Chapter 31
Shadows v. Vines
“This is where you bring me.” I looked around at the tree-covered plains. “I thought you would choose somewhere with a bed. Didn’t you say you needed to rest?”
“I do, but we'll have plenty of time for beds.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and massaged them in slow circles. “Are you okay? I just wanted to check in and make sure that after everything we just experienced, you’re good.”
“Yeah. I'm fine.” I looked down at my body, assessing how I felt in my skin. “It’s weird, though. I feel different, stronger, yet weaker at the same time. But I think after I get some time to rest and heal, I'll be perfectly fine.”
He chuckled with a deep sigh. “You’re too literal. I know your body is hurting, I can see that. I'm talking about mentally and emotionally, Jericha. You went through a lot—that was a lot for anyone to handle, especially someone not used to fighting creatures like that.”
“It was a lot.” I nodded. “But we survived it.”
“And what about what happened between us?” His right hand slipped from my shoulder to my neck, settling just beneath my jaw. “We should discuss that.”
“Yeah. We should.” I looked into his eyes. “What was that? Please tell me that wasn’t the marriage thing Likosa mentioned.”
“No. Not quite the marriage of souls. Something different. We're bonded now. It’s something that happens when shadow walkers care deeply for someone. We give them part of our shadows.” He inhaled. “Now, I can feel you, wherever you are. It’s like a tether.”
“Yeah, I think I could feel you too.” I nodded. “At first, I thought it was just the adrenaline, the heat of the moment making me feel things. But I could tell you needed me when you were in the shadows.”
“How do you feel about that?” His voice was serious, the words deliberate, yet there was underlying compassion in his tone. “If you want, I can remove it.”
“Do I have to know the answer to that now?” I chuckled. “Like you said, it’s a lot to process, and I don’t think I’ll be able to do that until after I have a long shower and at least one good night of sleep.”
“No, you don't, but I wanted to pause and ask the question. I don't want you to think any of this is permanent. If you want out at any point, you are out, regardless of whatever magical bonds exist between us.”
“It happens when you care deeply about someone?” I swallowed. “How deeply?”
“Love.” The word was heavy, like a boulder falling between us. “It happens when we love someone.”
“You love me?” I asked, my voice nearly catching in my throat.
“Yes. Jericha. I do.” He said with a simple weight that made my heart squeeze.
I paused, like he said, and listened. I listened to the strange calls of creatures around us, felt the breeze on my skin, and inhaled the sweet air.
I paused and listened to my heart, to that intuition that led me to save him in the heat of battle.
It urged me to stay. I couldn’t say the words back, because I wasn’t sure if that was how I felt.
But I was sure of one thing: I wanted Raymond in my life.
“And what if I don't want out?” The question came out on a shaky breath.
“Excuse me?” His eyes widened. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“What if, after everything we've been through together, I don't want out? What if this entire experience has changed me in a way that makes me want all in with you? I'm not talking about marriage, but I like who I’m becoming with you.”
“Oh damn, isn't that supposed to be my line?” he joked. “Wait, I’m going to start swooning!”
“Shut up.” I slapped his arm but appreciated what he was doing for me, making the moment seem lighter. “You know how I like to take control.”
“That I do.” He lowered his hands to my waist and pulled me close. “But so do I.”
Raymond leaned me back as a platform of shadows formed beneath me.
A bed of his own making. He moved to lie next to me on the floating platform, kissing me as he did.
Despite the ache in my body, I still responded to his touch.
The shadows moved across my flesh, under my clothing, and I understood what they were doing: cleaning.
Raymond was preparing our bodies to be together.
I couldn’t help myself. While his shadows lifted the blood and dirt from my skin, my vines snaked through the grass. Just as Raymond’s hand slid to my pants, his fingers working the button, the vines snapped from the ground.
They grabbed his arms and legs, pulling him back from me as they snaked around his body.
“What?” He looked down at the vines, not a lick of fear in his eyes.
I said nothing—I only sat on the floating platform and watched as the vines did for me what the shadows had for him, time and time again. They peeled away his clothing while I watched.
“What are you doing?” he moaned as the vines caressed him the same way I would have.
“In the bedroom, you're in control. That was our deal.” I looked around. “This doesn’t look like a bedroom to me, does it?”
“Oh, okay.” He bit his bottom lip as the vines brushed against his balls. “I see how it is now.”
The shadow platform shifted, moving me closer to him as he tried to pull me into the shadows. I knew what he wanted to do: take me back to the condo so I could hold up my end of the deal. Only this time, I countered it. Raymond was still weak, and while I had the upper hand, I took it!
I pushed the shadows back, and we were still in his happy place. The vines forced him to stand as I walked around him.
“Not this time.” I kissed his neck then summoned a seat of woven vines and roots to sit on.
“Jericha,” he grunted.
“Raymond?” I fluttered my eyes.
“You’re being so bad right now.”
“And I’ll happily take my punishment later.” I crossed my legs and leaned back in my new throne. “But for now, I’m going to enjoy the show.”
“What show?”
I waved my hand purely for dramatic effect, and the vines did exactly what I wanted. They moved to his dick, which was saluting me, so I knew he enjoyed what happened.
“What’s your safe word?” I asked him.
“Donuts.” He raised a brow, but the smirk fell from his face as the vines stroked his dick.
They slid up and down his length, alternating levels of pressure and speed. I stood as Raymond edged to completion and the shadows fell away from his dick. They still held his arms and legs in place, restricting his movement.
He breathed heavily, chest rising and falling as I wrapped his locs around my hands and pulled him to kiss me.
If he wanted to get away, he could have.
Even if he couldn’t transport me without my permission, he could phase out of the vines whenever he wanted.
No, Raymond was right where he wanted to be.
I pulled away from the kiss, spit in my hand, then finished what the vines started.
“Oooh, shit!” Raymond called out as he came. His head fell on my shoulder with a deep chuckle. “Damn it, girl. You're going to be trouble.”
“Yeah. And you're stuck with me now.” I wrapped the shadows around us and took us back to the condo. Because this woman needed a shower, a nap, and then I was going to ride him until it was time to go back to Earth.
The End