Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
Wulf breaks away from me. The two of them square up. The air crackles with hate and fury.
Falling to my knees, I watch as the blurry shapes try to annihilate each other.
Shadow pins Wulf to the deck. They howl at one another, fangs bared, fists balled like large hammers. More deadly blows as Shadow allows the warrior animal inside him to come out.
No more Mister Nice Guy.
I find that funny for some funny, funny, funny reason…
They are frozen like statues as Shadow opens his mouth and bites.
Howling, Wulf clutches his throat. Gobbets of flesh hang from Shadow’s fangs. A gaping hole in Wulf’s neck.
And then Wulf is gone.
“Shhhadoooow…?”
I’m trying to speak louder, but there’s no air in my lungs.
When I look down, something doesn’t seem right.
The handle of my meteor knife is sticking out of my chest.
Gosh, will you look at that? Darn thing is so sharp, it cut right through my breastbone… the knife went straight into my heart like its very own personal Cupid’s arrow.
The doctor will cut through my breastbone when he does the autopsy. How sad.
Shadow is cradling me in his arms. He feels safe and warm.
“So… thirsty…” The words leave my mouth reluctantly.
Holding me close, Shadow bellows at the sullen gray skies like a wounded beast.
“LUNAAAH!”
I can no longer feel my limbs. I would love to be able to touch him one last time, but no amount of wishing will save me now. The corners of my world are turning dark. My breathing is shallow—and it hurts. Oh Lord, it hurts so much to take in the air, so… I’d rather not…
My heart flutters like a wounded bird.
Tears of blood are pooling in Shadow’s eyes. He looks grim and fierce.
Kissing me on the forehead, he murmurs as if he is saying a prayer.
“I will do anything to keep you with me, Luna. I love you… so you’re just going to have to trust me on this. I’ve never done this before, but then again, I’ve never loved anyone, either.”
The pain when he lifts the knife out of my chest is indescribable. I feel my eyes roll back in my head as he places his mouth on the deep gash between my breasts.
Goodbye.
Images flicker, providing light to me in the darkness. Dad, Tallie, my clients, my teachers, my friends, my Landslide neighbors. And my fluffy white dog.
And my mom. She is so near, yet so far.
Tschk.
Is that the sound of him slitting his wrist with the knife? What is Shadow doing to my numb lips? Oh, right. I was thirsty. One last drink before I die isn’t going to hurt me.
I am so thirsty. This is delicious.
Why was I thinking about surrendering? I feel better than I have in ages.
Pushing his wrist deep in my mouth as I suck, I don’t let go when Shadow rolls into the water with me.
Fractals of fantasy crowd my mind. My heart is beating like a drum. Strong and booming. Pumping hard, the blood surges around my body like a busy virus.
There is no need for me to breathe, but if I were to inhale the murky waters of the creek, they would be cooling and smell like bits of leaves and mud.
No oxygen, no food, no sleep will I ever need again.
But sex… sex I need. I crave sex.
Whispering capricious whims into my lover’s ear.
Yes. Searching the streets for him until, finally, he grabs me around the waist, forces me onto my hands and knees, and thrusts into me from behind, pounding me hard as I finger myself.
Yes. Splitting my moist cleft over his face until he tongues me into submission. Oh yes, please.
Letting his wrist drop, I awake.
“Grrr.” The sound comes out as bubbles under the water, but Shadow understands. Kicking my legs, I allow myself to be weightless as I float.
I can see everything. The t-shirt with the mountain and the moon riding up his jacked torso. The ridges of muscle and veins delineating his body. His dirty blond hair waving like reeds in a stream.
And that tempting happy trail of dark hair disappearing under the dropped waistband.
I feel no shame as I tear off my clothes. They restrict me in ways I never understood before.
My fingers feel so strong as I wrestle with his belt. Pulling the jeans and tight briefs down, I wrap my legs around him.
We kiss, we hug, we swim together. I feel the bulging head of his cock pushing against my narrow passage.
Not yet, not yet. We have all the time in the world now.
Is it possible that he can hear my thoughts? An amused smile flickers across his mouth as he reads me like an open book.
I imagine Shadow and me, fucking each other with a hard, abandoned intensity. An intense orgasm mounts inside me, turning my clitoris into a halo of pulsing pleasure. Is this like dying? No, but this is paradise.
I demand for him to penetrate me. Underwater love. Like a mermaid, I see my red hair floating in the water’s inky depths. I no longer need clothes or air. All I need is Shadow.
Two becoming one, because we share the same blood.
Held in his arms with my legs wrapped around his waist, Shadow and I float. Suspended in liquid with our hair curling around our bodies like water serpents, we can be still for a while.
No urgent thrusting, no frantic banging and grunting. Our bodies are intertwined and in harmony with one another.
I no longer need to move to have my orgasm grow inside me. Nor do I need to touch myself to move it towards the peak.
An ocean wave rolling towards the shore—my orgasm crashes over me like an ecstatic froth of sea foam.
When Shadow thrusts himself into me and comes, only then do I know what being complete really means.
I feel delightfully lighthearted and peaceful.
We’re going into this with our eyes open.
He understands.
I’m sorry I didn’t ask your permission, darlin’. But living without you is not an option.
Are we living? Here we are underwater, swimming and making love as if I have been doing it all my life. For one moment, this feels crazy, but then my conviction reassures me.
Remember when we first met. You called me your little sacrificial lamb. So, why didn’t you just let me die?
Ah, sweetheart, you would have sacrificed yourself for me and the Riders. And that is how I know you were destined to be my queen.
That makes me feel shy. It’s nice to know that there is some of the original Luna still in me.
Aren’t I meant to be your old lady?
Pushing us upwards, Shadow propels us to the surface of the water. He is dreadful and gorgeous at the same time as the creek water drips off his face under the moonlight.
“Queen. Old lady. Who cares?” Pressing a hard kiss on my mouth, Shadow smiles. “But it’s definitely time for you to start calling yourself ‘Mrs. Luna Sylva’!”