I think women are foolish to
Pretend they are equal to men,
They are far superior and
Always have been.
William Golding
She was like a goddess to him.
Her black and pink hair was fanned out like a halo around her peaceful face. She had stretched out in her slumber, allowing Altan to see every inch of her glorious body.
She was terrifying and strange to him, beautiful yes, but terrifying. How could something as whole and light as this woman love him, a cursed beast who has lived long past what he should? He was not sure if you'd say she was classically beautiful, but her large liquid brown eyes held such intelligence and serenity that it was impossible for him not to be held prisoner by them.
Her cheekbones weren't especially high and her nose was a little too wide to be perfect, but there was an undeniable symmetry to her features and perhaps that's what held him so captivated. It was all he could do not to sink to his knees in reverence when she addressed him.
“Mi Sol, wake up.” He whispered, petting her soft cheek with his knuckles. Her eyes flicked up and he smiled at the dazed brown. Such a pretty brown. She sent him a lazy half-smile and sat up. Something flashed in her eyes and she threw her torso forward and brought her knees up in one quick movement. Her eyes were wide and her mouth parted slightly.
“Yes, I do bring food.” He lifted the bowl of caldo gallego, the green of the broth was bright and warm, to her eye level. She reached a pruned hand out and wiggled her fingers. The nails were bright yellow and he thought they fit her perfectly. They matched her toes.
“Alms, alms for the poor, sir.” She cried, Altan shook his head and set it gently in her palm.
“Careful it is hot.” He watched her spoon his food into her mouth, laughed at the soft swear she released when it burnt her tongue.
“Thanks, Altan. You’re very sweet.” Altan’s wolf preened at the little kitten’s commit. It was hardly sweet, what a thought to have about him.
“It is a great pleasure to feed a very pretty and very naked woman in my tub.” He purred, gaze following intently the dribble of soup dripping down her chin. His thumb swiped it away before his rational brain could catch up. She smiled sheepishly, her blush back.
“Thanks again. I swear I’m not this much of a mess all the time.”
“No, you are perfect.” He whispered. Altan sat back so he was parallel with the tub and crossed his legs at the ankles. He cleared his throat. “Your tattoos are intriguing.” Sunny perked up and whipped her mouth with the back of her hand. Altan was pleased she was no longer hiding that body from him. The markings that spanned across her back were fluid and alive, so natural and ethereal at the same time. They seemed to breathe when she did. A compilation of past and future, a latticework of sharp lines and gentle curves in brilliant silver. They glowed in the dull light of the crescent moon.
“They’re not tats.” Altan raised a brow. They sure looked like tattoos to him. “Well… uh, it’s difficult to explain. I was born with them.”
“What?” Sunny turned to face her back to him and funneled a bite of soup into her mouth. She laughed at herself when she missed it.
“I popped outta the womb with them, they were really faint then, almost couldn’t see them. Moony has a matching one, but his are black. We don’t know why.” She explained to the gray wall. Altan slowly reached out a traced a line, Sunny stiffened at his touch, but relaxed as he traced more skin. So soft.
“They are beautiful. I have never seen such a work of art.” He praised, finger going to the line on the outside of her arm. She hummed in response. “Sunny? Mi Sol, have you fallen asleep?” He cooed, eyes twinkling at her slightly slumped from. He reached around and gently took the empty bowl of soup from her grasp and placed it on the counter above him.
“Come on, stand up, Mi Soleado. That's it.” She leaned heavily against him, her naked body soaking his shirt. She was so warm and soft. She still smelled like Japanese cherry blossoms and rain. Altan knew his eyes must be a vibrant yellow because his wolf was so close to the surface. It wanted to mate her, make the little kitten theirs forever. The wolf had no taste for courtship or silly human reservations or modesty. It knew what it wanted and knew it was close.
“Why do I feel so safe with you?” She mumbled, sound so quiet even his advanced hearing struggled to hear it. His heart: a cold, old thing, shriveled in its chest, jumped.
“I do not know, Mi Sol. I feel at peace with you. A wave of peace like I have never felt before.” Her head tilted up and her sinful eyes locked with his and he fell, over and over into the abyss.
She ran her moist fingertips over his slightly parted lips, the touch was only dusting but it fanned the flame of Altan’s desire tenfold. “What would it be like to kiss you?”
“Mi Sol, you are not fully aware of your actions. I will not touch you until you are. It is an insult to us both.” She sobered up at that, leaning back to take her own weight.
“You’re right. I want to remember my first kiss in the morning.” She smiled at him. He never noticed it before, but her smile was lopsided, the left tilting just a hair above the right.
“You have never been kissed? Oh, the shame I cast upon my sex for it having left a goddess such as yourself alone.” He whispered, forgetting himself for a moment and letting his lips fall to a centimeter in front of hers. They were so plump and full, what would it be like indeed.
“It’s not their fault. I’m, believe it or not, shy about men.”
“A ghastly trait for someone who possesses a face like yours.” Their tones matched each other, slowly getting softer until each word was a breath.
“If you say so.” She answered, eyes once more drifting close.
“Oh, no Pequeña Gatita. Stay with me, you can sleep in just a moment.” He promised, touching her face with his hand, cupping the flesh.
“Nah, don’t wanna.” She slurred, slumping onto his shoulder. He laughed and kissed her temple.
“I can see that. I’ll do it for you. Arms up.”
“Don’t look at my tits, I don’t carry change.” She mumbled, obeying his command without opening her eyes.
“Are you implying that you are a woman of the night?” He asked her, slipping an old shirt of his over her body. It only fell down to her upper caves, but at least he could breathe again.
