Ariadne
She couldn’t believe how amazing it felt out on the water. The boat almost flew at times before hitting the water with a bounce. She wasn’t afraid at all. Instead, it thrilled her. For the first time since leaving her homeland, she experienced the same exhilaration as when running with the herd. Different in many ways though the experience may be, it still gave her the same beautiful sense of freedom.
“How long will this part of the journey take?” she asked.
“Why, do you feel sick?” Thalos turned a concerned face to her.
“No, I love it.” She felt that smile tug at her again. The truly open grin she had not been able to muster since losing her family and her home.
The moment she thought of them, of course, the deep ache was still there. But for now, being out on the sea, going so fast, meant she could focus on the excitement and not the sadness.
She knew she couldn’t outrun her grief, but maybe she could put it on the back burner for a day? For just a few hours. To let herself experience some respite from the terrible sadness that weighed her down more each day that passed.
“I love it out here too. The sea is my favorite place to be,” Thalos said.
His face looked boyish as he grinned at her. With the wind whipping his shoulder-length hair, and his toned, tanned body on display, she found herself struck once again by how handsome he was.
Back in the herd, there’d been a male she’d liked a few years ago. One feast day, they’d snuck off to have a secret kiss, but nothing more came of it. He’d been a boy with dark hair and flashing eyes. Very different from Thalos. And she didn’t want to think of him now because doing so brought back the sad feelings. He’d mated another female in the herd, and they’d had two young.
She shook her head and looked instead over the side of the boat at the water flashing by.
Soon, Thalos slowed down the boat and turned toward a sweeping bay. Looking at it from the deck, it seemed as if there were no other people on the beach. She thought he might take them right in, but he didn’t. He cut the engine and pulled something out of a box he opened in the side of the boat. She watched with interest as he threw it overboard and then started the engine again for a while, moving the vessel slowly back before turning it off and grabbing the line he’d thrown overboard. After a few moments, he seemed satisfied with what he’d done and turned to her with a smile.
“Do you want to swim?”
Yes, she did. Her swimsuit was under her clothes and she’d been swimming in his pool every day, but suddenly, with just the two of them in such close proximity of one another, she felt shy. Stupid, she scolded herself. A man as good-looking and wealthy as Thalos would never be interested in someone as plain as her. A female from such a simple life as she’d led wouldn’t entice a man like him.
For some reason, she thought back to her first few days in his home, when she’d eaten her food with her fingers. She flushed but then recalled he’d done the same until Marina took her to one side and showed her how to use her knife and fork. Then Thalos acted as if they’d been eating that way all along. It was…kind. As was this that he did for her today. He might not want her with him—her instincts during those first few days in his company told her as much—but he was a good male, and he treated her well while she was his guest. In recent days, he’d seem almost…fond of her at times.
Still, it didn’t matter to her what he thought because soon she would be leaving to go and live among a herd, possibly in America. She wouldn’t be able to be in horse form as much as she was used to, but at least she’d be able to change and run again.
Nothing about the way Thalos lived allowed for that. Even if she did find herself sometimes enjoying his company or admiring his looks, it was irrelevant. They were from totally different worlds.
“You going to swim in your shorts?” Thalos gave her a cheeky grin, and she realized she’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t taken her clothes off yet.
Turning away from him, she pushed her sandals off and stepped out of her shorts before pulling her T-shirt over her head. The swimsuit Marina had bought for her was brown and not too revealing, but she still felt half naked in it. Her people wore simple and modest clothes on the rare occasions they were in human form. But they also sometimes went naked if they were swimming in human form in the lake or using the showers. They weren’t ashamed of nudity and didn’t view the body as sexual. However, she knew other humans and shifters did.
Her people most definitely didn’t drape themselves in finery, though. They thought it sinful to adorn oneself and that only the gods should do such things. She’d learned from the Seer, and some from Marina, that other shifters didn’t believe this. They thought it was okay to wear nice things and own nice things, similar to humans. Some, like the wolfen, still lived very simple lives, but they allowed themselves a lot more pleasures than her people had.
Thalos, though. Wow, the guy liked the material things in life. And while she needed to get used to being a bit more materialistic perhaps, to fit in, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to live the way he did in that big house of his. Although, being by the sea would be lovely.
