Chapter Three
The next morning Harper woke to the sound of a heavy rain falling. She stayed under the covers. Now, even rain had a new shape and therefore more of an impact as it fell. The New Rain, as everyone still called it, came in big, fat drops that could fill your mouth in one splash if you had the urge to turn your face up to the sky. The same drop would fill your nostrils and threaten to drown you altogether if you didn’t run back in, and you had better, because there would still be water left over to fill your ears, flood your eyes and slick back your hair. All of this would happen in less than a breath and would be followed by drop after drop, each reproducing the same effect. No one walked in the rain anymore.
The huge, pouring drops outside meant that no one would be doing anything for the next couple of hours. Harper was emotionally exhausted from her trip through the sky and her was happy for the excuse to sleep and wriggled down under her army blanket. Every house had one - they had hung onto them after several trees broke apart old supply stores and one root system lifted an emergency bunker right out of the ground. While the canned food had burst open and the flares had no one left to signal, the blankets turned out to be a great find. The giant blobs of water falling from the sky cooled the air significantly and would have them all shivering in their beds if not for the scratchy, grey material each house had at the ready.
Harper let the sound of water rushing off her roof and cascading down to the ground like a gushing waterfall fill her ears. She thought of Marcus’ body out there in the forest. She wondered if Grey was still asleep or watching the rain like he almost always did.
Grey. Just his name was enough to make her smile. She turned onto her side and drew her knees up to her chest. Her eyelids got heavier and heavier with each breath as she reviewed her memory of Grey and all the beautiful details of his face.
Grey had soft, blonde hair that was always a bit of mess sitting on top of his head, and it always appeared to be truly sitting, as if it had collapsed from exhaustion on top of his head, that caught the sun as they walked together. He hated shoes nowadays and was almost always barefoot, his toes spread far apart. She was a little embarrassed by how much she liked his toes, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. They were strong and sturdy, they pushed him up trees as he climbed, held the sides of the trunk as well as any hand. How was it possible for a set of ten toes to be so muscular and so agile?
Of course, if Grey’s feet were beautiful, his hands were even more so. His hands were…
Almost without realizing it, Harper hand slid her own hand between her thighs. She wasn’t surprised to discover that the center of her body was completely wet and warm despite the cold air. She drew her fingers up along her secret slit and then back down again, loving the feel of the soft, delicate flesh slick with thoughts of her crush. She could just see him smiling, she his bare chest sweating as he worked in the sunlight to fix a neighbor’s door or bring up a lift.
She rolled onto her stomach and pressed her hands against herself, the rocked her hips up and down against the mattress. The friction she created was exquisite and she could feel a small, modest orgasm building. Almost as if it were waiting for a nod from her, it moved forward once she’d acknowledged it’s existence and then walked up to meet her, growing with each step.
“Grey… Grey,” she whispered to herself and imagined him calling her name, imagined his hot, naked body pressed against her own. The orgasm came and was small enough to be a bit frustrating. She let it pulse through her, then rolled over onto her back and looked at her ceiling. She was alone, surrounded by a violent rain and no longer interested in sleep.
She swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood to stretch, going up all the way onto her toes, then walked to the little shelf that she had pillaged from an old, broken house.
In the early days of setting up the village, she and her friend Blue used to go out with the raiding parties and see what they could find in the old buildings. Most of those little excursions had been purely social - no one had anything of much interest. But one house had possessed an impressive collection of novels and Harper had helped herself. She’d been told her whole life that all the novels had been destroyed as per the presidential family’s orders, but as she had learned so many times, a person could hide anything. At the sight of her bounty a few of the others got mad at her; they had just learned how to read and accused her of keeping all the good books to herself, but she just shrugged.
“Oh, stop your whining,” she’d admonished them. “You’re all welcome to borrow whatever you’d like to read once I’m done. Just bring me a different book and we’ll swap.” There were some final grumbles after that, but they left her alone after she offered to share. A few took her up on it, but most of them went on to build mini libraries of their own and got surprisingly territorial about their books.
She picked up the one she had been reading for the past few weeks. It was a decaying paperback called Black and White. It said on the back of the book that it was meant to be a thriller, but Harper found that she had no interest in the conflict of the plot. It was the world of the book that pulled her in. The story unfolded in a past era full of people who couldn’t even begin to imagine the ways their planet would evolve and change. The book referenced places that Harper had never heard of; names like Kansas and The Midwest made her head spin. What did those places look like? She was sure they had been achingly beautiful - everyone in the book seemed oddly devoted to the places they lived as if held their by forces beyond their control. Harper had no idea what such a thing felt like.
