 
STARLIGHT DESTINY

Pamela Offutt

Copyright © 2014 by Pamela Overall

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

STARLIGHT DESTINY AMORE

### By Desiree Amore

Emily pushed her hair back out of her eyes as she glared at the blinking cursor in front of her on the computer screen. It had been 3 weeks since she'd written anything and her editor was riding her case about deadlines. Finally convinced the cosmos wasn't about to open up and reveal anything anytime soon, she reached up to pull the laptop lid down in a frustrated move that closed it with a little more force than she originally intended. Leaning back in her chair she arched her back and stretched her arms wide trying to relieve the ache that had settled in them. Dropping her hands to clasp the top of her head she looked towards the window where a full moon was shining brightly down at her; inviting her to come out and play. She stood up, whistled for her dog Luna, a big, black Labrador, and headed for the front door. Luna met her there bouncing eagerly at the idea of a walk. "Yes, yes, I know, girl. Let's go." She said, pulling the leash off a hook on the wall and attaching it to the dog's collar. As she opened the door to go, Luna suddenly lunged at the end of the leash pulling Emily out the door. Emily barely had time to grab the door by the knob to slam it shut behind her. "Whoa, girl, whoa!" she yelled as the dog proceeded to drag her down the street intent on reaching some secret destination in record time. After nearly face planting for the third time, Emily finally let go of the leash. She watched helplessly as her dog disappeared into the distance, unable to keep up with her. That was strange. Luna had never run off before. What had gotten into her? Walking along the street in the direction the dog was last seen heading Emily called and whistled for her beloved pet. Looking around her at the increasingly strange surroundings she felt confused and uneased by the unfamiliar buildings. Granted she didn't get out much, but she could still see her house from where she was standing. Yet she didn't recognize any of these houses she'd seen so far as she walked along the street. She stopped, uncertain if she should continue on or turn around and head back to the safety of her house. She suddenly heard Luna barking. The dog sounded close by so Emily decided to walk a little further ways to try and find the dog before returning home. As she rounded the corner she found herself at the edge of a park. She frowned as she thought, "I don't remember seeing a park this close to home before." Luna's excited barking seemed to be coming from within the trees. Moving forward cautiously, trying not to make any noise, Emily made her way between the trees trying to find her dog. What she found instead left her speechless. There, at the center of the trees, was a shining lake with the full moon reflecting hugely in it. On the shore of it stood one of the most gorgeous men she'd ever seen. He stood at least 6 foot, silky hair glowed in the moonlight as it cascaded over his shoulders and chest although it was hard to tell what color it was because the color seemed to shift as he moved. He had broad shoulders, carved abs, long muscular legs, and a tight round butt that looked like you could bounce a quarter off it. His profile was to her as he bent to lavish affection on her wayward pooch. Luna looked up at him adoringly and drooled on his foot as he scratched behind her ears. Not that Emily could blame her; she had to check to make sure she wasn't drooling too. Right at that moment the man noticed Emily. Straightening, he turned towards her. As he did so, Emily's jaw dropped as she suddenly realized the man was completely naked. His manhood hung to a promising length between his legs ending somewhere near mid-thigh. 'Promising?' Emily thought to herself 'Now why would I use that particular word?' Her mouth dried up making her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth and all thoughts flee her mind as he moved towards her. He drew closer she saw his eyes had the same startling quality as his hair. He had a square, lean jaw with no sign of a beard and her eyes became glued to his full sensual lips as they opened to speak. She held her breath, eager to hear his voice.

### "It took you long enough." he said angrily, putting his hands on his hips.

### "Huh?" Emily responded, stunned by the unexpectedly aggressive tone, "Wh-?"

### "I've been waiting here for hours since the moon rose." the man interrupted her, tapping one foot, "Where were you? Why weren't you here sooner?"

### "What?" Emily finally responded, the man's arrogance making her indignant, "Who the hell ARE you? Why would you be waiting for ME?"

### "Luna said she'd been trying to get your attention for hours but you weren't paying attention to her." he answered indignantly. The way he said it made it sound like Emily had been abusing her dog. Emily glared down at the traitorous canine that looked like she was trying to hide behind him. Luna sat on the ground with her tail wrapped around her front paws, and hung her head while looking up at her mistress. Emily always had trouble staying mad at her when she did that. However, there was no way she could let her get away with this betrayal.

### "Did she now?" Emily responded, giving the dog a look that let her know she'd deal with her later, "What else did she-. Wait a minute! You can speak to my dog?!"

### "Of course I can." the man said, giving her a look like he thought she was crazy, "Can't you?" "Of course not!" Emily responded angrily, "I don't know anyone who can! Either way, we'll be going now if you don't mind. I would say it was nice to meet you, SIR, but I'm afraid that would be a lie and my mother taught me never to lie. Good evening." You insane jerk, she added mentally as she reached around him awkwardly to snag Luna's leash to haul her repentant pooch home. However, reaching around a completely naked man who is extremely well endowed didn't prove to be an easy task. Especially, when it seemed her spirited altercation with him seemed to have an interesting effect on his penis. As she bent over to reach for the leash, the damn thing suddenly decided to spring to life and smack her across the face. Startled, Emily jumped back putting her hand up to her face and turning bright red in the pale moonlight. Looking up at the man, he seemed to smirk at her knowingly. All of Emily's embarrassment drained away in that instant as anger took over. Emily didn't get angry often, but it was said by many of her friends that if she ever did, run. Just run. Rearing back her hand as if to slap the man in the face, she let it fly. Only a minute too late did the man realize that his face wasn't her intended target as her open handed slap came into contact with a resoundingly loud smack upside his poor penis. Astonishment registered for just a second on his handsome features before he crumpled to the ground silently, cradling his injured member. Emily didn't bother even glancing at him as she scooped her dog's leash up off the ground and marched off towards the trees, this time dragging the dog behind her. Luna didn't put up much of a fight this time as she followed along behind her fuming mistress as they made their way home.

### Opening the front door, Emily stormed through it. 'How dare he!' she thought furiously 'Of all the arrogant, conceited....' Then she stopped as she realized that she was about to call him a man when she wasn't entirely sure at all that's what he really was. Looking down at her pet, Luna sat looking up at her half in fear and half in apology. With a sigh she reached down and removed the leash from her collar, patted her on the head, then hung it up on a hook by the door. Luna recognizing a reprieve when she saw one, bounded away before her mistress changed her mind and decided to punish her after all. Emily went straight back to her desk chair and sat down at her computer. Bringing it back up she frowned at the blank screen for a moment; then the frowned smoothed out and her eyes grew bright as she leaned forward and started tapping furiously at the keys. Watching the words appear on the screen in front of her as her fingers flew; she smiled knowingly and thanked the cosmos for answering her unspoken request.

## CHAPTER 2

### 'Sweet goddess' the man thought, lying on his side cradling his poor abused penis, that woman can pack a punch.' Standing up gingerly he looked around cautiously for his assailant. Breathing a sigh half in relief he bent over to place his hands on his thighs. Panting he attempted to ease the throbbing ache that threatened to engulf him. The glimmer of moonlight on water caught his eye, inviting him to submerge his sore member in its cooling embrace. Moving forward slowly, he walked into the water until it covered him up to his waist. Sighing deeply at how the water lifted his balls and swirled soothingly around him he closed his eyes to tip his face up to the moonlight. He attempted to empty his mind as he sought communion with the goddess. Nothing came to him as he stood there, but he soon realized the sensation surrounding his cock felt a little more substantial than just the moving currents of the water. Looking down he found a pair of clear blue eyes gazing up at him, his cock seemed to be completely engulfed between a pair of blue lips that sucked at it while cool hands reached up to fondle the balls bobbing below it. Green hair swirled around them both as he stood for a moment just enjoying the feel of the tongue inside that mouth as it lapped and swirled around the head of his cock. He frowned down at the eyes as he realized it felt wrong, there was no warmth coming from the creature in front of him. A pair of warm brown eyes flashed through his mind, reminding him of his true purpose here. Abruptly he pushed away from those lips. Backing up towards the shallows he sank down to his knees in the water. A pair of cool arms rose from the water in front of him to drape themselves around his neck. They were followed by the lithe form of the water nymph they belonged to. "Why so resistant, Lucian?" she asked, settling herself intimately on his lap with legs wrapped around his waist "It's not like we haven't enjoyed each other in the past."

### "Exactly, Brook," he said "IN THE PAST. You know why I'm here."

### "Why do you persist in this foolish quest?" she answered, pouting, "I saw what she did to you. How dare she?! I wanted to scratch her eyes out, but she was too far away from the water for me to reach her."

### The man stared down at her, a rueful smile twisting his full, sensuous lips. "Much as I appreciate the support, have you forgotten my true mission here? She is my mate."

### "I could be your mate if you'd let me. I would never treat you in such a way and we have much more in common." She squirmed enticingly on his lap rubbing against his cock suggestively. However, her body held no warmth for him and he pushed her roughly away before standing up to stride out of the water out of her reach. The only answer he gave her was silence as he walked away from her. "FINE! Go to your human mate! See if I care! I hope she makes you miserable!" she shrieked, her fingernails growing long and sharp while her eyes glowed fiercely, "Just you wait, you'll be back. As soon as she finds out what you really are she won't have anything to do with you at all." The silver man froze, doubt showing clearly on his face, though his back was to the nymph so she couldn't see it. In a flash of bitterness she continued, "You better make sure to keep her away from open water or anywhere I can reach her because if I get my hands on her I'll--EEP!" The venomous flow of her words was abruptly cut off as she found her throat in the strong grip of Lucian's hand. Deliberately he gave a light squeeze and Brook's eyes bugged out.

###  "DON'T--EVER--THREATEN--HER--IN--MY--PRESENCE." he growled in a menacing tone "If you harm one hair on her head there won't be anywhere in existence you can hide from me to avoid my wrath. Do I make myself clear?" Brook's hands were wrapped tightly around his wrist and she nodded silently unable to speak. He let go and watched as she disappeared quickly beneath the waves of the water without a sound. Sighing deeply he walked back up to the bank to make another attempt to resume his connection with the Goddess. Making sure he was well out of reach of the water, he turned back to the full moon, lifted his face up to it, he closed his eyes, attempting once again to empty his mind, and held his hands up in supplication asking the Goddess for guidance. Thoughts of Emily kept intruding on his solitude; he couldn't block her out no matter how hard he tried. His body hardened as he remembered sight of her standing at the edge of the forest, poised as if she would take flight at the first sign of danger. Her large, soft brown eyes were wide as she gazed at him, frozen in place. The lush curves of her body, in spite of her attempts to cover them, spoke to him invitingly. The generous curves of her breasts topped with the sharp peaks of her nipples poking through the tank top she wore over them. The loose pajama bottoms that covered the rest of her sat low on her hips as they flared out from her gently curved waist. Her long golden brown hair swirled around her as if trying to hide her from his gaze. The graceful way she rested a hand on the tree trunk beside her reminded him of a doe on the verge of taking flight at the slightest move from him. After seeing her standing there after all this time, what had he done? He'd stormed up to her and spoke harshly to cover his excitement to see her in the flesh after having dreamed of her for so long. No wonder she'd hit him, he thought, wincing, he deserved worse as he realized how badly he'd behaved. He had to find some way to make amends, but he wasn't sure just how to do that. He had no idea how long he stood there waiting until he suddenly realized his skin felt strange. Opening his eyes he looked down at himself. He found his body bound in clothes just as Emily's had been. His legs, buttocks, and groin were now covered in a pair blue denim jeans that confined his cock in a most uncomfortable way. His chest, shoulders, and arms were covered in a t-shirt that was soft, comfortable, and clung to his chest. He could feel the cool night air through it as it molded to his shape lovingly. When he pulled it away from his body, it sprang back to fit to his torso. It was the color of night, not black, but a blue so deep it almost seemed black. Over that he seemed to be a jacket which had buttons along one side but hung open in the front leaving his chest exposed but still covered his shoulders and arms. His feet felt strangest of all in the heavy shoes. They prevented him from feeling the ground beneath them and squished in the mud as he moved. Tentatively, he took a few steps around the clearing trying to get used to them. Looking up at the moon again, he raised his eyebrows questioningly. There was a brief intensified glow from it as he got his answer. Shrugging his shoulders he resolved to put his trust in Her and follow Her will. It was the Goddess who showed him through dreams the woman who was his mate, then gave him the quest to prove he was worthy of winning his mate, and finally brought him here to this place by Her power to find the one destined to be his. It was also she who showed him his beloved's world and educated him on the basic knowledge he would need to find her. Bowing his head, he thanked the Goddess and allowed her to guide his feet through the trees and down the street in the same direction Emily had stormed off. Arriving at Emily's house, he raised his hand and knocked firmly on the door behind which his future lay. Then he stepped back and waited.

## CHAPTER 3

### Emily bolted upright in her desk chair looking around her with bleary eyes. Taking in the computer in front of her and the long line of 'z' on it she realized she must have fallen asleep on her keyboard. Yawning widely as she stretched out her arms she glanced at the window to see it was still dark out. Her laptop clock told her she'd only slept a few hours. 'Time for bed' she thought to herself as she stood to get ready. Luna sat in the doorway of her bedroom as she moved around her room watching her. Emily was just about to crawl into bed when a loud knock sounded on her front door. A glance at her alarm clock told her it was barely 4am. "Who in the world would be knocking on my door at this hour' she asked herself, snagging her baseball bat from beside her bed as she went to the front door. 'Whoever it is better have a damn good reason.' The knock sounded again almost impatiently. Impatiently? How in the world can a knock sound impatient? Unless it was- No. There was no way it could be him. He didn't even know where she lived. How could he possibly have found her? So there was definitely no way it was him. Moving stealthily up to the door, she peeked through her peep hole to find out who it was. Pulling back she started swearing silently. Yup, it WAS him. Oh well, he can knock on that door all he wants, she wasn't opening it. Turning away from the door she was almost knocked over as Luna came barreling past her to hurl herself at the door, barking excitedly. Try as she could, Emily couldn't calm the deranged canine down as she repeatedly jumped between her and the door barking loudly. 'Fine' Emily thought with silent resignation. Grabbing Luna's collar, she unlocked the door, swung it open, and then settled the bat on her shoulder. "WHAT?!" she said to the man standing on her stoop, not caring if she sounded rude. He had looked up eagerly at first when the door opened, but upon seeing she was none too happy to see him and noticing the way she held tightly to the club on her shoulder he took one step back. "Pardon, milady," he said, eyeing the club warily. She'd already proven to him once what she was capable of and it wasn't a lesson he was likely to forget anytime soon. At that moment Luna had managed to break away from her mistress's hold and promptly launched herself at him in a joyful greeting. "Hello again, little one, it's nice to see you too." He said, smiling as her paws landed on his chest. He reached up and fondled her behind both ears turning his laughing face away from her eager tongue. Emily's heart jumped at how that smile transformed his face, her stomach dropped somewhere to her knees as she wondered what it would be like to have him smile at her like that. Her eyes wandered from his face down his body. He had acquired clothes somewhere along the way; someone's laundry line probably. Although they looked to made just for him the way the blue jeans and tight black, no wait...dark blue, t-shirt clung to his muscular chest. The jacket he wore over it did nothing to hide his well-formed body underneath it. Her hands itched to put the bat down, reach out to peel that jacket and t-shirt off to taste the skin it covered. Her stomach dropped as her nipples hardened and she felt warm all over; suddenly feeling suffocated within her own clothing. She resisted the urge to start removing them just to feel the night air on her overheated skin and tightened her trembling grip on the bat. Quickly schooling her features into a mask of irritated disdain, she demanded "What are YOU doing here? How did you know how to find me? Do you know what time it is? You're lucky I didn't call the cops on your ass."

### The man focused on her once more, all trace of the smile gone now as he frowned in confusion. Looking around him he said, "I came here on foot, milady, I rode no donkey and I don't know what 'cops' are." he answered.

### "Ok, wise guy," she answered" you know very well what I mean. Don't try to play cute with me."

### "Forgive me, milady, I wanted to apologize to you for my earlier rudeness. It wasn't until you pointed out the lapse in my manners that I realized how hasty my words were." At this he winced slightly in remembrance, his hand moving to his crotch. Emily saw the movement and remembered exactly how she had pointed this out. She chuckled a little bit to herself but felt a little guilty at the same time of having hurt him. Suddenly realizing she was letting her guard down; she stiffened her resolve and wrapped both hands around the handle of the bat ready to swing it if he took one step towards her. What was it about this man that made her want to trust him? She didn't even know his name. All she knew was that he was some pervert who decided to go skinny dipping in the middle of the night who'd slapped her with his penis. Yup, he'd deserved the smack most definitely. 'LUNA!' Emily thought suddenly 'Where was she now? Did she run off again?' Looking around the door frame she spotted her dog digging happily in her flower bed.

### "Luna! Stop that! Bad girl!" Emily said, lowering her bat and coming all the way out the door to pull her now extremely dirty dog away from her flowers before she did too much damage. It wasn't until she turned around to see the man was still standing in front of her open door that she realized what she'd done. He could have done anything at that point. Grabbed her, shoved into her house, shut and locked the door then from that point he could have stripped her clothes and ravished her body. A shiver of excitement went up her spine at the thought; she almost wished he'd done exactly that. What was wrong with her??!! She shook herself mentally with her hand still gripping the dog's collar. Instead he was just standing in her yard watching her and waiting. Abruptly she realized the scene she must be making. Looking around at her neighbors houses she saw lights going on and curtains twitching as the curious looked out to see what was happening. 'Oh great' she thought, it's not bad enough they treat me like the town whore because a single woman moved into a house on her own amongst this family setting, but now I've got a strange man knocking on my door in the wee hours of the morning. Emily remembered the first and last block party she'd attended. She'd been standing by a table loaded down with food surrounded by playing children thinking how nice it was when one of her neighbors appeared in front of her. He'd been about her height, muscular build that was starting to show signs of going soft around the middle, green eyes that crinkled when he smiled at her. He seemed friendly enough and she didn't feel threatened as the setting sun glinted off his gold wedding band. "Hi, you're new to the neighborhood, aren't you?" he'd asked, extending his hand to shake.

### "Yes, I am" she'd answered, smiling as she shook his hand "Just moved in last month."

### "Welcome to the neighborhood." he said "My name is George Polson. We don't get many new faces around here. Especially pretty ones like yours."

"Thank you" Emily said, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation seemed to be heading. At that moment a pretty, petite blond showed up at his side placing one hand possessively on his arm. Emily breathed out in relief feeling as though the cavalry had just shown up until the woman turned to face Emily with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "George" she said in a tight voice "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" The way the woman said the word made it sound like whore. Emily cringed inside. "I would, except I don't know her name yet." he said, placing an arm around the woman's shoulders and looking at Emily inquiringly.

### "My name is Emily." she said "It's nice to meet you." Emily extended her hand to the woman. At first the woman looked at it like the last thing she wanted to do was touch it. Finally she reach out and lightly clasped it, moved it, then let go quickly.

### "Hello, Emily, my name is Carrie Polson." Carrie's face contained thinly veiled hostility. Emily could practically see the unspoken words hanging in the air between them. As in WIFE. Looking around Emily could see similar looks being cast her way from the majority of the women there. The men all seemed to have mixed reactions. Some looked interested, some were oblivious, and others were too wrapped up in a football game on a nearby TV someone had set up in their driveway. Either way the message was painfully clear. She was an outsider to everyone there. Putting down her plate on the table, she told Carrie once again that it was nice to meet her but she suddenly remembered she had to be somewhere. After that she beat a hasty retreat to her house, went inside and shut the door. Emily had thought that was the last of it until one night there was a knock on her door. Looking through her peephole, she saw neighbor George. Wondering if something had happened and if he needed help she opened the door. "There she ish!" he exclaimed, waving a half empty beer bottle at her as he weaved slightly on her stoop "There'sh my beautiful neighbor. I came over here to shpend a little time with you. Can (hic) Can I come in?" Without waiting for a response George shoved his way past her into the living room. Stumbling a little on the edge of the carpet he collapsed on her couch spilling beer on her rug. Wrinkling her nose at the smell, Emily left the door open and moved after him fully intending to tell him to go home. "You know what that Bitch of a wife of mine shaid about you?"

### "I can just guess" Emily replied, lifting one eyebrow and twisting her lips sardonically "I'm also pretty sure you being here right now isn't going to help that either, so if you don't mind..." She gestured toward the open door. "She said you were a shlu- a shlu-" he let out a great belch "a whore and that if I really wanted you that badly then I should jusht have at it. Sho here I am." He said smiling brightly and throwing his arms wide as he lost his balance to fall back slightly. He looked as if he expected Emily to just fall into his arms happily, as if she'd been waiting all along to do just that. After a moment he seemed to realize that his arms were still empty. He looked in drunken confusion from his empty arms to an impatient Emily who stood with her arms crossed just glaring at him, tapping her foot.

### "I need you to leave now, George" she wasn't going to state the obvious fact that he was drunk. Emily never understood why people did this. Like telling someone who's drunk that they are drunk will magically make them sober. Emily gestured toward the open front door again adding with more force "Leave, George! Now! Or I'll be forced to call the cops."

### This seemed to have no effect on drunken George at all. He lurched to his feet and lunged at her saying, "Come on, baby, you've wanted (hic) to do thish shince you firsht met me." Emily sidestepped his grab easily and he kept going until he made contact with the floor. Unfortunately, that was where he stayed. Shaking her head she stomped out of her house and across the street to pound on his front door. Carrie came to the door with red eyes and an angry expression, "What do YOU want, slut?" she said. Emily closed her eyes and counted to ten slowly. When she opened them Carrie was still standing there staring at her belligerently.

### "Will you PLEASE come get your husband off my floor?" she said.

### "Why should I?" Carrie shouted "When he so obviously wants YOU. Don't think I didn't notice you throwing yourself at him at the block party. Everyone there did." With this she made a wide sweep of her arm to indicate the growing crowd gathering on the sidewalk watching them. "We all knew it was just a matter of time before you tried to steal yourself a husband." Emily could feel the crowd watching her. Her face burned with indignation and humiliation of being put in the middle of something that had nothing to do with her. Emily knew her reputation in this neighborhood was officially shot to hell now with this scene. There was nothing she could do about it.

### "Just get him out of my house, lady." she said tiredly "Or I'll call the cops to come get him" Emily went back to her house, still leaving her front door open, to wait for someone to come get the man passed out on her floor. A shadow filled her doorway and she jumped. Looking up she saw two of the men that were at the block party in her doorway. Unsure if they were there to help or to "party" she watched them warily. As they moved forward their wives came in behind them. She breathed a sigh of relief as each of men grabbed an arm of the unconscious George to lift him up and haul him out the door. The two women came forward, each one giving her a hug, murmuring words of comfort. Emily felt embarrassed at having been swept up unwillingly into the scene. She mumbled words of thanks and tried not to let the humiliation of it all get to her. Eventually they left with consoling pats on the back and encouraging words. Emily thanked them as they went out the door. Shutting the door she leaned against it hoping that this neighborhood wouldn't be so bad after all. It seemed there were SOME decent people in it. Still better to be safe than sorry, so the next day she'd gone out to buy the baseball bat and adopted a Labrador puppy from the local shelter. She named her Luna.

