When I was a child, I dreamt of a red thread tied ‘round my left-hand ring finger. I flew from land to land, disentangling myself from other people’s threads, then bumping from person to person until I came to a small clearing in the middle of the woods. My thread went straight into the ground, and I sat and wept. I knew my true soulmate was gone, and that I may never see them, ever. As I cried, a town rose and fell around me multiple times. At the end, I knelt at the center of a village, on the steps of a small fountain, bubbling and dancing with my own tears. I laid, finally spent of tears and emotion, with head on the edge of the fountain, facing my reflection. There, behind my reflection, there stood a man, tall and well-formed. I stood and became a woman, in a fantastic gown, and when I turned to reach for him he was gone, and the village became a blackened and depleted forest once more.
Now, being in my room with Gabriel, the magic of my apartment giving me a larger and more grandiose room and bedroom set, I felt the way I had with my Dream-Prince. Heart stuck in my throat, beating wildly, a fierce, sudden joy and yet, a soft tendril of fear. Desire and happiness wearing a shroud. After he had removed what little I had worn he carried me to my room and laid me on the fainting couch. He stood before me, arms outstretched and inviting. I simply stared at him. My tail-tip flicked, and my wings quivered like jelly. I trembled as I stood, reaching out my paws and caressing his chest, belly, arms, and the sides of his thighs. I slipped my paws under his tight long-sleeved shirt and lifted it as I traced his musculature, from navel to clavicle. He raised his arms and I continued my path, off to each side of his collar bone and over the shoulders, up and up and up until at long, victorious last, I slipped the interfering fabric off his wrists and over his head. With one paw I threw the shirt into the corner, with the other, oh, I trailed my claws through Gabriel’s dark green hair. It was so soft and luxurious. I closed my eyes and moaned and he laughed lightly. “All this, and you haven’t even removed my pants…” my eyes flew open and I felt the heat rise in them. His gaze turned darker than I had ever seen it. I dropped to my haunches in front of him and grinned, fangs bared in the firelight of my new bedroom fireplace. I licked the air in front of his crotch and he jumped, sweat breaking out all over and a sense of utter desperation filled the room. His, and mine. My paws slithered up his legs, from ankles to knees to thighs to hips. I moved them inwards, following the line of his belt straight to the buckle. I undid it, then the button and zipper, and last I brought them down to his feel, helping him step out of them. He stood before me nude, perfect, and mine. His erection brushed his stomach, a drop of fluid at the tip. My eyes flicked up at his face, canvassing everything first, and he put his hand self-consciously over his damaged shoulder. I stood and removed his hand. “Don’t you dare, ever, hide from me again.” I ordered, and I kissed him. We were well met in passion, teeth, my claws and his nails, and as his tongue touched me in the most intimate of kisses I cried out his name, begging, pleading, and promising. I loved him, my Gabriel, and when he lay on his back, hands guiding my hips above him, I gave him one of my most valuable treasures, by my reckoning, and above that, he gave me his heart in return.
We spent the next week or so loving and lounging in bed, living room, kitchen, and one very memorable evening trapped in his school elevator. We felt even more relaxed when Louelle called and informed Gabriel that they intended to stay the rest of the month, that their brothers had indeed found females and needed to woo them, and they had been offered sanctuary by the head of the tribe for that territory. It was during that time that I found out something was wrong with me, and I brought it up one evening. Gabriel had moved permanently into my room, and as we lay gasping I rolled over to him and whispered, “We may have a problem. What do we tell your family?” he had jumped up startled t my first words, then relaxed and wrapped his arms around me.
“Love, we don’t have to say anything, just continue as we are.” He nuzzled my hair and stroked my wings. I wriggled, not entirely out of discomfort, and I murmured in his ear, “I think I might be…with…” His hands stopped stroking me, and he sat straight up. He grasped my chin and raised it up. His eyes met mine, and they were undecipherable. “What…are you… are we…?” I smiled rather weakly, and said, “It is possible…. I am very late. It hardly ever happens, but still. I have never had this reason to be considered, before.” He sat stock-still, then jumped out of bed, whooped, and whisked me to my feet. He whirled me around and danced us out to the living room. He set me down gently on the couch and kissed me hard.
“Reianne,” he said as he pulled back, eyes slightly unfocused. I felt stunned and somehow giddy. “Reianne, love. I have no way to express how happy I am, regardless of whether you are or not, except to ask.” A box appeared in his hand, and he knelt in front of me. With one hand he opened it and removed a small, silver-and-moonstone ring. “Rei, will you marry me?”
My heart stopped, and I literally didn’t breathe. We were naked, in our living room, and he was proposing after barely a few weeks of being together, all because he thought, I thought, I might be pregnant. When I could process my thoughts and think again, tears dripped down my face and I took in a shuddering breath, saddened by what I had to tell him. He saw it in my face and sighed, “Well. I guess it is too soon, and I guess I need to do more for you. Shall I write sonnets and poems, take you to dinner and…” I laughed through the tears, shaking my head and wrapping one wing around him.
