Spirit Flight

CHAPTER 3

«I can do it,» Marisa said, her voice husky, low, nearly breathless.

«But I will do it,» he said, his tone telling her it was his right and nothing she said would dissuade him.

Heat stole into her cheeks and remained there as he smoothed his palms over her neck, her shoulders, the slopes of her breasts, her arms.

He stroked every inch of her. Claimed every inch of her.

His touch was possessive, caring, so erotic that by the time he'd rinsed the last of the lather from her skin, Marisa was shaking with need. Her labia flushed and swollen. Her nipples and clit tight hard knots.

Nervousness fluttered through her and she licked her lips. He inhaled sharply and her gaze went to his face. Confidence returned in a heated rush at the sight of his taut features, the coal black eyes focused completely on her, the erection that strained against his loincloth, framed by thighs strung tight with tension and self-control.

She touched him then. Slid her hand along the muscle of his thigh, watched through lowered eyelashes as his nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. Felt the silent command to move higher, to free him from the loincloth in the way he held himself completely still.

Anxiety pitted in her stomach when her fingers arrived at the suede-like material stretched tightly over his cock. Its construction unfamiliar.

Ukiah's fingers covered hers, gently guiding them, explaining without words how to remove the loincloth. Her breath caught when the garment fell away, revealing his length and thickness, his penis-uncircumcised, his testicles heavy sacs underneath it, making her think of a stallion.

She stared in fascination, licked her lips again, only barely aware of his groan when she did so. Tentatively she reached out to touch him. To stroke his foreskin, to explore what she'd only seen in studio models and in finished art, untouchable examples of man as he'd been created by nature or god or maybe both.

Ukiah's masculine beauty appealed to her on so many levels. But as she stroked his shaft, it wasn't the artist who prevailed, but the woman.

Desire shivered through her at how soft he was. Her cunt throbbed, clenching and unclenching when arousal escaped the blood-filled tip of his cock. She grasped him in her hand and he hunched forward, burying his fingers in her hair as she'd done earlier. Pulling her to him.

She rose from the shallow basin of steamy water and kissed his chest. His nipples. Laughed softly when they became hard, tiny peaks on a sculpted chest.

«Marisa,» he whispered, and her name sounded like a prayer on his lips.

Happiness filled her. Joy. Something more than lust.

Her kisses trailed downward. One hand going to cup his testicles, to weigh them like sacs of gold, to explore them while the fingers of her other hand wrapped around his cock, stroking up and down until his hips were moving to the rhythm she imposed on him. His breath coming in short pants.

His fingers tightened on her hair and Marisa didn't resist when he guided her mouth to his erection. She nuzzled it, her tongue darting out. Tasting. Feeling. Learning him as he'd learned her.

Waves of jagged pleasure rippled through Ukiah. Spikes of painful ecstasy like fractured bolts of lightning with each touch of her tongue to his heated flesh. He was helpless in her hands. Unable to do anything more that pant, and shake, and hold her to him as she tortured him with her tongue, with her fingers and lips.

Beads of sweat rolled down his neck and chest. Every muscle in his body strained to remain still, afraid that any movement would shatter the last of his control and he would hold her to him and spew his seed in the wet depths of her mouth instead of her cunt.

He cried out when her soft mouth left his shaft, her tongue like the kiss of the sun against his sac, burning him with heat, then immersing him in a river of fiery sensation when she sucked first one testicle and then the other.

Ukiah bucked against her, his body strung so tightly that between one heartbeat and the next he knew he'd reached his limit. «No,» he said, the word so guttural it was barely recognizable. «No more.»

He used the grip on Marisa's hair to pull her away from him, his buttocks clenching when his testicle slid from between her firm lips. The drumbeats which had faded began again, only this time they were the thunder of his own heart.

He picked her up, heedless of the water adhering to her skin and splashing onto his. Uncaring of anything except returning to the other chamber with her and spreading her out on the furs.

«Look at me,» he said, coming down on top of her, his fingers intertwined with hers, holding her hands to the floor as his thighs roughly opened hers.

He groaned when his cock encountered the slick wet heat of her swollen vulva. Very nearly plunged in and impaled himself to the hilt in one fast, hard stroke. But he managed to hold himself at her entrance. To meet her gaze and then slowly, an inch at a time give himself to her-just as slowly, an inch at a time, he claimed her for his own.