## CHAPTER 4

### "Milady?" the sound of the man's voice snapped her out of her reverie. She'd been standing there staring at him lost in thought until he grew concerned and came over to her. She blinked and looked up at him in the moonlight as if noticing him for the first time. Then her face grew stiff as she recalled where she was and why she was standing in the middle of her yard talking to this strange man. Glancing around her again, she saw even more lights shining in the windows. Now people were openly staring through curtains. "Maybe you better come inside." she said, leading the way in front of him. Lucian relaxed and sent a heartfelt thank you to the Goddess before following her inside. Once inside she shut the door quietly, leaning the bat against the wall beside it. She felt the heat from the man's body as he came up close behind her. When she turned she almost ran into the wall of his chest not realizing exactly how close he actually was. He grabbed her in his arms as she stumbled back and felt her soft curves pressed up against him. His cock grew hard instantly as his gaze fell to her lips. They were so full and looked so soft, he wanted desperately to taste them. Emily just stood there locked in his arms as an electric sizzle shot through her body. Her nipples peaked through her shirt against his chest and moisture pooled between her legs. She became aware of his muscular arms wrapped around her holding her close as she watched him bend towards her. She held her breath in anticipation of the kiss that was about to happen. Luna's frantic barking howl and scrabbling at her front door broke the spell as she realized that she'd left the pooch outside. The man seemed to snap out of it too and gently steadied her then let her go. Emily moved to the door quickly opening it up to let her dog in before she woke any more of the neighborhood up. Luna came bounding in, blissfully unaware of the tense moment she'd unintentionally interrupted, making a beeline for the man again only this time with muddy paws. Emily opened her mouth to stop her but the man frowned down at her and she skidded to a stop directly in front of him to sit at his feet. Tongue lolling out the side of her mouth she gazed up at him with adoring eyes. "How did you do that?" Emily asked, puzzled at her dog's insane behavior, "You never even said a word."

### "I did, you just didn't hear it." he replied, smiling at the dog again. Then he looked up at Emily "She says you're a kind, loving mistress and she's very happy with you. She worries that your alone all the time, though." Emily shot the dog a look that spoke volumes and Luna put her head down to skulk out of the room, tail between her legs, to look for a spot to hide from her mistress's wrath.

### "How is it you can communicate with her again?" she asked.

### "How is it you can't?" he said, then took a step back holding his hands up in front of him when she turned the same look on him she'd just given the dog "I mean no disrespect. It's just that where I'm from the language of the animals is known to one and all. Is that not the case here as well?"

### "No." Emily answered, frowning, "Where did you say you were from?"

### "I'm from here." he said, "Just not exactly HERE. It's kind of complicated. I'm from this place, just not this exact place."

### Emily sighed while shaking her head in confusion. Pushing past him she spoke over her shoulder as she walked ahead of him into her living room off to the left, "I'd better make some coffee. This is going to be a long night." When the man didn't follow her immediately, she stopped and turned around. "You're supposed to follow me." She said waving him towards her. Lucian moved towards her and stopped to stand in front of her. "Why don't you have a seat on the couch while I make the coffee?" She indicated a seat beside them as she turned to go into another room. Looking at it, he lowered himself carefully down onto the 'couch', not sure what to expect. He found it to be very squishy and springy but not unpleasant. As his gaze returned to the woman in the cooking room his mind came up with all kinds of things he'd like to do to her on it. Like rip the shirt from her body so he could lick the luscious globes of her breasts and suck her nipples until they were ripe and swollen. Then he'd kiss his way down her chest until he reached the navel he could see peeking out from under the bottom of her shirt as she reached up to take down two cups from the box on the wall in front of her. He'd dip his tongue into that indentation, swirling it around it before nibbling his way down her body to push her pajama pants down over her hips to bury his face between her legs. He could smell the scent of her body from the next room combined with the stuff she called coffee. It was a heady aroma of flowers with the underlying hint of arousal that wafted from her as she crossed in front of him to place a small tray containing the two cups, two containers, and a plate of biscuits on the table in front of them before taking her seat beside him on the couch.

### "How do you like your coffee?" she asked, arching her eyebrow as she caught sight of the barely contained heat in his eyes as he looked at her hungrily. Smiling wickedly, she couldn't resist teasing him a little "Cream?" Pausing provocatively "Or sugar?" His mouth went dry as he had the added image of taking both of those things and pouring them over her body to lick it off.

### "Both." he said, but it came out as a hoarse squeak as he moved his hands surreptitiously in an attempt to cover the bulge in his crotch. The motion didn't go unnoticed by Emily as she smiled behind her cup as she took a sip. He watched as she added both to his cup then handed it to him after stirring it. He took a sip of the liquid in the cup, grimaced, and then set it down.

### "Ok, now let's start again. Where are you from?" she asked.

### "I am from here. Just another time here." he answered. At her inquiring look, he continued "My world occupies the same place as yours, just in another existence. I was brought here by the Goddess who opened a gate between your world and mine. However it can only be opened on a day that doesn't exist except once every four planet cycles when the moon is full."

### "Like an alternate reality?" Emily prompted. He looked at her blankly, "Kind of like two houses side by side. They're on the same street but in different spaces and on a day that doesn't exist except once every four...oh, you mean on Leap Year Day. That still doesn't explain WHY you're here."

### "I have no knowledge of this Jump Year you speak of but," he said, "I came here looking for you. I was told to find you in a dream sent to me by the Goddess."

### "I see." Emily said nodding "You were told by a dream to find me. Why?"

### "Because you're my mate." he answered, "The one who was destined to be with me. That's why I came all this way to find you."

### "I see" she said again, smiling serenely and nodding at him, "So let me get this straight. You came from another dimension to find me, your destined mate, so we can be together and live happily ever after. Did I get it right?" The man nodded eagerly, relieved that she had understood so quickly. Suddenly, the smile dropped from her face as she put down her cup and stood up grabbing his hand to pull him up after her. "OK! Time for you to go, buddy." She started hauling him towards the front door. The man stumbled after her in confusion, what had happened? He thought she had understood. Emily let go of him to open the door. "Well, thanks for stopping by. Have a nice trip home!" she said trying to push him out the door.

### "Wait!" he cried "You don't understand! You're the one I need to be with. We are supposed to be together, the Goddess said so."

### "Oh, well if the GODDESS said so...."Emily responded, turning to him and putting her hands on her hips "Are you crazy? I mean, seriously, do you realize how insane you sound? You don't even know me and yet you're spouting words like 'destiny' and 'need'. OOOHHH... I KNOW WHAT THIS IS! This is a prank! I'm on one of those reality TV shows, aren't I?" The man leaned back as Emily leaned forward and started yelling at buttons on his jacket. "HELLO?! JIG IS UP! YOU CAN COME OUT NOW! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" She whirled around to stomp out the door ahead of him. The man paused for a moment as he watched her rummage around in the bushes in her front yard while muttering to herself. What madness was this? What was wrong with her? Looking up to the full moon hanging low in the sky helplessly he beseeched it silently. He may have been wrong, but it seemed to be laughing at him. Noticing how close it was to the horizon, he realized he was running out of time. Sweet Goddess, he was going to have to show her. Striding out into the yard, he scooped her up in his arms to carry her back inside. She struggled as he kicked the door shut behind him and deposited her on the couch.

### "Stay there" he commanded firmly, moving back to an open space in the middle of the living room and began to remove his clothing. Emily opened her mouth with shock and indignation, about to tell him to get the hell out of her house when the air around him started shimmering. She froze as the outline of his naked body blurred; a mist formed around him to obscure him from sight. She watched as he grew taller and his body seemed to elongate. Where his two legs stood now there were four, his torso stretched up and appendages seemed to sprout from his shoulders. She stood ready to bolt from her house as the mist settled around the creature that stood in the middle of her living room in the exact spot the man had occupied only moments before. Its four feet ended in delicate cloven hooves, long graceful legs stretched up to a lithe body of a sleek stallion with a silvery coat and flowing tail. From the shoulders of the body stretched the torso of the man. Where his hips ended it merged with the body of the horse. A quick glance between the back legs revealed an impressive equine cock. A silky mane to match the tail lined up the middle of his back and over his head to cover it with the same shiny, silver tresses that covered his shoulders. Wings that had sprouted from his shoulders were stretched out to either side of him in graceful sweeps. Emily just stood there taking all this in looking him over thoroughly. Then the darkness closed in and she knew no more.

## CHAPTER 5

### As Emily's eyes rolled back up into her head and she collapsed back on the couch in a dead faint Lucian put one hand out towards her and took a step forward. He stopped abruptly, realizing that in his present form he would only make matters worse if she came to with him standing over her. Not to mention the amount of available room for him to move in was limited in the confines of the room and furniture. Quickly he shifted back so he could go to her on the couch. As he sat beside her on the edge of it, he put his hand to her pale face. He'd shocked her badly and probably scared her half to death, but her chest moved with her breathing so he knew she would be fine. Running one finger lightly over her lips he couldn't resist leaning forward to taste them as she lay there. He'd meant to just brush them lightly, but with a stifled groan he leaned into them, sweeping his tongue across them before plundering them deeply. He could taste the coffee she'd had earlier but it tasted better from her mouth then it had in his own. Her arms lifted from her sides to slip over his shoulders and clutch him closer. She moaned in response as he returned her embrace. Heat flared through his body as his cock grew hard and strained towards her begging for her attention. In his haste to check on her, he'd neglected to put his clothes back on so he was still gloriously naked. He reach one hand under her shirt to gently squeeze her breast, running his thumb over the stiff peak while his other hand buried itself in the hair at the nape of her neck to turn her head so he could plunder her sweet mouth completely. She pulled him closer, lifting her torso in the process to push against his chest. He fell back as she moved forward. They shifted so that he was sitting back on the couch while she threw one leg over him to straddle his lap. He gasped as she lightly ran her nails down his bare chest while leaning in over him to kiss him thoroughly. The soft cotton of her pajama bottoms were the only thing between her wet pussy and his hard cock. As she ground against him he could feel the moisture of it soaking through them and the hot opening as it slid up and down his hard shaft. The lips of her pussy opened, seeming to cradle his hard cock in its folds within the material. He broke away from her kiss with a groan as she curled over him, trying to press herself closer to his gorgeous cock. With a low, feral growl he grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Her breasts were just inches from his face, the hard nipples poking out towards him, inviting him to suck them. He took one in his mouth and pulled hard while tweaking the other with his fingers. Emily gasped and arched her back, pushing them more firmly into his hot mouth. She wrapped both arms around his head, clutching him to her as one of his hand reached down behind to squeeze her butt and pull her against his cock. Unable to bear the clothing between them, he reached around to grasp the waist band of her pajama bottoms with both hands and with a quick jerk tore them open down the middle. Now there was nothing between them and Emily moaned as the soft skin of his shaft slid against her open pussy. She couldn't resist moving up and down it, rubbing it against her clit, pleasure exploded within her as she ground harder and harder against him. Still it wasn't enough and he shifted slightly as Emily lifted herself up she felt the head of his shaft at the opening of her pussy. She had lowered herself just a little when she froze, feeling it slide past the plump lips and into her. A small voice of sanity came to life in the back of her mind asking her what was she doing? Was she insane? Then Emily opened her eyes to see him watching her intently. Barely contained heated flared in his eyes while he held himself perfectly still waiting to see if she would push him away. He shifted his hips just slightly causing his hard cock to move within her pussy, as if he was preparing to pull out. Heat exploded in her womb, and her pussy clenched around around him as she brutally squashed that small voice while deliberately rocking forward to impale herself on his waiting shaft. His eyes flew wide with astonishment before closing as he moaned and clutched her hips tightly. Emily continued to rock, raising herself up and plunging down to grind her clit against him as pleasure swelled up inside her. Leaning forward, she beseeched silently for him to suck her nipples again. He eagerly obliged while thrusting up with his hips to bury his cock deep inside her. Nipping lightly, he alternated between one breast and the other. She could feel the tension building inside as she felt his cock touch the opening of her womb. She moved faster and faster until she felt him swell inside her as his cock stiffened even more. Suddenly, he threw his head back with a roar and she felt his cock pulse as the hot spurt of his seed shot out inside her sensitive pussy. It pushed her over the edge as she fell forward to wrap herself around him to hold on as her climax crashed over her, causing her to shudder uncontrollably against him. They stayed that way, wrapped around each other until the delicious tension had left their bodies. He gently reached up to move the hair away from her face to look into it tenderly. She opened her eyes to look down into his with an expression of soft satisfaction before realization of what they had done came flooding back. She flushed, embarrassed and awkward, as she moved off his lap. Sitting on the edge of the couch beside him, she put her hand up to her hair to push it back. Staring intently at the floor to keep from looking over at him, Emily was unsure what to do next. "Milady?" came the soft inquiry. She glanced over at him to see him watching her apprehensively. Before she could stop herself, her gaze fell to his lap where his spent member lay peacefully. Almost at once, unbelievably, it grew as if it could feel her looking at it. Emily stood quickly, moving away from the couch, and him. As her pajama bottoms gaped, she reached down to hold the torn edges together. "You need to get dressed." she said, turning her back to him. She heard him leave the couch to move towards where his clothes lay in the middle of the living room floor. "Stay here." she said "I'll be right back." Emily went into the bathroom off of her bedroom. Taking off the ruined pajama bottoms, she tossed them in the trash. As she turned on the shower to step beneath the warm spray she wondered if she should lock the door. Too late for that, she thought to herself ironically. Removing the handheld showerhead she positioned it between her legs to wash herself. His come was running down her legs, there was so much of it. What had she done? She just had sex with a complete stranger, she didn't even know his name. One that wasn't even human to boot. A thought suddenly struck her, making her drop the showerhead. The spray shot up and hit her in the face almost like a slap. She just had UNPROTECTED sex with a.....what WAS he? Picking the showerhead up again, she changed it to the power setting and used it to wash the inside of her pussy as much as possible. Like that's really going to help, Emily, you idiot, she thought to herself. Too late to do anything about that now. Emily turned off the shower with resignation, stepped out, and toweled herself dry. Wrapping it around her, she left the bathroom. When she opened the door, she found him lying on her bed fully clothed. Luna lay at his feet watching her mistress hopefully. She'd managed to get most of the mud off her paws somehow and thumped her tail on the bed. At first, Emily was indignant that he'd presumed he would be sleeping in her bed. Approaching the bed, she noticed the even rise and fall of his chest as he breathed deeply in sleep. Watching him sleep he looked so vulnerable. Emily knew she should wake him and make him leave, but something inside her just couldn't do it. What was it about his man that affected her so? It had been a very long, strange, and emotional night. Emily felt drained. Reaching into a nearby drawer she pulled out an oversized, much washed, soft cotton t-shirt. It had once belonged to her father, he'd given to her a long time ago. It was her favorite thing to sleep in and she usually saved it for occasions when she felt in need of a little comfort. Breathing in its familiar scent, she slipped it over her head. Only when it was in place did she reach under it to pull the towel wrapped around her loose and drape it over a nearby chair. She pulled back the blanket to lie down between the sheets. Turning her back to the man, she mentally made note that she'd make him leave tomorrow; the she drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of his even breathing with the familiar weight of Luna at their feet making her feel secure.

## CHAPTER 6

### Lucian woke the next morning with the sun in his eyes. Looking around him at his strange surroundings he felt a little disoriented. Then the events of the night before came flooding back and he remembered where he was. Gently turning over to face the sleeping woman behind him, he studied her face as she slept. The sun coming through the window glinted off the gold hidden in her soft brown hair. Her lashes swept the curve of her cheek as she slept and her plump lips puckered for a moment before relaxing back into a soft smile. He didn't know what she was dreaming about, but she was happy and he was reluctant to wake her from it. Laying his head down on the pillow beside her head he softly draped one arm over her waist, trying not to wake her. Feeling the weight of his arm she murmured in her sleep and snuggled towards him. He took a chance and insinuated his other arm under her head as she pressed herself against him to tuck her head under his chin against his chest. Lucian closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her tucked securely against him with his arms wrapped around her. The only thing between them were the blankets and her sleeping garment. His mind going back to the night before he remembered following her into her room. She had seemed upset at the time and he wanted to make sure she was ok. When she went into the small room adjacent to her bedroom and shut the door he stopped. He waited to see if she'd come back out again, but soon heard the sound of running water. He looked around him at her belongings. There was a large bed, a mirror stand with assorted jars and paints on it. Next to them were a brush and a comb. Moving over to the side of the bed he sat on the edge of it. The soft mattress and plush pillows called to him invitingly. Laying his head on one of her pillows he breathed in deeply, filling his senses with her unique fragrance. Jasmine and rose infused with an underlying scent that was completely her. Closing his eyes he buried his face in the pillow. Before he knew it, he was opening his eyes with the sun shining in them this morning. He was surprised that she hadn't woken him up to demand an explanation for him in her bed. The fact that she hadn't gave him hope she might be receptive to the idea that they were destined mates. Lucian just listened to her breathing softly in his arms, savoring the feel of her against him. When one of her hands stroked up his back to touch his hair he froze. Her face turned towards him and he felt her lips on his neck. He gasped quietly as they parted and her tongue darted out to taste his skin. Unsure what to do and unwilling to wake her he just lay there as her hands idly started exploring his body. She turned more fully into his embrace and pressed her body against him while nipping his neck and sucking the skin firmly between her lips. Lucian let her play with his body as he lay trapped, but by no means unwilling, by her arms. Impatiently, she kicked out with her feet to brush the blanket aside so that it no longer was between them. The hem of her t-shirt rode up exposing her from the waist down. Lucian couldn't tear his eyes away for the exposed flesh of her firm butt, him, and the tender v between her legs. His cock swelled inside the confines of his pants and he started trembling all over from the strain of resisting the urge to rid himself of the restrictive material. When one of her legs draped itself over his thigh and she pressed herself against him, he groaned and lost the battle to hold still so he wouldn't wake her. Rolling her slightly away from him so he could reach out to touch her body, he leaned down to kiss those lips that were tormenting him so much. Plundering her mouth he swept his tongue inside it to taste her. She swallowed his groan as she responded by sucking on it and stroking it with her own. Lucian's hand swept down her side and up under the hem of her shirt as he pushed it higher to seek the sweet bare skin of her breasts. Baring one breast, he tore his mouth away from hers to lean down and capture the stiff peak between his lips. She gasped and pushed towards him, urging him to give her more. He sucked deeply, taking in as much of her breast into his mouth as he could while tenderly kneading the other one with his hand, pinching and pulling at the other nipple with his fingers. Emily whimpered and tried to press closer, seeking more contact. Lucian obliged by rolling her under him as he settled firmly between her legs. His swollen cock once again rested between the plump lips of her wet pussy as he pumped his hips. The seam of his pants grinding against the sensitive flesh of her clit. Emily almost screamed with pleasure as she rose to meet his thrusts. Lucian curled his arms under her to wrap her in them, placing his hands on her shoulders to hold her to him as he moved on top of her. The feel of her breasts against his chest through his shirt was almost torture. He wanted desperately to feel her against his bare flesh, but he didn't want to stop what he was doing long enough to strip the clothes from his body. Abruptly, Emily's eyes flew open as she looked up into his face with astonishment and the mood was broken as she shoved him off of her to roll away from him off the edge of the bed. Landing on her feet she crouched there staring at him in shocked indignation. It took Lucian a minute to register what had happened as he watched her in confusion. Struggling to gain control of himself once again.

### "WHAT THE HELL?!" she demanded "What is wrong with you? I can't close my eyes for one second around you without you jumping on me?" Lucian rolled over to face the opposite edge of the bed. He swung his legs over the side to place his feet on the floor and stand up. Then he turned to face Emily with a slightly sheepish grin. Bowing slightly he replied "Pardon, milady, but if memory serves correctly, YOU were the one who initiated things BOTH times and I am only a man. How could I resist such a tempting offer as the one which you presented. Besides, it would be unchivalrous to refuse and insult you further by spurning your charms." Emily's mouth gaped. He made it sound like HE was doing HER a favor by not saying no.

### "I did not!" Emily denied indignantly "Not once did I ever offer you to...." Emily trailed off into silence as her mind caught up with her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as the memories came flooding back. Last night it HAD been her that had kissed him back on the couch. She was the one who'd pushed him back then straddled his lap to ride him shamelessly to completion. Although in her defense, this morning it had started out as a dream. She'd been dreaming about making love to a tall, handsome man with a killer body and silvery hair that was hung like a horse. It had seemed so real, she hadn't wanted to open her eyes. Then when she did open her eyes to find the dream was actually more real than she thought. Wait a minute. Hung like a horse? Suddenly, Emily remembered the rest. Her eyes flashed to where the man stood across from her regarding her mockingly as if he could read her mind and knew what she was thinking. Emily knew instinctively she should be alarmed by his presence in light of what she'd seen last night but between all they'd done so far (kinda hard to be scared of something you've had sex with once and dry humped in bed) and his smug expression now all she could feel was irritation. What was it about men? The minute they find out they're right and you're wrong, they want to lord it over you like a heavy weight title belt. Maybe that's why so many women out there are so reluctant to admit when they're wrong to a man. "Regardless of who initiated it you can still keep your hands to yourself." Emily snapped, turning away from him to slam into the bathroom. Lucian chuckled softly to himself, shaking his head as he rubbed one hand across his face. He wasn't one bit sorry he hadn't kept his hands to himself and had no intention of doing so in the future. He did know one thing...his lady was in for one wild ride.

## CHAPTER 7

### Once she was safely on the other side of a locked door, Emily drew a shaky breath. She must be losing her mind. What was it about this man that made her act like a cat in heat? Shaking herself all over she made her mind up to keep a firm distance from him until she could figure out what was going on. Looking around she realized she'd entered the bathroom without any cloths to change into. Opening the door a crack she peeked out into her room. No sign of the handsome stranger who had woken her this morning in such a memorable fashion. Cautiously opening the door she stuck her head out. Her bedroom door was open and he wasn't anywhere in sight. Heaving a sigh of relief Emily came the rest of the way out of her bathroom. Darting to her door she slammed it shut and locked it. Then she proceeded to get dressed. First she pulled on a pair of cotton underwear and a pair of jeans. Fishing out a plain bra she strapped it on and pulled a loose t-shirt over it. She brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair before she finally felt ready to leave the room to face her guest. Opening the door she found him on the couch with Luna draped adoringly over his lap. He stared out her window as he absently stroked the dog's head. Watching him for a minute she wondered what she was going to do with him. He appeared out of nowhere (literally) on her door step, didn't seem to be inclined to leave any time soon and kept insisting they were mates. His eyes fell on her and lit up as she moved into the living room. Settling Luna to one side he stood up as she entered. "I'm sorry I was rude this morning." Emily said "It was just a shock to wake up to..." she stopped there uncertain how to proceed. Fortunately he came to her rescue.

### "Find someone 'mauling' you?" he replied, a twinkle in his eye. Emily smiled in spite of herself. She couldn't help it...she liked him.

