Eternally Yours Read online

  He's such an intimidatingly sexy sight to look at, standing on the edge with the mist surrounding him. Those black wings are wet and shiny, and droplets of water cling to his tan skin, running in rivulets down his bare upper body. His midnight hair's not spiky anymore now that it’s falling on his forehead. He turns back to me and runs his hand through it, smiling innocently. He's so tempting.

  “Well, are you excited?” He walks back to me.

  I inhale shakily. “Yeah, I’m just a little nervous now that the time’s finally here, but I'm not waiting any longer. Eighteen years is long enough.”

  He nods and smiles. “After today you won’t have to wait for anything else.” He clears his throat. “Well, I guess if you want to put on your flying gear now is a good time…”

  “Oh yeah, good idea. I almost forgot about it.” Or maybe I was just hoping you did.

  He nods again. I think he nods when he's nervous, or when he doesn’t know what to say.

  I get it out of my bag and stand here nervously. I turn away from him deciding to just block it out and not think about it. Just do it. This way I can fly as soon as possible. I count to three in my head and take my shirt off. The wind on my exposed skin makes my hairs stand on end and I shiver, although it's not the only reason I’m shivering. I can feel his eyes on me. Either that or it's my imagination. It seems so quiet now, kind of awkward for us both. Now, I have to take my bra off. I'm wondering if either one of us can handle it. One. Two. Three. I reach back and unsnap my bra. I quickly put my arms through the holes and look over my shoulder to see where he's at.

  He's standing about five feet away, perusing every inch of my exposed skin with eyes as red as lasers. When he finally realizes I'm waiting, his eyes shift to meet and his cheeks heat. If it was going to take a little skin to get him to notice me, then I might have put the outfit on earlier.

  “Sorry…ah…I was going to turn around when you did, but you just…” he runs a hand through his wet hair spiking it up again. “You just did it before I could even turn,” he finishes lamely.

  It’s true, I did kind of just whip my shirt over my head. “No big deal, I kind of did didn’t I?” I smile.

  I swirl my pointer finger in a circle, signaling him to turn around now. I still have to put the bottoms on. He obliges me and turns around.

  I stay facing his back to make sure he doesn’t turn to peek or anything, and then I drop my shorts and underwear. Right here in the middle of the woods. Wow. I step into the leg holes, hopping off balance a few times but not falling over. I pull them up and make sure I’m covered ass much as it will allow. I run my hands over the smooth material. It’s so smooth and tight it’s like a second skin. The bottoms are connected to the top in the front, all the way up my stomach. But the back is where it feels so risqué. Only my butt and the small portion of my spine in between my shoulders are covered.

  “Okay, you can turn back around now.”

  He turns back around and he looks at my legs. Then he looks away and does a double take. I smile to myself, knowing he doesn’t want to look at them but can’t help it. It makes me feel, beautiful.

  “Do you need me to buckle the straps?” he asks.

  I smile meekly. “Yes, please.”

  He closes the space between us and I turn my back to him. He grabs the lowest strap first, which is right above my tailbone. I hear him inhale through his nose as he pulls it tight, and his knuckles brush my already sensitive skin and cause me to shiver. His hands are shaking as he fastens the belt-like buckle. He moves to adjust the material in between my shoulder blades so it’s right where it should be, and then buckles those. My skin is puckered so tightly everywhere I feel like a raisin.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he tells me, rubbing his knuckle down my arm.

  “Thanks.” I look over my shoulder at him and we make eye contact.

  He sounds so cute when his fangs are long. I can tell they are just by how he talks. I’m amazed by how much I've already learned about him in such a short amount of time.

  “Alright, you're all buckled up,” He says swiftly, like he can't wait to get away from me.

  I turn to face him. “Shadow, thanks for all of this, it means a lot to me.”

  He shies away from my sincere gratitude by looking down and shaking his head.