Facing him, she crossed her arms around her waist, realizing too late it made her cleavage swell. His eyes went there but didn’t linger. Instead, he lifted his gaze to her face and smiled. He held his hand out for hers.
“Ready?”
She let his large, warm hand engulf hers and tried not to cling to the safety she felt at his touch. “Ready for what?”
“Run and jump.” He nodded to the side of the boat.
“Is it safe?”
“Deep enough you won’t hit the bottom, trust me. And I know you can swim well.”
“Okay. Run and jump. Yes, let’s.”
He took off, pulling her along with him, and in three bounding steps, they were leaping and clearing the side of the boat. She screamed as she fell through the air, but the moment she plunged into icy water, the air was knocked from her lungs.
Her heart missed a couple of beats as the cold water engulfed her. For a moment, she struggled to move as the shock of the frigid sea made her slow to react.
Big arms came around her, pulling her against a solid chest. “It’s okay, just take a breath. I should have warned you how cold it can be.”
She took in a gulp of air and blew it slowly back out.
“Best way to get used to it is to swim.”
Thalos still held on to her, but he pushed her gently away from him. “You up for that?”
“Yes.” She nodded, paddling now, her legs working once again.
“We can swim to shore if you’d like. It gets warmer as it gets shallower. Lay out on the sand, and then swim back. It’s great.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
He began to swim toward the beach in front of them, and she followed along in his wake. After a while, she flipped over onto her back and used her arms to paddle toward the shoreline. Free! For the first time in a long time, she felt totally free. Thalos was right too. As they approached the shore, the water began to warm, until it took on the temperature of a tepid bath.
They reached a depth they could stand in, and as they clambered up onto the sand, water dripping from them, she began to laugh. “That was great. I loved it.”
“I love seeing you laugh.”
His words shocked her, and it seemed they shocked him too, as he clamped his mouth shut and looked away from her. He spent a long time seemingly studying the distant hills, and she wondered what to say or do.
Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she bent closer to see a starfish. She clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, I read about these during my schooling hours. A starfish.”
Thalos turned back to her and came to peer at it too. “Yep, you get a lot of them here. And when we swim back, we’ll take it a little slower, see if we spot any fish. Maybe we can come back here, and I’ll teach you to snorkel. It’s a way to view the sea life better.”
“I’d like that very much.”
They lay on the sand for a while, the sun beating down on her body and warming her. The fabric of her swimsuit stuck to her, and she pulled at it, her stomach too hot where the material clung.
“Is it uncomfortable?” he asked.
“It’s just hot against my skin. Maybe dark brown wasn’t the best color choice?” She laughed.
“Take it off.”
She sat up and shielded her eyes, looking at him in shock.
“Excuse me?”
“Take it off, and then you won’t be too hot.”
“No. That would be…inappropriate.” Not so much among her own herd. She wasn’t shy about nudity per se, but with this male? It would be very wrong.
“There’s nothing wrong with the naked body, Ariadne. For a herd that said they liked to live close to nature, you sure do seem a prudish bunch.”
She bristled at his criticism of her people. “We lived close to nature in our horse form. In our human form, we learned about the arts and mathematics and science. Or we worshiped the gods on our feast days. The Elders told us that adorning our human forms was wrong, as was taking pleasure in it. Those things were for the gods only. We were not prudish about nudity, but then, we didn’t see it as prurient. Only natural. Unlike many others.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
He propped himself up on one elbow and looked at her, his gaze sweeping over her body. “May I ask you a personal question?”
She nodded.
“Don’t your people believe in…making love? I mean, how do you… Erm, I mean… Do you have sex in horse form or something?”
She giggled at his silly question. “No, of course not. You know shifters aren’t supposed to do such a thing.”
Most shifters believed that having sex while in your animal forms could cause you to turn rogue, to let the animal spirit take over completely. Leaving you vulnerable to madness as you lost your human half to the darkness.
“Once mated, we were allowed to change into our human forms to procreate.”