She got so engrossed in her book, trying to imagine a farmhouse or a well, that when the rain came to a stop she almost didn’t notice. It was her grumbling stomach that snapped her out of her quiet moment.
Peeking out her window to make sure she wouldn’t be knocked to the ground by a rain drop, she saw that several pieces of delicious fruit had tumbled onto her porch. She quickly scooped it up and chopped it and then threw on some nuts. She was about to take a bite when her lift bells jingled. Someone needed a ride.
Harper quickly got to work pulling her visitor up and tried to get a look at who was coming to see her. She hoped it was her love, her beautiful Grey, but she had a feeling he was out checking around the village for any roofs that needed patching or railings that needed a repair. Maybe he had come to see her first? Yes, that was possible.
The sight of a head covered in dark hair made her hopes fall. They fell a little further when she saw that it was Alex, a human who was an active member in the Alliance. What did he want?
She decided to skin any pleasantries. “What are you doing here, Alex?”
“Well, it’s nice to see you, too.” He smiled at her as if they were sharing some private joke, but Harper did not return it. Alex had briefly been her hero, but since helping her escape her self-imposed captivity a few years ago, he had done nothing but let her down. She just hoped he wouldn’t stay long - she didn’t want neighbors seeing her with him.
Harper crossed her arms and leaned against her door frame. “You gonna tell me what this is about or not?”
“Wow. I didn’t know you were such a serious lady. I’m just here on a friendly visit. Don’t see why that’s a problem.” He touched her as he finished the phrase and she shot his hand a glare of hate. Every time he touched her the part of her skin that he came into contact with was ice cold for the next several days. She hated it.
“Come on, Harper,” he tried again. “Why can’t I just come and hang out with a friend?”
“Because,” she said, standing straight up, “we’re not friends. We haven’t been for a long time. And,” she paused, noticing some neighboring shifters moving out onto their porches, “you only come around when you want something. Well, let me save you the effort. I can’t help you. I don’t want to help you. Even if I had some thing of use, I wouldn’t share it with you. Now, if you’ll just get back on the lift I’ll lower you down-”
“I don’t need anything from you. I came to invite you to live with The Alliance again.”
She rolled her eyes and started to argue with him, but he stopped her.
“Harper,” he said, a hand held up to silence her, “there is a murderer on the loose. That boy did not have an accident. He was killed because he was in the way and I’m worried you could be next.”
“Get out of here.”
“Oh, come on!” He let go of all of his friendly, smiling pretense and the perpetually frustrated face she was used to seeing on him returned. “Why doesn’t anyone listen to me anymore? The Alliance is trying to help everyone and we get treated like criminals.”
“Then break up The Alliance. It’s that simple,” she informed him and turned to go back inside her house. His big, cold hand covered hers and stopped her before she could open it.
“We’re on your side, Harper. We don’t like what we’re hearing about this plan to keep Grey away from you at all costs. Just because you’re not a full shifter-”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He pulled back, leaned against the wet rail of the patio and raised his eyebrows at her. Now she wanted to talk. She waited.
“Well,” he started, slowly, making sure he had her full attention, “it appears that not a lot of people think you and Mr. Grey shouldn’t be together. He’s always been such a pillar of the shifter community and with you being the daughter of the former president, well…”
Harper closed her eyes a moment. Hadn’t she tried to tell Grey over and over that there was a real effort happening to keep them apart? And how many times had he laughed at her, told her she was imagining things? She shook her head and let the long incisor teeth in her jaw touch at the tips, then slid them back and forth, listening to the soft, sharp sound they made. What was wrong with everyone?
“Just shifters or humans, too?”
“Sorry?” Alex raised his eyebrows again. She took a slow breath.
“I’m asking,” she explained, “if only shifters are against us having a relationship or is the humans as well?”
“The human opinion is split. A lot of them think it’s a bad idea but you have some people on your side. The problem is that you have no label; you’re not quite a member of either group. No one’s quite sure what to make of that. After all, what would happen if the two of you had a baby?”
“What?” Harper’s mouth fell open. “Why is that anyone’s business?”
He shrugged. “You know how small the community has gotten. Everything is everyone’s business nowadays.”