  “It's nothing. I'm just glad to have someone to share it with. You don’t know how alone I was.” He reaches out hesitantly and grabs my hand. “Enough talk, let's fly.”

  I let the change of subject slide, again. “Ready.”

  We walk towards the edge of the waterfall hand in hand, each stealing glances at the other.

  “That’s a pretty color on you; it makes your eyes look otherworldly. Even without the flying gear they're stunning though,” he adds hastily.

  I blush. “Thanks.” I'm even gladder that I picked the blue.

  It must be time to get serious, because his whole demeanor changes when we reach the edge of the waterfall. “Alright, so when you jump, you want to jump out like you are going to land on your stomach. Don’t look down, look out ahead of you. I will go before you, and try to stay as close to you as I can. When you are as level as you can be, I will release your wings. When I do that, I want you to grab me like you want to hug, and hold on. When we're holding onto each other, I’ll roll and fly us to the ground. After we land, I will show you how to use your wings and we will take off from the ground. It’s safer.”

  “Ah, for some reason I thought we could try it from the ground first.” I say shakily. He gives me a compassionate look and puts his hand on my shoulder.

  “For some reason, your wings will only release on your first time if you're falling.” He looks me in the eyes and squeezed my shoulders with affection. “Don't worry, Alexia. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

  My lips are shaking with nerves but I give a shaky smile in thanks to his promise. He is so likable. Whoever he gets mated to him is so lucky. But I won't think about that right now.

  He unfurls his strong, unusually-striking wings in one elegant stretch, and in the blink of an eye, his feet are off the ground and he's gliding out in front of me. I just can't help being distracted by how perfect he looks suspended in midair. His wings are huge, easily stretching four feet long on each side. They're so strong, flapping slow strokes to keep him in one place. I give myself a shake to focus and snap out of it.

  “Alright, count to three for me; it's kind of my thing.”

  “Okay, just don't look down, focus and jump out towards me. Ready?”

  I nod. No!

  “One.” He pauses. “Two...Three!”

  And I jump. As soon as my feet have left the ground, and look down and see how far up we really are. I shouldn't have looked down, just like he said, but it's just second nature. Don't panic. I immediately panic and turn to try and grasp anything I can, which turns out to be nothing but air. Okay, time to panic. My heart's probably going to give out right now. It's beating so fast it's almost one continuous pump. I’m falling so fast, my eyes are watering and my hair is in my face. My cheeks are flapping and my lips are pulled away from my teeth, and for one hilarious moment, I can’t help but think how funny I look and hope he doesn’t see. Somehow though, I bring myself to focus and get as straight as I can. My arms are flailing, and I’m doing spins and rolls uncontrollably. This is extremely bad. Just as I'm about to close my eyes and grit my teeth in acceptance of an impending crash, I feel strong hands grab onto my waist.

  “Straighten out so I can release your wings!” he yells over the wind.

  I struggle against my impulse to curl into a ball and force myself to be as straight as a board. It pays off because he finally puts his hands on my back and a current explodes where he touches, traveling through my entire body. My back arches involuntarily. Oh gods, I’m on fire! My back feels like hot coals are sizzling on it. My skin splits apart and I scream in pain. I see something white and fluffy out of the corner of my eyes, but it takes a minute to
register that those are wings. Not black wings.

  “Grab onto me how I told you to! Hurry!” he orders.

  I fumble to grab onto him, because it's hard to turn around in the air. I try to at least three times and I put all my strength into it, but my wings keep catching the air, keeping me from it. He helps me by twisting my waist over so that I end up facing him. The second I grab him for dear life, he parachutes his wings up. We violently thrust up in the opposite direction that we were just falling, and I'm so jolted and confused, that I miss the fear showing in his eyes. I look down and the ground is only a few yards away. We're going to die! And I just got my wings! He's flapping his wings as fast as he can, looking around frantically. Every muscle in his body is straining, I can feel them strung taught below my touch. Defeated, he cusses and flips us over. Now he is on the bottom looking up at me with sad eyes. That's when we hit the ground.