«Ukiah,» Marisa said, her fingers tightening on his as he pushed deeper, his name filling her soul as completely as his cock filled her channel.

She shuddered when he reached the end of her, wrapped her legs around him as if afraid he'd try and leave her. She rejoiced in the heavy feel of his testicles against her buttocks. Wanted to close her eyes but his coal-black gaze commanded that she keep them open, that she see the possessive way he gazed at her. Acknowledge the ownership he claimed as his hips began moving, first in short, forceful jabs, and then in long, full-length strokes that left her mewling and whimpering, crying for him.

He covered her lips with his and began thrusting in earnest. Made her scream in climax as he filled her with his seed. His release a violent hammering that had him going lax against her before rolling to the side and gathering her in his arms.

The sound of their breathing was harsh and ragged. Loud in the small cave. It drowned out the drip of water and the crackling of the fire. Masked even the far away droning, the continuous undertone that made Marisa think of chanting but was probably the sound of wind through rocks, or more ominous, deep shifts in the mountain range.

She cuddled against him, content as she'd never been before. Then made a murmur of protest when he released her and stood. But a moment later he'd once again scooped her into his arms and carried her to the sunken indentation filled with heated water.

«This is wonderful,» she said when he sat, positioning her so that she was straddling him, her head on his shoulder, the water covering her legs and lapping at her lower back. The pool only barely large enough to hold the two of them.

Ukiah brushed his hand along her spine. His heart filled with not only the beauty of the woman in his arms, but at what they'd already shared. Even without the Creator guiding him to her, gifting him with her, he would have been drawn to Marisa.

«How did you end up on these lands?» he asked. «When I was in Hohoq earlier today, no one mentioned there were visitors staying in town.»

Marisa's eyebrows drew together in surprised confusion. Hohoq ? That was the name of the town where they'd stopped for lunch days ago. And after they'd left, it had taken them hours to get to the campsite.

She reached for one of Ukiah's narrow braids, finding comfort in the feel of the smooth beads and soft feathers. «Am I close to there?» It occurred to her that she didn't really know where she was, other than in a cave. «Am I close to where you found me?»

He chuckled, a rumble that vibrated against her and made her smile. «Yes to both questions.» His fingers skimmed over her backbone again and made her shiver and press more tightly against him. «So you were lost?

Her hand clenched on his braid. Then she forced herself to release it in favor of touching his skin, of curling her fingers around his biceps. «I was lost. Mainly I was trying to get somewhere safe.»

Overhearing the conversation to kill her. Running. Her terrified escape. It seemed like a nightmare now. Unreal. Unbelievable. Something that had happened to someone else. While this…being here with him… It felt like they'd always been together. Not in the same way as people who've known each other years, but in the way of people whose souls are linked.

Marisa remembered her earlier thoughts, of knowing him in another life. Of belonging to him then. She shivered then laughed silently at herself. Attributing her flight of fantasy to artistic temperament.

Ukiah leaned back and in the process forced her to shift position so he could look into her face, his hand tangled in her hair held her still for a lingering kiss before he pushed her for answers.

The tension in her body a moment earlier-along with the motorcycle tracks on the road above where he'd found her-told him the safety she'd been seeking was more than shelter from the storm or the approaching night. «Someone was chasing you?» he whispered against her lips and she immediately jerked in his arms.

She met his eyes and everything inside him responded to the fear he saw in them. His cock stirred where it lay snug between her wet thighs, filled, grew ready to offer physical reassurance that she was safe, cared for.

Marisa's fingernails dug into Ukiah's biceps. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, and a quiet sob escaped when he leaned forward, kissing them away. Nuzzling her, rubbing his cheeks to hers and finally taking her mouth again. His tongue twined with hers, reassured, eased the ache in her heart until the pain of betrayal gave way to heat and warmth, the beginnings of love.

When they separated, she made him smile by guessing at the source of his question, by asking, «You saw the bike tracks?»

«Yes. Who was chasing you? And why?»

Marisa exhaled on a long shaky sigh. «My brother and his girlfriend. Kaitlyn's the one who finally caught up with me, but not before I'd already taken a fall down the mountain. Though I guess that turned out to be a good thing. It fit with their plans perfectly so they were willing to leave me there and let nature take its course rather than help it along.» She leaned in, shaking despite the heated water they were sitting in. Hugged him tightly. «If you hadn't found me…»

Ukiah slid his arms around Marisa and held her to him, glad her face was buried against his neck so she couldn't see the rage in his expression, the utter determination to destroy those who wished to harm her. Who had left her to die. «Why were they trying to kill you?»

