting her bottom lip, she stood and walked toward him, peering up at him when she reached the middle of his chest. Her diminutive height didn’t detract from how much power she wielded. Having watched her fighting ability earlier, Shane knew that although she was immensely talented and strong, she was no match for him physically. Her ultimate power lay in her effect on him. She effortlessly challenged the control he had always had over himself. The unfamiliar protective and possessive feeling she brought out in him. He was well aware that at this moment, this tiny female before him held the entire power dynamic between them. He prayed to the fates she didn’t realize it and crush him.