Hunter's Choice (15 page)

Jessamine

Waking the next morning with Hunter wrapped around me
protectively was the most incredible sensation I have ever felt in my life. I
stared at him unabashedly while he slept on oblivious, memorizing the lines of
his face, the planes and angles made softer by sleep. I traced the arch of his
eyebrow, long the sharp edge of his cheekbone. He stirred and I stopped until
he settled once more before I continued my exploration fingertips tracing down
the long straight bridge of his nose. I lifted my fingers and traced the curve
of his jaw which was just square enough to keep him from looking too feminine.
His full lips quirked up and I smiled.

“Are you enjoying yourself love?” he asked, his eyes still
closed.

I pushed myself up and forward and pressed my lips to his.
We kissed languorously for a time and I drew back.

“Mmmm, I love the way you taste.” He murmured, his eyes
flicked open and he smiled at me.

“I l-l-love the w-w-way y-you l-look at m-mm-me.” I forced
out.

“What way is that?” he asked tipping his head to the side.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out
slowly.

“L-l-like y-you adore m-m-me.” I said and opened my eyes.

“Oh but I do.” He said softly, he kissed my lips.

“I adore your smile.” He kissed my cheeks and my nose.

“I adore your freckles.” I laughed. Truth was I liked them
too. Most people hated them but not me, I thought they fit me perfectly.

“I adore your laugh.” He smiled and turned us so I lay on my
back.

“What I really adore is that sound you make when I make you
come.” He smiled a slow lascivious grin that made my breath catch in my throat.
He lowered himself on top of me, his mouth descending to my own agonizingly
slow. He kissed me, taking his time, tasting me, sucking on my lips and tongue
like I was a piece of his favorite candy.

My whole body tingled, my hands cupped his face, smoothing
over the light stubble there before travelling down the sides of his neck, over
his shoulders. I loved the feel of him beneath my hands. The hard planes and
ridges of muscle beneath the silky smoothness of his skin. I groaned as his
hands traveled over my body, following the inward curve of my ribs and out
again over the swell of my hip.

“My brethren need to be cared for…” He murmured, lips
against my shoulder. I groaned and laughed a little which turned into a gasp
when he fit himself inside of me.

“…so I am going to make this much quicker than I’d like.” He
breathed into my ear. My body ignited, his words a matchstick to start the
flame. I arched beneath him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He drew
in a long steady breath and stared me in the eyes.

I had never felt such an intense connection with anyone
before, not even Josh. It was like a fine electrical current every time we
touched and I couldn’t get enough. I wrapped my legs around Hunter’s lean hips
and held him against me.

I never wanted to let him go.

Hunter kissed me and I drowned in him completely, I couldn’t
fathom any place I would rather be than right here, in his arms.

Hunter

I straightened and wiped the sweat from my brow. The fallen
tree was no more. Now neatly stacked against her house and ready for Jess to
use for firewood.

I missed her greatly while she was away at work. Aaron would
come before she came home, and Charlie was typically around. Today though, I
was alone. Dave and Margie had returned to Arizona four days ago and though
Jess missed them, she was happy.

I was happy, in fact, I could not remember a time that I was
ever more at peace with my life. Jess endeavored to speak more when it was just
she and I and though she didn’t, I noticed marked improvement in her speech.

She and Aaron worked daily on a presentation for the
upcoming bird festival, but tonight… tonight was of paramount concern. Tonight
I would call upon my father’s uncle for some sort of resolution to Jess and I’s
difference in aging.

I closed my eyes and let the moist spring air cool my heated
skin. I was waiting for Jess to come home. She would be here at any moment and
truthfully, I liked to keep as busy as possible while she was away. It made the
time seem to go by faster. I heard her truck crunch across the fresh gravel I
had lain on the drive after filling the potholes and washouts. She pulled up
outside the house’s garage and I strode across the drive to get her door.

“Mmm!” She made an appreciative noise as she slid to the
ground. I laughed. I had taken my sweat soaked shirt off some time ago.