«Over money.» She shuddered, a soul-deep protest of betrayal and Ukiah thought she wasn't going to say anything more, but then she seemed to force a calm into her body. «I'll know more when I get back home. But for the last couple of years my brother Ethan has been managing the money our father left me. At first I got a monthly allowance, but as my art started to actually pay for my apartment and anything else I needed… It was stupid not to pay attention, but Dad left Ethan the business. He trusted him with that. So I trusted Ethan too. I wanted to believe we were a family.»

«You were close?»

«Our father left his mother and married mine-while she was pregnant with me. So no, we weren't close when we were growing up. But after our father died…» She shrugged. «But maybe that was all pretend, even if I'd like to think Ethan changed because of Kaitlyn. That she somehow convinced him to do this for her.»

Marisa took a deep breath. «They were planning on a rock-climbing accident. Only once we got here… There were so many images I wanted to capture on paper. And then when I saw where they wanted to climb… It made me feel scared. Maybe part of me guessed what they intended to do.»

She closed her eyes and Ukiah speared his hands in her hair and tugged, the sharp little pain making her lift her face so that once again he could cover her lips with his.

This time his tongue coaxed hers, tempted it to enter his mouth so he could hold it, suck on it, a gentle offer of sympathy as well as an acknowledgement of the rawness of her emotions. An offer of closeness and safe haven which she accepted with the softening of her body, with the opening of her thighs and the press of her swollen cunt lips against his engorged penis. When she whimpered he abandoned her hair in favor of grasping her hips and lifting her, settling her on his cock as he held her tongue captive in his mouth.

Marisa was helpless against Ukiah's sensual assault. There was no protest in her mind. No thought other than to invite him further into her body, their movements synchronized to his sucking, so subtle that the water barely rippled and yet each tiny thrust sent shards of white-hot pleasure through her clit. Each slide of his penis over desperately hungry internal muscles starved her for more. Their connection was so intense, so profound, that he became everything that mattered to her. And with a cry, orgasm ripped from the deepest part of her. A place that had never responded to another man like it responded to Ukiah. A place sealed closed until he came into her life.

Ukiah held her to him. The clenching and unclenching of her sheath on his penis exquisite agony as he savored the gift she was giving him, tried to make it last. Succeeded until she went limp in his arms, rung out from her pleasure, her channel snug and hot and wet, issuing an invitation he could no longer ignore. A siren's call that roared through him, making him pant and thrust and fill her womb with his seed.

He carried her back to the other room, laughing when she said, «Despite your having to carry me here when you found me, I can walk now,» her voice light, happy.

«I enjoy carrying you,» he said, placing her on the furs so she was seated with her back to the fire, then taking a moment to get a comb before kneeling behind her.

Marisa gave a low moan of pleasure when Ukiah began working with her hair, gently untangling it, the teeth of the comb lightly scraping over her back. «How close are we to where I fell?»

«If your handhold hadn't given way you might have seen the cave once you traveled several yards further. But you wouldn't have been able to get to it from where you started climbing.»

«You were here?»

«No. But I arrived shortly after you must have fallen.»

A tremor went through her as she remembered. «It was storming.»

«It's still storming outside.»

She cocked her head but heard nothing. «Was I unconscious when you got to me?»

He hesitated, a barely imperceptible pause. «Yes.»

Marisa almost lost her nerve then chided herself as he leaned forward and one of his braids brushed against her arm. «Before I blacked out I imagined a thunderbird swooping down on me. He had eyes like yours.» She reached over and stroked a bright feather with its bands of red, white and black, its subtle splashes of blue and yellow. «He had feathers that looked like this one.»

Ukiah stopped combing her hair and leaned forward to rub his cheek against her hair and nuzzle her ear, to suck the lobe into his mouth. «You are on Thunderbird land.»

Marisa smiled, letting herself be distracted by thoughts of the totem poles she'd passed. Accepting that it didn't matter whether she'd seen Ukiah and imposed a thunderbird form on him, or whether she'd been hallucinating.

«Do you know anything about the totem poles?»