### "Yes." she said still smiling "Thank you." Lucian didn't need to ask what she was thanking him for. He already knew. "So...what am I going to do with you? NOT THAT." She said as he opened his mouth to give her a few suggestions, the twinkle in his eyes turning decidedly naughty. Laughing she pushed past him on her way to the kitchen. "How bout we start with breakfast then go from there?" she suggested.

### "Sounds good to me." he answered, following her into the kitchen. He sat at the nearby table and watched her as she prepared the food. He admired the graceful way she moved around it. Once again he was struck with the impression of a young doe gliding effortlessly across a meadow. Tearing his gaze from her he looked around the room. It was spacious, but cozy. The curtains that partially obscured the morning sun were a pale blue that echoed the sky between them. Shiny appliances gleamed on scrubbed white counters. Everything looked clean and organized. Her surroundings complimented her as he watched her move efficiently from cabinet to counter to stove. Finally, she put a plate in front of him filled with eggs, bacon, and toast. Sitting down opposite of him he noticed that she had a similar plate of her own. He was pleased to see that, while it didn't have quite as much as what was on his, it did contain a healthy amount of food. Seeing him glance at her plate, she blushed. "What?" she asked defensively. Emily had always been heavy her entire life. She was used to people making snarky remarks or glancing pointedly at her plate anytime she ate when someone else was around. Mentally she steeled herself for the scathing remarks he was about to dish out, getting ready to verbally blast him. What he said instead took the wind out of her sails and left her feeling slightly deflated.

"I'm just glad to see that you eat." he said, slightly confused at her suddenly belligerent attitude. Then realized how ridiculous that statement sounded he tried to explain. "Even where I come from women obsess over weight. I never understood it when most of the men I know prefer a woman that has curves and some softness to her body. The kind of body that makes you want to wrap your arms around them and lick them all over." Lucian dropped his gaze to her breasts as he said that since that was all he could see over the edge of the table. Emily's jaw dropped as her fork tumbled from fingers that had suddenly gone numb. Her nipples stiffened as her stomach jumped and moisture pooled between her legs. She was reminded of this morning when she'd awoken to find him on top of her and what they'd almost done...again. She reached for her glass of orange juice to moisten her throat so she could swallow the lump that had suddenly appeared in it. Gulping it down she nearly choked at his next words. "Can we do that next?" Lucian flinched back as the orange juice spewed from her mouth to drench him as he sat across the table from her. "Absolutely not!" Emily gasped, her face turning red once more as she quickly got up and went to the sink to get him a towel to dry off. Returning back to the table she dabbed at him ineffectually while he looked up at her he grinned unrepentantly. Tossing the towel down, she gave up. Then she realized that he hadn't actually showered since his arrival late last night. In spite of this he didn't seem to smell offensively. Come to think of it he smelled like....Emily leaned forward and sniffed cautiously....starlight and green forests? Odd, she thought, how would I even know what starlight smelled like? Oh well, time for that later. "Why don't you go make use of my shower while I clean up here?" she suggested. "You can toss your clothes outside the door and I'll come by to collect them and put them in the wash." "But I haven't even had, what did you call it, breakfast?" he said, looking sadly disappointed. At that moment he reminded Emily strongly of Luna. Laughing she said, "Fine then. Eat first, shower later." Sitting back down across from him they proceeded to finish off the food on their plates. When that was done, Emily put both plates in the sink and took him into the bathroom. Showing him how to work the shower, what soap and shampoo were, then how to use the towel, she started to exit when she realized he still hadn't moved. He just stood there looking lost and forlorn. "What is it?" she asked. Looking at her like an upset child with his arms held out stiffly from his sides, he replied "I don't know how to take these off." Shock held Emily immobile for a moment before she burst out laughing. Lucian grinned at her again. He loved hearing her laugh and it felt wonderful to be the one that made her laugh. Coming to stand in front of him, she reached out to push the jacket off his shoulders, pull the t-shirt over his head and dropped them on the floor. Then unbuttoning the top of his jeans she pulled the zipper down. It was right at this moment she noticed the very large bulge beneath her hand and the fact that his breathing had sped up. His hands were resting lightly on her shoulders as she looked up into his face. His lips were very close to hers has he looked down into her face. Time froze as neither one of them moved. Heat flared and pulsed between her legs as she resisted the urge to push his jeans down over his hips to wrap her hands around his taught butt and bury his cock deep in her mouth. She'd almost made a move to do just that when she suddenly remembered something...he didn't have any problem last night when he'd removed his clothing to show her his true form. Indignant, she pushed back from him abruptly. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, "You didn't have any problem last night as I recall." Placing her hands on her hips she glared at him. Once again he was grinning at her. "Darn." he said casually "Remembered that, did you? I almost had you." Then he laughed as Emily made a frustrated noise and threw up her hands as she whirled around to stomp out of the bathroom. A few minutes later she came back to find his clothes piled up outside the door. Gathering them up, she took them through the kitchen into the room where her washer and dryer were kept. Putting them into the washer she started it up. Checking to make sure he was still in the shower, she opened the back door to let Luna out into the back yard. Following her out, she went over to fill up the little plastic pool she kept back there for her on especially hot days. True to her Labrador nature, Luna loved the water and got in it at every opportunity. Then she went to the little shed where she kept Luna's food bin and filled up her bowl. Making sure she had fresh water to drink she caught a slight movement on her back porch from the corner of her eye. Turning, she gasped to see her houseguest standing outside on her porch in all his naked glory. Mouth hanging open for the second time that day, she gaped for a moment before she heard "Oh my." Turning around she saw Mrs. Turner, the sweet little old lady who owned the house behind her's. She was out watering her garden and couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the spectacle standing on her porch which was waving cheerily at her without a seeming care in the world. "Morning, Mrs. Turner." she said, rushing forward to usher him inside before any of her other neighbors saw. "Morning, Dear." Mrs. Turner answered, her hose unnoticed as it flooded her prize roses. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" She asked, smiling brightly. Emily had reached Lucian by this time and was pushing him inside. "Maybe later." she answered "So sorry, have to rush now. Got a lot to do today." As Emily hurriedly shut the door behind her she heard Mrs. Turner reply smugly, "I'll bet." 'Great,' Emily thought, sighing, 'Just great. This'll be all over the neighborhood by lunchtime.' Catching sight of her guest as he held onto a chair holding his sides while he laughed uncontrollably she was struck by the humor of the situation herself. Before long Emily was laughing along with him.

## CHAPTER 8

### "Nice lady." Lucian said amusedly "You should have introduced me." Emily pulled herself upright, her hand grasping at the stitch in her side. "Yes, she is nice." she answered "one of the few nice people in this neighborhood and I couldn't very well introduce you like that." Emily gestured broadly back at him indicating his state. "Although I'm sure she wouldn't have minded but as it is there will be enough fodder for the local gossip group to feed on about me now. With your arrival that seems to have doubled. Not to mention I still don't know your name." Sobering suddenly at the thought, Emily sighed deeply. Right at that moment the timer on her washer sounded letting her know it was time to put his clothes into the dryer. Moving past him to the laundry room she pulled his clothing from the washer, shoved them into the dryer, set the appropriate heat temperatures, then turned it on. As she turned away, she found him watching her from the doorway...still naked. "It's Lucian." he said simply. It took Emily a moment to realize that was his name. Smiling mischievously she asked in a too innocent tone, "Does that mean I can call you Lucy?" Fire flashed in his eyes as he answered indignantly, "NO, YOU MAY NOT."

### "Ok, then," Emily said, "Lucy it is." As he reached for her, she scooted past him to flee into the living room. Lucian grinned in spite of himself and gave chase. It didn't take him long to catch her as he snaked one arm around her waist as she reached the couch. The forward momentum of her body flung them both forward and he twisted so they both landed on the couch with her on top. Her hair draped around them both and she stared down into his face as one hand reached up to tuck it behind her ear. The heat from his naked body branding her even through her clothes. Time froze as she stared down into his eyes and neither moved. "You never told me your name either, milady." he said softly, unwilling to break the spell that held them both. Emily blinked as she realized, once again, how intimate their situation had become. Pushing up off of him, she sat back. Only to find herself in an even more intimate situation because this position had her straddling his hardened cock which pressed up against her already swollen and sensitive pussy. Biting back a moan, she resisted the urge to start moving back and forth on top of him as she gazed down into the matching hunger on his face. Carefully standing up she moved back away from the couch, all the play gone now from the atmosphere. What was happening to her? Why did she keep finding herself in such intimate positions with this man? Not that she really minded all that much. But still, she'd had more bodily contact with this man in the past 18 hours then she'd had with any man in the last 18 months. Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat, she cleared it to answer him. "It's Emily." she said. Trying not to look at the raging hard on he made no move to hide from her. Her eyes kept going back to it in spite of her best effort to ignore it. "Emily." he said softly, the simple name sounded sweet on his lips. She jerked her gaze back to his face and what she saw there almost undid her. He had one arm bent back beneath his head, one hand extended out to her and was looking at her with an expression of tenderness, love, and lust combined. Emily fell to her knees beside the couch with a groan and leaned forward to claim the lips that begged silently for her touch. The arm he'd held out to her now wrapped tenderly around her in a gentle embrace. Tilting her head to the side she opened her lips to lap at his tongue and melted slowly inside as she felt him draw it in, sucking on it gently. She felt his other hand reach up to caress her breast through her shirt as her nipple puckered under it. Emily reached down to gently grasp his cock in her hand, when he pulled away from her lips to gasp softly she felt a thrill of power that she had such an effect on him. Nibbling her way down to his neck she bit him lightly, sucking on the sensitive skin and feeling him tremble with the effort to control himself. Smiling wickedly, she made her was further down his chest, tasting his skin with her tongue as she went. He tasted wild and clean at the same time. His scent filling her nose making her head spin. He smelled of fresh green forests and babbling brooks that cascaded under a sky filled with stars. Starlight, again. Lightly nibbling at the tiny nipples atop the large pecs on his chest, her pussy clenched and grew slick as she heard him groan. His cock jumped in her hand as she moved her hand up and down its soft, smooth shaft. Running her thumb over the head of it, she felt a bead of sticky moisture that she smoothed over it. Making her way down his abdomen she continued tasting his skin, a love bite here, a nibble there, pausing to suck every now and then. Eventually, she reached his cock. Reaching her tongue out she curled it around the thick, mushroom shaped head and he jumped, both hands winding themselves into her hair. "Sweet Goddess" she heard him say beneath his breath. Smiling to herself, she ran her tongue down its salty length until she reached the sensitive sack beneath. Lapping at them gently, she took them one at a time into her mouth to suck on them gently. Rolling them around with her tongue; all the while stroking his shaft slowly with her hand. Slowly running her tongue back up to curl playfully around the head of his cock she quickly swallowed it into her mouth. Lucian jumped again as he felt the hot, wet embrace of her lips as she slid over him. Emily sucked, moving her head up and down, stroking with her hands at the same time. Lucian had never experienced this before but he didn't ever want it to stop. Raising his head to look down into Emily's eyes as she sucked his cock proved too much for the tight grip he had on his control. The sight of his thick cock disappearing between her ripe lips, and his hands entangled in her hair framing a face that looked up at him with uncontrolled lust sent him over the edge. Throwing his head back, he arched up off the couch, roaring as he came. Emily kept moving as she felt the hot spurts jettison out of his cock. His come filling her mouth and she swallowed it down greedily. When there was no more, she released him and gently put him down. Emily knew how sensitive men sometimes were after they came. Lucian could only lay there with his eyes closed, utterly spent, unable to move. "Sweet Goddess." he thought, "What did she just do to him?" Lucian had never felt a climax like that before in his life. What was it about this woman that affected him so? How could she have so much power in those sweet, dainty hands of her's? Lucian grinned to himself. He didn't know and he didn't care. The only thing he cared about was that this woman would be his for the rest of their lives. He knew without a doubt that he loved this woman. Emily. She was the other half of him and without her he'd never feel complete. Opening his eyes back up, he sought her out in the room. She was just coming back in from the other room carrying a damp cloth. He watched her tenderly as she gently wiped his cock carefully. Cleaning him thoroughly. He felt his heart expand in his chest with love for this woman and unable to contain it, he sat up to gather her in his arms. Emily was startled by the sudden embrace. She thought Lucian was asleep; men so often pass out after something like that. So she was surprised to find he wasn't when she felt his arms go around her. Finding her face pressed to his bare chest, Emily held herself stiff for a moment. Then everything inside her seemed to melt at once, she dropped the cloth and wrapped both arms around his waist while burying her head beneath his chin. Emily still wasn't sure about him, who he was exactly, WHAT he was exactly, or where he was from. All she knew at that moment was he felt RIGHT. It felt so good to be there in his arms that she just closed her eyes, breathed in his scent, relaxed and enjoyed it. She had no idea how long they stayed like that when she heard the buzzer from the dryer go off, letting her know his clothes were dry. As she started to push away, she felt his arms tighten about her, as if unwilling to let her go. Pulling back to look up into his face she opened her mouth to explain about the dryer. What she saw there made the words die on her lips. She found him gazing down at her with an expression filled with so much love that whatever she'd been about to say went completely out of her head. Lucian smiled down at her before letting her go. Kissing her lips, he said, "Go take care of it, My Love." then stood to make his way to the bathroom. Emily sat there for a moment on the floor beside the couch in a daze, one hand reaching up to touch the lips he'd just kissed. It took a minute for her to realize what he'd just said....he'd called her 'My Love."

## CHAPTER 9

### Heading out the door with Lucian in tow, Emily checked her purse after locking the door to make sure she had her wallet. "Where are we going?" he asked.

### "Shopping." Emily answered as she found her wallet inside her purse. She looked up at him with a smile on her face. "You need more than one set of clothes to walk around in. Since we're not sure how long you're going to be around I think it's best we get you a few more things. Besides, I can't have you giving Mrs. Turner a repeat performance of this morning."

### "Why not?" ,he responded smugly, "I think she rather enjoyed it." Emily rolled her eyes and turned towards the bus stop. Even though she owned a car, Emily preferred taking the bus to the mall rather than fighting for parking. Suddenly she stopped abruptly when she heard someone call her name. Her body stiffened as she turned around and Lucian could feel the waves of tension rolling off her. Turning around he saw a man bounding across the street in their direction calling her name. Lucian felt a flash of annoyance at him for using Emily's name in such a familiar fashion and protectively placed an arm around her shoulders to pull her against his side. Emily flashed him a grateful look which caused Lucian to examine this stranger a little closer. What had this man done to Emily to make her feel so threatened? "Emily!" the man called again, catching up to them, "I thought that was you. I'd heard you had company. This must be your...cousin?" He looked Lucian up and down as if sizing him up. Aggressively he stuck his hand out for Lucian to shake. "George. George Polson. I'm a friend of Emily's. And you are?" Lucian studied the man for a moment, taking note of the hard glint in his eye and the proprietory way he moved to stand close to Emily. Reaching out he gingerly took George's hand. Lucian guessed the squeeze George gave his hand was meant to intimidate him into a submissive role. Such behavior wasn't unknown to him where he was from either. Two could play this game, but he'd have to be careful not to do serious damage to this puny male. Lucian applied just a little more pressure than George had. Not enough to crush his hand, but enough to make him feel it. George's face went red and his mouth opened but before he could utter a sound Lucian dropped his hand. George shook it to get the blood circulating back into it. Holding it, he backed up a step as Emily spoke.

### "No, George, Lucian is not my cousin." she said, "It's none of your business WHO he is and I wouldn't call you a 'friend' so much as a 'neighbor'. Speaking of which where is your loving WIFE today?" Even as she said this Emily glanced back at George's house to see said wife glaring daggers at her. Will that woman EVER get over it? Lucian, following Emily's line of vision and reading the situation accurately, chose that moment to sweep her into a back bending embrace and kiss her deeply until she was breathless. All too aware of the neighborhood eyes on her she resisted at first. When her hormones and lady parts took over, she lost the will to fight it. Wrapping both arms tightly about his neck she kissed him back eagerly. When they finally pulled apart they became aware of the stunned audience they had acquired, not just in the form of Mr. and Mrs. Polson, but every other person on the street. Lucian stood a very red faced Emily back on her feet as she looked around at everyone. Fortunately, she was saved from having to comment by the timely arrival of the bus. Grabbing Lucian by the hand, she hurried towards it and climbed on. After paying the fare, they made their way to an empty seat at the back. The last glimpse she had of Carrie's face was a cheerful smile as she waved to Emily through the bus window as it passed her house. Shaking her head she smiled brightly up at Lucian, and then they both began to laugh uncontrollably.

### George stood on the sidewalk watching the bus disappear down the street with narrowed eyes. Smoldering jealousy burned within his gaze. Who was that man? What was he to Emily? The fact that he had no right to ask any of these questions didn't seem to occur to him. Shifting his gaze to the smug face of his wife jealousy became anger. It was all her fault. She was constantly sniping at him about his attraction to their beautiful neighbor; egging him on to go get her then harassing Emily about it if he made the smallest move in her direction. George could still remember the first time he set eyes on Emily as she stood calmly by herself at the block party. She had a plate balanced in one hand and a drink in the other. She was looking around her curiously at her surroundings and she seemed to glow in the setting sun. George felt irresistibly drawn to her side. He could still smell the delicate fragrance that wafted towards him on the evening wind. Her hand had felt soft and delicate within his own when he'd taken it to shake. He'd barely had a chance to introduce himself before that harpy he'd married made her appearance and scared Emily off. Of course! Now it was all clear to him. Emily had given up on him because he was married! That's why she was with that guy. Focusing in on Carrie's face he realized he had a problem. If he ever wanted to be with Emily, he'd have to remove that particular bump in the road first. Setting his face with a determined expression he watched Carrie turn and go into their house. Glancing one more time down the road in the direction the bus had taken, George stepped down off the curb to cross the street and followed her inside.

### Emily stepped off the bus followed closely by Lucian. He stopped abruptly just outside the mall entrance gaze up at the tall front of the building that housed the Monterey Oak Shopping Mall. "Sweet Goddess" she heard him murmur under his breath. Emily grabbed his hand to pull him behind her through the door. First things first, he needed underwear, socks, pants, shirts, well basically everything. Emily felt him pause as they made their way through the food court, his hand slipping out of hers. Looking back she saw a very pretty, young girl with long, straight flowing blond hair and china blue eyes smile enticingly up at Lucian as she held a plate of samples out to him. She had a body most models would envy and her perfectly made up face had the look only money can buy. Perfect nose, perfect teeth, perfect skin, etc. Lucian, eyes focused on the food, didn't even notice as the girl swayed closer; leaning in to give him an eyeful of her perfect cleavage. "Probably the best money could buy" Emily thought to herself. Stalking over she purposefully shoved between the girl and Lucian. "Excuse me, Sweetie," Emily said in a saccharin sweet tone to the girl, "But we're kind of in a hurry." Once again hauling Lucian behind her with a firm grip on his hand this time she made her way out of the food court.

### "What was that?" Lucian asked, looking behind him at the girl who was waving coyly at him licking his fingers; completely unaware that this simple action seemed to be drawing a lot of female attention.

### "What?" Emily asked in an irritated tone. Then realizing what he was asking about she answered, "Those were pretzels with cinnamon and sugar." Looking around her she found herself getting irritated even more with the way all the women were staring at him. A large group of teenage girls walked by openly eyeing him up and down, giggling. One of them called out, "Hey, Hottie, when you get tired of hanging out with that fat cow come find us." Emily flushed a deep red with the combined feelings of embarrassment and anger. Just as she opened her mouth to say something Lucian spoke up.

### "If I wanted a stick I'd send my dog out to find it instead." he drawled casually. The girl in question gasped as her friends proceeded to laugh at her humiliation. Lucian casually reached out and placed an arm around Emily's shoulders to pull her close against his side. As she smiled up at him and linked her arm around his waist in return, a little warm feeling fluttered to life in her chest, right about the area where her heart was. Leaning down he whispered warmly in her ear, "Lead the way, My Lady." A little shiver went up her spine as his hot breath brushing her ear brought an image to mind of him nibbling on it. Shaking it off, Emily pushed forward in the direction of the nearest store to acquire the first of many supplies.

## CHAPTER 10

### As they made their way around the mall with Lucian's arms laden with many shopping bags Emily was amazed at the number of helpful, willing saleswomen who all but fought each other over the opportunity to wait on him. Emily practically had to stand guard outside his dressing room while he tried on clothes just to ensure none of them attempted to join him in it. This is insane, she thought to herself as she once again had to pull him away from yet another woman attempting engage him in conversation. Suddenly, one shop window in particular caught his eye and he stopped abruptly. Looking to see what had captured his attention she saw it was the lingerie apparel store. Smiling wickedly, she made her way through the crowd towards it as Lucian followed meekly behind. Once inside he looked around with wide eyes unsure what to make of the articles of clothing hanging on display or the half-naked mannequin in suggestive poses placed strategically here and there. Shoving her share of the bags into his arms, Emily walked over to the racks and started going through them. Glancing at him from time to time to find him watching her closely. Choosing a few different articles of clothing, she told him she'd be just a minute and disappeared into the dressing room. A moment later she came out, to find one of the sales women offering to model something for him so he could see what it looked like before he bought it for his wife. Emily went to the register to purchase what she'd tried on. After they placed it in a small bag, they handed it back to her. She then made a bee line for Lucian. Not even pausing, she snagged his hand on her way by him and hauled him out of the store. She smiled innocently at Lucian as they made their way back out into the mall. The store right next door turned out to be a book store and Lucian was surprised to see a large picture of Emily in the window of it. Catching a glimpse of it, Emily groaned, looked around quickly, and ducked her head. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough. "LOOK!" a woman inside the bookstore yelled, "IT'S DESTINY AMORE!" Before Emily knew it she was surrounded by a large crowd of women all clamoring for her attention and shoving books at her to sign. Lucian, forgotten for once, stood on the outside edge of the mob looking on in bewilderment. Unsure of what or if he should do anything. If it was a crowd of men, the answer would have been easy. He'd wade into the fray, knocking them left and right to rescue his lady. That wasn't the case here, these were women and he'd never struck a woman in his life. Women were revered in his world. They were created in the image of the Goddess and as such demanded respect. Feeling lost and confused, he just stood there shifting from foot to foot. After observing Emily for a moment he deduced she wasn't in any immediate danger. He watched as she smiled politely, speaking to this or that woman, signing an occasional book. Finally, he turned towards a nearby bench to set his parcels down and take a seat to wait it out. A woman whose book Emily had just signed came over to a man seated next to him. "Who is that?" he heard the man ask her.

### "That's Destiny Amore.", she answered, "You know her, honey. I've read you some of her books. You know the ones...the sexy ones you like so much." The woman blushed and giggled.

### "Oh yeah." he answered, giving Emily a look Lucian wasn't sure he cared for. "She's hot. Not as hot as you, though, honey." He said quickly as he noticed his wife bristling at him. The woman laughed at his quick turn around and playfully smacked his arm. As they walked away Lucian wondered why they were calling Emily 'Destiny Amore'. He'd have to ask her about that later. About this time a mall security guard had arrived to establish some order and see everyone on their way. After a quick promise to her fans and the manager of the book store for a book signing appearance at a later date, Emily was finally free to go about her business. Lucian stood, gathering the packages together as Emily walked up to him. "Sorry about that." she said, "It happens sometimes when I go out. I didn't realize they were going to have my latest book displayed today or I'd have avoided coming here."

