Fate Stained - Part Two

Quinn was right, this place did help me feel a little less on edge. The constant trickle of the creek and the nature that surrounded it was peaceful; everything seemed to flow in a rhythmic harmony. Who would have thought? I’d escaped Hell but was somehow feeling more tense and tightly wound in Fern Creek - even though, visually, this place was a paradise. But, being here by the creek, my mind began to settle and maybe that tea that Moira had given me was finally working.

Until, suddenly, that feeling - the same one that I’d felt in the hall last night - began to wash over me. I inhaled sharply as my chest constricted and my skin reacted as though someone had dropped me into a bucket of ice. I balled my fists into the grass at my sides but noticed that this feeling now was coupled with the most intriguing scent I’d ever smelt. It was a mixture of honey and something floral, my nose not quite accustomed to such aromas.

“Flynn. Are you ok? You seem…tense”

I blinked a couple of times before turning to face Quinn. She stared back at me with the mirror image of my own eyes, having a natural calming affect on me that I’d never experienced before meeting her. I cleared my throat.

“Yeah. Just— nothing. I’m going to go for a walk”

Quinn raised her brown slightly.

“Want me to come?”

I observed the way the panther’s grip tightened slightly around my sister’s waist at the notion of her leaving his side.

“No” I answered truthfully, “I’ve got a few things I want to check out on my own”

Walking through the compound only added to my unease. Everywhere I went the smell seemed to follow me, taunt me. It tickled my nose and tantalised my senses, causing a part of me, that I was only just getting to know, to suddenly awaken.

I was torn between wanting to escape the smell and wanting to bury my nose in it and fill my lungs with its rich and heady undertones. What was this? Was this some kind of earthly experience? Was everyone else smelling it, but maybe it only affected me?

“Flynn. Are you ok?” I turned around to see Mason standing there with a look of concern on his face.

I hadn’t spoken to the man yet, Kyan pointed him out at the dinner last night and I did my best to avoid him; I hadn’t really been in the mood or mind set for a hearty father-son reunion. But here we were, face to face. He was a handsome man, and, after getting to know my reflection in Dominic’s bathroom mirror this morning, I saw a lot of myself in him.

“Ahhh. Yeah, I’m good. Just a little turned around”

I’d completely lost my bearings whilst trying to outrun the haunting scent. I couldn’t hear or see the creek anymore and most of this compound, to me, looked much the same as the rest. I scratched my head and looked around. The sun was lowering and I realised I must have been walking around longer than I’d first thought.

“You’ve got her eyes”

I looked back to my father, a sad smile playing on his lips.

“Quinn’s?”

“Your mother’s”

The lump that formed in my throat caught me off guard and the noise I made to clear it was somewhere between a cough and a choke. My mother, not the all powerful and evil witch that cursed me to Hell - but the soulful and caring tribrid Shifter Queen that died trying to save me in a house fire. I let out a slow, shaky breath in an attempt to compose myself. These feelings were new to me. There was no time to be sad, nostalgic or have the slightest inkling of self-pity in Hell; if you did that, you’d be dead.

I breathed in deeply and almost choked again, but this time it wasn’t from the unresolved issues of my past, it was from the sweet and floral scent that forced it’s way into my nose like a tidal wave of delicious yet evil electrical currents.

My eyes narrowed and my head snapped in the direction that the smell came from. For the first time since picking it up it appeared to stem from one particular location, instead of just filling the entire space around me like a suffocating wet blanket.

“Excuse me” I said to my father, my eyes still intently focused on the direction of my torture, “I— I need to be alone”

Without giving Mason a chance to answer, I turned on my heel and headed off towards the smell. Perhaps it was someone playing games with me, maybe Kyanite with a practical joke. Either way, I had a need, an urge, to know where this scent came from and why it made my body and mind react the way it did.

The honey-flowery tendrils seemed to lure me to the far right boundary of the compound. I looked around me, there was nothing here, just an enormous tree with a trunk so thick that it made me wonder how old the thing was. Closing my eyes, I breathed in deeply and upon exhaling let out a long and guttural moan as the scent seemed to change and peak in its intensity. I felt the groin region of my pants tighten as my shaft began to harden.

“Fuck” I cursed under my breath, looking down to the obvious bulge beneath my belt.

A faint rustle of leaves or grass from behind the tree trunk caused my head to snap up and my eyes to narrow. There was someone or something there. I made a pointless attempt to readjust my pants and took a step towards the tree.

“Who’s there?” I growled, the voice not even sounding like my own.

The scent changed slightly again and I sniffed the air as I took another step toward the tree. Was that fear? No voice answered back but as I took another step I heard the unmistakable sound of a tiny yelp, almost a squeak and another rustling of leaves.

“Show yourself”

An indescribable feeling stirred within my body. My stance changed and my senses heightened, as if I were a hunter that had finally managed to corner his prey. An intoxicating wave of adrenaline flowed through me as I finally reached the tree, knowing that with one more step I would see the creature that had been playing with me since dinner last night and I would finally know who was responsible for the overwhelming smell that drowned me in it’s deliciousness. But to my surprise, the thing that stepped out from behind the thick, solid trunk wasn’t a thing at all, but the most beautiful creature I’d ever set eyes on.

“Please don’t hurt me” she whispered, her voice barely audible and her hazel eyes glistening up at me with mixture of fear and embarrassment.