“No I just… I need a bit more time. Gabriel, I do love you, but I just can’t right now, not knowing…” He sat next to me, holding my paws and nodding. “I understand, Rei, I really do. Here,” he held up my paw and slid the ring onto my middle claw, all the way down to the finger and settled it securely above the last knuckle. “Keep this with you. In case you decide to say yes. I made this ring for you, and you alone.” I blinked. “You made this, Gabriel?” He grinned, self- satisfied and smug. “Indeed I did. One of the things I learned while with my dad, Liam. I pulled the natural silver out of the earth, as well as the moonstones, then shaped everything by sheer force of will.”
I gaped, unable to speak, then managed to say, “That is really cool.” He agreed, then stood and helped me to my foot-paws. He smiled, kissed my temple and its horns, then murmured, “Let’s get dressed.”
We went back into our room, dressed, then were about to head out for the night when Gabriel’s phone began to ring. He stopped, apologized to me then frowned, said, “It’s Louelle,” before answering, “Hey, Lou, what’s…?” pause. “What? When? Who…” The he glanced at me and said, “Hang on, I am going to put you on speakerphone.” As he did so, he whispered, “Something has happened, I can’t understand…” Louelle was sobbing audibly now, loud and crackly over the phone. “Reianne, Gabe, I don’t know what to do, we were coming out of the bazar when a female troll came up to mother and stabbed her with something, then committed herself to the Void.” In Rock Troll lore, the Void was where trolls who committed murder go to, an emptiness where no light nor comfort would ever be.
“If the troll committed herself, that means she killed herself.” I said aloud. “What happened to lichen, what can I do?” Louelle was incoherent, babbling, and I took Gabriel’s phone from him, took it off speaker phone, then said in a sharp tone, “Louelle Maybridge McLiams. You will pull yourself together and tell me what HAPPENED!” I nearly roared the last word, and Gabriel nearly took his phone back. I snapped, “Go pack, Gabriel. Go!” when he still didn’t move. I sighed, went to him and kissed him while Louelle collected herself. I whispered, “go, love. I have this.” I watched as he walked away, longing and desire warring with pain and a sadness I couldn’t define yet.
Louelle came back on, calmer than she had been, and I said, “I am sorry I yelled, but you need to keep it together for the children. What happened to Lichen? I need to know.” As she spoke I went to the breakfast nook, where my laptop magically appeared. I opened it and waited it to turn on while I listened.
“Matime, she was walking alongside me. Everyone knew her as Liam’s former wife, and they treated her with great respect. This female walked up to her and said something that sounded like, ‘For Liam,’ then stabbed Ma with a black, slimy crystal. Then she stabbed herself with a knife in her throat.” Louelle sniffled. I put her on speaker while I opened the internet browser and searched for flights and emailed everyone I knew out there. “I just can’t imagine Da sending someone to do something like this. I-“
“What?!” Gabriel’s voice came from behind me.I half turned and made a “calm down” motion. “No, I need to hear this. Louelle, did Da have something to do with this?” The anger in his voice was palpable, and he was beginning to change shape. Louelle said quietly, “We don’t know, yet, Gabe. WE need you to come, both if you can manage.”
I told her I would try but that I paid for Gabriel’s way out there and that they were to charge my accounts for anything the rock trolls couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. We hung up, and I felt the air pressure change. I sensed danger, and my tail whipped back and forth. I slowly turned and stood, bracing myself and facing Gabriel, transformed as far he could go. He stood two heads taller than he had normally, twice as broad in the shoulders and thicker…EVERYWHERE. He stood panting and I raised my paws palms up to show him I was not going to hurt him.
“Gabriel, calm…” He swung at me and I leapt out of the way. Just like that, we were fighting an all-out brawl, all around the apartment. The furniture was abused, thrown and generally broken into firewood. Everything began to change when he grabbed my tail where I slammed it into his arm and threw me into the window. It didn’t crack, but it did hurt, until Gabriel was there, holding me up and kissing my neck. Suddenly, the fighting became rough loving. It was… extremely satisfying. I bit and scratched and kissed my pleasure as he ripped off my clothes and we slammed into every wall and each door. He threw me onto the stairs, and I threw him into the fireplace. We launched ourselves at each other and met midair, kissing and stroking and nibbling everywhere we could. He got me onto my knees and haunches, and I purred as he ground my face into the plush cushions of the mangled couch. He grunted, “I’m…sorry…Need…you…” I gasped, “Go ahead” and he did. Batting my tail aside, he slammed home into me, causing me to shriek. The guards burst in and I yelled, “GET OUT!” They ran out that door so fast, it was like they were never there.
Gabriel grabbed my hair and pulled it, making me gasp and forcing my eyes to meet his. He was bent over me, thrusting, pounding into me, and I loved him for the raw brutality of it. When I orgasmed, he stopped, pulled out, flipped me over, and took me to our bed. He suckled and licked and nipped and loved me in every way a person can love with their mouth. He began to shrink back to his normal size, entering me and giving me the loving he needed. As he moved above me tears began to fall, and I licked them away. I let him love me as he needed until he slowed, gentling his touch, and finally, finally, bringing me to a shuddering release as he released his own orgasm. I held him as his body rocked against mine, still inside me, and still hard. I gritted my teeth against the cry another orgasm rocked me, and I felt his sob as he came in me again. I gave Gabriel all I had, all he needed. I knew that he would leave me by midday tomorrow, but right now, I just needed to love him, and comfort him before he sees his dying mother.
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