### "Why were they calling you 'Destiny Amore'?" Lucian asked.

### "That's my pen name." she explained, "I write under it." When Lucian continued to give her a blank look she added, "I write books."

### "I see." Lucian said. "Sexy books, right?" Emily blanched at that.

### "Where did you hear that?" she asked, blushing furiously.

### "From that man and his wife" he answered, "They both enjoy your books very much. Apparently she reads them out loud to him. What is a 'Sexy' book?"

### "Oh gosh, look at the time!" Emily exclaimed suddenly, "We have to hurry or we're going to miss our bus home. Let's go!" Emily grabbed his hand and was pulling him towards the exit.

### "But you still haven't told me what a Sexy book is." he responded, sounding like a petulant little boy.

### "Not now." she answered, "If we hurry we'll have time to stop and get you a pretzel."

### "With cinnamon and sugar?" Lucian asked hopefully.

### "With cinnamon and sugar." she said smiling.

### "Let's go." he responded by hurrying her towards the food court where the heavenly pretzels waited. Emily laughed at his enthusiasm and allowed herself to be swept along.

## CHAPTER 11

### The sun was just setting as the bus dropped them back off on Emily's street. Smiling and laughing at each other with their arms full of their purchases they made their way to the front door of her house. As Emily juggled the bags while trying to locate her house key she heard a familiar voice calling her name again. Lucian's eyes grew wide at the swear words he heard coming from her mouth under her breath as she dug inside her purse even more frantically in an effort to locate her keys more quickly. She'd just managed to find them and pull them out when George from across the street came jogging up her walk. Lucian moved to stand between Emily and George. "Hey, Emily," he said, eyeing Lucian in a hostile fashion, "Didn't you hear me calling your name?"

### "Yes, George," she answered, "I did. I was hoping by not responding you'd take the hint and go away. Most anyone else would have." As usual, George wasn't about to be put off so easily.

### "Come on, Babe," he smiled what he considered to be his most charming smile. Emily could smell the alcohol on his breath. Great. Just great. He was drunk...again. "There's nothing wrong with a little verbal sparring to get the 'juices' flowing. How bout we talk privately? Just you and me?" He looked pointedly at Lucian as he added that last part.

### "No, George." Emily answered firmly, "We have nothing to talk about...privately or otherwise. What do I have to do or say to make you understand I want nothing to do with you. Now or ever."

"Fine, we'll do it here then." he responded grumpily, "I just wanted to let you know I understand now what it was that was holding you back before. It was because I was married, right? That's why you went out and picked up this guy. Because you thought you couldn't have me. I get it now and you don't have to worry about it anymore, Baby. I told Carrie I wanted a divorce. She's gone; Left to go to that nightmare of a mother of hers. I'm all yours now, free and clear." He held his arms open to her at this last part and Emily had a dizzying sense of deja vu. She just stood there for a minute with her mouth hanging open in shock at his revelation.

### "WHAT?!" she exclaimed, "Why the HELL would you do that? That's not the reason I don't want you, you ASS. I don't want you because you're a PIG who doesn't listen to a word I say no matter how many times I repeat myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm speaking a different language. UGH! I give up." With that Emily jammed her house key in the lock, turned it, opened the door to shove an astonished Lucian, the packages, and herself through it then slam it behind her in the smug George's face. Luna greeted her and Lucian with enthusiastic barks, bounces, and face lickings. Those lickings turned to ferocious growls directed at the door as George proceeded to bang on the other side of it. Lucian made a move to open the door to pummel the obnoxious intruder when Emily shoved him aside on her way to open it herself. She swept the bat beside the door up in her hand and grabbed Luna's collar to prevent her from charging out the open door. "WHAT?!" she demanded of the man on the other side of it who jumped back out of reach of Luna's snarling, snapping jaws. George stood there looking foolish, shifting back and forth on his feet. "I just thought we should discuss this a little more." he answered lamely. Lucian almost felt sorry for the guy. He'd been on the receiving end of that fiery temper not too long ago. Lucian winced again, his hand instinctively covering his groin at the memory. Watching Emily deal with this repugnant creature he couldn't help but admire her independent spirit. Most women would've been content to let him deal with it, but not his Emily. She showed herself fully capable of dealing with this toad in a manner befitting to him. It was probably just as well because if he'd had to do it he may have gotten carried away. Then he would have had some mighty uncomfortable explaining to do. As it is, Emily dispatched the man with ruthless efficiency and a threat to call the cops if he didn't leave. Lucian remembered her having made a similar threat to him the night he'd arrived on her door step. He'd have to ask her about these 'cops'. They must be very powerful magicians for people to fear them so. The threat seemed to have worked on this little man as he made his solitary and resentful way home. Emily shut the door firmly behind her and locked it. Putting the bat back beside the door and letting go of Luna's collar, she leaned back against it. It seemed all the fight went out of her at once. Luna moved close to her mistress and shoved her nose into her hand, seeking to comfort her. Lucian also moved in to wrap his arms around her since it seemed to be what she needed most at the moment. Emily pushed away from the door to lean into him, he felt so good. He made her feel safe and secure. For the first time in a long time, Emily felt like it was ok to lean on someone else for a change. Her whole life she'd had to be the strong one. The one to clean up the mess, take control, and be responsible. Even at the age of nine Emily could remember coming home from school to an empty house. Her widowed mother gone out before she got there. Emily remembered every day taking her backpack to her room to pull her books out and finish her homework. Then she'd go into her mother's room to straighten it up. As usual, there were outfits strewn across the unmade bed from her mother getting dressed to go out. Emily would hang the clean clothes back up and put the dirty ones in a basket. Then she'd make her mother's bed and take the basket out to the garage to put the clothes in the washing machine. Once the clothes were in the wash, Emily would make her way through the rest of the house, cleaning and straightening things as she went. When that was done it was usually time to put the clothes in the dryer. While they were drying Emily would make dinner from whatever she could find in the kitchen. She'd leave a plate of food wrapped up in the oven for her mother when she got home later. After that she'd take a bath and get ready for bed. Emily never knew where her mother went and never asked. She'd learned that painful lesson once when she was 10 and had made that mistake. Her mother had yelled at her for asking, calling her mother hen, and reminding her who was the mother and who was the daughter. Emily had apologized and explained that the only reason she'd asked was because she loved her and she worried about her sometimes. Her mother had coldly looked her in the eye and said, "Ok, what is it you want?" Emily had just shaken her head and ran out of the house to hide at the nearby park in the branches of her favorite tree. Any time her mother had said hurtful things Emily always ran for the nearest place where green, growing things were. For some strange reason she felt comforted by them.

### Emily frowned, puzzled that she got the same feeling of comfort in Lucian's arms. Suddenly she became aware of Luna whining and leaning against her leg. Looking down into her soft brown eyes Emily could sense her worry. Pulling away from Lucian, she knelt down to put her arms around her devoted pet. "It's ok, girl." she said, hugging Luna's furry warm body close, "I'm alright. Hey, guess what, girl, look what I got for you." Emily said brightly, trying to distract her. She reached over to pull one of the shopping bags closer, rummaging around in it until she pulled out a rubber squeaky toy. Squeezing it a few times to make it squeak Emily tossed it into the other room where Luna joyfully bounced after it. Rather than bringing it back she carried it over to her favorite corner and settled in to break in her new toy. Standing up, Emily brushed her hands off on her legs. "How about pizza for dinner?" she asked Lucian as she made her way to the phone.

### "What is pizza?" Lucian asked. Emily swiveled around to face him. "You mean you've never had pizza?" Lucian shook his head silently. "Then you're in for a treat. If you thought those pretzels were good, just you wait." Emily picked up the phone and ordered a large pepperoni pizza with sausage to be delivered to her house. An hour later they were seated at her kitchen table with generously laden slices on plates before them. Lucian stared down at his wedge, unsure of how to eat it much less if he even should. "Like this." Emily demonstrated by picking up her large slice, folding it in half to bite off the tip of it. A long string of gooey cheese stretched out as she pulled it away and she set the slice down to pull it apart. Winding it around her finger she popped it into her mouth to lick the cheese off the end of it. Lucian watched her in fascination and was reminded of what she'd done to him earlier that day on the couch. His pants stretched tightly over his cock as it grew hard at the memory. To distract himself, he attempted to copy what Emily had done with her slice. He managed to get it folded and bit the tip off the end of it. The combined flavor of the crust, sauce, cheese, and meats exploded in his mouth at once. It was almost better than sex. ALMOST. He quickly finished off his piece and was reaching for another; before long there was only one slice left in cardboard box on the table between them. Lucian leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. Looking across the table at Emily he realized how comfortable he felt and how much he'd enjoyed his time with her. Emily glanced up at him and smiled. "So tell me about yourself. Other than your sudden appearance on my doorstep, not to mention the unusual story you told me of where you're from and how you got here, I really don't know much about you." she said.

### "That's true." he responded, trying to decide how much to tell her that wouldn't freak her out. "My world is on a different plane from yours. Long ago our worlds were combined. But one day mankind took a different path that all but eliminated magic from their world. Magic needed a place to go so it was forced into an alternate plane of existence that runs parallel to this one. All the stories you've heard of creatures both mythological and fantasy are actually true. But over time humans have taught themselves not to believe in them turning instead to science. My world is fierce and beautiful where everything and anything is possible because magic has made its home there. My father was a Centaur and my mother was a Star Phoenix. I inherited the Centaur half from him, but my wings, eyes, and hair are all inherited from my mother."

### "She must have been very beautiful." Emily murmured, her eyes shining softly. Lucian was struck once again by her gentle beauty. "I've heard of Centaurs and Phoenixes, but what's a Star Phoenix?"

### "She is very beautiful." he said softly, never taking his eyes from her face, "A Star Phoenix gets their power from starlight. They feed on its silvery essence and can regenerate just like a Phoenix can but they don't spontaneously combust the way a regular Phoenix does. My father saw her one night when she was bathing in a starlit pool and fell in love with her bright beauty. It was a long courtship because she didn't want to have anything to do with him at first. She thought he was little more than an animal because of his horse half. Then one day, while flying in bird form, she was captured by poachers. A Star Phoenix has many powerful magical properties that can be used in many ways so they are highly valued. Unfortunately harvesting any of the magic from them usually kills them. As she lay snared in their net my father came charging in, hooves striking and arrows flying. He drove the poachers off before they could do anything to her then freed her from the net. It turned out that one of her wings was broken and it would take all night for her to heal it. My father sat by her side all night guarding her while she struggled in bird form to heal herself. Finally when she was able to fly again she found she had no desire to leave him. His bravery had won her in a way that all his wooing up to that point never had." As Lucian talked he had a faraway look in his eye that gave Emily a pang in her heart. He must really love and miss his family. His gaze fell on her and his eyes focused in on her face tenderly as he continued, "I've watched them together my whole life. Loving, fighting, then loving again. They could never stand to be parted after that. I always wondered what that would be like or if I would ever find it. Then the Goddess blessed me with visions of you and your life. I knew then that I had to find you, be with you no matter what the cost. Now that I'm here and I'll never leave you. Ever." Emily stared at him, speechless, not certain what to say in return. This beautiful man was proclaiming himself to be hers and hers alone. She knew she should be happy but a cold feeling of dread sat like a rock in her stomach as she recalled past men who'd made that same claim repeatedly. Then once she'd opened her heart to them they'd ripped it apart with lies, betrayal, abuse, and manipulation. Emily wanted to believe this man so much but for that very reason she held back. Feeling the tears of confusion and hurt well up in her eyes, she closed them and turned away. But not before Lucian had seen one or two slip silently down her cheeks. "Emily? Is something wrong? Have I done or said something that hurt you?" jumping up out of his chair he came around the table quickly to pull her back away from the table and kneel on the floor in front of her looking up into her face. He reached up one hand to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing away one of the tears. Emily felt the dam of pent up emotions inside her burst as all the events of the past couple days caught up with her at once. Lucian gathered her to him, cradling her against his chest as she sobbed into his shirt. "My love?" he asked gently, rocking her softly.

### "My love." she said, and a fresh wave of tears washed over her, "Did you know no one's ever called me that before?" Hiccupping and sniffling she pulled away, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. Lucian gave her a bewildered look as she continued, "I've had men call me many things in the past but that was never one of them. Then you come along and call me that within the first couple of days you've known me and ...I don't know...it just breaks my heart to think that you couldn't possibly mean it. I mean, you barely know me." Lucian brushed her hair back from her face, tucking a stray lock behind her ear while smiling at her tenderly.

### "I know you better than you think I do." he said softly, "I know that you are kind to animals and can't stand to see one being hurt or abused. I know you are sweet, sensitive, and caring to all those around you. I know you're a passionately giving lover; sometimes even to those that are not worthy of it. I know you are lonely at times and long for a love with your whole being but have despaired in ever finding it so you write about it instead. I also know that's why you cry at love stories with happy endings. All these things I know about you. All these things are what I love about you. Those and so much more." Emily stared at him open mouthed; struck dumb by his words and the sincerity shining in his eyes. She wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him. Did she dare? Before she could respond Luna came out from under the table where'd she'd been laying in hopes of a dropped crumb or two. Reaching out she licked the salty tears from her mistress's face, whining a little at the sorrow she sensed coming from her. It broke the mood, Emily smiled as she hugged the dog tightly to her. "Luna senses your sadness and wants to make it better." Lucian said, scratching the dog's head affectionately. Emily laughed and reached into the pizza box on the table. Grabbing the last remaining slice she gave it to the dog. Luna's eyes lit up at the opportunity of an entire slice just for her. Taking it gingerly from Emily's hand, she carried it over to her bed in the corner. Plopping down on it the dog proceeded to daintily chew smaller bites off the slice as she ate it. Brushing herself off, Emily stood up and held her hand out to Lucian. He gave it to her, looking up inquiringly.

### "Let's go to bed." she said softly, then laughed as he rose eagerly and swept her up in his arms to carry her out of the kitchen to her bedroom. Luna paused in eating her slice long enough to watch them go. Then her mouth fell open in a panting doggy laugh before she went back to eating.

## CHAPTER 12

### Lucian and Emily didn't make it to the bedroom. As they passed the front door there was a knock on it. They paused, and Emily was sorely tempted to ignore it until she heard "Ma'am, this is the police. Can you open up, please? We have a few questions for you." Lucian heard Emily mumble something about "cops" under her breath as she squirmed for him to put him down. Once she was on her feet, she moved quickly to the door, looked through the little hole in it, then unlocked and opened the door. After gesturing to Luna to return to the kitchen and assuring her he would protect Emily; Lucian moved forward to stand behind her so he could get a look at these "cops" that everyone seemed to fear so much. He two men standing on the porch dressed in matching blue clothing. Each one had a gold ornament pinned to their chest and wore hats to cover their heads. They didn't appear to be very powerful, but with wizards you could never tell by appearance alone. They each had what looked like some kind of square pet on their shoulders that squawked and spoke loudly. It seemed they were very fond of them as he watched one of them reach up to cup it to the side of his face and speak to it. It seemed the creatures were fond of them also because it seemed to sooth them when the men did this and the squawking would cease. But as soon as they let them go they would go back to being noisy. 'Fascinating' Lucian thought, watching silently as Emily moved forward to address them.

### "What can I do for you this evening, Officers?" she asked politely.

### "Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but we wanted to ask you a few questions about one of your neighbors." The first officer answered. "Did you know George Polson?" Emily's hand tightened on the door knob as her lips thinned with irritation. How many times that day was that man going to intrude into her life? Her reaction didn't go unnoticed as the officers glanced at each other before turning back to face her.

### "Yes, unfortunately, he and his wife live across the street over there." she said, nodding in the direction of the house, "What's this about?"

### "May we come in to discuss this further?" the first one asked.

### "Of course." Emily replied, and opened the door wider moving back to gesture towards the living room. Lucian followed her lead by moving back out of the way. Catching Emily's eye he lifted his brows inquiringly. Emily shook her head at him then shrugged her shoulders to indicate she knew nothing about what was going on but silently cautioning him not to say anything. She nodded towards her bedroom to indicate he should go in there to wait for her. He frowned, crossed his arms over his chest and made no move to do so. Emily shrugged again and followed the policemen into her living room. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

### "No, thank you, ma'am." the other officer responded, "we just need to ask you when the last time you saw George Polson was."

### "This afternoon." Emily answered, "He intercepted us as we were coming home from shopping." She watched as he scribbled on his notepad, waiting for him to continue. "May I ask what this is about? Am I in trouble?"

### "No, ma'am," the first officer answered, "We just need to ask you a few more questions. What was the nature of your relationship with Mr. Polson?"

### Shocked, Emily's mouth hung open for a full minute before she answered, "We were neighbors. That was pretty much it. His wife didn't care for me much so I kept to my side of the street and, for the most part, he kept to his."

### "Were you involved with Mr. Polson?" the second officer asked, bluntly, "Sexually?"

### Emily's shock turned to anger in a flash at this question. "No." she said firmly, "We were not involved. Sexually, or otherwise. Ok, I really need to know what this is about before I answer any more questions of this nature."

### "We were called out for a domestic disturbance earlier this evening to the Polson residence. Some neighbors had called in to report a loud argument going on between Mr. Polson and his wife. When we arrived there was no sound coming from within the residence, but all the lights were on and the front door was slightly open." the second officer answered, "When we entered we found the entire place in shambles and Mrs. Polson lying on the dining room floor, dead." Emily felt the blood leave her face at his words. Carrie was dead? Personally there was no love lost between them, but she couldn't believe the woman that she'd seen just that morning was now dead. The officer continued, "Mr. Polson was nowhere to be found, but we found traces of blood all over the house. He is currently missing. We're not sure if he's even alive at this point but all evidence points to him being the primary suspect in his wife's murder."

### "Murder?" Emily whispered, swaying slightly. Immediately she felt Lucian's strong arms supporting her. She gave him a grateful glance before turning back to the policemen. "I'm sorry but I don't have much to tell you. George told me earlier that he had asked Carrie for a divorce and that she'd left to go to her mother's. Other than that I don't really know anything else."

### "We spoke to some of your other neighbors." the first officer said, "They all indicated that you and he may have been involved at one point." Emily felt indignation flash through her at this statement. Would that dratted man haunt her forever? "No, we were NOT involved." she said through tight lips, "At all, EVER."

### "But they all said he was always over here and talking to you on the street." the second officer replied.

### "Other than the one time he drunkenly barged into my house when I'd first moved here, he never set foot inside my home again. I even went across the street to ask his wife to come get him because he'd passed out on my floor. She refused to do it. In the end two of his friends showed up with their wives in tow to pick him up and haul him out." she said, defensively, "That man was a nuisance. He was constantly harassing me at every opportunity. I couldn't get rid of him. No matter how many times I told him I wasn't interested he never seemed to get the message. Finally, today he confronted me on my way to the bus stop to question me about my personal life. I told him in no uncertain terms it was none of his business and left. When I got back this evening he came running up to me as I was opening my front door to tell me he was getting a divorce. That was the last time I saw him."

### "We're going to need the names of those two friends that came for him that day if you don't mind, ma'am." the first officer said, writing the names down in his notebook as Emily provided the information he requested. "Why didn't you call the police to file a restraining order for harassment?" the second officer asked.

### "Because I felt sorry for his wife." Emily answered, realizing that sounded like a weak excuse and also if she'd done so that Carrie might be alive today. "I didn't want to cause a scene or humiliate her by pointing out her husband's wandering eye or attempted seduction under her very nose." Emily waited in silence after this as both policemen continued to scribble things down in their notebooks.

### "I can understand that." the first officer said, nodding. Then almost as if noticing Lucian for the first time he asked, "And who is this?" pointing his pencil at Lucian.

### "I'm her m-" Lucian responded.

### "He's my fiancé!" Emily blurted out before Lucian could use the word mate. "That's what George was upset about this morning. He was demanding to know the details of our relationship and I refused to tell him."

### "I see." the first officer said simply, looking them both over speculatively. "Ok, I think we've got all we need here." he paused to glance at his partner who nodded affirmatively, "Here's our card, ma'am, please call us if George Polson shows up or attempts to contact you. Please feel free to call us with any other questions you might have. Both of you have a good evening." He reached up and tipped his hat with a nod of his head. Then they both left and Emily shut the door behind them.

### A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she turned around to face Lucian. Sensing her unease he moved forward to put his arms around her. Breathing in his comforting scent she accepted his embrace and didn't resist when he led her to her bedroom. Luna came out of the kitchen to follow them, Lucian told her to stay on the floor at the foot of the bed so she curled up on her blanket that was positioned there. Luna had her bed in the kitchen, but Emily always kept a blanket for her on floor in her bedroom even though she usually slept at the foot of her bed. Lucian could sense Emily's need for the secure comforting presence of those that loved her around her tonight. The passion that had flared not so long ago was replaced by the need to provide protection and solace. Although Lucian knew that if Emily suspected for one moment what he was doing she'd dig in her heels and resist with every fiber of her being. She was such a stubbornly independent woman who always insisted on taking care of herself and those around her, never acknowledging that she might need to be taken care of in return. But her quiet strength was one of the things he admired most about her. Now she was strangely quiet and docile as he undressed her to put her favorite sleeping shirt on. As he raised the blankets she sat lay down underneath them and he tucked the covers around her. As he swiftly undressed to lie down next to her he couldn't help the feeling of nervousness that came over him. He didn't like this. Normally, she'd be fighting or yelling at him, demanding he leave her room immediately but so far she hadn't uttered a peep. She just watched him silently from her pillow, her eyes tracking his every movement. As he moved around to the other side of the bed, she reached out and pulled aside the blankets to allow him to climb in next to her. As he did so, she slid across the bed into his arms to bury her face in his shoulder. Lucian wrapped both arms around her tightly, making a silent vow to never let anything happen to her ever. How long they lay like that he had no idea, he felt the bed shift as Luna jumped up to curl up at their feet. Emily sighed then her breathing deepened as she drifted off to sleep. Lucian lay awake a little while longer before sleep overcame him too and his eyes closed to the sound of her gentle breathing.

