Chapter 12 Faelan
Faelan
A week had passed since the equinox. The mortals had lingered in the woods for a few days afterward, convinced that the forest blooming from their ritual had been some sort of miracle.
But as time slips by, even miracles eventually become mundane, and once the flowers faded, one by one, they were called by their devices back to their city lives.
All but Samantha.
I felt her approaching before I saw her. It was a new sensation—this awareness of her presence that pulsed beneath my skin like a second heartbeat. Ever since she bound herself to me through the ritual, I’d been able to track her through the forest as if she left a trail of light only I could see.
She appeared at the edge of the clearing, her silhouette backlit by the late afternoon sun.
Her flaxen hair was pulled back in a loose braid, with tendrils escaping to frame her face.
She looked more at home in these woods than she had when she’d first arrived—her steps more confident, her gaze more observant.
“You’re early.” I stood from where I’d been preparing the space.
I felt the connection between us hum with pleasure at our proximity, but her expression was troubled. “I couldn’t wait,” she admitted. “It’s getting worse.”
She held out her hand. In the center, a small vine curled from her palm, its tender leaves unfurling in the air. It was the third such growth that week.
“I tried to tell it to back off, but….”
I took her hand, unable to stop myself from tracing the curve of her wrist, the pulse just beneath her skin. The vine was vibrant. It pulsed with life that matched the rhythm of the forest, but it came from her now.
“You’re changing,” I said, my voice low. “What you gave…it didn’t simply bind us. It made you part of this.” I pressed my thumb to the base of the vine. At my touch, it drew back into her skin with surprising grace, leaving a faint green mark in its place. A scar. A seed. A promise.
Her lips parted. “Is that normal?”
“Nothing about you is normal,” I murmured. “The forest is inside you now. It’s searching for expression.”
She didn’t flinch. “So, what happens next?”
The sight of her—barefoot, easy, eyes burning with questions—was something I’d waited centuries to see. Her presence wasn’t just powerful. It was irresistible.
Still, I turned and gestured to the clearing.
The moss had thickened into a living carpet. Stones formed a pattern I hadn’t laid so much as remembered, the shape older than language, older than memory. Overhead, the trees curved into a vaulted canopy, branches laced like fingers in prayer.
“This will go beyond anything you’ve ever known,” I told her, my voice low. “It isn’t about rules or plans or structure. It’s about surrender.”
She stopped just outside the circle, eyes flicking to mine. “What if I don’t know how?”
“I will guide you.” I walked her into the heart of the spiral. The air shifted around us and the plant life leaned in. I stepped behind her, letting my chest press against her back, my hands resting lightly at her waist. “All you have to do is open. Let the forest in. Let me in.”
A shiver of anticipation coursed through her.
“Breathe with me.” I whispered. My mouth moved close to her ear. I inhaled deeply, and after a moment, she matched me—breath for breath, her body rising and falling in time with mine.
The forest around us stilled, as if holding its own breath. Even the birds fell silent, watching our lesson unfold.
“The energy that flows through you now is the same that runs through every tree, every plant, every root and stem and leaf.” I explained softly. “It wasn’t meant for human bodies. It’s too wild, too potent. That’s why it’s finding ways out.”
My hands moved down her arms. She trembled.
“Feel the energy gathering inside you,” I said. “Like water behind a dam. Don’t let it burst through. Find the gates, open them slowly.”
As she focused, the vine pushed through her palm again and continued to grow, joined now by small shoots emerging from between her fingers. But she didn’t panic.
“Now,” I told her, “let it go. You are not separate from nature, Samantha. Let the plant return to it.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the vines eased away from her skin. They slipped free, drifting downward, folding into the moss and earth—not to vanish, but to plant themselves. Their edges blended with the forest floor, taking root like they had always belonged there.
Sam gasped, and her fingers brushed over the place where the vines had left her. “I did that.”
”You did.” I couldn’t keep the pride from my tone. “That’s the first step.”
She turned in my arms, her face flushed with accomplishment and something far more—something that made the bond between us pulse with heat.
“Now, what?” Her eyes held mine.
“The next step requires...closer connection,” I said carefully. “The forest energy responds to life force—to the things that make us most alive.”
She rewarded me with a slow smile, and my ancient heart quickened its pace. “Show me.”
It wasn’t a request.
I barely had time to guide her to the moss before she pulled me down with her, hands clenched in my hair, her breath unsteady.
Her lips found mine, searching, demanding, like she was trying to anchor herself to something solid—to me.
I felt the forest energy surge between us, following the shape of our desire like water finding the path of least resistance.
It flowed from her into me, completing a circuit of power that made both of us gasp.
When I pulled back, her eyes were wide, her lips parted in surprise.
“That’s the energy.” I peeled off her clothes, never letting her eyes leave mine. “That’s what you must master.”
I skimmed my fingertips down Samantha’s neck, watching her skin respond with a flush of palest green that rose in the wake of my caress. The forest around us seemed to lean closer, drawn by the energy flowing between us.
“Every living thing responds to touch,” I murmured against her ear. “Plants bend toward the sun. Trees shiver when wind caresses their leaves.”
