Soul Whisperer (22 page)

“Yes,” he whispered. “Me, too.”

He rubbed the slickness of his mouth against her warm thigh and then climbed upward, pausing to kiss her breasts again. She resisted, tired now and wanting to rest, but he did not stop and the resistance gave way, replaced by another curling wisp of wanting that billowed and built inside her like a summer storm. Soon she was clasping his head, holding him tight against her breast, relishing the sharp shards of pleasure that pierced deep into her belly and groin.

She wanted him again, still, always. But this was more than just filling her need. She recognized the difference. She no longer merely took what she wanted.
She gave Cesar access to her body, to her emotions, to every part of her in a way that felt both foreign and right. She trusted him completely and held nothing back as he rolled, taking her with him, bringing her on top.

Her legs straddled his thighs and she felt his erection pressing, hard and ready between their bodies. She lifted and he sprang into position, the tip of him poised, willing. She lifted her hips, the soft, wet folds of her cleft encircling him, her needy, pliant flesh taking all of him.

She lowered herself, moving down, down, settling her body over his, taking him deep inside, relishing the sensation of his hard shaft penetrating her. He gripped her rump between two strong hands and lifted her up, setting her in motion, thrusting smoothly against her as she fell. Bess threw her head back to savor each wild stroke as she felt his need rising with her own. This time they would come together.

She perceived his jumbled thoughts and the wild, scorching hot images of them locked in violent sensual motion. Fuel to the fire. She sensed that he was close to his release, wanting her, waiting for her. The tenderness he felt for her began to burn to ash against the jagged instinctive need to take her, to come inside her, deeper, deeper.

Her release burst upon her at the same instant Cesar's orgasm fired within him like a booster rocket. The hot surge of sensation hit her like a shock wave, throwing her into a second orgasm and then a third. Their pleasures merged together, overwhelming her until she did not know if she experienced her pleasure or his. She arched like a bow, surrendering to the power of their coupling and as the waves gradually receded. Bess fell forward as if struck by a blow, sprawling over his warm,
muscular body as the delicious waves of ecstasy ebbed slowly away. She snuggled against his neck, feeling the blood surging in the great vessel there. He lifted a clumsy hand and thumped it against her back, patting her twice before his hand fell away.

His voice was a low, rumbling rasp. “You nearly killed me.”

“Multiple orgasms,” she muttered, the effort of speech nearly more than she could manage. He groaned.

She rolled onto her back beside him on the wide couch, tossing the pillows of the backrest away to make room for them both on the cushioned bed. A moment later she tucked tight beneath his arm, curling against him. She threw one long leg stretched across his legs so she could press against him from chest to thigh, her thatch of hair now nestled intimately against his hip. She gave a contented sigh as she realized the restlessness that had driven her through the century was gone. For the first time in her life she felt certain that she was now, suddenly, exactly where she was meant to be.

She blinked her eyes open, turning her head to see her aura was no longer chocolate brown, but now a pale soft tawny color, like the back of a newborn fawn, made lighter and brighter by the soft pink now glowing all about her. He turned his head to stare at her, looking up at her aura.

“I know that color—pale pink.” He stopped speaking, but his thoughts rolled through her. No longer the madness that overcame him during the loving, they were now perfectly sensible, back in order and clear as her own.
Pale pink, the aura of a soul in love. It was true then, the words she had spoken, true that she loves me, can love me
.

She inclined her head to touch his. “Yes, it's true.”

He drew a long breath and then released it.

His thoughts came to her again.
I didn't believe it possible—to be loved.

But he did believe it now, she realized and the wonder filling him made her chest ache. He had been alone so long. Had really believed he was untouchable. Bess vowed to spend every day of their lives proving how wrong he had been.

Gratitude reached her next, his gratitude.

I've never loved a woman. But I love her, love the perfect blended balance of animal and human and the honesty that is absent from the Niyanoka. I am as much animal as Bess. How could I not have seen that before? She is just like me, better than me. That's why the loving was so intense, so powerful, so freaking perfect, because we are just the same and because I belonged to her.

Bess lifted a hand to caress his cheek, already rough with stubble.

“I belong to you, too,” she whispered.

He cradled her head, bending to kiss her and she read something that had not been there before, his optimism. Gone were the dour, dark thoughts and his perpetual air of solitude. Now he held hope. She could feel it as clearly as she felt his steady heartbeat. He thought of their future together with anticipation. He was thinking of her as…as his wife.

She broke away.

“Wife?”

He grinned and gave his head a slow shake of reluctant acceptance. “I wanted to ask you properly, with a ring.”