## CHAPTER 13

### Emily woke to the delicious feeling of a solid warm body pressed close to hers. Opening her eyes, she found Lucian still wrapped around her breathing softly in his sleep. Emily studied his face closely, noting the long eyelashes sweeping his cheeks, the high cheekbones, the firm jaw, and the generous mouth that would have looked strangely feminine on any other man but seemed to suit him very well. Focusing on his lips she had an overwhelming urge to nibble on them. Carefully reaching up she placed a tiny kiss on the corner of his mouth. When he didn't wake up, she became bolder; moving closer to softly bite and nibble at the edges. Still he didn't move, so Emily moved her lips over his, nibbling and sucking on his bottom lip. She felt the first change as his cock hardened against her thighs that were pressed closely against him. His arms tightened around her, pulling her against his body as he responded with a muffled groan. Emily felt a jolt go through her, making her stomach jump and her pussy slick. Her nipples hardened against his bare chest and the soft cotton of the t-shirt scraped against them deliciously. Lucian opened his eyes as he kissed her to stare deeply into her own. She saw the heated lust within them and felt her body begin a slow burn. Rolling her underneath him, he broke the kiss to make his way down her body. He latched on to the skin at the side of her neck, biting and sucking at it. Breaking the suction, he looked down at the purple mark he'd made on her pale skin. Breathing in a deep, ragged breath he reached for control. Emily pressed against him, whimpering in a mute appeal. Moving further down, he captured one stiff nipple, sucking on it through the worn cotton t-shirt. Emily gasped as the moist warmth of his mouth soaked through the material, when he moved to the other one the cool air on it teased her further. Opening her legs she wrapped both thighs around his hips and ground her swollen, slick pussy against the hard length of his cock. Lucian continued to suck her nipple while rocking his hips, sliding his cock against her sensitive clit. The juices of her pussy creating a slippery sensation that almost had her over the edge. As he rocked against her again and again, Emily's frustration began to mount. She needed more. She needed him IN her. "Lucian, please." she begged.

### "Please what, My Love" he asked, knowing full well what it was she wanted. Grinning wickedly up at her, he waited, "What is it you NEED, Emily? TELL me what you need."

### "I need..." she gasped as he rocked his hips against her again, "I need you IN me. Please put your throbbing, hard cock inside me. NOW" she demanded, pushing back against him; letting her body speak for her. Lucian growled a soft chuckle, shifted his hips back to plant just the head of his cock just inside her pussy lips.

### "Is THIS what you want?" he asked, holding it there, his body shaking from the strain of resisting the urge to plunge deep inside her tight warmth.

### "YES!" she cried, whimpering and squirming underneath him, "YES! In me! NOW!" She raised her hips trying to push herself onto him, she felt the large mushroom shaped head of his cock slip inside her pussy, but not the entire throbbing length she so desperately craved. Lucian held back just a moment more before his control snapped and he rammed the entire length of it deep inside her. He felt the head of his cock touch her womb as she shuddered underneath him. Her legs locked him in place as he began to pump his hips against her feeling the walls of her pussy squeeze him. He almost lost it right then and there. Lucian paused again, fighting for control so he could please her first. Emily squirmed under him, cursing him for tormenting her like this. Lucian grinned and reached down to kiss her. She latched onto his lips, kissing him deeply and passionately. Lucian began moving inside her again as he felt his control return to him a little bit. She was so hot. This was going to be hard, but there was one thing he could do to help drive her over the edge ahead of him. He felt himself slip out of her has he made his way down her body. Ignoring Emily's urging and pleading, he buried his head between her thighs and heard her gasp as his tongue lapped at the slick folds of her pussy. Reaching out, he gently sucked her sensitive clit into his mouth alternating between biting with his lips, flicking it with his tongue, and sucking on it gently. Emily screamed and twisted underneath him but he'd locked both arms around her thighs to hold her in place. He moved down to lap at her open pussy, caressing the swollen folds with his tongue before delving deep inside, moving it in and out. Emily buried her hands in his hair, gripping his head tightly between them. Then her whole body went stiff as she tilted over the edge and her climax came crashing down on her. Lucian swiftly sat up, burying his cock deep inside her before the shudders left her body and her climax was over. She jumped as she the hard length of his cock slide home, sending her even higher over the peak of her orgasm. Clutching him, she gasped unsure how much more she'd be able to take. As Lucian thrust hard into her over and over again he felt his own orgasm building again, but now she was ready and he'd take her flying with him when his feet left the ground this time. Not holding back, he rammed into her over and over again until he felt the walls of her pussy tremble and contract around his cock. Then he gave one last thrust and held it there as he felt the hot spurt of his seed come flooding out of him to fill her pussy. They lay locked together, shuddering for a moment more before the tension gradually left their bodies.

### Lucian shifted to the side, but rolled Emily with him, unwilling to leave her just yet. Emily sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.

### "Thank you." she whispered softly, not wanting to break the mood by talking.

### "For what?" he asked.

### "For whatever it was you just did to me." she answered, chuckling, "I've never experienced anything like that before or ever." She didn't say anything more, not wanting to bring past lovers into this intimate moment with him. It felt wrong, comparing him to them. So she stayed silent instead.

### "It was mutual." Lucian responded, "I've never felt that before either." He dropped a light kiss on her forehead and she snuggled deeper into his arms. Neither one wanted to move or do anything that would put an end to this warm bubble that seemed to surround them. After a moment, Emily heard the thunder, glancing towards her window she noticed it was raining. She felt like she and Lucian were in their own little world right now. Suddenly, Luna ran in from the other room to launch herself at the bed, landing on their legs. Lucian mumbled something under his breath that sounded like profanity. Emily laughed, wondering where he'd heard it, than remembered that she'd been swearing the day before and he must have picked it up from her. "Get down, you rabid beast." Lucian said, gesturing sharply at the floor. Luna untangled herself from them to obediently drop to the floor. She sat there by the side of the bed, front feet together primly, staring at them with completely unrepentant eyes. "She says she's hungry." Lucian explained as he stretched, glaring down at her. "When ISN'T she hungry?"

### "What time is it?" Emily asked, glancing at the bedside clock, "NOON?! How can it be noon?! I've got to call my editor! Yes, I know, Luna, I'll get your food in a minute." Emily jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, then ran back out again to grab the phone. Lucian watched her from the bed, not moving, propped against the headboard, one arm pillowed behind his head. He loved this bundle of energy wrapped up in the package of his woman. The more time he spent with her the more he felt her wrapping herself around his heart and he never wanted to be free of her. Luna whined, edging closer to the bed to nudge his hand with her head. Looking down at her Lucian sat up to get dressed. From the sound of things Emily was saying on the phone to her editor, it looked like he was going to be solo this afternoon. Padding silently out of the room after the dog, he followed her into the back yard to the shed where her food was kept. As he stepped out the back door he noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly. He waved at Mrs. Turner over the fence as she was working in her back yard and called a cheery good morning. Mrs. Turner smiled back brightly and waved at him with a wink before turning her attention back to pruning her roses. Luna was barking and scratching furiously at the shed door so Lucian went over and opened it up. Luna dashed inside to investigate the interior but soon got side tracked as Lucian opened her food bin to fill her bowl. Bouncing after him as he left the shed, after closing both the bin and the shed door, she proceeded to wolf down the bowl's contents almost before he'd set it on the ground.

### "Easy, girl" he admonished her, "You'll choke if you're not careful." He gave the dog one final pat on the head before returning to the house. Once his back was turned he didn't notice as the shed door moved slightly open and a bright eye followed his movements as he went through the back door. Once inside, he barely had time to jump back out of the way as Emily came rushing past him to get to the coffee maker. Lucian grimaced at the memory of the taste of the black liquid but that memory was followed with what had occurred shortly after that which made his grimace disappear quickly. Emily stood at the counter preparing the coffee as Lucian came up behind her to wrap his arms around her from behind and nuzzle her neck. "Mmmm," he said, "You smell good." He let one hand wander down her front to grasp her breast while the other wrapped around her waist to pull her back against him so his hard cock was nestled firmly between her buttocks. He was rewarded with a sharp smack on his hand and Emily using her butt to push him back so she could open a drawer to get out the spoon to measure the coffee grounds.

### "Not now, Lucian!" she snapped, "I'm late for an appointment with my editor to discuss my next publish deadline." Then she stopped abruptly, realizing she'd have to leave him alone for a little while today. She was reluctant to do that, but it couldn't be helped. Taking a deep breath, she turned to him and saw the hurt look on his face. Reaching up to cup his face in her hands she explained in a gentler voice, "I'm sorry, but this is an important meeting and I can't miss it. I'm afraid you're going to have to fend for yourself for a little while. I promise, I'll make it up to you when I get home later." With that she whirled around to finish preparing the coffee. Luna started barking at the back door so Lucian moved to let her in.

### "That's ok," he said, "I'll be fine. Luna will show me around and help explain how everything works."

### "Just try not to go outside or talk to anybody." Emily said, pouring her coffee into a travel mug, "I'm going to have a hard enough time explaining you without having to make up excuses for any of your unusual behaviors. Oh, and one more thing..." she paused here to wait for Lucian to look up at her inquiringly, "I love you too." With that she quickly exited the house through a door in the side of the kitchen. Lucian froze for a moment, certain of what he'd heard her say and letting the warmth of it spread through his body. It took a full minute for the sound coming from the other side of the door to register. It sounded like the fierce roar of a mighty beast echoing inside a cave. Alarmed for Emily's safety he sprang to the door and wrenched it open just in time to blinded by a bright light on the other side. Holding up his hand and blinking his eyes to adjust them he saw Emily wave at him from inside the belly of a massive shiny beast. Then the beast ran out the opening in front of it where the sun shone brightly through it taking his beloved Emily with it. He ran after it and just barely stopped in time to keep from hitting his head on the wall of the cave which seemed to be closing down on top of him. He scrambled back out of the way when Luna barked sharply at him from the door.

"No, I'm not insane." he answered, "Didn't you see that? That THING ate Emily, I have to save her." Looking around the cave he saw several items that would come in handy as weapons. Luna looked up at him again and whined. "A car?" Lucian said, "What's a car?" He paused for a moment listening as Luna proceeded to fill him in. "I see, it's like the 'bus' but smaller. She will come back? Good. We have much to discuss. What do you mean you're hungry again?" He asked the dog as he followed her back into the kitchen and shut the garage door behind him.

## CHAPTER 14

### Several hours later Emily came back from her meeting with her editor. Janey wasn't just her editor, she was also Emily's friend. They'd discussed the deadline of her latest book as they ate lunch. Janey had liked the ideas that Emily had pitched to her about her latest book. It was a little different than the stuff she usually wrote about but a change in venue never hurt a budding writer. Little did Janey know how close a lot of it was to the reality of what was going on in Emily's life right now. Emily pressed the button to open the garage door and pulled her little mustang inside. It wasn't very economical or ecological, but Emily loved it. It was the first car she'd ever owned. She still remembered the day she'd bought it with the money she'd earned working part time at the local pizza joint. She was walking home when she passed a driveway it was sitting in. It didn't look so pretty back then, but she fell in love with it anyway. The elderly lady who was selling it looked her up and down carefully before asking her why she was buying such an old, beat up car that had seen better days. Emily looked at the body of the car with the dull paint job, and dented fenders. She turned shining eyes back to the old lady and answered honestly, "It needs me." The old lady had squinted her eyes at Emily thoughtfully before making up her mind. Nodding, she stuck her hand out and said, "It's yours then. You can make payments on it while you're fixing it up. You ARE fixing it up, right?" Emily nodded emphatically as she shook hands with her, barely able to tear her eyes away from the car. "Do you know anything about working on cars, missy?"

### Emily pulled her gaze from her car to focus on the face of the old woman to answer in a very small voice, "No, but I'll find someone to teach me and I'll learn. Then she'll be the prettiest thing on the block."

### "Tell you what, Dearie," the little old lady said, "you come by every day after school and I'll teach you how to work on her myself. I taught my son how to fix her up when he was young. She used to be my son's before he went off to the war. He didn't come back and I can't bear looking at her rusting away in the garage anymore." Tears shone in the old lady's eyes as she said this last part. Emily moved forward quickly to hug her and the old lady gave her a quick squeeze before brushing her off and wiping her eyes. "Now off with you, my shows are starting." and she turned her back on Emily to hurry into her house. Ann, which turned out to be the old lady's name, became like an adopted grandmother to Emily. When Emily wasn't at school or work, she was in Ann's garage learning to work on Daisy (which was what Ann's son had named the car). In the end, Ann practically gave Daisy to Emily. Only requiring her to buy the parts needed to refurbish the old '66 Mustang convertible. When Daisy was finished, Emily kept her in Ann's garage and came by every day to spend time with the old lady who had taught her so much and had been such a good friend. One day, Emily showed up at Ann's house to find her napping on the couch in front of the TV. Having let herself in with the key Ann gave her, she moved forward to drape a light blanket over her as she slept. That was when she realized Ann wasn't just sleeping...she'd passed away. Emily sat by her side on the floor by the couch just gazing at Ann's peaceful face. She hoped she'd been reunited with her son. Later Emily found out that Ann had left Emily everything she'd owned in her will. It turned out that Ann didn't have any living relatives and had grown fond of the young girl who'd come to see her every day. Emily cried at this, but felt extremely grateful to the old woman for providing her with a way out of the unbearable situation she'd been experiencing at home ever since her mother had remarried. Her stepfather kept trying to come into Emily's room at night, but every night Emily had pushed her dresser in front of the door so he couldn't open her door without a racket. One day, she left school in the middle of the day to go home and pack her things. There wasn't much, just a few items of clothing and a couple of keepsakes from her father. She left a note for her mother telling her she was moving out, that she was safe, and not to worry about her (not that she expected her to.) but did not tell her where she was going. Then she took all her stuff and moved into Ann's house. She'd lived there for a while, but the memories were too much for her to take and she sold the house to a nice young couple just starting out together and bought a smaller place for herself. That was when she'd started writing.

### Putting her car in park as the garage door closed slowly behind her she went through the kitchen door. Placing her keys on the hook beside the door she made her way into the living room where she heard the TV playing. Emily stopped abruptly at the sight that greeted her. It wasn't the sight of Luna laying on her back on the couch with her head dropped down over the edge of the cushions as she watch the television upside down, that was nothing new to Emily. No, it was the sight of the man sitting beside her in the exact same pose. Placing her hand over her mouth she attempted to muffle the laughter that threatened to escape. Lucian, hair hanging down to the floor, turned his head to face her. His eyes lit up as he quickly righted himself to launch himself at her so he could wrap his arms around her and swing her around. "You're home!" he exclaimed.

### "Of course I am." Emily said, chuckling, "what were you doing watching TV like that?"

### "Isn't that the way you're supposed to watch it?" he asked, looking confused, "That's what Luna said."

### "Well, that is the way SHE watches it." she answered, laughing, "But not the way most PEOPLE watch it. Most of us just sit on the couch instead." Looking past him she saw Luna scramble down off the couch and sit sideways with her tongue lolling out in doggy laughter.

### "I see." Lucian said, turning towards the dog with a stern expression, "You little trickster." , which Luna responded to by coming over and sitting on his foot to gaze up at him adoringly. He reached down with a laugh and ruffled the fur on her head. "I can't stay mad at you. It was a good joke and it made My Lady smile, so it was worth it." Then he turned back to Emily wrapping both arms around her to pull her close saying, "Welcome home." Emily snuggled into his arms, tucking her head into his chest under his chin. Home. Yes, it felt like home now that he was there.

### "How about some dinner?" she asked, turning towards the kitchen, "I think I've got some hamburger meat thawed so how about we make burgers?" She moved towards the fridge to take it out and proceeded to make dinner. Later, as they sat at the table eating, talking and laughing neither realized they were being watched by another pair of eyes through the window facing the back yard. Lucian reached across the table to hold Emily's hand, his thumb tracing lazy circles on her wrist. They both fell silent and just gazed at each other across the table, the silence comfortable between them. Luna lay on the floor under the table with a watchful eye for any scraps that might fall. "Well, I guess I better get these dishes done." Emily said standing up and gathering the plates. Lucian's hand on her wrist stopped her as he stood also and moved towards her. Pulling her into his arms he leaned down to nuzzle her neck. Emily's pulse raced as her nipples grew hard and her pussy became slick with anticipation. Without a word, Lucian pushed aside the plates on the table and laid her down on it. Unbuttoning her shirt he kissed the skin beneath it as it was exposed. Opening it completely he reached one hand inside her bra cup to scoop out her breast, his thumb teasing the sensitive tip as he did so. Lucians gaze locked in on that stiff peak, suddenly his mouth was there sucking hard on it, his teeth grazing it gently. Emily gasped and clutched his head to her with hands buried deep in his soft hair. Emily opened her thighs to wrap her legs around him, using them to pull him closer so she could feel the stiff cock inside his pants grind against her open pussy covered by her own pants. Lucian's hands left Emily's breasts to unbutton her pants and push them down off her legs. Now she could feel the cool air against the burning, hot lips of her open pussy. She made a small mewling sound of protest as his mouth left off sucking her nipples only to gasp when she felt them on the bundle of nerves located at the top of her pussy slit. Lucians tongue worked feverishly at Emily's clit. Gently, tenderly stroking it one minute, then sucking almost savagely at in the next. He reached up two long fingers to stroke the sensitive lips of her pussy before he plunged them deep into it. Stroking it rhythmically while circling her clit with his tongue and biting gently at it with his lips. Emily writhed on the table, hands deep in his hair, alternately trying to pull him closer and push him away as the sensations swept over her. She could feel the unbearable tension building in her body as Lucian used his mouth, tongue, and fingers to drive her over that peak she felt up ahead. Finally, unable to contain it, she let out a shriek and felt her body shudder uncontrollably as he flung her off the top of it with one shattering sucking motion on her clit. Before she'd stopped shaking, she felt him move away to grab her and flip her over on her belly. Part of her was amazed at how easily he lifted her, as if she weighed nothing. Then all thoughts were driven from her mind as he pulled her back to bend her over the table. She felt the large mushroom shaped head of his cock moved up and down against her slick pussy lips before he rammed it home inside her pussy. She felt his cock slide in and touch the opening of her womb. Her eyes nearly crossed as he pulled it all the way and rammed it back in again. His balls slapping against her clit each time he did it. Lucian kept up the frantic pace even though he could feel his balls tightening, getting ready to spill his seed inside his woman. Just the idea of it almost had him coming immediately, he looked down at Emily's arched back, her arms stretched out in front of her to grasp the opposite side of the table, head thrown back in ecstasy, her sweet, juicy ass pushed out and up for him to plunder. He looked down at where his cock disappeared inside her, he felt the slick, wet heat of her pussy wrapped around it. Slowly he pulled it out, watching as the length of it slid out of her, glistening with the honey from her pussy, slowly he pushed it back in and watched it swallowed up until he was completely buried deep inside her, his balls brushing her clit. He did it again, going faster and faster, he felt Emily move back against him, meeting him halfway each time he moved forward. He could feel the walls of her pussy squeezing him tightly, and the answering squeeze in his balls as his cock suddenly swelled, became even stiffer, and his hot seed gushed forth to bath the inner walls of her pussy. He pulled Emily up to where his chest was against her back to reach around with both hands to cup her breasts. Emily turned her head, reached one hand up to cup his neck to pull him forward and kiss him as they both came at the same time. When it was over he held her against him with both arms wrapped around her waist. They just stood there for a minute, bathed in warm contentment. "Emily?" Lucian said, softly.

### "Hmm?" she responded in a drowsy tone. Her head leaned back against his shoulder, a small smile on her face. "Say it again." he said.

### Emily smiled up at him, not needing to ask what it was he wanted to hear, "I love you." Lucian felt as if his heart would explode with the warmth those three little words created within him. He kissed her gently, trying to convey the happiness he felt at hearing her say them. Wrapped in each other's arms they made their way to the bedroom with Luna padding softly behind them. None of them noticed the shadow at the kitchen window that didn't move as they left the room.

## CHAPTER 15

### Emily opened her eyes to find the sun shining brightly through her window. Grumbling she rolled over and came face to face with a naked, sleeping Lucian. They had made love again before falling asleep wrapped in each other's arms. Emily studied him as he slept. His hair fell softly across his forehead and she resisted the urge to reach out and push it back for fear of waking him. His long eyelashes swept his cheeks and she noticed that he didn't seem to grow a beard. In fact, she hadn't seen him shave since he'd been there. Her eyes fell to his mouth; the mouth that had driven her wild so many times with such ease. His lips were full, but there was nothing feminine about them. He had a firm jaw with a prominent chin, but not in an overly obvious way. His face seemed to balance out perfectly. Many an artist would kill to sculpt this man of hers. Hers? When had she become so possessive of him? Emily thought back and couldn't decide when the transition had happened. She hadn't known him for very long, but he had managed to permanently insinuate himself into her life so that she couldn't imagine it without him now. How long had he been here? A few days? A week? Did it matter? Emily pulled back the covers on her side and eased out of bed so she wouldn't wake him. Quietly gathering her clothes, she went into the bathroom to take a shower. Standing under the warm spray as she braced her arms on the wall in front of her to let the massage setting beat down on her sore shoulders. Last night had gotten a little rough...and she'd loved every minute of it. With her eyes closed and head bent, she became aware of a pair of strong soapy hands that slid around her from behind to knead her full breasts. "mmm" she said, leaning back against that strong chest she knew so well. She could feel the hard length of his cock nestle snugly between her buttocks. The hands kept squeezing and kneading her tits, pulling at the nipples, the soap making them slippery. Emily moved her body up and down against Lucian behind her. Sliding against him like a cat. He groaned into her ear and wrapped one arm around her waist to pin her against him while his other hand plunged between her legs to stroke her pussy. Emily rocked her head back to kiss those full lips of his, still moving up and down against him with his cock trapped between them. The soap from both their bodies making them slide against each other. Emily pulled away to grab the shower head and rinse Lucian off before dropping to her knees in front of him. This time it was Lucian's turn to gasp as Emily quickly swallowed his cock and reached up with a soapy hand to cup his balls. Using one hand to stroke his large cock while simultaneously stroking it with her tongue and sucking it into her mouth; she used the other to knead his balls back and forth. Letting go with both hands, she reached around to cup that tight, firm, round butt of his to pull him even further into her waiting lips. Lucian wrapped both hands in her hair and looked down at the erotic sight of his thick cock swelling, her red lips wrapped firmly around him. He nearly lost it as Emily looked straight up into his eyes with his cock still in her mouth to wink at him mischievously. Reaching down he pulled her up to stand in front of him. He grabbed her butt as she wrapped both legs around his waist to pin her against the tile wall of the shower. At first his cock slid back and forth against the slick opening of her pussy before he tilted his hips and pushed past them to slide deep inside. "This was going to be a very short, intense ride." he thought with a groan, as he felt her tight sheath he began to pump his hips against her. Emily moved against him and kept pace with him. They both came at the same time with the water from the shower cascading down on them both. "I woke up and you weren't there." he said, softly, setting her down on her feet.

### "You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to wake you." she answered, scooping up the soap to bath him thoroughly.

### "You saw how well that worked out." he chuckled, taking the soap gently from her, "Maybe you better let me do that or we'll never make it out of here."

### "You say that like it's a bad thing." she responded coyly. Then laughed as he opened the shower door to giving her a firm push out with a gentle swat on her bare, wet behind.