Hurt her? I didn’t think it would have been possible. The girl that stood before me was petite and with the most pale, milky white skin I’d ever seen. Her hair flowed lusciously over her shoulders in out of control red curls. I had to check myself as my hand began to twitch, the urge to reach forward and twirl the perfect ringlets around my finger was beyond any kind of temptation that I’d had. Over her perfect nose and cheeks she had dusting of fine freckles that only added to her hypnotising draw on me. My eyes lowered to the girl’s lips, they were pink and plump. As I stared, mesmerised by their shape and softness, she drew the bottom lip into her mouth slightly, biting down on the supple flesh.

Have mercy.

The uncomfortable tightness very quickly returned to my pants and I cursed, turning to the side in an attempt to hide my body’s response to the girl’s simple action. I looked down to the ground at my feet; how fucking embarrassing.

“I’m not going to— hurt you” I managed to get out, the thought alone making my stomach turn uncomfortably.

I raised my eyes slightly and turned my head back to face the girl— woman. She was a tiny little thing but was perhaps only a little bit younger than myself. Her delicate features and big doe eyes gave her such a youthful look, so innocent and scared. Once again my hands twitched but this time it was out of the need to wrap my arms around her and protect her from whatever monster was responsible for frightening her in such a way.

We are that monster.

What? I blinked at the voice that crept into my mind, even turning around slightly to see if it had come from someone standing nearby. But there was no one near, it was just the red headed beauty and myself. The voice did sound vaguely familiar though, one that had been awfully quiet since leaving Hell.

“I’m sorry. I— I didn’t mean to make you angry. It’s just…you smell…nice and I wasn’t sure to begin with if it came from you…that maybe it was that panther. But then today when you walked off by yourself, well, I knew it was you” the woman’s voice shook slightly as she spoke and my eyes widened at her honest revelation.

I smelt nice to her? She chewed on her lip again and the ball of her foot twisted in the dirt at her feet as she awkwardly smoothed the material on the front of her dress. Fuck me. I dropped my hands to subtlety cover my very uncomfortable erection and mentally kicked myself for being such a creep. What was it about this girl? She had my mind reeling. I suddenly wanted to see what was hidden under that dress, I wanted to peel it from her body and see what shade of pink her cheeks would go as my hands slid up her milky white thighs—

“My name is Fern”

Fern. Our gift has a name.

The voice was as smooth as silk in my mind and there was no mistaking who it was, Pieter - my animal subconscious.

“And you’re Flynn, right?”

I cleared my throat and turned back to face the girl. She must have thought I was extremely weird by the way I was acting and I didn’t blame her.

“Umm. Yeah, I’m Flynn. Sorry— I’m just feeling a little bit…odd”

Fern’s brows rose and something flashed in her hazel eyes.

“Me too! Like, my brain is kind of foggy but my body is kind of—” a deep shade of crimson illuminated Fern’s cheeks, causing her freckles to darken, “— tingly”

She bit down on her lip again as a gust of wind blew past, picking up the leaves and dirt at our feet. I didn’t even have time to compute my next move as the thick aroma of honey and flowers smothered me, drowning my senses and flicking a switch in my brain that I didn’t even know existed.

This time I was unable to check myself and I lunged forward, closing the distance between myself and Fern in a millisecond. I half registered that Fern gasped and flinched as I grabbed her face in my hands and my mouth came crashing down on her beautiful plump lips. Fuck. The heat and chemicals that rushed through my body were unlike anything I could even slightly get my head around. My heart thrummed in my chest and my forehead beaded with sweat. Fern’s lips remained closed but as I pressed her body back against the trunk of the tree I felt them separate slightly and I wasted no time forcing my tongue inside.

Ours!

She was resisting. Why was she resisting? I stroked my tongue along the side of hers and felt her teeth graze it slightly. Her fingernails dug into the flesh of my back, only adding heat to the fire that erupted within me.

Take her!

I was positive I felt some of the tension leave Fern’s body and a small noise exited her mouth and entered mine. Was that a cry of pleasure? Was she enjoying this as much as I was? My dick hardened more and I pressed it against Fern’s stomach, rubbing it slightly to relieve some of the pressure that seemed to be building within it.

She cried out again and his nails cut deeper into my skin. As I kissed her deeper I noticed she began to taste different, almost savoury…salty.

Don’t stop.

One of my hands lowered from Fern’s face and trailed down her neck. I felt the neckline of her dress, my fingertips daring me to go lower, to indulge in the soft rise of material where her breast swelled from her chest. But as I did this, another sound tore from Fern’s mouth and this one was enough to partially snap me from my hypnotised state.

There was no mistaking this sound. It wasn’t a cry of pleasure, it was a sob. My body froze.

No! You mustn’t stop. She doesn’t want you to stop.

My lips remained firmly pressed against Fern’s. She didn’t move.

“Son. Step away”

This voice, I knew, was not in my head. I pulled my head back slowly, the feeling of my lips separating from Fern’s leaving a hole in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t until I took a couple of steady breaths and opened my eyes that I realised Fern was shaking and that the salty taste on her lips had been her tears, silently coating her face as she stared back at me.

“I’m— I’m so— I’m so sorry” my voice was barely a whisper, my hands dropping limply at my sides.

“Flynn. Step away, come with me”

My eyes widened, still staring at the terrified face in front of me.

“What about—”

“It’s ok, Quinn will be here in a second. She’ll take care of the girl”

I stepped back, every movement tugging at something in my soul, something that didn’t want anymore distance between myself and Fern. It wasn’t until I felt Mason’s hand on my shoulder that I sighed and turned around to face him.

“I don’t know what happened” I breathed, my eyes still wide with shock.

“I do” my father answered, “that girl is your mate”