“Procreate? Gods. Did you ever… Have you—”
“No. I had no mate, so of course not. Although…a young male I liked did kiss me once.” She flushed at the thought. And at the memory of the feelings it stirred in her. Feelings she was experiencing now, sitting on this beach with Thalos asking her questions that were inappropriate but gave her a certain thrill.
“Did you like it?” His voice had gone husky, and he watched her through half-closed lids.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You know, Ariadne. I don’t want to denigrate your people or your culture, but I do think they were wrong about some things. I don’t believe there’s anything wrong in taking pleasure in your body. In finding happiness in this life.”
“Have you taken pleasure in your body?” She asked the bold question with her heart hammering away.
“Yes, I have.” He looked out to sea, squinting against the bright sun. “Often, and with many women.”
Why did that hurt? He wasn’t anything to her and never would be.
“But I grew bored of it. In the end, it seemed…meaningless.”
“So, on the one hand, you tell me there’s nothing wrong with the pleasures of the flesh, but on the other, you say it grew meaningless.”
He shrugged one perfectly shaped, muscular shoulder. “I suppose there needs to be a balance, as with all things.”
“That’s pretty deep for you, Thalos.” She laughed and found she liked talking with him like this.
“Hey, I’m not just a pretty face, you know.” He poked her gently in the ribs.
He was, though. Pretty. Very much so. Or handsome, rather, as males were described. She wondered what it was like to possess such poise and beauty. To be confident in your own skin. Feeling emboldened by the sun and the out of the ordinary experience of being here on this beach with him, she asked, “What’s it like to be good-looking, Thalos?”
Once more, he gave that causal shrug. “Same for me as it is for you, I suppose.”
His words made no sense. “I don’t understand you.”
“I doubt it’s all that different between males and females. So, it’s probably a similar experience.”
Was he teasing her? Laughing at her expense? She knew she wasn’t remotely beautiful. None of her people was to those outside their herd; that’s what the Elders taught. They were a plain folk and proud of it.
“I know I’m not beautiful, Thalos. I’m…adequate. Unremarkable. All my people are.”
He pushed off from the elbow he still leaned on and sat up fully. “Are you shitting me?”
Not sure of the expression or its meaning, she crinkled her brow.
“You are far from adequate. You’re… Jesus. You’re stunning, Ariadne. Truly beautiful. Which, knowing you are of ancient—and possibly powerful—blood, is not surprising. You are bona fide royalty when it comes down to it.”
“Do you believe in them? The ancient gods and goddesses? I mean, Ayina does, right? And she says many shifters still worship various and different ancient gods. Not all Greek ones, of course. Some worship Celtic gods or Nordic ones. You must have met some in your time. Back in the days of the ancients. As a Centaur?”
He laughed and shook his head. “I met a few supposed minor gods and goddesses, but as I said to you before, I’m not sure they were what they claimed to be. As for the big names, the ones you probably worship, they’d already grown weary of us. Now, who knows? Do they play in the clouds and ignore us, or look down on us and watch? I only know one thing. Real or not, gods or merely magicians who pulled a great trick, they are part of this earth’s history now through their role in human myth. But as I say, were they even gods? Or were they like us? Powerful, preternatural beings that humans made into gods to explain them? I’m just not sure.”
“So, we might have been those ancient gods? Shifters and vampires?”
“Maybe. Wow, this is getting deep. I don’t know, or pretend to know. But what I do know is that there’s more to this earth and beyond than anyone can truly understand, and you and I are part of the proof of that.”
He stood suddenly, making her jump. “Come on, let us swim back. It’s growing hot.”
She got up and followed him to the water’s edge. Some insane impulse overtook her, making her want to do something daring, different. For years, she’d been told her human form was at best to be ignored, and at worst, bad. Thalos didn’t think so; he thought their human forms beautiful. He thought she was beautiful.
She wanted to be as free in the water here and now as she would be swimming in the lake on herd land. The bathing suit clung tightly to her, a cotton prison for her skin. She wanted to relish the feel of the water against her.
Trembling, she was so scared, she began to pull her shoulder straps down.
“Hey.” Thalos got ahold of her hand and stopped her. “What are you doing? You don’t have to do anything crazy. What I said back there wasn’t a come-on. I just don’t want you hating your body or the pleasure it can feel, which can be as simple as wearing silk or drinking wine. I wasn’t just referring to sex.”