Her breathing quickened as my palms slid down her shoulders, following the graceful lines of her arms before traveling back up to trace her collarbones. Beneath my hands, her skin began to shimmer with a faint green luminescence—the forest energy rising to meet me.
“This is part of your learning,” I whispered as my fingers played across her ribs, each touch deliberate, measured. “Understanding how energy follows intention.”
Sam arched beneath me, her eyes half-closed, lips parted. A small vine sprouted from her shoulder, curling toward my wrist like a desperate, seeking thing. I bent to kiss it, and it retreated beneath her skin with a shudder that traveled through her entire body.
“Faelan,” she gasped, her hands clutching at the moss beneath us.
I ran my palm along the curve of her hip, feeling the ancient energy respond to my call. It gathered inside her, causing patches of her flesh to glow from within. The same energy that threatened to overwhelm her was now fueling her desire, turning what was dangerous into something sacred.
“Feel it,” I commanded softly, letting my hand trace circles on her inner thigh. “Don’t fight it. Direct it.”
She moaned, arching slightly as if the forest itself was pulling her upward. Tiny flowers—wild violets and wood anemones—sprouted in her hair, blooming instantly before she exhaled, and their petals drifted around her like fallen leaves.
My fingertips trailed up the tender softness of her inner thigh and skimmed her eager folds.
She arched into my touch, her flesh speaking a language older than words.
Through our bond, I felt her pleasure as if it were my own—doubled, reflected, amplified.
I focused on that magical nub, the seat of her desire, not just with my fingers, but my magic.
“I can’t—” she panted, trembling beneath me. “It’s too much—”
I leaned closer, my lips brushing her neck. “You can. Your body knows what to do with this energy.” My hands continued their slow exploration, toying open her petals to expose her tender core. I yearned to bury myself there, but couldn’t. Not yet. “Let it sing through you.”
Her back bowed off the ground at my touch now as her breath came in short gasps. The moss beneath us began to crawl up her sides and embrace her like a living blanket, responding to the overflow of energy that radiated from her skin.
Her eyes, wild and hungry, locked onto mine—and her hazel irises flashed green. I felt the forest’s essence coursing through her, a torrent of life seeking direction, seeking release.
My need strained toward her, thick and hard, every sensation intensified by the earth’s energy.
I no longer had to make my cock seem human, so it jutted from me now in all its gnarled glory.
I groaned as she shifted, spreading her legs for me, begging with her body.
Her arousal was my nectar, sweet and intoxicating, drawing me in.
I pushed and buried myself in her slick heat.
My aching cock was like a taproot, burrowing into the rich soil of her being. I could feel it seeking out the source of her life force, connecting with the ancient energy that now flowed through her veins. But I didn’t drain that energy. I amplified it.
I thrust, each stroke deliberate, building the power between us.
It was like stoking a fire, with each movement fanning the flames higher.
Samantha met my thrusts, her hips bucking against mine, urging me faster, deeper, until the forest around us vibrated with our shared energy.
Leaves rustled, branches swayed, every living thing resonating with the primal force we generated.
I felt the climax build like a storm on the horizon. Samantha’s breaths came in ragged gasps as she trembled beneath me.
“Don’t fight it,” I growled, my voice no longer human. “Let it come.”
She cried out, her body thrashing as the orgasm tore through her. The forest’s energy surged in a great wave that slammed into us, dragging us under. I roared as my peak hit, ripping through me, blinding in its force.
In that moment, she was not Samantha, and I was not Faelan—or even the Green Man. We were the forest, the earth, the very essence of life. United, bound, and pulsing with the heartbeat of the world.
In the aftermath, we lay together on the moss that had grown to form a perfect cradle for our bodies. I absently traced patterns on her skin—ancient symbols of protection and power.
“You’re a quick study.”
Sam laughed. The sound was bright and clear in the hushed forest. “I have a good teacher—and the lessons are most definitely engaging.” She propped herself up on one elbow and gave me a teasing look.
“But I have to ask—is this how you normally teach forest magic? Because if so, I have questions about your previous students.”
It was my turn to laugh. “This method is…specific to our situation.”
Her expression sobered. “Because of the bond?”
I nodded, and reached up to tuck a strand of pale hair behind her ear. “What flows between us is unique. I’ve never shared my essence with a human before. I’ve never been…tethered this way.”
Her eyes searched my face. “Do you regret the ritual?”
For millennia, I’d roamed freely, belonging to all forests and to none. Now I was anchored to this mortal, whose life would pass in what felt to me like the blink of an eye.
Or…would it? Because the undertone of pale green had not left her skin, and it was no trick of the light filtering through the tree canopy.
“No regret,” I said finally. I was surprised by the truth of it. “None at all.”
“Good, because I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”
To demonstrate, she placed her palm on my chest. From the point of contact, a small vine emerged—not from her skin, but from mine. It curled in a perfect spiral over my heart, then bloomed with a single white flower.
And as Samantha’s hands began to explore again, her newly controlled power adding layers of sensation to her touch, I found myself looking forward to all she had yet to learn—and all I had yet to discover through being her teacher.