### "Out!" he ordered laughingly, "Away with you, saucy minx." Emily left him the towel, grabbing another one from the cabinet to dry herself off with. She left him the bathroom to go dress in the bedroom. After she was dressed, she followed Luna through the kitchen, out the back door, and into the back yard. Her daily routine usually included filling up Luna's kiddy pool, then her food bowl. However today someone seemed to have beaten her to it. The kiddy pool was already filled with water and Luna's bowl sat waiting for her with food already in it. Emily stared at this with a feeling of unease settling in her stomach. A noise behind her made her whirl around with a cocked fist only to have Lucian grab it mid-punch. Emily stared at him for a moment with her heart beating hard in her chest. He'd scared her half to death. "Hey, hey," he said with concern at seeing her pale face, "What's wrong? Are you ok?" Lucian pulled her to him, holding her. He could hear her heart racing and he didn't like the fear he'd seen in her eyes just now. Her hands clutching his back told him more than any words she could have spoken. Alarms sounded inside his mind as he looked over her head to check the surrounding yard. His hunter's senses told him someone had been there. While Emily was no hunter she was sensitive enough to her environment to know if a stranger had been there. Putting her behind him, he crouched slightly, ready to spring if any danger threatened her. Luna stood at the door to the shed which was open slightly, growling ferociously, hackles raised, teeth bared. She looked like she had no intention of moving. Following her lead, Lucian moved cautiously to the shed, reached out and yanked the door open. A shriek came from inside followed by a crash as whoever it was stumbled back into the interior. Lucian stood staring down at the intruder with an open mouth, unable to believe his eyes. "Brook?" he asked incredulously. The water nymph lay amidst the jumble of boxes she'd just knocked over blinking up at him in the bright sunlight. One hand held up partly to shield her from him, partly to shield her eyes from the sun. "What are you doing here?"

### "I followed you." she said, taking the hand he extended to help pull her up, "The goddess punished me by banishing me from my lake. She wasn't too happy with my behavior. So she trapped me here in this land and I had nowhere else to go." "So you've been here all this time?" Lucian asked. Still not quite believing what he was seeing it. A water nymph without her water usually died in a very short time. "How did you survive without your water?"

### "I've been here since that first night." Brook answered, "Not right away, but the Goddess dragged me from my water and changed me. I couldn't go back. I no longer need my water to survive, but a part of me still misses it. I've been surviving on the little fish I've been finding in some of the ponds nearby. The brightly colored ones that swim in them. When I saw this shed behind the house I hid there not knowing what else to do."

### "The brightly colored ones?" Emily murmured. Then her eyes grew wide. Brook must mean the Koi ponds in her neighbor's yards. Covering her mouth she stifled a giggle. There were going to be some very angry neighbors blaming the local cats for their disappearance. Lucian looked at her curiously before turning back to Brook. Suddenly all of Emily's laughter fled as Brook turned to her a strange mixture of curiosity and hostility in her eyes.

### "Is this HER?" she asked, "the one you left me for? She doesn't look like much" Brook looked her up and down.

### "Yes, this is her." Lucian responded between his teeth, "Need I remind you again to be respectful of her." Suddenly Emily felt like someone had dumped ice water into her stomach. Her heart thumped painfully as Brook's words hit home. "The one you left me for?" Emily got the feeling there was a lot more going on between Lucian and this woman then she'd realized at first. Emily looked back at Lucian, feeling like someone had punched her in the gut. He wasn't hers after all. He'd belonged to someone else first. Emily felt sick suddenly. She stepped back away from the scene in front of her, wanting to get as far away from the both of them as possible. Lucian sensed her distress as he turned towards her. He reached out one hand to her and she looked down at it as if it were a snake about to strike. She whirled to run inside the house and slammed the door behind her. If he threw one woman away in favor of another so easily how could Emily be sure he wouldn't do the same to her? Right now all she knew was she needed to put as much distance between her and that man in her back yard as possible. Grabbing her purse she snagged her keys as she went into the garage. Jumping into her car, she hit the button that would raise the garage door. Damn it! She'd never noticed before how slow it opened. She went roaring out the opening as soon as there was enough room; just in time to hear Lucian call her name. She looked in her rear view mirror to see him standing at the open door. Blinking back the tears, she quickly checked to make sure she was clear before pulling out of the driveway to speed down the street until he was out of sight.

### Lucian watched as Emily's car disappeared down the street. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened just now, but he was fairly certain her tears had to do with Brook's presence. Growling low he returned to back into the back yard to find the nymph and get to the bottom of why she was there. He found her standing with her back pressed to the side of the shed, Luna in front of her snarling like she wanted to tear out the water nymph's throat. Fortunately, that's all the dog was doing. She just kept Brook pinned there until Lucian came back into the yard. Lucian placed one hand on the dog's head, than jumped back as Luna suddenly turned and snapped at him. "What did I do?" he asked her bewilderedly. The dog simply glared at him, then snorted forcefully with disdain. Giving him a solid thump with her thick tail as she turned, she left the yard and went back into the house through the door Lucian had left open. Lucian turned back to Brook just in time to receive the full impact of her body as she threw herself at him, arms going around him to clutch him close. Reflexively, his arms came up to catch her. As he stood there awkwardly trying to recover his balance he noticed Emily's neighbor on the other side of the fence watching with undisguised curiosity. "You saved me!" Brook cried into his shirt front, "I thought she was going to EAT me!" Looking around him, he made a hurried decision. Pulling the sobbing water nymph inside the house he shut the door behind him. There he was confronted with Luna barring his way to the rest of the house with a low growl deep in her throat. "I didn't know what else to do." he said to the dog, "Emily's neighbor was there watching everything and I thought it best not to give her a show. Ok?" Luna stopped growling at him but went and lay down across the threshold of the doorway leading out of the kitchen to the rest of the house. Lucian pried the clinging nymph off his chest and sat her firmly on a kitchen chair. Putting the table between them he sat in the chair opposite of her. "Now, tell me what happened." he addressed her, "Slowly and calmly."

### "I'm not exactly sure." Brook hiccupped, swallowing back her tears, "I was in the water one minute watching you leave the clearing. Then the reflection of the moon on the surface of my lake started glowing brightly, than it became a whirlpool. Usually whirlpools suck things from the surface to the bottom, so I wasn't worried. When it became a water spout instead I realized something was wrong but by that time it was too late for me to avoid it. It picked me up, whirled me around and spat me out on the ground. I lost consciousness at first and when I came to, I had been stripped of all my water nymph powers. When I tried to return to the water there was a barrier between me and my beloved lake. Then I heard Her voice in my head. She sent me after you. She said she was punishing me for having threatened your mate and I was to help you in any way I could if I ever wanted to return to my home. So I followed you here and hid in that little house back there because I was afraid you'd be angry and try to hurt me if you saw me."

### "Ok, I guess I understand that." Lucian said carefully, "But why did you fill the little pool with water and put food in Luna's bowl?"

### "I-I saw you do it the day before." she answered, "I remembered what the goddess had said about helping you. Up till now, I didn't see any other way to do that. Was that wrong?" She looked across the table at him, uncertainty in her eyes.

### Lucian sighed deeply, "No, that wasn't wrong but you should have made your presence known to me before now. Instead you scared my mate half to death. Emily! Oh my Goddess. I almost forgot about her." He shook his head. The Goddess may have meant Brook to help, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. What was he going to do about Emily? What was he going to do with Brook? He knew Emily would eventually come back, so all he could do was sit and wait until she did. Looking severely at Brook he warned her, "I will talk to Emily when she gets back but you have to stay out of sight until then. You MUST NOT threaten, disrespect or insult to her in any way shape or form. This is her home and she has every right to say who can and can't stay here. So if you want to stay here you need to remember that. Might I also remind you of what the Goddess herself said. If you ever want to go back home again you need to keep that in mind."

### "I'm sorry, Lucian." Brook said hanging her head slightly, "I'll try. It was just so hard watching you two together. Especially last night as I watched you make love to her on this." She smoothed her hand over the table's surface. "Even though it was hard, I felt myself getting aroused by it too as you put your face between her legs. She does have beautiful breasts." She looked at him from under her lashes with a burning gaze. "I wanted to come in and join you two but I knew I couldn't. I wanted to taste her nipples for myself and feel their puckered texture with my tongue. They looked so sweet and inviting." Brook leaned toward him reaching out with one hand to caress his arm. Lucian could feel himself getting hard. The mental image she had painted was one that was very hard to resist. That was going to be a problem. One of the powers of a water nymph was seduction. Then he saw once again Emily's tear filled eyes as she fled the house.

### "Stop it!" he ordered, jerking away from her touch. "I've made it clear that Emily is my mate. She is everything to me and nothing or NO ONE," giving her a stern look, "matters more than her." He watched as Brook sighed deeply and sat back in her chair. "We'll have to wait until she comes back to talk this out and go from there. Until then, you'll have to wait here and do your best to not cause any more trouble. Got it?" Brook nodded meekly. Lucian stood and turned towards the living room. Luna sat up and looked at him squarely in a challenge. "I know, but she has to wait somewhere. Emily will understand when she gets back." I hope, he added silently. Luna moved aside keeping a watchful eye on the stranger as he carefully skirted by the dog to follow Lucian into the living room.

## CHAPTER 16

### As Emily drove away she realized she had no idea where she was going. All she knew was she needed to get away. After a while she pulled over to the side of the road to wipe at the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She removed a tissue from her glove box and scrubbed at her moist cheeks. After blowing her nose soundly she looked around her to find herself near her favorite lakeside spot. It was a place she always went to when she felt in need of a little mental/emotional healing. Driving carefully down the dirt road, she parked near the rocky peninsula that jutted out into the water. She walked out on them and felt the wind buffet her on all sides. Standing there she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. At times like this if she were still enough she could almost hear voices on the wind talking to her. She never understood what they said but it always soothed her for some reason. It caressed her face, drying her tears even as it lifted her hair away from the back of her neck and cooling her. Emily could remember the last time she'd come here. It was after she'd found out her last boyfriend had been cheating on her. Emily could still remember how it had felt that day. It was Christmas and she'd gone to the local mall to buy him something special. As she'd wandered around she spotted him walking on the opposite side in the other direction arm in arm with another woman. She should have just confronted him then and there, but instead she'd followed him. First they went into a lingerie store, where the girl modeled several skimpy outfits for him before he slipped into the back dressing room with her. Emily had grabbed something off a nearby rack and went into the dressing room next to theirs. She pressed her hands over her ears in an effort to block out the memory of the sounds that came from the dressing room next to hers. When they'd left the dressing room she followed them to a restaurant in the same mall. She'd sat at a dark corner table and watched while they sat close, talked low, fed each other, and felt each other up under the table. The final straw had been when they'd left the restaurant and went to a jewelry store in the mall. Emily watched in mute silence, hurt, and indignation as the girl picked out an expensive necklace and Emily's boyfriend pulled out the credit card she'd given him pay for it. She remembered her last birthday when he'd come to her acting embarrassed that he couldn't get her anything because he'd said he didn't have any money. She remembered how touched she'd been by his honest humility and had presented the card to him shortly after that. She remembered how he'd said he didn't want to take it because he didn't want her to think that was all he was after. How he'd feel ashamed about taking money from her. She'd insisted, telling him to just keep it on him to use in case of an emergency. She didn't like the idea of him being stuck somewhere in a jam with no money to help. As she watched the scene, Emily quickly pulled out her cell phone and called the credit card company to report the card as stolen. She watched in satisfaction the clerk moved eagerly to his register to swipe the card in the machine. His face fell, then became expressionless as he watched the alert Emily knew must be flashing on the machine in front of him. She watched the clerk glance over his shoulder at her oblivious boyfriend and his lover as she continued to admire the necklace around her neck. Emily say him pick up the phone next to his register and make a call. Emily guessed it must have been security he called because shortly after hanging up the phone two men in uniforms showed up to take her boyfriend and his lover by the arm to drag them away. It took a minute because they had to get the necklace back from the girl to give to the jewelry store clerk. Emily casually walked forward, making sure that her path would intersect with the ones the security guards were dragging the couple in. It didn't take long for her boyfriend to notice her as she stood there with arms laden with bags containing gifts...for him. His face twisted with rage as he started cussing up a storm, his lover looking around in confusion. Emily almost felt sorry for her. She could still hear him calling her name as she turned her back on him coldly to head back the nearest store where she'd made her last purchase for him. She spent the rest of the time in the mall that day returning everything she'd just bought. Later, she'd returned to her house alone. At that time she'd still been living in Ann's house. She called a locksmith to change the locks as soon as she arrived and notified the local police of a possible upcoming confrontation with her boyfriend as soon as he was released from jail for stealing a credit card. Sure enough, he'd shown up on her door step and when his key failed to unlock the door he resorted to pounding on it and cursing her through it. Calmly, she'd picked up the phone to call the cops. Before long he was back on his way downtown again, this time for attempting to break down the door just as they'd shown up. Emily shook her head at the memory. He never was one for intelligence, but he WAS very pretty. In spite of all that, it took Emily a long time to heal. She'd felt the humiliation of it more than anything else. How could she have been so stupid as to not have seen through him. Emily shook her head to dispel bad memories of the past. This only served to bring to mind the memories from today. How could she have been so wrong about Lucian? WAS she wrong about Lucian? Everything in her trusted him completely. That was a feeling she'd never gotten before with her last ex-boyfriend. Deep down she'd always had the feeling something wasn't right with him. It was that feeling that had kept her from saying yes the multiple times he'd suggested they get married. Did she feel that way about Lucian? No, Emily thought, shaking her head. He was definitely different. Tilting her face up into the wind she sighed. The smell of the moisture laden breeze had an instant calming effect. With her eyes closed she could hear the sound of the waves lapping against the rocks, it was soothing. How long she stood like that she had no idea. The world itself seemed to disappear and time stopped. It was just her, the rocks, the wind, and the water. Gradually she began to notice the light dimming around her and a chill in the air. She opened her eyes just in time to see the sun vanish below the surface of the horizon followed by a quick green flash. This startled her and she blinked at it. It was time to go home. Emily turned to head back to her car and almost jumped out of her skin to find a man sitting quietly on a rock behind her. "You scared me!" she exclaimed, putting one hand to her chest where her heart was thumping loud enough for him to hear. She noticed he had shoulder length, thick, wavy, brown hair. His eyes were a soft brown that observed her calmly. He was well built with strong shoulders, long perfectly proportioned arms, and a washboard abs that tapered down to narrow hips. The fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt didn't alarm her much since she was standing by a lake and just assumed he'd been swimming. He didn't say anything at first, just sat very still and watched her closely. Almost as if he was afraid she'd bolt if he moved; which she probably would have. Yet, there was something strangely familiar about him. Something Emily couldn't quite put her finger on.

### "I apologize." he said simply, rising from his sitting position slowly, hands hanging loosely at his sides. He seemed very intent on putting her at ease and it was working. Emily relaxed slightly, but was still puzzled by the niggling feeling that she'd seen him somewhere before but she couldn't remember where. "I saw you standing here alone and it seemed you were in so much pain I felt you didn't need to be alone here at the water's edge. There've been many an accident here from people too careless to watch what they were doing and would stumble over the rocks to the water below." Emily glanced behind her at the water which seemed to getting choppier since the moon rose. She assumed the tide must be coming in. For a moment she thought she saw a face just below the surface looking up at her, then it was gone. She shivered at the thought of plunging below that surface and what might be there lurking below. "Are you all right?" the man asked her. Glancing beyond her at the water and frowning slightly. "It's dangerous to linger here. Why don't I walk you back to your car?"

### "Yes, I'm alright." Emily assured him, "It's not too dark yet. I can find it on my own. Thank you anyway."

### "Please," the man said in a beseeching tone, "I would like to talk to you a little while longer if I may." Emily paused, she must be losing her mind, and then she nodded. He motioned for her to proceed than walked beside her, keeping a little distance between them. "Why were you sad?"

### "I found out some new information about the man I love and it didn't sit very well." she answered, then wondered about her statement. Love? Yes, she did love Lucian. That was why it hurt so much when she found out about Brook. Still she wasn't about to elaborate to this complete stranger beside her. However there was a tantalizingly familiar smell about him that tickled at the edges of her memory. They walked slowly in the direction of her car. She found herself at ease with this man.

### "I won't pry by asking for the details." he said when Emily didn't say anything else. "Are you from around here?" "No, I moved into a house nearby, but grew up in San Bernardino with my mother. I lived with her before she remarried, then I moved out." she answered, leaving out the details about her step-father. The man seemed to tense a little at the mention of her mother.

### "Just your mother?" he asked casually, but Emily could tell there was nothing casual about the question at all, "No father, no siblings?"

### "No." she replied, "No siblings. No father, just my mother." She glanced sideways at him but couldn't see his expression in the fading light.

### "I see." he said, nodding, "What happened to your father?"

### "He died when I was young." Emily said softly, "At least that was what my mother told me."

### "Do you remember anything of him?" he inquired, "Anything at all?"

### Emily frowned for a moment. "I was only 4 when he died. But I remember how tall and strong he was. He'd come into the room and scoop me up in his arms to whirl me around in the air until I was dizzy. He had this deep booming laugh that always made me feel like everything would be ok when I heard it. I remember how he used to wrap me in big fluffy towels after my bath then put me to bed wearing one of his t-shirts. He said his scent would ensure I'd always have adventures in my dreams. He was right too. I used to dream I was running through a glowing green forest so swiftly I was almost flying. But they were never scary because I always felt he was there to protect me. I still have one of his t-shirts." Emily could feel herself smiling softly at the memory. She didn't notice when they'd stopped walking because they'd reached her car. When she felt the man's hands on her shoulders it startled her into looking up into his face. He was staring down into hers with a searching look. "What?" she asked, "Did I say something wrong?" He was silent for a moment before closing his eyes and releasing her.

### "No," he said sadly, "No, you didn't. It sounds like you loved your father very much. You must miss him."

### "Yes." was all Emily said. He stood looking down into her face before reaching out to embrace her. It was so unexpected all she could do was stand there. Again there was that overwhelmingly nagging feeling a familiarity that kept eating at her. She felt like she'd done this before.

### "I'm sure he misses you too." he said over her shoulder, "Where ever he is." Then he pulled back but left his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to look her square in the eye. "One more thing. Trust your instincts. They'll never steer you wrong, Emily." Emily nodded mutely and he cupped the side of her face with one hand before saying, "Good. It's time for you to go now. I won't be far. You'll see me again." he promised. Then he was gone and she was alone in the dark. Emily looked around her but couldn't see where he'd gone. She unlocked her car and climbed behind the wheel. Starting her car, she turned on the headlights and caught a glimpse of a large buck disappearing into the woods when it dawned on her. He'd called her Emily. Yet she'd never told him her name. How had he known it? Who was he? Shaking her head to clear it for the drive home, she decided she'd put it all on hold for later. It was late, she had a long drive ahead of her, and it had been an exhausting day...mentally and emotionally. Backing up carefully, she maneuvered the car to point the headlights in the direction of the highway and drove carefully towards it. She made sure to keep an eye out for that buck or any other animal that might run out in front of her. She didn't notice the buck standing out in the open clearing behind her watching her tail lights disappear in the distance.

## CHAPTER 17

### Lucian sat at the kitchen table waiting nervously for Emily to come home. He'd sent Brook back to the shed in the back yard to wait so that she couldn't upset Emily anymore. He had an idea of why she'd been upset but that being said there were things that they needed to discuss. He heard the garage door open and the beast called a "car" pull in. He froze with his hands flat on the table in front of him, unsure if he should ambush her in the garage or wait for her to come through the door. He stood up abruptly as the door opened and Emily stepped through it saving him from having to make a decision. Hanging her keys beside the door, she glanced around her to find him standing by the table with his gaze trained on her. They stood staring at each other for a moment, neither moving towards the other before both of them rushed together like two magnets being pulled by some unseen force. Emily still wasn't sure what to think of Brook's presence at her house, but she hadn't seen her when she came in so maybe it meant she was gone. She'd also done some thinking on the drive home. It was true that both of them had a past. She understood that but she didn't like the idea of someone being left behind because of her either. Especially having been the one previously who'd been "left behind". She had decided to give Lucian a chance to explain. For now, she just enjoyed being in his arms, the feel of his hard body against her made her feel like she was finally home. She wasn't willing to let this go so easily. Lucian pulled back to grab her chin and turn her face up to him so he could see it. He didn't like the red, puffy eyes that told him she'd been crying. A lot. Because of him. Somehow he'd hurt her and he was going to find out how so he'd never do it again. Brushing her cheek with the backs of his knuckles he said, "I'm glad you're home. I don't know what I did to make you sad, though. Can you tell me so I won't do it again?"

### Emily moved away, going into the living room. Brook wasn't in there either. She squashed the impulse to go check her bedroom and sat down on the couch sideways so that she could face him. He sat in front of her and waited. "It mostly wasn't you." she explained, "A lot of it had to do with ghosts from my past rearing their ugly head. It's just when I heard Brook say something about you leaving her for me...it felt like I'd been hit in the stomach. I never thought of you as having belonged to someone else before me. So when I found out you did, I didn't handle it well."

### "Brook spoke out of turn." Lucian replied, "I was never hers. We were intimately involved before, but that was long over before I found out about you. You have to believe me on that." He reached out and touched her hand, looking deep into her eyes, willing her to believe him. He felt a strange mixture of anger at Brook, and hope because Emily had thought of him as hers.

### Emily stared back, remembering that conversation she'd had with that strange man from before. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of Lucian's beautiful face to listen closely to what her inner instincts were telling her. They were saying she should listen to Lucian. Nodding, she said, "I do. It's just that there've been...issues...in my past that have taught me some hard lessons about trusting men. That kind of betrayal and hurt doesn't go away easy." Lucian's hand tightened on hers as his eyes flashed with a promise of retribution to any who had dared to hurt his Emily.

### "Who was it?" he asked menacingly, "Where is he now? Where can I find this man who hurt you so bad? I'll kill him. No, killing is over too quick. I'll make him suffer for every minute he caused you pain." Emily drew back at the savage look on his face and Lucian realized he was frightening her. "I'm sorry, my love. I would never harm you. You've got to know that."

### "Ok," she said, a little uncertain, "Anyway, he's not worth it. I don't even know where he is right now. Besides, I took care of it myself. Last I saw of him he was being taken away by the cops."

### "Good," Lucian answered, "hopefully those wizards put a severe binding spell on him that will prevent him from ever hurting you again."

### Emily decided to overlook the use of the word "wizard" to describe a police officer, "Oh they did. I believe it was called a 'Restraining Order'." She had to chuckle at the irony of the situation, with Lucian talking about a binding spell, a restraining order was as close as you could get to a binding spell in today's age. Looking around again, she asked, "Where's Brook? Did she go home?"

### "I'm afraid it's not that simple." Lucian said sheepishly, "Brook can't exactly go home...she's a water nymph that's been banned from her body of water. So now she's land bound until her curse has been lifted. She followed me here from my world, now she is stuck. But you needn't worry she'll ever bother you again. I've made sure of that."

### "A water nymph? Now I've seen everything." Emily sighed, then glanced at him in alarm, "Wait, what? What did you do? You didn't hurt her did you?"

### "No." he answered in a grim tone, "Are you hungry? I could try to fix you something. With Luna's help I was able to fix myself a 'sandwich' which I was a little worried about at first because I thought it would contain sand, but she assured me that it didn't. It actually turned out quite well. Of course I ended up sharing it with her as repayment for her instruction. Would you like me to make you one?"

