Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
I place the lantern out in front of me so I can steady my footing over the fallen branches and leaves.
The moon is full and bright in the sky giving me more visibility of the trees around me and bathing them in a soft ethereal glow.
I pull my scarf higher up my neck to keep me warm.
The temperature must be around freezing.
The warmth of my magic is now dormant in my body. I tired it out.
I listen out into the quiet whisper of the wind for any sound of Sam, anything or anybody else. There’s nothing but the sound of the branches reaching out for each other. The creaking of their limbs as they rub together in the breeze.
I call out into the night. “Sam!” And wait patiently for his reply. Nothingness fills my ears.
I walk further, deeper into the woods, in hopes of finding him there.
My heart races with anticipation. Will he be OK?
How does he feel? Does he even want to see me?
My emotions run high with the outcomes of seeing him.
The sleepy tingle of my tired magic stirs within me, the warming sensation trying its best to serge though my veins and warm me from the winter chill.
I find myself in the familiar clearing where I first saw him in his magic form, the moonlight bathing the woodland floor in a sea of light making it look like a silvery pond. I stand for a moment admiring the beauty before trying to call out for him again.
“Sam, I need to talk to you!” My voice carries through the woods but silence greets me again.
He doesn’t want to talk. He really does need some space.
I don’t even know what Gloria has told him.
Us being twin flames? My mother agreeing for me to marry into a family of people who have killed our kind for our powers?
Me contemplating going through with it? I don’t know.
I decide to head back to the cottage, but something rustles in the thicket across from me.
Two large green eyes appear above a grey muzzle just poking out of the undergrowth.
He slowly stalks out showing his large silver coat.
He stops and stares directly at me before a low rumble growls from his throat.
My own magic is now fully awakened and burning my fingertips. Unsure and ready.
We stand there, both staring at each other. Not moving. Unsure of each other’s next move. I decide to break the silence. “We need to talk.”
His green eyes stare into mine, acknowledging what I have just said. My heartbeat is racing against my bones.
Sam’s body begins to tremble. His fur, once thick and wild, shudders and recedes, the hairs melting into his skin as though pulled by an invisible force.
The muscles in his legs and back tense, contracting and shifting, as his bones crack and reform with an unsettling sound.
His claws, sharp and powerful, retract into human hands, fingers elongating and smoothing as the pads of his paws smooth over into skin.
His face, once elongated into a snout, pulls inwards, the muzzle shrinking and narrowing, leaving behind the features of his human self. The fur that had covered his body fades completely, leaving his skin exposed in the cool night air, the transition complete.
Sam stands there for a moment, breathless, feeling the weight of his human form settle over him. My heartbeat thuds in my chest, slower and more grounded than it had been moments before.
Sam’s hands, now trembling slightly, flex as he regains full control, feeling the rawness of the change slip away, replaced by the steadiness of being himself again.
I revere him. His muscular body stands before me, the droplets of sweat on his chest glistening in the moonlight. His hair is swept back off his face. His eyes meet mine.
My heart now beats in my throat. I sprint towards him, branches snapping underneath my feet. I jump into him, grabbing his shoulders as he grabs my legs and pulls me into him tightly, his forehead resting on my own.
“Sam…” My voice quivers. “Sam, I—”
“I know.” His voice is quiet and low.
I wrap my arms tightly around his neck, pulling myself closer into him. I just want to breathe every part of him. Touch every part of him. Our bodies like magnets that can’t get close enough.
“I didn’t know, I promise I didn’t know.” I can feel myself wanting to cry and kiss him all at once.
“I know,” he replies again, his breath tickling my skin and sending shivers down my spine.
“I fell in love with you for you, not what you are, not this twin flame shit, just you.” I can’t fight it. The tears fall and I kiss him, hard and needy.
He pulls away slightly, releasing himself from my starved lips. “Say that again,” he growls.
I stutter at the sound he makes. “I said… I said it was just you.”
His eyes are now glaring into my own. “Before that.” His voice is angry and impatient.
Fuck. I said I fell in love with him. And I did. I love Sam. I love everything about him. I want to be with him every single moment of every single day. I want him inside me. I want him around me. I want him touching every part of me. I want him. I love him. And I would do anything to protect him.