She laughed then, a little bubble of hysteria rising up in her. “I’m not going to have sex with you, Thalos.”
Was that disappointment flashing across his face?
“But I want to feel the water on my skin. Will you turn around?”
He nodded and did as she asked. She pulled off her suit quickly and ran into the splashing waves. The sensation of water on her naked flesh was wonderful. It lapped against her, warm and inviting, and she quickly went deeper, not wanting Thalos to be able to see her nudity.
Splashing sounds behind her told her he followed. And soon he was next to her, swimming alongside. He waved his hand in the air, and she saw he held his swim shorts. He winked and said, “Race you back.”
She laughed and nodded. Not long later, she was out of breath and firmly in second place as they approached the boat. Now what? How did she climb out without showing him everything she had?
He came to a stop by the ladder and turned to her. “I’ll climb up and grab a towel. You can come up after me, and I swear I’ll close my eyes and hold it out to you.”
She nodded, and he pulled himself up onto the rope steps. The muscles along the backs of his arms bulged at the action, and she once more felt the strange sensations he stirred in her. A warming in her belly, a funny thing, as if her insides fizzed. Then lower, something deeper and darker and oh-so-inviting.
She knew she should avert her eyes, but she seemed to be sinning regularly. Might as well add one more to the list.
Mortified, she averted her gaze and waited. A few moments later, he reappeared, a towel around his waist and another in his hand. He held it aloft and closed his eyes. “Here. Climb up. I won’t look.”
She did as he said and began to climb the rope ladder, which wasn’t half as easy as he made it look. Once at the top, she stood to step onto the boat and tripped. With a cry, she fell forward, her ankle still on the rope ladder, catching on it and twisting painfully. She sprawled on the deck and looked up to see Thalos staring down at her.
Oh gods. She wasn’t covered. But his gaze didn’t linger on her in desire. Instead, only concern radiated in those green eyes of his. “You’re hurt.” He bent down. “Let me help you.”
With a gentleness that astonished her, he wrapped the towel around her and then pulled her to her feet, taking her weight against him. The fact that he covered her first told her he might not approve of the way her people lived, but he understood how she felt about being seen naked by someone outside of her herd.
It touched her deeply that he’d done that. He could have taken the chance to look at her. Even though she doubted him telling her she was beautiful. But curiosity alone would have most males staring at a naked female from the things she’d been told about the outside world.
“Thank you.” She pulled the towel around herself and held it tightly to her.
“Come and sit.” He led her to the bench running the length of the boat and helped her get comfortable. “Let me look.” He lifted her ankle and placed it on his thigh, his warm hands holding her foot as he twisted it gently one way and then the other.
She gasped as he moved it to the right. He frowned. “I think you’ve sprained it. We need to get you home and put some ice on it. Rest it for a day or two. It should get better soon, but you need to baby it for a while.”
Stupid tears threatened. How would she ever get used to spending most of her time in this body? In her equine form, she was free. Graceful and sure and her true self. In human form, she felt clumsy and oafish. Why did shifters want to spend so much time in this human form? It made no sense to her. She’d never make friends. Never find a mate. Who would want a female who couldn’t even walk without stumbling? A female who until a week ago ate with her fingers and didn’t know how to make a hot drink?
As the first tear fell onto her cheek, Thalos took hold of her chin and tipped her face up, forcing her to look at him. “What’s wrong, beautiful?”
His silly name for her only set her off more, and she began to sob. He let her get it out for a few moments before again asking her what was wrong. He passed her a small towel and motioned for her to wipe her face. “Sorry, no tissues. Come on, sweetheart. Talk to me. Does your foot hurt that bad?”
She laughed a little through her tears. “No, it’s not my foot. It’s me. I don’t know how I’ll ever fit in out there, among some herd that spends most of its time as human beings. I heard a lot of the American shifters live on huge ranches as some sort of big, extended family, and some only change once a month.” Her voice rose in indignation at the idea. “And even if I did want to fit in to such a world, I never would. I can’t walk without stumbling. I’m ungainly. Stupid. I know nothing of the world. I don’t even know how to do basic things like cook, never mind how to make friends, or how to…to p-p-p-p-please a male.”