“Miss me love?” I asked.

“Alw-ways.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and smiled.

“Shall we take care of your charges and have some supper?” I
asked, looking her over. She looked tired but excited. She nodded and we went
to the barn hand in hand. We moved about the space independent of one another
as I asked about her day. I loved hearing about what she’d done but I loved
more watching her move about the cages and enclosures, nursing her charges back
to health.

Two days ago we had released a spotted owl out near where
he’d been found. Upon returning to the house, Jess had gone into a corner at
the back of the barn and had carefully burned the owl’s name into a wooden
leaf. She had given it to me to hang upon a hook set on one of the many
branches of the tree burnt into the back wall.

I had stood back and marveled at it and asked her how long
she’d had it there. She had told me since the beginning. The tree was beginning
to flourish, and so I had asked her how long she’d been rescuing owls. She’d
told me she was nine when she and her Uncle had found their first rescue, but
that Moonchild Owl Haven hadn’t come to pass until she was around thirteen.
Almost twenty years since she had begun this labor of love if my math was
correct.

With the owls fed, and feeder rodents fed and watered, cages
clean, we retired to the house. I reheated left over food from the night before
while Jess showered and dressed. We were both uncharacteristically quiet
tonight. I reached out and took Jessamine’s hand in mine. She looked me in the
eyes and smiled but I could see she was nervous. Truth was, I was too. It had
been a very long time since I had spoken with any of my family. I wasn’t sure
how well received I would be.

We did the dishes together and waited for fullest dark,
curled together on the couch.

“What are you thinking?” I asked her.

“Wh-what if th-th-this doesn’t w-work?” she asked.

“You mean what if he doesn’t come?” I asked.

“No, wh-what if h-he doesn’t w-want to h-h-help?” she chewed
her lower lip.

“I don’t know love. It doesn’t mean I stop looking for a
solution. I want a mortal life, a normal life, with you.” I rested my forehead
against hers and closed my eyes.

“Y-you’re sure?” she asked quietly and I smiled.

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life love.” It
was true too, but she seemed troubled by my answer.

“Y-you don-n’t thin-nk we’re rushing a little h-h-ead long
in-n-nto th-this?” she asked me and I raised my eyebrows in amusement.

“It may feel that way to you love, but no. I think for me
this has been a long time coming.” I sighed and thought about it a little.
Jessamine was human and as such limited in her experiences. I wasn’t sure how
to tell her that a mortal life span wasn’t the end. That after life there was
Annwn, what the Irish called Mag Mell and the Christians called Heaven.

I remained quiescent, silent on the topic, waiting for her
to speak. Her troubled look remained but finally she rested her head on my
shoulder and closed her eyes. A fine wrinkle of worry between her brows.

“What is it?” I asked softly.

“I love you,” she said suddenly, without one tremor or iota
of doubt staining her voice.

“I-I’m afraid th-that you’ll get bored of m-m-me and
regret…” her eyes misted with tears.

“Do you trust me?” I asked gently.

“You kn-n-ow I do.” She let out a gusty sigh.

“Jessamine, I love you too, strongly. I would never regret a
life spent with you.” I kissed her temple.

“Y-you say th-th-that now…” she said and I placed a finger
against her lips.

“Is this about me or about Josh?” I asked gently and she
frowned.

She had told me of her last romantic endeavor, and how it
had ended. It was my firm opinion that this Josh character was a Prat, and I
had told her as much, many times over.

She frowned. I could see her thinking about it, finally her
expression smoothed out in realization.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. I smiled wryly.

“It’s all right. Some scars run deeper than what is seen on
the surface.” I reminded her. She nodded and looked up to the clock, her
resolve had been shored up it would seem and I was glad of it.

I got up and held out my hand to her, she took it and I
helped her up. I had told her to dress warmly. We may be outside for a bit. She
had done what I asked yet as I helped her into her rugged new jacket I worried
it would not be enough. Gwydion was notoriously fickle when it came to answering
a summons or call.