Harper found herself unable to speak. She looked at the space around her and suddenly saw how unfamiliar it all looked. Where was her big, beautiful bed? Her glowing vanity? Her servants and messengers waiting on at every corner to take an order from her? How on earth had she ended up in this ramshackle tree house eating bugs?
“Hey,” Alex said in a low voice, “I’m sorry to have to play messenger. I thought you already knew.”
“No,” she said flatly. “No, I… I didn’t quite realize. Well,” she straightened up, looked Alex square in the eye, “if no one approves of me I can tell you right now that being seen with you will only make things worse. Please go.”
“But I can help.”
“I highly doubt that. Now leave. Please.”
She went back in her house and shut the door behind her. She slid the wooden beam that served as her lock across the door so that Alex couldn’t push it open, though she knew he could easily climb in a window if he was truly determined. No protests or shouts came from outside. Alex had fallen silent.
She waited near the door until her feet hurt from standing, then she moved back to her little reading corner. Along the way, she shuttered up her windows. She didn’t slam them, but she locked them up all the same. There. Now he was completely locked out.
Harper did her best to relax and read, but the occasional squeak or creak from her porch kept her looking up from the page. Darn that Alex. She couldn’t believe she had ever considered him her friend. He was a menace who knew what power tasted like and now he was beyond dangerous. And what was that about her having what he needed?
She slammed her book closed and stood up to give that meddling boy a taste of her frustration when a soft, shushing sound stopped her mid-step. Something had just come from below the door.
Bending down to take a closer look, she found it was a note left for her by Alex. It read:
“I’m not the enemy. However, you do have people out for you. Be careful. I want you to know that the alliance is not responsible for that little boy’s death. We’re hoping to help everyone heal but we need your help. You can be as much of a leader as Grey. Why give him all the glory?
We’ll be at the old square tomorrow morning. Early. Hope to see you there.”
A knock made her jump and forget the note in her hands. What was with her lately? She was normally a fairly relaxed person. Now everything was startling her.
“Hello? I’m looking for a beautiful young woman. Strapping and handsome young man seeks mate. Any takers?”
She smiled and quickly opened the door to find Grey standing and leaning in the frame. His smiling face hit her like a breath of fresh air - it was what she’d needed to see all day.
“There you are.” He stepped in and pulled her into his arms. She was so relieved to feel them wrap around her that she just melted into his embrace for a while. His arms seemed to be filled with so much relief and peace that she wasn’t sure she wanted him to ever let her go.
“Why is everything all locked up?” he whispered into her ear.
“Because I don’t want anyone to see us.”
He pulled back and raised his eyebrows at her. “Why not? You have something planned?”
She nodded and gestured to the door with her chin. “Lock that up for me, will you?”
He stepped away to gently shut the door and shadows fell over the two of them. Shuttered safely in the dark treehouse, they kissed in the middle of the room. Harper let her hands massage Grey’s shoulders and neck as she pressed her lips against his, unable to get enough of his taste or smell. She needed all of him and she needed him urgently.
“Grey,” she whispered as he kissed her neck. She tilted her head back to give him full access. “Take my dress off.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. He knelt down in front of her and gathered her hem in his hands, then lifted her thin, flowery dress up over her head. She raised her arms to help him and he tossed it aside on a chair. Underneath there was nothing. The heat had helped everyone get a lot less prudish about things like bras and underwear and now none of the females wore them. He slipped his arms around her naked waist and pulled her close, putting his nose to her neck and then her shoulder.
He hunched down low so that he could kiss her breasts, then sucked one of her nipples. She ran her fingers through his hair as he did, loving the way his lips on her nipples made her feel. It was something more than arousal; there was a powerful, sexual being that his non-verbal worship brought out in her. She felt it stir and stand with her. It made her decisive. It was time. Time to be with Grey. Time to let go of her virginity. Time to find a space for just the two of them and shut out the rest of the world.
She pulled his hand to guide him to the bed and sat down in front of him. She untied the cord that held up his pants and smiled at him.
“Grey,” she said, “do you know that I’m absolutely crazy about you?”
He nodded. “I’m insane for you. Always have been.”
“You know that I trust you? Truly trust you?”
He hesitated at the question, then nodded. Yes. He’d always known that.
His pants fell to the floor and he pulled off his shirt. She stopped him so that she could look at his erection for a moment. It was tall and pink. For some reason it frightened her a little, even though it was nothing more than an appendage. She reached out to touch it, then pulled her hand back.