His eyes flashed, and he rubbed his thumb across her chin, skimming her lower lip and sending lightning coursing through her veins. Why did his simple touch feel so good?
“You don’t have to learn how to please a male. He should please you.”
“That’s not what we are taught. The female should please the male when they meet to procreate.”
“Jesus Christ.” He sounded angry, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong.
“Baby, I don’t know what to say to you. Gods, if I had my way…”
He looked at her differently from how he had before. His eyes were dark, the green almost gone as his pupils expanded. She didn’t know what it meant, but it made her blood quicken. As if some ancient knowledge were awakening, her body reacted even when she didn’t know how or why.
Once more, he brushed his thumb over her. But this time, it passed over her lip, making her gasp. How could such a small part of her be so sensitive?
“I want to kiss you so badly. I shouldn’t. But the Seer knew I wasn’t an honorable male when she brought you to me. May I kiss you, Ariadne?”
She should say no. As he said, he wasn’t an honorable male. He’d been with many women. Committed a lot of sins. But she wanted to know if it would feel as good as the long-ago stolen kiss with the boy from her herd.
So scared that her breath came in little puffs, she nodded. He leaned in close, and the hand on her chin slid up her cheek and beyond to tangle in her hair. His other hand wrapped around her upper arm and pulled her into him. The moment his soft lips touched hers, she forgot to breathe.
At first, he kissed her gently, barely moving his lips, simply applying pressure as she got used to the taste and feel of him. Not wanting the distance that stretched between them, she arched her upper body into his, and he groaned. He pulled her harder into him until her breasts pressed against his chest, and he ran his tongue lightly over the seam of her mouth.
Purely on instinct, she opened her mouth for him and let him in. He swept his tongue inside, and the taste of him exploded within her. He lit a fuse in her, something elemental and so strong she didn’t know how to contain it.
Not sure of what she was doing, she let her own tongue tangle with his. She must have done it right because he groaned again, and the sound was one of satisfaction.
Her nipples peaked against the rough cloth of the towel, and the butterflies in her lower belly were back. But the deeper, darker feeling was back too. An ache at her very core she needed somehow to soothe. He broke off the kiss, but he wasn’t done with her. Instead, his lips moved to her neck where he placed small kisses across her skin up to her ear, and then back down to her collarbone. Oh gods in heaven, it felt good.
She shivered in delight as goose bumps broke out across her skin. The sensation at her core intensified until it became a demanding ache. Not sure what to do with it, she wriggled on the seat where she sat, pressing her thighs together.
“Shit.” He pulled away from her, his lips parted and glistening, and stared at her for a moment. “I’m sorry. I lost control. I shouldn’t have.”
Suddenly vulnerable again, she came crashing back down to earth. Did he stop because he didn’t want her? Did she want him to want her? She thought she did, which terrified her because it went against her better judgment. She should save this for a suitable mate. She doubted Thalos wanted to be anyone’s mate, and even if he did, the description of suitable certainly didn’t fit him.
“I’m sorry.” She blurted out the words before she could stop herself. “If I’m bad at it…that…what we just did. I’m sorry. I’ve never really done anything like this before.”
He laughed, harsh and a touch bitter, and the sound hurt her heart. “You’re not bad at it. Trust me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re a siren, not a shifter. I need to get us home.”
When he stood, she saw the distinct bulge in the front of his towel. Even though it was wrong, selfish, and so very naughty of her, she got a thrill to know she’d turned him on enough to make him like that. Because she’d studied biology, and she knew what that bulge meant. She understood the mechanics of having sex. How it worked and what went where. You put tab A into slot B. She just had no direct experience of it. And now that she’d had a taste, she wanted more.
And not just more of anyone. No, gods help her. She wanted more of Thalos. And she wanted him more than she’d craved anything in her entire life. Even more than the delicious chocolate he’d given her.
As he headed to the front of the boat, she bit her lip and looked out at the glistening ocean. No wonder their Elders lectured about giving in to the pleasures of the flesh. She’d only had the tiniest taste and already felt addicted.