### "No thanks, it's been a long day and I'm kinda tired." she answered, "I met a strange man when I was out. He seemed so familiar but I wasn't sure why. Oh well, I'll think some more on that tomorrow. By the way, where did you say Brook was?"

### "Oh, she's out in the shed. I told her to stay out there so she couldn't bother you."

### "WHAT??!!" Emily exclaimed, rounding on him, "Has she been out there all day?"

### "Not all day, just since it got dark." Lucian answered, confused by her reaction. "I didn't want her here when you got back so she couldn't upset you anymore."

### "You can't just leave her out there, Lucian, it's freezing." Emily stomped through the kitchen to pull open the back door. She turned on the porch light and went to the shed. Brook looked up at her as she threw open the shed door from where she sat huddled and shivering on the floor beside the lawnmower. She looked so pitiful and sad Emily couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Brook's attitude from earlier seemed to have changed with her time in the shed. She looked up at Emily with a tear streaked face that held no resentment at all.

### "Are you going to kill me?" she asked in a small voice. Emily stared at her in open mouthed shock. What in the world would make her think that?

### "Of course not." Emily replied. "Why would you think that?"

### "Because of the way I spoke to you earlier." she said, hanging her head, "I'm sorry. It's just that..." She broke off here and just stared past Emily at Lucian. Emily could tell she had genuine feelings for Lucian and her heart twisted painfully. It wasn't too long ago that she'd been in Brooks place and she remembered all too well how that had felt. Perhaps that was why she was able to show a little compassion for her now. Emily kneeled down in front of Brook and put her arms around her, ignoring the way the girl flinched back at being touched.

### "It's ok, I understand." Emily told her, lifting her up and walking her towards the house. "I've been there once or twice myself. When you love someone it's hard to see them with someone else. Come inside, there's another bedroom you can sleep in. You don't have to stay in the shed." Brook just stared at her in surprise, unable to believe the kindness she was being shown. She tilted her head to look into Emily's face thoughtfully. Then she nodded.

### "That's true." she said, "But I can see why he loves you. You have a very good soul to treat me with such kindness after I was so awful to you. It was hard to see him with you at first, but then I realized how much I enjoyed watching you two. You do have beautiful nipples." Then she strode up the steps, across the porch, and into the house; leaving an open mouthed Emily staring after her in shock. Looking over at Lucian, she raised her eyebrows and shook her head inquiringly.

### "Um, yeah." he said uncomfortably, "We need to talk about that. It might be a good idea to shut the kitchen curtains at night from now on." He followed Brook inside before Emily could respond. She stood there for a moment before her face flushed red and she glanced at the window to see her kitchen brightly lit up inside. Oh lord, she thought, covering her face with her hands. Who else had seen? Glancing back over her shoulder in the direction of Mrs. Turner's house, she wondered if she'd been watching also. Shaking herself all over she decided she wasn't even going to ask her and hope for the best. Emily walked up the steps and into the house as well, shutting the back door behind her before also closing the kitchen curtains. She found them both waiting for her in the living room. Brook gazed around the room with curiosity and Lucian watched her closely from a distance. Emily's face was still red from embarrassment and she motioned for Lucian to bring Brook along. She led the way down the hall from her own bedroom and opened a second door that he'd never noticed before. Not surprising that he hadn't really when the only room he'd ever been concerned with was the one Emily herself slept in. Emily opened the door to reveal a medium sized room that contained a bed, a dresser, and a small table beside the bed with a lamp on it. Brook moved past her into the room as Emily stepped back to let her by. She looked around it, sat on the side of the bed and bounced a few times. Laughing at this she looked up at the two of them standing in the doorway.

### "It's like nothing I've ever felt before." she said with a smile, "What fun you two must have sleeping on these things." Lucian choked back a chuckle as Emily gave him a stern, warning look from beneath her eyebrows. Little did Brook know exactly how little actual sleep she and Lucian got in her bed, but she wasn't about to explain that to her. Then again, given Brook's earlier statement, maybe she didn't have to. Emily could feel her face getting hot again.

### "Feel free to pull back the covers and get in it if you want." then she realized Brook might not know what she was talking about. Moving forward she showed Brook how to pull back the covers to reveal the sheets and pillows beneath it. She explained how the covers were there to keep her warm if she got cold. Looking Brook up and down she noticed her dress was a little dirty and torn in places. Going down the hall to her room she opened a drawer and grabbed a nightgown. Since Brook was a little taller she made sure to grab a long one. Fortunately, one of her nightgowns would easily fit over the water nymph's willowy figure. Emily felt a pang of jealousy which she brutally squashed down as she came back into Brook's room. Brook took the nightgown from her and held it up, looking at it in confusion. "It's for you to sleep in." Emily explained, "It's supposed to be more comfortable than what you're wearing now. You can change into it." Brook's face lit up as she realized what the garment was for. Without a second thought she proceeded to quickly shed the dress she was wearing. Emily quickly glanced behind her to find Lucian hadn't moved an inch but calmly stood watching Brook undress. Sighing in exasperation, Emily shoved him out the door and shut it in his face. Shaking her head she thought, "He's DEFINETELY a guy." Turning back around she found the now naked Brook turning the nightgown around and around, trying to figure out how to put it on. This was the first time Emily had ever gotten a really good look at the water nymph. She looked her over closely noting the tall, lithe body before her. She had long, flowing hair that almost brushed the ground, it was an odd color. Almost like a pale green. Her skin had that clear translucent look that made it seem as if it had never seen the sun. She had clear blue eyes that most models would kill for. She stood at least six foot with a lean figure and small perfectly formed breasts. As Emily watched, the cool air of the room made the tips of them pucker slightly making her realize Brook was probably getting cold standing there naked while she gawked at her. When Emily raised her gaze to Brook's face she found her watching her. Maybe it wasn't the cold air after all. "You're so beautiful." Emily said admiringly, a little envious, "You could easily be a model. You're built just right for it. Maybe we could look into that if you have to stay much longer."

### Brook dropped the nightgown to the floor and walked gracefully over to where Emily stood. Leaning down, she softly brushed her lips across Emily's as she reached one hand up to brush the tips of Emily's own breasts through her shirt. Emily could feel the instant response as her own nipples peaked to push the fabric out. "I remember these." Brook said, as she palmed her breast. Emily looked at Brook's naked breasts in front of her. She was surprised by the flood of warmth that suffused her and the urge to lean forward and take one of those inviting nipples into her mouth to taste it. Brook leaned forward slightly, bringing that nipple into contact with Emily's mouth. She opened it automatically and felt the rigid texture of it against her tongue. Closing her lips around it, she lapped at it inside her mouth and grazed it with her teeth. Brook gasped, wrapping both arms around her to pull her closer against her body. Emily's hand seemed to take on a will of its own as her fingers sought the slick warmth of Brook's pussy between her legs. Sliding her fingers over the clit, she massaged it in a circular motion before palming it to slip her fingers into Brooks quivering pussy while sucking her nipple hard. Emily could feel her own pussy growing hot and wet. She'd never been with another woman before but the idea of being with one now had her extremely hot. Transferring her attention to Brook's other nipple she opened her mouth as wide as she could to suck most of Brook's breast into her mouth. Now she had her other hand on the breast she'd just left and was plucking at the nipple with her fingers. Brook moaned loudly and threw her head back. Rubbing against Emily and slipping her hand under Emily's shirt and bra to squeeze her breast. Brook lifted one leg to wrap around Emily's hip to allow her more open access to her swollen pussy, whimpering in a pleading tone for more. Emily responded by gently pushing Brook's leg down and spreading them so that Brook stood spread eagled. Kissing and sucking her way down Brook's stomach, she made an unerring path straight down. Eager to taste the thick juices of Brook's pussy to see if they were just as sweet as her breasts were, she knelt on the floor in front of her. Brook buried her hands in Emily's hair just as she leaned forward to bury her tongue deep in the v between Brook's legs. Suddenly they were both startled as the door was flung open and Lucian came striding in. In one motion he reached down to scoop up the forgotten nightgown to fling it at Brook, while grabbing Emily by the arm and pulling her up off the floor from in front of Brook. Throwing Emily over one shoulder, he turned without a backward glance and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. He strode down the hall with a dazed Emily over one shoulder ignoring the loud "RUDE!" that followed him out the door. Once he reached Emily's room he flung her down on the bed. Her face was still flushed from the passion she'd shared with Brook. Lucian looked down at her, a mixture of passion and jealousy swept through his body. He reached out and jerked her jeans off and flung them to one side. The crotch of Emily's panties were dark with her juices. With a low growl, Lucian grabbed the neckline of her t-shirt and ripped it down the center. Leaving her bra exposed with her heaving breasts inside it. He grabbed the middle of her bra and ripped that in half too. Then he pounced on her, savagely sucking her breasts while pushing his own pants off. Emily gasped and clutched his head to her. His wild behavior exciting her even more. When he reached out to grab both her knees to jerk them open her eyes went wide. Gone was the gentle Lucian she'd known before, in front of her now was a wild animal in full rut. Eager for its mate. Emily knew that this should have scared her but it didn't. It excited her even more. Lucian didn't wait, he plunged deep into Emily's pussy without hesitation. He groaned loudly as he felt the hot, moist heat surround his engorged cock as it slid deep and touched the opening to her womb. Sitting outside that bedroom door listening to her and Brook had been torture. His animalistic side roared indignantly at someone else touching his mate, but the man in him became filled with lust as he listened to her with the other woman. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He'd burst into the room to find Emily on her knees in front of Brook about to bury her face in Brook's pussy. His cock was already hard, but swelled even more at the sight. He had to have her, NOW. So he'd scooped her up to take her away from Brook. Now the beast in him pounded his cock into her slick pussy mercilessly, listening to her whimpering cries. He hoped he wasn't hurting her, but he was too far past self-control. Emily had pushed him too far and his beast was loose. Wrapping both arms around her tightly he held her in place as he pumped his cock in and out roughly. He lost it completely as Emily reached up and bit his neck hard with her tiny little teeth. He felt her wrap both legs around his hips tightly, matching his rhythm with her own. Her nails raked his back as she joined him in his savage passion. They both felt his cock swell, then pulse as wave after wave of his hot cum shot out of him to fill her pussy. Emily collapsed beneath him and Lucian took the opportunity to take her lips in a smoldering kiss as his cock continued to jerk inside her. When it was finally spent he rolled to one side. He pulled Emily against his side and brushed her hair back from her sweaty face.

### "Are you all right?" he asked, "I didn't hurt you just now did I?" Emily smiled up at him and kissed him sweetly before shaking her head in response.

### "Where did THAT come from?" she asked,

### "I'm sorry." he said, "I couldn't help myself. Standing on the other side of the door listening to you two...I just lost it. Are you sore? Are you sure I didn't hurt you?"

### Emily shook her head again, "I'm fine." she reassured him again, "but can we do that again sometime?" She looked at him with hopeful eyes. Lucian laughed loudly and hugged her close. "Is that a yes?" she persisted.

### "That's a yes, my love. Anything you want to make you happy." he chuckled, "You're amazing you know that?" "No, I didn't." she answered, "I knew I was awesome, maybe fantastic, but not amazing. Tell me again how amazing I am." She glanced up at him teasingly, one finger playing with the nipples on his chest. Lucian growled playfully and rolled over on top of her.

### "Minx." he said, "You are amazing and I'll spend every day telling you just how amazing you are. I love you." He leaned down to kiss her again. Emily lay there for a moment enjoying it before giving him a playful punch in the ribs to move him off her.

### "Off!" she ordered, "You're heavy, I'm tired, and I want a shower before bed."

### "I'll shower with you." he offered, "That way we can wash each other's backs."

### "Oh no, you don't" she giggled, "If you get in that shower WITH me, the last thing we'll be washing is each other's backs. I need sleep so you're going to have to wait your turn, mister." With a quick bounce she was off the bed and running towards the shower before he could grab her and pull her back down. She slammed the door and he heard the lock click home.

### "COWARD!" he yelled through the door and heard her giggle again as the water came on. He grinned as he felt contentment and happiness wash over him. He prayed to the Goddess to let this feeling continue. He wanted to be with Emily forever.

## CHAPTER 18

### Emily climbed out of the shower and wrapped the towel around her. She opened the bathroom door to find him sitting on the floor by the bed staring at it with a petulant look on his face. He looked so much like a disgruntled little boy she couldn't help but giggle again. It never failed to amaze her how much this grown man who could exude so much sex appeal and reduce her to a quivering mass of nerves could manage to look so innocent sometimes. "Shower's all yours now." she said, casually strolling over to take out her favorite sleeping shirt. She squealed as he reached out to wrap a hand around her ankle to pull her over into his arms. She never feared hitting the floor for a moment because she knew he'd catch her before then. Emily wondered when it was she'd started trusting him so much. Laying across his lap she felt his cock harden and swell again, poking her in the back. "Again?" she cocked one eyebrow at him. Although she felt her body respond to it, she needed sleep more. Lucian looked deep into her eyes for a moment before she yawned. Laughing, he pushed her up to her feet again.

### "Ok," he answered, "I get the message. You climb into bed, I'll be there after I shower." Standing up just as Emily dropped the towel to pull her t-shirt over her head. He paused for a moment to appreciate the view as she lifted her arms to pull the shirt over her head. Her breast stretched up high and the naked v between her legs beckoning him silently. He almost lost his resolve for a moment and kneeled down in front of her to bury his face between her legs. Shaking himself all over like a dog he resolutely headed for the bathroom as Emily finished pulling the shirt down. By the time she had her face uncovered she could hear the water running in the bathroom. Going to the door she called through it, "There might not be enough hot water so you might want to make it quick."

### "That's not a problem." he yelled back. It took Emily a minute before she realized what he meant. He wasn't using the hot water. Emily covered her mouth to stifle the giggle that threatened to escape once again. Hopping into bed she pulled the blankets up to her chin as she snuggled down into the pillow. Something kept nagging at her as she fell asleep, but she was too tired to think much about it. With a final yawn, her eyes closed and she slipped easily into her dreams.

### She was 4 years old again, laying on her bed in her room crying into her pillow. She could hear her mother and father down the hall in their room yelling at each other. Or rather, she could hear her mother. Emily only ever heard her mother's voice during these times, never her father's. Try as she might, she could never manage to bury her head deep enough under her pillow to block it out. When her bedroom door opened, Emily sat up abruptly, cringing. Her father came in and sat on the edge of her bed. Without a word he gathered Emily into his arms and rocked her wordlessly. He continued to do this until Emily stopped crying and trembling. She leaned against his broad chest hiccupping as the last of her sobs subsided. "You know I love you, right, Emily?" he asked quietly. Emily nodded against his chest. "That won't change no matter where I go for eternity. You'll always be my little girl, remember that. Can you do that for me, Sweetie?" Emily nodded again, the warmth from his body making her sleepy in the secure circle of his arms. Emily snuggled closer breathing in her father's unique scent. Smiling slightly, she knew she could find him in a crowd blindfolded. As long as she had her daddy, all was right with the world, Emily thought as she dozed off in her father's arms. Suddenly, Emily's eyes flew open. Grabbing the front of her sleep shirt she pulled it over her nose and inhaled deeply before sitting bolt upright in the bed. By the time Lucian exited the bathroom, he found Emily sitting up in bed with her knees tucked up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, crying. "Emily?" he moved to her side quickly, putting his arms around her, "What's wrong, honey?"

### Emily raised a tear streaked face to look at him and say, "He's my father." Lucian sat stunned by her words, confused and unable to process what she'd just said. He shook his head at her inquiringly. "The man I ran into tonight. He talked to me. It seemed like he knew me. He knew my name but I hadn't told him what it was. He seemed kinda familiar but I couldn't remember from where until just now. I had a dream about him and I was wearing this shirt." she touched the front of her sleep shirt. "It used to belong to him. It's pretty much the only thing of his I had left. After my mother told me he died she gathered all his stuff together to throw out. I managed to pull this out of the box when she wasn't looking. I've saved it all these years. It still smells like him no matter how many times I've washed it." She looked up at Lucian's face again then remembered she hadn't told him about the man. Quickly, she told him about everything that had happened after she'd left. He seemed a little troubled by the man but not as much as when she mentioned the face in the water. At that his face closed and his eyes flashed. He looked towards the door to see Brook standing in the open doorway wearing the nightgown Emily had given her. Emily hadn't noticed her yet. A silent communication passed between them and Brook nodded before turning to go back to her room. Lucian knew what the face in the water meant. Brook's watery kin were angry at Brook's absence. Tomorrow, he would take Brook to the place Emily had talked about so Brook could talk to them. Tonight he needed to get Emily to sleep. Almost on cue he heard Brook singing softly from down the hall. To any mortal it would just sound like water cascading over stones, very soothing. He felt Emily gradually relax against him and he gently laid her back on the pillow. Her hand wrapped around his, trapping him to her side so he maneuvered himself enough to drop his towel on the floor before climbing into the bed beside her. Emily snuggled up to his chest as he pulled the blanket over both of them. At first he was worried about Brook's presence in the house. However, it seemed that not only would she honor the Goddess's wishes in helping him, she was actually growing to care for Emily also. Looking down into Emily's sleeping face he felt a sense of wonder at the power she had over others and the fact that she belonged to him. He sent another heartfelt thanks to the Goddess for giving him the gift of his mate and fell asleep.

### Emily woke up to find the spot in the bed beside her empty. At first she panicked before she picked up the low mumble of voices coming from the kitchen. She started to get up and go into the kitchen also when the memories of the man from the night before came back to her. Was he her father? If so, then how? Her mother had told her that he'd died. Although it wouldn't be the first time her mother had lied to her. Still, where had he been all this time? Why hadn't he come back to see her? Her head was buzzing with too many unanswered questions. What's more is she wasn't sure if she'd be able to find him again to ask. Shaking her head to rid it of all the confusion, she climbed out of bed and got dressed, making a firm decision to put all the questions on the back burner for now. Today she was going to need to get some work done. Making her way into the kitchen she found both Brook and Lucian sitting at the table talking. She knew she should be jealous of seeing them alone together, but as she and Brook shared a special glance, she couldn't bring herself to feel it. She noticed that the table was empty and realized that neither of them really knew how to work any of the kitchen gadgets to make food. Smiling to herself, she started making breakfast for all three of them. Luna could be heard barking happily in the back yard. As soon as they all had plates in front of them, she asked, "So what's going on?"

### "I was going to take Brook to go visit some of her kin nearby." he said. Brook nodded but didn't say anything else, her hand reaching out to idly stroke the back of Emily's hand. Emily turned her hand upwards to clasp fingers with her for a moment before releasing it to go back to eating. The motion didn't go unnoticed by Lucian. He wasn't sure how he felt about the sudden closeness between the two but he didn't say anything about it. "If that's ok with you?" he added.

### "Sure." Emily responded lightly, "I have to get some work done today anyway before my editor hunts me down again." She was startled by their sudden reaction when they both stood up suddenly, looming protectively in front of her looking around them as if expecting an attack. "What is it?" she exclaimed suddenly alarmed, "Is something wrong?"

### "Where is this 'editor'?" Lucian said menacingly, "How dare it threaten you. You said again. Has it hunted you before?"

### "Don't worry." Brook said, patting her hand reassuringly, "We won't let it anywhere near you again." They both looked offended when Emily started laughing.

### "You don't understand,"she explained, "My editor is my boss. She's the one in charge and it's just an expression. She doesn't really hunt me. It just means that she'll look for me really hard; not to hurt me though. Just to talk to me. Never mind. Just go do what you need to do while I try to get some work done." Standing up she kissed Lucian on the lips then, Lucian's chagrin, kissed Brook on the cheek before heading back to her bedroom. They both watched her leave the kitchen before turning back to each other. Lucian had already filled Brook in on what had happened the night before and his concerns with her water bound kin.

### "I know who it was." Brook said, quietly, "It was Fin. He must have found out what happened to me and is angry."

### "Who is Fin?" Lucian asked, leaning close so he wouldn't have to speak loudly.

### "He was one of my suitors." Brook explained, "He'd asked my father for permission to marry me, but I told him no. He couldn't accept that I'd prefer an air breather over him. That didn't deter him, though. He just said that eventually I'd come to my senses and when I did, he'd be waiting." As she said this last part, Brook looked away. Lucian could tell she wasn't as unaffected by Fin as she let on. Turning this news over in his mind he put together a plan.

### "We need to go back to the place Emily saw him and you need to explain to him what is going on." he said, "We'll take a walk and find someplace quiet and remote where I'll shift and fly you to there. You need to make sure he knows what is going on and that Emily is blameless." Brook nodded. Then they made their way out the front door, trying to be as quiet as possible. Lucian headed back in the direction he'd come from that first night he'd shown up on Emily's doorstep. As usual, the Goddess was looking out for him. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to her as he found the woods he'd emerged from back then. It was hard to believe that it had only been a few short days since then. With everything that had transpired it seemed like a lot longer. Entering beneath the leaf canopy they continued to travel in silence until they came to the clearing that had once held the lake which had served as Lucian's portal. It was no longer there. Instead a wide clearing full of golden grass and wildflowers with colorful butterflies flitting amongst them met their eyes. Birds swooped from the branches as Brook gazed wistfully at the spot where her lake once had been. Placing an arm over her shoulders, Lucian attempted to comfort her, "It'll come back again, not to worry. You'll be going home soon before you know it."

### Brook stared a moment more before turning her blue eyes up to his. "I know." she said, simply, "I'm just not sure I want to go back now." Then she moved away from him out from under his arm. Once she was a safe distance away, she turned back to wait for him to shift. Lucian shook off the paralysis her words had given him. He quickly removed his clothing, folding them neatly and hiding them in the lower branches of a nearby tree. He rolled his head back and forth on his shoulders before starting the shift to loosen up his muscles. Gradually, the roll seemed to take over his entire body as it shimmered and shifted into his true form. Once it was complete, he stretched his wings wide, luxuriating in the feel of the warm sun on them. It felt good to feel them expand again. It seemed like forever since the last time he had done it. Brook came up behind him and placed one hand on the soft feathers of his wing. "These are so beautiful. I never get used to seeing them." She stroked them tenderly before jumping onto his back. Lucian could feel the warmth of her pussy as she straddled his back. She leaned forward to wrap her arms around his waist and place a warm moist kiss on his shoulder. He felt her stiff nipples grazing his spine and his mind flashed back to the noises he'd heard coming from behind the closed door of her bedroom when she and Emily were in there. His cock responded immediately and in spite of himself he twisted to capture her lips with his own. He was rewarded by the slick wetness of her pussy as she slid herself upward on his shoulders to reach him. Lucian pulled away from her abruptly. He shouldn't be doing this with Brook.