“You alright?”
“Yeah. I just… I’ve never seen one before.”
He took her hand and guided it to his tall shaft, gently placed it there and then loosely wrapped her fingers around its width. “Nothing to be scared of. I’ll tell you if anything doesn’t feel good or if I need you to do something. Okay?”
She let her hand close a little more and he groaned, leaning down to put his head against hers. She slid her hand up to the top, still uncertain what she was doing and touched the round, oddly shaped head. He let out a little cry and she looked up, startled.
“Does that feel good?”
“Very.”
He kissed her again and pushed her down to the bed, moving her hand aside. They lie next to one another, naked and warm and comfortable and just touched one another all over with their hands.
Grey’s body was endlessly fascinating to Harper. He climbed and did physical work everyday, so his muscles were highly defined and rippled under his clear, brown skin. Back when he’d worked for her father, he had always looked a bit underfed and pale, but his new diet had given him a rosy glow and helped him flesh out a bit. She kneeled above him and let him explore her body while she smiled down at him.
“You are so beautiful, Harper Bachmann. I hope you know that.”
She smiled and felt herself blush. She always felt a little silly worrying about her appearance, but she did want to be beautiful. At least, she wanted Grey to find her lovely to look at.
His hands travelled down to her hips and then back to her butt. He used both to give her rear end a double spanking and she cried out and fell forward with the force of it. She found herself hovering above him, her hair hanging down to his face. Suddenly, she felt a strange urgency. She needed him inside of her right away.
He read the expression on her face and lifted his hips up to meet hers. She felt him slide inside her and pushed her hips down to take him into her. The pressure and heat that came with the penetration filled her whole body and made her tremble. She tried to say something but her words came out as odd little sounds that made no sense.
Grey seemed to understand and took her into his arms again. They rolled so that he took her place on top and he gently, slowly moved in and out of her. He kissed her over and over, whispered his love to her as he moved back and forth. She wrapped her legs around his hips so that she could open up to him completely. For a moment she felt a terrible pain and cried out, but she didn’t want to stop. She held him inside her and squeezed her eyes shut and told herself that a little pain was worth this experience. It listened and the pain subsided.
As he moved, Grey started to breathe faster and tension built in his legs. He straightened out and then convulsed against her. She felt a heat inside her and realized that he had just come. She wondered if maybe his sperm would make her feel ill or if it would burn her, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Perhaps she could crouch down and make it drain out? No, that didn’t seem right.
He distracted her from her worries when he collapsed against her. She held him as he went soft inside her and then slipped out. She focused on the way the sperm felt and tried see if she could sense where it was going, what it was up to. It was easy at first, but the little organisms travelled deep into her until she couldn’t feel them anymore.
Grey stood up to get a drink of water and looked down at the bed.
“Oh. Honey, we uh, we better clean that.”
She looked down and found that there was a blood stain on the mattress. “Oh. Is that… Do you think that’s from my, you know.”
“Your maidenhead? Your virtue?” The two of them laughed at the old-fashioned words. She knew the blood had come from the moment her hymen broke, but for some reason she couldn’t just say it. She was such a child.
“Let me get you some water and a rag.” He wandered off, his naked behind staring at her. She watched it and was suddenly struck by a strange thought.
“I don’t get to call myself a virgin anymore.” The idea of losing part of her identity as a young woman struck her deeply. She’d been the last of her female friends to experience lovemaking and hadn’t realized that she would miss that innocence once it was gone. But she did.
“Good. No one needs you to be a virgin anymore. They need you to be a woman.” The new thought seemed to possess a different, inner voice. It was stronger and seemed to come from a deeper place. She thought of all the people she knew in the community, of the dead little boy, the association who wanted her to be their new accessory. She suddenly realized that all of those scenarios were things she could choose to take part in or to leave behind. No one could force her to do anything she didn’t want to do or stop her from taking action if she deemed it necessary.
This new discovery made her smile a little to herself as she waited for her lover to bring her some collected rain water. He returned looking very smug and sweet at the same time. They gave each other a little clink of their bamboo cups and then drank deeply, both of them tired and thirsty.
“Can I get cleaned up here?” Grey asked her. “I need to go and visit my dad.”
“You can,” she said, putting her cup on the floor. “But not just yet.” She took his cup away and poured what was left down the front of her body and then gestured for him to come and lick it all up.