I kiss him once more, gently on his lips. “I love you, Sam.”
His breath quickens and his heartbeat now sounds through his chest into my own. He lowers us to the ground, placing me on my back as he stays on top of me. His eyes shift to animalistic and hungry.
“Say it again,” he growls again in my ear. The vibration runs down my body to my thighs.
“Sam, I love you,” I whimper under the power of his body. “I don’t care if you don’t feel the same, I love you.”
His thumb traces my lip before smoothing down my chin to my neck, holding it in his hands gently but firm. “I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I have felt every emotion when it comes to you, Harriet. Anger mostly.”
My eyes dart to his in fear. “Anger?” I whisper, my voice in fear.
He kisses me slowly and tenderly before removing his hands so they are beside my head.
“Angry at that prick for ever making you cry. Angry at myself for not seeing the signs before, seeing you as the same as me. Angry that I hid who I am from you. But most of all, angry that everyone gets to look at you when I was so desperate to have you to myself.”
My heart flutters and I wrap my arms around his neck pulling him closer to me, the cold woodland floor against my back. But Sam, the heat that is radiating off him keeps any chill from setting in.
“Your body…” I trace his chest with my fingers. “It is so warm,” I whisper.
“It’s part of it. Changing makes my magic boil.” He smirks, looking into my eyes. “And you, Harri, you make my blood feel like I’m in a furnace.”
“Mine started with a tingle, but I can feel it start to burn.” I look at my hand behind his head, studying it like I can see the magic moving within.
“It does that.” He smiles. “How long have you known, you know, about magic?” he questions as he starts kissing my neck, making my lower stomach start to flutter along with my heart.
“Not long,” I muster through a gasp, his lips tracing back up my throat.
He meets my soft gaze. “You are my flame,” he whispers, his voice barely audible, but powerful in its truth.
“The one I’ve been searching for in every lifetime.
” Sam pulls back slightly, his forehead resting against mine, his breath coming in shallow gasps.
“I never knew love could feel like this,” he confesses, his voice barely a whisper in the sacred silence of the woods. “You are my everything, Harri.”
I can’t help but smile, my hands threading through his hair, pulling him back down to me.
“And you are mine.” I breathe against his lips, my magic a gentle, burning caress that matches the heat of his own.
Our connection is beyond words, beyond explanation.
It feels like a bond older than the stars, a fire that could never be extinguished.
Granny is right. We are twin flames, reborn again in this moment, destined to ignite the world with our love.
And in the heart of the forest, beneath the moonlight, we burn together.
I push Sam from on top of me, pushing him up until he is kneeling in front of me.
I get myself up onto my knees in front of him, looking up at him.
My heart races in my chest, sweat now creating droplets on my back.
A deep hunger radiates from within. I pull my coat from off me slowly, keeping his gaze on mine, along with my jumper and T-shirt.
He takes in my naked chest, his eyes wide and filled with desire.
He cups my face in his hand and pulls my chin up to him to kiss.
A kiss that throbs in my core. His other hand is pulling the small of my back closer into him.
The heat of our bodies touching is like molten lava, burning every inch of my skin, but I can’t pull away.
I am addicted to the heat. I am addicted to him.
I push him further back until he wobbles backwards off his knees to the woodland floor, his back resting on the bark of a towering tree. I move from my knees to my feet, removing the clothing from the bottom half of me.
I stand there looking down at him, my naked body in front of his, vulnerable in the middle of the woods, the moonlight bathing our bodies in its glow.
Never in my life have I felt as powerful as I do right now.
I can feel the vibrations of the earth below my feet.
I can feel the wind’s kiss upon my skin. All of it in sync with me.
My magic is more awake now than before. I can feel it rushing around my bloodstream and tantalising my body.
Sam’s deep green eyes stare up at me in awe. The whole forest shines within the shadowed jade colour of them. I make my way towards him, my feet light on the ground beneath us, until I am stood over him. He lifts his hands to my legs, stroking them softly with his fingertips.
“You’re breathtaking,” he whispers, making a small smile pull from the corner of my lips.