We left the house, Jessamine carrying a camping lantern, and
made for the edge of the wood. She was a mile or more from any neighbors and a
good quarter mile or more from the highway which was set on the hill side above
us. I nodded at her and she lit the lantern so that she may see where she was
going.

The lantern hissed to life, emitting a light that glowed
with the force of a captive star. I raised a hand to shield my eyes, rather impressed.
We hiked into the wood together, hand in hand. It was much slower going than if
I could fly it but I wanted Jess with me and truth be told, I don’t think I
would have been able to convince her to stay behind even if I’d needed her to.

We went on, boots slipping on moss covered logs, scrambling
over moss covered rocks, the smell of loam thick in the moist air until we
reached a suitable clearing. I shrugged out of my pack and she out of hers. She
set her lantern upon the ground and dug into the soft earth with her hands to
make enough of a depression to get a fire going.

I brought out some dry wood from my pack and we set to work
getting one started. As soon as it was lit I took her hand in mine and cleared
my thoughts. I nodded and she stooped, turning out the lantern, plunging us
into semi-darkness.

Jessamine

I had no idea what to expect. I stood by the fire with
Hunter, my left hand in his right as we both stared into the weak flames of our
fire. He reached into his pocket and threw a handful of dried herbs onto the
flickering wood. Moments later a pungent but not unpleasant smoke roiled out.
He spoke in a language I did not recognize. His voice even and clear, the words
almost musical to the ear. I would call it a chant, but the words, though I did
not know them, didn’t seem to repeat.

I sniffed quietly, my nose running out here. It was a chilly
early spring night made worse by the pervading damp. I felt as if my coat did
me little good and my jeans felt like they clung to my legs. I tried not to
shiver though I was on the edge, the fire gave off more light than heat out
here. I was tired after my long day but resolute to see this through with him.

I’d asked Hunter once, what his Uncle Gwydion looked like
and he’d shrugged, told me it depended on which form he took. I’d asked how
many forms he had and he’d looked thoughtful and told me five that he knew of,
but that he’d seen Gwydion as a myriad of different ages throughout his
lifetime. It was why he’d thought of his father’s uncle when it came to our
particular problem. He figured if Gwydion could do it, then perhaps he could
too.

Hunter’s voice ceased its praying and I studied his profile
in the near dark. His lips were pressed into a grim line and his eyes seemed
far away. He shook himself, shivering as an owl would drying its feathers and
turned his head to look at me. His owl eyes staring at me from his human face.
I smiled despite how disconcerting it was and squeezed his hand.

“Wh-wh-what n-n-now?” I whispered, unsure if I should even
speak.

“Now, we wait.” He drew me close against his side and looked
around. He pulled a couple of old towels out of his pack and put them down on
the ground against a fallen log, close to the fire. He added some wood and
motioned for me to sit. We sat together, huddled in the dark, listening to the
forest sounds and waited in silence.

I don’t know how much time elapsed. In fact, at one point I
think I may have dozed off, snug against Hunter’s side because the next thing I
knew he was nudging me, a gentle prod against my side. My head snapped up and I
looked across the fire, blinking to make certain what I was seeing was real.

A large stag stepped out of the wood across the fire from
us, but it wasn’t the right color. Rather than the tan and white it should have
been, this majestic buck was covered in what appeared to be thick sable black
fur. Hunter and I scrambled to our feet.

“Gwydion.” Hunter’s voice was deep with an unidentified
emotion as he greeted the stag. The stag’s image blurred and I tucked myself
close into Hunter’s side, holding my breath, unsure of what I was going to see.

I blinked several times. This was certainly not what I had
expected at all!

Standing before us was a young man. He was taller than me
but not as tall as Hunter and painfully thin. He wore a long sleeved black coat
that fit close to his body across the shoulders, chest and back but flared out
at the waist. Silver buttons adorned the front on either side of his trim chest
and the coat dusted the ground behind his black booted feet. The leather of his
boots looked supple, climbing to his knees, silver buckles that matched the
buttons on his coat gleaming along the outsides.