  *~*~*~

  When I come to, we are lying there in a tangled mess, and I furiously try to catch my breath. I’m lying on top of him, and his chest is slowly rising, causing me to rise and fall with it. Miraculously, we are both alive and I’m not sure how it’s possible. I am so thankful for Shadow’s heroic stunt that my eyes tear up. He valiantly took the brunt of the fall, so that I wouldn't get hurt. I use all my strength to lean up and check on him. He has his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth gritted. I lean up on my arms to look him over for injuries but I don’t see anything wrong. No broken bones, no serious cuts. “Shadow? What’s wrong?”

  He groans. “My wings are a little roughed up, but I’m okay. Just-”, he groans again, “--hurts.”

  I roll off of him and squat next to him with shaky legs. I gently urge him onto his stomach so I can inspect his wings. There are black feathers scattered where he was lying and in a lot of places all around us. He’s bleeding in a few places too. His wings are in pretty bad shape, some of the feathers are mangled and there is a lot of blood. So much that I can't tell where exactly it's coming from. I feel extremely guilty, because if I would have been better at this, he wouldn’t be hurt right now.

  “I’m so sorry, Shadow,” my voice hitches.

  “What the hell...for?” he rasps. He looks deliberately at my new wings and beams that stunning smile. This amazing demon is happy for me despite his poor wings and all of his pain. His selflessness amazes me.

  “Look who has their wings.” His fingers graze my wing lightly and I can feel it as if it was my arm, yet it’s much more sensual. It feels like a lovers caress. I can’t help but sigh at the pure pleasure I get from his touch. My eyes are heavy but I try to stay focused on the fact that I have wings, and not how much I want to kiss him.

  Him and his really appealing lips.

  Soft-looking lips.

  His tongue slips out to wet them, making them even more tempting. Delectable boy.

  I lean forward.

  He leans forward.

  And my wings start flapping and thrust me backward onto my butt.

  His laugh echoes around us, bouncing off the rocks around the waterfall base.

  “I guess we should work on getting a feel for your wings. Your mind controls them, mostly. After some practice you'll understand what I mean. Until then your wings are going to do all sorts of crazy things on their own.”

  I hate that my wings picked such an inopportune moment to think for themselves. I'm so mad that I could rip them out right now. Why couldn't they have thrust me forward instead of backward?

  “Okay, so what should I think to get them to work right? Let’s try to fly.”

  He scratches his head, thinking. “I just think about the place where I want to go. For example, I look up and tell myself to go to the top of that waterfall, or to fly up a few feet, or even to just get in the air and fly around.”

  “Hmmm. Okay.” I tap my finger on my chin.

  “Just feel your wings connected to your body in the back of your mind. You’re their master, they listen to you. Know that, and command yourself to lift off the ground a little ways.”

  “Okay.” Lift off the ground a few feet, I think. Nothing happens. I try shutting my eyes and doing it. Lift. Off. The. Ground! Just a few feet! I add. I slowly open one eye and then the other, and look down at Shadow!

  “Awesome!” He grins. “Good job!” He laughs with happiness for me.

  “Oh my gods!” I exclaim. “What do I do now?”

  He flies up to join me and grabs my hand. “Let’s go for a fly shall we? Head up to the clouds?”

  He tugs me along before I can even tell myself where to fly to, but luckily my wings are flapping in sync with his. Maybe now they know that he’s where I want to be, so they follow him. Unlike earlier, I think maliciously.

  We soar through the sky gracefully, and he checks on me frequently. He asks me how I’m doing and if I need a break every few minutes. I shake my head every time because this is so amazing! I don’t want to ever come down, or put my wings away. We fly along in silence, lost to the beautiful environment here. The trees are lush with green leafs, reflecting the golden rays of the sun. There are vines hanging down all throughout the forest with pink and yellow flowers budding on them. The birds are singing and the sound of the water rushing through below is all music to my ears. I feel like I’m in a dream.