Ukiah sucked her earlobe again and made her breath catch. His free hand went around to cup and fondle her breast, sending a rush of arousal to coat her inner thighs. «The poles near the No Trespassing signs?» he teased.

She found she could laugh. «Yes, those.»

«I made them.»

She gasped and tried to turn, but his hand at her breast made it impossible. «They're beautiful. Are you a sculptor?» She laughed again. «Silly question. I mean, is that what you do for a living? Though of course, art is so much more. I'd still create even if no one bought a single one of my paintings.»

He nibbled the side of her neck before pressing a kiss to her skin and shifting to resume combing her hair. «I carve in the winter, as a hobby, though my family members manage to sneak some of my work from the lodge and offer it for sale in town.»

Marisa's turned her head, yipping when the comb snagged and pulled her hair. «How in the world do they sneak away with totem poles?»

He laughed. «Most of my carvings are animals. Miniatures that can be easily concealed in a purse or jacket pocket.»

«I'd like to see them,» she said, tensing involuntarily, suddenly feeling awkward about the situation. About reality outside the cave. Outside this emergency dictated interlude.

«Marisa.» His voice was a caress as he set the comb down and pulled her back to his front. Kissed along her shoulder, the hand which had been holding the comb going to her belly, burning through to her womb in a gesture of possessiveness and assurance. «I found you and I intend to keep you.»

His hand dipped lower, cupping her mound, his fingers sliding into her slit. His palm pressing against her clit, moving in slow circles so that she whimpered and moaned. Soaked him with her arousal as she responded to his touch.

He made a guttural sound and leaned into her, used his weight against her back to force her forward onto her hands and knees. And then onto her elbows and knees with her buttocks raised, her thighs spread to reveal swollen, wet, woman's flesh.

She shivered at how vulnerable the position made her feel. The very awareness of her vulnerability making her labia grow more flushed. Making her clit strain, erect and full, the hood pulled back, desperate for his attention.

«You are beautiful, Marisa,» Ukiah whispered, kissing the base of her spine, his fingers gliding over her slick folds, circling her clit and making her cry out.

She pressed into his hand, rubbed herself on his tormenting fingers, her breath coming in short pants accompanied by low moans. «Please,» she begged, «please.» And even though she couldn't see him, she could feel the impact of her words on him in the way his touch became more dominant, more aggressive. In the way the tension seemed to fill the cave, a primal energy that made her feel as though a huge presence loomed behind her.

Marisa jerked when he entered her. His cock slamming home in one rough thrust of ownership. His hands going to her hips to hold her in position as he began thrusting. The force of him plunging in and out of her driving the breath from her lungs in screams that signaled a mix of pleasure and pain, an exquisite, all-consuming acceptance of what he was to her.

Tears formed in her eyes and the shadows dancing on the wall in front of her blurred and blended, took the shape of a thunderbird with its wings outspread, flapping in time to each thrust of Ukiah's cock, its chest swelling as if with pleasure. The image was so real that she tried to turn her head, only to be stopped by his harsh «no», by his fingers tangling in her hair and preventing her from moving as he pumped even harder into her. The rhythm of his claiming becoming a nearly unbearable ecstasy until orgasm rolled over her, extreme and powerful, filling her as completely as his hot release filled her channel, rushing toward her like the giant shadow of the thunderbird and taking her with it into the primordial darkness.

For long moments Ukiah panted and shivered above Marisa's limp form, his cock still buried in her heated depths, his body weak even as the thunderbird's triumphant exaltation roared through him.

She was pregnant now. With his child. With the thunderbird's.

If they'd met under different circumstances Ukiah would have waited. Would have married her first and moved her into the lodge which served as both his house and his source of income. Would have let her accustom herself to her new life slowly-though he had no fear she would accept and embrace the changes, that she would thrill at what it would mean for her art.

But the choice hadn't been his to make. He walked in the spirit world now. This body a magical manifestation restricted to the cave, a duplicate to house the thunderbird's essence while Ukiah's true physical form lay miles away on a pallet in a sweat building behind his home.

He pulled from Marisa's folds. A masculine smile of satisfaction forming on his lips when she mumbled in protest and immediately moved to press her skin to his. He gathered her hair, wove it into a thick braid before lying down next to her, covering them with a fur and giving in to sleep, her back to his chest, his arms holding her to him. Possessive and protective at the same time.