My eyes swept up over the boots and along his pants, which
fit close to his rail thin legs and were also black. His belt buckle, a dark
pewter, was a Celtic knot work disc and seemed at odds with the rest of the
metal adorning his clothes as a result. He wore a black sweater beneath the
coat, and it too clung to his narrow chest. It looked soft, the loose neckline
hanging scarf like at his throat.

He had a narrow chin, his cheeks drawn beneath sharp, high
cheekbones. His nose was straight and perfect, set over a pair of almost too familiar
full lips. His skin was ghostly pale, and had there been a moon I would say
that it glowed with its light. His hair was as inky black as his clothes. Short
in back and longer in front, it was parted on the side and a swath of it nearly
covered one eye. His eyes were startling, as ghostly silver as the buttons on
his coat, and I flushed realizing that as intently as I studied him, he was
studying me right back, a most peculiar expression on his face.

“
Heliwr, son of my nephew, why have you called
me? What’s more, who is this?” he asked. Hunter palmed the back of his neck and
looked decidedly uncomfortable. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged
him but I didn’t take my eyes off of Gwydion, who was now squatting in front of
our fire, long fingered hands outstretched to the flames. His eyes were still
upon us cool and assessing when Hunter found his voice.

“This is Jessamine.” He said finally and the
way he said it made it sound as if that should explain everything.

“P-p-p-pleased t-t-t-to m-mm-mm-meet you.” I
forced out in an effort to be polite. Those cool grey eyes fell upon my face
and roved me from head to toe as if I’ done something peculiar.

“Intriguing,” he said finally, then asked,
“Why have you called me?” I felt dismissed as if I were a trifle and nothing
more but it was something I was used to, to some degree, so I didn’t let it
bother me. Most people heard the speech impediment and dismissed me as stupid.
It’s why I chose to write it rather than speak it most of the time. Hunter was
frowning.

“I’ve called you because I need your help.”
Hunter admitted.

“Oh?” Gwydion’s eyes sparkled with mirth and
he stood with a smooth liquid grace that made me blink.

“I need to know how I might age.” Hunter said
through gritted teeth and Gwydion’s eyes flicked back to mine, his lips
spreading in a cold and predatory smile.

“D-d-don’t.” I said taking a step away from
Hunter. Gwydion’s dark eyebrows went up and he cocked his head to the side. I
swallowed hard.

“P-p-please, d-d-don’t p-p-lay with h-him.” I
begged.

“Heliwr, what
is
this creature trying
to say?” Gwydion asked.

“Don’t. Not her, not ever.” Hunter’s
expression turned dark and he pulled me back against him, I went willingly.
Gwydion stilled and he considered us.

“You love her.” It wasn’t a question so Hunter
didn’t answer it. A long silence ensued.

“You called, I came. I cannot remember a time
you called me boy, so despite being in the middle of something, here I am. What
is it you want Heliwr? No games, just ask.” He barely looked nineteen to
Hunter’s thirty, so to have him call Hunter ‘boy’ looked horribly out of place
and was almost too funny. I kept the observation to myself and reminded myself
what
it was versus
who
it was in front of me.

“I want to live a mortal life span with
Jessamine. Age as she does… I’ve never asked you or anyone else in the family
for anything.” Hunter looked down at me and swallowed, “I’m asking now. How do
I do it?”

“Did my nephew teach you nothing?” Gwydion
asked, wrinkling his nose.

“You know he didn’t.” Hunter sighed and it was
a weighted thing, full of deep sorrow. Gwydion sighed and it was an echo of
Hunter’s.

“Girl, come here.” Gwydion said at last after
another pregnant pause. I took a step forward but Hunter’s hold on me
tightened.

“I mean her no harm Heliwr, you’ve just
surprised me. All this time and not once have you asked for anything of this
nature. Why now? Why
this
one?” Gwydion stepped around the fire towards
us when he realized that Hunter had no intention of letting me go to him. I
remained still in my beloved’s arms and waited for him to give me an indication
of what he wanted.

