Chapter 6 #2
I step closer, wrap one arm around her waist, and nudge her legs further apart, then I reach down and angle myself so I can slide into her in one thrust. She gasps as her body takes me, and I pause, allowing myself a moment to feel her holding me tight inside her.
Then I start to move. Each thrust rocks her forward.
My lips find her ear, and I nip the lobe, then lick away the sting.
“Touch yourself.” I want to see her come apart again while I’m buried inside her.
Her fingers find the spot between her legs, circling in time with the rhythm I set. She knows how to touch herself, how to match the pressure of my thrusts with the strokes of her own hand, and the dual stimulation drives her toward another peak.
Her head tips back against my shoulder, her breath coming in short bursts. I loosen my grip on her waist so I can slide my palm up over her ribs to cup her breast, and roll her nipple between my fingers until she gasps.
“Sacha.” My name is a raspy groan as pleasure overtakes her, and she cries out, her rhythm faltering.
I don’t stop, thrusting deeper, slower, riding her through it as she rides her orgasm. Drawing out her pleasure as much as I can. My fingers tug and twist her nipple, my teeth bite into her shoulder, sucking hard enough to leave a mark, and when she falls over the edge again, I follow.
I bury myself as deep as possible, emptying inside her in hot, pulsing waves that seem to go on for eternity.
“Mel’shira.” I whisper the word against her throat, as we collapse together against the wall, my chest pressed to her back, both of us struggling to catch our breath.
The water has grown cooler, but neither of us move to adjust it, too spent to care about the dropping temperature.
Eventually though, we have to move. I slip free of her body, and turn her in my arms. Her eyes are heavy-lidded, satisfied, a small smile teasing her lips.
I brush wet hair from her face, pressing my lips to her forehead, her temple, her cheek.
“That was …” She shakes her head.
“An inventive way to get warm?” I hike a brow.
She stares at me for a second, then laughs, low and warm, and loops her arms around my neck.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispers.
We stand together, her head tucked beneath my chin, under the cooling water until she sighs and steps back, reaching behind her to turn it off. With another small smile, she steps out and takes two large squares of soft, white cloth from a nearby shelf.
Clean, warm, and considerably more centered than I've been since arriving in this world, I step from the shower and accept one of the squares she offers.
“Get dry, and I’ll go and get those clothes for you.”
She leaves the room, and the door swings shut behind her with a quiet click.
I remain where I am for a moment longer, letting the silence wrap around me, then use the cloth she gave me to dry.
By the time she returns, I’m standing in the center of the room.
Ellie’s eyes move over me as she enters, a bundle of clothing in her hand.
She places them down on one of the surfaces then turns to me.
“I had to guess the sizes, but I’m hoping they fit. I’m going to make food, so come back out to the kitchen when you’re ready.”
The garments she selected fit well enough, though the material feels strange against my skin. It clings differently, too soft, not protective enough, and nothing like Meridian’s sturdy materials. But they provide warmth that my body still needs, and currently that’s all that matters.
“Sacha?” Ellie’s voice calls me from another room.
I open the door and step out, walking along the short passageway, following the sound of Ellie moving around. She stops when I walk in, turning to smile at me.
“Are you hungry?” She shakes her head. “Stupid question. You must be. That soup won’t have been enough.”
She crosses to a door and pulls it open. Cold air spills out, and frost coats the shelves inside. I step closer, reaching out to touch the ice curiously.
“It’s called a freezer. It keeps food frozen until we want to eat it.”
I nod. “There are cold rooms kept underground in Meridian. Ice is cut during winter, and stored there. But … nothing like this.”
She removes two small boxes, shuts the freezer, and opens another compartment built into a lower structure. Using a fork, she pierces the clear surface of one, places it inside, and closes the door. A faint chime sounds when she taps the front.
“A microwave,” she tells me. “It heats up food straight from frozen. It won’t take long.”
I watch the container spin inside the glowing box, then turn to Ellie. “I think Meridian would have been easier to adapt to than here.”
“For you, maybe. I wouldn’t have survived without you. If I hadn’t stumbled across your tower, I’d be dead.”
The microwave makes another sound, and she turns to it to take out the box and replace it with the second. While that one heats up, she empties the first onto a plate and sets it on the table.
“Eat.”
I pick up the fork, and sample a mouthful. The flavor is odd, not unpleasant, but different from what I’m used to. She watches me eat, turning briefly to fill her own plate when the microwave makes that strange noise again, then sits across from me.
“What do we do now?”
I still, looking up at her. “I need to find a way back home.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know yet. If the crystal sent us here, there must be a way to reverse it.”
Her expression turns thoughtful. “When I first arrived in Meridian, I just appeared there. I was walking along a street one moment, the next I was in the desert.”
“My summoning placed you where you were needed. A summons didn’t bring us here.” But it’s a starting point. “What do you remember of your arrival in the Sunfire Dunes?”
She closes her eyes. “Heat. Disorientation. I think I saw a bird on one of the street lights before I was pulled out of Chicago.”
“A bird? Could it have been my familiar?”
“Maybe? Are you telling me the raven found me?”
“The raven was free while I was imprisoned. It was part of the spell that sought someone capable of breaking the binding.”
“And it found me.” Her voice is soft.
“And now we know that it was more than chance. You were born in Meridian, and you carry Veinblood power.”
“Does that mean we need to recreate your summoning spell?”
“No, I don’t believe so. The spell was searching for someone to bring to me.
We need something that takes me back to Meridian.
What we need is a focus. The raven was my focus for the summoning.
The crystal, I believe, was the focus which brought us here.
We need something that can channel our combined abilities and also holds a link to Meridian. ”
“Where would we even find something like that? We don’t have magical … wait … there are stores that sell crystals. Do you think that would work?”
I stand up. “I would need to see them.”
Ellie reaches across the table and grasps my hand. “Sacha, we can’t go now. It’s Christmas Eve. Everywhere is closing up for the night. Nothing will be open until the day after tomorrow. It’s a major holiday here. But after that, we can search.”