### "Now is not the time or place for that." he said sternly, "Or ever without Emily." Brook sat back with a sigh and nodded again. Lucian lifted his wings to the sky and muscles rolled as he pumped them back down to get them air bound. Brook had wrapped both arms around his waist again and leaned forward to catch the wind in her face as he flew. As he broke through the tree tops he did a quick scan to make sure no one saw them before beating his wings fast and furiously to get them high enough that anyone who did see them from below might just mistake them for a large bird of prey. In spite of the high altitude, Brook seemed unfazed by the flight. She seemed to be enjoying herself; peering over his shoulders at the landscape passing far below them. When they passed over the large body of water Emily had described the sun sent sparkles up to them as it glanced off the waves. It didn't take long to reach the rocks that Emily had spoken of. Brook slid off his back and made her way to the water's edge. Lucian watched as the head and shoulders of a male water nymph appeared as she neared it. Not wanting to intrude, he moved back a ways from the pair as they talked. Lucian could tell the male wasn't happy with what Brook was telling him, so he stayed near enough to come to her aid if she needed it. He sat down on a nearby rock to wait. "Hello." Lucian just about jumped out of his skin at the calm greeting. He whirled around to find the same man Emily had described to him standing there. They observed each other warily for a moment before Lucian spoke, "You're Emily's father."

### A small smile slipped from behind the calm mask on the man's face before he could stop it. "So she did remember me." he said softly, his eyes shining. "I'd so hoped she would. You're the man she's in love with, right? She told you about me?" Lucian nodded without speaking. He looked the man up and down. Emily had inherited the majority of her looks from her father it seemed. The thick, flowing brown hair, the gentle, serene brown eyes, the calm features. Lucian could see Emily in all of them. There was one other thing too...something Lucian couldn't quite put his finger on. Then it hit him like Emily's baseball bat.

### "You're a wood spirit!" he exclaimed, "I don't know why I didn't see it right away!" It was true. Emily's father had that same shadow form as all those who shifted between two legs and four. Although humans couldn't see it, it was easily apparent to those who weren't. "So that means..."

### "Emily's part wood spirit herself." the man answered, "But I'm guessing she doesn't know it." He watched as Lucian shook his head. "I'm not surprised. I knew Emily's mother wouldn't tell her. She was always afraid of what it would mean for Emily if she found out. I should never have told her about me. In the end she took Emily and ran. It took me this long to find Emily again and then I found out that she'd been told I died. I didn't want to shock her with the news so abruptly so I thought I'd just make my way back into her life gradually before revealing who I was." Lucian absorbed all this silently, bobbing his head in agreement. He understood the man's reasoning, but it had all been for naught. Emily's memories and her love for her father had been stronger than her mother's lies.

### "She knows." Lucian told him, "She remembered you and, you were right, it was a shock for her at first. Now she just has a lot of questions that need answers. I think you're the only one who should provide them. She still loves you and needs you." He watched as the man took all this in and his eyes grew bright with unshed tears. He looked at Lucian and said, "You're right, but not tonight. It seems you have enough to deal with right now." He nodded over Lucians shoulder in the direction of Brook. Lucian turned around to see Brook swimming in the water with Fin. They were wrapped around each other tightly and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Fin no longer seemed angry as Brook cupped the side of his face tenderly. After kissing him, she released him and swam to shore, pulling her naked body from the water. Fins hand reached out of the water to caress her calf as she stepped ashore. He watched as Brook pulled her clothes over her wet skin. After touching his hand in a brief farewell, Brook walked towards Lucian. Lucian turned back to Emily's father to speak to him again only to find the place he'd been standing empty. There was a flash of hooves as a large buck bounded back into the trees and Lucian said softly, "We will meet again...father."

## CHAPTER 19

### Brook came up behind Lucian to find him staring at the trees. Looking in the direction of his gaze she saw nothing. Shrugging her shoulders she placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Lucian looked over at her inquiringly, deciding to say nothing about his encounter with Emily's father just yet. "It's getting dark." she said, glancing at the sinking sun. Lucian looked at the setting sun, startled by how long they'd been there. He hadn't realized how much of the day had passed already. Emily would be worried. Carefully, he weighed the options. Should he shift now while it was still light enough to be seen or should he go ahead and wait the short time for twilight to set in to use the cover of darkness to conceal them? He decided to wait it out. Emily would understand once they arrived home.

### "We'll wait here for a moment until the sun has set." he told her, "That way we stand less chance of being seen. I take it you got everything settled with Fin?" Brook looked away towards the water's edge. Fin could still be seen watching them both carefully. It was hard to tell his expression from this distance, but Lucian could tell he wasn't happy.

### "Yes, I explained everything to him." she answered, "He understands. He's not happy about it, but he understands. It helped that we got some other things...settled." She said this last part with a blush.

### "So I saw." Lucian responded with a quirk, "The important thing is that he's no longer a threat to Emily."

### "No, he's no longer a threat." she said, "I've told him about her and her kindness. He's grateful to her for having taken me in during this difficult time. She now has the protection of my people to help guard her. If she's ever caught out in open water in need of assistance all she has to do is blow on this to call for help." Brook held out her open hand to find a small, perfectly carved mother of pearl whistle in the shape of a shell. "Upon hearing this every creature under our power in our kingdom will be alerted and come to her aid." Lucian stared in awe at the object in Brook's hand. He'd heard of the legendary sea whistles but had never seen one until now. Lucian was humbled by Brook's gift to Emily. If he had any doubts about trusting her with Emily before, they were gone now. Emily would have no idea what kind of power she'd just been given, but he did and he was extremely grateful to Brook and her people for their generous gift. Reaching out he embraced Brook lightly, "Thank you." was all he said. Looking over her shoulder at Fin in the water he saw him rise up as if attempting to rush over to them to pull them apart. Smiling at him, Lucian released Brook and stepped back. Shrugging all over he shifted to his winged form. It was dark enough now that no one would see them. Brook waved to Fin one last time before vaulting onto Lucian's back. With a mighty sweep of his wings, Lucian ran towards the edge of the rocks to leap off them and flinging himself into the air. The last thing he saw was Fin's face shrinking to a dot as he swooped first towards the water before soaring off into the star strewn sky in the direction of home. He had so much to tell Emily, he couldn't wait to see her. Brook was quiet as she leaned against his shoulder, he glanced back at her but decided to leave her alone with her thoughts. He wasn't sure what had been said between her and Fin, but he suspected it was significant enough to have her wrapped in her own thoughts. Looking up he saw the moon glowing brightly. Not as brightly as it had a few nights ago because it was no longer full. But he could feel the power coming from it even if it was waning. He stretched his wings out wide to glide and felt the cool kiss of the Goddess's blessing on them. Sending a her silent thanks, he turned towards home and Emily.

### Emily sat back from her computer to stretch the kinks out of her back. She'd managed to get quite a bit of work done but the prolonged position of typing always took its toll on her. Glancing at the clock she noticed she'd been working for hours. Shaking her head at how absorbed she'd gotten in her story, she stood up to go to the bathroom before heading to the kitchen for a bite to eat. She washed her hands and was coming out of the bathroom when she heard her front door open. Smiling she thought Lucian must be home. "Hi, Sweetie, where've you been all day?" she asked as she came out of the bedroom. She froze in the doorway staring at the person standing in her living room. Her blood froze and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "George." she said, alarmed to find him in her house. Looking quickly at the front door she wondered how he'd managed to open it. Seeing her glance at it he answered, "It was unlocked. You must have been expecting me." He didn't look the same as the last time Emily had seen him. His hair in wild disarray, he looked like he hadn't shaved or bathed in days, and his clothes were dirty and rumpled. But the thing that scared Emily the most was the wild look that shone brightly in his eyes. Emily's mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out why her door was unlocked. Then it occurred to her; Lucian. He had failed to lock it behind him when he left, then he probably didn't realize it since she'd never explained the importance of it. Now here she was face to face with a man who had possibly killed his wife; possibly for her. What now? George was watching her carefully. She had no way to reach the bat beside the door behind him and she could hear Luna barking frantically from the back yard. She debated on the possibility of reaching the back door before him.

### "You're beautiful as ever." he said, moving forward to reach out and touch her face. Emily flinched away from his filthy hand, almost gagging at the stench that was coming off him. Seeing her flinch and misinterpreting it, he went on, "Ah, I see the police have told you about Carrie. I had to, you understand that don't you? She wouldn't leave or give me a divorce. She said I was a poor excuse of a man who didn't know how to satisfy a woman and that was why you ditched me to be with someone else. After a while of her harping at me I just lost it. I saw red, than everything went black. By the time I came around I had my hands around her throat and she wasn't moving. Can't you see? She provoked me. All I ever wanted was to be with you. Now we can be together. Forever. You don't need to be afraid of me. I would never hurt you." George reached out to her again, Emily moved back, tripping over the edge of the rug. She just barely caught herself on the doorframe as George lunged forward to grab her. Emily kicked out with one foot to catch him in the stomach. As he doubled over she ran past him to grab the bat. Spinning around she found a gun leveled at her head. She froze, bat held high. "Put the bat down." he said, his hand never wavering as he pointed the gun at her. That scared Emily more than anything else because it meant he wasn't nervous about using it. Carefully, she lowered the bat to the floor and raised her hands. Waving the gun at her he motioned for her to go into the kitchen. "We're going to take a little trip, you and I. You're going to drive. Move." Emily backed slowly into the kitchen, never taking her eyes off the man in front of her. It was right at that moment the front door opened.

### Lucian and Brook came through the door to find George standing in the kitchen with Emily. It took a minute for them both to completely absorb the scene in front of them and realize what was happening. Lucian looked from George to Emily who was standing with her hands in the air. He saw her shake her head at him emphatically then noticed the object in George's hand which was pointing at Emily. Lucian wasn't sure what it was but judging from Emily's attitude he knew it was dangerous. "Emily?" he said, then saw George glance in his direction with a sneer on his dirty face. He saw George's eyes roam over Brook behind him and a hard glint came into them.

### "The conquering hero returns." he sneered, "With a new heroin in tow it seems. So I guess you won't be needing this one anymore then." He gestured towards Emily. "I'll be more than happy to take her off your hands. We'll be leaving now. Hold up!" he warned, as Lucian made to lunge at him. "One more step and I'll shoot her. You just stay right there and we'll be leaving so no one gets hurt." He turned back to Emily and said, "Move it." Emily started to reach for the keys by the door when Lucian started inching forward. George swung the gun in his direction warningly. Emily decided to take advantage of his momentary distraction and jumped forward to grab his arm. Wrapping both arms around it, she threw her weight against it to throw his aim off. In the desperate struggle that ensued she heard the gun go off. Bracing herself for the searing, burning pain of the bullet she continued to fight. Suddenly she heard Brook scream and looked across the room to see Lucian lying on the floor with blood pooling around him. She watched as an enraged Brook flew across the room to help subdue the crazed man with the gun. Even as they both held on, she felt Brook slip something small, smooth and hard into her hand before George backhanded Brook off of him. She fell back onto the floor and lay there stunned. George used his freed hand to grab a handful of Emily's hair and forced her to let go of his arm by threatening to shoot Brook too. Emily quickly let go and backed up. She was relieved to see Brook sit up, wiping at the trickle of blood coming from her split lip. Brook stared at the red smear on her fingertips in shock before looking up to Emily with profound sadness in her eyes. Emily wasn't sure why, but she had no time to worry about that at the moment. She could still feel the small object in her hand as she balled her fist tightly around it. Glancing down quickly, she found herself hold a small whistle. Looking sideways at Brook, she saw her nod at her meaningfully. Then George commanded her attention again as he turned her around and shoved her in the direction of the garage door. He reached up and grabbed the keys off the hook by the door and tossed them to her. "Drive." was all he said as he escorted her into the garage. Tears rolled down Emily's face as the last thing she saw was Lucian lying unmoving in a pool of blood before being pushed through the door and into the car to drive away in the direction George told her to.

### Brook stared at the red blood glistening on her fingertips. Was that hers? No. How could it be? Her blood wasn't red, it was green. But yet, there was the proof on her hand. That meant only one thing...she was human now. She could never go back. Sadness engulfed her as she looked up into Emily's face. She saw Emily glance down at the whistle she'd pressed into her hand. No time to worry about it now. She nodded at Emily, trying to let her know the whistle was important. She saw Emily clench her hand tightly around it before the odious man in front of her shoved Emily out the door in front of him. She heard the beast in the garage roar to life and run away before she whirled around to crawl to Lucian's side. Reaching out, she gingerly touched his wound. He had a shimmering glow that seemed to burn just beneath his skin. He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Emily?" was all he asked, but she understood what it was he was asking.

### "He took her." she answered grimly, then as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, holding his hand over the wound in his side, "What are you doing? Lay still, you'll only make it worse." She stood with him, steadying him as he lurched to his feet. "I'm going after him." he said, "I'll kill him if he hurts her. I must bring her back." He staggered to the back door. Brook followed him, determined to go with him. As they emerged into the back yard they heard Luna barking and howling from the shed. Somehow George had managed to lock her in there. Lucian opened the door and she came tearing out, growling with hackles raised looking around her. "He's not here, Luna." The dog stopped growling and looked at him over her shoulder, whimpering. "I'm going to get her and bring her back. You wait here." Luna paced around him as he began to shimmer and morph. She wanted to go with him, but would do as he commanded. Going up to the porch she lay down obediently to watch. When he was done, Brook took up her usual spot on his back. She went to place her arms around him but pulled back her hand to find it covered in his blood.

### "You're still hurt." she said, "You shouldn't be flying."

### "I'm going after her." he resisted stubbornly, "I'm bringing her back. Either stay here or go with me. Just don't get in my way." Brook barely had time to grab hold to prevent being thrown off when he abruptly launched himself into the sky. He had no time to lose. He had to find her "car" before they were too far away for him to follow. Flying high, he hovered to scan the streets beneath him. There! He saw the light glinting off the cherry red paint job that seemed to pulse as it moved in and out of the spots of lights given off by the street lamps. It wasn't far away, but it was moving fast. Like a comet, he shot off in the same direction to follow it. Mrs. Turner stared out her back window with an open mouth. It looked like a shooting star had erupted from Emily's back yard. She followed it with her eyes until it became a speck in the sky and blended in with all the other stars. Shaking her head she thought to herself, "Things certainly have become interesting in the neighborhood lately. Then she closed her curtain and went back to her late night TV show.

### Emily glanced over and the gun wielding madman turned sideways to face her in her passenger seat. She tried not to think about the fact that she'd never get the smell of him out of her upholstery if she survived this night. She didn't know where she was going but turned when he said turn and eventually they seemed to pull into a marina. Emily hadn't spoken much since George had shown up at her house. She was afraid to. Afraid to say anything that might set him off. Now, as he walked her across a pier to a large sailboat she asked, "Where are we going?"

### "We're leaving the country, my dear." he purred to her, "We're going anywhere we can to be alone. Won't that be nice?" His eyes shone even more brightly at her as he revealed his plans. Emily realized in his delusional world he was sweeping her off her feet for some romantic getaway. She decided her best chance for survival was to play along.

### "Y-yes." she stammered, then attempted to be more enthusiastic as he frowned ominously at her, "Yes, darling, what a wonderful surprise. You're so thoughtful." He blinked at her in confusion before a smile swept it away.

### "Anything for you, my sweet." he answered, gesturing with his free hand for her to climb onto the boat. "After you. Paradise awaits." Emily climbed aboard the boat, keeping one eye on the gun in his hand. She watched as he moved about the pier releasing the ropes and quickly tossing them on board. Emily moved to the other side of the boat to glance over its side into the water. She still clutched the whistle in her hand but had no idea what it did. She watched as George leaped aboard the boat as it moved away from the dock. Once they were well away from it, he moved towards her. She flinched from him and he looked down at the gun in his hand. "I guess we don't need this anymore." he said, tossing it overboard into the water, "Just to make sure you don't get any ideas about it later." Emily stood near the rail and watched him raise the sail to catch the wind. She knew that if she got too far away from land she'd be lost. When the boat hit a wave and bounced, it gave her the perfect opportunity. She flung her arms out as if she'd lost her balance and fell overboard. "Emily!" she heard George yell as she disappeared over the side. The water was a lot colder then she'd anticipated and she choked on a mouthful as an involuntary gasp escaped her. She heard another splash and saw George swimming towards her. Kicking out she tried to swim away from him towards the shore. She felt him grasp her ankle to try and pull her back to him. Fighting him off, she put the whistle to her lips and blew as best she could. She was still struggling with George when she saw a pale hand rise from the water behind him to grab him and pull him under. His scream was cut off abruptly as the waves closed over his head. Unfortunately, he still had a hold of her arms and she was being pulled under with him. Pushing at him frantically, she felt herself being wrenched from his grasp and buoyed back into the air. She broke the surface of the water gulping in deep lungfuls of sweet air. She looked around her for George, but there was no sign of him. Treading water, she spun in a circle to get her bearings. It was so dark she couldn't see where the dock was. Then a streak of light lit up the night sky and she saw it. As she started swimming towards it, she was scared by something bumping into her in the water. Every movie she'd ever seen about man eating sharks flashed through her mind. A slick, grey skinned head with a perpetual grin came up in front of her, bobbing it's head and chittering at her. Emily stared at the dolphin in disbelief before reaching out to touch it tentatively. It turned in the water under her hand to place its dorsal fin in it. Taking the hint, she grasped it to let it tow her back to the dock. When she reached the dock, she saw Lucian and Brook standing on it. Lucian spied her in the water and sagged to one knee, reaching out a hand to help her up. Brook grabbed her other arm to help haul her up, speaking in chitters to the dolphin. The dolphin gave a couple of squealing, click, grunts then somersaulted backwards back into the water and swam away. Lucian held Emily tightly, stroking her hair and murmuring. Having Emily safe in his arms again seemed to drain the last of his strength. He collapsed over out of Emily's arms. She clutched at him to prevent him from hitting his head on the wood. That was when she noticed his wound. Brook knelt on his other side and held his hand silently, tears running down her face.

### "Lucian?" Emily sobbed.

### "It's going to be alright now." he said, the breath rattling noisily in his lungs. Emily was no nurse but even she knew what that meant. "You're safe. He won't be able to hurt you anymore. Right?" This last part was directed at Brook. She glanced out at the water than nodded without saying a word.

### "What about you?" Emily asked him, "You can't leave me now. I've just found you. We're supposed to be mates. Remember?" She was babbling, but she didn't care. The only thing she cared about lay dying in her arms right now and she needed to find some way to hold onto him. "Stay with me!"

### "Your-father..." he gasped, then started coughing and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "He came back. Find him again. He'll explain things. Brook..." He looked over at the other, "Take care of her. You know what needs to be done now." Brook nodded silently, tears dripping off her chin. Gently she put his hand down and moved around to grasp Emily by the shoulders to pull her away. Emily fought her, trying to get back to Lucian so she could hold him in her arms one last time. "NO!" she cried, "Let me go! NO!" Then Emily froze as the glow beneath Lucian's skin intensified. Her eyes watered as she resisted the urge to turn her gaze away, unwilling to deny herself his last moment. They watched silently as his body began to burn from an internal flame that consumed him quickly. Emily watched in fascination as the blackened ash that fell to the dock turned to glittering motes of silver. She watched as the wind picked them up to whirl them into the sky, higher and higher until she couldn't distinguish them from the stars themselves. Then the wind died down, leaving behind the silence broken only by the sobs of the two women clutching each other staring at the scorch mark on the wood in front of them.

## PROLOGUE

### 1 YEAR LATER

### Emily sat behind the desk at the book store at her local mall. True to her word, she'd come back to sign copies of her latest book. She smiled at the young, frazzled looking woman who handed her a copy of her book and asked her name. "Angela, Ms. Amore." she said, flushing a deep red. Opening the front cover, she wrote on the blank front page of the book 'To my good friend, Angela. Keep love in your heart always. Signed, Destiny Amore.' She flipped the book closed again and handed it back to her. On the cover of the book there was a picture of a silver haired god with his arms wrapped around a buxom brunette. She paused wondering if her small tribute to Lucian had been a wise move. A year had passed but the pain still seemed as fresh as if it had been yesterday. Blinking rapidly to clear her blurred vision, she handed the book back to the concerned reader. Before the girl could say anything she was shouldered aside by the person behind her and another copy of the book was thrust into Emily's hands. Emily flipped open the cover automatically, looking down hurriedly to hide the tears gathering in her eyes. One escaped and splashed onto the open page. Hoping no one noticed she cleared her throat and asked, "Name?"

### "Lucy." said an all too familiar voice. The pen dropped from Emily's numb fingers as her heart lurched and she looked up into the laughing gaze of color shifting eyes. Speechless and open mouthed she could just gape at him before throwing herself across the table into Lucian's arms. No one said anything as she sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder as he pulled her across the table against him. That silence was broken by a confused babble as everyone began asking about the scene before them. She barely heard her assistant step forward to address the astonished crowd behind them, saying, "I'm sorry, but Ms. Amore will be taking a short break. Please excuse us, she'll be back in 10-" Taking a quick glance at them again. "30 minutes. I'll be issuing numbers and just hold onto them. We'll call you all when we get back." She began to proceed down the line of people handing out small slips of paper with numbers on them. Lucian picked up Emily in his arms and carried her off to a quiet corner of the bookstore set aside for Emily's use.

### "How-?" she asked, "Where-? I saw you die." She finally managed to get out. Looking up into his face and touching him as if to reassure herself he was real.

### "Star Phoenix for a mother, remember?" he replied, his eyes twinkling, "A Phoenix is always reborn from the ashes. However, being only half, it took some time. OW!" He said as Emily thumped his shoulder hard. "What was that for?" he asked rubbing it. "You couldn't have told me that in the beginning?" she scowled at him, "You have no idea what it did to me thinking you were dead. I could kill you!" She threatened him mockingly.

### "Wouldn't do any good." he chuckled, "I'd just come back eventually."

### "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to learn to live with you then." Emily snuggled back down into his arms. "Still, you could have mentioned it."

### "Look at it this way." he said, "I was able to surprise you."

### "Yes, you were." Emily said, suddenly sitting up, "OH! Wait here." She stood up and walked over to her assistant nearby. "Can you tell Brook to come here?" Her assistant nodded and disappeared around a corner. Emily strolled back to where Lucian sat looking like a cat that swallowed a canary. "She'll be surprised too." Lucian looked at her curiously. Emily turned as Brook emerged from between the bookshelves. She froze at the sight of Lucian standing before them. Lucian stood quickly at the sight of her muttering beneath his breath, "Sweet Merciful Goddess." Emily moved towards her to relieve her of one of her burdens. Turning back to Lucian she walked up to him with Brook in tow. "Lucian, I'd like you to meet Lucy"she indicated the four month old baby in her arms, "and Ian." She indicated the other baby cradled in Brooks arms, "They're twins." When he just stared at them dumbfounded, she added, "YOUR twins." Lucian moved forward to finger the silvery, downy fluff that covered his daughter's head. She reached out to grasp his finger while staring back at him with solemn brown eyes. He turned his attention to the boy held in Brook's arms without removing his finger from her grasp. The little boy reached toward his father with a gurgling laugh and Lucian could see that he'd also inherited the same silvery fluff as his sister, but his eyes retained the same shifting quality that his own had. He looked back and forth between the two in wonder. Looking back at a beaming Emily he was at a loss for words. "You're not the only one with surprises." she said smugly. Lucian threw back his head and laughed. NOW his life was complete and he'd share the rest of it with Emily and their children.

### As for Brook...she stayed with them for a while acting as nanny, aunt, and friend. However, her story doesn't end here; but that's a story for another time...