“She’s amazing.” Hunter answered simply, as if
that should explain it all.

“How so?” Gwydion pressed, and so Hunter told
him everything. How we met… both times, and how he couldn’t
not
love me.
Gwydion looked me over and by the end of Hunter’s story was nodding absently.

“This is truly what you wish then?” he asked
after.

“Yes. With everything that I am, it is what I
wish.” Hunter answered. Gwydion sighed.

“I both can and cannot help you.” Gwydion said
at last. He reached out and trailed cool fingertips down my cheek. I held
still, not sure what he was playing at.

“What does that mean?” Hunter asked, jerking
me back out of Gwydion’s reach.

“While it is true, I am a sorcerer, I have no
power over life and death and the
natural
order of things, my magic is
chaotic in nature, so I cannot help you. However, I know who
does
have
the power over life and death to be able to do as you ask, and I will go to
him.” He looked over my head at his great-nephew.

“Arawn.” Hunter said tonelessly.

“Arawn.” Gwydion confirmed.

Both of them were serious and both of them
seemed seriously resigned. I craned my neck back and looked at Hunter, letting
the question show in my eyes.

“Honestly Heliwr have you told her nothing?”
Gwydion crossed his arms over his narrow chest.

“I’ve told her of you, father and mother…” he
trailed off.

“Arawn is god of our underworld.” Gwydion said
to me and I nodded. He threw up his hands.

“She doesn’t get it.” He put his hands on his
hips.

“Of course not! How is she supposed to know
when no one has ever explained it?” Hunter snapped.

“Temper, temper.” Gwydion warned in a sing
song voice. I huffed out an exasperated sigh.

“Y-y-y-you, st-st-stop being a dick!” I
pointed at Gwydion.

“Y-y-you st-st-start explaining!” I was tired,
it was late and we were talking in riddles and circles and it wasn’t getting us
anywhere. Gwydion looked highly amused and Hunter looked both grim and put out.

“Arawn is...” Hunter searched for the words.

“Arawn is weak, all but forgotten. A god gets
their power from those that follow them, the more that people remember them,
the more power they hold onto. With as little power as Arawn has left, being
all but forgotten, it is very likely that even
he
cannot help with this
matter.” Gwydion explained forthrightly, then muttered as an afterthought,
“Dick indeed.”

My heart sank. Gwydion considered us both.

“I like her honesty.” He said to Hunter.

“I do too.”

“I will go, ask for you… Is there anything
else?” he raised eyebrows and Hunter fired off in rapid Welsh. Gwydion
responded and I looked back and forth between the two.

“It is a simple enough thing Heliwr.” The
younger looking man sniffed.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Gwydion looked at me then and leaned forward
until our noses were almost touching, capturing my eyes with his. I heard his
voice but I swear his lips never moved.

“You make him happy. Continue to do so and I
will help you but don’t you
ever
call me a dick again. Read the legends
and heed them well.” He drew back and I blinked, cringing, huddling back into
Hunter who frowned.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

“She and I have an understanding I think.”
Gwydion said, eyes on me. I nodded a little too rapidly.

“Excellent. I will see you both on the dark of
the next moon, if not before.” He gave us a ghost of a half-smile and put his
hands behind his back, bending at the knee he leapt, form blurring before
taking the form of a raven and winging into the night. I let out a breath I
hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“What did he tell you?” Hunter demanded frowning,
not trusting my voice, I pulled out my paper and pen and wrote it for him,
leaving out the very last bit about reading the legends and heeding them. I
wanted to know what it meant but it was most definitely a threat and Hunter
didn’t need to know about it.

He scowled in the firelight and searched my
face a moment before kicking dirt on the fire. I turned on the lantern and we
began the exhaustive hike back to the house. I followed Hunter, sure in the
knowledge that he knew where we were.

It felt like it took much less time to hike
out than it did to hike in. Once in my yard Hunter took me by the hand and went
straight for the stairs leading to my bedroom’s deck. I didn’t argue, I was
tired.