  He starts singing something softly in a language that I don't understand which must be the demon language. Even without understanding the words I'm transfixed by his voice. It's so melodic and beautiful, the most mesmerizing sound I have ever heard. It's haunting, really.

  “What are you singing?” I ask softly.

  “Just an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me, but it doesn’t sound near a beautiful as it did when she sang it.”

  “I think you sound amazing, I could listen to you all day and I don't even know what you're singing.”

  Abruptly, a deep, familiar voice speaks to me telepathically, “For you, I’d sing all day, Bayla.” I gasp at the shock of it.

  It's strange how much it sounds like Shadow. I have no idea what 'Bayla' means, but I quickly glance at him and he's already looking at me, questioningly. I don’t know if I should mention the crazy voice inside my head or not. So I just put on my best innocent smile. He raises an eyebrow at that and looks back to the scenery.

  Out of the blue, the air stirs next to me and Shadow roars in agony. I jerk my head to see what’s wrong and notice a red arrow sticking through his side! It hit him from the front of his ribs and came out the back. There's blood pouring out of him and I instantly panic. My mind is reeling in chaos and causes my wings to take me on a wild, uncontrollable ride. They're tipping me to each side crazily. Shadow grabs my hand and pulls me underneath him, saving me again. Always looking out for my safety and not his own.

  “It’s the Hell Horde, I don’t know what’s going on, but they shouldn’t be loose. Just be as still as you can and I’ll get us to cover!”

  “But you’re hurt! Are you okay?!” My wing sticks out sideways right in front of his face.

  He moves my feathers out of his face with his free hand and gently pushes my wing back behind him. “I’ll be fine, just be still. The more you move, the harder it is on me.”

  If that’s the case, then I'll be as still as a statue. I’m holding on to him as tight as I can and we are zooming through the air. Fast. This boy has some serious power. And that turns me on. But I can’t think about that right now with these unpredictable wings. Arrows keep whizzing by us, and he is dodging every one of them.

  “There’s a cave I know of that we’re going to hide in, almost....there.”

  I can tell that his strength is waning. Blood is seeping out of his side drenching me, which I don’t mind, but we really need to make it to that cave or we won’t make it back alive and no one will ever know the truth about the world outside the walls.

  I look around, frantically searching the woods for the evil Hell Horde. I see something dark, reddish-black, and really ugly, with two horns and a tail with a triangle sh
aped end. I can’t even tell if it has eyes because the eye socket is so black. It hides beside a tree and pulls back a glowing red arrow...

  “Look out! There's one to the right! Duck!” I shout.

  He doesn’t move fast enough and it pierces his wing.

  “Mmpph,” is all I hear from him.

  His eyes are glowing and blood is dripping off his fangs and out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Oh my gods, what can I do?” I'm panicking.

  “Don’t…know... Are we…losing them?”

  I look around and don’t see any, but we're going a lot slower. I find it hard to believe that we are losing them.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I lie. “Are we almost there?”

  “Yeah, it’s straight ahead...” He's really out of breath. He's wheezing now, and coughing up more blood. We're basically falling now, going down really fast, and headed straight for a waterfall.

  “Uh Shadow? Shadow!” I'm hysterical! All I do is point straight ahead at the waterfall over and over.

  “It’s...okay...” he rasps.

  I shut my eyes and scream just as we hit the water, and go through the water. I brace for impact against a rock wall but instead we hit a dirt floor and skid to a halt. Dirt fills my mouth and nostrils, and I cough and spit, gagging at the disgusting taste. The cave he was talking about! It’s behind the waterfall!

  It’s almost pitch black inside, but a little light filters in through the waterfall at the entrance. I can hear Shadow’s breath sawing in and out from wherever he lies. We must have separated after impact, each skidding different ways. I probably let go when we hit the ground because I know he once again took the brunt of our impact, protecting me. I search for him in the darkness and see two red eyes glowing few feet away.