“Nah, I’m afraid of the dark…. And geese... And ducks..”
“Well, I am neither a goose nor a duck so you are safe with me.”
“Yeah, I am, aren't I.” She slipped into unconsciousness as he picked her up in his arms
“You will always be, mi luz del sol.”
-------------------------
Altan did not sleep well last night. It took hours to fall into the abyss and when he did, he had such an intense dream about making love to Sunny that he woke up releasing onto his sheet.
Allah, was he to be a little boy again? What this woman was doing to him?
Altan’s gaze drifted to the crack in the linen curtains, it was five and he thought that was early enough for him to get up without raising suspicion that he never went to sleep. He’d have to pay a visit to Emilia today.
“Fuck.” He swore as he remembered she was leaving for a couple of days to head home. Damn, that hillbilly was never where he needed her. The Spaniard rolled over and took the shiny black plastic button off his bedside table, the one he’d found on the floor of his bathroom last night. The one that had fallen from the top of that drab black skirt she’d worn in the rain.
Studying it, knowing he had no intention of giving it back to her, he felt like a fool.
Altan rose to dress, not caring that he was nude, as was his habit when sleeping, as he walked to his bathroom. It still smelled like cherry blossoms and rain over the desert. When he looked at himself in the mirror, Altan wondered why ever he had gotten out of bed.
His facial expression was cadaver-like, not just sagged but lacking its usual liveliness completely as if he had left his spirit snuggling the little kitten he had dreamed of.
There were none of his normal desert dreams last night. Why? For nineteen years images of the far away angel plagued him.
So why not last night?
“Good Allah, man! Pull yourself together, you are not a boy any longer. You are a grown-ass man.” He commanded his reflection.
I want her. His wolf growled. I want her.
“She is not ours to have.”
If not us, then who? No one is worthy of our sun.
“You are correct in that, old beast. No one, not even us, is worthy to even wash her feet.” He muttered the last part. Never has a truer statement been said.
I want to see her. The wolf admitted, the sound a rumble from deep in the chest. A growl of longing. Altan had not felt such a feeling in centuries. Not since his Hala. Old Moon is dead. New Sun has been given to us. We must act.
“I will never have another mate as long as I live, wolf. You’d do well to remember that.”
No. We will have Little Kitten. She will be ours. Did you not smell her? She wants us for a mate.
“That is nothing. The girl has not even been kissed, she is a child.” Altan admitted. The smell she released was sweet and thick, like syrup. It halted Altan’s thoughts when he came across her shivering in his living room, her sun-kissed skin emitting that scent.
True, but we can teach her. Show her what it is like to be loved. She is lonely, her eyes do not lie to us as her smiles do. She is special.
“I know. The marks on her, they were born with them. They must mean something.” He mused, applying shaving cream to his chin. He usually never wore a beard, he paused with his straight razor, Sunny liked his beard. She had not said so, but her eyes followed his hand as he caressed it last night.
He growled and washed his face. Damn, it seems like he was going to keep his beard.
Mate is gone. The wolf spoke suddenly.
Altan’s ears pricked up and he sniffed the air. He was right, Sunny was not in the house.
He threw himself out of the bathroom and went down the stairs two at a time. He was in the middle of typing Rhys’ phone number when she walked in. She was humming along to the song her white earbuds were playing. She wore a black tank top with white letters saying ‘IF YOU RAN LIKE YOUR MOUTH YOU’D BE IN GREAT SHAPE.’ He could see a bright pink sports bra strap peeking out of her shirt. Capri workout leggings hugged her shapely legs and Altan lost breath.
Sunny’s nose was tipped pink and her cheeks were flushed with color from the chilled early morning wind.
“Oh my god!” She stuttered, ears and face flushing a brilliant red. Altan smirked and set the phone down.
“No, my name is Altan, but if you wish I will permit you to call me Master.” Sunny glared a look of pure hate at him.
“What are you doing up this early? Did I wake you, I tried to be quiet.”
“No, I was unaware that you had left the house, I was just about to call Rhys to report you missing.” He looked at her with anger in his eyes. The normal brush of Spanish in his voice was a full-on paint splatter in his anger.
“Sorry, I always run in the mornings, I guess it slipped my mind to tell you.” She rubbed the back of her neck and hissed when her cold hand came in contact with her warmth.
“Allah, child, did you leave without wearing gloves?” He grabbed her fingers tightly and began to rub them.
“Don’t have any. Never need them back home and I wasn’t in New York long enough to face their famous winters.” She admitted sheepishly, she had a soft smile of her lips, one side higher than the other.
“New York winters are nothing compared to Montana, you will need good gloves if you continue to keep this nonsense up.”
“Great. I hate being cold.” She whined, sticking out her bottom lip in a cute pout.
“Is that so? You will not like it here then.”
She will. We can do many things to keep her warm. She will enjoy them all. His wolf added.
“Eh, I’m a tough girl, I think I can manage.” She smirked at him, proudly. Altan raised his brows.
“I bet you will be crying for home before the first big freeze.”
“Wait... This isn’t the first… Never mind, you’re on!” Her chest was touching his and he could feel her warmth seeping into him. Yes, they could do many things to keep her warm.
“What shall I get if I win? Humm?” He mused, eyes dancing with excitement.
“I don’t know,” Sunny said. “Nope, I do.” Altan raised his brow again and cocked his head, he blew a soft breath onto her frozen hands and smirked when she blushed.
“Pray tell, Pequeña. Whatever do you mean?”
“I want you to be my slave for a day.” She quirked her lips at his stunned face. Altan straightened and laughed maniacally.
“Agreed, if I win I want your first kiss.”
“Deal.”
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