Bess swept her right hand over her left. When she
drew it back, she wore a perfect faceted round diamond set in platinum and encircled with smaller diamonds.

Cesar gasped.

“Skinwalkers don't wear jewelry very often because we lose it when we shift.” She extended the engagement ring for him to admire. “Did you want to pick it out? I can make it look any way you like.”

He shook his head in bewilderment. “Makes me realize how much I still don't know about you.”

“But think of the fun it will be finding out.”

He slid from the couch and knelt on the porch before her. She rolled to sit beside him, the cold wooden planks now solid beneath her bare feet. She thought to dress but as he was on his knees, naked before her, she did not. He took hold of her left hand. His love for her zinged up her arm and filled her with a warm flush.

“Will you marry me, Bess?” he asked.

It was a question she had never expected to hear and one she had never wished to hear until today. Because of this man she had lost her loneliness, shed it as surely as she could shed her feather cape.

Bess squeezed his hand.

“You honor me, Cesar. And I will spend the rest of my life honoring you.”

“Just love me, Bess. Now and always.”

“Here, now and into eternity,” she promised, and then rose up to kiss him again.

DREAM WALKER
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A NIYANOKA with the ability to visit another person's dreams and work mental and/or physical healing during the visitation. The human visited has no memory of the visit.

CIRCLE OF GHOSTS

The final home of all ghosts who once led evil lives and are punished when HIRHANKARA pushes them from the SPIRIT ROAD into the circle, where they drift for eternity in endless circles. This ghostly prison is presided over by NAGI. Some ghosts have been released from this prison by the prayers of those who live a pure life.

CLAIRVOYANTS
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A NIYANOKA or INAOKA with the ability to foretell future events of a person by touching that person or something that belongs to that person. They have an unfortunate blind spot in that they cannot foretell their own futures or that of anyone they love. This is to prevent them the agony of trying and failing to change what cannot be changed.

GHOST

The remains of humans after they have left their earthly vessels.

GHOST TRAIL

See
SPIRIT ROAD

HALFLING
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Any creature with one SPIRIT and one HUMAN parent.

HANWI

The moon is a reflective female SPIRIT who warms MAKA when the WI is absent.

HEYOKA

SPIRIT of chaos who is a double-faced SPIRIT with a split personality and emotions. He represents joy and sorrow, war and peace and all other opposites. Humans who see WAKINYAN (THUNDERBEINGS) become living HEYYOKAS and do the opposite of what is expected.

HIHANKARA

The crone who guards the SPIRIT ROAD. If the soul has walked the RED ROAD and leads a righteous life they bear the proper tattoos and are allowed to pass. If they have led a wicked life, she pushes them from the road and allows them to fall into the CIRCLE of GHOSTS.

HUMANS

Mortal creatures without firsthand knowledge of the SPIRIT WORLD or SPIRITS.

INANOKA
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MORTAL beings born of a human female and the SPIRIT TOB TOB. They are SKINWALKERS who shape-shift into the animal of their mother's tribe at will and maintain all attributes of that animal while in human form. They are called HALFLINGS and live an average of 400 years. They are despised by NIYANOKA for being beasts and possibly because they live longer. They protect animals from capricious SUPERNATURALS. Each animal is gifted with a different power.

BEAR: Has the ability to heal all injuries and wounds. BUFFALO: Is a creature of sacrifice that can absorb injuries, illness or grief into its body and then heal at a rapid rate. They are not healers and must feel all the pain they take from the one they relieve. It is said they can raise the dead, but only at the expense of their own life.

HAWK: Receives messages from the SPIRITS and sees into the future. But they are helplessly blind to their own future or the future of those they love. MOUNTAIN LION: Has the power of clairvoyance and can see things far beyond the realm of normal sight. This gift gives cats the appearance of telling the future, but they really see things as they occur in other locations. They are especially good at seeing what is happening to those they know well.

OWL: Said to have the ability to exorcise disembodied souls (GHOSTS) from their unwilling hosts and send them for judgment on the WAY OF SOULS. They also
can predict a human's death. It is for this reason that seeing an owl is considered a warning of death. RAVEN: Is the only creature that can travel the SPIRIT ROAD and speak to the souls in the SPIRIT WORLD. WOLF: Can track anyone on earth by their scent trail.

KANKA

Old woman sorceress. She travels in dreams and helps people purify themselves. She can see the past, present and future and is a SUPERNATURAL.

MAKA

Mother Earth, holds the female power of birth and is a sacred SPIRIT.

MEMORY WALKER
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A Niyanoka with the power to make another forget a person or event. They cannot erase another's memory, but only make slight alterations. This gift is helpful to reduce grief after a loss and to allow a person to go unnoticed by erasing the memory of an encounter.

MITAKUYE OYASIN

A closing for a blessing. It literally means “All my relations included” or “We are all related” and reminds us that humans are connected to everything of the earth.

NAGI

This shadow creature is the ghostly guardian of the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS and is a SPIRIT.

NIYAN

A SPIRIT BEING that teaches man to understand the cycle of life and death and the return of the body to MAKA (the earth) as the spirit returns to the SPIRIT WORLD. NIYAN is a SPIRIT.

NIYANOKA
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MORTAL beings born of a union between NIYAN and a human. They are called SPIRIT CHILD and are charged with protecting humans from the interference of SUPERNATURALS and SKINWALKERS. In addition they consider themselves shepherds of mankind, working for their benefit, helping them walk the RED ROAD and preparing them for the SPIRIT WORLD. They have a live span of 300 to 400 years.

PEACEMAKER
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A NIYANOKA with the power to influence the moods and emotions of those nearby. They are highly persuasive and sought after for their ability to assist in all forms of negotiation. Since their suggestions are difficult to defy and their proposals hold such influence, their ethics must be above reproach.

RED ROAD

The RED ROAD is a metaphor for the correct way to live. One who walks the RED ROAD exists in balance with all things of the earth, behaving in a manner that is both proper and blessed. Walking the RED ROAD allows for entrance into the SPIRIT WORLD,
while ignoring the proper way might lead to being cast from the WAY OF SOULS and into the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS.

SEER OF SOULS
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A NIYANOKA member of the Ghost Clan, thought to be extinct. Such a HALFLING has the ability to see not only SPIRITS but earthbound souls in the form of disembodied GHOSTS. They a have the power to speak to GHOSTS and to send them to the SPIRIT ROAD for judgment. See HIHANKARA.

SOUL WHISPERER
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A NIKANOKA of the SPIRIT CLAN with the power to bear witness to a death by touching the corpse. The WHISPERER sees exactly what the departed saw in the moments prior to his death and also experiences his thoughts. This makes WHISPERERS essential for solving crimes such as murder, but also makes them unclean in the minds of their kind, making them outcasts. None will touch them for they are believed to be unclean.

SKINWALKERS

Another word for INANOKA, the HALFLING children of TOB TOB the SPIRIT BEAR. Legend says these are animals who remove their skin to masquerade as humans, but their ineptitude often reveals them.

SPIRITS

All of these creatures are immortal.

SPIRIT CHILD

Another name for NIYANOKA, a HALFLING child of NIYAN and a human parent.

SPIRIT ROAD

(SKY-ROAD, SPIRIT TRAIL) The Milky Way that is the path leading to the Spirit World. Those without the proper tattoos are pushed off the trail and wander endlessly in the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS. Souls without the proper markings have led an evil life on earth and do not merit entrance to the SPIRIT WORLD.

SPIRIT WORLD

The home of all ghosts that have successfully crossed the SPIRIT ROAD.

SUPERNATURALS

There are eight SUPERNATURALS including KANKA. They are immortal but less powerful than SPIRITS. They live on earth.

THE BALANCE
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This refers to the balance of nature, the fragile connection which the LANOKA protect from careless or malevolent damage by SUPERNATURAL creatures, NIYANOKA and HUMANS, who all tend to feel a certain entitlement to the earth.

TOB TOB

Translates as “Four by Four,” meaning a creature that goes on four legs. This great SPIRIT BEAR has wisdom and healing powers. TOB TOB is a SPIRIT.

TRUTH SEEKER
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A NIYANOKA who can divine the truth to any spoken question, merely by touching the one he questions. TRUTH SEEKERS are hard to deceive and make excellent judges in the NIYANOKA community.

WANAGI

The soul of a dead person, a GHOST.

WAKAN TANKA

The Great Spirit, The Great Mystery, Creator of all. A holy immortal entity who is more than SPIRIT.

WAKINYAN THUNDERBEINGS

(THUNDERBIRD, THUNDERHORSE). The power of electric energy on earth. Thunder comes from the opening of the THUNDERBIRD'S eye and thunder from the drumming of the THUNDERHORSES' hooves. WAKINYA are SPIRITS. They also cause clouds, hurricanes, tornadoes and storms. They are known to strike dead any human foolish enough to lie while holding a sacred pipe.

WAY OF SOULS

See
SPIRIT ROAD

WI

The Sun. WI represents power and sustains life. He is a great teacher and a SPIRIT.

WONIYA

The soul of a living person.